Life in slow lane...

I called my eldest brother for his birthday. He is trying to tell me I am near 65. His math skills have sunk to all time wishful thinking low. I told him I have a nearly a decade and half before the big 6-5. It has me worried his thinking skill was off this much.

My husband had his cavities filled early this morning. Last night he kept reminding me that I have to get up early in the morning. I returned to automatic getting up a 5 am when I was taking care of my parents. It terrifies me how fast I reverted back to getting up at 5 am. Reveille. The way to avoid waking up for reveille is to wake up before the bugler. My dad did reveille every morning when I was growing up. I learned to wake up before he started his rendition reveille. My husband is griping that getting up at 5 am was not what he had in mind. I tell him to go back to bed. I get interested in finding out what the blue jays outside are squawking about.

The dentist played Apocalypse Now for my 2 tiny cavities. He played elevator music for my husband's cavities that turned out to be bigger than the dentist anticipated. My husband has MS and the past couple of days he has been in pain. Dentist made a wise choice in adding goofy gas to his visit.

While I am waiting in the dentist office, an old lady wobbling when she walks and her caretaker arrived. I opened the door for both of them. The old lady cracks me up. She is extremely happy and has super gleam in her eyes that says one thing: Joke in progress. She takes out her hearing aids before going to the dental chair. She is going to make the dental assistants play charades giving directions on what they want her to do. 2 pts to the super happy old lady.

Happy 65th Birthday to my eldest Brother.

This is the first day he can try out his medicare and supplemental insurance.

Happy Birthday.

Breakfast with the Deer

This isn't Mr. and me having breakfast with the deer.

24 Years...

The Mr. and I have been married 24 years today. We met at McChord AFB. He worked in the Ed Center. The college I was starting to attend every class was filled so they asked if I had a problem attending on McChord AFB. Single young gal and mil men. I thought it was going to be dating like shooting fish in a barrel. Unfortunately, my theory was shot down in flames when I took classes. 99% of the students taking classes are married. The other 1% would be transferred the following term. Mr. informed me I found one.

He used to give me snarky comments then run behind the doors. He wanted me to tell you that. lol. He retired from the Air Force in '85 after 20 years of service. We married in '86. About an year later, he would return to his old job as civilian. He retired again 2008. He logged over 40 years of helping Airmen getting their Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate.

Dear, Happy 24th Anniversary.

Cowtown Humor

My son went to the dentist yesterday. His cavities were bigger than the dentist thought. His cavities were the talk of the office. Today, My cavities were filled. Dentist put on epic music before he started his drill, baby, drill on my 2 very small cavities. I found it humorous.

The dental assistant was telling me kids don't know what a typewriter is and they have no idea why some phones have cords.

Supi

How my husband enjoyed his Father's Day

My son bought plenty of movies for him. My husband wanted a piece of chocolate so I took him to his favorite candy store so he could get his handmade amaretto chocolate truffle.

We took him to his favorite Chinese restaurant. I can't see with my distant bifocals up close so life has been interesting with this pair of glasses. Entertainment abounds for my family with these glasses. The glasses are great for driving and distance. My husband asked why don't I go get new glasses. I am too afraid the answer might be: This is as good as it gets. The Chinese Restaurant has Blue Bell Texas ice cream in a freezer case. I scooped up my ice cream. Now time for toppings. I squirted the toppings on. Hmmm. This caramel topping looks a little watery. I squirted on another topping. It was much thicker. I brought my ice cream back to the table. I took a bite. Oh no. My husband and son are wondering what is wrong. I hand my spoon of ice cream to my son to taste. My son tells me this topping has a really interesting and odd taste to it. My son just can't figure out what this familiar taste is. Son, I squirted Louisiana hot sauce and Oriental chilli sauce onto my ice cream. Yes, the hot sauce is now located next to the chocolate and caramel ice cream sauce. I told my husband I was glad that I was the one to put hot sauce on my ice cream instead of him since it is Father's Day. That is when it happened: My husband could no longer hold his diet soda in his mouth. He sprayed me.

Father's Day

Here's my dad. He passed away in 2003. I still miss him. I was his fishing and camping buddy.

Life in General....

A small blue jay was learning to fly in our backyard. The bird realized we were not going to harm him, he continued on his hopping exploration of the world.

At the BX, another person was victim of going into the wrong bathroom. It happens quite a bit here. He was greeted with a room full laughter on his quick exit out. Yeah, the blue tile means women's bathroom.

My dog was exhausted from watching my son's girlfriend. She has 4 cats at home. My dog just knows that scent Ode de Kittens on her that there must be cats hiding somewhere on her.

Supi

A Trip Around The Sun.....

xkcd

from:

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/dependencies.png

This 9 year in operation 10 gallon tank was covered with green spot algae. I tried various discourage green spot algae growth methods from the aquatic plants forum. I put the fish from this tank into the 29 gallon tank. I scraped off the algae with a credit card. I wasn't able to get the upper corners green spot scraped off. Since the gravel was covered in it, I removed the gravel and replaced with pool filter sand. I removed all the water and refilled the tank. I said, "What the heck, I am going to do an experiment since there are no fish in the tank". Repeat for the fish police, NO FISH are in the tank. NONE. ZIPPO. NADA. I put the plants that were not thriving from the other tanks into this tank. Then I put in Ochid Plus fertilizer into the tank. 20-14-13 N-P-K. Nitrogen, phosphorous and Potassium. People on the aquatic boards were saying putting land plant ferts into the tank would cause a Biblical proportions algae bloom from P. I am still waiting for this Biblical Proportion algae bloom. It has been 6 weeks. No algae of any kind has developed. Matter of fact the green spot algae went away on the heater. I am questioning the theory phosphates are the sole cause of algae blooms in lakes. My little water study doesn't really prove all that much in the big scheme of lakes.


This is my 56 gallon tall tank. It is great for the big angelfish to swim around in. It is 24 inches high. The lighting for plant growth in this tall tank is not all that great. It makes it harder to do beautiful aquascaping. I thinned down the plants in this tank so it looks a little bare right now. Quite a few of the small fish in this tank are 9 years old. The huge pleco is hiding.




Here's the 29 gallon jungle tank. Right now I am letting the plants over grow so I can move them to the other tanks.

Planet Neptune Report...

For when you think you can't possible be on Earth anymore because of the news stories, you can claim you are on Planet Neptune!

Whale Excrement could help fight climate change, link to story is here.

"Researchers from the Australian Antarctic Division found that the naturally iron-rich whale excrement encourages growth of algae, therefore drawing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere." Eastern Washington state housewives that drive to Idaho to buy dishwasher soap that cleans enjoyed reading the virtues of brown algae in the ocean. I believe they now can argue using dishwasher soap that cleans dishes is good for the environment.

"Advocates of "geo-engineering" have suggesed dumping iron filings in the sea to 'fertilise' the oceans but this offers a more natural process. " Wonder how many coastal tax payers in OZ land are taxed to clean up the ocean, now the suggestion is to throw iron filings into ocean? OZ Navy, quick offer your services to provide turning iron trash into filings in the ocean. What possessed scientists to study whale poop anyways?

Two Dutch mini-dress models arrested after defying FIFA

The author name has to be made up. Orange mini dresses. There is something about that orange color that has me thinking: Prison warden into watching the Rocky Horror Picture Show might be getting new ideas to prevent returning guests of the state.

If they are advertising beer, why are they hold soda bottles? I can understand not wanting to lose marketing dollars to people are are skirting around rules... but Arizona is having a huge problem that makes the mini-skirt story look silly. Check out Woodsterman'sBlog for information on Arizona.

The Rose.....

My husband and I planted the rose bush last summer. We planted it in early May. The weather up to that point was nice. The day after we planted the rose bush, the Texas summer heat arrived. The Texas heat wouldn't relent for the rest of the summer. Only cloudy, rainy days gave this rose bush relief. Several times a day, I would mist the rose bush. It did not bloom during summer. Finally, autumn's cooler weather arrived. Cooler weather allowed one rose to grow and bloom. The sign of one rose blooming gave us hope that this rose bush and the other rose bushes would make it.

Winter arrived. Usually, we have one winter snow storm here. This winter, we had a plethora of snow storms. It was a harsher winter than normal here. It was a hard year on the rose bushes. This spring two of the four roses bushes we had planted are standing tall and strong. The other two rose bushes are blooming beautiful but the plant growth is poor.

This rose bush is standing tall as the person it is name after. The namesake of this rose took office of the President United States of America on January 20, 1981. He was our 40th President.

The Ronald Reagan Rose

The other rose bush that is standing tall is Veteran's Honor.

I thought I would share this with you on Flag day my Patriotic Theme Rose Garden.

Scientist uses Calvin Klein Cologne to Lure Jaguars

The comments to this news story are funny.

If I was a man in DC, I would avoid Obsession cologne.

A Few Artisans at Artwalk..

She has a few of her wares on the table.
This lady saw my camera out. She instantly posed herself for a nice picture.

Assistant Pastor Dennis selling his wood crafts.

The Dream Interpreters
There are 2 Boston Terriers at this booth. Their antics bring in the people.
These folks were my street selling neighbors when I sold on Artwalk.
The store that they are in front love these folks.
They sweep and pick up every single bit of trash before they set up.

This was my spot.
I sought permission to sell here from the business.
The business had guidelines for me to follow.
Hmmm. I wonder if they are keeping artisans out now?
Selling here was nice.

At this past Artwalk there were more artisans out than when I was selling.

Artwalk Carwalk

Bentley.







Rolls Royce.








Road Runner. Every so often, something would come up that my brother would have to have me drive his Road Runner. I truly knew how to make the longest distance between two points when I was behind the wheel his baby. Fun! Fun! Fun!





MG







The 12th Armored Div. Museum re-enactors getting ready to walk the streets to promote the Museum. There is now a USO lady in their group.

The New Furniture Arrived!

Half of it. Eight very long weeks for the two chairs and ottoman to arrived. The couch will arrived after the 4th of July.

We put the old couch and love seat out on the front lawn with sign that said, "Free". The first speeding pick up truck that drove by, he slammed on his brakes and backed up to the freebies. My husband helped the man load the freebies into his truck bed. All it took was 10 seconds for used furniture to be claimed. Husband is going to be in pain tonight.

My husband kept getting side tracked while we were preparing the room for the new furniture. He is really excited to get his new "old geezer" chair. He is on the floor scraping off tar that collected on our shoes from the roofers. Some times he just can't get back up again. His muscles have a mind of their own. It makes me nervous that he won't be able to get back up. He knows I whacked out my back from lifting my mom and wheelchair.

Rifle art is controversial. Collectors say shame. Husbands that want another toy - Dear, it is piece of art too.

Art - The difference in knowing and thinking you know.

I have been doing little studies to find my weakness during this period of slow sales. The clematis are flowers I am not all that familiar with but I thought I would give it a whirl from memory to work on foreshortening skills in my mind.

Green is the hardest colors in art to accomplish. The leaves are very experimental. The leaves had several greenish color changes. So far, I have not been very happy with any of the color changes.

The vase is from imagination too. I really understand shading spheres, cubes and cones.

I used real peaches as models until the peaches were eaten by my husband and son.

You can see the flowers and leaves look weak in comparison to the vase and peaches. It is the difference between knowing and thinking I know. I will put this painting away since I am starting project.

The main star of the project is something I am not too familiar with. The main star needs to be confident, strong and intimidating. The rest of the elements of the painting I am very familiar with.

My first step is an accurate pencil drawing.

Remember Hidden Pictures game?

Willswordsofwisdom blog had this today. Try your luck what is missing. Do not scroll down until you come up what is missing.

http://willswordsofwisdom.wordpress.com/2010/06/07/whats-missing/

Is blogger fixed? Please be fixed..

I was in the certain section of bloggers that couldn't post. I thought I would try something to see if I could post to Odie. My end, it didn't look like it worked at all. Oops.. it did work. Sorry about the double comment to Odie. Keads.. if it happen to you too, sorry.

I thought it was at my end. There's plenty of maintenance I avoid like the plague. My son can't understand why I avoid computer maintenance like the plague. Because if something is working great, don't mess with it. Of course, I learned that in college from tutoring classmates. They were proficient in keeping their computers in down and out time the day before assignments were due.

Remember this....

xkcd:America

D-Day June 6, 1944

Normandy, France. The Army Mil has a video clip about D-Day on their website.

12th Armored Division Museum

My son requested that I put a little ditty about the museum where he volunteers his time for many years now.

Capt. John Edge (KIA) photo hangs in the museum. It stopped me in my tracks to see his photo.








My son. I'm not the only one that does the double take.







Here is a pencil sketch I did that is in the museum.

Silent Wings Museum

CG-4A Glider

Computer
Doesn't require electricity. CPU located in person operating it.

Japanese Navigation Computer
"Antique GPS Device"

Remember HP 35 Calculators? Polish Notation?

Or driving your friends nuts with no equal sign? From http://xkcd.com/645/

A Day in Packaging Paintings to be Mailed.

The painting is going in the folded up box. I first unfold the box and tape the bottom up. I prefer to use a box in good condition to travel across the United States

I like to use Dow Styrofoam insulation boards from Lowes to sandwich the painting in the box. The insulation board is cut into two 18"x24" size boards to put in this shipping box. The Styrofoam board is lightweight which is very important to keep the cost rate down. I put bubble wrap between the painting and the Styrofoam.



I am using freezer paper to put over the painting. It has a waxed side. It is to prevent the painting being rubbed while traveling in the box. At this time, I do not know if this package is going by USPS Priority, USPS Parcel Post or UPS Ground. I pack my paintings as if they are going ground.








A small glimpse in the odd world of an artist.