Something's Cooking In The Kitchen

I suppose a more accurate title would be Something's Curing In The Kitchen, but this'll do!  Unbelievably enough I finally got up the gumption to start pouring the first of the kitchen counter tops.  We had a whole week of spring-like weather and I just couldn't let that pass without doing some kind of house work.  A lot of times the hardest part of a project is simply starting, so I just took one step at a time and pretty soon it was going!  The nice weather made getting and hauling the sand and gravel enjoyable and easy and that was one of the biggest steps.
Now, in this first photo you can see that I have everything pretty much ready and in the next photos I'll give you some detail shots and more explanations.  As you can probably guess, the plastic sheeting is to protect my cabinets and also the stove that I left in place for the pour.

I ran my forms on grade, which is to say, I set the top of the form at the height I wanted my finished counter top.  To me, it's just so much easier to finish to the top edge of the form rather than try to make a grade line and keep it visible while you are pouring.  Of course, that's not that hard and what I had to do anyway on the sides that butted the backsplash area.  When I get my forms set to the right elevation I always mark it with a crow's foot and that allows you to see if something happens to knock your form up or down.

I then leveled my grade line across the back and around the sides and was pleased to see that when I measured up 2" inches in random spots it actually hit the grade line! ha!  I also partially ran a few long screws into a few studs to help "lock in" the counter top slab.  It would probably never move on it's on but expansion and contraction and all that jazz, you know.

There are several ways to do the edge form and I choose again, just to clamp mine to my cabinets with a 1" spacer between the cabinet and the vertical form, which is the standard counter top overhang.  Clamping does sometimes cause the form to roll out a little at the top but I'll show you how I remedied that in a minute.

The ends of the form were screwed off to available surfaces.  I always use screws also because they are much easier to remove than nails and will not pull out like a nail will.  Of course, there was very little pressure against this form but 2 inches of mud will exert a little.

This is looking at the inside of the edge form and you can see I caulked everything really good.  The concrete mixture will weep way more than you might think so I always caulk any crack really well.  A nice, smooth bead of CLEAR caulk in the bottom inside edge will give the bottom front edge of the concrete a really smooth finish too.  I know everything looks white but this is that caulk that goes on white but dries to clear.  The edge form and spacer are white though.  To the left you can see the 3/4" plywood that tops my cabinets and is the bottom form for the counter tops.

The very last step is to put in your reinforcing and in this case I used dog wire.  It's a 4"x2" grid wire.  You could use chicken wire, hardware cloth or even #3 rebar.  You also want your wire to end up about halfway up in the concrete rather than mashed down against the plywood.  An easy way to do this is to initially pour a blob of mud about every 12 or 16" and then pull the wire back up so that it's about an inch off the bottom.  I'm pouring 2" counter tops, btw.  The mud will hold the wire in place then as you pour the rest.

We mixed the concrete outside and then just brought it in with buckets.  I float the mud down as I go, pushing the concrete on grade towards the back first and working your way towards the front form.  With floating you are kinda pushing and patting and smoothing.  Not trying to get a smooth finish yet, just trying to get everything on grade.  I also vibrate the edges with a palm sander and tap the underside of the form with a hammer to compact the mud.  When bubbles stop coming to the surface you know you are done.  Don't vibrate any more or you can actually separate your mix too much.
In this photo you can also see two other tricks.  The side form against the stove is not nailed off as this was not possible without moving the stove and all that crap.  I pushed the stove over to the left as much as I could and slid in the edge form.  I then placed the wooden wedges every few inches and tapped them down until I got a good snug fit.  Once it's screwed to the front edge form and caulked good it's not going anywhere.  Always use wood wedges too because they won't scratch or dent anything. 
You also see 2 wires running over the slab.  I anchored 2 tapcons into the studs of that wall and then wired 2 little turnbuckles in the wiring, which ran over to the front edge form.  As you tighten (or loosen) the turnbuckles you can move the form in or out, however you want.  Works great.  I simply used a straight edge on the front edge to determine when it was good.  These are a tiny version of the large turnbuckles we use on big wall forms and such.  After you pour and get it floated down, you want to check your lining again and make sure nothing moved.

Okay!!  So, any questions??  I hope I explained all that correctly.  If I didn't, please let me know and I can address it in the next posts.  I'll do another on troweling the concrete for a good finish, removing the forms and all that.

Pocketful Of Sunshine

I have tried posting several times lately, and even have a couple of unfinished posts in drafts, but just have not been able to get it together!  First, we went through this horrible gloomy week of rain or drizzle and absolutely no sunshine.  It was affecting everyone and I just couldn't think of much to write about.  I even ordered me one of those SAD lights to sit on my desk and changed the light bulbs in some of my studio lights to the daylight spectrum bulbs.  All of that actually does seem to help and just about the time I was getting up enough steam to post...the real sun came out and we all were rejoicing!  I stayed outside as much as I could to enjoy the sun and it has even been in the mid-50s (F) so the days have been really nice.  The thought of sitting at a computer did not appeal to me.  You can see that Chigger and the girls were rejoicing in the sunshine too!  Everybody is happy!

I've also been working on a new load of pottery, which we delivered yesterday, and that always takes up a bunch of time.  We are even getting eggs again! 

I've got a zillion projects I want to work on outside and am trying to prioritize them so as to get something started.  The two main ones are to start pouring my kitchen countertops and to rebuild the cold frame in the garden.  I miss growing my own salad greens and things.  Of course, the countertops are inside but you have to mix the concrete outside and it's so much better on a nice day.  Plus, I want to pour the bar tops outside and you definitely need a nice day for that.  We did pick up one big bag of portland cement yesterday but I'll have to wait until Monday to be able to get the sand and 8910 gravel.

And in between all of this I need to keep making pottery!!  I must increase my income.  You know I had thought of supplementing with restoration work here and there but all my leads on that have just come to an abrupt stop.  Nothing.  It was kinda odd actually.  But, that happens and then in a year or two I'll get some more jobs in that area.  But since I've been able to throw standing up and that is working so well it has renewed my enthusiasm for the work.  Coming up with some new colors and glazes is exciting too and helps encourage me.

I was pleased with this latest firing and need to make large batches of these new glazes.  I'm also down to my last scrapings of clay and am waiting for a new shipment to come into Atlanta.

So, I hope you all are enjoying some nice weather or at least the sunshine.  I am SO very ready for spring.

Well, time to go!!  Lots of stuff to do!!

Easier Said Than Done

So, one of my goals for 2015 is to finish this kitchen!!  Really, I hope to finish the kitchen and maybe even the other side of this wall before the winter is up, or at least spring.  I don't really lack all that much, although there is a lot of unfinished square footage, it covers fast with what I plan to do.  First, is to pour these counter tops and the concrete bar tops that go on the low walls.  I'll probably form and pour the bar tops outside on a decent day and then place them once they are cured but the counter tops will be poured in place, obviously.

Then to do the tile backsplashes and wall tile.  This is the glass/ slate tile that will go between the concrete countertops and the bar tops.  And yes, that's about how much tile will be the too.  I have 2 inches of countertop (as marked by the crow's foot on the lower left on the wall) and then a 3" or 3 1/2" concrete backsplash which should fit right up under that electrical box.  Then the glass tile from there up.

On this other side of the wall I need to finish the sheetrock, paint those low walls and then make, or have made, the built-in bookshelves that go there on either side of the fireplace.  You can see where I have a temporary bookshelf on the other side.  And of course, I need to finish running the slate tile here and grout it, along with the mosaic work that goes in the off-centered strips.  That part may drag out a little longer as that mosaic takes a long time!  Ugh!  the little bit you can see I have done, down by the hearth, took 4 hours!  But, it's just something I've got to psych myself up to do.  I do enjoy the work but I tend to get a little antsy to be finished.  Doing a little bit every day or so is usually my best strategy.

Now, this will have to wait until warm weather but I also must finish this wall this year.  I have to etch and paint those metal sheets so that is why I need warm weather; can't do that in the house.  And then after the metal is up I'll install some sort of shelving to display sculptures and ceramics.  Or whatever.  Skulls of old boyfriends, I don't know.  And yes, that sheet hanging over the door will be replaced with an actual door!!  I have a really, super cool idea for the interior doors but again, I need warm weather to do those. 

So, if I can get all this finished before springtime I can then move on to all the crap that needs to be finished on the outside!!  Yay!!  I guess I should look at it like this...it all keeps me from sitting down at least!  I also have not forgotten that I need finished flooring but that is a very last of the list item and I'm trying not to overwhelm myself.  haha!

So, do ya'll have any interior house projects going on for winter? 

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

Tonight's post is basically more rambling, and it's hard to pick a photo to go along with that topic, but I thought this one was as good as any.  It was taken not too long ago along one section of my driveway.

So as I mentioned, I am coming up on 8 years of blogging.  That's a helluva long time to write about day to day life.  It's kinda funny because I always liked the idea of keeping a diary....but I could never actually do it.  I guess this is the only method I've ever stuck to and a blog is a really good way to record life's events and your thoughts at the time.  It's sad to me that blogging is not the community that it once was.  I guess I was fortunate that it was more popular, (or at least I had more entertaining things to write about), when I was single.  It was sort of like having a friend to dish to at all hours and you might even get replies at all hours.  Sad though that people seem to have let Facebook and other outlets steal their already short attention spans.  Of course, I've also seen a lot of the older bloggers pass away during the last 8 years.  I think many of them added to the community feel of blogging and with many of them gone (at least in the circle of bloggers I know) things seem kinda sparse and forgotten.  I have never really fit in, in any group or stage of my life, but at one point I was sort of a part of a friendly circle of like-minded people and it's always sad to see that go.  But that's life, you know.  People change, or think that you change, or just get swept away in some other tide.  It's also very interesting to see who sticks with you.  As in "real" life, it's often not who you thought it would be! But sometimes it is and that's nice.  But for those of you who enjoy reading here, don't worry, I'm not leaving.  I've just been in a reflective mood the past month or so I guess and thought I'd ramble a bit. 

But speaking of such things, there were a couple of questions for you guys out there.  You may not be able to answer any of them but I thought I'd try.  First, are any of you familiar with the blog Tossing Pebbles By The Stream? and it's author, Philip?  He used to stop by here regularly but disappeared about the time I got married, as did a number of people (haha!), and a couple of us have heard that Philip has cancer.  We were just trying to see if any communicates with Philip or knows anything about his situation?  I personally would love to be able to send him a card or such.  I always appreciated his comments here.
Another person who has dropped off that I am concerned about is Caroline over at Gingersnaps or And A Hive Of Silvery Bees.  She used to comment fairly regularly but has just seemingly dropped off the face of the blogging world anyway.  I have left comments on her blog but they go unanswered.  Does anyone talk to her?

So, I'll be back with some new stuff soon.  As I said, no year in review but I do have a number of goals for this new year and maybe if I write them down it will help motivate me! 

January Hymn

Well, I hope everyone's holiday celebrations were what you wished for; whether that was days on end of food, family and festivities or just quiet days of leisure alone.  As I said in my previous post, we had a couple of nice dinners at home with family and that was about it.  Watched a couple of movies and went out once or twice.  It was nice actually.
But, I am ready to move on into the new year.  I'm not going to do a year-in-review thing like I usually do because....uhh....let's see...I didn't do shit this last year!  Yeah, that's it.  So, we will concentrate on what I hope to do in this coming year!  I don't really do New Year resolutions either.  To me, you're either going to change habits or you're not and a new year never seemed to motivate me that much.  I've already been sticking to my gym work-outs for about 2 months now, so I'll just continue that.  I'm to the point now that I look forward to going because the exercise really does make me feel better, physically and mentally.  Lifts my mood considerably.  And, I've lost about 8 pounds or so, so to see some progress is great and encouraging!  Can't say that it helps my pain any, other than I'm not sitting down, but it still helps me in other ways.  On days that I can't make it to the gym I have measured out a mile walking/ strenuous hiking trail around the house here and I do that instead.

My work break ends tomorrow also.  One of my stores has already called with a new order so I need to get busy on that and restocking my inventory anyway.  It's so nice to know I can make all these things standing up now and not hunched over in pain.  Maybe this year I can even come up with, or continue, some new designs and colors.
So, speaking of scenery and getting rich (haha!), this year I finally got off my ass and designed a 12-month calender that features the critters and flora of my little Dragon Valley.  They are available to purchase HERE and you can preview so you know just what is inside.  This is a standard size wall calender but I may see about having a larger, jumbo size printed and available.  The standard size includes all Americans holidays and the spaces are large enough for penciling in notes and such.  And please know, I sincerely appreciate any purchases.  Many bloggers put advertising or other such means on their blog to raise a little money but I've never really wanted to do that.  I don't like the way it looks and makes the blog seem sorta impersonal.  However, a little money raised from photos I've already taken for this blog doesn't hurt, you know?  And all the photos featured in the calender were taken right here at home.  If these come out well I might do an all chicken one, or all flowers or such next year.

So, here's to a prosperous and happy new year!!

Out With The Old And In With The New

 As you may have guessed, I just have not had a huge amount of things to write about lately.  The holidays were nice but nothing spectacular happened.  Mainly we were just relaxing after my last minute push to get some pottery done.  I said I wouldn't throw again until after the new year and that looks to be true.  The post tonight is mainly just a bunch of random photos and random ramblings.  If the color looks wonky in the one above I'm not really sure what is going on there.

It seems the winter rains have started early this year because we have gotten several inches over the past couple of weeks.  One of the reasons that there has been a lack of photos on here lately.  Today was a beautiful, sunny day though and everyone was out enjoying it.  It was just a touch cool but the girls didn't mind.  I went on several walks and cleaned up one of my flower beds a little.  It was nice to have some sun finally because it seems the winter blahs have come early also.  I don't know if it's still my system trying to right itself after those steroids or just a larger symptom of something else but the last 2 years have sucked, to put it mildly.  Some days I feel pretty good but most days I have just had the life beaten out of me.

I am honestly trying to improve things for myself.  Trying to get working again and I'm going to the gym pretty regularly too.

 So, the trick is to find beauty anywhere you can.  In the ordinary and the unusual.  Try to minimize the pain.

The creek has finally cleared and dropped back to a more normal level.  It's very soothing to sit here and just ponder things.  I need to build a more comfortable sitting area though.  A bench or something.  Tomorrow should be nice but the rains come back over the weekend so I better enjoy this while I can!

 A few of the girls have started laying again and Pumpkin finally started.  Her eggs are a little small of course, but they are gaining size quickly.

I think the girls were so happy to have a nice day.  They stayed out grazing for quite a while.  There is still a little greenery to be found but it probably won't last much longer.  Unless we have a mild winter, which could happen.

Big T (or Tillis) has become a fine rooster.  The girls are not scared of him and I think he's doing a good job.  He tries to keep an eye out for trouble and stays right with the girls all the time.  They sort of ignore him a little but he doesn't seem to mind.  It's sure a long way from the scrawny little, half-naked chick I used to let sleep on my shoulder to keep warm.  Maybe he remembers my comforting him and tries to be a more gentle roo.

So, as we look towards the new year I sincerely hope things improve over the last couple.  Not just for me but for all of you as well.  I think probably it will.  So, here's to the warm, sunny days.  A warm bed on the rainy ones.  Loving arms to hold you on either day and a fire in your heart.

Welcome Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all who celebrate this season.  Merry Christmas and Peace on your earth.  May we all be blessed in the coming year and greet one another with more love, compassion and fellowship than ever before. 
            "He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree."

Peace, Love and Goodwill to you all, my dear readers.

Love Roller Coaster

 The past few days have been a little bit of a hectic rush to get one last load of pottery delivered to my stores before Christmas and the last couple of weeks have been a wild ride of virtually every emotion available, hence the title of this post.  Plus, it's one of my all-time favorite songs, whether by the original artists (I think the Ohio Players) or the Red Hot Chili Peppers version.
Anyway, we have all survived so far.  Well, I take that back.  Sweet little Scooter did not.  She died Wednesday night.  I did everything I could think of but it was just not enough.  I think she may have had cancer or some other internal disease because about a year ago I saw where she had passed some....erm...odd-looking things while she was on the roost one night.  Might have been "lash eggs", I have no idea, but she never laid another egg after that and she got fairly sick over the summer but I managed to doctor her through that.  Not so this time.  Some of ya'll may remember she was one of the first little chicks ever hatched here and when she was abut 10 days old one of the older hens managed to get to her, although we had them separated, and rip her head up pretty awful.  I doctored her through that too and she was a little fighter.  We didn't think she would live but she did and did great.  But, sometimes it's just their time.  I like to think she had a happy life here.  I had my hands on her when she hatched and I had my hand on her as she passed.  I hope she knew she was loved.

In much better news though, our former head rooster Mr. George, who was sold to the daughter of a feller I went through school with, won 1st place at the APA show this month!!  Way to go George!!!  I knew he was a handsome fellow and the girl who has him now just loves him.  I'm sure he has a good home and is literally the Cock of the Walk there.

I'm still struggling a little with the anxiety caused by those damn steroids but for the most part I'm doing much better.  My back is healed up and I've been able to go back to the gym for some great workouts.  I think I may also be allergic to milk because after 3 weeks of going without any milk products I'm feeling much less tired these days and less problems with headaches.  I suspect I have bad seasonal allergies too and am going to go back in a few weeks to let them test me for specific allergies.

I think that is all the latest news, good and bad.  Mostly good though.  So, I'm off to clean and decorate now.  I'll try to be back during Christmas but just in case I hope all of you out there that celebrate this season have a wonderful, happy and loving Christmas or a very happy ending to Hanukkah.  Happy Yule!  Merry Solstice and that good stuff!!

Got My Mojo Working

Happily there has been a good bit of improvement in most things around here.  My back is waaay better and I am even able to go back to the gym.  Now, I'm not doing any power-lifting sets or anything like that but I am getting a good workout on the elliptical machines and a few light weights.  This is especially good because exercise is one of the best things I've found to counteract the anxiety caused by those damned steroids.  My bum is still hurting a little but it seems to have improved a little bit since I am not sitting down as much.  Now, when I say a little, that's just what I mean....and I haven't gone on any significant car rides either to see how quickly I start hurting.  But I think it's helping some.
  This type pedal does not require constant pressure to keep it going; you just press down until you reach the speed you want and then you take your hand (or foot) off and it maintains that speed.  Obviously that is a must when you are throwing.  I thought it might be harder to get used to but, once again, it was much easier than I expected.

So I have been throwing more, much to the delight of the stores, but I am still woefully behind for the season.  This stuff pictured is a pitifully small amount but it's a great improvement over what I have been doing and I plan to add to it significantly today.
I did want to put up a quick post though to let ya'll know that I am doing better.  Things are improving but you just have to keep working at it.  Just never give up.

Unfortunately, Scooter is not doing so well though.  I'm about 100% certain she has had an impacted crop but I think is working through it with my help.  I hope anyway.  I noticed she was keeping to herself and after observing her over a night and morning I saw that her crop was not emptying at all.  It was not hugely inflated but it was really doughy feeling and not moving on through her system.  So, I flushed her crop really good with water and a little olive oil and massaged it several times a day.  This helped quite a lot and I could actually feel the mass breaking up.  This morning it was much, much smaller and loose, not doughy at all.  I also noticed yesterday, while massaging her, that there was this very hard "thing" in her crop.  It honestly felt like a rock.  It was maybe 3/8".  There was some other gritty feeling things in there too but they were much smaller.  Well, this morning I could not feel the big thing anymore and I mushed around quite a lot to make sure.  I'm hoping whatever that was will pass on to her gizzard were it can be ground down and passed.  She is pooping (I know ya'll are thrilled to know that!) and eating a little but not much.  She got a bit more water today with a little food and is staying in the little apartment by herself so the others won't bother her.  I really wonder if she maybe ate a lizard or something and it having trouble passing the bones.  I saw her once eat an entire baby snake, whole, so I know she likes such things.  She's also fairly alert but just likes to sit quietly right now.  I really hope she gets better.  Scooter is one of my favorites 'cause she's kinda had a rough start but has persevered through a lot of adversity.

So, I'll be back when time allows.  I haven't even started decorating or anything for Christmas but it getting real close to time for that!

.....And The World Laughs With You

... Or something along those lines.  Actually, with me I think it's more like, when I laugh everybody starts backing away slowly and easing on down the walk.  So, in case anybody was wondering, yes, that last post was meant to be funny.  I'm to the point now where you just have to laugh and make fun of things to keep from crying...or pulling your hair out.
But in good news, I did manage to complete that firing and it all came out fairly well.  I was also pleased with a couple of new glazes that I had tested before but until now had not used on a whole piece.

So, we delivered a fair size load to Alabama Goods (one of my retail stores) and they were excited to get the stuff.  I could see why too because I really had very little inventory left there.  I didn't realize I had gotten that low.  I'm really going to try to get out another good size firing before Christmas for them.

I thought this goldish glaze went right nicely with the red and black.

Lots and lots of new mugs.  They are very popular for Christmas gifts.

This is a honey pot in case you were wondering why it has that notch in the lid.  That's where the honey dipper rests and the handle can stick out.

So, due to circumstances there is not a lot for me to write about, as far as things going on around here.  I had a number of things planned to start on but until my lower back improves I will not be starting any new projects.  Right now I think I flop back and forth between defiance and joking to almost despair and depression.  But I know it's just the pain talking.  It does wear on you.  Makes you silly sometimes and pissy as hell the next.  But whatdya do??  You have to just keep going and trying.  Something has to give eventually.

Rather Be

My plan was to have this great new post about what all I've done since the last one (since it's been a while) and how incredibly well things are working out now!  Instead, I've had some rather interesting side effects from all the steroids, threw my back out in addition to my "butt joint" and topped it off by getting bit by a spider today!!  Yay me!
Have I mentioned how sick I am of all this?  And all that crap about 'what doesn't kill you will make you stronger..'  Mmm yeah.  I'm plenty strong enough now, m'kay.  Thanks.
I was actually sort of enjoying the initial steroid side effects; the great mood I was telling ya'll about a few days back.  Yeah!  That was great!  Had a little hyper hyper going on there...which, considering what a slug I have been the past year or so, was great.  I could deal with that.  Then I realized my blood pressure was running like 160/105.  Oooh, not good.  It has come down a fair amount but unfortunately, so did my mood!!  What fun!!  Insomnia!  Panic, anxiety and best of all....paranoia!!  I finally had a lightning bolt of clarity during one 3:00 a.m attack and realized all this lined up with the steroid shots, meds and inhaler.  I knew steroids had some bad side effects but didn't realized it could do that, so I looked up some research in various medical journals....what d'ya know!??  80% of people given steroids in large doses have psychological repercussions.  Holy shit Batman!  Cancel the pelvic injection.  No way in HELL I am going to get that now.

So, now I'm back to just mechanically trying to ease the pain.  In other words, I don't sit down unless I have to.   So, I threw enough to do a firing but had to change out one element in the kiln before I could do that.  We partially dissembled the kiln so I wouldn't have to bend over very much to replace the element.  And guess what?...I still threw my lower back out!!  God I love the excitement of my life!  .  All while shuffling around like a pissed off Quasimodo.  Now I can't sit down and can't stand up straight!!  And, I'm out of muscle relaxers!!  All I can say is thank God for Benedryl and Xanax.  Now, ya'll know I hate to take prescription drugs but sometimes you just have to say, fuck it.  I break the Xanax down into forths but I've been carving those things up with pharmacological precision.

Now then.  We get to today and I managed to get the bisque fire unloaded and was working on wiping down the pieces in preparation for waxing the feet and all for glazing.  Oh, and all this weekend my one big store has called every. day. to let me know they are really needed stuff.  No pressure or anything though.  So, I'm wiping pots and have some tunes going on the radio that when something grabbed my finger when I grabbed up the next mug to clean!  I don't know what is it but it hurts and it was just a thousand wonders I did not sling the mug and everything else across the room as I screamed and, of course, jerked upright and caused my back to commence killing me again.  I looked down on the floor and it was a damn spider!!  That little shit had grabbed my finger with all he was worth and proceeded to bite the living hell out of it.  Believe it or not I did not squish it's little body into oblivion.  I trapped his sorry ass in a glass and proceeded to scare the shit out of it!  Nah, just kidding.  I did capture it so we could look it up and make sure it was not poisonous and that my whole left arm was not going to rot off.  And yes, it was my left hand and I am left-handed.  So, after applying some sting medicine, and it did feel just like a bee sting, we determined that it was just a wolf spider and I took it out to a stump near the edge of the woods.  It turned to look up at me and raised it's 2 front legs in a defiant salute.  I saluted back with a double one finger and warned it to stay away from the house from now on.
And now, I sit.  Well, sort of.  Actually, I kind of list to port.  Sore all over with a stinging, hurting thumb.  Until tomorrow, when I get to go have my annual pelvic exam...better known as the Pap smear.  That's right...after all this shit, I have an appointment tomorrow to let another doctor scrape cells out of my hoohaa and mash my boobs in a machine.

So, I know this is Life's twisted way of testing me....or punishing me....however you want to look at it.  It is not lost on me.  I spit my disdain.  I fart in it's general direction.  I will endeavor to persevere.   But there better be a damn golden egg waiting out there for me or some shit.  Sack of money... lottery win.  I'm not choosy.

Better Than Nothing

Well, there's not a whole lot of anything going on around here right now.  I believe I have truly begun to hate winter.  And yes, I know it's not actually winter yet.  The damp coldness here has become relentless to me.  Like a lot of things.  I am so thankful for the occasional warm and sunny day though and we have had a few lately.  In fact, this whole week is supposed to be warm, although it may be a little rainy at times.  However,  rain is easier to take when it's warm, to me anyway.  And there have been a few new things surprise me this fall.  For one, my little witch hazel tree bloomed for the first time.  I was beginning to wonder if it really was a witch hazel but a couple of weeks back it burst forth in it's little yellow explosions.

The tea plants are not new but they have made considerable progress this past year.  The 3 red blooming bushes did die but the white blooming variety has done well.  One bush is up to about 3 feet tall.

As an experiment I planted 2 on the north-facing hillside behind the house.  It has pretty rich, humousy soil with great drainage.  I planted one other at the bottom of the hollar.  The lowest spot of my valley for ya'll not familiar with the local vernacular.  It also has good dark soil but stays a bit damper than the others.  What the two groups have in common is that they both are in part to mostly shade and they are both doing very well.  I really hope to be able to harvest enough leaves this spring to at least make a little tea.  Or attempt to make tea anyway.

In other news I finally go to the point of desperation and raised my pottery wheel high enough to throw standing up.  I had been able to throw a few things lately but the pain was just getting nerve wrecking.  I threw a number of things and I have to say it worked out pretty well.  I wish I had not been so stubborn and had tried this well before now.  It's easier not only because I'm not sitting down and putting pressure on my butt joint but it's just easier to move around.  I can come and go from the wheel with ease, moving finished products or if I forgot a tool and such.  No standing up and down and up and down.  There are a few little things to work out over time but I'd say this is working well enough to let me get a couple of loads of work to the stores before Christmas.

So, that's about it for now.  Hopefully things will brighten up over the next few days and relieve some of this misery.

Give Thanks

  A very Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers!!  and if you are not American well...Happy Thursday I guess!  I hope everyone celebrating has a great day filled with fun and good food and that you are with the ones you love...whoever they are.

I'm in an especially good mood tonight for some reason..Ha!  Oh, I have lots of reasons to be despite the fact my ass still hurts like a sonovabitch.  Maybe it's the combo of rum and sinus medicine, I don't know.  But I'm happy and I'll take what I can get!  Actually, I went to my ENT doc Monday and he said my sinuses are horrible and we agreed to test me for allergies, which may be causing some of this fatigue, headaches and all.  In the meantime I got 2 shots in the ass and something to go with the Claritin I take.  I hate to take medicine but I have to grudgingly admit that I have felt better the past 2 days.  Not wonderful, but better.  I'm also trying a little bit of an elimination diet and have started with dairy products, which I know have caused me trouble in the past.
So, I threw some pottery yesterday and today went to the gym and did some moderate exercises for about an hour and a half.  It really felt good.  I think I'm going to try going to some of the yoga classes they offer too.  I threw for maybe 2 hours kinda on and off and I was hurting a bit by the time I quit but I did it and was pleased with what I made.  Just need to keep at it, a little bit at a time.  One of my stores is really begging for more stuff for Christmas and I really need to try and come through for them.  I know I won't be able to make enough but 3 or 4 dozen mugs, a couple dozen honey pots and some serving bowls and stuff should be some help at least.  And I have a few people that have requested a few things so I'm going to really try to get those orders out too.  It shouldn't be too hard.
The BFD got me an appointment with a rheumatologist but it's not until May!  So, looks like I may be going to a pain clinic to see about a sacroilliac injection to help with the pain until then.  Here's a word of advice if you ever may have to have this done...  Don't Google what that entails. Okay?  Yeah. Sometimes Google needs to keep his damn mouth shut.  If you just have to read about it, wait until the day of.  GeezLoweez!!!  I can only hope they dope me up good. 

But for tonight I am not going to think about them ramming a giant needle through my pelvis and instead be happy for good doctors, sweet cranky friends and a house in the country with food in the pantry that I share with my sweetie.  Wow, I guess that is a horrible run-on sentence...ah well, blame it on the rum!!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!!

Something To Crow About

Tiny, little Tillie that was so small and almost succumbed to the spring chill....  Little T that was so small and got pushed around so much that he couldn't get enough to eat....  Little T that I brought inside to snuggle with me or sleep on a heating pad and finally had to eat by himself so he could get enough...

Has grown up into a fine, handsome young roo.   He's still an odd little thing though.  He will only crow occasionally and never in front of me!  He prefers instead to still talk in his little whistling chirps.  So far he is not aggressive with the girls.  He follows them around and struts a little but still seems a little shy.  I hope he stays that way.

They don't run from him like they did George.  Some of them even seem to like him... a little.  They tolerate him anyways.  You can't tell from the photos but he and Pumpkin are still like peas and carrots though.  Always together.  They are each other's best buddy, even though they squabble now and then.  Pumpkin gets mad at him every so often but she won't let him get far away before she runs to catch up!  They are so attached to each other I hope noting ever happens to one of them.

So, hopefully he will be our homestead rooster from now on.  He's a sweet bugger and I'd hate to get rid of him.

Time kinda got away from me this last week; I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted last.  It's warmed up now but we had a spell of some very cold weather and my aches and pains felt like they tripled.  I was in a fairly sorry state and by Thursday night I had about bottomed out.. but I'm feeling a good bit better now.  Not so much in the pain department but mentally anyway.

I don't have much to report on tonight though really.  Today was a very dreary, rainy day and what little motivation I had pretty much flew out the window.  The rest of the week is supposed to be brighter so maybe some of my energy will come back too.

Oh, I did have some questions for ya'll:  is anybody having trouble with my blog taking a long time to load, or the photos taking a long time?  I have been using a different camera at times that shoots at a much higher resolution than my old one did and I know it takes those photos longer to come up.  I reformatted one of the cards to a lower setting but wasn't sure if it was low enough for the blog.  I think it's probably okay but wanted to check.  And, is anybody having trouble commenting?  Of course, if you are you may not be able to tell me!  Ha! well, you could email me if you are.  I think also that the word verification has been put back on the commenting but I did not do it!!  I think Blogger must have taken it upon themselves maybe because of so much spam but I did not do that if anybody is peeved at me for it.  They have at least made the letters in the WV much easier to read lately.
So, basically, if anybody is having trouble with the blog please let me know.  Email me if you can't comment.

Sour Girl

   Some of you long-time readers may remember that the blogger, who shall remain nameless, over at Rurality has been a friend of mine for some time and you may also know that she is a big instigator.  Haha!  But in a good way.  In fact, she is the one who talked me into starting this blog so long ago and then abandoned us all a couple of years ago...ahem...but anyways...heehee.  Well, she also talked me into going to this fermenting workshop a few weeks ago that was held at a little intentional community not far from here.  I've made several posts here about some fermenting I had done using the crock method, and I thought it came out well, but this workshop was going to be using a more modern method (I guess you'd say) so I thought it would be interesting and a fun thing to do.  And I tend to be a little reclusive so it was a good thing to get out and meet some new people.
  So, basically the workshop provided information on the health benefits of raw fermented foods, such as kimchi, saurkraut, kefir etc. and how to make them.  And by raw, I mean not pasteurized, because the heat required in the pasteurization process kills all of the beneficial flora (bacteria) that you are creating by fermenting the food in the first place.  I am especially interested in eating more fermented foods because I've read that it is very good to help reduce inflammation in the body and that's seems to be what I've been having trouble with lately, for the most part.  Plus, if you make your own it is substantially cheaper than buying it already prepared.  I had tried some raw kimchi and liked it, but the only place within an acceptable driving distance that carried it was the Whole Foods in Birmingham and, as you can probably guess, it was quite expensive.  At least to me.  And, if you grow your own veggies for the mix it can be made for just pennies.

This is a Pickl-It jar in the 1 1/2 liter size.

  The new jar they use is the one big initial cost but after using it I think that it is well worth it, IF you think that fermenting is something you will do regularly.  Rurality was kind enough to let me use an extra of hers for my initial batch and so I could try it out before actually buying it!  HERE is a link to one type of jar now used for fermenting instead of the crocks.  The type shown in the link is not the same brand as what we used but it is the same basically.  I could not ever get the link to our jar brand to open so that's why I'm using this other.  Anyway, research it yourself if you are interested.  You can find a lot of different brands and such but the one thing that the lady teaching the workshop stressed is that the jar and lid should be entirely glass.  If you look around you will find some with a glass jar but a plastic lid and she was adamant that those will not airlock like the glass lids and your food can spoil.  Now, the little airlock gadget that sticks up out of the lid is plastic but it doesn't touch the food.  Some jars even come with a glass weigh or specially shaped bowl to push the foods under the liquid and that is nice.  We just crammed whole cabbage leaves on top to where they were pushed down by the lid and that held the fermenting food under the liquid.  You simply discard (or compost) the cabbage leaves when the product is ready and that worked fine.
  So, basically we shredded up a bunch of cabbage, green onions, ginger, radishes, carrots, garlic, peppers and then mixed that with the appropriate amount of sea salt and whatever spices you wanted.  I keep mine simple and only put in dill and parsley.  Using a wooden or ceramic stomper you pack the jar tightly and wait about an hour.  If the mixture is mostly cabbage it will release a fair amount of water which will form a natural brine but if it doesn't you can mix a little brine yourself and pour over the veggies until they are just covered.  Any little bit of research online or at your library will turn up tons of recipes and the exact amount of salt etc. that you need to use, so I'm not going to go into a great deal of depth on that.  But believe me, it is very easy to make.  Deciding what you want to go in it is the hard part.  Then you just wait a minimum of 2 weeks and the taste test it to see if it has aged to your liking.  If it has then you transfer it to a clean jar or jars to keep in your refrigerator and eat at your leisure.  The cold stops the fermentation process so it will last for about 6 months stored that way.  I can go through a pint of kimchi in about a week so mine doesn't last that long.
  After using the glass jar method I have to say it is really great and I will buy one now.  The crock method is very easy also but you have to check it every day and skim off any mold growing around the top.  No big deal but this way is just so simple.  The airlock top keeps any of that from forming and you just check it every day or two to make sure there is water in the little plastic hicky.  This initial batch of kimchi I made was good but I think next time I will cut back on the ginger and radishes.  I've never been a big fan of radishes.  And, I think I might make the next batch a little more spicy.  We used some pepper but they were the sweet type and I think a little heat would be a good addition.  As far as spices go, well, I just like the fermented taste.  Garlic is always a good addition and I might try a little mustard seed next time.
I hope this inspires some of you to try it and if you have any questions feel free to ask away!

Bad Weather Blues

This photo was taken during our last week of oh, so wonderful, just warm enough weather.  Yesterday and Sunday were also in that category and I relished it as much as I could but the incoming cold, wet front got the best of me and I had to "take to the bed", as some southerners would say.  I stayed outside as long as I could yesterday but my head began to pound so that I finally gave it up.  We had a little rain last night and today was spitefully cold and dreary, the past week's warmth a very distant memory now.  I guess the abruptness of the season's change was a shock to my system and I have hurt all over like somebody beat me.  I almost wish somebody would beat me.  Then I could at least get in a few licks myself to help my feelings.  As it is now I have nothing to take my frustrations out on.  Maybe I should take up boxing...

I finished another restoration project, which I'll hopefully deliver tomorrow, but I'm still feeling a little down.  I really don't know what to do.  See, to make a decent living as a potter, you have to produce a huge volume of work and be able to distribute that work.  Either through shows, which are very strenuous, or having other people sell it.  None of the meds I've tried are relieving my pain any where near enough to allow me to sit for more than a few minutes at a time and throw.  I struggle to produce enough to satisfy one store and even that store is not selling the amount that they used to.  Seems like sales are down noticeably this year all around.  Plus, I think I'm bored as hell with it all.

The kicker is this and it really hit me this past week: if I ever want to build the rest of my house, and I really, really do, I'm going to have to significantly raise my income level.  I just cannot save enough money with these sporadic sales.  And I don't think it's going to be through pottery or any job where I have to sit a lot.  I can get more restoration jobs but, of course, that often involves driving a lot.  Not always but some.  I feel so stuck and helpless.  I know there is a solution but it's eluding me at the moment.  Well, the solution would be not to hurt so much, and I'm working on that, but I still have to work.  Oh, and it would help if we could win the lottery...Maybe it's a combination of several things.  Income that is.  Restoration work when I can get it and then other art sales when I have time.  I don't know, I just feel like ranting a little.  And yes, I KNOW that the BFA is going to get on to me about another depressing post but I am depressed dammit!!  And I feel like wallowing in it for a little while!!  So you just pipe down smarty pants..!!  I'll get over it in a few days.

The BFD is going to refer me to a rheumatologist I think, so maybe something will come of that.  Gah!!!!  I am just so frustrated and irritated and pissed off right now.!!  Did I say that already?  And I know I'm not alone and many, many people have it much worse than me...so I don't need reminding of that.  Sometimes you just need to bitch a little, you know?  I'll be back later with a happier post I swear!

Autumn Leaves Revisited

Our area has a lot of red maples which are very colorful, as you might expect, at this time of year.

More beautiful weather lately also, but we did get a little rain the other day.  We did need it though.

Big T or Tillis is the reigning roo at the moment and loves to stand in my pot of lemon thyme.  And poop in it of course.  I sold George to a nice young lady who is the daughter of a fellow I went to high school with.  She is very active in the state 4-H and shows her flock regularly.  George will make his first show appearance at the APA show in December!  I think I am more excited than they are.