Monday, May 26, 2014

The to do list


I have been checking off my to do list this weekend, one thing at a time. It's a long long list. Gerry and Wesley have been in Charlotte all weekend covering the Nascar race and are coming home today, so there has been little distraction. They have been sending me photos, the one above I swiped from Gerry's instagram. I went to a race with Gerry years ago and it is definitely something you don't soon forget. What a crazy sport!


Gerry shoots from the roof, they have quite a nice view up there.


He bought Wes a Rowdy Bush hat. Perfect  race car driver's name, right? Gerry never goes to the infield and looks around, he seriously hates covering this sport, but yesterday he showed Wesley around all the merchandise tents. Check out the car parts in the background. honestly.... the things people will spend money on!


I can't seem to get a decent chick pic, they won't be still for one second. Look how long their little legs are getting! Yesterday morning their feathers were so ruffled, they looked like they had been doing acid all night, haha!  I will stop at their cage for a minute to see how they are and next thing I know, it's thirty minutes later, and I have been standing there just watching them. They are the sweetest things ever. Everybody ought to have some chicks in their living room :)
Yesterday, I was sitting on the ground in their coop, stapling chicken wire over the screen door for extra security, and the three of them crawled up in my lap and watched me work. I wish someone had been here to get a photo. I just love these little things!


My cat has showed a mild interest in the chicks,  but somehow she knows these are not for her. She doesn't go into that stalking cat mode when they are out in the yard, she just watches them from a distance, and seems a bit annoyed that she can't bite their heads off and leave them at the back door for me. I worry about the predators we do have though. Two nights ago I heard another murder in the back woods, I'm pretty sure it was the fox again. I can't tell you what a horrible thing it is to be awakened at 3am by the sound of an animal screaming as something is killing it. Very unsettling.... I wonder, is it my cat? and now, I'll be wondering if it's my chickens. Ugh, wish animals were vegetarians.

While I was working in the yard yesterday, I saw two huge vultures down by the creek eating what I suppose was the murder victim. It looked like an opossum, but I wasn't really into going down there and getting a closer look at whatever was being shredded. Maybe when they get the bones cleaned off, I'll go collect them.....


The neighbors chickens came over yesterday to see the new coop, even though you might recall we have asked them to please keep their hole digging chickens in their yard, apparently they have short term memory loss. I don't have the heart to run them off, they are so sweet and so pretty, and Gerry isn't here to fuss about them, hee hee :)  shhhh, don't tell.


While Gerry and Wesley have been gone I have been trying to catch up on some projects long overdue. Our back deck railing has been looking dated and ugly for a long time, but I had pottery to make and sell, so attempting to paint all of those little railings was way down on the list of things to do. I tackled it yesterday. The weather has been great for outdoor projects and I had no distractions, so I began. Ran out of paint about half way through, got bored really fast, painting white over a dark green has proven to be a pain in the ass, three coats for each rail, so maybe I'll finish up later this week. My hands are still sore from coop building. My right index finger has a puncture from drilling a screw in it, and yesterday I cut the tip of my left index finger, so my hands are toast right now.


Because I don't already have enough to do, I made some candles too. I have this interest in making candles all of a sudden, no idea where this came from, other than I have a brain that is in overdrive in the wanting to make a craft department.  I'm still wanting to make soap, there was a soap making class this past weekend around here, but it slipped my mind, so I made candles. Gerry and Wesley gave me this candle making book from Old Salem for Mother's Day. These are my first attempt at bees wax  votives. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, it's not that simple. I can't get the tops all pretty and even, my wax was either too hot or too cold, don't know which. They smell great though and the glow from the golden bees wax illuminated is so pretty and golden. Maybe one of these days, I will make candle holders and offer candles to go with them...... one of these days.......

I should be out in my studio making pottery and trying to sell some of it, but the labor involved in making pottery right now is not that appealing to my tired sore body, after all the construction and house repair projects I have been taking care of. When you ignore a house for ten years and obsess over clay instead, you pay for it down the road. Gerry has enough on his plate working for the AP and keeping up the yard, so I am trying to do as much as I can around here, but it really takes away from clay time. If we ever find that piece of land and have a garden, I don't know if there will be any time at all for clay. Right now, there are lots of other things to take care of, so I'm just checking off the to do list, one by one......

15 comments:

Dennis Allen said...

Did it cost extra for their badges to say "HOT" ? Totally worth it.

Tracey Broome said...

Haha, I didn't even notice that! I have no idea what that means unless they have full access.... Or they're just hot!

Michèle Hastings said...

I like your candles just the way they are... they look handmade and rustic and I mean that in a good way.

I will never understand the appeal of Nascar.

Tracey Broome said...

Hey Michele, thank! I like them rustic too but they are just a bit too rustic right now :-)
NASCAR, who knows, just another excuse for people to get drunk, eat bad food and get sunburned while yelling for their team. America.......

Anna M. Branner said...

The ONLY thing that appeals to me at all about Nascar is the history of how it got started. But that's it.

I agree with you about house stuff taking so much time away from creative time. Between getting some garden beds dug, house issues and visiting my Mom clay has taken a vacation. Next month I hope to get back in there! At least I always have time to spin. :)

just jody said...

Girl....where did you get all that energy...I got tired just reading the post! I would have spent ALL my time watching the chicks.

Tracey Broome said...

Hey Anna, yep too much to do , so little time for it all! I have been missing my loom, think it's about time for another go at it.
Jody, it's called too much caffeine, haha! Believe me I collapsed last night, fell asleep on the sofa :-)
Today I spent a huge amount of time on the porch with the chicks, all us girls just resting.

Anonymous said...

Rumor has it that when Robert McCloskey was working on "Make Way For Ducklings", he brought a box of them home on the bus, tried sketching them, but they moved too fast, so gave them some wine to slow them down. (Not that I'm suggesting this for your chicks!)

Tracey Broome said...

Don't you love his books?! I used to read them to Wesley when she was little, then when we went to Maine a few years ago, I got them out and read them to myself. Hmm, a little wine for the chicks, huh?

Trish said...

You may not be potting, Tracey, but you are being SO creative in all of these projects. :)..enjoying the 'chicky' pics.. :) T.

Tracey Broome said...

Thanks Trish, keeping busy, that's for sure!

Lori Buff said...

Maybe you should try getting a video of the baby chicks. Who doesn't love a good "Chick Flick?" Hehehe.

Sandy Miller said...

Know what ya mean about that "to do list" ! Your post makes me laugh as I am sitting here with a sore body and foot propped due to stabbing it with a pitch fork while cleaning out the chicken coop yesterday.

NASCAR....... no words. Rather watch hamsters on wheel and they are quieter!

All this stuff and my farmers tan is rock'n!

Your chicken coop has shamed me to paint mine :) Poor girls could use a bit of decorating!

We creatives...... I just blew the dust off my sewing machine!! It's always something!


Tracey Broome said...

Lori, video would sure be easier but maybe boring for everyone but me:)
Sandy, yeah, my body needed some healing after last week, but yikes! A pitchfork?! You win the pain contest :-)
NASCAR is .... Interesting. Wesley is writing a nascar screenplay, can't wait to see what that's like from her perspective.....

Lillian J. Turner said...

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