Sunrise, Sunset, Gifts, Rain Barrels, Peppers and Rocks

Yesterday Morning ....



Last Night ....



And today it rained most of the day. I had to take the trash out to the street with an umbrella (Monday is trash pick up day) in my P.J.'s

We got a box from Lea's sister on Friday full of gifts .... wow .... it was so fun! It was full of great stuff like tins of "SweetRiot", White Sage, Herbs, a Jet sphere, another piece of Jet that feels really good to hold, Ginger Candy, QiGong DVD's, a Mandala Healing kit, Origami Notecards, a Giraffe that looks like it was carved from picture Jasper, an Aventurine Elephant, Golden Calcite (very special piece ... clear with lots of rainbow), black Kyanite, Watercolors, some cooking utensils, and a couple of flashlights. It was so fun getting this box .... I think we just don't give or get presents enough. Here's a picture of the ravaged box ....



Here's my giraffe and jet ....



And here's the jet sphere .....



So today we decided that we really needed to build a new rain collection system so we went to "old man Dobbs" and got ourselves a couple of new 55 gallon drums. Loaded those wet suckers (remember it was raining) up into the car and for now they're sitting in our carport ....



This is what we're going to be replacing (not that it needs it) ....



We've eaten tons of peppers and they're still producing ..... here's what's left .....




So we've gotten into driving the dirt back roads in the backwoods hills .... yes .... I know .... we really should be driving a truck and not a mini van but it's sooooo fun and a little scary, but that's part of the fun. We came upon a really old cemetary .... miles from nowhere ... we're going back on Halloween and take some pictures :) We did pick up a great flat rock, perfect for a stepping stone, on the side of the road. We need about 30 more of these so we'll be going back to hunt more ....

More Trail Photos

I skipped a few days of posting but I'll tell ya that we're still working on that trail (and will be for a long time) .... we do now have some supervision which is really helping ....



And she went up and down it to be sure it was just right ....



Andi isn't in any of the photos because she spends her outside time squirrel hunting, I really feel I need to include her and Ozzie so here they are doing what they do best ....



I really just threw that in so I could show off the new bedframe.

We have a source in Hardy for selling some of our handmade work so it's time to start creating something other than silk scarves, which I could do every day if I could get away with it. We got a slab bar for our family room so the crappy table we were using is now in the dirt basement .... I have taken it over to make PEG'S, that's "positive energy generators", AKA "orgone generators" .... the shop in town is anxious to sell them as well as Lea's woodworking so here's my little setup .....



Resin is pretty stinky stuff so the dirt basement is perfect and it's closed off to everything. Meanwhile Lea is still working on getting her shop set up in the basement but she's now in the location testing stage .... here she is testing out a "jaw horse" for carving .... we'll just call it a "Lea Special" .....



We did not have any cameras down at the river this afternoon and I'm really sorry we didn't because Lea has got Millie trained to grab the rope on her tube and pull her around in the water. You know how much Millie loves to swim and now she's discovered how fun it is to swim out and pull Lea to shore .... good sometimes but no so good if you don't want to go back to shore. The hard part is getting the tube back from her since she locks her jaws on the rope.

The weather has stopped being HOT so we're packing up a picnic lunch and heading out tomorrow for a day of kayaking.

A Nice Rain

Woke up early this morning to a nice little storm ... had to record the sound ... it was soooo nice! So here it is .... along with a photo (of course) :) that has nothing to do with the storm, it's just this mom with her 2 little babies that graze in our backyard and I just love them ... you may have to look close for the 2nd baby behind her mother....



This Mornings Thunderstorm by OzarkRains

Steps and Hardy

We finished 3 steps today on our trail .... we have several more to do but here's some photos showing our progress ....




After cleaning up from working on the trail we headed into Hardy to go to the pottery shop .... it's our favorite store in town and I think we've become collectors of their pottery. Some of the pottery is made by the owners but they also bring in the work of many other artisans so they not only have a great variety of styles of pottery but also other handmade goodies. Here's a photo of the shop and also one looking down main street Hardy .....




Before heading home we stopped at the park in town. Next time I go I'll shoot more pictures because it's such a beautiful park. It's pretty big with a paved walking path, picnic tables, park benches next to the river, doggy poo bag stations, and a really nice playground for the kids. While we were standing next to the river a young couple canoed by with their young son and dog .... we chatted back and forth a bit while they floated by .... it was so serene .....



One last photo for today. Here's Lea at Hardy Beach on the phone with her sister .... look at the size of that tree ....

Steps, Lakes and Plumbing

We think we have a plan now for steep spots on our hill down to the river. This morning we gathered some various sizes of logs and started cutting them into the path. We had to stop to go to the hardware store and get 12" long stacks to support the logs. Here's a shot of Lea sizing up some logs ....



It was such a nice day that on the way to the hardware store we stopped at one of the lakes, always having my iPhone with me, I snapped off a couple of shots to share ....




While we were in town we got a call from the plumbers office that "the boys" were on their way to our house to replace our water main. About a month ago we discovered a partially exposed galvanized pipe in the dirt basement that was really corroded .... hmmmm .... figured that must be where our water main came in. It looked very bad and very old and I'm sure that's what the rest of it looked like that was underground. All the rest of the plumbing in the house is copper but not the original 1966 water main pipe .... yikes! I called the plumbing company and got the quote and put on a list. So today was the day! If there's 1 thing that we learned from living at SMR it's ..... bad pipes equal water breaks. We may not have a truck in our driveway but by golly we have good plumbing :)




And here's some of the pipe they tore out ....



I don't want you to leave this blog today with the image of our old rusted pipe so here's a couple of photos from Racoon Springs and one from the basement bathroom high speed set up (this is a composite of ice cube splash and smoke from incense).

Painting and Swimming

Today we worked on clearing some of the rocks down our hill to the river, painted, and then finished the day off with a short swim in the river ......





Next up .... the living room .... as soon as we can decide, and agree, on a color :)

Andi has always been a little afraid of water ... enough so that she is fine on the shore but doesn't like to get into it ... at least that's what we thought. We now realize that the only water she ever really knew was Lake Tahoe and that's a big lake with big waves. It's been a pleasant surprise to see her really enjoy spending time on the river and we've caught her up to her chest in the water but not when we have a camera. Here's 30 seconds worth of "before" video until we can get Andi on film .... chest high in water.

Hidden In The Jungle

I really wish I had shot some pictures before she started but at least I got in mid way. Lea's recent project has been to remove the jungle in part of the front yard that has grown over what was most likely a very nice flower garden area at one time. Poor Lea has won the battle but has emerged with a few scars (in the form of bug bites and vine scratches) .... don't worry ..... she'll be fine :)





She power washed those rocks .... now that's serious rock cleaning.

So it's still been kinda hot so we're using that time to either study (software stuff) or shoot. Lea's learning her new video camera and I'm learning the controls of my high speed setup. We had to upgrade our video edititng software which should arrive from Apple tomorrow (Final Cut Pro 7) so it will be another learning experience. I hope the weather cools down soon because we're both ready to take a break and play for a while. Here's one of my latest "high speed" shots .... I love doing this!

Water Drops, Friends and Silk Painting

I received all the parts I needed to build a water drop emitter, laser sensor and controller and then set it up in the basement bathroom because I need to do the actual shots in total darkness .... perfect location!



I still have a lot to do with the set up and lighting but here's my first single "crown" shot .....



But that's not what I'm after .... I'm after the collision of two water drops. So I mixed up some coffee and milk and blue dyed the water that will be dropping so I could see which was which .... here's the result after much trial and error with settings .....



Once I perfect the setup/system I'll be moving onto a lot more in regards to high speed photography ..... I sorta specialized in it at one time but a lot has changed and I feel like I'm starting the process of learning all over again.

Today Diana and Nancy came over and we played with silk and dye ..... as always it was fun.

Racoon Springs On A Hot Day

Racoon Springs is really just across the river from us but we have to drive down to the bridge and around the golf course to get to it if we don't want to cross through the river. You may recall that I included Racoon Springs in an earlier blog ..... it's a special place where the chief indians from various tribes would meet in peace .... probably smoke a lot of peace pipe :) Anyway Lea and I really like it there even if it is in the middle of the golf course.
We came to the conclusion that we needed to update our photo equipment and resume our stock photography ..... we're still making money from various agencies but not very much because we haven't contributed for many months. I purchased a new Nikon D700 with a couple of very nice lenses and Lea got a professional HD Video Camera ... I'll include a photo a little later in this post.

But .... back to Racoon Springs. It seemed like the perfect place to go to test out my new Nikon body and lenses and while I was there I was realizing again how special this place is and how much I enjoy being there ..... so ..... I decided I will continue to bring along a camera other than my usual iPhone and try to do this place justice with some nice photos of which I will post on this blog as I do them. So .... here's the first two :)




Diana and Nancy have been busy remodeling their kitchen but we plan on getting together on Sunday for some play time. Of course they have the best "play time" in the whole world .... right out their back door .....



It's been unusually hot here so we limit our outdoor activities to early morning chores or those involving water as you well know. But we also do chores involving water like watering the plants and writing our names with the pressure water into the dirty driveway ....



We also do constructive things with the power washer like cleaning our deck .... here's a before and after in one shot ....



Our pepper plants are doing very well in the heat and they're now becoming part of our dinners .....




Of course it's never too hot to BBQ .... here's the new rolling BBQ table I made in action .... Millie kinda got in the way but it's there waaaaaay in the background .... smokin



And last but not least ..... here's Lea's new Video camera right out of the box ....



Ever notice how often Millie finds her way into our pictures? Wait .... here's one of Andi who snuck in while I was taking a photo of Lea after she relocated her drums to the basement .....



Ozzie got in the act on that one too.