Billy/Buster

We found this sweet little boy cowering under a bush as we were coming home from a walk in our neighborhood.  He was cold, wet, and so scared.  It took a long time for me to coax him out from the bushes, but I finally got him to come with us and back to our house.  He scampered under my garden bench and would not come out - not even for treats!

Eventually, he got hungry enough and poked his head out enough to eat.  We named him Billy.

I kept on sweet-talking him and he finally made it to the door!  We kept him for several weeks, but our little black dog was just having none of that.  She is just not tolerant of other dogs in her house.

This is Billy's "adoption" picture, which meant, of course, that he was adopted immediately!  Isn't he adorable?!  He is now happily ensconsed with a family in Connecticut and they named him Buster. 

 Who's a good boy - Billy/Buster's a good boy!

Lovely tall brick walls.......

Underneath all of that mess were lovely brick walls!  It's going to be a great bathroom!

From one tiny future bathroom.......

Yes, the roof leaked. And made a horrible, stinky mess. Soooo glad this mess is gone now!

Wires, wires everywhere.......

Just a tiny portion of the huge amount of wires we pulled out of the ceiling - crazy.......

Buh Bye ceiling track.......

This was pretty easy to take down, but very sharp and awkward to carry!

And a big old window.......

This old window was covered up by the ceiling tiles, and the brick is completely different from the rest of the brick.

And we have an alley.......

It turns out that this room used to be an alley way, hence the old painted sign on what used to be an exterior wall.

Knob and tube electrical.......

Yes, it's the old knob and tube electrical system, but, fortunately it was replaced with new and modern stuff!

Takes vision to believe this will be a bathroom.......

I'm nothing if not optimistic!

Buh Bye nasty ceiling tiles.......

This is just a tiny, tiny portion of the humongous amount of ceiling tiles taken down.

And the unveiling begins.......

and I'm kinda liking what I see!  What to do, what to do?!

Arkansas creeks

Arkansas has the BEST creeks!  I never get tired of hiking through the woods and coming across these beautiful little waterways.  I'm from Louisiana where the water just sits there and doesn't move - and sometimes it can get a little grungy.  So, I'll take an Arkansas creek anytime!

Enameled penny jewelry

I've been making enameled penny jewelry for many years now.  Here are the pennies all ready for enameling.  I've annealed them with a torch to make the copper soft and then dapped them so that they are curved.  It's concave or convex - I always get those two confused!

The next step is to carefully sprinkle the pennies with the enamel.  These are three of my favorite colors.  I've done this so many times it's like a mantra in my head as I'm repeating the movements - very Zen!

And these are my two kilns.  I have one for precious metal clay and one for enameling and firing silver metal clay.  The silver metal clay fires clean, but all of the other metal clays fire in a pan of carbon and the inside of the kiln gets really dirty.  You don't want that stuff flaking off on your pretty enameled pieces!  I love the steady clicking noises my kilns make as they are working....

Start at the top.......

So, you start at the top and work your way down - yucky, ugly dropped ceiling!

This was really dirty, nasty work.  Those ceiling tiles were guhrosss!

And the fun begins.......

The first thing you must do is get a really big garbage can!!!

A long history.......

The old 1920s building has a long history - it was a thrift shop and for several years it was a magic shop.

Love the Historic Stifft Station District

Historic Stifft Station District - corner of Kavanaugh and West Markham

I bought a store.......

3009 W. Markham - next to The Oyster Bar
and, yes, what a wonderful color scheme!

On the edge of something really BIG.......

Spring in Vandervoort

One day Sweetie went kayaking on the Cossatot, so I had Shuttle Bunny duty. It was kind of funny, because these two Park Rangers were talking to us at the put in, and then they seemed to follow me to the take out. I think they thought I was going to get lost. Little did they know that Sweetie and I have spent years hiking and driving these woods and know our way around pretty well! This is a pic from the Sandbar Bridge take out on the Cossatot River....

I love me a little black dog! We have a Yorkiepoo - part Yorkshire Terrier, part Poodle - heretofore to be named LBD. (Little Black Dog) She is smart, brave, funny, and tough as nails! Here she strikes a pose on our deck at Vandervoort. She didn't want her picture taken, cause she was "on patrol", guarding us from errant squirrels and cows.