Do Birds Predict the Seasons in Iowa?

And even more!

Robins Under the Crab Apples

Today,  it is cold...  Cold-er than yesterday.... and that was pretty cold.   Today,  it was solidly in the teens...and that is a very cold day  for Iowa.    However...

More came after I stopped

There are Robins here.  Not just a few stray ones that seem to be confused or lost  ( Although I question what they are thinking at this moment) ....But a BUNCH!  As if they are the vanguard of some  massive Migration.

As close as I could get. 

The thing is,  the ground is so frozen,  it is similar to concrete... even where there is no snow.  Luckily,   there are several crab apple trees scattered through out the town so they have some fruit to nibble on during the deep freeze.  I think I blogged about this before...but it still shocks me to see it.

Michigan Spring Herald

And it is not like the Robins never left.....They did!   They pretty much were gone by October...I'm not sure where they go, but I'm assuming somewhere south  ( and warm!) .  So I'm not sure why they suddenly feel the need to come back up north when the weather in January is traditionally the worst!

In Michigan,  you could pretty much bank on the Robins coming during the spring.   It used to be a game for us as to who could see the first Robin of the year.   It was almost always after a solid warm day in March or April. Forget the groundhog.....we used the return of the Robins as our measuring stick.

They don't seem like friends here

I guess Iowa has its own set of birds that foretell the season.    For instance....Bald Eagles and Turkey Vultures. Vultures arrive in late spring and stay for the summer.   The Eagles seem to come back only after the last Vulture has vacated the area and remain for the duration of the winter.   Not sure if they hassle each other over territory or if things just work out that way.

Spare room 

Bedroom Closet

Other than that,  Cheryl and I must have been motivated today, because we completed the closets in the spare room and bed room.   I'm quite happy they are now finished.   As soon as the paint dries,  I'm sure we will have to reorganize a few things.  I guess we have a few other projects on the horizon,  but for now...it appears we may be in the closing moments of the "apartment painting" chapter.

Cheryl paints the edges

Hiro shows how cats help out.

Hope everyone else is staying warm.   As for me,  I am brewing up a pot of home made Chili!   I could not rely on HyVee to keep their Chili stocked,  So I'm taking a stab at making my own.   The recipe seems simple enough.  I don't like mine too spicy.   I guess with this first attempt,  I should have cooked the beans a little longer.

Chili on a cold day.

  Or used canned beans instead of the dried ones.   All information I can use for the next batch.   The flavor is still good enough to eat...just the texture is off a bit.

Soaking the dry beans 24 hours

  I'm going to try to soak the remaining beans overnight.  ( recommended by Betty Crocker)  to see how well that softens them up.  We shall see how things go.

Painting With some Origami

The last couple of days I have been working on the paint scheme. I could bore you with the decision of what color to make her dress, but this is what I settled on. I still have to touch up the eyes and poly coat the entire thing, but for now, I put two coats of paint on her, sanding between coats. She looks rather bold and bright, but I know that she will "dull" a bit as time goes by. Over all, I'm pleased with the way she turned out. Of coarse I see all the flaws in her as blaring, but I'm willing to forgive a little and be done with her. Cheryl says she will look good in the front yard with the other women. As for the remainder of the evening, I worked on some origami Roses with pure colored paper. the pure color allows me to just fold and not bother with gluing the finished flower up. Enjoy!

The BIG MOVE! Part 2

OK so I started moving stuff out of my shop and cleaning things up a bit. I have to get out so Cheryl can get in. SO....Here are the pics of my dust bomb! Yes the walls are suppose to be kinda off white. Not really the brown that the dust makes them. We had a little challenge moving out my special custom made dust table. It would not fit out the door. SO... Plan B You probably guessed what plan B was. What do you do with the table after Plan B is implemented? That's right! TO THE FIRE! So now Cheryl is in charge of fixing the Swiss cheese walls and touch up painting. It is turning out pretty good at the moment. Cheryl currently is moving small bits of furniture in there so that she can work with the arrangement. Once her stuff is out of the garage, Mine will move into the open space. We'll think of the next step after that. For your Anime pleasure: School Rumble! It is a very funny show! I feel for Harima and think he shodul end up with Eri, the rich girl who hates his guts but is strangly attracted to him. Tenma on the otherhand is just clueless, and unatainable. But that is what he wants. Here's the openning. Enjoy!

Panel painting

So I finished the painting of the panels. I took a few step by step pics of the painting process. Nothing fancy, just a hint of what goes into the layering process.
Now all I have to do is wait for the poly to dry and They will be ready to be listed tomorrow! Still no luck o any new origami. My latest attempt ended with disappointment. I should take a pic just to show off how awful a new sculpture can turn out when you are trail blazing. It will only prove that I am no master of origami. Yet..anyway.

Monday painting and Origami Crane

Finally finished the tree carving and put her in the front yard. On to the next challenge! It is unfortunate that it threatened to rain all day today and I could only get this poor light pic before rushing it out in place. I have mixed feelings about it, I'm happy she is done, yet I see all the flaws, more glaring now that she is standing! I'll just have to do better on the next one. It has been a few days since my last origami post, I have still been doing it, but nothing that is worth showing off. Well, tonight I wet folded a Crane. It turned out pretty good with the head actually taking shape! You can see the eye and bill very well. As for feathers, the floppy paper did not want to hold very well, but at least the wings look ruffled. Hope everyone has a great week!

Tree carving...Almost done...

Well, I sanded and touched up a couple of rough spots, but then I faced a decision that would ultimately add a day to the project. I had to choose to either paint the carving with a base coat of outdoor paint to help waterproof it, seal it, and fill in any rough areas, OR just paint it and be done. I chose the former because the rotted wood was rather rough on the surface and the eyes, and I didn't want it to bleed through the colored paint. She now looks like she is made of clay, but not to bad. I did the same technique on the first one. All that means is that I was not able to finish her up tonight. Bummer! But Monday is usually open, so I can paint her then and in full daylight ( after sanding, I was rather pressed for daylight)

Wet folding, Finished tree carving, and another sawhorse.

So today I decided I would paint the tree carving and call it 100%totally finished. I'm glad I did! Even Cheryl says it looks better now. At least it doesn't look like a nudist in the front yard. (Remember what she used to look like )I also built a second sawhorse. I should be able to start that next tree carving by the end of this weekend. And lastly, I finally succeeded at wet folding origami. What is wet folding you ask? Its where you take paper and lightly dampen it so it become more ply able, then fold it and as it dries, it holds its shape better. Sounds easy right? Well, I must have made it out to be more complicated than it is. Dampening the paper was a challenge until I took a damp wash cloth and lightly taped the paper until it was uniformly damp. It might not look like much difference, but the shape is solid with no glue. Every similar to the foil paper I usually use. But this is much larger and I should be able to tackle larger projects now. We'll see how the next one folds up. Have a great weekend!

Sunday night Paint-a-thon

Just finished painting the seats for tonight. But while I had a fairly easy night, I took a few pictures of the next tree project I have been working on. It's not much at the moment, and the sun cast a nice shadow right in the middle of her face. But at least it shows a little progress. Tonight at the beach, Cheryl and I posed one of the origami beetles inspired by the parsnip beetle along the lake shore. It was nice and warm at the shore for a change. the water was also warmer than usual, but still kinda cold to take the plunge.