Radar shows a very heavy thunderstorm sitting atop me right now, lots of red showing here now. Lots of rain gushing from the roof, lighting flashing, and thunder booming. Sitting up with the dogs (especially Austin), giving them some assurance that the world isn’t ending. Got three and a half hours sleep before it rolled in. I’ll catch the rest later.
.
I’m attempting to sell a car by advertising online. I just discovered what online fraud looks like. Being a web designer, I didn’t fall for it, but followed it with an open mind. In the final email, supposedly one of a quick series from PayPal, the fatal errors surfaced like neon alarms. I’m not sending anyone $1k up front via Western Union in order to sell something.
Went to Bryan to clean out the storage shed and remove the lock. Stayed over for Music School. Played more than three hours’ worth of music in the six hours it went on. Fingers were sore, but it was fun.
.
Got back at 3 AM, crashed, Patty Finney dropped by and visited through Thursday Jam. I played over two hours’ worth. Fingers were sorer, it was also fun.
.
Sharon Maner came over last night with her piano. I played over an hour’s worth. Fingers said, “Whoa!”
.
But it sure was fun making my fingers hurt. I am not playing music today. In fact, I am being a lazy bum today. This blog is about as ambitious as I’m getting today.
Got the Saturn inspected today, in preparation for selling it. It was a few days past due, due to needing a new battery. Yesterday was search for title, going through bags and boxes in the barn till it turned up. Priorities, priorities…. I will miss it. It was very agile and durable, a pleasure to drive. But we need a pickup here more than a second car. It just doesn’t get driven enough to justify the cost of insurance, tags, inspection, maintenance, and it gets about the same gas milage as the Crown Vic. It’s a practical move. But I will miss it. Not the best car that I’ve owned, but up there.
.
Nice day today, lower 70′s. Good day for outdoor things. Tomorrow, it’s photo op day, for listing the things on Craig’s List. Car wash, clean appliances, oil furniture, yada yada yada…. I look forward to depositing checks this month. (I deposited the piggy bank in my new account today, $137 worth of coins. No counting fee!)
.
Then it’s get things ready indoors for Thursday Jam and play music if anyone shows up.
Well, the last load from storage, mostly appliances and furniture, is here in the barn, courtesy of a flatbed trailer. Only cleanup of the storage and the barn remain. It’s time to start selling stuff off. Several items need to be brought indoors, a couple of desks and a buffet, along with a couple of short storage cabinets. But that is for nice weather. Today is cool and rainy, not a day to be out in the barn, exposed to the elements.
.
Nor is it a day to be pressing my weary and achey body into more physical labor. Today is a day of rest for me.
Didn’t party on New Year’s Eve or Day, just stayed put. I did have black eyed peas and cornbread (southern tradition), and pastrami and cheesecake (my personal tradition) on NYD for luck. Not superstitious, but I enjoyed the fare in the absence of party food at the affair we missed.
.
One of the reasons for missing the party was a sore body. Last Thursday, all of my boxed belongings in the barn moved from storage went up into the loft. That was a lot of weight being lifted 12 feet vertically in a manual effort. And then I got to clean the barn for Thursday Jam. Patty and Rick appeared, which was quite enjoyable. The bulk of the soreness didn’t hit until Friday morning. I’m just now starting to get over it.
.
Did the bi-annual email archiving, caught up on downloading 3D meshes from ShargeCG and TurboSquid, and other digital stuff. I don’t have everything stored away properly yet, but at least I won’t be burning too much bandwidth, as it has been iffy the last week and change. Been sitting at the desk as much as possible.
.
Lots of other stuff going on in between, but all right here. Candy is recovering from the assault. That was another reason for staying at home, as was the massive fireworks orgy in the neighborhood that freaks some of the animals that are a bit gun shy. The drought killed July 4th fireworks (county ban), and they made up for it Saturday night. The stereo was on loud to drown out the steady stream of explosions.
.
One bit of good news is that the vitamin B-6 regime is stopping the kidney stones, or so it seems. It was working well in reducing the stones, but not 100%, until I doubled the dosage to 200 mg/day. Haven’t passed any stone since (knock on wood).
.
Starting to feel the need for a hardware upgrade. Downloaded a mesh that I liked, a stylized geometric cat (lots of round), but it’s in the new C4D format that 10.5 doesn’t open. Grrr. I’ll just have to make one myself if I can’t find a converter. Lots of stuff I can’t run on this 5 year old PPC laptop. I need to consider getting an Intel, though the expense may be a little too much with all the expense of the barn.
Mona, the 75+ pound puppy (less than a year old, coonhound, shepherd mix), seriously injured Candy, three and a half year old manx today, as Gracie, the new dog, was at Emancipet getting spayed. It was a day meant for several chores. Instead, it was a day of waiting in vet hospitals. This doesn’t help an already tight schedule, and it doesn’t help the mood. I’m just grateful that I stepped outside in time to prevent it from being immediately fatal. And fortunately, the policeman who pulled me over for switching lanes while transporting the cat from one hospital to another didn’t give me a ticket, only a warning. Then again, my bruised hand may interfere with the music this week. I just have a hard time tolerating a cat killing dog. She’s still in the dog house, and she has no idea what she lost today.
There are five thousand kinds of Christians, one kind of atheist, and two kinds of agnostics.
.
Christians say, “God is _____ (fill in the blank). All other Christians are wrong.”
Atheists say, “God isn’t. All Christians are wrong.”
Tolerant agnostics say, “I don’t know, but feel free to believe as you wish.”
Militant agnostics say, “I don’t know, and neither do you.”
.
Merry Christmas
With the exception of three or four artists, whom I felt to be friends, I found this year’s Poser Christmas give-aways to be thoroughly under-whelming. It’s indicative of the community at large, which is ever more eager to sell and ever more reluctant to share. I’m glad that I had nothing to do with it this year. It would have depressed me to no end.
.
Well, it’s the last week of the year. In this coming week, I need to empty and transport the final contents of the storage shelter, get Gracie to Emancipet for spaying, have Christmas dinner here, buy a battery for the car (so I can sell it), get the car inspected, and plenty more.
.
Had back to back Solstice celebrations, at Doug’s in Bryan and here, and they were fun. Burned the trash pile yesterday, for solstice. A couple of new musicians dropped by last night, and it was fun meeting them. All in all, the body is lagging and wants rest. I have today and tomorrow to get some rest, but there are plenty of things that need doing. But today, my body gets a break.
.
The drive back from Bryan in the wee hours of the night in heavy rain was a gas. Not something I want to do every day (night), but I got back home safely yesterday morning.
Moving my things out of storage (10X30 full). My back is not exactly happy, but it is nice getting back things that have been out of my life for four and a half years. Been sifting through what has been hauled here, getting out some of the items. The Lazy Boys are a welcome return. Been using the pecan crackers to shell pecans from the yard. Add to a couple of nights of music and socializing. And this afternoon, I’m on the road again for another load. Sigh. Hey, half way there, mostly the big items left, furniture and appliances. It won’t be as bad as picking up heavy boxes.
Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is psychic. He can read the temperature of the coriums of the three damaged Fukushima Daiichi reactors when the rest of the world hasn’t a clue to where they are, much less how hot.
.
Now arises Temperature Man!
.
Well, it was quite a show yesterday, even though the weather forecast suppressed turnout, it turned out to be quite pleasant. All three sets were magical, the music superb. As expected, I wasn’t able to get away from the mixer board for very long for the eight hours that the show lasted. Brief feeding spells between sets was all that I managed, and I missed out on some of the dishes served. And I didn’t have a chance to talk to everyone I wanted to see.
.
It was fun. Three two hour sets (more like 1:40, 1:25, and 0:55) and a two hour open mike, which Bill Cade held for an hour without complaint. The sound board was powered down at 2 AM, eight hours after the start of the show. I got to bed about 4:30 AM and slept till 9 AM. I caught up this afternoon with a nap.
.
Now I get to edit the six hours of audio that got recorded. Some will get online as mp3′s at bottomlandblooms.com.
Today was the calm, the gentle winter rain, before the show tomorrow.
.
Finish off with a few details and add a ship.
.
Well, December is nigh, looking at three months where it’s cold, nothing grows outside except evergreens and swiss chard, and the heater is running somewhere. Three months of figuring out whether to have Thursday Jam in the barn or the house.
.
The tomato vines got stripped yesterday before last night’s freeze. We have one tray of vine ripened and three trays of green tomatoes. May have to learn Guy Clark’s song Fried Green Tomatoes for the jam, as we’re likely to be having some.
.
A space repair dock created with greebles in modo. Saturday after Thanksgiving, rain overnight, wind blowing, temperature dropping, staying indoors, recovering from a couple of days of partying. May as well play in modo…..
.
Finished most of the first wave for Bottomland Blooms. Not exactly a perky day, but moderately productive at the desk. Cooking pork ribs tonight.
It rained one inch yesterday, the second time in the last six months that we have had measurable rain here. Oddly enough, it was an inch of rain as well. Nothing like measured doses…
.
Forgot what mud was. As they say, there is a silver lining to every hardship.
.
Put up the new channel for sealing off the barn’s northern opening. Waiting for the wind to die down a little before throwing up the heavy mil poly (8 X 20 ft).
.
Then I get to try out the recording process for acoustic picking using the wireless mikes (4 outside the picking circle) and PA mixer board (sans speakers) to the laptop. Hopefully we’ll have some audio for the blb website from tomorrow night.
.
But that will be after I scrape the mud off my new winter shoes.
Well, it took two years for the spammers to find my blog. I’m tickled by the ego stroking comments in their attempts to get their foot in the door. I guess some people like being schlepped. I find the gratuitous frap a bit obtuse and demeaning. I mean how enlightening to the public can the general ramblings of a 3D designer be?
.
Comments have always needed approval, and the people who read my blog have never commented, nor do I expect it. I have always had moderation on, so no comments can be slipped by me. And I have always had the search bot access off. And to combat the new wave of spammers, I’ve tightened up the posting requirements considerably. They won’t be bothering me for a while.
.
Should you get a wild hair and want to comment, my apologies.
.
.
.
Set up a blog for Helen. http://bottomlandblooms.com/blooms/blog/
Business card I designed for Bottomland Blooms. Bottomland is the music venue, Blooms is the horticultural side. Not only am I the graphic designer, I’m also the house band and sound man too.
.
Making adjustments to the barn, lighting and heating in the forefront, but also drapes and other stuff. It was a day of specialized tools. Thursday night will be ready for Donny’s birthday. Why is the coldest night of the week since we opened the jam on Thursday night?
.
Been a lot of music going on recently, but most of it not from me. But that’s okay. I was playing and singing when the situation called for it. And I enjoyed listening.
.
As for frogs and fog, a warm shower ties them together. Looking at the meshes on the Moen web site. This set costs $1,338.50
Haven’t been worth a whole lot this weekend, though I did replace an exhaust fan motor in the greenhouse yesterday and have gotten more than I wanted done in small chores. The first Thursday night jam was quite enjoyable, with five song leaders and lots of talent to backup. It was a good night of music.
.
It’s official, TRD is dead. Doug sent out notice. The streak ends at 30. Three decades of getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner by stretching out the stomach in a most enjoyable manner, days ahead of time. It was a marvelous run. I guess we’ll have to come up with an alternative.
.
Need to start working on bottomlandblooms.com. Need to raise some money. Need to get storage transferred here. Ugh!
.
But not this weekend………
Addded Torf by Nursoda to the collection. I just love his figures.
.
I was reading the Daz3D Commons forum, looking at Daz Studio users complaining about the lack of “real” dynamic clothing, when it suddenly struck me just how happy I am to be away from all that, to no longer be a part of that circus.
.
I could go back and lay out a string of “I told you so”s that could fill a page. But as they say, living well is the best revenge. And I am living well. And they are still griping about what has been obvious to me for years, without me around to kick for calling what I see.
.
The Thursday night jam session will kick off its first gathering this week, following the installation of the garage doors on the barn tomorrow. Weekly music, free style, in the barn. Being this close to Austin, I know the music will be hot. Every week. And I’ll probably be playing, and I’m locked into doing sound. With a little luck and patience, we’ll shortly being having mp3 cuts of the jams on http://bottomlandblooms.com/ . And we’ll be posting recordings from the party as soon as the site goes live.
.
And we have a house concert booked for Dec 3: Sister Jane, Richard Dobson, and Nani Wahines. More are looming, ready to pounce on a date.
.
And today I was asked in an email “What does etwah mean?”. At first, I hadn’t an inkling what etwah meant, but then after a little reflection, I remembered seeing it often enough in cajun song lyrics. And then I understood. The correct spelling of the phonetic expletive often heard in Cajun songs is “et toi”, French for “and you”. In English, the equivalent is “Take it,” indication by the band leader for a member to step up and strut their stuff instrumentally. However, “et toi” can also indicate that the whole band should play the instrumental section with vigor (fortisimo).
.
Hey, life is good, I’m living well. I’ve got a domain to build and design. Etwah!
Here is an excert from the party, from a typical Sunday noon jam.
.
Willin by Lowel George (Little Feat). 6.6M MP3 Me on 12 string & vocal, Steve Baker on lead guitar, Doug Duryea on bass, Franci Jarrard on keyboard, too many vocalists in the chorus to list (and I was too busy playing to take a head count).
.
Willin’
.
I’m still not recovered from the party. My body is still seeking R&R a week afterwards.