Going once, going twice...SOLD.

We have a new auction house in town. They auction just about anything you can imagine.

Saturday morning The Prospector and I decided to go and see what they do and how they do it. What a good time we had.
The Amador Auction House  is a well organized, interesting place. It's in the old Prospect Motors building coming into town across from the park and library. I didn't think they would ever use this old car lot for anything worthwhile again... but they have.

We Got our "number" and then, because we came a little early, we got to preview the items that were going to be auctioned off.
There were books and old boxes.

There were all kinds of old bottles and lanterns.

Furniture...

 And signs of every kind.

There was a lot of mining equipment...
Some of the artifacts were old and antique... some not so old and from the "gold" tourist industry... but all gorgeous items.
 I loved the mining carts. They even had the track underneath them. That's how they got these very heavy carts down into the mines. Track is very hard to find now.

There were hats, holsters, and pick axes... and some fake bars of gold. Ya gotta know the difference between the real stuff and the fake. I WISH that I had a BAR of Gold.
As of 4/3/12 at 9:00 p.m. PST, the price of gold is $1,643.18 an ounce, so those "bars of gold" would not be just sittin' on a table like that if they were real.

There were heaters, old milk cans and fire extinguishers.

You can decide what you are willing to pay for something you really want... ahead of time. The preview lets you take a look at all the items, write down the number of the item and drool all over yourself. Like the wonderful old school desk that was talking to me from the minute I walked across the room.

But the desk wasn't what we came for. We were looking for old mining artifacts or something that we could use as a planter.
The auction started and what excitement it was. A noisy, fast paced process of bidding, shouting and confirmation of sale.
I bid on a box of books but someone else wanted them more than I did. I started the bidding on some of the wonderful signs ,but that Fort Defiance sign (in the fifth photo) ended up being sold for $100. I loved the signs and wanted one but I was unwilling to pay the price.
Then we focused on an old water trough that had a couple of gold signs attached. The bidding started at $25.
We went back and forth with one other person and finally.... WE won the bid.
The old trough was ours.
Oh Joy!

They had a lunch break and some entertainment.
Calamity Jane was causing all kind of trouble as she kicked a chair over and accused one of the men at the poker table of cheating.

 Our local thespians were giving us a good show and everyone had a great time.
I drove home in a raging wind and rain storm, around lunchtime, worried about the dogs. The Prospector stayed to see the rest of the auction... and the entertainment.
Yesterday, the Prospector drove the truck downtown and picked up our "water trough" planter..
We are delighted with it.
Here it is next to the garage.

It came in two pieces. The legs and frame are separate from the box. There is a sign on the front that says

"REAL GOLD" and one on the end that I forgot to take a "before" picture of.  The Prospector unscrewed them from the front and side of the trough so I could paint them. I have redone them with acrylics and today I gave them a coat of Urethane.
We lined the box with a metal liner and filled it with dirt. Now I can filled it with all kind of beautiful flowers for summer.
The signs turned out nice. It was fun to work on them. The old outlines of the words were there so I just redid what had already been there before.
The sign above ended up looking like this...

And the smaller sign that will be put on the end facing the driveway looks like this...

I think that this trough was used for a panning tough in a state park like Columbia, CA. to teach tourist how to pan for gold... but, for the rest of its life it will be holding flowers.
The auction was really a lot of fun, even though I didn't stay for the whole day. I wanted to bid on so many things but you have to stay focused and you really have to stay within your budget.
Some items went for a lot more than I thought they were worth. But, what is the worth of something when you really want it? I guess only the person who bids on that wonderful thing that "has their name on it" knows what it's REAL worth is.
But we are so happy with our new planter and the experience was really great.
The storm brought us a wild auction day and a rainbow at the end.
This seemed like a happy day to us.
******************

Guess who called me last night? THE BEAN.
My grandson called to thank us for the birthday present and we talked for quite a while.
 He says that I need an IPad so I can learn to play games better and practice more.
 He says that the IPad would be a better choice than an IPhone. It's bigger and "Is more fun."
So, I have it on the best authority, that I need to invest in another form of electronics to improve my life and "play games better." He proceeded to tell me how to play a specific game which I didn't understand at all, but he was being very patience with me. After all, I'm his Noni. and he knows how easily I can "drop my transmission" over these games.
He's seven. He knows everything about computer generated games and programs and "apps".
I just love listening to him tell me how to do things.
He is such a smart little boy and he is so full of knowledge about the things that are important to him.
I'm still not sure how to play these games but I sure like the idea of carrying the Internet around in my purse.
IPhone? IPad? IPhone? IPad? Kindle? Laptop? Oh my gosh!  I know they all have different uses but I'm so confused . I will have to have another discussion about this with the Bean, before I buy something. He'll probably be eight by the time I buy anything. He'll be even smarter by then.
His brother talked to me too. Little Bean is fine. He was watching TV at the same time so I only got bits and pieces of a conversation.... but, he's fine.
Then I got to talk to my son.
I love it when they call.

My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky.” ~ William Wordsworth~

It rained all day yesterday. Heavy rain, dark skies... and wind.
Late in the afternoon the sky lightened and small openings of sunlight came through the clouds. Knowing  this  combination of storm and sun would produce a rainbow, I took the camera outside and waited.
There it was...from one canyon to another.
From one neighbor's house...

To the other neighbor's creek.

And then... a pale image of another rainbow appeared beside the first.

No pot of gold... simply a refraction of light split into a spectrum of color.
 But, the beauty of this rainbow has lasted, in my mind's eye, and made this Palm Sunday more than it could ever have been.
 Because of this rainbow I stood in the rain and saw my own humanity reflected from the earth that I love, into the sky and back again. As if this magical light was created not only for my eyes, but for everyone.
I wish this rainbow on the world... that its beauty brings a moment of happiness... of joy... to everyone on this Sunday before Easter.
I'm not sure about the reasons... the stories of this man... this savior... this son of god.
 But, I know that I saw a rainbow and watched my life take a step closer to heaven.
*********************

This is for my family. This is also for my friend Carol, my cousin Jeanne and my sister. With hope that they will always see the rainbows in their lives.

Attack of the Killer... Weeds?

 Look at this.

You would think that I fertilized these beauties wouldn't you?. They're all over the place and they are so healthy looking.
I think this all happened in the last forty eight hours or so. Honestly! They weren't here a few days ago.
OK, that's not necessarily true. But I haven't been outside that much because it has been raining and all of a sudden... THIS. 

.. as if the weeds decided to conquer the world... my world at least.
Yes, I did pull some a few days ago and I swear that they are here again... in the same place, looking bigger and greener.
It's alarming how fast they grow.
There's a scary screenplay idea, out there in the dirt, waiting for some  movie director with foresight, like John De Bello ( 1980? Attack of the Killer Tomatoes??), to jump all over this.
I can see it now. Killer Weeds Strike Back... The real story. 
 Records for "first weekend" sales would be broken. It might be bigger than The Hunger Games.
Maybe I should give the idea to Suzanne Collins (the author). She could write the screenplay. 
I know...I think that I have been computer-izing a bit too much this winter. I need to, as they say, get a life.
But...The weeds are everywhere.

They are flowing out of the containers...

... cascading down the hillside and undermining my integrity as a gardener.

I have the healthiest crop of Stinging Nettles that I've ever seen in the vegetable garden.

And I didn't even have to plant the seeds.
A friend told me that I can make tea out of these plants and cook them, like spinach. But, I think I'm going to pass on that. I have to get rid of this stuff. It's reseeding and every year there is more. Maybe I should put a sign up down on the highway. You know...

Free Nettles

Pick Your Own

(bring gloves)

Must be good soil in that bed. I want to plant some pumpkins there soon, so I will be the one who will "bring gloves" and pull these invasive plants out.

 The lettuce is coming up in the other bed.

And my divided iris are doing well.

 The goats are working as hard and fast as they can to keep the weeds at bay.

 But that's not in the vegetable garden. These goats are down the hillside. Note the two fences between them and the veggie garden. Double fencing is a functional solution for these big guys when vegetables are involved.

Brownie, in his glorious youth, got into the vegetable garden twice. That's why we are without a fig tree. It was pruned into nothingness. That's why there is a double fence.

Murph' says,

"I'm not partial to Nettles. With all the wonderful, Springtime selection to choose from, it would be my last choice. Even with our reputations, we goats do have a refined palate and prefer the soft, small plants with flowers.... and Fig leaves... and baby lettuce leaves as well."

Good grief, Murph'.

That's interesting, my strange and enigmatic goat, but please,,, JUST KEEP EATING THE WEEDS.

 

Squeaky's Easter Eggs

Squeaky is really going all out for Easter. She hasn't laid any eggs for at least five or six months and all of a sudden she has been producing an egg a day. What a girl!! Go Squeaky!

Squeaky is my beautiful little Bantam hen that holds her own in a world of great big Road Island Reds, Plymouth Rocks and Ameraucanas. Her only ally , Henny Penny, left us for the big coup in the sky and, other than our Bantam Rooster, she is all by her wee chicken self.
So the last two weeks she has decided to give it all she's got and  produce the most beautiful little eggs that she can. They are a pale brownish pink and perfect in every way.

The diminutive eggs are so beautiful that I felt I should honor her efforts.
A few nights ago, I worked on  her eggs, decorating them with paint, QuikWood epoxy putty and  splashes of gold.
I sponged acrylic paint on some, but one of them was left natural.

 I used a technique that I learned in the workshop a few weeks back and made some "fabric" that draped over the egg like a shroud.  I used acrylic paint to add some color to the dried putty, which is a very neutral light gray/brown. The epoxy putty sets up within twenty minutes to a half hour, so you have to shape  and distress it as soon as possible. I put a piece of the putty on the bottom of the egg so it could stand on its own and I sank a small jewelry link into the top (before the putty hardened up) so the egg could be hung too.
The next egg was the result of an accident.

I broke one of the eggs when I was blowing out the insides (the whites and yokes) and almost threw it into the compost. But I thought, "What if I set a whole egg inside the broken one."
 I call it "Resurrected" and edged the broken piece with gold. That would be in keeping with  Easter and I was able to use the broken egg.
I like this one a lot.

 I made a face with the putty and a mold I bought a few years ago. Again, I sponged the egg first, very lightly, using the putty to fill in around the face with hair and small stones. She's pretty and peaceful looking.

Kind of Easter meets American Indian meets New Age spirit.

I need to clean up her face. I got some paint on it and it dried on her chin and neck. This is one nice thing about the wood putty. Once it's dry you can sand it, cut it or paint it as much as you want. I will just scrape off the orangey color and touch it up.
 I did another "shroud" egg. This time I did sponge the egg and even added a little gilded sponging on top of the color.

This draping was done in blue tones. I like the contrast.
After I finished the eggs I wanted to do more of them. There were no little eggs that were blown out and ready, so I found a small gourd and went to work. This was great practice using the QuikWood. I made vines and some flowers that looked like lilies.

This gourd was discolored and dark so it needed some painting. I sponged brown, purple and gold on the surface and let it dry. I speed up the drying time by using a hair dryer.
Then I used the OuikWood to shape the vines and lilies. The glass leaves are easy to find in a bead store or Michael's, etc.

 The letters are from an alphabet mold. I let them dry until they were almost hard and then pressed them into a new, soft piece of putty and pushed it onto the bottom of the gourd. Then the gourd was given a whisper of gold gleam with an almost dry brush and  there you have it...

 This photo above was before I painted the vines. This is the natural color of the putty. It's quite pretty without any paint or gilding. But, it's fun to add some color and make the vines stand out . I'm learning how to layer the color so that it looks natural. I'm still cautious about painting anything. It's a slow process, but the more I do it, the more confident I become.

Squeaky's Easter Eggs... and this little, unassuming gourd.
All ready for Easter Sunday... all dressed up in their finest.
I will have to show Squeaky her eggs now that I have decorated them. She will be proud. She may not show her appreciating but I will show them to her anyway. I will give her some extra luttuce for breakfast tomorrow.
I have a couple of new Squeaker eggs and a few blue and brown eggs, but I've run out of the QuikWood. I found some online and it will be here next week. Maybe I will try something different with the larger eggs. Maybe I will use some fabric this time or a paper collage... OR... felt them a little scarf and hang some moss on them.
 Who knows...
Squeaky had gifted me with possibilities.
*************
A note... I blow the eggs out into a bowl and have scrambled eggs for breakfast. Here is a good site that explains how to blow out an egg. I also like to shake the egg after I break the yolk. The insides seen to blow out easier. Then I try to fill the big end with water, holding my finger over the smaller hole, shake it again, and blow out again.
.

Wordless Wednesday: No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow. ~Proverb~

Happy Birthday to The Bean... our Awesome Grandson

You are the most awesome, coolest and smartest grandson in the whole wide world.

May you always  be brave and fearless.

And have many friends.

You have the ability to maintain an awareness and seek comfort at the same time. 

You have an Old soul...

 You love playgrounds, games and winning... but you are learning how to keep a balance.

and still have fun.

You are seven years old today. Can this really be? Are you really seven years old?

We miss you and your brother. So do Cutter and Carl... and Brownie, Murphy... and the chickens. They laid an egg for you today.

Happy Birthday little man. Papa and I wish you a wonderful day.