Funny Convo

As all of you know, I went to Los Angeles for Christmas. While I was away, Mr. ShellHawk ordered Chinese food from a great place here in town. When the delivery showed up, a funny conversation ensued. The delivery guy is Chinese, and has a heavy accent. I write in that accent to keep things accurate, not to poke fun.

Delivery Guy: Hi! Good to see you again! You not order in long time!
Mr. ShellHawk: We're trying to eat healthier and save some money by not eating out so much.
Delivery Guy: Ah! I understand. Economy very bad. People not order so much.
Mr. ShellHawk nods in agreement.
Delivery Guy: And where is your wife? She not in Garage of Doom!
Much laughter on Mr. ShellHawk's side.

Apparently, there was a lot of Chinese ordered in Summer, when I was in the garage, building the cemetery.

Funny how even the delivery guy calls it The Garage of Doom.

New Year's Eve at the Nest

When I was a young witch-in-training (Or was it spelled differently? Hmmm.), my mentor used to tell me to make sure that on New Year's Eve, I had my house in order. That meant a fully stocked kitchen, gas in the car, and everything clean and tidy for the New Year. She told me that if I did that, then I would have prosperity throughout the coming year-always enough to eat, gas in the car, etc. (She forgot to mention to have the bar stocked, but I forgive her!)

Years later, I came to the belated realization that New Year's Eve wasn't the same as the pagan New Year's Eve, which is Halloween. No wonder the damn theory never worked!

I still do it, though, and make sure to make lentil soup on New Year's Eve, for good luck, per my grandma's instructions and my dad's recipe. If you want to make lentils tonight or tomorrow, here's a good recipe.

I spent much of yesterday in the Garage of Doom, cleaning and reorganizing. Some of you will remember my previous post on claiming space, and man, is that what I did yesterday! I found a space for my cauldron in the ever-shrinking attic space, and found some space for a couple of blow-mold pumpkins that were hanging around in my studio space. I moved the wine fridge (had to empty the damn thing out first, too!) out of the space where my utility sink will go and put it only a few steps away. I was concerned that if I parked the Dodge there (yes, she's still here, as I haven't had time to deal with her, yet.), we wouldn't be able to open the fridge door, but there was space to spare and the garage door closed easily behind her. The 10' ladder got hung up in its place. Stewie had already found a home, though I'd like to find a spot for his base.

What's amusing to me is the concept that the Universe abhors a vacuum, and no sooner had I sat down for dinner, there was a knock at the door. It was my neighbor, Bud, with two female dummy torsos that were a gift from a friend of his who came to visit me this summer during build time! I don't know what I'll do with them, but I'm sure I'll find a use for them in the haunt.

Clear your space, kids! You never know what fun thing is going to come in to fill it!

Anyway, all the Christmas totes came down from the attic, and I'll attack the task of putting Christmas Crap away today and get the tree out of the house, too. It's going to be another exhausting day, for sure, but I love that smug feeling of accomplishment when everything is in order!

Happy New Year to you all, and thanks for hanging around this year. Whether you know it or not, you've made a difference in my life-even the silent lurkers!

News from the Garage of Doom

Yesterday was a pretty productive day in the Garage of Doom. Since my hubby was helping neighbor V's hubby with replacing a bathroom floor (cutting an laying tile-fun!), neighbor V came over to help me in the Garage. We got a plaster cast of her hands done, which I needed for my stirring witch. Since we used vaseline for the release, her hands were silky soft when we got done. She said she felt like she was having a spa treatment! (Plus, of course, she had an hour of legitimately not being able to do anything for the kids, and actually was forced to sit down and relax for awhile...) I love my neighbor, I gotta say.

She had to take a quick break to go see what the boys were up to, so I put the first layer of paint on the new angel garden statue I got at Big Lots. Their garden statuary is on sale for half price right now, so you should think about heading over if you need more for your cemetery.

From there, we moved on to the problem of repairing Stewie. For those of you who don't know who Stewie is, he's the scarecrow I made last year who is serving as the header for my blog. Stewie was in great shape last year, until the torrential rain we had on Halloween soaked his already forward-heavy head and bent his schedule 40 pvc right at a point where we had drilled holes to run zip ties through for chicken wire support. Several ideas were tossed back and forth after I made a slit up the back of his main support pipe. Re-bar up the middle of the pipe? Couldn't do it, because of all the other zip ties in the pipe. (Best Neighbor V quote of the day: "Stewie, you are such a man." Couldn't stop laughing...) Re-bar through the pvc in his shouolders? Same problem. After much thinking and a couple of Blue Moon wheat beers, we determined tht we'd have to build an additional set of supports along the lines of what the symbol for pi looks like, strap him to that, and set him back in his stand. His trenchcoat will cover it up, and no one will be the wiser. Bummer about the re-bar, though. It was a good thought.

We moved on to the start of the Beloved tombstone. Measured and the basic body of the tombstone before we had to stop for the night and start dinner. I used the cheap white 1 1/2" insulating foam you can pick up at Home Depot here in California, and I'll glue the body together today and then add the more expensive pink foam to the front of the tombstone. It's hard to find the pink foam here, as 99% of stores don't carry it because it's considered a cold-weather product and it just doesn't get that cold here. I had to drive for 2 1/2 hours one way to pick the stuff up, but I know it'll be worth it.

As an aside, I have to look into my home office every time I head out to the Garage of Doom. It sits as an accusation; I've been working on it off and on (mostly off) for over a year and still haven't finished it. Maybe I'll get to it. *sigh*

It's mimosa Sunday today. We feel it's important to get your vitamin C, and champagne is a great delivery system. Our extended family is coming over from across the street to share in this healthy tradition.


Wow! Helpful AND health-concious. What great neighbors!

Garage of Doom Revisited

I was reading over a post that Grim put up a few days ago. The one about cleaning before creating? That's exactly what's been going on in The Garage of Doom for the last few months. (See initial post here. The one that had obviously been written while I had been smoking wacky tobacky, since I should have realized there was no way I could get it organized in just one day!)

So here's the list of things that have gone out the door to Goodwill or other places:

1. Six boxes of books.
2. One double-wide filing cabinet.
3. One 50 gallon fish tank (hopelessly scratched by the movers, and we have no space to put it anyway.)
4. Two bags of clothing.
5. One set of baby gates for the dogs.
6. Soft case for guitar.
7. Dead Shop Vac.
8. Second-hand ten-speed bike that I bought for the gears but neither of us could actually take apart to pirate the gears, because it wasn't going to budge, nohow!

I'm sure there's more. I just can't think of it right now.

Anyway, I have a space to work when it starts warming up. We got some Adirondack chairs and a table for Christmas which are still in boxes, but those boxes will be unpacked after the rain stops.

After pics: Before pics:




























One of the things I've learned over the years is that if you want new things to come into your life, you must take stock and clear out the old stuff you don't need anymore. Clear the space. Claim your space. You'll be surprised what neat stuff will flow into your life when there's room for it!

National Random Image Day

Many of you may not be aware that today is Random Image Day. Declared by the President of Dorkistan, Random Image Day can happen at any time of year, and images on the same posting need not have any theme or thread to make them into a cohesive piece.

Here goes:

Mr. and Mrs. ShellHawk finally made it out into the Garage of Doom this weekend to remove Stewie's arms for the purpose of storage. After much snarling, snapping, growling and howling (on both sides), Stewie was successfully subdued and his arms were removed and stored in another area of the garage. Aside from the fact that they keep escaping their restraining ropes, the arms seem to be unable to do any serious damage while unattached to their owner. Mr. ShellHawk is considering a rope and pulley system to get the rest of Stewie into the rafters and out of the way until next year.

Much to our relief, the doctors say Mr. ShellHawk's eye should heal up just fine, and that my bite wounds don't seem to be infected. Mr. ShellHawk is making rumblings that he and I need to have a "talk" about my creations, and before I start my building for next year. I'm trying to think up a suitable defense, but so far, I've got nothing. After all, I'd be ticked about that whole eye thing, too.

It's been raining here, and snowing in the Sierras an hour or so away. Mr. ShellHawk is an amateur

birdwatcher and has a number of feeders around the outside of the house.

Here are some little Goldfinches having some well-earned breakfast. I can't wait to see what else comes through the yard, aside from the usual scrub jays.

Lastly, our neighbor V's mom and dad brought this lemon with them to the Christmas party on Friday night. Mr. ShellHawk put a face on him and calls him "The Lemon God." Please note the quarter at the bottom left of the picture. Yes, the Lemon God is huge. Mom and Dad tell us that half the tree produces huge lemons like this one, and the other half produces normal-sized lemons. Very impressive! Mom makes lemon meringue pies out of these guys and says they turn out quite tasty.

That's the news from Dorkistan today. I'm off to paint some more and start to get prepped for my Obligatory Family Visit.

Hey, what is that growling coming from The Garage of Doom?

Halloween How-To

Mr. ShellHawk has been rumbling a little. Muttering, muttering, under his breath, "Storage. Garage a mess. MY garage. MY workbench, Precious..."

O.K., maybe not the "Precious" part.

In the period of insanity that is pre-Halloween prep, Mr. ShellHawk was told by my sister-of-the-heart who lives across the street (as she waved her martini glass at him) that the Garage of Doom is now the "Woman Cave." He took it well, and with characteristic indulgent humor. The fact that she made a martini for him might have had something to do with that, but hey, I'll take it where I can!

So today, while he's out playing paintball with said sister's hubby, I have decided to attack the garage and try to instill some kind of order on Chaos.

It's also "displacement activity," which is a fancy term for doing something that is viewed as work and therefore constructive (virtuous) in place of other things that you're trying to avoid. For me, that's the Stewie issue.

I'm still delaying the removal of Stewie's arms and possibly head for storage. Will there be reprisals from Stewie and his little brothers, Brian and Peter? Maybe the muttering in the Garage of Doom isn't Mr. Shellhawk, but the three of them plotting... You see my dilemma, don't you?

We do need the space, period. Mr. ShellHawk has this insane dream of parking his car in his garage. I ask you, fellow Haunters, will the madness never end?

Note, by the way, the large waders sitting on the Mighty Dodge. And the spreading stain of transmission fluid beneath it. (Someone "rebuilt" the transmission only a year and a half ago, before I drove the Dodge to Northern California and our new home. Don't get me started on all the "repairs" I've paid for that have turned out like this.) The large waders, thankfully, aren't mine, and are one of the numerous items that need putting away. I'm undecided on the transmission fluid slick. Any donations to The Mighty Dodge Restoration fund will be appreciated. (Kidding. A little.)

Note the crows on the workbench. Some of their beaks melted off in the rain and I need to repair them before I put them in storage. They got a bit mushy, so I can't just glue them back on. Any suggestions from a taxidermist or stuffed thing rescuer/rebuilder will be appreciated!

Since today will be a busy day, cleaning and organizing the Garage of Doom (which will involve a trip to Goodwill to get rid of my 50 gallon fishtank) I'll make this a quick post.

Go here for the Halloween Technology Roadmap. Lots of good project info.

Alright. Here I go. Aww, man! Where are my gorram work gloves?!