Thursday, May 31, 2012

Aww, Poor Dempsey!

It really isn't a secret that Dempsey is a) hairy, very hairy and b) hates being bathed.  This time of year is especially bad when his undercoat is coming out in preparation for the dog days of summer . . . which dogs "they" are referring to it a mystery to me.

You can see the sad look in Dempsey's eyes and the sheer resentment for said "bathing activities" . . .


This is only a small sample of the pooch's downy undercoat.  I have joked a few times about making Dempsey yarn and knitting something as a keepsake, but I don't think this is really a possibility.


We took advantage of the sun and wind and Dempsey dried out in nature's hair dryer, shaking frequently, bits of hair floating away in the wind.  He started looking happier until the brush came back out.


Nothing like a little dog tennis with Avery the German Shepherd to make a dog forget his woes. 


Besides smelling funny, this effort was in preparation for a visit with Dempsey's feline friend, Gus-ticles . . . gotta represent!

Gummi Animals on the Town

One of the benefits of living in such a beautiful state is that there is no shortage of scenery, even in our urban environs.  This little guy was sunning himself, making the most of the spring warmth this weekend.


I'm not sure how long these gummies stayed in place, being in such a high profile spot, but they really did fit right in.


There were some urban assault installations over the past few days . . . who comes up with this stuff?


It is amazing what you can spot if you are looking the right direction at the right moment.  We, along with the yellow gummi bear, were witness to a terrible gummi accident the other evening.  The red bear just happened to be in the crack of the sidewalk . . .


There were some shopping trips that provided opportunities, some more artistic than others . . .


Some slightly ironic, I'm pretty sure there isn't a dining option in that particular store . . .


And some that definitely kept up the whimsical side of the bargain . . .


The variety of gummi animals keeps expanding and we've learned a few lessons along the way.  Sour gummi candies have no place in art, but they sure taste good.  Gummi sharks are disturbing in their size and just in general.  People rarely pay attention to what others are doing around them . . .

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Digging in the Dirt

The backyard project has been a long time in the making.  If you don't remember what the yard looked like, you can revisit September 2008, that should give you the basic idea of what kind of condition I started with.  Last summer's efforts really began with some coaxing from Brian K. who was around for the first time the yard crap was purged.  We dismantled the ramshackle brick patio and repurposed the bricks and used them as a border for the walkway/patio, carefully laid out!


I hate flagstone patios with a passion because of the labor involved with installing and maintaining them so I opted for pea gravel which is easy to spread, rake, grade, replace . . . the only hard part was moving it, one bucket at a time into place.  Another point of minor inconvenience was the state of the timeshare pickup truck.  The alternator wasn't working for some mysterious reason so every trip required a recharge of the battery.  The state of hybrid technology for vehicles has come a long way but our 1985 F-150 certainly wasn't meant to be run this way!


Life is often about timing and there just happened to be a patio table and chair set on craigslist that was of interest as the patio was getting finished.  It fit quite nicely and as the rest of the yard was progressing, it gave me a place to sit and admire my work.


I put together two 4' x 8' garden boxes and dreamed of vegetables to come . . . more on that later.


With the old brick patio gone, the grill was relocated as you can see in the background.  Work on the beds for the plants was well underway with weed barrier and mulch down to keep the yard from returning to its previous state!


All of the random rocks and flagstones that were dug up from whatever the former owner of the house had done were reused creatively, mostly because I had no desire to figure out how to dispose of them.


The last mission for the truck and the slurpee drinkin' crew was to roll out the green carpet and get some grass a growin'.  I'm a huge fan of sod for the instant gratification it provides.  Where there was dirt, there is real, live grass!


I was never a boy scout, but I'm pretty sure I have earned my junior irrigation specialist merit badge by this point.  I extended/expanded the existing drip system and included some zones for the grassy areas.


The backyard has been transformed.  Once upon a time, we sat back there and burned scraps of old fence and whatever else we could find.  Now, we can dine al fresco, in class/style/grace and solve the problems of the world.


In phase one, I got the bulk of the work done in the yard, but there were still a few spots to fill in and more plants to plant.  I didn't get around to planting a garden last summer, just some herbs in pots.  So last week, I used the yard as an excuse not to ride my bicycle.  The pickup truck, now working properly (thanks to Mr. Edwards, the senior), was once again loaded up, this time with a "planter's mix" of dirt.



Said dirt found it's way into the raised garden boxes and as you can see from the excessive amount of grass clippings, the sod has taken and the grass is growing very quickly.


The garden now includes some tomatoes, some lettuces, a couple peppers, a few varieties of squash, radishes, carrots, beans . . . I'm sure there is something else I am forgetting.  I also planted a few creeping, viney things on the outside of the boxes; a pumpkin, a watermelon, and a cantaloupe.  I have a few fruits growing in the yard.  There is a row of raspberries and a row of blackberries that I will be training along the fence.  I planted three blueberry bushes that are already showing signs of fruiting in year two.  I'll include more detail in future posts, especially as things start to sprout and grow into something of visual interest.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Very Mysterious

Sometimes you are in the right place at the right time and something of mystery and wonder reveals itself to you.  Take a look:


It appears to be some sort of 'manifesto' written in purple crayon, on a napkin, slightly used.  The text reads:

To whom it may concern:
We the messengers of the gummi snacks will be creating a variety of gummi installations at random locations with neither rhyme nor reason starting NOW, operating under the following principles:

  1. Be whimsical + witty
  2. Spread the joy of the gummi without malicious intent
  3. No gummi mess will be created
Please enjoy these works.  Tell your friends, loved ones, pets, etcetera . . .
     Word

This means something . . .

Monday, May 14, 2012

Elusive

I once told a girl that I loved her and she responded, " I don't think about you at all . . ."  Kids can be so cruel . . . ok, that didn't really happen.

Sometimes the hardest part about a blog post is getting the briefest moment of inspiration to get started.  Once you have that, it seems like the words flow more easily.  I have been collecting pictures randomly without a clue when/where/how they would work into the mix . . . here's one.


I'm pretty sure the collection of irises on the other side of the fence are much more impressive than the two that tried to escape.  If the grass is greener, what are the irises?

Thanks word inspiring muse person . . .

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Sweet Action . . .

Oh how I do love some Sweet Action ice cream!  It seemed like a good idea to swing by after dinner for a scoop and the ice cream was top notch as usual.  After trying a few flavors, I opted for the Huckleberry Pie and Deb went for the Red Velvet Cake, both winners.  There is one part of the experience, external to the store, that pains me greatly . . . being in hipster central on South Broadway!


Unfortunately there were elements I couldn't pick up with my stealthy shot.  The blue suede shoes and penny loafers really completed the above outfits as did the track bike that dude with the messenger bag walked up with (riding fixies is hard, but you still look cool if you just stand next to it).

I did some hipster fact checking to confirm my suspicions, it is all about expressing your fierce individuality through conformity, mimicking fashions gleaned from other sub-cultures/groups.  A couple notes; hipsters hate anything you like and like anything you hate and a hipster will die a fiery death before admitting to being a hipster.

The loafers really got me thinking.  Who do I know who rides a bike in penny loafers . . . hmmm, my dad!  It really is true that fashion is cyclical because apparently dear old dad is again at the top of the game with zero effort which in my eyes makes him way cooler than any hipster out there . . . penny loafers, check . . . tweed jacket with elbow patches, check . . . facial hair (although no ironic intent), check!  In keeping with my thought that since the invention of the internet original thought is hard to come by, low and behold, there is already a "dads are the original hipsters" site, complete with pictures and commentary.

I can only hope that this fashion wave of anti-fashion will pass and a few years from now, all of these people will browse their photo collections and reflect upon how inanely stupid they looked . . .

Monday, May 7, 2012

After the Rain Came Down . . .

I had a completely different post idea in mind after hearing a bit on the radio about the selling price for Edvard Munch's The Scream at auction last week.  The follow up question on the news piece was "if money were no object, what piece of art would you buy?"  The show host responded with the pyramids, but then pondered if they were art  . . . or a funeral home.  What is art anyways?

Let's start with more conventional . . . We hit up First Friday on Tennyson St. on Friday night to check out a couple of the galleries to see what they were showing.  One featured photos taken out of a car window with various shutter effects.  A couple of the shots were interesting, but the rest looked like, shocker . . . blurry bands of color.  It was interesting for me to get out and about in a n-hood where I work.  I only saw about 15 people that I know from the shop.  I also had a chance to finally sample the pizza at Hops & Pie which has been on my list of places to visit.

Saturday, we made it back up to the Highlands for Brian's graduation party.  Since it was the night of the Supermoon, a rooftop party was perfectly timed . . . along with the Kentucky Derby and Cinco de Mayo.


The light towards the end of the day made downtown look really cool, I don't think the camera phone does it justice.  Thank goodness for smart phone apps though, the Google Sky Map gave pretty clear indication where we would be able to spot the Supermoon rising, cape and all.


It also made for some great shots for our very own art project.  Upon spotting a bowl of gummy bears amongst the party fare, I reminisced about the good old days of licking gummy bears and sticking them to things.  What started as a joke (and eventually migrated back to being a joke before returning to high art) became a thing of wonder and beauty . . . our first concept piece:


Fun with focus and aperture adjustment:



This one ended up being a really cool shot after much discussion on how to set it up.  I would have liked to taken some pictures towards the church on Federal or North High, but this came out very nicely:



Back to being, dare I say, juvenile:


With the exception of some bears placed in undisclosed locations, the evening's art workshop came to an end when the wind and impending rain forced us to move inside.  We held a few gummy bears in reserve for one last piece, but riding home was a pretty muted event given the rain and emergency stop at My Brother's Bar to seek shelter . . . and french fries.

The project was completed Sunday morning, but not as originally planned.  South Pearl Street provided plenty of opportunity, but I couldn't resist the opportunity offered up by the front window of Ototo:


Dempsey got into the spirit of things too.  I was hoping for performance art . . . "sacrifice of the red gummy" . . .


The next morning, after a night of rain, the piece was still intact:


Later this afternoon though, we had a casualty.  I think the red bear is trying to escape before Dempsey returns hungry.


This was one of the more fun weekends out I have had in a while.  Too much work and no play . . . blah, blah, blah.  It does make everything more fun having a good partner in crime.

Call It Art

I don't want to be accused of slacking totally on blog posts . . . I've been pleasantly distracted by work and life! Congrats to Brian on his recent graduation, may the fruits of your labors be many . . . like the gummy bears.
It started as silliness, continued with some more silliness, but resulted in some really cool perspective and shots, more from the mysterious artist "Gümmi" to follow.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Online Reviews

Something like 64% of all statistics are made up so it is hard to trust numbers when you see them. Instead of looking up the article and providing a link, I'll cite loosely . . . the average rating on the internet is 4.3 out of 5. I'd argue that people really aren't very critical or qualified to offer up more than basic opinion when it comes down to it. As a business owner, I find Yelp reviews both maddening and hilarious. It pains me to read reviews that are extreme to one side or the other in comparison to the bulk of reviews. Given that "yelpers" are not professional reviews, they are prone to allowing personal bias, mood, and exception shape their comments. I have read bits that are borderline slander, stemming from someone's feelings of rejection because the staff at a restaurant didn't instantly befriend them and comment on how cool they were. I could fill pages with my heartaches with Yelp reviews, but there is another segment of criticism that I find far more amusing.

Sunday night seemed like a good opportunity to cook an actual meal of food, so we fired up the grill and made some Lamb Burgers. This is a pretty straight forward recipe and based on the ingredients, I knew what to expect flavor wise. It received an overall rating of 3.5 out of 4 forks and 94% of those who rated it would make the recipe again. I used that as a good indicator that the recipe was probably pretty safe to try.

Looking deeper into the reviews, there is some good humor buried in there. "The recipe was good as advertized. We used Cilantro instead of parsley." (4 forks) . . . seems to me that's not how the recipe was "advertized" if you are making substitutions. There are plenty of other recipes that have similar types of reviews, some with substitutions so extreme it is a whole different dish!

Call it what you will, but I have deemed this type of review a critical non-sequitur. 'My family loves _______, so I picked this recipe, but they don't like avocado so I substituted watermelon and pine nuts. Half way through, they decided they wanted cereal for dinner so I added rice crispies ... I would not make this recipe again, 1 fork.' Incidentally, our lamb burgers were delicious, but we changed the recipe . . . and added feta cheese and made the burgers smaller than the prescribed size.