After photographing the sunrise filtering through the dust and mist the other morning, I was inspired to accidentally create a work of coffee art on edge of the counter.
Category: Lighting
Put Down that Camera and Let Me In
Need I say more?
Cat Games
While I was playing with Rosencrantz by the end of the bed, Guildenstern walked up to the edge of the bed and grabbed the stick out of my hand. He held it there while Rosencrantz watched for him to move it. When Guildenstern didn’t wiggle the string, Rosencrantz looked up at him like “Are you going to do something?” At which point Guildenstern attempted to wiggle the string, but the pole dropped from his thumbless paws. He grabbed for it, but it finally ended up on the floor.
Fill ‘er Up
The obligatory stop to fill ‘er up.
Sleeping In
While I got up bright an early, Diné and Rosencrantz chose to sleep in.
Rise & Shine with Rosencrantz
Sunrise poured light through the window, prompting Rosencrantz to rise, shine and model for me.
Retro Tech
In our reorganization, Laurie pulled out a lot of old equipment. This 4th Generation iPod and DLO iBoom are a couple of the gems we’ve had around for awhile because they are now obsolete for our purposes because we have newer computers and iPhones. While the Gen 4 iPod and iBoom are only 10 years old, they might as well be 100. The iPod/iBoom combination produces fine, loud audio, and has a nice retro tech look, but while Gen 5 and newer iPods and iPhones up to the iPhone 5 will plug into the dock on the iBoom, they will not play. I suspect they don’t have enough power to drive the system. The Gen 4 iPod is thick, clunky and power hungry compared to the thin, more elegant iPod touches and iPhones. So these classic pieces are now a retro tech couple, united until death does them part.
Catio Concrete
It’s not really concrete, but a cement top coat used for refinishing concrete surfaces. The refinishing cement is really intended for fairly smooth slabs, but the slab in the catio is very rough concrete, so getting a really smooth top coat didn’t happen.
A lone leaf decided it needed to break in the new cement floor, since I have the cats locked out of the catio while the cement cures. In the second photo, there are three dominant shades of gray. I mixed the first batch of cement following the instructions exactly, and the mixture ended up being too thick, so while it poured out of the bucket, it started setting up almost immediately, making it difficult to spread, and almost impossible to smooth as per the instructions (it’s the darkest shade of gray along the back wall).
I made the second batch soupier than the first, but I got it a little too soupy, so it spread thinner than I wanted it to (lighter shade of gray in the middle). On the third batch I got the mixture figured out so it spread well at the thickness I needed, and I was able to get it a little smoother (middle shade of gray in the foreground). I used the same mixture for the the next 8 batches needed to cover the entire slab. I also ended up spreading and smoothing the cement on my hands and knees with a hand trowel. Our air is so dry here, that even the wetter mixtures started setting up as soon as I poured them out of the bucket, making it difficult to spread with the 18 inch-wide cement spreader the instructions suggested I use.
While I was photographing the new floor, I noticed my little chainsaw and level on a bonsai shelf made a nice composition. The last two photos are the candles we have behind the couch in the sunroom unlit and lit.
The Kanji Look
Guildenstern studying Kanji, wanting to know “where the beef” is, and stretching out one fine morning.
After The Smoke
This is the upstairs portion of our office after the smoke was cleaned up, the walls painted and the offices reoccupied. The first three photos are the same spaces pictured in the first three photos on my blog As the Smoke Churns from January 7, 2014 that shows the smoke damage from the Flamenco fire at the end of the block on December 18, 2013.
Off Center & Not Even 