Meet the Locals: Spring Surprise

scorpian - unknown spp



 The first trip of the season was wonderful.  After a hard day's work toting rocks from here to there in the yard (subject of upcoming posts), I was reclining in an old chair, crocheting a summer top and listening to an audiobook.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something.  Just over my shoulder, a little (~1") scorpian was wending his way up the wall.  Hmmmmm.  I took a photo (forgive me for not including a finger for scale) and put him in a jar.  I set him on the front stoop to consider his predicament and went back into the house.

Not too much later, another, larger scorpian caught my eye traipsing along the floor/wall margin.  Another jar, another trip to the stoop.   DARN!  I sleep on the floor on an air mattress and don't like the idea of having "friends" with me. 

I know that there are all kinds of invertebrates around (I've seen them), but the house has been sealed up fairly well for about a year.  However, where there's a will, there's a way.  This was March and during the changing of the seasons, there is a lot of flux in the invertebrate populations.  The scorps were waking up and looking for new, interesting places.  Because the house is adobe, the walls are considerably warmer than the yard at night, and scorpians are drawn to warmth.

I am happy to report that, even though I caught a few more scorps in the house, I didn't have any negative interactions with them when the lights went out. 

Grout.... the horror!

What a handsome fellow - a roadrunner pebble mosaic - done!

This post is dedicated to my friend Melody Ellis, a truly fine ceramic artist.

The first trip of the season out to NM and one of the goals was to grout the blue glass wall in the bathroom.  A previous post described the installation of the pebble mosaics, and all that was left to complete the project was the grout.  I admit I had a lot of aprehension; mainly due to the pebbles.  True, I had sealed them thoroughly, but I just couldn't get away from the idea that grout would stick into those tiny pits and crevices and ruin the lovely birds.

Melody suggested grouting to match the tile color which would emphasize the mosaics and diminish the tile.  Since I wanted to visually expand the space (tiny bathroom!) having the effect of a large blue sky would be beneficial.  Surprisingly, I had a difficult time finding grout colorants (either you pay a lot for tiny amounts of pigment, or you pay less for enough pigment to color a warehouse floor).  In the end, I had to special order pale blue grout from Home Despot, but no complaints.

So, here's the process:

Tape off the area around the mosaic.  I did this because I chose to grout the birds with a grey/beige grout.  Although in hindsight, I should have used a darker grey.

Grout each bird.  Recalling Melody's advice, I just pressed the grout between the rocks with my hands.

Clean off the excess grout.  Not as difficult as I thought it would be!  Yes, there was a bit left behind, but I can live with it.

Remove the tape, and let the grout set overnight.  I retaped over the birds, then grouted the tiles (not worthy of a photo).  Even though the background grout is a clear, light blue, it looks grey in the pictures.  The overall look is just like a blue sky. 






So, I have to apologize Melody.  Cleaning the mosaics was NOT horrific (I was sure it would be), no grout left in the crevises (I was sure there would be), and my birds are lovely (I was scared).  I had doubts.  You did not.  You told me all would be well and it is!  Thank you Melody, your advise was spot on.

cranes flying toward the window

The gardening year begins...

Sprout soon little peppers!

I’ll be heading out to the house at the end of the month to get the garden ready, but the first step is to start the seeds.  This year, I’ll try a variety of vegetables (mostly traditional, regional crops) to see how they survive with little attention.  However, the main crop will be chile.  I’ve started about 250 seeds and the hope is that they will be ready to transplant at the beginning of May when I go out again.  These little seeds have no idea what adventures await them!

Bottlecap Update

The gift of caps - who can refuse?

The caps keep rolling in!  This project seems to have taken on a lot of inertia; people just love to give me their caps.  I work at the library and strangers bring me bags of caps.  We've even had a sackfull in the bookdrop.  A friend's cousin from out of state recently sent a box (see above) with over 2400 caps - amazing! 

The current total is just over 12,000.  I haven't done anything to restrict or select for certain colors or brands, so I have quite a selection of designs.  I have favorites and I'm hoping I get some more of the brighter colors in the next few months. Surprisingly, there aren't as many of the big brands as one would expect.  It seems that the people who are donating like specific brands or drink a diversity of beers.  All the better for me! 

The current color breakdown is as follows:
Greens                       944
Golds                         516
Gold w/ red center       512
Blacks                      1092
Blues                       4380
Silvers                       252
Whites                     2269
Reds                        1515
Yellow/Orange             551

Now that the end of the collection is in sight (I'll collect through the end of May), I have to get more serious about final design options.  The goal is to post at least three possibilities in the next few weeks and have everyone who has donated at least one cap, vote for the pattern they like the most.  Stay tuned...