Hose, as art.

More art

.

"Hose,

on Pavers"

.

On display

in my yard

.

Limited engagement

.

Soon to be

rolled up

Spiral and Spikey

Today in the world of art is a sculpture from David Barr called "Dawn" that can be seen close to my hood in Warren, Michigan. Since the sculpture consists of two pieces of different sizes, I will consider this one to be Little Dawn. Don't know what Mr. Barr calls it.

Since it was clear and warm and sunny this morning while I was traveling up through Warren (and had my camera with me) it was a perfect opportunity to stop for a photo shoot.

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Here is a link to his web site: http://www.davidbarrart.com/

My soap box from China

This morning in the news a headline reads "Recall: Bacteria-Tainted Face Paint: children suffering rashes, itchiness, burning sensations and swelling where the face paints were applied." No surprise the face paints were made in China. Do we remember last year's massive toy recall due to lead in the paint? The infant milk formula containing melamine? The pet food recall due to the same chemical? These are just a few. Go ahead and type "made in china recall" into your favorite web search engine and read on and on.

So today (also in the morning news headlines) the story "GM to Export China-Built Cars to U.S. / GM could end up becoming the first automaker to begin exporting to the U.S. from China." I guess they can use up more of their lead and melamine. Hell, maybe they will use unemployed U.S. auto-workers to build the cars over in China. Who wants to commute?

Any thoughts??? Would you buy a GM car that was made in China? Or would you rather buy a Japanese automobile that was made here in the U.S.A.? Is it about where the profits go or about who has jobs?

There is just way too much to say about this... I have to get to my lead free house painting before it starts to rain.

How yellow can yellow be?

Looks like it can be pretty darn YELLOW. Or maybe that's just a second sun rising as the other sun sets. I was told that a second coat will "tone it down a bit." I hope so since this "Warm Gold" door requires sunglasses to be worn to approach it.

(I think I'll try three coats just to be safe!)

Feel sorry for yourself

Today is the second Monday of May.
That means it's International Feel Sorry for Yourself Day.

In a world where we are always told to "look on the bright side," "try to see something good in a bad situation" and to "think positive" we have today to just feel our misery.

Go ahead, feel sorry for yourself!

As for me feeling sorry for me... I have a zit on my lower lip. Sure to some it might look like herpes but it's a zit and I'm WAY too OLD to get zits!

Random snacks

"Random Things"
#5 - I love nacho chips.
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mm mmm
fried goodness!
.
dips & sauces
optional.

The fuzzy continues

The Mount Airy Fothergilla are also fuzzy in the spring.

Full of fuzzy little balls.

More fuzzy things

...fuzzy things from the garden that is!

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(The fuzzy subject started back on April 24th with the fiddleheads.)

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As I've been painting I noticed all the fuzzy poppy bulbs getting ready to bloom along the east side of the garage. Interesting looking. I hope I didn't paint over too many of them!

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Rain day

Finally a rainy day! (So I don't have to paint.)

Rain songs on my iPod:
Only Happy When It Rains (Garbage)
Here Comes The Rain Again (Eurythmics)
Rain (The Cult)
When It Rains (X)
Let Her Feel The Rain (Tara MacLean)
Kingdom Of Rain (The The)
Rain (Patty Griffin)
Let It Rain (4 Strings)
Ice Rain (DJ Tiesto)
No Rain (Blind Melon)
California Rain (Madeleine Peyroux)
Rainbow (Talk Talk)
Raintime (The Wolfgang Press)
Rain (Madonna)

So as not to be a slacker I managed to edge the lawn before it rained. I live on a corner. Theres a lot of edge. The edger should ALSO come with pain killers. But lucky for me CVS had buy 100 ibuprofen caplets get 100 free!!!

With paint comes pain

Pain pills should come with every gallon of paint. I will need to contact Home Depot and let them know this!

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It's hard to believe that the garage only has it's first coat done and the rest of the place remains minty pistachio.

And the winning color is...

Olivine!!!
aka "the bottom one"










In case you haven't been following 'This is Eric's blog' as you should be... I've been picking a shade of green for my new house color. (The pic here is of the garage - by the way - and not the house.) Soon we will start to pick a color for the doors so don't feel totally left out if you're just now joining.
.And before I forget
I have to say
Happy 5th of May!!!

Or as our south of the border amigos would say...

Tacos and a Dos Equis for all!!!
As for me it's a couple of Oberon and some Advil (painting hurts!)

Just a fly on the wall

...wondering when this wall is scheduled to be painted.

Stain my deck

Don't know of a joke about 'stain my deck" but I think the joke was on me. Since I needed things to keep me from starting the 'paint my house' project I decided to stain the front deck. I have the leftover stain I used two (or maybe it was 3?) years ago so it's a free project. Free is a good price for the unemployed! But I forgot about the labor costs. It took almost 3 hours JUST TO STAIN THE RAILS yesterday. Well, today onto the flooring. That should be quick and easy.
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Quick and easy... maybe. Free... not so much when you run out of stain. Maybe this calls for two coats! What could be more fun?

Random complaint

"Random Things"
#4 - I don't like the NAV on the MyGig in my Chrysler Jeep Patriot.
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If one is looking for shopping (as I was looking for nearby Kmart stores) your options are: Bookstore, Grocery Store, Mall, and Motorcycle Dlr. Where is "none of the above?" Sure you can use the function where you type in the name 'Kmart' but NOT while the car is moving. Grrrr.
Also I have an issue with the fact that when typing in the name "ACO" (since I can never remember what mile road the hardware store is on) it sends me either 103 miles west or 321 miles south. Same as when I typed in "Bed Bath & Beyond" and it tried to get me to go to New Jersey. That would have been a fun road trip but not what I was up for at that moment.

Operator error you say? Perhaps. But I never had these problems with the Garmin GPS in my last vehicle.

Paint my house - update

Thanks commenters... so true about the fading. Here is a close up of how the Benjamin Moore faded. Not sure when it was painted but was well over 10 years ago. In this case I think I'm glad it faded. Imagine my surprise last summer when I drug that old can of paint out from the basement and did some touch up. Whoops. BUT after all this time that paint is still usable!














This pic below is the actually garage... not the house.
Down to 2 color choices (bottom two from yesterday). I liked the top more yellowie color from yesterday but I think when on the entire house & garage it might be a bit much. So it's out of the running. Sorry.

AND I put in a new window. Darn I can be handy when need be!

Paint my house

(BTW - "Pant my house" is a punch line to a joke... har har)

GREEN. Going to keep it green.
There's a lack of green houses in my hood.


Current
house
color:
Benjamin
Moore's
Kensington
Green (#710).



The block sitting on the window ledge is the actual color when the paint was new. I have a left over can of it in the basement from the previous owners who painted it this color. I'm not a big fan of Little Minty-Green Houses myself and I'm not sure which is uglier: the original shade or the faded shade.

The final three shades of green to choose from.
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FINAL ANSWER!?
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Just pick one all ready.

Old tulips

These tulips that show up every spring in the back yard are probably as old as the bumper stickers from yesterday's post.

I just can't seem to find a copyright date on them to prove it.

Maybe it's underground on the bulbs.

Garage time capsule

These stickers have been on the walls of my garage

since I moved in 10 1/3 years ago. Time does fly.

From the 1976 album "Destroyer": Detroit...









Detroit loves their baseball. The top one is copyright 1968.

Winners of the World Series Championship that year.












Also from 1968 ‘TWO YOU CAN TRUST’. Too bad they lost

to Nixon/Agnew... two others you can trust?

Avocado on the run - True love

... that line never works for me!

My spring

It's officially the start of spring for me today.
The itchy, burning, watery, red, itchy eyes are here.




(not my actual eye)

The predominant pollens at my place today are poplar, aspen, cottonwood, ash and birch with a total pollen count of about 9.3 (see graph). Monday's projection is 11.5! (That would be pollen grains per cubic metre of air averaged over 24 hours.) Ughhhh. Damn trees!

Luckily the Zyrtec I bought a couple of years ago doesn't expire until next month. I'll still give it at least another year and a half. I like to think the pharmaceutical companies wouldn't risk a lawsuit and double the expiration date. It's a better place in my little world.

Suddenly it's summer!

Today we jumped from the 50s to the 80s. Typical Michigan weather. A hot sunny summer day... and more to come! All the plants are waking up, the weeds are sprouting and the grass needs mowed. Summer always means more work.

The fuzzy
fiddleheads.
.
In the
shade.
.
Very
cool.
.
Many types of fiddleheads are eaten but most contain toxic compounds.
.
Anyone want to come over for dinner and try these ones out?

Avocado on the run - update

Earth Day 2009

Salad time! My lettuce has already sprouted...

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A little leafy Earth Day celebration. But actually everyday should be Earth Day. All the wasteful idiots really need to wake up and take a look at what's happening to the planet. Go ahead and Google it and learn what you can do. Some of it is easy. Some takes a bit of discipline. Start with one or two and we'll go from there.

Reduce - Reuse - Recycle

Avocado on the run

This Mexican bilingual avocado is not happy in the IKEA bamboo fruit bowl that happens to be made in China. Who would be? What will become of him? Stay tuned...

There's always room for hand cuffs

Not what you expect to see in the Jell-O section...

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(Cell phone picture... gotta love having a camera on you at all times!)

Random games

"Random Things"
#3 - I don't like to play games
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Why? Is it a phobia? I couldn't find a name for it at phobialist.com but I didn't look too hard. It seemed too much like a game. I loved games as a kid. My grandma and I played cards and board games all summer long (she always lived with us for the summer months). Our favorites were Canasta, Gin Rummy, Payday, Sorry and Yahtzee. Friends and I also played games all the time. The card and board games but also the Atari and Super Nintendo. Maybe I wore out my gaming welcome.
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I have been touching a bit on the return to gaming with online Scrabble. This was one of my favorite ones played... since I actually WON. Maybe that's it. Maybe I don't like games because I'm a sore loser. HA!

Nudies

Now that I have your attention... these are the naked peeps that stand on top of the silver star I posted on January 1, 2009. It's "The Star Dream" by Marshall M. Fredericks and is down the street from me.

Bulbs Bloom

Not much to take pictures of today since I stayed home to do yard work. I should have shot a pic of the oil spill on my garage floor that happened while I was changing the lawnmower oil. I thought to put down paper or a tarp but then decided it wasn't necessary. Yea right. But the mower now has fresh oil, a new spark plug, a new air filter and a sharpened blade. I even adjusted the throttle and straightened the front wheel that was a tad bit cockeyed. I can be handy when I need to be.

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But the bulbs are really blooming now... since it's in the 70's finally. Ahhhhhh...............................................................

Sunshine

I did not go blind. Taking pictures at the sun. Can I be that dumb?

Tax day gardens

Since I wasn't invited to any Tax Day Tea Parties I stayed home with my tea bags and started the veggie garden. Since the economic outlook of Detroit is not appearing to be getting any better I will have to survive on what I can grow. I started out with three bags of manure compost and half a bag of Espoma's Garden-tone for a natural organic gardening experience. Mmm! Well, until the bugs show up and then it's chemicals all the way!

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But it is Michigan and it really could still snow again (ughh... but I doubt it) so only the "cool weather" crops were sown so far: spinach, mesclun (lettuces), cilantro, and a dill and a parsley plant. The pre-existing perennial herbs are doing good: chives, garlic chives, oregano, sage, tarragon, marjoram, lemon balm and lavender. Looks like the thyme has died (see Frozen in Thyme post). Not from being frozen but from me moving it twice all ready this spring. Sorry.

Taxes are taxing

Tomorrow: Tax Day.
Yesterday: Prepared my taxes, unhappy with results.
Today: Redid my taxes. Twice.
I have now used TaxAct, TurboTax and TaxCut.
They all had the same end result: unhappiness.


Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. (Albert Einstein)

Bad food

Last night I ate one of these.

Today I feel sad.

Can I blame McDonald's?

Big Mac meal has 31 grams of protein & 9 grams of fiber...

I look on the positive side.

Today I did my taxes.

I still feel sad.

.

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My grandma loved Big Macs. Not sure about taxes.

Just a thought.

Easter. Happy Easter.

Today is the first Sunday following the first ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or after the day of the vernal equinox (see March 21st) where this particular ecclesiastical full moon is the 14th day of a tabular lunation.

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A.K.A. chocolate bunny and Peep day.

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(Tomorrow is 50% off chocolate bunny and Peep Day!)

Pre Easter Doves

The Easter Chickens arrived in my yard a day early.

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Okay, I know they're actually Mourning Doves but they are also the most widespread and abundant game bird in North America. Dove D'elegence calls for 12. Or you could try Spicy Grilled Dove Breast, Wild Doves in Wine, Dove Delicioso, Dove Enchilades, Dove Breast Appetizer, and the ever so popular Dove Shish-K-Bob. It's up to you to Google these recipes on your own.

(At no time in creating today's blog entry here at 'This is Eric's blog' did any Chickens, Mourning Doves or Easter Eggs get harmed. A few doves were merely inconvenienced with me chasing them around with a camera.)

Darn it's a good Friday

Not sure what to say about such a good day.


<----------------- I discovered that Hot Cross buns have long been a symbol of Good Friday. All this time I thought it was fish. Fish fry anyone?




Arthur Treacher's Triangle Fish & Chips & Hushpuppies, mmm
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Garage sale in 9 steps

Spring can mean one of the worst things EVER... the garage sale.

.1. clean your house and go thru all your stuff
2. gather all the stuff you don't use and you think you can part with
3. drag all this stuff outside
4. put little stickers on all this stuff with prices written on them
5. wonder if that's a good price for your precious stuff
6. change the price on a bunch of stuff
7. sit and watch as people rummage thru your stuff and mumble things like "what the h&ll is this" and then ask "will you take 25 cents for this?"
8. cart all your stuff back inside.
9. count all your new monies and go spend it all at Taco Bell

(Note: this is not titled "Successful garage sale")

Earl of my sandwich

Yesterday's avocado, can of tuna, red onion, green chilies, mayo on whole wheat bread? Bad idea.
Johnsonville smoked turkey and cheddar cheese sausage with mustard, ketchup, relish, red onion, black olives on whole wheat bread? Bon appetite!

Why am I still hungry?

Today in fire history

Today in 1827 English chemist and druggist John Walker invented the wooden match.

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Obviously leading to the roof being on fire in 1984.

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Combine this with my proposed home business that is failing and this is what you get. Not sure where the espresso cup fits in. I'm sure it will all make sense some day.

Rose Colored Glasses

First of all: You would think I should post something about the NCAA Final Four at Ford Field in downtown Detroit tonight with Michigan State. But I'm not going to. Sorry to anyone who cares.
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Also: I've been rambling about spring a lot (since I really hate winter and wonder why I live in Michigan) and I woke up today to about six inches of snow. I checked the calendar and yes it IS really April and the thoughts of spring weren't just a dream.
The real point of today is to consider what kind of glasses we look through. The lenses in our glasses are specific to our own life experiences. We all are effected differently by identical situations due to the lenses our lives have created for each of us. Should we try to better understand what we see through our own lenses or try to relate what we are experiencing to how others would perceive the same situation?

Happy Thoughts

Yesterday's spider post is still giving me the willies... and the sadness that someone commented on the fact that I may have killed her. Sad really. All good spiders go to heaven. The cold winter would have killed her anyway. There was the first little house spider of spring in my home office last night. Way up in the corner above my desk. I feared I would either break the desk or fall to the floor while standing on it to reach the crawly invader and squishing it with a couple of kleenex. Eww. Funny that only spiders are put to death. All the other bugs I find in the house are escorted out the door and into the yard. Even if it's 10 below. So I suppose that's death too. Sad. It's tough to be a bug.

Random spiders

"Random Things"
#2 - I hate spiders
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Yes... arachnophobia. This HUGE Black and Yellow Argiope lived in my backyard all last summer. She kept a web in the Dwarf Korean Lilacs alongside my garage. In the fall she moved to the Red Barberry outside my bedroom window where she decided to leave her egg sac full of a billion babies. I don't think SO!

Farmer part 2

The seeds are still in the pouches

and LOOK what was in the garden all ready!

Nom nom nom....

Farmer

Since the home business of avocado growing still hasn't sprouted (see March 8, 2009)
I think I'll be a veggie farmer. Seeds were 30% off so I'm already ahead! Or am I less behind?

Oberon day

Today is a good good day. One of my favorite days of spring.

The Oberon showed up in the local stores.

Now spring is truly in the air.
...and this is no April Fool.