HS Demo

All day I was at the Custer County High School in Miles City. This is the 2nd Fall that I have done an all day wheel throwing demonstration and Raku presentation. A recruitment of sorts. We seem to have no trouble filling our 12 and under art classes. But bringing in the High School participants can be like pulling teeth. In an attempt to amp it up, we started offering a 7-week Raku Fired Pottery Class. Half of the sessions will be hand building and half of the sessions will be wheel work. At the beginning of the classes I showed a slide show of the outdoor Raku kiln being fired and gave a history of the Americanized version of Raku Pottery. I also brought in a few sample pots and discussed the glazes and how certain effects were achieved. I moved over to the wheel and demonstrated throwing a pot. After four Art 1 classes I had to loosen it up a little (for me) and decided to throw a pot blindfolded. It was a great day. The students were all very attentive and seemed really interested in the clay. I probably visited with 100+ students. Hopefully that is enough to fill our after school Raku class.

Watercolor at the Villa

I was at the Friendship Villa nursing home this afternoon. We worked on our sketching and watercolor skills today. I was reading up on Cezanne and how he really tried to draw through the subjects. Being that if there was multiple pieces of fruit, he would draw the ones in front and in back in full. That would be a sketch. As he went into the color/value portion of his composition he would bring certain objects forward and push others back.
Using shoes stacked on top of one another, I tried to get the residents to draw the geometric shapes of the shoes and to draw through the shoes to the other shoes.

VA Hospital

I was at the the VA community living this morning. These residents are fairly mixed as far as their abilities are concerned. There can be a lot of young people and older people working/living together. We worked on a clay project that was a slab built mug. I had pre-cut the slabs into 4.5 by 11 inch pieces of clay. At about 1/4" to 3/8" thick. I brought along a bowl full of stamps and other texture materials. I demonstrated pattern, and emphasized keeping the stamp in rows and columns. I very symmetrical design. One resident placed the butterfly stamp all over the slab. It created a lot of movement on the slab and was very catching. I am going to fire these mugs to cone 10 and use the Reitz Green glaze. It breaks very nice at the edges. I brought a small vase that was glazed the same, it really emphasized to the residents the importance of stamping, patterns and how the glaze will work well with the textured pieces.

The Weeks Before Christmas

It was -6 degrees the day we cut our tree. There is a little more snow today. Marie and Jack had to go back to the car early. Rosa never made it out of the car. I gave Sam my coat while I was sawing the tree. Just before it came down I looked over at Sam and asked if he wanted to push it over on the last cut. Sam was shivering and had ice hanging from his nose. He was glad for the opportunity to move around, and to push over the tree.

The boys and I made sugar cookies for St.Nick. Our little elves, who are in dire need of a wardrobe and sizing update, put the sugar and stamp on the cookies. A good picture of Jack and Rosa. They have been taking naps together with Marie. Marie has been sneaking out early and taking a few pictures of them sleeping together.

Christmas Day

Rosa has spent the day sleeping. She has had a terrible hoarse cough and cry the few times that she has been awake. Our Young Cowkid and his sidekick Mr. Incredible Cowboy have been playing the part most of the morning. We took some good footage of them opening their cowboy boots from St. Nick. The weather today is hovering around zero. It is snowing flurries. We moved our luminaries into our front porch.

Sam, Jack & Rosa

Here is the first photo of the kids, since H1N1 has quaraintined the hospital.

Rosa Josephine Esther Layton

"Rosa Jean" was born October 30th, 2009 at 11:41pm. She weighed 8 pounds and 4 ounces, and is 20 inches long. Marie was surprised at such a small baby, compared to 9.o & 10.3. I was hoping on a Halloween Baby but Marie and Rosa had other plans. It happened so quick we almost had Rosa in the parking lot! But we opted for the corner of the bed instead! The Doctor couldn't get there in time, we had 3 great nurses and PA deliver the baby. Rosa is very healthy and has red/strawberry blonde hair, and not much of it.

There Once was a Wall

Marie and I did a lot of demolition today. There once was a wall that sectioned off the old front porch. We took out that wall today. I just took some pictures of the work, but they didn't turn out so good. I'll take some in the day time tomorrow from outside of the window. Speaking of outside the window...I did take some pictures of 2 blurs that kept racing by. A few times I thought I was on the set of Saturday Night Live as Batman and Superman raced around the house. They kept up a pretty strong banter the whole time Marie and I worked. I walked out on them once and Sam had dragged 2 chairs out from the porch and set them up as Bat Mobile seats. This confirmed my SNL feeling. Even though they were in the Bat Mobile they were acting out different scenes from The Incredibles. Marie and I stood and watched for awhile. Safety first today. I only climbed on a short ladder and it was on dry level ground. Clapping sound.

Saint Valentine

Marie surprised us all. She filled the front room with balloons and chocolate. The boys were very surprised when they woke up this morning. The boys also made a few Valentine's candies. They were little mints.

Outside Corner

Marie made some really good spinach dip during lunch the other day. If you look close enough you can see identical chunks of chip hanging on my and Jack's lips. Samuel had a hard time reaching the bowl - but he found a way. We are making headway on the Silver Maple. We gave 2 loads of wood to the Sheep Camp and Donna got a lot of limbs. We are keeping what it piled up. The big log is awaiting the Alaskan Sawmill. Ted's friend is bringing one down. I am pretty much way excited about that. We cleared the juniper bush in the front. It's proximity was depreciating the value of the house. This spring we will replenish the landscaping value and plant a bush a bit further away.

Jack & The Front Porch (Room)

Our house was built in 1907. The front porch was originally open to the elements. Judging by the siding, it was framed-in and enclosed during the 1940s. Since its first enclosement it has scene a few different makeovers, and with each layer the room gets smaller. A few mornings ago while Marie and the boys were at a play-group I decided to take the hammer to the ceiling of the porch. After knocking off a layer of the plaster/stucco composition I discovered a layer of really nice wainscoating. I drilled a few small holes through the wainscoating and I am pretty sure that only a small skiff (about 1-2 inches) of 1940s insulation seperates me from the rafters. I save my breath and just say they that a wee bit more remodeling is in the near future.... how about the near rafters. Here is Jack. Perched high atop. Overseeing all chainsaw and wood loading activities. The boys and Marie splashed in all of the melting snow puddles today.

Clean & Sunny Day

Here are a few shots of our living room and dining room. The sun was really look'in nice today so Marie snapped a few photos. The new windows await. They are on our front porch. I have a good feeling that I am going to be throw'in some sawdust around while installing these windows. We are all soaking up the clean and "not in construction mode" house. But then we walk out the front door and say "yup" there is the work. Also, the ground outside is a great muck of a mix between mud, ice & snow. As there will be a lot of foot work outside of the window we are sort of waiting for that to even out as well. If you look closely you can see that we still need to put in the quarter round moulding between the floor and the "mop" board. Earl called it the mop board. I remember the windows as being the colonial style.

Down Goes Kevin & The Silver Maple

Our friend Ted Frazer came over on Sunday and cut down our dead tree. It seems it was a Silver Maple. Marie says that it died because of a certain bug. She found pieces of dead bugs after the tree was cut. We are still trying to figure out what bug it was. I think the tree was old. I also thought that Ted was going to shimmy up the tree with a rope tied through his belt loop and a chainsaw between his teeth. Nope. Ted busted out the harness and loads of climbing expertise. He even used a block & tackle and a cambium saver. As Ted tied ropes around the limbs, Jen and I would pull them down as he cut. When the big limbs hit the ground Jen and I would untie the rope, buck up the limb and haul it off. Things were going great. Then I decided to climb a ladder that was on unstable ice. I ended up falling off of the top wrung and hitting my face on the ice. I spent the rest of the day and all day Monday laying on the couch with my eye swollen shut. Ted took a picture of my eye. As I write this I remember Jen walking over to the ladder and saying, "let me hold that." I also remember me saying, "Nah, I'll be fine." I like the picture of Ted when he is barely off the ground. He said, "geez, at least wait until I am in the tree." I also like the one where Ted has his head turned while running the saw. It was a great day. The boys were very impressed with everything going on. Marie made a wonderful soup and Jen made one of her grandmother's cakes. The boys and I went out on Tuesday and made a fort in the pile of tree. This weekend I am going to take the saw to it, I can't wait.

slugg'in through below zero temp's

I can not believe it has been a month since my last post.  It has been so cold.  We have not hooked up our phone, garbage or internet.  But we do have heat and lights.  There are boxes and furniture all over the house.  There is also a pile of particle board furniture in our backyard.  Marie and I decided that particle board will not be in the house.

AUCTION!

Well, I went to an Auction. Came home with 3 truck loads of furniture and about 7 boxes of misc. hardware. I even have some use for some of the stuff. Just putting the finishing touches on the Christmas Letter. Marie and I set, plumbed & caulked in the kitchen sink today. Turn the handle and water comes out. No leaks - yet. I am squaring off with the bathroom this week. Hope to have the toilet and tub in by Saturday.

New Rug

Samuel and Jack are doing some "tiling" of their own. We got our new rug!

Photos

Tile in the Bathroom! New Sink Construction! Samuel wanted a 2nd Thanksgiving. Marie went to the store Friday morning and grabbed a Turkey. The boys set the table and decorated the Turkey with sage and pomegrante(?) seeds. Marie and I installed the light above the sink. We put in a junction box in the basement, drilled holes for the switch and the light. Wire nuts galore and flipped the switch!

Photo Update

Okay! Samuel is applying joint compound (plaster) on the wall where the old sink was. There was a teeny dishwasher from the 50s that we also took out. There is a picture of me running the floor sander in the kitchen-the drum sander. The DUMP sink. We decided the chips were not going to get patched before we moved in. So I bought a new sink at the ReStore run by Habitat for Humanity in Billings. Samuel and Jack applying the first coats of La Terra. The bathroom floor after I tore out the carpet!

Dump Day

I should of snapped a photo of the 2 huge dump loads. But I think I'll take a picture of the awesome Kohler cast iron sink that we found. Paid $1.00 for it. It has a few minor chips in the enamel. I am going to try and repair them. If they can not be fixed we'll shop Home Depot for a comparable $300.00 model.

Sam is ready to go Wednesday morning. I snuck over early Wednesday and tore up some of the carpet in the kitchen. A test tear. The layers were foam carpet, glue, linoleum, glue, tar paper, glue. You can see the sludge application that demolished the final layer of glue and tar paper. Marie is scraping away. The kitchen sink, toilet and claw foot tub are all out. We are going to get a new (bigger) kitchen sink. We will reinstall the tub and toilet after we tile the bathroom. We are going over today to scrap more walls and re-plaster the cracks.