February, 2014

...now browsing by month

 

20 steps

Wednesday, February 26th, 2014

I made this video as a part of a daily digital storytelling exercise that I sometimes do.

(The assignment was “To begin, take a short video of the area you start your video adventure. Then, take 20 steps in one direction and stop, record another short clip. Repeat this process after taking another 20 steps. After you’ve captured 20 little videos, every 20 steps, you’ll edit them together to create a masterpiece. For a bonus add thematic music and snazzy titles.:)

Two interesting things that I found on the property while doing this that you’ll see in this video were a giant coyote den (large hole in the ground) and some massive tumbleweeds that must have blown in during the last big wind.

Tile inlay

Sunday, February 16th, 2014

I’ve been working on a project to learn how to inlay tile into wood. I’m pretty sure this isn’t the best way to do it, but here’s what I did.

First, I marked off the area where the inlay would go and cut the edges with a utility knife.

IMG_6833

Then I used a router to take out most of the wood in the inlay area (but didn’t go all the way to the edge).

IMG_6836

Next I used a chisel to remove the rest of the wood to the edge. This still left a fair amount of rough wood though, so after that I used a Dremel to take out more.

IMG_6838

IMG_6839

Finally, I sanded it out, stained and varnished. Here’s the final product:

frame

It was a lot of work, and the results aren’t perfect, but like most things, I’ll probably get better as I do more of this.

Another growing season

Monday, February 10th, 2014

This weekend we finally had some warm afternoons and took the opportunity to work in the garden.

Here is Brad working on the asparagus beds. With a little luck, we’ll be eating fresh asparagus in a few weeks.

IMG_6826

My artichokes seem to have come through the winter nicely. We love perennials!

IMG_6828

And we’ve been enjoying lettuce from the cold frame even with nighttime temperatures in the low 20s.

IMG_6832

As usual, we put in two beds of garlic last fall. Until they’re ready, we’re still enjoying last year’s garlic.

IMG_6831

And in the house, I have 30 or so tomato starts going. I’m also starting leeks inside this year. They are another crop that should last through the winter next year.