Why?

Whatever possessed me? 

I think that I just got myself into a lot more trouble. As soon as I finished the clothes, Albert woke up.

There were a lot of questions to answer. "What am I doing here?"  Where's here?  "What is that contraption on the desk?"

On and on they went.

Thank goodness, Tessie arrived about then.  She took over.  I think that he recognized her and trusted her more than the gigantic woman that was terrorizing him... (Me)

She peddled in on her bike and he immediately wanted to ride it. 

She talked him out of that.  I think that she was afraid that he would fall off of the desk and wreck her bike and himself...

 Instead, she said to him... "I have something that is much more fun than a bike to ride.

And she proceeded to introduce him to Gordon. 

She plopped on Gordon's neck and pulled him up after her.

I doubt that Albert will trust her after the ride is over.  Yes. They were still spinning around my head as I was writing.

After that, they disappeared. I had to go see where she took him and if it was dangerous for either of them...

 Nope.  She next introduced him to carry out pizza.  He lived in Italy as a youngster, so at least he knew what it was. 

I left them alone, knowing that Tessie would take care of an old friend.

The only thing that puzzled Albert was.... How did he shrink to 5 3/4"?  And why was he alive in 2017?

I looked over to the other side of the room and saw Zar and Daisy with their heads together... I over heard Daisy say, "You know... For a fee, I could take him back to the 1950s and we could all avoid a LOT of trouble."

Zar just shrugged and answered... "Nope.  I want to see how long the novelty will last.  Sooner or later, Tessie is going to get tired of answering all of Albert's questions. Then the fun will begin, again....

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

The Faeries Won!

When I went out to chase Tessie and Spike away from the watering tank this morning, this is what I found instead. 

Tessie messed up.  She went into the house and went to sleep... Not a good idea when you are trying to protect something from faeries....

They took over and on top of that, they took my gazebo. Maybe I should have stayed awake too...

On top of that, they hired Gordon Dragon to keep watch whilst they fetched their belongings.

I think that faeries are a lot like a certain witch I know.  Bribery, with cookies and tea.

It works every time. 

Gordon is a good watch dragon.  He moves around the property and pretends to sleep a lot. 

Just don't get too close... He loves fingers...

Here is a long distance shot... I am not risking any fingers. 

Considering that yesterday at this time, the whole thing was a pile of dirt, I am very pleased with what the faeries finished.

Since they finished that, I had a chance to plant a lot of succulent starts in a birdcage and hang it outside the bedroom window. 

I am going to have to put a sign somewhere to remind me to drag the hose over there and water them until they take hold.

I have a few other ideas up my sleeve to compete with the faeries.  I think that they will approve.  It is all to their benefit. 

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.  If the faeries or Gordon Dragon don't get me!

Jackpot!!!

I went into town this morning.  Regular Walmart run.  Then I decided to stop at the Dollar Tree and a few other places looking for little bottle brush Christmas trees...

Those are getting ridiculously expensive for what they are... I am going to have to look around and see what I have before I spend more money for them...

I stopped at Goodwill, thinking that they might have some... Nope... They did have some great books for little bits of money. Three of them were under a dollar the other two just a bit more.  I see some Navajo mini rugs in my future.  Some mini container gardening and some creative mini accessories...

I tried a few garage sales, hoping for someone getting rid of mini bottle brush trees... No luck there.

When I was driving down our street coming home, the house four doors down had a garage sale going...No bottle brush trees there either... But... They did have beads.  They were all stuffed in a big box and when I asked how much one of the bags was, she told me that she wanted 20.00 for the whole thing... I need more beads like I need another hole in my head, but I can always use more.  They do run out after a while... That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.  There is over a hundred dollars worth of beads there... I didn't even argue with the price.  I will just consider it an early Christmas present. 

Now about the Dollar Tree... For those of you lucky enough to have one near you, the manager told me that they still have enough Christmas stuff in the back room to keep them stocking for the next week or two.  He wasn't even sure what was there.

I did find these crystal Christmas trees by the checkout counter.  For a dollar each. 

They change every color of the rainbow, a little at a time and are just the right size to use with minis. 

I don't think that Gordon Dragon appreciates them though.  They are keeping him awake!

I have to go turn off the Christmas trees, sort beads and read the new books.

See you tomorrow.  Back to minis then.

We Have an Intruder!

April and Amare showed up to help me decorate for the Wednesday Witches' Halloween bash this morning... A good time was had by all, but not a lot of minis were done...

When I was beading yesterday, Tessie found this glass vial that I beaded a couple of years ago...Now I am debating whether to use it for a needle case or should I find some way to wire it and use in on the tower platform?  I am thinking needle case.  The top comes off and it is already done.  I haven't gotten a lot further along on the one that I was working on yesterday.

 Hey!  Finished is always good, as an excuse to stop working on yet another project...

Meanwhile, I went into the bedroom and found the Terrible Two plus Gordon, in an uproar.  It seems that they found things out of place in the time machine.

Gordon alerted them to the evidence of trespassing.  The rope ladder was not in it's usual place on the back of the house.  And the culprit was still on the premises..

Zar found the ladder at the opposite end of the house.  Rather than climb down, he decided that there might be trace evidence on the ladder and opted for climbing down the tree instead.

Good opt...

Once again, the Doctor is in... When he found that the time machine was still inoperable, he dug up a good book and decided to relax on the rooftop patio until the machine was running....

Speaking of running... I do believe that the Doctor will soon be running for cover.  The Terrible Two are not going to let him get away with it.  They saw the time machine first! They seem to think that they have right of first refusal on the theft...

I need to get in touch with Daisy right away..

Gotta run.  See you tomorrow!

Stairs of the Nine Dragons...

I love serendipity.  I left Tessie watching Buffy and holding up the clamp, yesterday morning and went shopping.

One of the stops was at 22st. Antiques.  I was almost through the whole store, without finding anything.  Then, in one of the booths, I found a large glass vase.  It was filled to the top with all kinds of bits and pieces of jewelry. Even better, it was on sale for seven dollars!

Little did I know that it would solve all of my problems with the circular stairs on the tree. It had a lot of very good junk for minis, that I imagine any sane person would have dumped in the garbage.  There were even two very ugly watches that were still running...Hey! If nothing else I can salvage the batteries.

When I got home, I grabbed a tray and dumped the contents of the vase on it.  Then I spent a happy hour sifting through the goodies.  There were several little lines of metal train cars that, when painted will be perfect for mini train sets.  For some reason the person that had this stuff had a thing about gold miners... There were a bunch of tiny statues of prospectors panning for gold.  And they were gold.  At least in color.

The staircase has nine steps... I found exactly nine small, golden dragons.  They were just the right size to fit one on each step.

There was also a huge pile of necklace chains.  I decided to use one of those and make the railing like the one on the Tudor Trailer.

I used the same method for holding up the rings to guide the chain from top to bottom.

I found some gold tape and cut it in half lengthwise.  Then I threaded a small piece through one of the chain links(also from the vase) and looped each end over the top of the post.  Then I used a full width of the tape to make a collar around the tape.

It almost looks like a merry go round of dragons... But in this case, they are all going up hill.

Tessie tried it on for size(before the glue dried) and messed up some of the bottom posts, before I could catch her.

Actually, it was a good thing.  I found out that, either people climbing the stairs are going to have to duck or I am going to have to cut off one of the branches... I don't want to do that.  Maybe I can figure out a way to move it...

Anyway, Gordon Dragon likes the new staircase.  All I have to do is keep him and Tessie off of it until all the glue is dried.

I am going now to hunt for my Model Air clay so that I can start filling in the base of the tree. 

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

What To Do?

Yesterday was one of those days when I wasn't in the mood to do anything in particular.

I went in and straightened the workroom...Yes, I am keeping it straight, so far...

I did a few stitches on the bedroom rug... Not really in the mood for that.  I finished one towel.

I did notice that Gordon Dragon was missing from the divan and Tessie had taken over, with some help from Spike... She has a brand new set of sheets, just waiting to be used.... I suspect that she has plans for sleeping in Daisy's bed, sometime soon...

I went out to the garage and found the tub of rug yarn and did a whole row around the edge of an octagon rug...Not really in the mood for that either... Hey!  Every time I get in the mood, I do at least one row... It's another one of those things that will eventually be done... Then the problem will be, where to put it. 

So I am not really in the mood to finish that.  At least not all at once.

I finally settled on doing something that needs to be done.  My remote control cozy for the TV is wearing out. 

I replaced the bottom(yellow and red) panel and am about half way through doing the front. Being used every day, it has lasted for 5 years.  I put "remote control" in the search box and found that I made it back in 2009.  I guess it is about time for at least replacing some of the more worn sections.  I should have that finished later today.

I got curious as to the whereabouts of Gordon.  I found him on the rooftop patio with his pillow, in full pouting mode. 

I think that Tessie kicked him out, so that she could sleep there. She did a good job of repacking the sheets, but I did notice a couple of wrinkles...

I do hope that Daisy shows up soon... If she doesn't, I fear that Tessie is going to try to take over her cottage... Tessie already has more than she needs.  Maybe I should send Daisy a warning... I wonder where and when she is now?

See you tomorrow.

More Decisions...

It is hard to move forward when one is confronted by two other people that have different ideas and want you on their side.

I found this piece of self stick, brown "velvet" carpeting when I was cleaning...See? It does pay to clean(once in a while).

I installed it in the bedroom upstairs.  Then I had to keep Gordon and Zar out of the room whilst I tried the carpets, once again.  I am leaning towards the one that Zar likes... It is smaller and will be finished faster.  

I couldn't keep them out. So I went and worked on the bathroom for a while.  The tub is now smooth on top and the floor is laid...

No.  The wall isn't fastened in yet, or is the tub.

I was trying things out.  I stuck the shelves in the corner to see how they looked.  I like them, but
Tessie is hesitant.  She fears that Daisy will bump into them when turning on the faucets...

Anyway, I noticed that Zar had wandered off somewhere.  Tessie was trying to influence Gordon with cookies.  He kept singeing them before he could swallow them.  Burnt cookies.... Not a great bribe.

She is still trying to get me to finish this rug.  She claims that it will go better with Gordon...It has green in it. I am beginning to wonder where Daisy is going to sleep...

I know what is going to happen if I finish it.  It was started to go in the townhouse.  Then she decided that she wanted a zebra skin under the coffee table in the living room... So I did a zebra skin...

As soon as this is finished, she will try to claim it for herself.  Even though she has no place to put it.  I have visions this one under the coffee table and the zebra skin carpet winding up in the rooftop garden... It won't last long there.

What do I do now?  I think that I will go to a movie with Walter and think about it...

See you tomorrow.

How NOT to Train Your Dragon...

Especially if it's not your dragon... It's Daisy's.

This morning I heard a ruckus outside the front door.  I peeked out the stained glass window and saw the postman's truck roaring away in a cloud of dust...

I called Tessie.  "Are you expecting a package from anyone?"

She replied, "OH! It's the dragon!!!"

I was about to scold her for ordering on the computer without my permission again...

She knew what was coming and quickly started to explain... "Open the door fast.  He will get away! I got a letter from Daisy last night. She's sending a guard dragon to protect the cottage.  We have to grab him quick... He's not exactly trained yet.  I promised that I would do it while you finished the cottage... Is that OK?"

What could I say? The dragon was already on the front porch howling to come inside.

I opened the door, to see an empty box with a dragon lying on top.  He had chewed his way out and by the time that the postman got the package to the door, the dragon was nibbling on his fingers.  No wonder he ran!

The trip must have been terrible for a dragon that had only flown on his own before.  I don't know what Daisy was thinking.  Why didn't she just give him directions and send him off? 

I guess, being a young dragon, she didn't want to risk a solo flight.  It's a long way from Outer Mongolia, in a completely different century, to Tucson...

Anyway, we managed to get him inside and lock him in the nearest convenient lockable room... That was the music tower.  Thank goodness.  He wasn't hungry.  He didn't eat the cat.


We thought it best to move him...Just in case...

Tessie suggested the townhouse.  It was not far away and we managed to get him there without further damage.

He settled down on the couch and Tessie tried cookies.  No dice.  He doesn't like chocolate chips.  They make him sneeze.  And when he sneezes, the whole house goes up in flames...

Tessie thought it best to move him again.  I suggested that we put him where he belonged...Tessie started out wanting to keep him for herself...Now she can't wait to get rid of him...

She told me, "If we don't calm him down, everything including your house could go up in smoke!
Maybe I should read the instructions for taking care of him that Daisy enclosed...".

By this time, I was about to go up in smoke.  I turned and glared at her and asked, "Daisy sent directions?  What did you do with them?"

Now she tells me..."Gordon was trying to eat them and I snatched them away and hid them..."

I asked, "Gordon?"

She shrugged her shoulders and answered, "Gordon the dragon, silly!" 

Then she proceeded to tell me that the note said that his name is Gordon and he likes to smoke...

I thought..."Didn't we already know that?" Then I asked, "Where is the note and what else did it say....Since it sounds like you already read it and memorized every line.."

"OK.  Here's what we are supposed to do.  We give him a comfortable place to sleep...Preferably in Daisy's house."  She paused long enough to catch a breath and continued..."Then we give him a pillow and a hookah pipe full of Cherry Blend Smoking Tobacco... Nothing fancy. Plain tobacco.  Then we let him have at it and wait."

"Then what?" I asked. 

"Then nothing.  That's why he needs the pillow. As soon as he finishes the pipe, he takes a long nap."

"Is there anything else I should know?" I asked....

"Yes.  If he starts snoring, stand back... and poke him with a long stick." 

I was afraid to ask anything else.  I immediately went to the back yard for a long stick.

When I got back, this is what I saw.  Tessie singing Gordon a lullaby.  Zar massaging his wings because of the cramped quarters of the box and Spike sitting back in awe. 

I think that Spike is wondering how he can get that kind of treatment.

Dream on Spike.  The Terrible Two have a new friend.  It will wear of the first time he belches and sets Tessie's hair on fire or singes Zar's necktie.

I will see you tomorrow if the house is still standing....... "Walter!!! Grab the hose!!!!"