New Friends and Acquaintances...

 I peaked into the top of the Rusty Needle this morning.  Tessie is explaining everything to Letty.

She is introducing her to new places and new friends now that she is a modern woman...

I over heard Tessie telling  Letty that she could have the quilt shop. "Since you like to do needlework I will let you have this one. I hate needles and pins, I will let you have it if you make me a new quilt...

Next she introduced Letty to Eskiaga and Cordelia.  She told her that Eskiaga always has a big plate of tacos and other Southwestern food on the table if she gets hungry.

I do believe that is the reason that Cordelia hangs out there a lot. She loves tacos.

Then she got just a little to free with my stuff. She offered Letty the use of MY craft cottage if Letty would paint her a couple of pictures to hang in her next house.

I will let Letty use the cottage, but I may just shrink and use that one myself, once in a while...It's much nicer and well organized than my big one!

The last place that she took her for today was to Albert's house.

Daisy, Albert and the basket maker were enjoying the afternoon...

Tessie barged in on their conversation to introduce Letty to them. 

I think that the two men liked the new addition to the community. Letty was impressed when Tessie told her who Albert was and that he was a great scientist.

About that time I told them that was enough for one day.  Letty can meet more of the people around here tomorrow.  I have a feeling that Tessie is trying to keep her away from Zar. 

I am not going to get in the middle of this.  Usually, if it is a new man, Zar gets introduced first.  Not this time.

I am going to just stand back and watch for a few days to see what happens...

Back to work.  See you tomorrow.

Taking the Day Off!!!

I took one look at Zar and Tessie, sitting around doing nothing and decided that I wanted a day off too!

Tessie is still gloating over the pink purse and I am not making more until I do something for me!

I started looking around and found that Albert and Daisy were settled in for the duration.  They were chatting about the universe and the time-space continuum. They could care less about what I was doing this morning.

I refuse to work when nobody else is doing anything. They are all just wasting away the day.  No work at all!

The last straw was Eskiaga and Cordelia. They have been sitting there in the living room of Eskiaga's home for at least five or six years.  They don't do anything but go to parties when someone has one.

I am on strike today. If they can do it, so can I.

Walter is playing golf four days this week.  I think that makes it legal if I take the day off and do something fun.

No more "Back to work.  See you tomorrow.

I am taking the day off. So there!!!

See You tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch......

OK.  After a lot of drilling with not a lot of results, I am thinking that I should make the fireplace removable and put the transformer behind it.  I have a hole big enough for a cord to go through in the back and there is no reason to have to take the transformer out, once it is in.  So.... I think that I will build the bottom of the fireplace as a unit and the chimney as a stationary piece.

I have to think on how I want to do it for a bit...

So, if you are looking for me.  I will be in the workroom, otherwise known as the non-conversational pit.  Nobody wants to come in there and talk to me whilst I clean.

It has to be done.  While I am thinking on how to do the fireplace, I can get a lot of it finished.

Tessie and Zar casually mentioned that they had an appointment with a fireplace expert and left.

As I was walking from the bedroom to the workroom....I saw this.

Fireplace expert, my left foot!  Eskiaga is adept at building fires, but not fireplaces.

I built that one without any help from any of them.

I think that was just an excuse to sit around the fireplace and eat tacos and enchiladas. Not to mention getting out of helping clean the workroom. 

I guess that I am all alone, unless one of you want to volunteer?  No?  OK.  Once again, I am left to my own devices....

See you tomorrow.

I Got a Day Pass....

OK....Tessie gave me permission to NOT work on the bottom floor today. In just a little bit, April is bringing the baby and her cat over....She has an appointment with our vet on this side of town. She was dissatisfied with the one that she has been using. Therefore, I don't have to start on the living room and kitchen today.

Instead, I decided to work on one of the larger sized gourd baskets...Still small, but a start.

As soon as I finished the body of the basket, Tessie took it over. She thought of several uses for it. Bathtub was one suggestion. I had to patiently explain to her that, with the holes in the sides, it wasn't going to hold a lot of water.

She seemed to lose interest after that. However, there was another taker for it and that made it more attractive.

Eskiaga, the Apache scout, showed up. It almost came to blows over who would get it for their collection. I settled the argument by decorating the basket in a southwestern style.

I doubt if Eskiaga will ever really claim it. I think that he just wanted to pull rank on Tessie to see what she would do.

Anyway, it was a photo op. Here's Eskiaga with two of the real mini horsehair baskets that are made by the Native Americans in this area. I tried messing with horsehair just once....Never again. The cats kept trying to eat the horsehair...I am not sure what the attraction is, but it is very difficult to try to keep the horsehair in place and the cats away at the same time. I admire the people that weave these. They aren't easy to do right, so I just purchase them from the experts.

I am pretty happy with how the basket turned out. Not too bad for my first attempt at a regular sized gourd basket.

Now I have to go get ready for company.

See you tomorrow with townhouse in hand....

By Guess and By Gosh!

I now know that it takes me, a witch, a mad scientist and an Apache to finish a curved staircase that winds around a curved mobile home roof.

That's how difficult it was to get the angles right! It's not pretty inside, but that will be covered up in the end.

I cut, measured, cut some more, cursed a tiny bit, and whittled with an Exacto to get it right.


There were no exact 45 degree or 90 degree angles in the whole curved area.

I still have to paint, stain and cover the outside, but I did get the building part done and it looks pretty good from the front side, where it counts.

As soon as I got it put together, Tessie had to run up and down a few times to make sure that we did it right....Mind you, the glue wasn't even dry when she started.

At least now I know that it's not going to fall apart right away.

Before I even got to the painting and staining....the boring part, the rest of the crew was on to other things.

I found them camped out on the roof. They put a makeshift "pavilion" together from a box top and some chopsticks to see what it would look like. It's not the right size or shape, but at least they know that it is going to work.

So.... There they sit. I guess that I am going to have to shoo them away if I want to get any more done today.

They look so comfortable. Maybe I will grab a Dr Pepper, pull up a chair and join them for a few minutes break time.... Who needs paint on their steps anyway?

See you tomorrow.

Odd Socks.....

Well, for a pair of mismatched socks, they sure are popular. April and Walter both want them for Christmas!There isn't that much difference in the size of their feet and the socks are stretchy anyway.

I am finding that I like my socks a little more orderly than this. I guess if I was wearing long pants and nobody could see the tops they would be OK for me, but as they are, they are just too weird for me. At least they are finished!

Tessie is still nagging about the tree vignettes. This is one from last year and I just put a padded stool in it. No sooner than I had done that, Cordelia and Eskaiga arrived and took it over. I am beginning that there is something going on there. Ever since the Mid Century Mod housewarming, they have been spotted here and there together.

I discovered one tiny(big) problem with the new cupboard. It wouldn't fit in the only vignette that I have left.

Tessie filled it with food and drink as soon as it was dry. When I told her that it wouldn't fit, she told me, "Make a new vignette for it!"

I refused. She zapped it and vanished. I had to go hunting for her. She managed to balance it on one of the branches of the tree and wedged it in. There it is and there it will stay unless someone shakes the tree vigorously.

Anyway, the party is gaining momentum day by day. Three more days to go. Who knows what other guests will show up? I guess we will just have to wait to find out.

See you tomorrow.

The Day After.......

The party at the museum was wonderful. We had champagne and toasts to the opening. Then we strolled at leisure, looking at all of the treasures as a harpist played. This is my second time and even with hoards of people, I saw new things that I missed before.

That happened every time I went to the old museum too though. I worked there two days a week for several years and still didn't see everything. And that building was much smaller than the present one.

I know that you are wanting to find out what happened here while I was away. There was a party. It was comparatively tame as mini parties go.

I heard noise coming from three fronts. The main party was in Zar's workroom. Strangely, Zar was the only man present. He said that the basket maker got mad and left. I asked "Why?". Balthzar was gauche enough to tell me that he had all of the girls eating out of the palm of his hand and it made the straw man, as Zar calls him, annoyed.

Zar did look like he was getting a lot of attention and loving every minute of it.

Tessie wasn't there, but I thought it was best not to ask about her at that point. The life of the party wanted to go back to his guests.

I heard Eskiaga's voice. I know he's not a party animal and pretty much stays at home. That made me wonder if he had taken to talking to himself. I looked in and there he was surrounded by cats, dogs, a tiger, and an alligator. He was telling them Apache folk tales.

As they listened attentively, I noticed that Spike and Theo were both present. I don't know where Spike has been hiding for the past few days. Maybe he was just not sure about living with a tiger.

Did I mention that there was a small black cat, that wandered in with the rest, that I had never seen before? Hmmmmmmm....Katie, count your stray cats and let me know if there is a half grown black one missing!

When Eskiaga was finished with the story I asked why all the animals. He told me that he had kindly given them sanctuary while the wildest part of the party was happening. He also told me to look for cold pizza under the table where the Clockwork Cottage sits. He said that there was a delivery earlier of way more pizzas than Zar and the gang could stuff down in one night.

I then asked if he knew where Tessie was. He simply said "Turn on the magnifying lamp by the Clockwork Cottage."

There was Tessie. I thought at first that she was alone, with a cranberry margarita in her hand and depressed. Then she got a wicked grin on her face. I asked what was going on. She replied, "See the camera that I set up behind the secret bookcase? Now I can't forget how to get into the workshop. I recorded the combination on the touch pad that gets him in. I WIN!!!"

I don't think that she has won anything yet. I have a feeling that this is just the beginning of another war. Zar better get rid of the party girls change the numbers fast!

See you tomorrow.