Blood Moon

I heard about the blood moon lunar eclipse the night that it was going to happen, and instead of sleeping through such an interesting occasion I set my alarm for 2 AM and lurked around the house for an hour while the eclipse crept over the moon.

Because I needed to take a long exposure (about 1.5 seconds), I found my tripod and set it up outside the back door so I could go out, snap the picture, and then retreat inside for the next 15 minutes (because it was COLD out, all right? My fingers were freezing!). The result is some pretty darned cool pictures, if I may say so myself.

This was a little after 2 AM. The eclipse was almost complete at that point, and where there had been moonlight everywhere a few hours before it was getting to be very dark. (Stating the obvious, perhaps, but when you're the only one up, and the moon is doing weird things, it still feels a bit creepy. XD)

 

This was about 2:30-ish...getting brighter!

 

And here we have it in all its coppery glory at around 2:45 AM. The little blue dot, according to my reading up in between outdoor ventures, is Mars. I think it's kinda cute how he's trying to get in on the action.

*just realized that I'm anthropomorphizing planets* 

Anyway.

So I read that the reason that the moon turns red is because of the sun's light behind the earth reflecting off of the atmospheric particles and onto the moon; the color wavelengths that don't get diffused are red, and there you have it! (Tumblr was very handy in providing this information last night.) 

Enjoy the pictures!

Also, friendly reminder that in 2 weeks and 2 days I'm leaving for Colorado. AAAAHHHHHH. 8D

Thorin Oakenshield

After I drew the picture of Claire weeks ago, I had promised myself that I could finally start the picture of Thorin Oakenshield. I had it printed off and waiting in my sketchbook for the perfect time to start drawing...

...but that time kinda never came. So last Thursday I said to myself, "Self, you need to draw more!"

My self replied, "Then let's draw!"

To make a long story short, that was the beginning of the Thorin drawing. (I bet I could have saved you a lot of time by just showing you the picture. Meh.)

Please excuse the crappy cell-phone-camera quality of this picture:

Thus it began. :D

And tonight I finally finished it!

After staring at it for hours there are parts that really annoy me. (Like one eye turning out bigger than the other one. *twitches*) I AM very happy with the hair, the metal handle thing, and his armor, though, so I guess those make up for the perceived 'iffy' bits.

I also think that this is the darkest drawing I've ever done. The page was curling like crazy towards the end what with all the pencil lead and pressure...hopefully some time pressed down in the book will be good for it.

Maple Syrup

 Finally, after an experimental batch, we have maple syrup! 

Well...first we had maple sugar. This was because the first batch was put on too high of a temperature all night long, and it crystallized before we could bring it into the house to finish it off. I had read about how to finish the syrup, and completely forgot about that part in my excitement to get a result.

Thankfully the trees have been flowing a LOT, and I was able to get a second batch up and running within the same day.

To finish the syrup, we strained the sap (which had turned an amber color and while thick wasn't quite at that gooey stage yet), poured it into a pot, strapped a candy thermometer to the side, and let it come to a boil.

It actually started boiling at around 208 F, and hovered there for about half an hour. In that time the color darkened slightly and, when allowed to dribble off a spoon, the free dribble turned into a sticky drip.

Once the temperature started rising above 210, no matter how low I turned the stove, I immediately poured the stuff into a jar to let it cool.

And boom. Maple syrup. Easy peasy.

I don't think it will ever darken, but the consistency and flavor are AMAZING so I don't care. I also may or may not have put some on my bacon later....<.< >.>

Now it's time for 'Crazy Things People Say When They Find Out You're Making Maple Syrup'!

The #1 question I've gotten so far when talking about the evaporation process is: "You don't have to add anything to it?"

Answer: No. The sap is mostly water, with a small percentage of sugar. Boiling (or cooking) the sap evaporates most of the water and leaves the sugar behind. The smaller the ratio of water to sugar, the thicker the result (hence the term 'syrup').

Oh, and here is a conversation I had with a guy at the gym (we'll call him D).

D (after hearing that I had collected 4 gallons of sap in one day): Wow, I bet you're going to make a killing with that.
Me: Well...no, not really. *proceeds to explain the evaporation process and sap to syrup ratio*
D: Heck, if it's that much work I'd just go to the store and buy some corn syrup.
Me: *outwardly* But that's not the point!
*internally* DO YOU KNOW HOW TERRIBLE CORN SYRUP IS?! AND HAVE YOU NO APPRECIATION FOR DOING THINGS YOURSELF??

Sigh. I think that doing anything 'the old-fashioned way', just for the sake of doing it and enjoying the process (and the results), are lost on a lot of people that I interact with on a daily basis.

Tapping Maple Trees, Part 2

(I haven't been this excited about a project in ages!)

After the initial 1 1/2 liters of sap, the flow slowed down considerably and we got 3 quarts over 3 days. Considering that our neighbors were getting 2 1/2 gallons a day from one tree, this was a little disappointing. 

But then! Two days ago there was a crazy cold snap where it blew, rained, snowed, and went all March on us. The cold temps resulted in barely a dribble of sap, and what did dribble froze at the bottom of the bottles.

Today I noticed that a couple bottles were about half-full of slush, so I went out and collected the lot before going to work. But when I came home from work, almost all of the bottles were half or completely full! Observe:

This is off the tree on the patio--it has 3 taps and is the largest maple in the yard.

 

This picture and the one below are of two taps on the same tree, and this bottle was OVERFLOWING. I was so happy. :D

There's a bit of a story being this tree too: it's a medium-sized maple, with a big scar going from the base of the tree to about 4 feet up the trunk. I had expressed concern that it wouldn't produce very much, so initially we only put one tap in. Then we noticed that it was producing quite a bit, and put another tap in. And so far it's been producing the most out of all the trees....go figure.

 

That makes something around 5 gallons total--I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! *flails*

The idea of using a roasting pan to boil the sap off was suggested from the lady at church, so we poured 4 gallons into a roasting pan, turned that sucker on, and are letting it go all night in the garage.

(This'll save me from poking at a fire for hours and ruining Mom's chafing pans...heh.)

Now...we wait. And I'll try to get pictures of the in-between stages too--right now the stuff is just steaming on the workbench and it's too dark out there to take pictures. 

In other news, Mom and Dad brought pizza home and I, being absolutely famished after coming home from work, kind of ate 5 pieces. Now I feel awful. BUT IT WAS SO GOOD.

Ahem. Anyway. I'll keep taking pictures and posting as events warrant. Good night!

Tapping Maple Trees

It's been a while since I've posted a project...and seeing as how spring is coming (or it's SUPPOSED to be coming, at least) the latest project involves a brave attempt to make maple syrup.

Needless to say, I've never tried to make maple syrup. But a couple of weeks ago I mentioned to Mom, "Hey, what if we tapped our trees for maple syrup?" She kinda shot the idea down, and I forgot about it for a bit. Then, a lady from church posted a picture of HER maple trees that she had tapped and how much sap they were getting.

So guess who decided to jump in with both feet? :P I read articles for a few hours, perused a book we have in the Forgotten Arts series on the subject, and thusly armed went to the store. We didn't have any spiles (taps), so I had to make do with copper tubing and flexible rubber hose. Then I sent an all-points-bulletin out to Facebook asking people for their empty soda bottles. The result of this rather cobbled-sounding combination of tools can be seen below:

Yes, that is baling twine. Don't laugh.

It didn't end up TOO ghetto, I don't think. Dad drilled the holes and put the spiles in, and I was in charge of tying twine, cutting tubing, etc. We did discover that putting tape around the middle of the copper tubes would prevent sap from leaking around it--initially we were losing about half the sap we would have collected just from leakage.

Today we tapped 4 trees, and tonight while I was collecting the sap I noticed that two trees weren't producing anything. So we ran outside (this was at sunset) and quickly tapped a larger tree in the front yard and added another spile to the tree that was producing the most. Even with only 2 trees producing we got 1 1/2 liters of sap:

The depressing part is that it takes 10 gallons of sap to make 1 quart (yes, I said QUART) of syrup. And it all has to be boiled down outside unless you want the inside of your house to feel like syrup sneezed all over everything. But in the meantime I'm excited to give it a shot, and we'll see how much sap we can collect!

I've also read that sap can be used for brewing tea, coffee, or beer. While beer isn't up my alley, kefir water most definitely is, and I think it would be an awesome taste sensation. So here's to experimentation!

Five-Minute Friday: Choose

From Lisa-Jo Baker, the Gypsy Mama: "On Fridays around these parts we like to write. Not for comments or traffic or anyone else's agenda. But for fun, for practice, for joy at the sound of syllables, sentences and paragraphs all strung together by the voice of the speaker. We love to just write without worrying if it's just right or not. For five minutes flat."

GO

Choose. It's a word that's been haunting me for weeks and months now. I have so many directions that I could potentially go with my life in the next few months: go to Honduras, move out, get a real job that actually pays something, buy a horse (just kidding on the last one...maybe)--the possibilities are, while not endless, numerous. 

And paralyzing.

For fear of not 'choosing the right thing' I've been sitting back, waiting, working 6 hours a day 6 days a week, occasionally making things to occupy my restless hands, avoiding making any solid decisions because I'm afraid that by choosing one item out of many that would cancel out the remaining options. That it would cement my course and make it impossible to re-orient myself should I decide to do something else.

Other people have told me 'you don't have to worry about being stuck'. Or that I can 'always change my mind'. But how is one to learn fidelity if one is always changing their mind?

STOP

(Wow. I kinda stink at this sort of thing. XD)

I'm Making a Comeback....

...with Etsy!

I've had an Etsy shop since 2010, and sold a few things here and there. It was never enough to really make a lot of money, but it kept some of my hobbies afloat and was a fun way to dabble in feeling like I had my own business. Sometime in 2012, though, I lost momentum and allowed my shop to lie empty.

Fast-forward to last year, and I discovered an interest in bookbinding. My first project was kinda mediocre (I mean, it was pretty, and I still use it, but I had no idea what the heck I was doing):

And last summer I made a couple of journals for girls at the ranch. These were softcover, leather, filled with cardstock (something of an annoyance, in retrospect, but nice paper can't be found everywhere), and awoke a desire to actually make something NICE.

So since coming home from the ranch I've made 10 journals and 8 scrappy scarves--which may not sound like much, but they're both somewhat time-consuming projects tucked around working in the day--and am going to start putting them slowly on Etsy. 

I'm kind of excited to be re-opening Etsy, but I'm also depending a lot on Facebook, word of mouth, and the ranch this summer for selling. But if you want to go see my shop, please do!  The shop is a little sparse at the time of this post, but I'll have more stuff up over the weekend and upcoming week.

I also have a page on Facebook where I post upcoming projects, made-to-order projects, and other little personal tid-bits one won't encounter on Etsy. I actually prefer my Facebook page because I can get a little more personal.

One of the reasons I hadn't posted to my Etsy for such a long time was because of my online stalker--he knew of my Etsy, and I knew that he was probably watching it. Obviously that was weirding me out and unacceptable. But I've gotten to the point now where I'm not going to let the possibility of a creeper situation arising freak me out, because I know that if he REALLY wants to find me, he can. 

Last summer was an especially scary example, where he actually called the office at the ranch and asked for me. In the ensuing brouhaha I was issued a radio, told not to go anywhere by myself EVER, and given contact people for dealing out beatdowns should the guy try to come to the ranch. It was terrifying and epic at the same time.

But back to Etsy: I'm not particularly concerned about him seeing my items. And before anyone gets worried: yes, I take precautions and don't post personal stuff where un-okay people can see them. That's been my policy for years, and it's not going to change. If he decides to creep on a public shop, that's his problem. All I can do is maintain a professional shop and try to make some money.

But back to the page/shop...go check 'em out! I love visitors!

May 2014

Guess where I'm going to be in May? 

*happy sigh* I can't wait to go back. I'm just saying.

I've gotten on as a wrangler this year, and I'm super excited: mostly because it means that I'll be at the barn ALL THE TIME and I won't have to leave to clean cabins. AAAAHHHH.

 It also means that I'll get to wear spurs. I have only worn spurs like....twice. And both times were this year while riding the blind mare. But this week I invested in a pair of spurs (they were supposed to arrive today, and I suspect that they're still in the mailbox because we forgot to get the mail. *facepalm*) and as soon as they get here I'm going to find excuses to wear them EVERYWHERE. I might even find places to ride with them! 

But anyway...May is proving to be a packed month because I'm going to drive out to Colorado, but before that I'm taking pictures for my brother's wedding, visiting my aunt in Arkansas, visiting friends in Texas, and driving all over the West before actually ending up in Colorado. So that ought to be interesting. And I also signed up for a Color Vibe 5K in Fort Collins at the end of May, which should also be interesting because I've never ran in a race before.

No...wait....I have, actually. There's a race here in town called the Strawberry Strut that occurs every June. There's a 1-mile and a 5-mile race, and when I was 8 or so my older brother and I decided to run the 1-mile. BIG MISTAKE. I don't remember much, except towards the end I was panting so hard that I was making a weird, coughing, 'HUUUHH' sound in my chest. I can only replicate the noise if I breathe REALLY hard, and when I do people scream at me to stop because it sounds so awful. 

But anyway. The 5K should be better because I've actually been running a bit (started last year and have been running almost every day at the gym--today I walked/ran 1.5 miles! Exciting times!) and have a Couch-to-5K plan that I'm kinda working on (in between sprint sessions). If nothing else, I hope that spending a couple of weeks at 9200 feet and then plunging down to 5000 feet will give me a false sense of endurance. XD

And after that....I have no idea what's going to happen. I've been tossing around ideas for moving to Colorado, trying to get an actual business off the ground, possibly going on a mission trip out of the country (which is WAY up in the air right now)...to put it succinctly, life is exciting and I have no idea what I'm doing. That's what makes it an adventure, right?

Un Monstre a Paris

Can I geek out for a few moments? Yes? Thank you.

So there's this movie that I heard about a few years ago, and desperately wanted to see: A Monster in Paris. It had a Phantom of the Opera feel to it according to the previews, and since I was in the depths of a PotO obsession at the time of course I wanted to see it. Unfortunately the film was only available in France at the time, and after being unable to find it online I forgot about it.

Earlier this week I found it on Netflix, freaked out, and have since seen it 4 times (3 times in English, once in French) because I CAN'T GET OVER IT.

First, look at this picture. It's one of the most common images of the film that I've found on Google:

That kinda sums up the feel of the film...light and airy and dreamy and delightful and all those other evocative synonyms. For the animation alone (it's kind of like Pixar in its early days) I could watch it over and over. 

But wait! There's more! The music has proven itself to be a thorough earworm. Just try to listen to this without getting it stuck in your head:

GUYS. Please forgive the all-caps, but I CAN'T GET OVER THE MUSIC. GAAAAHH.

And this one! (The visuals are confusing if you haven't seen the film in context, so just listen to the music)

The English songs are just as good, but I fell in love with the French versions first. :3

The thing is, it has a Phantom-esque feel to it, but just a touch. The rest is mad scientists, adorable characters (THEY'RE ALL SO CUTE DANGIT), a fun/silly storyline, catchy music, and gorgeous animation, all wrapped up in a leisurely stroll through the CGI streets of Paris. What's not to love?

....I haven't felt this way about music/a movie since the first time I saw Phantom or heard Les Mis. I simply cannot get over it, and I don't know why. Just....you should just go and see it. Now. It's on Netflix and Youtube in its entirety. 

I NEED SOMEONE TO GEEK OUT WITH. GAAAAAHH.

::Engagement Shoot: Gabriel and Abigail::

Or Gabi and Abi, as they are affectionately known.

Gabi is my brother-in-law (that is, he's my sister-in-law's brother, so I guess we're kinda related? We say we are, and that's what counts XD), and he's officially getting married on the 22th...

(On a side note: WOW. Where did that time go? O.o)

...to the lovely Abi Morse. They asked me to take their engagement pictures while I was down in Florida last November, and of COURSE I pounced on the opportunity. Thus, the following is their official engagement photo shoot. I've been waiting for MONTHS to get this up.... :3 *rubs hands together*

Oh yes, everything's after the jump!

November in Florida

So as I mentioned last month, I spent all of November in Florida. Since I haven't done a single post concerning that yet, I think we are far overdue for something more than a little recap, yes? Yes. So let's do this thing!

 

As I may have mentioned before, my brother and I drove down to Florida on November 4^th. It took roughly 24 hours and 3 (4?) tanks of gas to make it, but make it we did and I had an absolute blast helping take care of my nephews and seeing them for the first time in 7 months.

I taught Wade to say that his name is Bilbo Baggins, and Ben was starting to say 'Baggins' when I left, so I consider my work there complete. XD

Wade loves his bear and horse...when I arrived the first thing he showed me was that horse. I sent it to Ben from Colorado (obviously Wade commandeered it instead), and I'm not sure if Wade made the connection that it was from me, but it would be pretty awesome if he did. :D

Also, Ben is freaking ADORABLE. I mean...they both are, but look at that face!

STAHP IT.

Oh yes, and Ben loves his thumb too. It's what keeps him sane when he's about to lose all composure. (Immediately beforehand he had been wailing about something...but the magic thumb cures all emotional injuries!)

Wade may or may not be slightly camera-shy...he likes for me to take pictures of his things, but not of himself. XD

 I did get lucky here though!

I took LOTS of video of the boys, and may or may not turn it into a full-fledged video in the near future. It's in Adobe Premiere waiting for editing...so we'll see about that. 

Even though they can't reach the sink very well they try hard. And usually they end up grabbing a cupful of water and slinging it across the sink...but they're adorable and I don't care. 

Wade also loves his monkey backpack (or 'munkee papack', as he calls it).

He got a haircut too!

And he smiles on command. 

This was after a super-long day with no naps...Isaac brought him in, laid him on the floor, and Wade INSTANTLY fell asleep. I kinda want to get this printed and frame it.

Over Thanksgiving I took family pictures for everyone, which involved going to the Acevedo's house and wandering around in a nearby nature preserve whilst looking for the perfect photo ops. I also took did an engagement shoot for Gabi and Abi (Lydiana's brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law) the following day, but that's for a future post.

There's Ben going all gangstah on us...

Contrary to what it may seem, they don't mind being carried like sacks of potatoes. XD

Wade and his Tio Obi!

Wade thought that Tio Obi needed a hat too.

And Ben looooooves his thumb.

EMILY! I hadn't seen her since last March at the wedding, so we were long overdue for a visit. ^-^

And she's PREGGERS! It's kind of a strange feeling, to be honest...I mean, we grew up together, and she's younger than me, and...and...yeah. Just a little weird. XD

Planking?

Wade: "Climb?"

Next post: engagement pictures for Gabi and Abi. They turned out AWESOME. :D

The Great Florida/Illinois Transfer

Other known as.... ROAD TRIIIIIIIIP!

When I drove down with Isaac to Florida, I knew that I was going to have to find someone to drive back to Illinois (because there was no way in heck that my family would let me drive alone for 2 days). I thought about the various people I knew down there, sorted the married/engaged people out from the single ones (SO MANY PEOPLE GETTING MARRIED HOLY COW), and narrowed it down to the only logical choice: Jean Marie.

I hadn't seen Jean since January 2012, pre-breakup. She was one of the few people that stayed in contact with me after stuff went down, and our friendship has continued over the past almost-two-years. So when I asked if she wanted to drive with me back home, the response was "YES PLEASE" and we planned the entire trip while I was in Florida.

The tricky part was that we both had lives during this planning. So while I was chasing nephews, going on grocery trips, doing photo shoots, and visiting friends, she was starting her photography business and doing photo shoots and basically overloading her schedule. :P

Friday, Dec 6th: I drove across the state to her house and entered to a form of controlled chaos: Jean had a piano recital that night and may or may not have been wigging out a little bit. (Okay, maybe a lot.) Combine that with 'haven't seen you in years' excitement and the controlled chaos elevated slightly. We attended the recital, went back to her house, and I was in bed by midnight. I had an unexpected bedfellow briefly in the form of Lucy Mae, resident dachshund, and then woke up at 6 AM to Lucy Mae on my bed again. It's a good thing she's cute and that I wake up quickly, because I otherwise might have been inclined to panic. Heh.

The stakes were elevated in the form of a winter storm moving through the same day that we were to be driving. Saturday looked good but was supposed to turn icy and nasty at night. Therefore, much planning was required to figure out how to bypass the storm and keep Jean's parent's fears allayed.

Saturday, December 7th: We loaded up the car with snacks (something like 3 dozen cookies, 2 huge bags of oranges and grapefruit, apples, peanut butter, various chips, and almonds. Miraculously we didn't spend a single dime on food for the whole trip) and hit the road.

Jean took the first shift driving from 7 AM to 1-ish, just south of Atlanta. An hour into the drive we were stuck in traffic on the interstate due to a horrific crash between a semi and who knows how many other vehicles--all three lanes of traffic were closed, pushing everyone to pass the accident via the outside shoulder of the road. Needless to say it /was a sobering start to our trip.

I would like to add, though, that I checked on the wreck later, and only 2 people were injured. Talk about a miracle, because the aftermath was AWFUL.
 

By the time we reached Atlanta the weather had done nothing aside from drop some rain and get us a little wet. I took over and drove from Atlanta to Clarksville, TN with only a couple of stops along the way. During that time, the temperature dropped from 83 F (in Florida) to 20 F in Clarksville. Every time we stopped Jean would go "IT'S SO COOOOOLD" and I would go "I KNOW ISN'T IT WONDERFUL???"

Originally we were going to stop in Clarksville, but we ended up driving another couple of hours to Carbondale, IL. A friend of mine from this summer lives there, and he managed to find us an amazing hotel with an equally amazing deal to stay for the night. And the weather was supposed to turn nasty in Clarksville, so we thought that by going north a bit we could get past the worst of the ice and rain.

(This turned out to be a good idea, because upon looking up the weather the next morning Clarksville was covered in ice, and Carbondale had a nice thick layer of snow. I'll take snow over ice ANY day.)

While driving we oscillated between the giddiness of being on a legit ROAD TRIP and the seriousness that comes from catching up and covering some difficult topics. We knew that we needed to discuss some things, but they weren't things that could be successfully discussed via Facebook or Gmail. I think by hashing them out, though, that our friendship has reached a depth that was otherwise unattainable. And that, my friends, is a very good thing.

In Carbondale we stayed at the Fairfield Inn, and OH MAN. It was SO comfortable, and after driving for 9 hours straight it was a wonderful respite. David gets a shout-out for recommending such a great hotel. XD

Sunday, December 8th: The next morning we met David at Cracker Barrel, and since I hadn't seen him since October it was nice to (a) see a ranch person again and (b) catch up a bit. And then he paid for our breakfast, so he gets another shout-out for being a gentleman. XD

It was another 5 or 6 hours home; I drove the entire way because Jean isn't used to driving in snow or ice, and I wasn't about to give her a crash course (no pun intended). Miraculously, St. Louis was almost clear of traffic and once we got out we were home free.

In Hannibal, MO I did run a stop light, but I swear it was by accident. See, it had been snowing on and off by this point, and the road, while not icy, was a bit slick. I came down the road towards a traffic light, and while driving about 40 mph I applied the brakes. The anti-lock brakes kicked in, and instead of stopping we kept sliding. I pumped the brakes, but we kept sliding.

At this point the light turned yellow, and I was too close to stop. Fortunately all the other people waiting to go politely watched me as I slid through the red light, and Jean and I had a good laugh about how stupid we must have looked. XD

I regret to announce that by this point I had taken a grand total of zero pictures. *hangs head* Jean more than made up for me, but still. Sigh.

We arrived safe and sound, if a little tired, and spent the next few days playing in snow, sliding on ice at the lake, and trying not to go crazy at the gym. I had to work there in the evenings, and there were some people that liked to come in and play loud, obnoxious music. O.e

Tuesday, December 10th: After working at the gym we went to see a dear mutual friend, Shelby C. Shelby is a great friend of mine, and I go to see her probably once a month or so (she lives an hour away). Jean is also friends with Shelby, but they had never actually met aside from seeing each other on Facebook. So...with that said, it was a reunion to remember. :D

I don't have any pictures of the first meeting...but here's a few that we took afterwards.

(I would like to take this time to point out that either I'm insanely short, or I have really tall friends.)

I don't even know what was happening here.....

*This post interrupted to point out that Jean has some of the prettiest, most photogenic eyes I've ever seen. Period.*

I don't know what was going on here either. XD

ELK!

Jean with Shelby's younger sister Michelle...

...and her other sister Morgan.

But all good things must come to an end...and on Thursday the 12th Jean flew home and I went back to working more or less full time. Sigh. I wouldn't have traded that trip for anything, though. It was an absolute blast and has instilled within me the desire to travel. A LOT. The next few posts (should I ever get them up *despairs*) should outline some of that. :D