Why Oh Why

[why5x5]

Something to always remember

[why5x5]

Updated Free to Be...You and Me

[hellenhighwater]

They love each other, trust me

[hellenhighwater]

I have made a wall hanger vase... shelf....thing.

[hellenhighwater]

It can actually be filled with water to hold live flowers

[hellenhighwater]

Wheee more wall hangers

[pusheen]

[hellenhighwater]

Yeah, it's that kinda day

[foxes-in-love]

[myjetpack]

I've added five new original drawings to the Art for Sale section of my website: www.tomgauld.com/art-for-sale

[hellenhighwater]

This year's garden is mostly seeds saved from last year's plants! The ornamental poppies and nasturtium are blooming and I've got loads of snap peas.

[hellenhighwater]

The first of the poppies is ready for seed harvesting! The pods have hundreds of seeds each. They're ready for collecting when these little slits open around the top--the seeds just pour right out. Left is not ready; right is! All of the seeds are from that one pod.

[hellenhighwater]

This is very very satisfying

[hellenhighwater]

I have made a wall hanger vase... shelf....thing.

[hellenhighwater]

It can actually be filled with water to hold live flowers

[foxes-in-love]

[hellenhighwater]

The tent is up!

[hellenhighwater]

I'm probably going to use some of these same reds and yellows on the new (old) tent so they match!

[hellenhighwater]

Congrats on becoming a trial attorney!!! Seeing that addition brings me so much joy and whimsy. So happy for you. May you never fall into the curse of accidentally calling the court motherfucker

Thanks! This is, admittedly, not new; I've been doing this for over six years.

So far, so good? Have sworn in court; have not sworn at court.

[hellenhighwater]

There was a thunderstorm last and, of course, there is now an earthwurmm in the middle of my kitchen.

The crime scene investigation begins. Was it Malice, the Meatball Supreme? Or No Bones Jones, Mayhem Jane?

Or was it, perhaps, the Wyrmsinger himself???

who brought woims into my kitchen

Malice (dry paws, angelic expression)

Mayhem (madness in her eyes, three fully functional legs)

Vice (Wet beans, sang the Wyrmsong last night)

Voting ended onApr 4

[bandomfandombeyond]

Your Honor, I move to dismiss the entire case on the grounds of a mistrial. The prosecutor has prejudiced the jury against my client with the presentation of circumstantial evidence and usage of an unsubstantiated epithet!

[hellenhighwater]

Your Honor, circumstantial evidence is admissible in our jurisdiction and can be the basis for a criminal conviction, so long as the circumstantial proof facilitates reasonable inferences of causation, not mere speculation. People v Wang, 505 Mich 239, 251 (2020). Furthermore, calling the defendant by his legal name and by his known alias is not per se prejudicial, and must be subject to the balancing test described in MRE 403. The probative value of this alias in a case of malicious woim depositing is substantially outweighed by any potential prejudice. Please see People v Thompson, 101 Mich App 609, 613; 300 NW2d 645 (1980). And to preempt a potential hearsay objection about the admissibility of the Wyrmsong itself, this statement is not hearsay, as it is the statement of an opposing party, admissible under MRE 801(d)(2).

[hellenhighwater]

Though the jury deliberated for a full twenty-four hours, the jurors--five thousand three hundred and twenty six peers selected to serve in this case-- were unable to render a unanimous verdict. Therefore, we have no choice but to declare a mistrial, and the defendants are returned to custody to await retrial.

Though I think we've narrowed down who the real masterminds are ...

[hellenhighwater]

I came across this wall tent for sale on facebook for $75 and while it looks somewhat battered, that's an absolute steal for a canvas tent. I went to go buy it, and the guy selling it said that he'd camped in it as a child--and he was currently 92 years old. So. Yeah. It's an old tent.

It's actually in decent shape, though, so I'm going to see about getting it into usable form as a backup/storage tent for historical and fantasy camping. And I've been wanting to experiment with dyeing a tent, but haven't wanted to risk ruining an expensive one--so this is perfect as a test.

I used a clean trash can, 30 gallons of water, and half a gallon of flat interior acrylic paint to get this robin's egg blue. It's still drying--I wanted a pale color to use as a base, with the intention of either painting darker stripes or contrasting patterns as an accent. I dunked the whole tent into the trash can of paint water, and spread it out to dry. It is a bit splotchy, but it's probably close to 80 lbs dry, so with the added weight of water saturation, and a 12x14 normal footprint, it gets pretty hard to maneuver by myself. I am going to have to reapply waterproofing to this tent, due to its age, but for now it works to my advantage while dyeing it. I will update as this process continues, but for now it seems like a good way to get non-manufacturer color onto a natural fiber tent.

[hellenhighwater]

It's morning and color is holding as the canvas dries!

[hellenhighwater]

Truly I am my own worst enemy; it's 90 outside and I'm hosing the outside of the tent down so that tomorrow I can spray the leftover paint water on it. It's only partially pitched because trying to fully pitch it alone is absolutely asking for it to break--that's one of the big downsides of this style of tent. You cannot safely pitch them solo.

You can see that this is some of the leftover paint from my sunroom with a little yellow mixed in. I actually like the color palette on that red sign, so that's probably what I'm going to aim for with the accent colors.

[hellenhighwater]

I have a question about your new-to-you now-blue tent, if you’re willing to answer! You mentioned that you can’t safely pitch that kind alone, is it something to do with the shape or is it the size? When I was a girl scout we got taught to pitch ancient canvas tents that shape solo (they really sucked to pitch solo because they were heavy and it was way easier to do it with 2 people, but it was possible to do it alone) but from what I can tell your tent is much bigger than the ones we used. From what I remember, ours were maybe 5’ to 6’ tall and twice as long. They absolutely needed to be re-waterproofed when I was a kid, but since they were rarely used for actual overnight camping I’m not sure that was high on anyone’s priority list. I did once find a scorpion underneath the flap of the canvas reinforcement running along the top between the poles though, not sure exactly when it got up there.

It's not a safety concern for me, it's that the way the poles are assembled puts a ton of strain on just a couple centimeters of wood if it's not lifted and supported simultaneously at both the front and back. Physically I can lift this whole tent by myself, but I'd risk breaking the poles if I tried to set it up solo and it unbalanced. It's a 12x14 tent and it's 8 ft tall at the peak. Once the poles are upright and the first few lines are set, it can be finished solo. Fortunately it's not a tent I'd ever be using for solo camping, so that's okay... But it does make working on it on my own just a little harder.

My bell tent is about the same square footage, and that one I can absolutely set up on my own.

[hellenhighwater]

Eleanor update! Look at her!!!

[hellenhighwater]

I think I want another batch of foster kittens

[hellenhighwater]

Oh my god

[hellenhighwater]

In order of appearance: Jane, Elizabeth, Darcy, and Bingley. They're all girls, so this is truly Pride and Prejudice. They're also just about 4 weeks old, and at the stage of weaning where eating involves a nosedive into the dish, so there's baths coming along once they're settled in more.