The Adventure Continues......!!!!!

I was as surprised as you are to see this weird looking bird through our kitchen window a couple weeks ago. Click on the photo for a bigger version and you can really see how cool looking he is. Not very rare around these parts according to the interwebs, though I can't remember ever seeing one before. What is it, you ask. Well, like I said, I looked it up and...now I can't remember what it is or where and how I figured it out, so if you care enough I'm sure you know what to do. Moving along...
I keep building stuff (like this here record holder/side table thing) for no real reason other than it interests me. In fact it interests me enough that I tore out the guts of my garage and re-built a better build-stuff-on-it table and a rack for my wood (heh heh) and slowly I'm learning stuff that makes making thing easier. Go figure.
Ah yes, spring. It's here and it's springing. It is now at least occasionally warmish (between rain jags) and stuff that grows is growing.

The beautiful Honey Bunny is still cranking out awesome summertime-beachy inspired jewelry and, for anyone who enjoys that sort of thing ('m lookin' at you out there), she is more than happy to create something just for you (as long as you're more than happy to send some cashola her way), so keep that in mind for any and all gift-giving moments in your life.
Because I like making stuff and love her, I made Emily this weird shaker-inspired tote tray (now painted white) with the heart handle.

Cats + Sidewalk + Sun = = weird antics.
Oh man, I am seriously gonna eat all of this stuff!

Viola in a mood
More of Honey Bunny's excellent landscaping in our formerly neglected yard.
My first dove-tail (interesting to only one of my readers but it made me happy so lay off!)
Lacking the proper tools...
...in order to make this weird joint...
...I just winged it...
and built this cool little foot (or butt) stool.

A few photos around the house including the rec(ord) room

and a through shot from the living room. Hope you enjoyed this fantastic update. More soon!!!
LELKO

I made a Stool!!!!!

A step-stool that is. Well, really more of a stool-in-law! Get it!? Naw, really it's a stool that I made from scratch (and wood). Having never made anything out of wood before I just decided to give it a try (after cleaning out the one garage and making it a manly room of building and fixing stuff). So, not bad really, for a first timer.


We also planted some more flowers in an effort to jazz the place up.
And Emily has been busting her, uh, back I guess, weeding the whole damn place.
It's actually been not raining for a few days so the cats have been enjoying some time in the sun with us. See that photo up there? That's Kenny looking at Viola from atop my new stool! Good view, huh?
But wait, there's more! The very next day I decided to make a garden bench. Let me remind you that I have almost no tools other than a simple saw and a hammer and drill, so pretty it ain't, but it hasn't fallen apart yet and it weighs a good twenty pounds so it's not likely to go very far anytime soon. Check it and my mustache out!

Later y'all.
LELKO

Plant them seeds in the ground!

Yup folks, it's that time of year again...no not THAT time, the other time. Ya know, the one where it gets warmer and stuff grows outta the ground. Well, so far not so much on the warmer thing, but the growing part is starting to happen so we decided to make a new garden bed.
As you can see, yours truly designed and built this ten by four foot monster with the scrap wood laying around the yard (and some help from Honey Bunny). When I say designed I really mean just built, but whatever.
After we finished that Emily built a little hot house for the seedlings we started in the basement.Now, if only the sun would show up for more than five minutes at a time we might be able to put it to use.
One week later we filled old Clyde up with as much dirt as he could haul (the back bumper was about four inches off the ground on our trip back from the dirt place and the front end was nearly pointing straight up!) and loaded it into the new bed. Fancy!!
All the while Kenny and Viola watched bemusedly.
In the meantime I've been brushing up on my acoustic fingerpicking technique since I broke my keyboard.

And Honey Bunny has been making jewelry for the bohemian crowd.
Look how cute she is weeding the front yard (which is still a bit ghetto, but getting nicer everyday (unlike the weather).

And then I got a mustache.
That's pretty much all you need to know.
Lelko

Happy Birthday to Me!

Even though I paid these people to come to my house and pretend to like me, it was still an enjoyable party. We ate food and some people drank hooch and then we played a game called...can't remember actually. Pictionary maybe, but there weren't any pictures, so maybe it was something else. Ahh, who cares, right? We had fun and stuff.
In other news...we got a glabilionth of an inch of snow the other day and the entire town went insane. Not like eating other people insane. But school was canceled for the kiddies and tons of people took the day off. I road my bike to work (5.5 miles one way!!) early so I could shovel the snow that ended up not existing in the parking lot. Total hype. Anyway, enjoy the photos and see ya later



LELKO

Hey, we live here now, again. (here being Portland)

I know what you're thinking; "whatever happened to those crazy kids who drove across the country the day after Christmas?" Right? I mean, that is what you're thinking, is it not? No? Huh. Really? Damn.
Well either way, we (Honey Bunny, me, Clyde the truck and Viola and Kenny the cats) now reside in our favorite stomping grounds, Portland Oregon, aka Stumptown, the Rose City. We live in a great little house with a swell backyard that we get to garden in (so far I built the compost bin and Emily has gathered most of the wood for the beds) and we had a roommate briefly (less than a week and then she split with her cats, not sure why) and I've got a steady job and ride my bike to and from work and I get to play D&D every Sunday night.
Good stuff if ya ask me. And you did. Above you see the extra cats in this catpile.
This is our house as viewed from the rear. I aspire to paint some of the trim 'cos right now it's a bit plain for my taste. Not complainin', just sayin'.
One of the advantages Portland has over most of the rest of the US is the winters are fairly mild, so flowers and cabbage and grass are all still hanging around and daffodils and other bulbs are startin' to jump out of the ground.

I took a whole series of weird photos of me around the house, supposedly to show the house, but they really just show how weird I am. For instance the above photo is the least creepy of the lot, and shows our big, but weirdly designed, kitchen in all of it's natural light beauty.
More later. Until then check out These Two blogs for more about Portland.
Word.
Lelko

Home and back to work

On our last day of our Epic Cross-Country Drive we finally found some good weather, and it was (surprise...) along the coast of California! So North we headed on Surf Route 101, through the Redwoods and along the ocean. Not the fastest route, but the safest and by far the coolest.
And yes, that is an elk in the above photo. One of three that were standing next to the road. But the crazy thing is, there were three or four cars stopped on the shoulder and half a dozen very stupid people standing not more than 15 feet from these elk! Now I'm pretty sure elk are quite peaceful creatures, but those stupid humans were really asking for it, and a small part of me (not saying which part) secretly wished they'd get their fat asses beat by the fella in the above photo.
This is me actually making that wish.
By the end of this week of driving this was about as clear as I could see anything. Not bad, really.




So long Pennsylvania. See ya next time.

Lelko