Author: DmentD

Whatchoo Looking At?

DmentD

This seems to have been the week for being watched by dogs.  Not in the “furtive glance then look away ’cause hey there’s a squirrel!” kind of way, but in the “I’ve got my eye on you boyo, so watch your step” way.

The first was a pair of pooches in a truck at the post office.  There they were, sitting like humans — butt flat on the seat, leaning back — and calmly watching me walk back to my truck.  Their heads swiveled in unison to follow me, like a pair of sunflowers tracking the path of the sun.  Not once did they stir, not once did they bark, not once did they blink,  not once did they take their eyes off me until I had pulled away and entered traffic.  It was an eerie ghost twins in The Shining moment.

The StaredownThe StaredownThe Staredown

The second was a big ‘ol boy with his head out the window at a stoplight.  The light had just turned red, and we were going to be there for a few minutes.  This fellah’ sat there with his mug stuck out, and just watched me.  Nothing on the face of this earth could pull his attention away from me — not a cat, not another human in another car, not the other dog in the car with him that was methodically gnawing his hind leg off.  He even barked at me for having the audacity of pulling away from him when the light changed.

Happy Staredown

Homework.

DmentD

We’ve finally scratched two projects off our “house to-do” list.  One of them has been underway since the house was bought over a year ago — the kitchen cabinets.  Slowly, but surely they’ve undergone a transformation: the old dated doors and hardware were removed, the cabinets were painted on the inside with a nice goldenrod color, and the cabinets faces were stained and sealed a nice dark walnut.  Within the last few months I built new doors, stained and sealed them, and installed them.  The upper cabinets have reeded glass in them, and the lower cabinets have solid panels painted to match the interior of the cabinets themselves.  Add in some modern (and not painted-over *grrr*) hinges and handles, and you’ve got a clean, modern-looking set of cabinets that add to the beauty of the kitchen, rather than detracting from it.

Project - Kitchen Cabinet GlassProject - Kitchen Cabinet GlassProject - Kitchen Cabinet Glass

Another project that was looming was the demolition of about 30′ of fence that the previous occupant had added on, but which was over the property line (and along its run, veered further and further onto the neighbor’s property).  I was informed last year by the owner of the neighboring property that while I didn’t have to do anything about it right now, that one day she was either going to sell her place, or she was gonna die and her kids were gonna sell it, and that the new owners would want that fence dealt with… so I should be warned, and maybe take care of it when I could.

A few weeks back, a for-sale sign went up, and I knew my time had run out.  So, I demolished the “new” run of fence back to where it was tacked on to the original fence, and added a gate — which wasn’t there before, and was a source of my ever-burning ire.  The project only took two days (in the dry, blistering over-100 degree heat… which made it feel like a week!), and I was able to put in galvanized posts, rather than wood, to support the gate.  All told, it looks damned good, and I thank my brothers for teaching me everything I know about fence/gate/deck building, as that knowledge came in mighty handy.  I even made the panel to the side of the gate removable, just in case I needed to get something wider than 4′ through.

Project - New GateProject - New Gate

We Done Gone To The Chapel….

DmentD3 Comments

I’m a married man.

I’m blissfully wed to a woman that I have been head-over-heels in love with for the better part of two years, and whom I am thrilled beyond mortal words to be able to share my life with.

And because I’m a lazy bastard who doesn’t want to recreate the wheel, I’m sending you over to Sweets’ site to read the details and see the pictures.  *grins* She’s done an excellent job of it, and by law I’m now entitled to half the credit for the post.

Video Amusement.

DmentD

In leiu of anything of substance, I give you the accumulation of more valueless internet fluff.  Entertaining fluff, at the least.

The Slap Chop/Rap Chop remix:

The JetLev water-propelled jetpack:

Stand By Me – Playing for Change: Peace Through Music

Trailers for The Hunt For Gollum (click-through for the trailers), an unauthorized 45-minute fan-film set in the Lord of the Rings universe.  The story was inspired by an appendix to Lord of the Rings, in which Tolkien explains “what Aragorn and Gollum got up to before the trilogy began.”  The whole thing is being produced for £3000.

All You Texan Voters…

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Most people I know have already been told about this, however, there is a bill trying to be passed to allow baking businesses from home in Texas.  Obviously Sweets and I are very eager for this to be passed.

Tonight this bill made it from the Public Health Committee to the Calendars Committee.  There is a call out now to inundate and overwhelm the Chair and members of the Calendars committee (and for the record Representative Lois W. Kolkhorst is one of the committee members actively, vehemently trying to oppose this — she’s a ball breaker — do what you will with that bit of information), with phone calls requesting that HB 3282 be put on the calendar immediately for floor debate and vote.  It must be out of committee by May 11 or it will die.  There are 7,000 bills filed this session, we must be BIGGER and LOUDER than all the others to get pushed to the front of the pack.

Please, please, please call them, it all helps, we want this to be passed.

Buffy Meets The WHoReS.

DmentD1 Comment

Mensa: I had a dream last night that we were at your old house for a party, but we knew there was going to be this invasion of monsters and demons, so we were all armed.

Mensa: I brought a few shotguns, but I couldn’t find them when it first started going down, so I had to take some out the old-fashioned way.

DmentD: Awesome dream!

Mensa: There was more, but that was the highlight for you there.  🙂

DmentD: I think… I think I need to post that.

Shameless Plugging Of Much Coolness.

DmentD2 Comments

I stumbled across Martin Whitmore‘s site quite by accident… but isn’t that how the internet works most of the time?  Once there I was hooked, and determined to throw money at him (he does one hell of a pole-dance).

What does he do?  He’s an illustrator who has recently abandoned his day job in order to pursue making a living from his jeebus given talents alone — and those talents are abundant.  I can support that.

He’s in Austin, so that makes him a local artist, and moves him further up my list when I’m choosing things to buy to put on the wall or on me.  I can support that.

He’s got a dark sense of humor, and isn’t afraid to laugh at himself.  I can support that.

He’s got a zombie, and zombie-huntress pinup fetish.  I will support that.

I’ve already picked up the Cephalopocalypse t-shirt (seen worn at Christmas), the Chaos & Order Fairies prints (soon to be coming to a wall near me) and the Cephalopocalypse sticker (soon to be appearing all over town… on the back of my truck).

Go.  Buy his wares, commission original work from him, shower him with moolah.  Not just because he’s trying to make good by supporting himself with his talents, but because his stuff is fucking cool.  Do it now, or I will withhold crawfish from you unwashed heathens… I’ll do it, I swear to Bob!

Please, Make My Head Stop Hurting.

DmentD

This week started with a crushing amount of stress.  Familial… difficulties that I’m unfortunately not at liberty to expand on out of long-standing wishes, etched in stone and enforced with stern will.  Suffice to say, my world was fifteen minutes from changing irrevocably, and even as I write this, the needle has swung from “less dire” to “dire again” a number of times.  This see-saw is going to break me yet.

Upon receiving strong news, my brain goes into a survival mode.  This is something that took me a long time to identify and learn how to harness to keep myself from going overboard (can you say “bye-bye childhood memories”?).  I distract myself thoroughly and allow my subconscious (I call it my “hind brain”, like in a dinosaur tail) to sort out and absorb the information, figure out what best to do with this info, and keep me from losing my shit.  I always said that if I had to name a singular talent, it is my capacity to take things apart — myself included — figure out how it works, and how to put it back together better.  This is a side-specialty of that.

I’ve thrown myself into some home projects that I’ve been working on… measuring, cutting, sanding and painting are fantastic for occupying one’s thoughts thoroughly.  I’ve gone practically obsessive, bordering on manic, and while that’s fine for things that only involve my immediate surrounding, it’s not so good when it involves others in the world.  I suspect I may have done some damage to some possible new friendships by coming off all “Cable Guy”, and being a little more boisterous than normal (hey, I like making new friends… and these folks are cool as hell).  I may be projecting that, though… but I worry about these things sometimes, and until I get to know folks better, I try not to tread on toes — and fail spectacularly on occasion.  Apparently I still have some work to do on my survival mode tactics.

I have mostly kept everyone at arm’s length, because I was already feeling like I had a wet towel wrapped tightly around my head, and the last thing I needed was to feel like I was smothering any more.  I love my friends dearly, and I do support and accept their support freely, but I needed — absolutely required — time to myself to digest what I knew first, without having to recount the tale repeatedly.  I needed to be locked in my own head for a while, without being drawn out.  Trust me… I’m not staying in there, and I know when to open the door again.

What a fucking week.