I went back to my old place to give Butters his present. I bought a pack of that cardboard scratching stuff that goes for about $3. The plastic case for it was $12... so I had GB make me one out of some scrap wood. Took him only two seconds to tear at it, and I hadn't even added catnip yet :)
Front view. I love his fluffy winter coat!
Although, BEFORE any of this could happen, I had to step through the front door. The two other cats, Bruce and Twister, left me this :(
Poor little guy :(. Here's Bruce admiring his handiwork. I think he knew I was coming and wanted me to see this. Merry Catmas!
We actually went a while ago but I've only gotten to posting some pictures now. As I've stated before, my skin condition keeps me from getting out much during the daytime. I can do a lot with my with my camera apparently, but until I do more reading it'll all be trial and error. Hopefully I'll get back here during the day and get some shots :)
Simply...
The main tower that everyone recognizes, with a bit of the moon peaking behind it, and some palms.
A patio area... it must look nuts during the day.
I like this shot that GB took of the main building, sandwiched betwixt a vending station and something else. He likes how the trashcan matches the roof of the hotel.
I'm realizing that I like the longer setting (panoramic, 16:9) for landscape shots but for vertical shots I'd rather change it back.
Moving on, inside are a bunch of stores and a tribute hall to the hotel. I like the tile.
Marilyn Monroe apparently helped make the Hotel del famous. Here's a cute montage they set up for her:
I love the picture of her on the right. Simple, classic beauty.
Kate Morgan, the famous ghost of the Hotel del... was either murdered or killed in one of the rooms back in 1892. Not sure how I feel about this one.
I didn't know that the station wagon was so cool!
A shot of a nice set-up inside the place. It's nice to see the camerawoman sometimes I think ;), that and I liked the wallpaper.
Sounded like one hell of a party in there.
And the tower once more, more vertical, with the moon! It was really hard trying to cram the whole thing in there and holding still. I was laying down on a bench :), by the beach, with GB keeping my head off the cold wood.
I like these photos smaller but as you blow them up they get grainy. I bounce between the normal setting and the 'auto' settings on my camera (Sony Cyber-shot 7.2mp) which apparently adjust according to light and what not. I really need to do some research on night photography and how the moon, spotlights, and other lights will affect the picture.
Guess I'll just have to mess with it some more... or wear sunscreen.
As seen by the title, I've been a little bit busy doing... something, but I'm back, and thought I'd start sharing again all of the little things here and there that I have been working on.
*Might I add that I none too happy with COX who has had to come here twice since I moved in, which wasn't very long ago. That is what happens when you have services change a couple times and 4 guys come in, all re-doing, re-working, messing up, what the previous guy had done... although I cannot blame them for not 1 but 2 broken modems! $65 for a new one at Walmart, wish they'd make them cheaper than that :)
So GB is a carpenter by trade. Boredom and begging led him to fixing my table, which I inherited from my aunt. According to my mom, it was once lovely but nearly a decade of neglect, sun, and rain has turned it into this:
At this point I had already begun sanding it. I obtained this hunk o' junk before meeting him, worked on it for a solid 3 days, then gave up. Then he came into my life and woopee! Easy road for me (just kidding). I was planning on doing as little work as possible and call it "rustic." But I hadn't realized how much work could have and needed to be put into it, and apparently this is good wood, and I wanted it to look its best.
You can also view the table here, in a video taken by my old roommate with the amazing, handsomest cat in the world, Butters:
Here the BF has began to take it apart:
As you can see, it's two small squares of boards, top and base, connected by a square column. Not exactly proper lingo but you get the idea ;). Here are the 4 boards that compose the base.
I guess he had to take apart the whole thing, re-notch the pieces up top (to get rid of the gaps), and glue and clamp the hell out of it. Also, it came with no chairs. Although I still think a tables a table even without any chairs, I really wanted to eat on the thing. I was going to pick some cheap ones up from Wal-mart or the thrift store but he thought that benches would be a good idea :).
He said the table appeared to be masculine, and thought some masculine looking benches would suit it. I liked the idea especially because the benches can be pushed into and under the table entirely, keeping a very low profile.
So... after several hours of sanding, 2 coats of stain, and about 50 clear-coats later, here is the completed piece. Ta-Da! I love a dark finish, and my catlicious.
And another for good measure:
I'm very happy with the table, even though I couldn't take it with me. Butters loves that table and harasses the fishes from it. I think it is in good hands and will be well taken care of. As for COX, we apparently are VIP now and have a special phone number for every time we have an issue. HURRAY!
Thought that I would share how I carve my Halloween pumpkins. From start to finish this took a little over 2 hours.
Pictures are taken with either my Sony Cyber-Shot 7.2mp or iPhone. I kept switching for some reason :)
Here are the tools I use: chisels, flat-tip screwdrivers, sharpie, and my awesome X-acto knife kit.
Draw your image. I use coloring book pages and found this one by Googling "felix the cat socialist." Just kidding, that's only half true. Felix is an older fella, he's cute and I figured he may offer some nostalgia...
The black marks represent portions that will stay. That includes the lines of the eyes. The body will remain in tact, I just didn't bother to finish coloring it in black since it is cleaner to color it in at the end. I use my sharpie, although I'm sure paint would work so long as you are careful. Sharpie will only stick to the pumpkin skin.
I cut the top off of the pumpkin at an angle (see the knife) so when I replace the top it will not fall through, even if the pumpkin shrinks a little bit. Also, I keep the hole bigger towards the back of the pumpkin so that I have more room for my image at the front.
Now, clean your pumpkin.
Now cut around the areas you want removed with the x-acto.
You can see where I've already cut and removed some of the tongue. Here I am cutting around the eye area.
Now use either a chisel or screwdriver to peel off the skin. I am using a screwdriver since this was the smallest tool I had, the chisels were 1/4" or 1/8" which were too large for this area.
I needed to add a border around Felix so his body would really pop out. After continuing on, I realize one foot is bigger than the other. Re-cut it with the smaller x-acto and am peeling it off with another x-acto here:
Better :)
Almost finished. It needs to be cleaned - dirt, leftover skin removed, and evened out - then sealed. I normally use Vaseline, but WD-40 works. You need to do this because the skin will dry out and shrivel, distorting especially the fine lines.
And now it is finished :), kind of. You need to put a candle in it to see how much needs to be shaven off. The walls are probably too thick for the light to shine through. In the beginning you can just scrape the inside of the pumpkin where the image is. Then you can start putting a candle in and shave in the areas you need to (remove the candle first :P).
I'll take a picture of it lit up tomorrow night for Halloween.
Here are some pumpkins I've done in previous years. I was not in the mood to do a pumpkin like this this year, my wrists are a bit sore from gaming being the main reason. These pumpkins took anywhere from 5-6 hours to draw and cut.
(Sorry, these pictures are from my Myspace account. I would have to dig them from deep within my files to find full res pictures. Anyways, you get the idea).
These pictures were taken with a huge LED flashlight inside. The pumpkins look fine in person with just a candle or two, but for picture purposes I had to use something more powerful. I had a Lilo and Stitch pumpkin but forgot where the pictures are. Anyways, these pumpkins were all made using the same method. This is just the way I do them, hope you have enjoyed.
GB and I decided to drive down to San Diego and visit Balboa Park. I love this place and don't get to go as often as I like now that I live up north and am too lazy to do anything but kill zombies and watch movies on tv. I have probably gone here five times during the day and dozens at night, again due to my PMLE. Although there is much more to see during the day, night has its own charm and creepiness that I love.
We took approximately 600 pictures with my Sony Cyber-shot. I'll probably post them in several blogs. This one is titled reflections because I will focus on the photos of the buildings and scenery as they reflected off of the water, namely the fountain and the reflecting pool.
I do not have much experience taking pictures at night. As many as 1 in every 3 shots was blurry. Some turned out pretty cool though, I'll try to find the manual at my mom's house and learn a bit. Here are some of my favorite shots :)
Reflecting pool, facing outwards from the botanical gardens
The length of the reflecting pool, forgot what building this was :P
Eucalyptus @ the fountain. I wish it was turned on :( damn budget cuts.
Fountain again, San Diego Natural History Museum. Apparently this is a favorite place for people to get married. If you're a dinosaur?
And finally, a shot from the fountain, facing the main roadway... and a little bit of romance <3
Well that's the end of that. We're heading to Coronado in a bit so I'll try to use my new-found night photography skills to use. Except I forgot everything I learned so... ya.
Two posts in one day, how can this be? Well we were on a bobkitty hunting adventure and here are some pics that he/she may be in.
Or should I say, he/she is DEFINITELY in the picture just maybe behind a rock or tree or something. So here they are, full res taken with my 7.2megapixels of power. Can you find him?
These were taken on our way back from Palomar Mountain. We decided to take the other route towards Lake Henshaw. Another. He took this and the previous one.
I took this next one, so I'm pretty sure BK isn't in it. I don't think I was even looking in the right direction.
Last one :)
Well we know he is in these pics :). I was really glad that he decided to venture onto the road, otherwise we never would have found this place. I've never seen a place like this, it was so peaceful and beautiful.
If you can find the bobkitty, let me know!
Update 10/24: Spoiler (highlight with your mouse, I've typed it in yellow/beige. Clever, I know).
The bobcat is in the first picture, slightly left and up of center, just between the two middle trees, past that huge stump. He's very, very small, meaning we were very, very far away. Lol :) At least we got a picture of him...
