Missing Head?

Just a quick update:
Amazing how my missing scarecrow head just magically appeared back on my scarecrow literally overnight after my blogging about it. While I am grateful to have it back it does upset me to suspect someone who reads my blog. I can't help but go that direction when it pops up so quickly after having blogged about it. I guess what burns me more about the whole thing is that whoever took it didn't have the courage to put in my hands and apologize. They snuck around in my yard under the cover of night and replaced it as though nothing happened. Maybe it was just a joke but last I checked taking something without asking was stealing. Since when does violating someone's personal property through theft and/or vandalism considered a joke??
By the way, you forgot the noose.

Being Witness

It's only a matter of days until the Halloween Party and I think I'll be done with my costume by then. I feathered the broken wings tonight after painting and sanding the back armor. It didn't come out as smooth as I would have liked but it's all a learning process and my castings are getting better each time. I have yet to sculpt and caste the shoulder pieces but I'm pretty confident I can get them knocked out in a day. The second reaper probably won't get finished in time. I'm debating on whether or not I should put my headstones out this year, thanks to some inconsiderate asshole.
Someone stole my scarecrow head. It fell over about a week ago when it was raining pretty bad. We were driving off to go to Jayce's birthday party when Lana noticed the head was missing. It really pisses me off that someone would be so inconsiderate as to steal something I made with my hands. It's obvious it's homemade with it's wraps of burlap, plaster and chicken wire. While it wasn't exactly difficult to make, it was something Marcel and me worked on together. I really don't know what to do. I've got all my headstones but now I'm afraid to put them out because some jackass would sink so low as to take what someone else made. I'll probably put them out, but I just won't leave them out overnight. What else can I do? Some people are just dicks...
Anyway, I'm pretty excited about the Halloween party. We've found some pretty cool games to play, some tiki torches all over the yard, plenty of wood for the bonfire, and lots of alcohol. It's been a while since I've got drunk and I think I'm due damn it.
It's been a pretty stressful period for a whole slew of reasons but thankfully I got a woman who understands me enough to tolerate me even my worst. Sometimes you just need someone to be witness to your life to show you another perspective of looking at things. Sometimes you just need a witness, someone to share the moments with. I couldn't ask for a better friend than my Lana. My dad and I were talking the other day while I sitting outside the hair saloon while Lana got her hair done. My dad and I ended up reminiscing for a good while. I sat there cracking pecans on the sidewalk, laughing at some small moment I had stored away at the back of my mind that my dad reminded me of. We shared the details of something that only he and Mike know about now and it just hit me hard how we never notice the really great moments in our life until they've past us by. He bared witness to a moment that would otherwise have been lost to me. If he hadn't been there to experience it with me, to remember and appreciate the moment, it might have been lost to me forever. It seems so insignificant in type but when you consider, I mean really consider, how much we'd lose if it wasn't for the people in our lives who bare witness to it...
I didn't sit down with the intention of getting so intimate but I felt that after so much inward dwelling in the past ten months or so that it would be nice to share a little something. Anyway, I'm pretty tired. It's been a busy day. Marcel and I had a boy scout meeting where we raced his little raingutter regatta. It didn't do so well despite his hard work and excitement over it and it made him a little down. He's such a sensitive little guy. We ended up playing around and talking in the grass while all the other kids got in line to race over and over. It was a good distraction for him and when we left he was doing cartwheels in the grass and being his usual silly self for the camera. I think I can mark this as a good day...


For those interested, Jayce's Birthday Pictures are posted. Grab 'em while they're there cause I plan on taking down the album after new year. If there's any pictures anyone would like taken down lemme know. If you have photos you'd like to share, just email em to me or let know so I can give you guest access to my ftp server...

A Day to Relax

The weekend's end is finally in sight so it'll be back to work on Halloween stuff tonight. It was a nice little break. I've really come to like the cash games on Friday nights and it's nice having it at the house now after the tournament has run it's course. It's a much more laid back atmosphere. Everyone's relaxed, visiting, and just having a good time. With no worry of the blinds going up on your stack there's more time to just play when you want. I love it. We called it quits around three in the morning and Lana and I ended up falling asleep watching Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. It made getting up in the morning pretty hard but we weren't too late getting to Marian's birthday party.
It's hard to believe she's already three. She's growing up so fast. She's not really a baby anymore. My baby bottles have been tossed out finally and I have a few diapers that will probably just get thrown away. I've run out of excuses to hold on to my baby walker. Maybe they'll have another one... ;)
Mike hired a clown, barbecued, had a pinata special ordered, and had a moonwalk set up for the kids to burn off some extra energy. The kids had a blast. Hell, I had fun. I was majorly impressed by the clown he hired, Lulu the Clown. She not only kept the attention of the kids, she had them participating and the adults laughing. She even managed to get some of us kids at heart to jump in the fun even if she had to give us a helping nudge. A very professional show that I'd highly recommend to anyone with no weird aversion to clowns. I swear Poltergeist scarred my generation with a fear of clowns. Stephen King's It (I refer to the book of course) didn't help matters.
It was an really awesome show and I even wore a plunger on my head by the time it was all said and done. Xiomara was nice enough to take pictures of course. A very good birthday party for my little niece.
We got home exhausted but we didn't let a little fatigue get in the way of the UFC 64 fight night. We were up until after midnight watching UFC 64 with friends, recapped the Tito Vs. Shamrock fight, and watched the Hughes Vs. Penn fight. When all the blood and violence was over we migrated to the office for a friendly game of poker into the early morning hours. I slept in today to say the least. It was a damn good weekend but I'm glad it's over. :)
Back to the Halloween crunch!!

A Short Interlude

What a beautiful day. I got up way later than I wanted to but I figured a day off from the Halloween stuff wouldn't kill me and would probably be for the best anyway. I'm always more productive after a break. The last thing I need to do is burnout just a few weeks from Halloween. The garage is looking pretty bad but the front armor piece is looking good so far. I ended up heading out to Northshore Marine in hopes they would have resin microballoons filler so I could experiment with getting a smoother finish on my Fiberglas casting. As it turns out they were all out but after a nice conversation with the owner of the place, I think I finally got a cheap solution to getting smooth finishes on my castes. After I clean up the garage, reorganize my tools (and thoughts), I'll start with a clean slate on the back armor.
I took this picture on my way to Lowe's for some much needed plaster (seventy five pounds of it) and some more junk brushes for Fiberglas. I took this picture at a stop light just before beltway eight. As some may know, I got a new toy. It's a Olympus 810 and I love it. It's small and slim enough to fit in my pocket everywhere I go (it's slightly bigger than my cell phone), it's durable with shock resistance, water resistant, and shoots movies with sound. I've wanted one of the Stylus series for a while now, and couldn't resist when Micah told me it was on sale at Best Buy. It does require a special battery since it's so small but it holds a charge for good while. The battery died on me yesterday after using it pretty frequently on a daily basis since I got it nearly a week ago. Be prepared for more photos. ;)
I'm in a pretty relaxed mode tonight and I think I'm going to finish reorganizing my garage. Cleaning is such a purging process, physically as well as mentally. I got the old boom box that came strapped to my bus hooked up to my iPod. It looks pretty ghetto but it works still and puts out some decent decibels when I ask it to despite being almost as old as my brother. It's going to be a busy weekend so I probably won't get to work much on my stuff until Sunday. Sorta like leaving town for a few days, it's always nice to come home to a somewhat clean house to relax in. :)
Off to clean...

Mobloggin!

I can now blog from my phone! The pic is from a Toys R Us trip huntin 4 a Darth Vader costume 4 Marcel.

Reaper One Complete!!

I've been pretty absent on the computer lately. The last-minute panics settled into the pit of my stomach and I managed to spit out a pretty damn good reaper in a few days, I've sculpted the first part of my armor, plus I got a scarecrow out in my front yard now. Halloween feels days away to me. I'm pretty excited about this year. I'm putting the reaper out in the yard tonight. It'll take some work by myself being that it stands well over eight feet tall. I've even started the second one. I'm on a pretty good roll so far. I can only hope to keep my pace and get everything done in time. My garage? Total mess. I'm going to need to clean it in order to find some stuff. I've now started to lose tools in the mess and that's always a bad sign. Lana left for Memphis this morning so it's just Marcel and me until sometime Sunday. I was originally going to go with her but last minute change of plans has me staying at home and K.C. going along with her instead. I was really torn on going. On one hand I wanted to go with Lana and spend the weekend with just me and her together, but on the other, I have a lot to do around here and I'm on a deadline to boot. So this weekend I'm going to be burning the midnight fuel. My goals while Lana's away...

1. Cast first have of body armor.
   
2. Sculpt back half of body armor.
   
3. Finish reaper number 2.
   
4. Rip up carpet in bathroom.
   
5. Begin ripping up scrapwood into smaller pieces for the fire pit.
   
6. Feed the cat.
   
7. Remember to sleep, shower, and eat now and then.
   

Well, back to work for me.