[Dragon by Jessica Peffer via Neon Dragon Art]
Andrew and I were asked to make a logo for a disc golf tournament that will be taking place in Medina this summer. The course is Roscoe Ewing and is actually one of the first disc golf courses in the country and the first one in Ohio.
The organizers wanted a dragon to be a main part of the logo. A dragon perched on top of a disc golf basket to be specific, an item of which you may or may not be familiar with. The tournament is called Roscoe’s Revenge and here is the logo we came up with:
In our research we found some pretty crazy dragon art (as you can imagine). One of my favorites was a site we found called Neon Dragon Art that features the work of artist Jessica Peffer. I don’t think anyone can truly appreciate dragons until they’ve actually attempted to draw one. Seriously, try to draw one. I dare you.
–c.
On Sunday we saw the new Disney/Pixar film UP in 3D. I cried. Multiple times. UP was both funny and extremely sad. After the first 15 minutes Andrew whispered to me “This is the worst movie ever,” while I cried big tears behind my 3D faux Ray-Bans. But all in all, it did not disappoint. The story was delightfully strange and the 3D was better than I expected.
Both Andrew and I enjoyed it a lot, but we also agreed that we liked Wall-E better. I hate to even compare the two because they were both so good. But I think the humor in Wall-E was more on point and in general I liked the characters in Wall-E better. But both are definitely worth watching.
–c.
On my drive home from work on yesterday I heard on NPR’s All Things Considered Andrei Codrescu read “Pondering Google, Facebook and Wasting Time.” I listened to it again today with Andrew and my brother. It made us laugh.
“My regular e-mail now tells me I have Facebook messages, forcing me to go to Facebook, which is slow on account of the jillion egos battling for verbal-audio-visual attention.”
Listen to it here. (I would put the soundclip here, but I haven’t figured out a way to embed NPR audio clips. If anyone knows, please share!)
Andrei Codrescu is the founder of Exquisite Corpse.
–c.
The fencing around the garden has taken many shapes in our heads. Initially we wanted to put up chicken wire (or as some call it, “poultry netting,” which does seem a bit more politically correct) around the bottom of the existing fence that encloses the pasture. But then that seemed insecure so we figured we’d better fence closer to the actual garden. Luckily, and fittingly, our pole barn had just enough metal fence poles laying around for us to use.
We went back and forth on what kind of fencing to choose. Apparently we’re vain because from the get-to we knew we didn’t want to use plastic fencing because it would have looked ugly. There was no other reasoning than that.
Ultimately we ended up getting 200′ of 48″ tall chicken wire. Then we put a call out for old wire hangers and managed to gather more than we’d ever like to see again. (Handling hundreds of wire hangers is the most frustrating puzzle of snags and tangles ever.) We cut the two curved ends off of them and used those to “tack” down the bottom of the fence to keep out our little rabbit/groundhog/raccoon/skunk friends.
I also built a wooden cover that’s attached to the garden gate. It slides up and down when you come and go to cover the sizable gaps between the gate and fence that the critters could have squeezed through. So with those little nuisances taken care of we turned our attention to those cute, damn deer.
Deer don’t like many things, but even if they don’t like it, they’ll get used to it. So if you deter them with a scent or movement or noise, it will initially work, but they’ll get hip to it and you’ll have to change your method. The only thing that will work for good is a really tall fence. And by really tall we mean 12 feet. Think about that; it’s nuts! Next time you’re on a basketball court look up at the rim, then add two feet to that and that’s how tall the ding-dang fence would have to be. Now again, think about that! I’m 6’3″ and a deer could clear me by over four feet. Nature!
As mentioned before, we went with the 48″ tall chicken wire, so we’re planning on using different tactics throughout the summer to deter them. For example, horrible, terrible, horrible smelling spray, maybe some thoughtfully placed fishing line, wind chimes, or who knows, we may end up booby-trapping the fields. We did add stakes to the top of each pole and strung some white rope through them — which raised the total height to about 6’6″ — to hopefully make the deer think twice, or at least one and a half times.
So far we’ve had no burglars, but we can feel the deer closing in. They’ve been sleeping closer and closer in the fields and I know they’re scheming. Those little devils.
–a.
The fencing around the garden has taken many shapes in our heads. Initially we wanted to put up chicken wire (or as some call it, “poultry netting,” which does seem a bit more politically correct) around the bottom of the existing fence that encloses the pasture. But then that seemed insecure so we figured we’d better fence closer to the actual garden. Luckily, and fittingly, our pole barn had just enough metal fence poles laying around for us to use.
We went back and forth on what kind of fencing to choose. Apparently we’re vain because from the get-to we knew we didn’t want to use plastic fencing because it would have looked ugly. There was no other reasoning than that.
Ultimately we ended up getting 200′ of 48″ tall chicken wire. Then we put a call out for old wire hangers and managed to gather more than we’d ever like to see again. (Handling hundreds of wire hangers is the most frustrating puzzle of snags and tangles ever.) We cut the two curved ends off of them and used those to “tack” down the bottom of the fence to keep out our little rabbit/groundhog/raccoon/skunk friends.
I also built a wooden cover that’s attached to the garden gate. It slides up and down when you come and go to cover the sizable gaps between the gate and fence that the critters could have squeezed through. So with those little nuisances taken care of we turned our attention to those cute, damn deer.
Deer don’t like many things, but even if they don’t like it, they’ll get used to it. So if you deter them with a scent or movement or noise, it will initially work, but they’ll get hip to it and you’ll have to change your method. The only thing that will work for good is a really tall fence. And by really tall we mean 12 feet. Think about that; it’s nuts! Next time you’re on a basketball court look up at the rim, then add two feet to that and that’s how tall the ding-dang fence would have to be. Now again, think about that! I’m 6’3″ and a deer could clear me by over four feet. Nature!
As mentioned before, we went with the 48″ tall chicken wire, so we’re planning on using different tactics throughout the summer to deter them. For example, horrible, terrible, horrible smelling spray, maybe some thoughtfully placed fishing line, wind chimes, or who knows, we may end up booby-trapping the fields. We did add stakes to the top of each pole and strung some white rope through them — which raised the total height to about 6’6″ — to hopefully make the deer think twice, or at least one and a half times.
So far we’ve had no burglars, but we can feel the deer closing in. They’ve been sleeping closer and closer in the fields and I know they’re scheming. Those little devils.
–a.
[Photo by Herbert Matter. Available to purchase at Condé Nast.]
I haven’t been sleeping well lately. But when I look at this picture it makes me want to crawl back into bed.
–c.
I forgot to mention in my last post that a few good friends of ours chipped in and for our wedding got us a substantial gift card so that we could buy the table saw. Andrew’s been wanting one forever.
Also, last year one of our local hardware stores closed down and had a huge sale. Andrew found this.
–c.
I was thinking that this post would be an update, but I was looking back at the archives and realized that I have never posted about our workshop in the barn. The farmhouse that we live in, like most farmhouses, has a barn. Andrew remembers when he was young and horses were in the field and in the barn. They were taken care of by a woman named Marge. The horses and Marge are gone and the barn is pretty much empty except for some hay the Towne’s use for the alpacas and a ton of wood scraps.
When we first moved in almost all the stalls still had old hay in them from when the horses were around. We had to wear masks while cleaning it out because it was an allergy nightmare.
Basically, this is what it looked like before and while we were cleaning it out:
And this is what it looks like now:
Thanks to my brother TJ for all his help getting the barn into shape. In the past year the workshop has produced a dining room table, a bed frame/desk, a toy chest, a stool, a compost bin, a trellis, a kid’s desk, Hungarian shelves, and a storage box for pool supplies (I’m sure I’m forgetting somethings)!
–c.