Friday, August 31, 2012

Skunks, skunks, and more skunks!


This is not wood related, but kind of funny, so thought I would share. :) 

Last night I took my kids to Discovery Park on our way home from dinner. I thought it would be fun to walk around for a few minutes before going home. We got out of the car and about 50 feet away, we saw a little black and white....skunk??? We were amused as it was the first time we had seen one in person. He was kind of cute so we kept watching him. A few minutes later we noticed a few more skunks coming out of the bushes. Then a few more. And a few more and even a few more after that! Pretty soon there were about 20 of them. It reminded me of Gremlins - they kept multiplying! 
My son wanted to get a better look and he kept inching closer to them. Being that they were about 20-30 feet away, I didn't think we needed a better look, but then again, I am not a teenager...

He got closer to the group of skunks who were just hanging out, doing whatever it is skunks do, all with their tails down. My son got closer still and all at once, tails up! I told my son to back away slowly. I also told him that if he gets sprayed, he was walking home. ;) Lucky for him he didn't get sprayed and was allowed back in the car. I wanted to share as it cracked me up. Have a wonderful weekend!

Cindy Breninger



Thursday, August 30, 2012

Plywood, Boards and Halloween Logs!

We have been hard at work in our garage. A friend is building a new house and gave us a ton of the leftover plywood and boards. My son got to have his pick - he was like a kid at Christmas! We needed a shelf in the garage, so a shelf is what he built: 




 Also, for a long time I have wanted to take a log, hollow it out, like a pumpkin, and carve things in it. I couldn't figure out how to do this until last night. After several fails and two broken drill bits, I finally did it! :) 

I made this one a little rustic tree. It was actually a lot harder than it looked. But, when I turned on the battery operated tealight, oooooh! it looked sooo pretty!

So, I am going to list this and work on some Halloween themed ones over the weekend.

If you have any ideas, I would love to hear them.







Tuesday, August 21, 2012

From cave-like drawings to the hanging flowers pots.

Hi all!   Well, it is official, I officially draw like a five year old!
The "Spike" is a dog and the "Fluffy" is a cat. Just wanted to clear that up for you. :)


This is just a typical Saturday afternoon at my place. Once I start cutting, there is no stopping me!





I went through a "concrete" phase. Still in it, actually. But, my log items seem to sell a lot better so I make more of those, but I have high hopes that someone out there somewhere will love my concrete items and buy them.










My sister turned the BIG 40, so this is for her.

I love the look of concrete and glass. This was my first attempt to fuse the two. Needs work, but I like it. It is a one-of-a-kind, that's for sure. :)


And last, but not least, my hanging flower pots! They started out as hanging tea light candles, but the chains got so hot that I thought I should make it into a cute, sunny flower holder. :)

That's it for me right now. Just checking in and letting you know what I have been up to. If you have any ideas of what you would like to see me make, please feel free to pass it along.
Cindy

Friday, August 10, 2012

Meet Neil the Russian Tortoise, er, Sir Neil.

 A wrote a few months ago I wrote about our Russian Tortoise, Jeff, who passed away.

I am happy to report that my son saved his money and bought a new Russian Tortoise! (Or, an RT as we Russian Tortoise owners like to say.)  Without further ado, meet Neil the Tortoise! He is named after my son's hero, Neil Armstrong.

When we first brought him home, we weren't sure where we were going to put the swimming pool we had for Neil to live in, as our cats were eyeing it as a brand new, huge litter box. (Anyone want some cats???)  That wasn't going to work, so we went to the hardware store and bought some plywood, some 2X4's and some screws. 

My son went to the garage and started working away. He made this 4 X4 foot by 2 feet high, one of a kind, custom tortoise cage. He even put some plastic netting around the outside and screwed it down.

I love how he made the cage to keep the tortoise in and the cats out - genius!   

I am pretty sure Neil is happy. He looks happy, well, as happy as a tortoise can look. He is so cute and really fast. Well, fast for a tortoise, that is.

On a side note, one of my friends was saying he needed a fancy name, so she dubbed him "Sir Neil Payton Willfred Armstrong of Sacramento". 

I kind of like the Sir Neil.