About zefiart

Blogger, DIY-er, poodle lover, graphic designer, dog groomer, recycler, artist, wonder woman in my spare time.

the molasses fiasco of 2013

Posted on June 9, 2013 by zefiart

While I remember, I thought I might share our misadventure with the new truck. You may remember we traded my poor tired little Lancer Wagon in for a newer dual cab ute with canopy a few weeks ago.

It was spotless. All shiny and clean.

Of course that was never going to last. We live up a dirt road and car washes and I have a natural aversion to eachother. However I blame Wayne for the following debacle.

Here are the facts:

We mix molasses into the horse feed cause we own pampered nags.

Molasses is sweet, thick and very sticky.

We were out of molasses and the horses were taking it as a personal insult to be given unflavoured feed.

I stopped in at the feed store after work and picked up a 25 kilo bucket of molasses.

I put it in the back of the ute with 2 bags of horse pellets.

I told Wayne.

Wayne fed the horses that night and the next morning.

I looked into the back of the ute before heading off to work, didn’t see the bucket and presumed he’d taken it out.

That was my first mistake.

I mean, he’d FED the horses.

TWICE.

There was a new bucket of molasses in the truck! I think I can be excused for presuming he’d removed the bucked to add molasses to their feed.

At the end of that day some poor guy chased us on the freeway, hooting his horn and waving madly about something leaking out the back of our car. I guess we were lucky it wasn’t the cops presuming it was blood from a badly wrapped body.

Can you guess?

Yep. 2/3rds of a bucket of molasses. All over the tray and horse feed bags.

And it was dark.

We got home, I got the high pressure water cleaner thingy, connected it to the hot tap and started blasting it out. Every now and then I’d stop and use a portable spotlight to check… ‘Yep, still got molasses in that corner’… ‘oh look, its on the ceiling!’… Needless to say we were both soaked with diluted molasses and the grass got a good long drink of it. Come spring we’ll know if its good fertilizer.

Even the horses were laughing at us.

Or they would have been if they weren’t crying over the waste of so much molasses. If we’d allowed them to they’d have happily licked it clean for us.

Object lessons:

Never leave a bucket of molasses in the back without securing it. It might be sealed but it opens easily!

Never presume ANYTHING.

Well, at least you can’t say life’s boring round here!

lamby – what happens when you get bored and have access to steel wool

Posted on June 9, 2013 by zefiart

Meet Lamby.

The grey sheep of the family.

This is what happens when I’m bored and have access to some wire, steel wool, couple of beads and a rudimentary wire working tool.

Lamby was made using some medium thickness wire to create a frame and legs (and a stubby tail). I then moulded the steel wool around the frame to create the shape. Steel wool works almost like felt – you can mould and shape it and join it relatively easily… but it leaves nasty tiny wire fibres everywhere.

I used bits of very fine wire to wire in Lamby’s eyes and nose and then I finished him off by giving him some extra curls of fine wire in silver and purple highlights. Lamby is nothing if not trendy.

The curly wire bits were threaded through Lamby’s body and act as added strength and support.

No gain without pain though – I stuck a fine bit of wire through my thumb which swelled up and ached for two days. No permanent damage!

I’m pretty pleased with Lamby, even if I do say so myself.

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nostalgia

Posted on June 8, 2013 by zefiart

Showing my age here, but I suddenly had a yearning to hear some very old songs tonight…

I started with some movie themes…

The theme from Exodus. I saw that movie when I was just a kid and that music stuck with me…

The theme from Love Story. Ditto. Nadia’s theme… kind of ruined forever by being the theme for The Young and the Restless… 😦

Jim Croce’s Time in a Bottle. I have no idea what movie I heard that song in, but its such a beautiful love song…

http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/dO1rMeYnOmM&source=uds

Ok. Being me, I googled it. A TV movie from the seventies called She Lives! I don’t even remember the movie, I just remember the song… and that feeling of intense love. You know, being a teenager and believing in the kind of love Romeo and Juliet had.

Now there’s a movie theme which gives me goosebumps – A Time For Us, What is a Youth. And what a beautiful movie… the Franco Zeffirelli movie, not the later ones. That movie is a classic, with Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting. There was no way to improve on that!

When I was a “tween” I made a friend who lived across the street, she was older and had a lot of grown up music (ie more grown up than The Osmonds and The Partridge Family). I’d borrow LPs from her. Her records and parties where they used to play the cool ‘rock’ stuff was where my musical education started.

Creedence Clearwater Revival, Doors, Led Zeppellin, Deep Purple…

…Bread. Now there’s a band with lovely love songs… If, Make it with you, Everything I own…

Ahh… Memories…

Nazareth, Love Hurts…

Dancing close with a boy, in the semi darkness in someone’s living room. Swaying to the rhythm, feeling the music in every heartbeat, the yearning, the certainty that only you and Juliet knew about true love. And the feeling that what you were doing was going to get you grounded.

Santana’s Europa…talk about hot slow dancing!

Holding hands. The first kiss…

So here I sit, doing computer stuff and taking a trip down memory lane.

Since I’ve already given away too much about my age, I guess I can confess to the world at large that I had the biggest crush on Donny Osmond.

And David Cassidy.

Come on! This guy was gorgeous! (I think I may still have a crush on him…)

Be still my beating heart!

Is there anything as precious as the innocence of youth? I’d play my Osmonds or Partridge Family albums and dream of kissing the boy on the cover…

Yeah.

Pathetic.

And then, as I was looking for photos of my old heart-throbs I noticed something very disturbing…

Doesn’t this photo of Donny Osmond remind you of someone?

YEP! I’m not the only one to notice it!

I’m feeling a little sick now.

I have to go…

the upcoming trip and my blog

Posted on June 7, 2013 by zefiart

I thought I’d start preparing the blog for my upcoming trip to Greece. Things will be different for a while so I wanted to prepare you for the type of thing you can expect while I’m away.

For one thing you’ll see so many photos like this that you’ll want to strangle me slowly:

You’ll also see plenty like this:

You’ll see photos of scrumptious food, read to eat:

Or food not-quite so ready (note the good use of barbed wire!):

In other words, you’ll see the kind of holiday photos you’d expect to see from a trip to the Greek islands.

But, being me, you’ll also see photos like these – slightly different, interesting and offbeat – rejoicing in colour, texture and garden implements:

I love the old, the worn, the falling down. As much as I hate seeing old buildings deteriorating and falling apart, they make for such beautiful photos:

I love the crumbling stone buildings with their chipped and discoloured whitewash, the faded paint… and the new signs:

There will also be photos of cute, fun examples of DIY and re-purposing, like this old shutter menu board:

Or these gorgeous old metal windchimes:

And of course things like this cute little rocking horse outside a shop on the market street:

You’ve been warned.

Did you know my blog started as a way to keep in touch with everyone when I went to Greece 3 years ago? It was about the holiday, my family, my memories and finding myself. Then the trip was over and I started a new phase in my life, moving to the farm with Wayne and the blog transformed into a diary of our lives on the farm and my growing obsession with DIY, craft and decorating.

In preparation for the trip I’ve changed my blog header… That’s an old door I photographed on my last trip. Love those old door latches, they are so Paros to me. I really must see if I can find some to bring back.

Man… I hope I find all kinds of goodies to bring back.

I’m gonna need a bigger ~~boat~~ suitcase.

This trip I’ll probably share photos and stories like I did last time, but I’ll also be keeping a keen eye out for the type of things I’ve come to love so much: chippy paint, old doors and windows, latches, locks and handles, old tools…

And hopefully beg, borrow and ~~steal~~ buy as much stuff as I can ~~carry~~ ~~justify~~ afford to bring back.

So, are you with me? Are you up to meeting my wonderful, crazy, funny family?

If you are, then stay tuned!

Only a couple more weeks before I go!

a quick pinboard

Posted on June 7, 2013 by zefiart

Yes. I’m getting ready for a trip. I’m drowning in grooming appointments, chores, housework (which I’ve successfully avoided so far) and all manner of things hanging over my head with a deadline of June 23.

Yet I can’t help myself.

This morning, between grooming appointments, I finished this pinboard for Wayne’s office space. I don’t know if you remember I moved Wayne’s office into the living room. Some might call it banishment, but I call it relocating him to a space more likely to be used!

(Btw, it looks nothing like in the photos on that post. Its now got a more relaxed look. Some might call it ‘lived in’… I call it plain messy.)

When we first moved to the farm we thought we’d share the office, but Wayne never used it. He’d use the kitchen table… which got old really fast, let me tell you! So I decided I’d create an office space for him in the living room where he could be warm (near the heater), see out through the window to the front yard, watch TV and be near his favourite reading chair. Everything close at hand.

One of the things I used to have in the real office was a bulletin board. I’ve always had bulletin boards in my office no matter where I lived. They’re so handy. I had one in the office here till I bought my gorgeous antique cabinet and had to remove it. It was sitting in the casita for ages. I decided to use about half of it to make Wayne a smaller pinboard for his office space since he really loves having one. The rest of it I think I’ll put up in the grooming room to pin up photos of customer dogs.

I had this old frame but it was an unattractive colour so I sprayed it white. I had considered repainting the pinboard but I left it. Its the same colour as the feature wall at the other end of the living room so its ok. Dark grey. You won’t see much of it once Wayne pins everything on it.

I think its his entire filing system…

Anyway, I found the bulletin board material easy to cut with a jigsaw, then I used my staple gun to hold it into the frame. I reinforced it with some wire, and voila!

Meanwhile I wanted something I could put pins in for him. Something cute but big enough for him to get his big manly fingers in easily…

This little old tin belongs to Wayne, no idea where he got it, but its now back in his space, put to good use.

There. One last (??) craft project before my trip.

We’ll see… Maybe the last…

avoiding housework

Posted on June 6, 2013 by zefiart

What can I say?

I’ve had 6 days off work and I’ve successfully resisted the urge to do housework every single day!

I’m so proud of myself.

hmph.

The house is a mess. Not helped by the smoked oyster bath Wayne just gave the hallway when he tripped over Barney while carrying a snack to the living room.

So, what have I been doing you ask?

Well, I’ve been busy. Doing STUFF.

I did some washing. AND brought it in. Mom would be so proud…*

Sorted out things that needed sorting before my trip to Greece. Writing lists of things I need to organise before I go and then trying to organise them. Making piles of clothes to take or not take with me on the trip. Reading Game of Thrones book 3 part 2.

(Addictive… Did I mention I got a Kindle for the trip? Love it!)

Caring for the poodles who both decided to get some kind of pyoderma at the same time, necessitating trips to the vet and multiple pills, washing poodle areas with Malaseb and other indignities.

Had to take the new car in for a small fix to the seatlbelts (under warranty).

Had to take myself into the doctor for “women’s complaints”…

I always wondered about that expression… does complaining about men qualify?

One thing I haven’t done (well, besides housework), is ride Cas. So much for my new horse!

Tomorrow all three horses get their hooves trimmed and Wayne has promised me that if he finishes his chores we’ll go riding on the weekend.

I’m not holding my breath. I’ve seen his list of chores. And I did not add a single item to it!

I won’t ride alone.

Ok, I would ride alone but I can’t saddle her alone. I’m just not strong enough to do up a girth. With my dodgey right arm/wrist there’s no way I can tighten up a girth enough so that when I put one foot in the stirrup the saddle stays put. If I tried it the saddle would slip right under her very round belly and deposit me on the ground.

I know a lot of people who’d pay to see that… and come to think of it, I could use the money. I have an overseas trip coming up you know!

* That’s an ‘in joke’ which my followers from the early days will recognise as relating to a story from my last trip to Greece. Which brings up another point… what will happen to the blog while I’m overseas?

Well… I’ll continue posting, but the posts will probably be a lot more about the trip, my experiences, family and other funny stories than about all the wierd and wonderful things I do and make. I plan to include a whole lot more photos that relate to what the blog has evolved into: thrifting, rustic stuff, rust, old stuff, handmade stuff, etc. However I’ll also include a ton of photos of blue sparkly waters, sandy beaches and things to make you all sick with envy.

You’re welcome.

milk churn photo display

Posted on May 31, 2013 by zefiart

Ever since I took the doors off the two overhead cupboards in the kitchen I’ve liked my kitchen a whole lot more.

I’ve finally got somewhere to display some of my pretty things, and some of my collections.

The little vignette below includes one of my scales, the lid off a small milk churn, 2 flower frogs and other old metal objects in the form of a cast iron flying pig and an old light switch.

I got the milk churn lid at the Shabby Market I took part in a while ago, and have had it sitting on one shelf or another for a long time, waiting to for it to speak to me and tell me what it wants to do.

Yesterday it finally spoke and said “I want to hold a photo”.

Well at the time I didn’t have any photos handy and really didn’t feel like printing one out. I wanted to test it out NOW.

You know how it goes…. Nothing like the present. Don’t put off for tomorrow what you can do today… I pray for patience, but I want it now…

I took the photo of Wayne and Ben which I just love, man and horse communicating quietly.

I got a small magnet and put it behind the photo. It worked! The magnet holds the photo onto the handle. Perfect.

Who needs frames when you can do things like this? Much funner!

the organised office

Posted on May 30, 2013 by zefiart

I thought I’d start this post with a pretty photo…

On the weekend that just past I found myself with a spare couple of hours so I thought I’d clean up my office.

It was so bad I couldn’t bring myself to document it photographically. Lets just say that even the dogs avoided it. I think they were afraid that they’d get lost among the piles of stuff and would never be fed again.

Since I’m not a ‘do half-a-job’ kinda gal, I had to do it right.

That means, as we all know, make a bigger mess so as to reduce the mess.

In order to clean and tidy up, I had to move some things outside the office. Into the kitchen, the hallway, the bathroom and the guest room. Lucky Wayne wasn’t home.

In fact, that’s partly why I tackled this project at all, cause he was out! As it happened, he got home before I finished and tripped over the office chair in the entry, knocked some folders off the kitchen bench, and skinned his knee against the sewing machine in the hallway. Lucky he didn’t need to go into the bathroom or guest room cause that would have necessitated grapple hooks and pick axe.

No wonder the guy hates leaving me alone in the house!

See, my office is a small room. Not tiny, but small. Big enough to almost hold most of the bits and pieces I need for my hobbies.

Its also got a ton of furniture in it, including two filing cabinets – one is Wayne’s of course since we first set up the office to share…. I have since moved his office into a corner of the living room.

I need all the space I can get!

So, two filing cabinets, stacked on top of eachother in a corner. An antique cabinet, a wall of shelves, a new cabinet with lots of small drawers, 2 desks (one is a real table, the other is a closet door), 2 old junior school desks, boxes, crates and suitcases.

You see the problem.

Though I didn’t want to show you how the office looked before I started, I’ll show you how it looked about halfway through:

I decided I no longer wanted the corner desk layout which took up two full walls. I moved the table under the window and took down the filing cabinet tower on my own (do not try this at home kids!) then pushed, heaved and persuaded the filing cabinets onto the right side of the room to hold up the door/desk.

Now… once I had some empty floor space I couldn’t help but look at the carpet. The filthy disgusting dog peed carpet.*

*Long story. I am not one of those dog hoarders who lives amongst dog pee and poop. I am a dog lover who has house trained dogs, but all dogs sometimes have accidents of the vomit variety. And my partner owned two un-house trained dogs which I brought into the house as part of the family. Thinking I could train them. I gave up after I found one pee stain too many in the office where they’d been sleeping. They were out but the carpet remained.

So, I did what any obsessed DIY-er would do. I started ripping up carpet.

Somewhere in the middle of this I thought to myself “I’ve done this three times before. Why am I doing it again?”.

The answer is simple. I hated the salmon, pee stained carpet. I want it gone. From every room in the house. But Wayne will kill me if I start ripping up the carpet in the living room when he goes out for an afternoon so I’ll do a room which doesn’t affect him…

Its not finished. Wayne came home so I had to start putting things back into the office or face a slow painful death. Plus I’d have had to move furniture again to expose more carpet to rip up and I was tired. I did manage to remove about 1/3 of the carpet.

The timber floors are old and rough, they will need sanding and polishing. I like the old look, but they will need a good clean and a coat of estapol or something to keep them clean. But it does look like a studio floor now!

Meanwhile I sorted out the shelves and made them prettier to look at by hiding away the ugly binders in filing cabinets and putting documents and other stuff in suitcases and rustic containers.

Wayne’s antique map of South Australia still hangs above my desk.

I love my little square crate. I’ve had that one since Melbourne. For years it held my oil paint tubes.

I bought this little aqua bird in a dollar store cause I loved the colour and found this broken little wire thingy at the tip shop. They look good together till I do something else with the wire thing.

I bought this cloche at Target a few months ago, added in some sticks, a bird I bought at the Shabby Market, a real nest and one of our tiny chicken eggs. My burlap flowers sit in an old wire hanging plant basket. Sorry about the blurry photo…

This pottery measure thingy (that really is the technical term) was given to me by Merrill before she left for the mainland. I knew I could do something with it. Its now a jewelry holder.

All in all, it was a productive weekend!

welcoming cas

Posted on May 28, 2013 by zefiart

Meet Cas:

Remember I decided to sell Ben cause he needed an experienced rider willing to take him on and train him? He was unbroken to saddle when we got him and we were finding it too hard to get someone to bring him along for me. And even if we had, he really was too green for me.

I had to face my limitations.

Enter Cas.

Cas is a 16yr old champagne appaloosa few spot mare. She’s gorgeous and she’s mine.

Not too big at 15hh (compared to Ben’s 16.2hh – that’s a lotta hands when you’re falling off!). She’s nice and fat and round. I could ride her bareback and be comfy. She’s just what I need, a nice quiet, steady girl who will give me back my confidence and help me get my saddle bum back.

(Hey, if sailors can call them ‘sea legs’ surely I can call it ‘saddle bum’!)

Cas arrived yesterday and while Dancer and Wally ran around like idiots, she remained calm, collected and way more interested in the grass.

This afternoon we let them all out together and it was all good. Dancer has her nose out of joint a bit, she’s used to having Wally’s affections all to herself. Wally is thrilled. He knew we’d eventually come round to getting him a harem.

I love the name ‘Cas’. It reminds me of Castiel – aka Cas – on (you guessed it!) Supernatural.

Apparently when she was purchased as a youngster her call name was Nova. Her new owners didn’t think that was a good name so they renamed her Casanova, thus Cas.

I first thought Cassandra.

When I told mom, she said Cassiopeia.

Wayne said Casserole.

Guess which one will stick?

sigh…

beater halter hangers

Posted on May 28, 2013 by zefiart

Am I the only one who remembers Tom Hanks in Bachelor Party chasing his girlfriend around with the egg beater?

I LOVE Tom Hanks.

But this post isn’t about who I find attractive (though if you really want to know, James Stewart, Jensen Ackles from Supernatural, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, also from Supernatural incidentally… )

Deep breath. Back down to earth.

Good.

In my “tackling the tack room” post I mentioned the beaters. And about re-using them to make a hanger for the halters for our tack room.

See, I’d been collecting these babies for a while thinking “one day I’ll do something with them”.

I used a couple in the mud room for hanging hats. Wayne used one on one of his robots. I spray painted some white. But for the most part they just lay there taking up space and not justiying their existance.

Last weekend when I ran out of hooks and anything bendy to use for hanging up tack I looked at the beaters once more and said “your time has come!”

The only hanging space left in the tack room by that point was the wall along the left hand side right near the door to the corral (or small horse yard… really a small sheep yard considering the casita was a shearing shed in its previous life).

Its a wall with exposed studs and no real place to hang things, so I put another of my handy timber slats up (leftover treated pine from our decking rennovation).

I then drilled holes in the pine, all the way through, for the various size beaters I had. Each beater had to be pushed (or pounded) in till it wedged snuggly.

Once done I hung up our collection of halters so they’re easy to grab as you head out the door.