Handrail

Redwood

Knotty

Routed and urethaned

Assembled

Partially installed

Who knew that this was academic?

My friend Laura is a PhD candidate in Sociolinguistics at Georgetown.  She recently had an article published wherein she analyzed my Facebook posts about the house and blog from December 2010 - April 2011.  I just read a copy of the article and it is a really great article.  If you like analytic linguistic articles, you can get it here for $31.50.

Don't worry, all of you who commented or liked the posts.  She changed everyone's name(even mine.  I'm Mickey), paraphrased comments, and there is no mention of the blog address.

tool shed

In order to de-clutter the backyard, I needed a storage solution.  I built a shed this weekend.  No plans were used, just a bunch of 2x3s, OSB (plywood), and a salvaged door.  I painted it with the leftover exterior house and guest bedroom paint.

studs

laying out the framing

shed floor and one wall

door installed

painted

locked

dusty dog

watercolor

My aunt Carlie is an amazing artist.  I decided to procure one of her watercolors as they exude such a Midwestern elegance.  This is part of her Iowa Wildflower Series from a few decades ago which depicts and American bellflower and an evening primrose.  It's now hanging between the windows in the master bedroom.  I may move the bed to this wall soon.

detail

Another Milestone

This blog now has over 20,000 hits.  Seriously? I had no idea it would be so popular.

a little art

I was in Culpeper, VA last week for work and decided to mill about town.  There was a vintage/antique shop called Found.  They had a lot really cool stuff at quite reasonable prices (I swear, they aren't paying me to say this), but this road runner print caught my eye right away.  Apparently, it was owned by the Ambassador to Lebanon during LBJ.  More art to come, soon.

Living Room Rug

It turns out having all wood floors doesn't make for a warm feeling in the house.  I decided to put a rug in the living room.  This one is from Flor.

boxed

the underside

got sent one tile too few

and complete

Connie loves it, especially because the style is called House Pet