November 30, 2011

Blustery Day

The wind here last weekend left no shortage of dog toys in its wake. Twigs, branches, boughs, entire trees. You name it, it was on the ground and available for the taking. But only if you were quick.




 You also had to be willing to navigate obstacle courses to go anywhere.


 I wouldn't let them bring this one home. Meanie.


 You wouldn't know it from this shot, but Gotham really is getting much better at running. He's not so much ass over teakettle anymore. Usually. What really gets me is the expression on Rory's face. Teeth and all.


















"Play Bough"? Rory completely lost his head. Gotham thought it would make a great Christmas tree.

 You must know precisely what happened exactly .002 seconds after this shot was taken. Luckily, my lens survived the onslaught.

November 20, 2011

Coping

I can't cope. I thought I could. I thought coping was a good idea. Coping made sense. Having tried it now, I just don't see the point.

Coping is highly overrated.

It's a cool word though. Cope. Coped. Coping. Copable (okay, maybe not).

Lest you think I've given up on something really important, you need to know that coping is a method of cutting crown molding to fit inside corners. You find the spring angle of the molding, set your jig to this angle, and cut the molding at 45° (assuming your corner is 90). Then you take the cut end and cut away the material behind your original cut. The idea being that this piece will now fit without gapping over top of the other piece in the corner, which you've installed butted up flush against the adjacent wall. Make sense? Don't worry about it. For the amount of effort it takes, you're best to just cut two 45°s and piece them together, using wood filler for any gapping. Don't get me wrong. I'm all about good, solid, work. After all, I'd like to live in this house without things coming down around my ears.  Coping, by some accounts, is supposed to be a better way to join crown molding in the corner. I happen to disagree. When it's all said and done - after filling, sanding, and painting, which you have to do to coped and non-coped corners anyway - the only difference is the time it took. One of these inside corners is not coped. I won't tell if you won't.




  














November 10, 2011

Things That Go Bump In The Night

Skit, skitter, skit.

Snuffle.

Sniff. Sniff.

Slurp.

Crunch. Nom, nom, nom. Crunch crunch.

Skitter, taptaptap.

Sniff, slurp, crunch crunch crunch.

Answer here this time tomorrow.

Just kidding.

That, faithful readers, is the sound of a puppy losing his teeth. While the rest of the house is peacefully sleeping, Gotham's baby teeth are falling out. And what better way to amuse one's doggy-self in the middle of the night than to spit your tooth out onto the wood floor, wonder what the heck it is, and pick it back up to give it a little chew?  Sick, I know.


Toof? What toof?