I haven't mentioned this yet, but our home is in desperate need of some roof work. We've been looking at options, whether we just want the shingles replaced or whether we want to go for the whole nine yards, soffits, eaves, shingle roof vents, and flashings.  It appears that the choice has been made for us.  Last night we got some of the heaviest rains we've ever had and our house sprung leaks where there were no leaks before.  I think maybe the house couldn't handle all the rain and hail we received in such a short time.  According to the local weather office, at one point 23 mm fell in fifteen minutes.  It was raining so hard that it looked a bit like we were underwater! The city was hit with lightning, hail, thunder, wind, torrential rain --when we thought it was over there were still a few of those monster lightning strikes that trail off the end of large supercell storms.

We had been watching the clouds for most of the afternoon, and I began hearing distant rumbles around four in the afternoon.  When Dave returned home around five the dark clouds were rolling in and a storm seemed inevitable.

Which means that I need to get some people in sooner rather than later for roof inspections and estimates.  I think going all out would be wiser and we should get everything done at once. 

In other news...I'll be cleaning up the sun porch today, for a sun porch...it was awfully welcoming to the rain last night! We are lucky, at least we stayed drier than many others.  At least our basement isn't a swimming pool. And our street wasn't a river

In other news, a trip to Len's revealed that the foam for the trailer beds will run about 45 dollars each, the benches will be about 80 dollars all together and making one from memory foam will cost over 200$  So high density foam it is for the trailer beds.  There is also some wonderful country cottage plaid upholstery fabric in a subtle pastel country plaid, there's plenty of Naugahyde, and there's also pre-notched piping trim available by the yard.  I should be able to sew up some new cushion and mattress covers with little trouble.  If need be, I will ask my dad about getting me in touch with someone who has an upholstery weight sewing machine. 

The recent trip to Len's also revealed a collection of fabulous new fabrics.  The best are a collection of georgettes in bollywood colours and prints with metallic details.  There's some flocked taffetas, some flocked velour (!!?!)  but it's the bollywood chiffons and georgettes that got my attention. Most of the colours were very warm and earthy, continuing the trend towards golden undertones in fashion colours.  Even the pinks and purples, two colours that can be very cold and blue are now showing a golden hue.  I think these fabrics would be wonderful for the patchwork swirl skirt (based on the nautilus shell) and for the Mandelbrot fractal swirl skirt that I've worked out using a series of diamonds and V shaped wedges of fabric.

And that's all for today.  I have some post-storm clean up to do.  And it looks like more rain later today!  Oh well. 

Posted by lincatz at 11:47 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Mood:  cool

I now have two tops to go with my bikini bottom.  I think that's more than enough now.  With the one piece and the two bikinis I made last year, I think I can safely retire my two old suits that i got when i was fat.  The one is a size 16!  It sort of hangs and bags on me now.  That's too bad because it's a really super sexy black suit that looks like an evening gown on top grafted to a bathing suit bottom.  I would adjust it, but even the leg holes are way too big.  I will keep it as a reminder to never get fat again!

I have decided that my cargo skirt is my new favourite skirt.  I think I'm going to get some basic black twill and make one from black.  It was the original black one that inspired me to make this one.  I fixed the slit so it's a bit less revealing.  It doesn't need to be quite so high!

In other news, it seems to be a day of animal stories.  First thing that greeted me in my morning newspaper was a photo and this following story:  Fish pedicures!  Let carp nibble your feet to silky smoothness.  ~okay~  I'm not sure about that one...  On the other hand, as someone who is plagued with thick dry foot skin...this might be better than cremes, pumice stones and all those other methods that only sort-of work.

How about a cat story?  How about two cat stories?  First:  1000$ reward for return of kitty in pink dress.  So this person dresses her kitty in a pink dress, leaves it in a hot car and is then startled that someone rescued it.  First, you shouldn't leave cats in cars unattended, especially in the summer!  Second, you shouldn't put cats in clothes.  And thirdly, she takes the kitty for rides when it has the habit of "dashing from the car" ?!?!?  And her solution is to put it in a pink dress so the grey cat doesn't blend in with the pavement?!?!?!

The next story is about a cat that got stuck in a jar.  Perhaps he was playing SpaceKat?  Maybe he wanted to see for himself how this whole bonsai kitten thing worked.  Maybe he wanted to lick the mayo from the bottom of the jar.  Really, if you have cats you know that they will do anything to get *whatever* from the bottom of the jar.  You should see Trixie go crazy when Ben forgets to take his beefaroni tins to the recycling bin and she gets into it.  Like the old saying...curiousity killed the cat, satisfaction brought him back!

Here's a tetris type of game, it's called Suburban Cat Herder.  Minutes of addictive fun guaranteed!

I mentioned my book that I have on order?  Little Nemo Volume Two?  Here's the Sunday Press page with some pictures from it.  And of you need more, here are some more sample pages from the book.  The first collection is the pride of my book collection, and probably one of the biggest books I own.  I'm seriously looking forward to this book.  It is so amazing, Winsor McKay is the undisputed master of perspective and warping that perspective.

I guess that's all the this'n'that for today.  I want to get out and do some more weeding before the rain comes.  Once all the crap such as crab grass and all those cosmos are gone the rock garden looks quite nice! And I can cut some lavender for my closets and my bath.  Later!

Posted by lincatz at 9:14 AM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, 22 July 2008 10:24 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Don't forget to look at the limited edition Saturday blog entry below!  Dave was at work on Saturday so I had a couple free hours in the morning.  When Ben woke up we went off to the kitchener market. It was a brutally hot walk to get there.  On the way home we stayed on Duke street on the shady side, so it wasn't quite as bad.  Saturday was overall hot and steamy.  Dave and Dan wen to the Rib and Beer festival, Ben and I decided we were steamed enough.  I did something to agitate an old injury to my shoulder and neck, so Saturday was pretty much a wash out for me. 

So I got my report of IP's, search terms, unique and repeat visitors, browsers, and other points of interest in my weekly web reports. I know the IP's of most of my repeat web visitors and the RSS subscribers. These are all unique or first time visitors. The prize for farthest away visitor goes to Kabul Afghanistan.  The computer is apparently part of the army network, although which army wasn't specified.  The search terms were hidden.  So: hello Afghanistan army person.  Next I have some image leaches.  I really don't mind the links to my site or using pictures you have found on my site, and it's not like I have bandwidth issues, but I would like to be notified BEFORE you hot-link the picture. 

The USA is well represented with someone in Ohio looking up how to yiff a wookie in which my blog comes in aon the first page, another in SoCal looking up stinkhorn pictures.  If you want a really nice one, e-mail me through the blog profile and I will send you a full size one.  Picture, that is, not a full size stinkhorn.  I believe shipments of those are restricted under "toxic substances!"  Someone was looking up "selfish Sidney Carton"   I think from the same IP that looked up sexy Sidney carton last week.  I got several hits for my little cargo skirt tutorial.  NYC was well represented with four visitors, and thanks for the nice comment on my fleurs! I got a few visitors from the GTA and 905 area code.  Two from Brampton. One from Vaughn.  One from Markham.  One from Scarborough. (Hi Tina!) One of these spent over 40 minutes going back through the blog and another found me through a people search site. 

I now have a couple pictures.  The first is of a find at the Kitchener market:

Yes, it's a fractal broccoflower!  Spirals of perfect Mandlebrots!  And it tasted quite nice, too!  next is from my garden:

These just opened yesterday.  As you can tell, it was raining and quite grey.  These were like flowers made of fire in the gloom.   I have more in my flower power photo album, including some pink asian lilies. 

I know, I have a serious lily thing going on, don't I? 

In other news:  Dan went to see the new Batman movie.  He said it was good.  I am quite intrigued; the dark knight series was one of the last comic book series I collected before i had to stop buying comics and begin buying diapers and baby food and grown up stuff.  The ISB gave it a two word review, "F***ing Awesome"  and this is a guy who devotes paragraphs to the thighs of Anita Blake Vampire Hunter, so I think this movie deserves a look.  And there's still Hellboy in my must see list.  Movies are all just big live action comic books these days.

And that's all for today.  I'm off to other places in cyberland!  Later!

Posted by lincatz at 11:14 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Mood:  hungry

Good morning!  Today is a the limited edition holographic cover with the special double slip cover Saturday blog entry.  Yesterday was an exercise in blog frustration, until I realized that I hadn't set the new computer to purge all temporary internet files, pictures, videos etc every time I exit the browser.  Worse yet, I had yet to specify a size for this file so it choose "infinite" as the default.  One huge almost-a-gig dump later  were' in the clear.

To begin:  I made one whole bikini, top and bottom.  The bottom is a standard mid cut leg hipster while the top is a vintage inspired ruched tankini.  Here are the sketches I am working from, the one I made is the one on the left.  The fabric is some aqua, brown, beige and black bathing suit spandex in retro inspired stripes.

I'm just starting the one in the middle, top only as the bottom in the same.  If len's has more of the fabric I might make the one on the right with the boy shorts, or I might make a one piece using the bias stripe idea from the top.  Still not sure. 

Today I am listening to the top 300 of 1966 and deciding which one i like and which ones can go to the trash file.  Every other song seems to be a silly novelty or comedy song like woolly bully...And there's a lot of over stringed and sweetened Middle of the road pop.  It was a year that marked the beginning of the social upheaval and the music charts are almost as chaotic as the times.  (almost as chaotic as 1992, the year of Geraldo, Michael Bolton and Nirvana)  There some real trippy acid music, some still innocent shooby-doo-wah, lots and lots of drawbar organs, synthesizers that buzz and hum,  some folky protest songs, and Simon and Garfunkel.  It looks like Simon and Garfunkel ruled the radio air waves that year. 

If you spend any time collection old single you will know there are two main charts, Billboard and the Whitburn collections.  Billboard is a mashup of everything and tends to be more american pop oriented, while Whitburn is international and edgier.  At least as edgy as one can be in 1966 or 1964.  In addition, the whitburn peope divide up music into pop, rock, folk and R&B.  You get a far more diverse collection of music with the Whitburn charts.  Which I realize means nothing if you aren't a music collector!

Today is Caturday!  Here's a Caturday picture:

So my new judy is working out quite well, in spite of the fact i gave her seriously lumpy boobs.  The best part is that her waist and my waist are in the same place, two inches lower than the original dressform.  As soon as I get new batteries for the camera I'll take some less fuzzy and dark pictures of my creations and some more pictures of my lilies.  My special daylilies, "twilight" and "Bela Lugosi" are in bloom.  I bought Twilight because it is the title of one of my favourite songs on my favourite ELO album, Time; and i got Bela Lugosi because it's named after the actor who played Dracula!

And that's all for my special limited edition blog entry!  It's off the the Kitchener Market for some food, then later this afternoon we are going to the Rib and Craft Beer festival at Victoria Park.  I don't drink beer, what with it being made from that evil WHEAT, but there might be some interesting dead animals covered in sauce to taste and devour.  MMMMM!  Dead animals covered in sauce!  Later!

Posted by lincatz at 8:57 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Good morning.  Around 6:30 this morning the electricity went bye-bye and didn't return until eight thirty.  After Dave and Dan left for work I went out and did some more garden work before the day turned hot.  Yesterday I weeded a bit more than half on the veggie garden and all of the small flower bed by the back door.  This evening after the heat of the day is gone and after most of the bugs that sting are gone I'll do some more work.  It isn't taking long. It's mostly crab grass.

My brother is coming over to help with the trailer some more.  A co worker of Dave's is is married to someone with a trailer supply store in Mount Forest so she's helping us get some replacement parts. Most are standard sized to make repairs and replacement easy. 

Last night I realized that once the trailer is repaired it's going to be out of our driveway forever!  Then we'll be able to park the car closer to the garage.  not IN the garage...the garage is used for storage.  We might change part of the driveway into a patio or something.  Maybe with one of those shelters. That would be nice! But none of those shelters are tall enough for Ben to stand up.

And that's my very short entry for today.  Now I'm off to turn on the air conditioner and work on my bikini top!Later!

Posted by lincatz at 12:22 PM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

The big news burning up the old internet this morning is the announcement that William Peterson (Gil Grissom) is leaving CSI in a big ten episode story arc this fall.  Returning for the ride into the sunset will be Jorja Fox and Sara -who reappears for the funeral of Warrick Brown.  Peterson has said he wants to leave in a way that doesn't disappoint the fans (also reported as "leaves the fans happy") so the rumour is the Gil and Sara will ride off into the sunset together after ten episodes.  The Tiny House Killer is rumoured to be returning.  There are about six different reports on this, from the fan site csifiles: http://www.csifiles.com/news/150708_01.shtml to the far more legitimate CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/07/16/petersen.csi.ap/index.html

Also in Television News Project Runway US start tonight with almost no advance promotion.  All the episodes have brief descriptions in advance and it sounds like there might be more than one gimmick challenge.  There's also something about RuPaul...I think it's a tie in with the buzz phrase "Hot Tranny Mess" from season 4. It should be interesting.  I'll have to try somewhere on the interweb where i can watch the episodes.  Project Runway Canada is being filmed in Ottawa right now, a recent news piece talked about Mr Iman doing something in Ottawa...AKA David Bowie...talk about the occasional hot tranny mess!

In my own designs I am working on some bathing suit pieces.  I have cut out a nice hip high bottom and I have cut out a tankini top and a smaller halter style bikini top.  I'll also have enough to make a simple tank style high leg one piece with a shelf bra inside.  Gotta keep those 36C puppies from falling to my knees! 

And now...I have to go and get dirty, there's a whole bunch of weeds that are begging to be pulled out!  Later!

Posted by lincatz at 11:45 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Lucky is sleeping on the couch and his paws are twitching and he's making little mewing noises in his sleep.  I wonder what he's dreaming about?

On Monday morning I was dreaming on of those dreams where i was about to get something i have wanted for so long, something I dreamed about, something that would fill a deep yearning need in me, and in this dream what I wanted suddenly popped up in front of me when I was looking for something else, and there it was in the most believable way possible.  not like a dream way...where an egg pops open and it's filled with jewels or the flowers in a meadow are really fairies... I was walking in an art store when I checked out the nibs for dip pens and I asked the clerk if they had Gillott's 404 nibs.  I have been searching for 404's since they stopped exporting to Canada in 1993.  They had two dozen for a mere dollar each and i said I would buy all of them. So I got out my dream wallet, which was filled with real money and had my real bank card...the money didn't turn to butterflies and my bankcard didn't have strange writing on it and I remembered my pin number...

When I woke up...nibless.  I still have four unused 404's and i have five that are good but used condition.  These nibs are amazing.  They make an incredible thick and thin flexible line.  And they are either no longer made or they are made in minuscule numbers.  Here's the 1290, it's good.  I also like the 303 and the 290, but they all pale in comparison to the 404.    My all time favourite nib is found behind these pretty coloured letters: behold the majesty that is the 404.  Once you use a 404 nothing else will do...not a hunt 104, not a speedball, nothing, only a 404 works like a 404.  It's the one other compare themselves to, "we have the hunt 104, it like the 404"  No it isn't, it's not even close.

Yesterday I spent my time on line looking at camping trailer websites.  I found a place that sells awnings, replacement screens, and some canvas repair fabric.  I measured the cushions for the benches and the beds and I'm going to look at some high density foam at Len's to get an idea of the price.  I'm also going to scope out some fabric to cover up the old gross green olefin.  I'm also going to look at small sheets of vinyl flooring to replace the old floor, and I want to get some primer and paint to paint some of the melamine surfaces.

Friday was Cruise night.  I met Dave at 6:00 and we trotted off to Victoria park.  The new entrance is all finished and it's quite nice, there are waterfalls, plants, benches...it's a real entry point rather than a path that veers from the sidewalk.  The parade started at 7:00 and it was much longer than last year.  There were cars with back fins that looked like booster rockets, there were cars with hemis that looked like oversized Darth Vader helmets sticking out of the hood, there was a restored Gremlin, bunches of El Caminos...the el Camino was the vehicle of choice for so many up in Sault Ste Marie, some with air brushed pictures on the sides, all driven by guys with killer mullets!  When some of the 70's muscle cars drove by you could feel the engine power thrumming and booming and making the very pavement vibrate... And of course there were several classic dodge Chargers including the good old General Lee.  As much as I despise the Dukes of Hazard, the General Lee is a cool car.

These cars all are the "gallons to the mile" types...from an era when gas wasn't $1.30 a liter...when Friday night meant everyone under the age of 30 was on King Street, driving, shopping, enjoying the company of friends and others, enjoying the night life the lights and the fun...obscure reference to a song by Queen there... It was all so innocent and fun...I met several cousins in a couple groups.  All I will say is that one has not aged well and another looks like her mother.  I won't say who.

Saturday while Dave and I were grocery shopping we met my cousin Nancy.  She looks so good with dark hair instead of blond, it makes her look like she's still in her thirties. I would be almost jealous except we decided not to do silly things like that anymore.  I'm quite happy we cousins all decided to bury the old hatchet at Karen's birthday party.  We all admitted we were stupid teenagers and back then we didn't realize how special our large extended family was.  We are no longer stupid, teenagers, skinny, cute, young and we know that very few come from large families like ours.  Life's to short to carry grudges over who wore what to which party.

On Sunday we went to Beaver...sorry...it's not Beaver Lumber!  It hasn't been Beaver Lumber for over ten years, yet everyone still calls the Home Hardware on Park Street Beaver Lumber...including the people who work there!  We need a new roof and some repairs so I called a few places.  They told me to have a good idea of what I wanted as far as colour was concerned.  I said I didn't want black, and I didn't want a metal roof.  The homes on our block are a bit too close together to risk the ice slides you can get with a metal roof.  I can envision a cascade of snow and ice into our neighbours kitchen window.  I want a beige or sand coloured roof, soft white eaves, and if we needs the soffits and facia replaces I want the fascias to be a soft sand colour.  The windows will be soft sand and white, and the shutters and door will be accented with a deep blue.  I'd like a bit of cohesion in the colours and I want a little less blinding pure white. I now have some paint chips with the colours I like.  I also scoped out some shingle colours and patterns.  I like the ones that look like wood shakes or the ones that look like fish scales and they do come in the sand colour i want.

Finally, from Fark and Boingboing comes this wonderful Little gadget for cats who INSIST on drinking from the taps.  It's the Cat Faucet and it detects when the cat is near, turns on the water, then turns it off when the cat is gone.  We need one for Lucky.  This these pussycats drink from the tap?

And that's pretty much all for today.  Just a bunch of blather... Better luck tomorrow!  Later!

Posted by lincatz at 11:49 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

(Regular entry below...in which Mr Anderson get a new girlfriend)

Today's squirrel in the news is dedicated to George Costanza, the man who loved squirrels so much he invested in teeny tiny instruments so the vet could operate on his favourite pet squirrel. 

Bald squirrel has Vets scratching their heads.  The vets at St Tiggywinkles Wildlife hospital are quite perplexed by this new arrival, a bald squirrel.  He wasn't born bald, but neither was Phil Collins.  Somewhere along the way, both lost their hair.  They have no idea if the squirrel is suffering from male pattern baldness or some odd disease.  I figure a disease as this squirrel doesn't have the needed dangly bits to have any male problems. Here's a picture of "smoothie"

And yes, there really is a place that goes by the name St Tiggywinkle's Wildlife Hospital.  They have a real website! 

What else can i add?  Something need no further comments.

Posted by lincatz at 11:26 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Woke last night to the sound of thunder. How far off I sat and wondered.  Starting humming something from Bob Seegar...

So last night was quite loud and quite bright, at least in brief flashes.  When morning came it was loud, same light level as five AM, and quite wet.  I'm sure glad I remembered to water the garden last night before bed! It could have dried right out!

Mr Anderson has a new friend, a girlfriend to be precise.  She's a real dummy.  She has no head, one arm is cut off at the shoulder and the other arm is laying on the dining room table. She's a bit lumpy in places because under her skin she used to be Master Shake in her previous life.  He name is judy, with a small "j" here's a picture of her:

So after saying to myself I should make a new cover and padding for my old dress form...some day i should make a new cover for my old form, some day...I decided that yesterday should be the day.  I had a fitting muslin for a basic block all cut and fit for both the bodice and a skirt, so i decided to stuff them and put them on my old wire form.  It's a little lumpy in places, and the arm has not yet been attached, but so far so good.  It's a thousand times better now and the waist is three inches lower than the waist on the old form.  The front and back neck to waist is now the same as mine! And the neck is the same diameter as mine.  And the neck is quite long, just like mine.  And yes, those boobs are mine. I have the 34 C sweater puppies I've always wanted.  Here's another view of my lumpy and bumpy new friend, stuffed with the remnants of Ben's old master shake costume:

Judy is actually the generic term used in Canada for dress forms.  i have no idea why, all i know is that they are named "judy" --"judies" in the plural.  It took little time to sew up.  I marked the important lines and points with a sharpie marker.  The basic bodice i used is a shoulder dart block from the Winifred Aldrich Metric Pattern cutting book and the skirt bottom was a simple single dart black that I can almost draw in my sleep.  Once the sleeve is finished I will probably take it off the old wire form, remove the lumpy foam and replace it and smooth out the foam underneath so it doesn't look so lumpy and bumpy.  this is something I've been planning to do for the looooooongest time.  I'm happy I decided that doing this was far more important than washing dishes.

The cover is simple unbleached cotton muslin, basic pattern testing material.  Since i was testing a bodice fit, I decided that this perfectly fitting muslin would be perfect for covering my dress form.  Why buy anything too expensive since it's not to be worn by anything other than a dress form? 

For dinner we had something you can have only a short time every year, fresh from the pod baby peas.  If you hate peas, it's because you've never had them the right way, fresh from the pod ten minutes before cooking.  The shelled peas should be barely covered in water, the water is brought to a boil, then removed from the heat.  The peas should be drained and returned to very low heat.  Add a teaspoon of butter and a half teaspoon of honey and heat until the peas are glistening.  Eat while piping hot: sweet, slightly green, no bitterness at all.  That's what peas really taste like, not those mushy wrinkled wooden things you are used to eating. Yummy.  To freeze, do the same,  up to draining, then place on a pre frozen metal tray, place in the freezer and they should be frozen in a few minutes.  Store in zippered freezer bags. To cook  melt a bit of butter and honey and heat the peas on low in the glaze.  Forget about boiling, they will turn to mush.  You will have fresh garden baby peas all winter long.

This afternoon and evening is the annual "Cruising On King Street" car show.  This is one of the biggest around and every year it attracts cars from all over and from all eras, from old model T's to neon bottomed tooners to low riders to cars with enough fins to make a shark jealous.  Once agian...why was the original Friday night cruise so bad? The parade is always fun, the street is closed off and the cars go from Victoria Park to King street once, then circle back and park on the street so everyone can take a good look at them.  This year Dan and his girlfriend are going to be coming with us.  Maybe even Ben.

And that's all for today.  I have a whole bunch of stuff to do today that i didn't do yesterday while working on my new dummy.  Mr Anderson and judy get along quite well, it seems.  Later!

Posted by lincatz at 11:14 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Flower Power: Part Two

I spent the morning taking pictures.  Here they are!  my garden is doing quite well.  As i have mentioned before; I guess you could call me a green witch; plants and flowers love me, they row for me, they want me to notice them.  This is good for veggies and flowers, not so good for bindweeds and crabgrass.

There are no titles, descriptions of captions yet, just pictures.  My lilies are doing fine, in spite of a few red lily beetles. I'm not going to dig them all up and kill them just because of a few beetles, I'll simply pick them off as i see them. They aren't a pest to anything other than lilies and picking them is the best way to control them.

And that's all for today.  Maybe tomorrow I will have more pictures, maybe of clothes I have designed and made.

Posted by lincatz at 10:51 AM EDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink