Hot Hot

We've had a pretty decent summer so far. Cool mornings and nights even though we had a lot of rain and bugs.

Now? Yikes, I was not ready for a 79* dew point, with 79% humidity and 80* temps yesterday morning. Yuck. Yuck and double Yuck.

I did outdoor work and my errands early. I made cold Italian pasta  salad for supper and retreated to the indoors for most of the day.

I continued to mess around with my Lego bricks and lights to make that Space Challenge Scene that was on for last month. Even though I didn't come close to 'winning' I enjoyed the fun in making interesting scenes to celebrate Lego's Space Theme for the past month.

This really didn't work out as I imagined but I had a lot of fun building the Labratory. I created a space environment with an AI generator for the background.

I placed the works on top of a wooden block on my keboard...

and ended up with this....          👇

I am learning now to build and then set up a camera and see what view the camera can see and use that area for details. It is different building for fun and building a little 'set'.

Setting up the 'set', lighting, and characters is hard! It is so much easier to do a Lego shoot outdoors in my opinion.

Here I just took my Little Tourist Alien and set him on the porch with some rocks and one of my garden Gargoyles.

It was rather easy to deal with the lighting and scene.

Since I was avoiding the heat and humidity, I thought I'd build something fun and unique to use a new character with. It was to be Spacey and have Cool Lighting.

I began with a plan. I wanted a blue eerie lit background. That meant making a part of a wall with see through blue bricks. I put it on a white baseplate and used irregular Lego 'rock' bricks to make the back wall for a cave or alien planet texture.

[The brick texture didn't show up because of the lighting!]

So the idea was to have a space creature walking down the path of blue crystals with cool lights. I noted that the back wall didn't really show up and how was I going to include that in the photo?

As always, I never take the easiest route when trying this out. 

I first tried it with two little blue balloon lights and a white light. I laid the face mister on its side and turned it on to add some glow to the light.

It was sort of cool but it was hard to tell what was going on.

So I went with more color. Of course. When in doubt, make it harder.

I like this version just because of how the red lit up the bricks around the Glaciator Power Miner Minifig and set a menacing tone. Apparently this Power Miner was the supposed to have the power to turn things into ice and explode them. There was a game based on these characters and sets that saw popularity from 2009-2010.
I just saw this guy at a garage sale and picked him up for $1. 

He is also partially made out of transparent plastic.

After all of that what did I learn? I learned that I made something fun and cool. However, the picture doesn't tell any story at all. Nothing. It is just a cool lit up minifigure. I learned that indoor photography with added lights takes a lot of experimentation and adjustments.

I kept this build so I can try again to re-shoot it to tell some sort of visual story. I realize that I should have had a little bit of light coming from directly above the 'set'. That might make a difference.

I was frustrated and pleased with the experiment.

So early this morning I went out with my pal Glenda and created an easy story on the porch.

Glenda rarely needs any explanation for what she does. 

She just does her thing and I follow her around....

It promises to be another extremely hot and humid day.

PS~
Welcome August.

Just wicked weather

Wednesday was neat we had a snowstorm of sorts and I spent the day just cleaning the house and rearranging things. I don't have a big house so it didn't take all day.
Charlie and I took a small walk around the pastures early and to the creek just to look around. I am always amazed by how green it is in the creek bottom.

Note that Charlie is wearing his 'beeper' collar. He is an avid rabbit hunter

and a demon on squirrels and deer tracks. Well,

he thinks he is. He does still once in a while

catch a luscious scent and take off on the

run.

However one beep distracts him and he races back to 

me.

Thursday was quiet also.

I prepped the lasagna and then started thinking about redecorating for Christmas. I gathered my sticks together and did some experiments with glue and Epsom salts.

Epsom salt and glue on 

a grape vine twist.

Dried Espom salt on a branch.

The real deal. Ice on branches in the woods!

It was messy, but it kept me occupied.

Yesterday morning after chores I decided to take Charlie up the road for a walk and to gather the mail. I dressed in orange and that awful safety green/yellow vest I have. I was staying on the road and I didn't expect the city boy hunters to be out as early as I was.

Charlie on rabbit track. 

He is zoned in.

My neighbor's field corn.

It has not been a good year for 

farmers.

The weather has been relentless. I had to move Little Richard from his pen to a stall inside as there was not a dry spot in his paddock to be had. He was standing with two hooves crowded into a large feed pan when I went to get him.

Make no doubt about it. He is loving the accommodations.

The photo above is the view from the porch. Rain/snow/sleet/freezing rain, and then rinse and repeat. The mules have done well as they have places that are in the woods out of the wind and where the ground is solid.

I have been taking their hay to the round bale feeders to keep them from stomping it into the ground.

Normally I would be out in this weather, but I've seen a few hunters across the way and have heard shooting even in this crap weather. 

I decided to spend the rest of the day deciding how to decorate.

This year there is no tree. This year there is no Christmas Chair. I've decided to see what I can come up with that is not the same as what has been done before.

Out came the old wood boxes, the little nesting box, toys...stuffed toys, beads, fairy lights...and ribbons. 

I needed to occupy myself on such a dreary ugly day. Charlie supervised when he wasn't napping.

Stay tuned for my crazy new ideas for decorating. As always, it is a constant work in progress.