Bear Stories

I'm a whimsical person. I do creative stuff on a whim. Yesterday was chilly yucky cold icky grey nasty windy ...did I say icky windy and nasty?

Oddly enough the other half had a headache and didn't feel well. I had phone calls and 'business' to take care of and instead of doing my grocery shopping, I stayed at home to keep an eye on the hubby. He wanted me to stay in the house in case he felt worse.

I got restless and sort of bored so I sorted through a DIY site and found some cool ideas for making a 'bark' vase out of a tin can and yeah...bark.

I made a righteous mess and sat on the kitchen floor with my two sided tape and chunks of bark. The two sided tape was a good idea but I eventually got out the old hot glue gun which doesn't work well, but I did manage to 'make' the vases. Which I decided would look better as fake tree trunks with toys than vases.

I tried making a diorama scene and used Groot and Ricky as my posers. I was not fulfilled and it felt like I failed. Meh. Even with messing with it...meh...bleh.

Being quiet and watchful without being obvious is hard. So I decided to browse some ideas regarding Still Life. 
I found some rather interesting Low Key ideas that represented more of a Noir black and white theme with a Teddy Bear.

OHHHH! I went with the black and white theme as this teddy has been washed down my creek more than once and is kind of a yucky mud/white color. I just thought it was neater in B&W.

Bear leaves sand wherever he sits. Pfft. But the coffee was good.

So my brain went off on a tangent and I wondered about Bear meeting someone and how would Bear act?

OH the Romantic side of Bear!

The pink bear is a one eyed cast off bear I found at Walmart a long time ago. It was stuck on a shelf by itself, all of the other ones were sold. I bought her for a $1. I loved that she was so different.

Time to let the bears have some privacy I guess.

[I like the retro faded look I experimented with. Makes it less real and more like a dream.]

The End.

I did it. Can't ... Can.

The driveway. I have a love hate relationship with it.

The driveway is steep. That makes it a challenge in the winter time when there is a heavy snow fall or an ice storm.
This shot is from part of the way up the hill.

Below is a shot from a or so ago. You can see my husband driving the skidsteer up the hill.

With the six inches of snow that fell on New Year's Eve, I was faced the next morning with how to approach the delicate subject of getting the driveway cleaned up.
My neighbor Justin had offered to do the hill and I thought I could get Rich to do the flat section.

That conversation did not go as expected.
Rich said emphatically, "No." He was not going to try and get in the skidsteer or go outside.

I asked if I could try.
"No."
Me: But could I try at least?
Him: No. You can't. You don't have the depth perception to do it.
Me: I can be very careful.
Him: No.

We sat in silence for about a half hour. I had another cup of coffee and then stood up.
Me: Well then, I guess I best go unplug your skidsteer. I know Justin will do the steep hill.
Him [not looking at me]: Whatever. Just. Okay, be careful.
Me [big breath]: Okay. I will.

Well.
It took me a long time but I got it done. I filled my face with snow a few times when I raised the bucket and the wind blew. Poof, snow face.
It wasn't as bad as I thought.
And..
I did not
run into anything
or break anything.

I considered it a success. It certainly wasn't the nicest job around, but it got done.

I never thought I could operate a skid steer and a bucket, but I did.

My Grandma used to say there is no such thing as the word *Can't*.
She might be right.