we're grown!

Thanksgiving
Christmas
New Year's Day
Valentine's Day
have all come and gone

Tootie's kittens will
turn 45 weeks old
this coming Sunday

these photos were taken November 2011


Hogarth
named after a little lemur
from the tv show
Lemur Street
he'll definitely steal your heart


Devendra Alahan/Dev/Devilicious/Devastator
even though she was named
after a man
from our favorite show
Coronation Street
she's a girl


Onslow
named after my
favorite character
from the British comedy
Keeping Up Appearances
she's a girl, though
(oh, nice)

I don't have a recent photo of Albert(a)
I called her Albert
(from the tv show, Fat Albert)
before I checked to see
she's a girl
I don't think she minds
she'd park her lil tush
in our flower box
I'd say, hey...hey..hey
telling her to move
she looks like Onslow
without the white markings
I'll make sure
she gets top billing
next time

the kitten we called Shemp
in an earlier post
hasn't been seen by us
since not too long
after they were born
Shemp's the one
who looks most like
their mother, Tootsie
I hope someone
gave that kitten
a safe home


Biscuit/Birdie Num Num
hasn't been hanging around lately
I hope he's alright

Halloween 2011 pumpkin carvings

this post by my John

Halloween in the D
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's devil's night in the D. and anyone who grew up in the Detroit area knows that up here, we take halloween very seriously. I thought I would share a couple of this year's jack-o-lanterns that I just finished carving. In typical fashion, it all starts with a plan.

First, you find a decent image and due a little photoshop magic to convert it into a posterized image with three levels of grey. I did this with the old glory caster back in the challenge, but used 5 levels of grey. Then, the paper image is taped to the gourd.



Using my handy dandy little roller pokey thingy, I trace all of the edges of the pattern transferring the image to the pumpkin.



Remove the pattern and take a peek. Make sure everything is traced because putting the pattern back on isn't an option.



Now, take a sharpie and darken the lines. A sharpie works great and doesn't wear away with all the pumpkin juice that accumulates.



Gut the pumpkin next. save the seeds. they are gold.



Now, with cheapo saw tools and a cheapo wood carving tool, cut out the voids where the lightest color is and remove the peel from the middle grey areas.



clean up the surfaces of the greys with a broader faced chisel.



Drop in a candle and shut off the lights. Heeeeeeere's Johnny!



Anyone know this guy? He was a Detroit TV icon in the 70's.

I has a belated birfday post

Sunday was my birthday
Monday was my John's birthday

we went to the
Yankee Air Museum

www.yankeeairmuseum.org

our first visit
I bought him a B-24 Liberator cap
I got a shot glass that says
Some Landings Are Better Than Others

we ate dinner
at Mexican Fiesta
mexicanfiesta.net

we celebrated with
caramel apple cupcakes from
Nom Nom's Cupcake Factory & Sweets Shoppe
queennomnoms.com

it was a beautiful day Sunday
it rained Monday
but, that's alright
we share

everything tastes great when...

hey y'all!
this is one
of my favorite
vintage commercials
do you remember
seeing it on
the tv?
do you like
Ritz crackers?
if so, what
do you like
to put on them?

I like Andy Griffith as "Matlock", too

kitty family tree grows

Birdie Num Num ("The Party" 1968)
aka Biscuit
this is Tootsie's brother
this photo was taken last year
one Sunday morning
my John heard him mewing
he was inside a bush
John had to get a ladder
and rescue him

when I introduced Tootsie last April
I didn't know she was in the family way
on April 24, 2011
I fed and watered her
noticed she looked uncomfortable
next thing you know
a kitten's coming out!
she gave birth to 5 kittens
in our cat house outside


Devendra 'Dev' Alahan
named after my favorite character
on Coronation Street


what's a 'runt'?


bib on and ready to eat


no bib


Shemp
named after Alex Trebek's (JEOPARDY!) favorite 'Stooge'

if, you can't leave a comment
please, email it to me
salemslot9@aol.com

my John took third place in guitar contest!

prize
Mustang™ II
Amplifier

here is a link to the Fender website.
http://www.fender.com/products/mustang/models.php?prodNo=230002

I'm sooo proud of him!
thank you
to everyone who voted for John
and
sent positive comments
he really appreciates your support

here is a link to the contest final tallies
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/274415-winners-2011-tdpri-build-challenge.html

please, vote for my John's guitar!

2011 TDPRI Build Challenge
vote for motor_city_tele
voting starts today
check out John's thread
motor_city_tele
to see how he built this guitar





Here are the links to vote.
the polls will be open for 5 days

This first one is the link to register first – voting is only open to registered members.
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/register.php


This is a link to the rules & pictures and videos of each entrant.

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/


These are the individual polls themselves. No pictures or anything – just the list of names and the actual ballot.


http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/273507-vote-most-innovative-build-innovative-design-solution.html

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/273508-vote-most-beautiful-finished-guitar-looks-best-you.html

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/273505-vote-best-work-progress-thread.html

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/273503-vote-best-final-product-overall.html

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/273506-vote-best-choice-parts-overall-best-combination-parts.html

thank you!