New Duckies on the Farm

omg, a few weeks ago I saw a Craigslist add for Swedish Black ducks; somehow, they 

ended up in a pet carrier in the back seat of my truck, lol :)

I seriously could not resist taking them home...

 they really are the cutest things, ever!!  Quwaking & wagging their little tail feathers--way

better than anti-depressants, lol---you cannot watch them out in the yard for more than 5 minutes & be smiling: they are such happy little duckies!

For the most part, they get along quite well with everyone else--although the geese are big meany-heads... they so love to chase the ducks & throw their weight around.... Little do they know: they will be off to "freezer camp" soon.: if they weren't such bullies--I would love to keep them around: but  they insist on being mean: they chase the chickens & ducks away from the foods; just for for the fun of it; they don't actually  eat it...big meany heads..lol

 Everyone  else seems to co-exist quite nicely...

Except for the fact they we have 6 roosters at the moment.  Even though they are little, their crowing contests in the morning are getting a bit old.  The herd will be thinned next week, though when 4 of the little noise-makers join the geese in freezer-camp.

In other bird news: Grey Chicken keeps insisting on beeing broody: besides the fact that we don't need any more little chickens at the moment, it's been so hot that I worry about her sitting in the coop all day....  So, she got dunked in the pool: I have found that cooling them off will usually break the broody cycle. We'll see.

Yes, it's quite the little bird farm around here :)  

I've got some projects to do; nesting boxes for the duckies, improvements to the chicken house, etc.

And working on some designs for chicken/duck/farm garden stakes & signs; soon to be available on my Etsy shop.

 -Amber-

 

Hyde Park Curb A'Faire-Boise's Newest Street Performance Event!

I'm going to be creating the Grande Prize Trophy for Boise's newest street performance event: the Hyde Park Curb A'Faire & I'm so excited!  

We have a shopping trip planned for tomorrow to hunt for treasures to create something amazing for this---Pacific Recycling, the Reuseum, Idaho Power Salvage, & a few other secret location... ; )

Not sure yet what it's going to look like, but I'm really looking forward to creating something whimsical with a bit of a steampunk influence....  We shall see.... I'll update on progress.

If you are a performer interested in this event; contact me for the application---email me at refinerii@yahoo.com & I might even be able to get the fee waived for you ; )  

This is going to be a fun new event for Boise, & I'm really excited to be involved---check out the FB event page at: Hyde Park Curb A'Faire for all the details.  

Hope to see you there!

-Amber-

Boise's World Trade Center Memorial-Progress Update

The sculpture is finished up & ready for installation at Riverside Park next week sometime.  After over a year of planning & talking & thinking--it's finally done!

Pictured here are myself (looking fat--nice pose, lol) & Montry Smith: owner of Blake Trailers & Fabrication; where the pieces was built.  We had a little unveiling today for press & those involved in the project: thanks to everyone who came out to see it :)

We got pretty close to the original design: I'm very happy with the overall look of the piece.  Looking forward to seeing it in place: the courtyard is ready & waiting for the final pieces; including the sculpture & the wall of names.     The finished project will be dedicated on September 11th: I'll be posting more info on times & details as I have them.

The sculpture will be on display all this week in front of Blake Trailers in Star--you will see it as you drive by.  Anyone is welcome to stop in for photos & you can see the vision board in the office.

Working on this project has been surreal from the beginning: & I'm so honored to have been able bring my vision for the beam into reality.  Everyone who has worked on this project has been so generous with time, money, etc--I think we all felt the same: privileged to be a small part of such an important moment in history; & hoping that we have created something serene that pays tribute to all those who were lost.

Amber 

Trophies, Bouquets, Duckies, Installs, & Summer Madness!

Wow! Things have been busy the last few weeks!  I've made trophies, wedding centerpieces, wedding bouquets, worked on public art, proposals, & installed a fountain!  Plus, we somehow ended up taking in 5 adorable little duckies that have been nothing but distracting, lol :)

 

 

Starting with; the fountain--that has kept me busy for weeks!  Commissioned by the Idaho Botanical Garden last fall: this piece took 3 tries to get right (more on that later) It is finally in place & looks beautiful, just like we planned; I'm very happy with the overall look of it; even if it didn't go smooth the first (or second) time, lol ; )

In addition to 8 trophies that shipped to Japan last week, & the 12 that will go to South Carolina on Monday, I finished up this one for a copper mine in Nevada & sent it out.  It stands 22 inches tall; made from steel, aluminum, & copper, with a wood base--one of my best yet :)   This is a perpetual trophy; winners names will be added to the base year after year.  I hope they like it as much as I do ;)

And the new duckies!  OMG: so cute!  I found an add on Craigslist saying that a family had rescued these 5 ducks as babies, but no longer had the room for them: they were very concerned that they go to a good home with lots of room, & I was very happy to take them :)  They are young Sweedish Black ducks, as far as I can guess-4 hens & 1 drake. And so sweet & cute & happy!  I have missed having ducks around the place, & when I saw the add I couldn't resist ; )  I'll post more pics later...

And, the latest crazy alternative wedding bouquet; instead of pearls & flowers she wanted nuts, bolts, & hardware....love it!  One of my favs.   Also this week; shipped one out that will be walking down the aisle at Burning Man, another to Spain, & a whole bunch of tree centerpieces for a wedding in Canada.

Whew!  It's been quite the week!  I was so happy to sleep in a bit today & get caught up: still a few bouquets to make tomorrow & an order of trophies; thankful for the weekend & no one calling ; )

Updates coming; next week is Boise World Trade Center Memorial Week--it will be done & installed: one way or another :)  

Amber

Crossness loco restoration

Ian Bull writes:

A Royal Arsenal Railway bogie van has been displayed outside the 
Greenwich Heritage Centre for some years. Its condition has recently 
deteriorated and last Monday it was moved to Crossness pumping 
station to join the steam locomotive 'Woolwich' for restoration. 
Plenty of detail and photos in the link below...

http://www.therailwayproject.blogspot.co.uk/

Ian is leading the team restoring loco 'Woolwich' at Crossness - GIHS hopes he will agree to come and speak to us some time next year.

Away on my holidays I found myself in the Northumberland  County archive at Woodhorn in - well, Northumberland. 

Now - I am far from sure how we can stretch Greenwich industry geographically but I am wondering if we didn't ought to be include a fairly large stretch of Northumberland.

I learnt about Greenwich Hospital Estates a long time ago.  On a study tour of the North East in the early 1970s we were faced with a resentful lecturer - 'look' he said ' all of this land - here in the north, all making profits for Londoners.  The income all goes down south to these big buildings in Greenwich and is spent on southerners' .   At that stage I didn't actually know where the money went - but I was pretty sure it wasn't spent on the residents of the London Borough of Greenwich and I said so  -  and was treated with a great deal of suspicion for the rest of the week.

So - Greenwich Hospital Estates. It does cover a lot of Northumberland. I flicked through the pages and pages of the accessions list in the archive  - a lot of lead mines, some of them quite famous, collieries, fisheries, stone quarries, farms, a lot of other mineral workings.   Then page after page after page of account books. I didn't have the time to call items up, but I guess it would have been very illuminating.

So - historically - can we stretch Greenwich's industrial history to cover all of this? (this is a historical blog but the politics are more than interesting too).  I am sure there are proper histories out there of the Hospital's northern estates - people who have studied the lead mines and the quarries.  I think we need more information about all of this - if we are to sort of annexe it.

Mary

PS - I found two items in the accessions list about Greenwich Foot Tunnel  - so those of you researching that would do well to come up here and look. Woodhorn is, I guess, a bit on the inaccessible side - as I left I did wonder how you got there by public transport, if at all!