January 26, 2017

Broken Adonis - Infested Venus

The political climate of the US is polarized into two sides.  The culture of America typified the election last year with two main candidates. One a self aggrandizing egotistical power hungry capitalist.  Who's attitude seems to have been distilled from the 1980's corporate hostile takeover culture.  The other candidate, who expressed progressive leanings, was more much more ensconced in obvious corporate catering (which is surprising to me, given the opposition's candidate) and had brokered deals with corporations and various back-room dealings.

In Portland, there were and are protests about the problems, and perceived problems that rack our governmental systems.  They system is doing ok, though bloated.  I'd be happy with some less federal government, less legislative power for the executive branch, and more states rights.


January 8, 2017

Duplo Drawbridge

We've been having much fun with the Duplo Castle we pieced together from a few years ago.  After seeing a cartoon drawbridge on the television, we were attempting to create a drawbridge. There weren't many options for a castle-esque Duplo draw-bridge.  I sourced a few Duplo Technic pieces (after finding out there were Duplo Technic bricks), and we have constructed a draw-bridge for the castle.  Complete with a moat for the plastic mermaid.  Andre especially enjoyed driving the tractor and steamroller on and through this castle.





January 7, 2017

Vintage Americana: Pirate Treasure Chest and Eagle with Shield

  

Last fall I bought a very used E.J. Kahn-esque pot-metal bank off of eBay.  We were looking for a bank for Andre, and growing up, my brothers and I had one of these banks which we used to store porcupine quills in.

The one I bought off eBay was very used, and needed to be repainted.  I stripped off the paint, and made due with a limited acrylic palette.  The bank came with an impressive and ancient copper padlock (with no key).  I fabricated a key for it.  The bank was dropped after a few months and needed to have the to of the lock hasp replaced with some wire.


Another project that I wanted to accomplish for Andre was some Americana decor.  I found this vintage Sexton eagle on eBay, but it needed to be repainted.  I busted out my limited palette, and some gold and silver spray paint, and I think it turned out alright.




January 6, 2017

Sunny and Frozen at the Ocean

We went to the ocean a few days back. It was quite cold, but we packed a thermos with hot water and had a rolling Hot Chocolate wagon. There is a snopocalypse happening in Idaho at the moment, with record snow falls. We visited during Christmas, and are now missing out on being buried in the snow. It was a wonderful sunny day at the beach.


We have a Toyota Highlander now.  2016 saw the end of the FJ season, but we enjoyed it while we had it.