Quality Not

They just don't make things like they used to! In the last two months we aged out our coffee maker and toaster. I still try to support local stores, so we went to Walmart to replace the coffee maker. Mr. Coffee has been at it a lot of years so I purchase a standard 12-cup version. It brewed fine, but the built-in clock ran three times faster than normal. The 2-hour hotplate shut-off in under one hour. That also meant the timer start fails. Many tries - many fails. I then did a Google search and found that this brand has had this problem for the last 1.5 years. But they have great customer service. A quick message chat on their Facebook page and they sent a replacement. The replacement works great. It just seems like a good quality assurance program would have caught this and saved everyone a headache. I also had to throw away the new-but-defective brewer. That's a lot of landfill!

Then the toaster gave up the ghost. Both of these had over 10 years of service so I don't fault them. The new toaster from Target wasn't the entry level so I expected it to work. However, the lever to load the bread failed to stay down after a couple days use. I had to hold it down manually to complete the toast cycle. It's junk, too! And yet such a pretty thing. The Oster company isn't as helpful. I need to deliver it to the local authorized service center, which is 60 miles away and requires proof of purchase. Who keeps receipts these days? Things should work! The credit card printout for the month lists it, though. Tomorrow we're going to KC for some shopping. The service center said they will determine if they can fix it or have Oster send me a replacement. I suspect it will end up OK, but what ever happened to quality construction!?

This is my first home sketch of the year. It feels great! I don't like being away from sketching for as long as I have, but that's life. The font I used on the title and the appliance descriptions came from a fountain pen Facebook group posting. I thought it was a beautiful font, so I'm trying it out.

January sketchcrawl: UrbanSkechersKC

Finally got out for some sketching this weekend. I just haven't been out much. The Kansas City group organized a sketch crawl at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. Wilma and I have seen the sign to it for many years and just never made it. This gave the perfect excuse to get there! I learned a lot and enjoyed taking it all in. Thirty five years of league play and mostly east of the Mississippi. It's sure not the best chapter in American history. Diversity proved to be better for the game.

I wish Topeka or Lawrence would have something for sketchers. The 68 mile drive to KC to sketch is a bit much but I figure it is still the closest I have. I can't make all of the outings but I pick the most interesting. The group of sketchers is friendly, too. Most of them just come for the sketching, but plenty stick around for lunch and to chat. I'm still in the 'new kid' mode and haven't gotten to know any individuals well yet. That will come in time.

Fresh Produce

We've been busy lately. The garden and fruit trees are bearing fruit and we're in the throws of canning. I just love this time of year, even though it gets quite hectic. Wilma and I were both raised in households that had gardens and canning was the norm. Just like home. None of my co-workers get it. Not many of the younger generation do. It's a shame. I like seeing the new interest that some of the younger ones have. A renewed interest in eating better and reducing dependence on the convenient pre-fab foods is good. That's part of my interest, too. Studies have linked a correlation between cancers and the emergence of the "Western Diet" that we all grew up with. I love eating the products of our land, too. It just seems like the right thing to do.

Wilma and I have been doing this long enough that we don't speak much when we have the canning wheels in motion. We each know what the steps are. Depending on what the product is, one will be in charge and the other is the sous chef. It's not a perfect process, though. We're still not mind readers and sometimes we miss. It all works out in the end, though.

Critter Time

Recently I found two pictures that I wanted to sketch from. I hesitate because more than one instructor has said to never sketch from a photo. However, it's my sketchbook and my process, and I really want to sketch them.

The first was a walking porcupine, from a wildlife-related Facebook group. Hard to say what distance he actually walked, but for one shutter speed shot he was walking. I loved the humble face he has and, of course, I couldn't capture all of it true to life. He seems huggable! Then I received a mailing from a bird watching organization and their calendar had this chick on it. Again, I just HAD to try to sketch it. His legs were even longer than my sketch captured them.

Then there's the Japanese Beetle. He was a life study, rather a death study. We've been invaded this year! This critter is a new one to me. References state that they do no long term harm to plants, but eat the fruit and skeletize the leafs. They swarm over our peaches, pears and blackberries and eat the fruit to its stem! They gorge themselves so much that they are not fast to escape when I approach. I can shake the fruit they are on and they fall into a bucket I have with soapy water and a lid. The picture is a pile of their dead bodies, collected over only a few days, on just two trees! They are a beautifully colored beetle and I can't bring myself to hate them. They don't cling to me as the swarm around me, and their sluggish take-off is comical. They also eat only one fruit at a time, leaving the others alone for me to pick.

Long Weekend in St. Paul

A while back I had a technical conference in St.Paul. The conference was Tuesday/Wednesday. We like the area, so we pulled off Monday as vacation and made a short 3-day weekend vacation. We've been here once before, so we had some places to re-visit and some new ones to explore. Sketching during a vacation can be a tough assignment. Time is short. However, I did find some time at a neat casual restaurant right on the Mississippi River edge that I could sketch. Then I simply listed the places we went, as a memory jogger.

While we were chilling out, a new tug came upriver and lingered around some barges next to the restaurant. The tug never exactly halted, but was slow enough for me to put together a rough sketch. These new tugs amaze me! This one had two engines and was not noisy and yet could probably push the Empire State Building down the river. Such understated power.

Ditch Burning Time

It's Springtime! We like to burn the tall dead grass in our steep ditch to clean it up and prepare it for new growth. This always is a spontaneous decision. We need a time when we have the time, and the wind is low, and the grass hasn't grown much yet, and it's not too dry and not too wet. It's like an ah-ha moment and we scramble to get it done.

In Shawnee County we are required to have a Burn Permit and we need to "call in" the burn before we start it. This year the Fire Station was empty (out on a call) when I went there, and the "ah ha" moment was upon us. The conditions were perfect so we went ahead and did the burn. No close calls.

There is just something about burning grasses. The smoke, the flame, the sounds, the physical activity needed to follow it with tools and water to keep it tamed. I've always liked it, even though at times the outcome isn't good. I HATE talking to firemen as they put out our uncontrolled fire. Not an issue this year.

With this post I also celebrate 10 YEARS OF BLOGGING HERE! Can't believe it. Maybe I haven't been consistent but I've posted each of those years. The climate has changed in the blogging world. Few if any visitors. Few if any comments. The social media options for keeping a web presence has eclipsed this old style blog, but I still prefer this format. I miss the old days when I had back-and-forth dialog with viewers. I may decide to pull the plug at some time on this blog but, for now, I'll still post. It's a process that feeds a need.

KATY Trail - Almost

It's early in the year but it's starting to be bicycle weather. Rita and I were talking about how much we love bicycle trails and concocted a plan to get together, with Wilma and Jana, and hit a trail somewhere. I recommended the KATY trail in Missouri. Wilma and I have been on parts of it over the years and I wanted them, as newbies to this sport, to experience a top-notch rail-to-trail. We made plans for a place to stay and figured we'd bike in the day and base ourselves at a place to stay, and pulled a couple days vacation to create a long weekend. Rocheport fits the bill.


Unfortunately for me, the week prior to the trip I over-exert my right knee and it's barely functional. I can walk - but no biking. Plan B: I drive the other three to and from the trail and I use the down time, while they are on the trail, to SKETCH. This is a great compromise and it works out fine. I still miss riding, but the other three get in some great riding time and we have plenty of time over meals to catch up on things and the evenings are all spent doing things together.

We spend time in Columbia. Being a college town it has plenty of things to do. We wanted to catch Pokey Lafarge the first night at The Blue Note, but he cancelled due to illness. We caught other live music though.

Then there's the FOOD! Restaurants at both Rocheport and Columbia fit the bill. Missouri University at Columbia is their state's land grant college, so it has Vet Med and agriculture. That means a retail room that sells ice cream! Buck's Ice Cream, with Tiger Stripe ice cream as one offering. We hit all the retail stores in Rocheport, numbering almost a dozen. Many artist studios.

Great long weekend. Hope to do trips like this again. Hopefully do trips where I can ride, too, but these sketches would not have happened if I were in the saddle. Too many ways to have a good time.