“Remoted” – Day 433 (Sunday)

Columbine!

While I was enjoying coffee on the deck this morning, Moose barfed his breakfast on the deck. Minutes later, inside the house, the toilet flush function went on strike again. This is the second time recently, and is probably a sign. A bad sign. 

Over in the flower beds, the Columbine is flowering, and it's nice to see what it looks like when the groundhogs haven't eaten it. This seems to be their off year for inhabiting the space under the shed.  

The umbrella project did, indeed, continue with day two of labor. First, it required shopping at multiple retail locations. The first stop was Family Dollar, to look for fake ferns to use as a stencil. There were none, but I was able to restock makeup remover wipes, a greeting card, and two sets of foil trays with holes in them which seemed like a perfect stencil for dots. The next stop was Home Depot for a can of red spray paint. The third and final stop was Dollar Tree, to look for ferns. One plastic fern floral pick was found, along with two sizes of square plates in case a square motif was decided upon. The plan was loose and fluid. Some may say nonexistent.

Red added -- dots and ferns.

Back at The BungaLowell, the umbrella was taken from the shed and the pole set in the cinder block in the back yard. It looked dusty, so it was hosed off using the new spray nozzle from the Family Dollar excursion. Yesterday, it was discovered that the trigger on the old sprayer turned on and stayed on, providing water longer than needed, and requiring shut off at the water hookup thingy to make it stop. It was breezy, so the umbrella dried quickly. It was breezy, so the painting was a bit more challenging than Saturday when the air was still. 

The plastic ferns were used at the top of the umbrella, and looked not-so-good. They are small, and the effect was too much paint and not much outline. The plan was switched immediately to randomly placed groups of dots. Then more dots. Then, because any project I have ever started with the intent of “random” always ends up evolving into some sort of  order, it was decided to connect the random dot clusters, to form a meandering path. 

It was okay, but felt like it needed more, so the ferns were tried again, with mixed results. Some came out great, others were over-sprayed blobs. Ferns were sprayed until the breeze was too breezy, the gray clouds piled up, and my phone said it would rain in 33 minutes. The supplies were put away and lunch break declared. After that, the umbrella was put back into the shed. It did not rain in the 33-minute window, but the wind would have made it impossible to continue. The red paint, just like the navy and gray, dries much lighter. Thanks to the breeze, I am also wearing more of it on my skin and clothes than the navy or gray.

The jury of one is undecided as to whether this thing is done, but whatever the eventual verdict, the project is paused until at least next weekend.