Squirrel

We don't have the basic run-of-the-mill bushy-tailed squirrels in our yard. We have never had squirrels. We don't have enough large trees to accommodate squirrels and meet their needs. I've seen them a few miles from us, in an area with more trees, but not here.

Imagine my surprise in seeing Gypsy's unwavering focus up our Maple tree.  She has always known to look up as there might be interesting critters in the trees. Tucker was raised out here, on the high prairie, where we don't have many trees. It took him quite a while to understand why Gypsy was so interested in looking up in the air!

I finally realized that Gypsy was staring at a squirrel.  The squirrel's agitated tail flopping was an attention-getting flag. Wow! Where did the squirrel come from? How long will he stay here? His decision to come visit may not have been the smartest, but he was smart enough not to made a dash from the tree with Gypsy standing guard! 

It will be interesting to see if he sticks around, and whether we end up with a family of tree rats squirrels. 

Scaredy Cat

Pssst! Hey, you!

Me? You talkin' to me?

Yeah. Do I know you?

Sho 'nuf. I was two kennels 

to the left and one down 

from where you were stashed.

What d'ya think is going on?

I ain't got no clue. 

Don't like it. 

Nope, don't like it one stinkin' bit.

All this moving makes me want to puke.

Yeah. This is really scary. 

Last week I contacted the Denver Dumb Friends Animal League. They have been in operation, taking care of stray animals, since the early 1900's. They place cats, dogs, horses, gerbils.... you name it. Any animal that is 'dumb', as in it can't speak for itself, they take care of it until they can find a suitable home.

We have sorely missed our little feral cat. She was such a great mouser. The mice have been celebrating since she has gone and have invited the neighbors in. It is time to get a new barn kitty.

I submitted an online form to acquire a "working cat" from the Dumb Friends League. Working cats are those that can not live in a home. They are usually feral and don't seem inclined to become friendly with humans nor comfortable living in a home. (They certainly don't know what they are missing!) I received a call the next morning. That was fast! The League has a working cat for me. His name is Pop. He's a brown tabby and is about a year old. We Dreamers were at their door in just over an hour. While we were checking in with the receptionist, she asked if we wanted one or two cats. Well, heck, why not? In just a bit two carriers came out, covered in towels. One held Pop. The other held Bob. We put them in the back seat of the truck and transported them home. I already secured the garage area of the barn. I put out food, water and litter boxes ready for their arrival, as well as a few blankets and towels here and there. We have hay stored in part of this garage. I am convinced that stacked hay bales are kitty playgrounds. Our cats have always enjoyed hanging out in the hay.... and coincidently, I believe the mice may enjoy that as well. Perhaps not when the cats are around, however! We were warned that Pop is a "door dodger", so Mr. Dreamy took some fencing and secured it in an arc just inside the entry so it would be a bit more of a challenge for the cat to escape while I was entering or exiting. I decided that Pop had just earned his name, and would henceforth be called "Dodger". I was not especially fond of the name "Pop", especially paired with his new buddy, "Bob". Too similar!

The kennels were placed in the garage. The doors of the kennels were opened.... but not before I took a picture of each cat. I figured I wouldn't see them for a while. I was right. I know they are there - I fill the food bowl and empty the litter box. This morning I caught a flash of movement. But, I haven't seen any more of either of them. They will be locked in for another week (a recommendation from the League). It will be interesting to actually see the cats once they can begin moving about. Welcome cats. I am glad to have you here. I wish you long, happy lives with us.

Bob

Dodger (Pop)

Hiding

I have been looking high and low for something that I just knew was hanging around. In fact, with my knack for spatial memory,  I was confident that it was on a shelf on the west wall.... somewhere. Or, at least I thought I knew that. With each foray out to the barn, down to the basement, into the garage (and believe me I kept going back to those places over and over again just hoping that it would suddenly pop up on a second, third or fourth visit) my conviction lessened. Mr. Dreamy told me that we had thrown it out two moves ago. I wasn't so sure. But.... not having found it on a west wall anywhere, I gave up. I was ready to order more. It isn't that expensive. I can buy a pound of it online for about $20. It's just the principle of the thing. Dag-nab-it. We have it. Why should I buy more?!

I don't know about you, but I can stand a certain amount of mess around me (OK, my mother would have told you I live happily with a lot of mayhem and disorder surrounding me) and then I can't hack it any more. The garage has gotten to that point. I decided I would tackle the garage, doing a bit of arranging, rearranging, tossing and cleaning every day.

That's when....

Ta... da.....

I found it! 

On the west wall, 

Just as I had envisioned,

Behind some paint cans!

I have been looking for this very bag of Hide Glue. (You'll find out just why I wanted it in a later post... after I've had a chance to use it.)

Hide Glue is ancient. It was used back in ancient Egyptian days, and maybe even by Neanderthals. It is made by boiling connective tissue of animals. It is the collagen that is collected after boiling that forms the glue. In fact, the word collagen comes from the Greek word koala which means "glue".  (Have I impressed you with my knowledge? Well, to be honest I did know some of this but I checked my facts on Wikipedia.) The glue was used in furniture manufacture and most antiques are held together by this glue. When Mr. Dreamy did furniture repair he often used this adhesive (which is why we had it in the first place). The great thing about hide glue is that it is water soluble when warm water is applied (or a longer time if the water is cold). Thus, if you have an old chair, you can use warm water to undo the glue, so to speak. The glue will also crystallize with alcohol. So you can shoot alcohol into the join of a chair, and the glue will "let go". The other great thing about the glue is that when you apply warm water you can get all of it off. You can get back to bare wood. And, if you don't want to do that, hide glue is the only glue, according to my woodworking hubby, that will adhere to itself.

Now that I have found my glue,  my project can move forward. I can't wait to show you the end result!

Walkway Over the Hudson

I used to drive back and forth from Rhinebeck, NY to Poughkeepsie, NY on a daily basis. On my way I would drive under a huge railroad bridge and then pass by the Poughkeepsie-New Paltz bridge. Both of these landmark structures carried goods and people across the Hudson River for years.

The railroad bridge was completed in 1889 and had two tracks, so rail traffic could easily go both ways. The bridge soared over 200 feet above the water, and was almost 7,000 feet long. There are approach viaducts on either side that add another 4,000 feet  in length.

The railroad ties on the bridge caught fire in 1974.  Burning debris rained down on the Poughkeepsie side of the bridge. After years of finger pointing, squabbling over insurance payments, and failure to pay taxes, the bridge was deeded over to a private group and the vision for a "Walkway Over the Hudson" was conceived in 1998. In 2009 conversion work was completed and the walkway was opened to pedestrian and bicycle traffic.

The approach viaduct reaches almost a mile into the city of Poughkeepsie.

We first tried to walk the bridge on a Sunday. The place was mobbed. There were several planned bridge walk fund raisers going on for different causes. We couldn't find a parking place within a mile or more of the entrance. We were going to be in the area one more day, so we came back and thoroughly enjoyed the walk. 

Looking toward the Highland side of the bridge

The views are spectacular.

This is the Clearwater sloop. 

It was first launched by Pete Seeger in 1969 for environmental education and advocacy.

We stopped at the middle of the bridge for a selfie.

The bridge has quite a few posters placed on the railing.

One can learn about the redevelopment of the bridge as a walkway,

about history of the area and about things you can see along the way. 

The Bridge is now a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

Blowin' Fish

I have always found glass work to be fascinating. I love watching folks do lampwork to make beads, or small glass animals. I can watch an artisan crafting an intricate hand blown object for hours. There is something very mesmerizing about watching glass flow. We Dreamers have visited a number of glass making studios over the years. I wrote about an experience this spring in Asheville.  So, of course we had to watch glass being made while we were at the Corning Glass Museum. Not only that, we had the chance to try our hands at lampwork.

Mr. Dreamy chose to make a slug. Here our instructor is demonstrating how he should hold the glass rods.

Mr. Dreamy has made the body of the slug and is adding dots of color.

I made a pumpkin pendant. 

Visitors could also make blown glass objects. Although we thought about choosing one of those, I was glad that we didn't. It seems that the actual hands-on part of creating a blown ornament was simply blowing on the blowpipe, or as they say, staying on the cool end of the stick. I suppose that there could be a liability problem since the glass is between 1600 and 1900 degrees fahrenheit!

So, instead of blowing our own ornament we went to a demonstration in the amphitheater. The room is perfect for demonstrations. We were seated in stadium style seating, and there were 4 large flat screen displays that gave spectators an up-close look.  They even had a camera in the glory hole, the oven where the glass blower periodically warms up the glass object. 

The artist was making a glass fish.

She began by creating a hollow, round ball. Then, using cork paddles, the ball was flattened. Additional glass blobs were added and shaped to make the tail, fins, eyes and the lips. Here's a shot of the flat screen display showing the artist clipping more glass onto the fish. I think this was where the glass for the eyes was added.

Here's what it looked like from my seat. 

The artist works hand-in-hand with another glass blower. Sometimes the assistant is ready, without any communication, to perform the next step. Other times the two artists converse about next steps. 

The fish in the  lower right corner of the picture above is important to this story. The fish was created in a previous demonstration.  Once a glass object is completed it must spend time in an annealing oven so that it can cool down slowly and the molecules can realign. Therefore, as our artist completed making her fish it was whisked away to the annealing oven. But.... some other artist had created the fish on display in a previous demonstration. Now, it is on display in my house! One of the artists suggested that they give away a piece of glass. To make a long story short, I won the piece of glass!! Woohoo! What fun and now I have a great souvenir from the Corning Glass Museum.

A Glass Act

On our recent trip to New York we stopped at the Corning Glass Museum in Corning, NY. We had visited there in the first years of our marriage, and I'm so glad we went back as I had forgotten so much of what it was like.... or things had changed so much... or maybe a bit of both! In 1972 they experienced flooding. The flood line is marked at about 4 feet on the glass wall at the entry. That could be reason enough to change things a bit! Can you imagine having to clean all of that glass?!

The collections are extensive, and include many examples of glass through the ages. The goblet on the left is from ancient Egypt. It dates back to 1460-1360 B. C. Ancient glass makers used cores and formed the glass around the removable center. I was amazed at the colors and the complexity of designs.

The ornate bowls in this display were created around the 1st century.

Here are some whimsical pieces, probably from Germany in the 1700's. It's a bit tough to see, with all of the reflection, but the piece on the left is a "trick goblet", and the green piece is a "Schnapshund",  an animal bottle.

The museum also has some stained glass pieces. This one, by Tiffany, was installed in a mansion near New York City. The home was donated to a church, and most of the furnishings, including this window, were removed and sold. Later, this window was donated to the museum. All of the colors in this window are created by the use of glass.

Among the displays were several cabinets showing examples of crizzling. Crizzling is the decay of glass over time. If the mixture of silica, alkali and a stabilizer are not in correct proportion, glass will absorb moisture and deteriorate. Who knew?! Although I have seen old glass that has a frosty appearance, as is seen in the pieces in the image below, I never realized it was a decay process.

The museum had a visiting display of glass models created by Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka in the mid to late 1800's. These models are on loan from Cornell University. They were originally purchased by Cornell in 1885 to use as teaching models. Many of the invertebrates can not be preserved well, so the glass teaching models were the perfect tool to show would-be biologists what different marine species look like. Most of the models are only 2" - 3" in size. 

Long-armed squid

Sea slug

The spines on the tentacles of this brittle sea star were only 1mm in diameter.

The models were marketed in the US by H. A. Ward.

The catalog lists all of the models and their prices, modest by today's standards! 

The Blaschka's also made glass eyes.

This was a display case found in their shop.

Eerie!

There were a number of contemporary exhibits, and the art was as varied as could be. It is amazing to see what people imagine and create. This display was called "Continuous Mile". The artist worked with Zulu women to string beads in coiled rope, and then arrange the mile of beaded rope into this cylinder. The artist wanted a project that would take a long time so she could get to know the women.

Here is a close view of the beaded rope. 

It took over a year to create and required more than 4.5 million beads.

Some of the displays were suspended from the ceiling.

And this display shows what it could look like with a fallen chandelier. 

The sculpture is called "Carrion" and is intended as a metaphor for the decline of the centuries-old glass industry of Murano, Italy. I always get tickled by the description of the meaning behind an artist's work. Sometimes I wonder who writes those things!!

And in this sculpture, you may not be able to see the forest for the trees!

Each "tree" is comprised of glass shelves full of many kinds of glassware 

Some of the glasses have flowers and birds, things you might find in the forest!

Sometimes, glass doesn't even look like glass!

The museum represents 35 centuries of glass art.

Wow! That's a long time!

There are almost 50,000 objects in the permanent collection.

That's a lot of glass!

Corningware is no longer made by Corning, Inc. It has been made by

World Kitchen since 1998.

I still have a bit of Corningware in my cabinets!

I bet you do, too.

The Museum has miles of glass cases housing their collection.

(a bit of an overstatement, perhaps)

They use ZEP-40 Non Streaking Glass Cleaner to clean the cases. 

I wondered about the number of fingerprints they must get each day! 

They use conservation-grade cleaners with non-ionized water to clean museum pieces. 

No Windex (it has ammonia)

No soaps with dyes or perfume.

A Trip Back in Time

We Dreamers hopped on a time travel machine.
We took a trip back in time on a visit to New York.

If I made a timeline, our time-travel adventures might look something like this:

1972

Back to the scene of the crime wedding.
The groom waits for the ceremony to begin.

Now.... still waiting (Will you hurry up and take the picture?)

The wedding takes place.

I am sure I could hear the echoes of our vows as we peeked 

into the church. It hasn't changed much!

After the ceremony...

 The chairs have changed, the carpet has been ripped out.

No one was around to take our picture, 

So, we muddled through on our own. 

1971

I attended Bennett College in Millbrook, NY. The main building, Halcyon Hall, was formerly a luxury hotel constructed in 1893. The story I heard was that the proprietors would extend invitations to wealthy families in New York City to come enjoy a restful week in the country. Evidently the invitation hinted that the stay was free, but in fact, families received a hefty bill upon leaving!

The building was purchased in 1907, and may have looked something like this.

In my day, it looked like this. (I didn't have any pictures of the building,

but found this on the Internet, and must give credit to CardCow.com.)

The school ran into problems in the mid 70's as enrollment declined. 

The original trust did not allow the school to admit men,

nor could they turn the school into a four-year college.

The property was ensnared in the trust decrees and was left empty

when the school closed in 1978. 

What a shame.

It was difficult to go visit, but I felt compelled to see it again.

My dorm, first year.
My room was on the top floor, 4th window from the left. 

1969

High school graduation.

Here I am with a few of my classmates (just a few years later!)
In the picture above, I am on the far right in the front row.
The handsome fellow in the picture below is top row, third from right.
My friend is on the bottom row, on the left.

1967

We had the opportunity to visit with my beau from 10th grade!
We remarked that we had no pictures of us together from back in the day.

1966

We attended a reunion for Mr. Dreamy and his classmates.

They were the first class to spend all four years at this "new" high school.

Some of the attendees took a tour of the school.

Much of it remains the same and "students" pointed out their lockers,

where they sat in in the music room, and where they used to

go outside to smoke during lunch.

~1810

Mr. Dreamy has been exploring his genealogy for years. 

Some of his ancestors attended this one-room school...

... and met in this Quaker Meeting house in Greenfield, NY.

1720

Hugo Freer, an ancestor of Mr. Dreamy's, built this house in New Paltz, NY.

It still stands, much as it did back in his time.

We had a great time visiting, and talking, and remembering, and talking....

I'm ready for some quiet time now.

I'm all talked out! It's good to be back in 2016, in the here and now!