sticky business

Ohio -Hard to Beat 

pond sculpture

      Work progressed on the totem despite numerous trips here and there on the farm gathering tools and supplies. At one point I just sat at the edge of the pond after doing a headcount on the ducks and geese to assure all was there, and was reminded how infinitely lucky we are  to live in Ohio. Yeah we can’t breathe our air as its laden with buckets of moisture that is constantly drowning out your sense of smell and if that isn’t enough the oppressive humidity has one oozing buckets of sweat for attempting to do even the littlest of things like just exist, but still the green of late summer mixed with other colors of a palette of beauty, can take your breath away as you sit and observe nature at its fullest, at this time of year. Blossoms and wildlife abounds. This is a carving I did a while back and I believe at this time of year it has given our backyard a special something. Maybe it’s because I carved it , or whatever , just know what I like and I guess it is great to have it in my backyard.

      But like everyone else on a mission, I rarely take that time to just sit down and enjoy nature. I don’t know why as I feel I need to prove my worth at times or just laze on couch and vegetate, and finding time to commune with nature eludes me. When it is cold and nasty I doubt I will want to be out there, so now is the time to find your favorite place in nature or find a new one. In fact I think I am going to go to Duncan Falls over by Wilmot,Ohio today. I believe there is a waterfalls and stream bed I would like to see. A friend of mine from Navarre told me about it and posted pics, so I believe I am going to head over and check it out. Should be a short trip so it will give me some time to sit and observe and explore a new piece of Ohio that has so far eluded me. Maybe tomorrow I will be able to share more information on it. 

red shouldered hawk 

       Yesterday morning I was sitting at my desk and noticed a large bird land on my pickup outside my window looking on to the pond. It was a red shouldered hawk of considerable size. He stayed long enough for me to grab my camera and snap off some hurried pics. As big as he was, I think he would have had a hard time trying to cart away young ducklings as they are quite big at well over a pound in size now. He stayed and surveyed the area and flew off up behind the livestock shed where I believe he was looking for mice to eat.  At first I had thoughts that he may be there to enjoy my ducks and although I did have one duckling appear injured there the night before , with it being so out of it, I moved it to a cage and it just kind laid there sprawled in a death prone position. It responded only barely to any stimulation, yet showed no signs of being injured outside. I gave it water and food and left it alone in the cage, and soon I heard it chirping and was back on its feet almost as fast as it went down. Was strange and is still strange. Maybe a diabetic duck? It spent the night in the cage on my back porch and then Greenie came and retrieved the young duckling to return to the pond, fully reinvigorated. I need to remind myself to not to try and understand ducks as nothing makes sense and yet it all does. They can be the dumbest and the smartest animals at times. We are just somewhere in between. All is well again with the ducks, and this is the reason for the head count I described earlier while enjoying my sit alongside the pond. 

tools i used yesterday to join wings to body. 

     Well I managed to get the wings attached yesterday and they are drying or should be by now. Enough to allow me to go on and finish carving feather detail in back of wings and sand it down and then flip the totem over and see how it has come out. I rarely use any aid to measure or in any way allow me a chance to make my job any easier. A tape measure would have been nice but wasn’t necessary as I have the chainsaw bar if I need a ruler. Sometimes I just reach down to where the cutoffs are and grab a slice of log and use that as a means to see if the notch is large enough to accept the wings. Most of my work is done by eye and experience. It’s not perfect but for the most part the average person would hardly be able to tell the difference. Which truly brings me to the real true definition of an artist, and that is one who recognizes and understands mistakes and how to avoid and fix them better than others. It’s not like we are perfect but instead know what to do when we aren’t so much on top of our game, which makes us a little better than average.  I try to get by without looking for things too much. My lack of organization has me going in circles and at times forgetting what I came for, that just staying the course and getting by allows me to continue on creating, I just make it work.

it is National Dog day and my dog is doing what she does best. watching me. 

     Well the notch I carved on the back of the eagle was large enough and allowed me a chance to position the wings in a way that they should be at right angles to the body of the eagle. My favorite adhesive for joining two pieces of wood in an exterior setting is Gorilla Glue. It is easy to apply and foams up to fill uneven spaces and is a good exterior glue that you can shape easily with a chainsaw and create almost seamless joins with. I thoroughly wet the area down and soaked it in a mulch paper so the glue will adhere better when it is applied. This is per the recommendations of Gorilla glue. I also throw some wood shavings in the foam that creeps up, allowing it to bond in cracks and creating a homogeneous piece of wood that when dry, can be shaved down with the chainsaw and make a seamless bond, hardly distinguishable in its appearance. Without the gluing it would be impossible for me to have wings on a totem here in Ohio. I imagine they may have the trees large enough in western states you could easily have wings to carve out of in one single piece, but here in Ohio it would require you for the most part a joined statue, where the two pieces are fit together. I also inserted dowels and rested the wings on a lip cut into the back of the eagle to rest them upon and prevent detachment. The dowels are glued and set at different angles to prevent a straight pull away of wings. This should make the wings as strong as the rest of the totem.  

     I have included pics of the procedure and will sometime today continue on with carving. This added another hour to the final time required to carve the totem. I am by no means finished with the carving or the totem in general. So will wait a while longer to tally up the per hour figure, as I am sure I would be depressed. Besides if it was all about how much money I make I would have quit long ago, it is and will always be more than that for me.