Falling for Rilke

You have brains in your head. 

You have feet in your shoes. 

You can steer yourself any direction you choose. 

You're on your own. 

And you know what you know. 

And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...

The season of Fall if finally here, that means i'm winding down all the Spring and Summer projects and may start up this blog again for Winter. . . . maybe.

If i can tear myself from the extreme comforts of a new home and great books (Rainer Rilke's Elegies and Sonnets are mesmerizing)

Yurtopia Sparkles . . .

. . . over the horizon of time.

It's official. YURTOPIA is the future dwelling of this happy hermit. And i've taken a necessary hiatus from the Theozoic art studio to attend to necessary labors of sweaty loved called carpentry as the beginnings of the platform have been undertaken as lead-up to the arrival of my many-thousand-pounded yurt materials from Oregon (June 9th).

The last two weeks have been ground-breaking achievements in the categories of clearing the spot of overgrown douglas fir trees and old scrap metal piles:

1) Post-Hole Digging: Twenty-six holes all needing to be two-feet deep. CHECK!

(Then, leveling and setting the 4x4 pillars of wood for my yurt foundation in concrete).

2) Cohorting with a friend, fun fellow, and quality local contractor name Weggi to fashion up a proper 30-foot pad to be flat enough for roller-derby gal's and strong enough to support a NASA shuttle:

 3) Adding plenty of 4x6 joists on top of that: 

4) Doing the "blocking" work around the perimeter, which Mr Weggi made a breeze with his heavy duty girder-saw. 

And with a bit more blocking on the interior, its ready for the final flooring of 4x6 Pine T&G.

Meanwhile, when not the sorcerer's apprentice with the Yurt abode, i've spend the late nights and weekends finalizing the formatting for my FAR-OUT Coloring Book:

And this springtime has offered great sunset and random rains and thunderstorms. A delightful surprise indeed.

A bit more forest management and one last burn pile perhaps:

And the birds are EVERYWHERE and ALL-DAY singing their songs. Its the tip-top-prime of bird spotting season. They love moistness and all the worms it brings to the surface.

 And i finally catch a break to do a bit of outdoor drawing on my easel. I've illustrated and fashioned a new business card for Meta-Mundi.

Now its time to get back to YurTOPIA where the saying goes:

once i lived in the dirt

then i moved into a yurt,

now all the girls come to flirt!

and if i'm lucky they may lift their skirt.

Here's the Clover-crew, hiking the newest of 6-bridges along a grassy hillside before the rain returns.

The smallest newt discovered at Sounder

(one of the new bridges)

During the last few days there's been a pronouncement by nature of the season to come: budding, blossoming, beauties abound! Here’s a handful of proud and prominent species i picked which are not just attractive, but important. (if you want to not guess what they are, read the names backwards)

And while the weather is fair, i like to split my work not only between manual labor and art, but indoor drawing and outdoor too (like a true nomad i set-up on the hood of the truck)

 

Back to work and back to the trails, the best of the outdoors!

Jolly-O, that's all for now. 

May the Totoro be with you all!

Walking, Drawing, and Building Bridges

This last 8 days have been a resplendent variety of indoors and outdoors. From walking the roads to check that the ditches drain properly during the heavy rains, to drawing indoors. A perfect balance.

Plus, it feels great to get the hand-saw out and fell some sapplings and builds 4 new bridges. 

 Tall, sprite, and straight lumber.

Setting them in place (and dropping my phone in the creek afterwards)

Here's a second smaller bridge for crossing the lower creek. I'm no Daniel Boone, but this thing works!

And there's always fungi hiding out, and crying out: "fry me in faaaaaaat!"

 

 Jumping contest between Gus and i.

An overgrown birdhous. . . 

Ciao for now folks,
May the Totoro be with you!

Mega-Freaky-Fungi!!!

The wild, the weird, and the . . . well . . . delicious! 

Fungi: its what's for dinner.

 (This is a Black Fluted Elfin Saddle - exquisite in texture, like noodles in a Chinese dish!)

 (Here you see the variety of Elfin Saddle sizes with a Coral fungi centerpiece)

(Chopped and nearly ready to stir fry with some chard and mustard greens)

(∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆)

 (Violá!)

To eat like a king – often you have to scavenge the grounds like peasant. Royal flavor from the loyal mushrooms that never cease to amaze in their regularly providing opulence of edible resources.

Now check this out – a mushroom walks into a bar.

Bartender says, "We don't serve mushrooms."

Mushroom says, "But I'm a 'fun guy.'"

Bartender says, "I just said we don't serve fungi."

Mushroom says, "No, no, not 'fungi,' 'fun guy,'  i made a pun. . . "

Bartender says, "Get the fuck out of my bar."

Holiday Events in Review

First Full-moon & Christmas Day combo since 1977 . . . the release of Star Wars!

Adding the final lines and details to the Christo-Claus mandala.

LEFT HAND: monkey-head fungi (hericium corraloides)    RIGHT HAND: 3 newts and a 4th Tacricha Tarosa wandering afoots

 Picking the Lion's Mane fungi about 20 feet up.

 The weekly assortment of antiques, garbage, and more fungi (chantrelle!)

Christmas Morning, starts with coffee and liqueur:

"i got STUFF!!!"

????

Cloverleaf Crew

 Bison Buddies 

And very merry Happy Brithday hike for HB on December 31st for his 31st. 

  

  

Off to San Fran for dinner and a New Years dance fest . . . 

2016 . . . in the wee hours of the aft-meridian.  

THE MERCEDES EXPERIENCE OF HOMESTEADING