Tag: iphoneography

Another Frosty Morning

Compared to the last two days, this morning was a downright balmy 17 degrees when I went outside for some singing in the car. Just like yesterday I managed two songs. That leaves two for tomorrow. One song was a mellow guy in a register that’s really easy for me to sing. The other was very shouty and a smidge too high for comfort. Fortunately it only had one part.

I did the mellow song first to warm up. It went pretty simple. Two part harmony, but nothing too taxing. Then on to the harder song where I did the thing I keep doing. I only had one part to sing, right? So I added a harmony part that runs all the way through. That means I doubled the amount of shouty stuff I had to do. Dumb ass.

By the time I was done I was done. It was still early, I still had battery, I still had an empty bladder. It was my voice that sent me home. Hoping for some more guitar tonight… or maybe within the next few minutes or so, then some more vocal fun tomorrow? One of the two songs that remain has a lot of three part harmony. That should be painful and awkward as hell.

Rock on!

The secret to a successful car music turns out to be my glasses. Who knew?

I thought I’d switch things up on the drive home pics too and show you my town’s gigantic city hall.

…then I took a clock pic anyway, just because.

Patches is a Hero

Jen had something for work this morning that required her to be logged in at 5:00am. It happens. I was hoping to get out of bed around 6-6:30.

6:15am comes around and I am out like a light. Snoozing like a… whatever snoozes. Suddenly my phone starts ringing and I wake up. It’s Jen. She needs help. Turns out Patches is in the hallway outside of her office and she’s caught a mouse and she’s playing with it. I need to come out and remove the remains.

I put on shoes first. I think I was thinking something like, what if Patches hasn’t actually killed it. I might need to step on it or something, I don’t know. When I get out there, there is a mouse laying on it’s back outside of the office. Patches is a few feet away eyeing it distrustfully. That’s when the fun started.

I’m thinking that I should get a bag or something, and maybe a dustpan maybe. I need to scoop that little rodent up and get it out of the house before Ms Patches and her claws start doing science projects. Before I could move though, the little sucker flips over onto its feet and starts running. I think we can say that it’s not firing on all cylinders, mentally speaking, because it ran right toward the cat.

I went out into the kitchen and grabbed a plastic bag and a pair of tongs. Patches was playing with the mouse, running back and forth between the living room and the hallway. By the time I got back the mouse was on it’s back again, looking dead. I looked closer and it was still alive, breathing super fast. It didn’t move when I put the tongs on either side of it but it woke up when I grabbed it. I dropped it in the bag and took it outside.

If it survived the horror of being Patches’ toy then it likely froze to death after I liberated it. Sorry ’bout that, Mickey.

The important thing to note here is that after 11 years Patches has finally started pulling her own weight around here. This is the second mouse we’ve had in the house since we’ve moved in and it’s the first one she actually caught. Good job, cat. I am proud of you. Last night I was pissed at the vomit antics, but you have completely redeemed yourself by keeping your family safe from the rodent menace. You are truly a hero, kitty.

Wah Wah

I played some guitar tonight. I wasn’t going to but I did and it made me happy.

I redid a couple of rhythm guitar tracks that I didn’t like the sound of and then I put leads on one of the songs that got vocals this morning. I used my new wah pedal a lot. It’s a Real McCoy Custom RMC10 and it is killer. The sweep on it is gigantic. It starts on Monday and ends on Thursday. That’s how gigantic the sweep is. It’s actually so much wider than I’m used to that I think it is going to take some time to adjust my brain to it. It sounds great though.

I started putting leads on the other song that got vocals this morning but I had to stop before I finished. I used my Fuzz Face again but this time I stuck a Klon copy after it as a boost and it was gnarly and bitchin and mean and nasty and wonderful.

Fuzz Face pedals and wah-wahs are notorious for not working well together. I haven’t tried the combo yet with the new wah, but I will.

I hope to get in some more car music tomorrow. We’ll see. For now though, I am feeling pretty good about the little bit that I accomplished tonight.

It’s Cold Out There

Yesterday I skipped a car music opportunity because it was seven degrees out. Today when the question of to car music or not to car music arose I checked the temperature again. It was eight degrees out. Okay, that’s warm enough. Off we go!

I had six songs queued up to record vocals. I did two. I worked on one, and then ran the heater in the car for a few minutes and worked on the second. My voice was still feeling okay after two songs. The battery on the laptop was still good. I hadn’t been outside for very long so the clock was in good shape. Why did I stop after two? Because sometimes sitting out in the cold has a negative effect on the old bladder. I had to pee. If not for that I might still be out there yelling.

I’m hoping to go out again tomorrow and pick off another couple, and then wrap it up next week. Monday if possible, but I am off work again on Wednesday so maybe wait until then.

Now the obligatory drive-home-through-the-center-of-town pic!

As a bonus, there’s also this picture that was snapped accidentally while trying to open up the camera app.

Potted

Remember the plant clipping from yesterday? An article we read said to wait for the new sprout to be an inch long before moving to a pot. We figured it would take a few days.

Nope. Not only is the sprout we saw yesterday about an inch long today, but there is a new second sprout that’s twice as long!

So…

It’s Alive

I’ve mentioned this before, but we took a clipping from one of Bellana’s plants in the hopes of keeping it alive forever.

It’s been sitting in a glass of water for a few weeks and we were worried that our attempt was going to fail. While we didn’t see any roots sprouting, the thing didn’t appear to be dying. So I kept it in the glass of water and waited.

This morning I was looking at it, trying to figure out what was what. I expected something to sprout from the bottom, but I noticed something further up the stem.

That’s new! It’s still alive and it’s trying to grow new roots! Yes! We will let this little guy grow out a little more and then try potting it.

It’s so exciting! I’m so old!

Stressing

I don’t like being out in public like this. Never mind the part about asking someone to rewire my innards.

Turns out I’ve been here before. I went to an info session once years ago and then chickened out before my first appointment. This is the same office.

I’m experimenting with double masking. I can’t tell if the inner mask is still over my nose or not. I think it is.