Welcome to MissouriBendStudio!

This is an online journal of my artistic investigations and a way to communicate about my work, ideas, quandries and queries! I welcome comments and conversation and do hope you enjoy these musings. My artwork is available in my shop MissouriBendStudio on Etsy.com or on my website.

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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Rocks That Won't Roll

I have had quite a week, I must say!  I'll try to make my long-winded story short, but it's been very exciting around our neighborhood.  Sometime in the early spring Johntimothy noticed how unstable our river banks were....as many of you know, we live right on the Missouri River, but we're high enough up that we don't have to worry about flooding.  What we do have to be concerned about is our banks and how the wind and water, the level of which is controlled by Mother Nature and the dam about 35 miles upriver, can erode them....enough so that chunks of land start falling into the water.  One section of our bank was really getting undercut and bits of it were falling into the river....the section where the satellite dish for the internet sits!  Having some serious tonnage of rock along the river's edge can help and we were clearly in need of new rock, but it's expensive and if you have the tons of rock dumped in your backyard and send it down the bank, you're just as likely for most to end up rolling into the river as staying where you need it.  But, it turns out we weren't the only ones in the little neighborhood going through this and our very resourceful neighbor organized a major feat...to engage the services of a barge to the load the rock...they were about to finish a job up river and would be heading back down river past our houses.  Many of us got together and ordered the rock, which was loaded by the tonful with major heavy machinery onto the barge and ever-so-delicately placed just-so by the backhoe operator along the edge of our banks.  It was an amazing process to watch....our lot was done yesterday and as I type this, I hear the barge heading down the river to yet another home in our neighborhood, carrying another 40 tons of rock.  I thought we were going to have to move the satellite dish, but they were able to grade the bank with the backhoe, taking care of the undercutting, and now we are sitting pretty....and our banks are stable for years to come!!!   Here are a few shots of the action, of the river, and our precariously located dish, along with the barge way down river, loading more rock this morning.





The weather has been divine...even if it did get to 92 degrees yesterday (did I miss spring altogether?) and I've spent a good deal of time outside.  Got the beds weeded (pretty much), our 9 tomato plants are in the ground and things are looking just fine.  There seems to be huge leaps in the transformation in the plants and trees from one day to the next...amazing how quickly it all happens when the growth spurt really starts.


For the first time, we have some lovely tulips...the bulbs came from Holland as a gift from my niece who travelled there back in the fall.  


I have to admit, it's getting hard to be inside working in the studio, when the air is so fresh and clean and the days are so gorgeous....but I have been working, even if not steadily.  A newly finished piece....

Passing Cloud

The other big news is that I got my website finished....kind of in a hurry, since I thought we were going to be without internet for a time while the satellite got relocated.  Because it's so easy to tweak, I thought I might as well get it out there for the world to see and have it available to help promote my work.  You'll see a lot of framed pieces there that you won't find in my Etsy shop, along with some you may have seen.  The great thing about this is that anything can be purchased directly from my website and it automatically goes through Paypal.  So far, I have a section for framed pieces and another with a few found text pieces, but my task now is to decided which work should be on the website and which in my Etsy shop, since there's really no need to duplicate....although there is some of that now.  The site is not perfect, but a good start and a work in progress....it's just so easy to make changes and additions, that it's not a big deal.  I invite you to check it out and let me know what you think!


I think that's a pretty full report for the day!  See you tomorrow for a found text posting...uh oh, that's tomorrow, I better get cracking!  The problem is I just went outside to take the picture of those tulips and found out how absolutely gorgeous it is out there....think I'll have to spend some time this afternoon in the out of doors!!!

Have a great week everyone....thanks for reading this rather long post!!!

Cheers!




11 comments:

  1. Man, that's a lot of rocks!

    Your new web page is nicely done and VERY easy to spend time in. :)
    I liked everything I saw!

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  2. 85 tons of rocks, more or less! it is a LOT of rock...big, heavy rock!

    SO glad you found the website nicely done....using their template makes things very simple. And, of course, happy to hear that you liked what you saw. Check back from time to time as I'll be adding new pieces that I already have framed...just a matter of getting the images and information on the site.

    Thanks so much Carole!

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  3. I've just started following your blog and am finding it really interesting. Sounds like you got your bank shored up just in time! How wonderful to live by the river - I love the photo of your chair on top of the bank. Flooding must be a worry though - we've been hearing about the dreadful floods in the US and the weather seems to be all over the place worldwide at the moment which is probably why you missed spring! Everything here in the south of the UK is about a month ahead of where it should be because of the wonderful weather. I started following your blog mainly because I love your artwork, but your diary notes are so interesting too.

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  4. First I thought," Boy your satellite dish IS close to the edge."
    Then it was," 92??"
    And finally, " That sure is a nice Passing Cloud; and how relevant."
    It must be nice to be looking back on this productive week. Your website looks GRRREAT!

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  5. Great new website you've made; well done that woman! I loved the piece entitled 'The River'.
    Really beautiful.

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  6. Angie, thanks for following this blog and so glad to hear you are enjoying the blog, as well as my work. Actually, flooding is not an issue for us here, because we are high up from the river, even if it doesn't appear that way. The river is running much higher over the last year or so, because of how much water they have to let out from the dam up river, but still, we're in no danger. You're right though, flooding is a very serious issue for many in this country. Thanks for your comment!

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  7. Lorraine...frighteningly close, isn't it? But seems to be stable since the undercutting is gone! 92 was the end of it...I think it got to 95! But by the weekend we're back in the low 60s...who knows...it's spring!!! Glad you like that little passing cloud piece, as well as the website. Cheers!

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  8. Lorraine...slight correction...meant to say "92 wasn't the end of it"....

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  9. Julie...thanks very much! Now that I think of it, that river piece must have been the precusor to the river piece I'm making with Violett, the new sewing machine! Thanks so much for your kind words!

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  10. I like Passing Cloud very much, P! It has a very calming feel and an almost Asian look to it, contrary to the excitement you've had of late! Also, checked out the new website and it looks great!

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  11. I checked your website out and it is very easy to navigate. Great to catch up with all your work too.

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I'm happy to hear from you...comments and questions are welcome!