Saturday, November 22, 2008

Another Village Construction Weekend

The cold weather forecast for this weekend is a good reason to stay inside. Those people who determine such things seem to think the Saturday part of this weekend will be the bitterest we’ve had, possibly since last winter. Sunday will have less wind, but the temperatures will be right down there in the very cold for November range.

I’ve been discussing for nearly a month now the Gator family village project. This weekend should wrap up the major construction work as we have just one section to complete. It is the largest section and the most complex as it consists of several scenes.

In spite of the cold, Gator Daughter will be here both days to help us out. One of the sections to be completed is hers. She had developed a woods scene each year. Her scene contains many forest figures, usually at least a hunting lodge and a camp or two. There’s a skating scene. We have a Department 56 waterfall, but it doesn’t always make the year’s production.

GD will bring her dog to play with ours, but we won’t let them go outside for more than just a few minutes at a time. It’ll be too cold out there, especially Saturday. They will be demanding some attention inside so that will slow the construction to a crawl. Nevertheless, it should be completed before Sunday is over.

We’ll probably do as we did on the other two sections, i.e., include the accessories as we go and even put the trees in place. As this weekend begins, I think the ending will leave only a small task of filling in any empty spaces, dropping Department 56 “Fresh Fallen Snow” throughout, and putting on a skirt to hide the undersides throughout the project. The snow also covers up joints and flaws on the top side.

That finishing stuff will be saved for next weekend. There is a good chance it will be completed on Thanksgiving Day. The project is officially open for viewing with its lighting, either Thanksgiving Day or the weekend following. The addition of a Christmas tree sometime between the lighting and Christmas Day will make the Gator homestead pretty darn festive.

We’ll have a picture or two of the project as it stands Monday, but now it’s time for Saturday construction to begin. I’m going to have a great weekend and I hope you do, too. I’ll be back on Monday.

This is for Mrs. FF. I tried to get her to smile and she did on command two or three times. But then she'd get up and walk away as much as to say, "I'll smile, but not for that thing in your hand. It doesn't look like a cookie." She's also much more golden than this picture shows.

"It” was 45 years ago today (11/22). Do you remember what “it” is? Do you remember what you were doing?

GiM



9 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have 2 hands you know. How about a cookie in one hand and the camera in the other. Mariah

Anonymous said...

Or maybe the camera in one hand and TWO cookies in the other hand!

GiM said...

You'll understand how hard it is to hold that tiny camera steady with one hand while looking at that screen and holding something to entice the dog in the other after January!

GiM

Anonymous said...

Oh, alright. Hold your little camera in two hands and hold the two cookies in your teeth!

GiM said...

I think your instructions are difficult to comprehend. How about showing me how?

Anonymous said...

With an face like that it seems to me that Jay Bush's dog, Duke, and the Gator Dog have been sharing family secrets. I suggest that you and your family be very careful about the things you say around a dog with so many fine tuned senses. A cookie might help.
Mrs. FF

GiM said...

We have to be very careful. Gator Golden has a huge, and I mean huge, vocabulary. We even have to spell some things and sometimes think she understands that, too.

Sheepish Annie said...

"It" was, I believe, the assassination of President Kennedy. But I can't tell you what I was doing. I sort of wasn't born yet...

I take about three thousand pictures per day just to get one or two good ones of the cats. It's almost a full time job! I'd say you did very well with the lovely Golden.

GiM said...

I don't take as many pictures as you, but pretty close to it. Enjoy your wonderful Fall Forum Week.