July 27-29, 2024 Fort Collins, Colorado

 High of 89. Partly cloudy with some showers.

Last nights sunset after dinner. Judy took us out to dinner, but I didn't get a photo. Our new starlink mini set up on our deck. It works great. 

I was racing rain home again tonight on my bike ride. This was it for sunset. There were rain clouds to the west. 

This monster storm passed just north west of us. Lots of lightening. We just a little rain. The storm clouds from our deck.

Judy and I drove down to Broomfield to visit with relatives. Had a nice lunch at Pho. There were three restaurants named Pho in the shopping center! Then we headed to the assisted living to visit cousin Margie.

Nice ride on the bike path. 

Sunset. This piece of glass overflowed the mold and stuck to the kiln  shelf, the kiln  floor and the side of the kiln. It pulled some of the fire brick  off the side of the kiln. Boo! I ordered some kiln cement to fix it with. 

Another masterpiece. It is 9 x 8 1/2 x 2 inches. I didn't  like the center part, it was too dark, but it looks good in here.  John directing Judy away from the garage as she left today. It was fun to see  her.

A stink horn mushroom came up in our front yard. John got me these lovely flowers for my birthday today, wrote me this nice poem and took me out to dinner. Thanks sweetheart. 

A few more pieces that will be basket centers. A fire started 20 miles west of Loveland today. So far the smoke is to the south of us. But I hate that so much is burning. 

John took me to a nice dinner in a fancy restaurant for my birthday. Sunset on the smoke plume from the Alexander fire south of us. 

Sunset north on the normal clouds.

July 19-26, 2024 Fort Collins, Colorado

 High of 83. Partly cloudy with  rain.

I tried to  do the circle and the tool got stuck in the glass, it was too cool. Had to wait for the thread of glass to cool and harden and broke it off. What's left is the blob on the bottom right. It has been almost a month since I planted my garden. It is growing like crazy!

This circle came out ok. Sunset in Old Town Fort Collins with rain.

The new renters in the front house who share the backyard with us had a house warming party and invited us. Nice group. The crowd and the kitchen. John bought this house in the 80's and renovated it. We rent it out and save the apartment over the garage for when we are back. The ugly puddle piece came out very nice. I will now trim and coldwork the edges and slump it into a bowl mold. 

 I went out biking, hoping to get back before the rain. I had jury duty here at the Larimer county justice center. Thank heavens I did not get on the jury, it was a very disturbing case. Can't talk about it till the case is done.  Was supposed to last all week. The jury selection took all day and was pretty tedious. 

Very smoky today. The sun was bright orange. 

Took this  out of the kiln last night. It is 12 x 2 x 1 inches. I put this in the kiln last night, may get to look at this evening when it cools. It is a combination of 2 combed pieces. The center one and the border is another one cut into strips. 

Another comb. This is the finished product. 10 x 10 inches. I think this one is my favorite of the combed pieces. 

We got our Starlink mini. John is afraid it will be stolen. The antennae has the router and everything all in one piece, so someone could just walk off with it and have the whole thing. Will figure out a way to secure it and then try it out. Deer in the meadow below the orange smoky sun on my bike ride. 

Smoky sun through the Waves sculpture at the water park. I cut up and shaped these glass pieces I made to use in baskets. I will set them in resin and drill holes round the edge.

I also shaped, polished, sand blasted and painted these rocks to use as basket centers. They will be set in resin with holes drilled in the resin around them. A lot of work. My sister Judy is visiting. She is staying in her camper out front. Nice to see her. 

July 12-18, 2024 Fort Collins, Colorado

 100 degrees and sunny. Good day to stay inside and play with glass.

The official temp was 100, but in our backyard it was 107! I planted my garden three weeks ago. This tomato plant had a couple green tomatoes on it. This one is red already. It may be awhile before there are more.

Two of the latest combed pieces. I am into it. 

This one is done. It is 10 x 10 x 1. The center is combed and the border are strips of another combed piece. I have also been making beveled, polished dichroic glass pieces. I can't go into the studio without sitting down and doing a few. I will be wire wrapping for the next year with all I have made so far. 

This piece is in the kiln, it has slumped, but it won't be cool enough to take out till late tonight. I was venting it at high temp, so the colors are still not all right, still sort of red hot. Sunset on the bike trail over the Poudre river.

Yet another photo of sunset tonight. Saw this homemade camper on a Subaru Outback. Looks kind of cool, but I  wonder how it is attached? And how well the Subaru can drive with that on it. 

I combed this piece of glass last night. I made it to match the puddles to the left of it. So I  could use them up as the border for it. And it does not really match them. The black and white took over. I have another one in the kiln cooling now that has no black in it. I figure I can add some black when I fuse it to the puddles. John thinks it looks evil! I pulled this out of the kiln this morning too. It came out well. 

 We were eating dinner on the deck in the rain and the sun came out, and we saw this cool rainbow. Another beauty! 

Down town Denver from the Kaiser building. I visited all my drs and am still healthy. Good to go for another year.  Sue, Nancy and Kay. We met for lunch and Nancy gave me the rubber chicken. We used to work together at Humana and passed that chicken around for years. It is looking pretty sad. Great to see them. 

 Sunset with 2 birds. Another sunset with the moon.

Sunset.

And yet another sunset over the Poudre river. Moon, pink from sunset. 

On the left is from a bag of ugly puddles I made that I never used. I made this center piece to match the puddles, and here it is in the kiln before firing.