Texas Tail Continued

Yesterday I told you the tale of acquiring an antique windmill and hanging it in our home. We had designed our great room around this vintage sculpture, reinforcing the wall in the stud stage and adding a dedicated spotlight in the electrical stage. 

Hanging was made easy with two sturdy hooks buried into the reinforced wall.

When this big guy crashed to the ground many, many years ago, the tail had taken the brunt of the fall. Juan Handyman straightened it as best he could without eliminating the character that age and accident had created.

Two screws hold the four foot tail to the wall. A small bird adds the focal point the sculpture needed.

A cowboy boot bench grounds the gigantic piece of art to the ten foot high wall.

Yes, the playing cards are faux painted on the bench.

And now our great room is finished.

Day or night, we love this piece of vintage art.

Goodnight, sweet little birdie.
(No real birdies were hurt for this windmill.)
 

Retractions, Corrections, and Benches

"You misquoted me on your blog yesterday," IT Guy told me last evening.

"I did?" I asked, innocently sitting down on the nearest bench.

"Yes." He paused to make sure he had my attention. "Technically, I said, 'Son of a bench! Stop making these dang things!' "

"What's the difference?" I said, doubting he had used the word dang.

"The difference is, I want to get credit for a great pun!"

Credit given, IT Guy.


Here are more benches. Thanks for stopping by. Do you want sugar in your iced tea?

I can't stand it when old fence wood is thrown out. I feel compelled to make something out of such good, weathered wood, so I have a fencebench in the front yard and a fencebench in the back yard, plus I've sold a few fencebenches. (Say that word fast three times!)


This bench is a favorite, mainly because the sides are shaped like cowboy boots.

On the seat of the bootbench, I painted playing cards. My daughter, Code Girl, says I need to paint another one. I'm one short, like that's news to anyone that knows me.

For lurkers who don't read the comments, I quote from yesterday:

Anonymous said...

Come, dear friend,
Let's sit a spell.
The weather's fine,
All is well.
We'll sip a glass of Texas tea and
Enjoy the shade of the kind oak tree.

I'm a sucker for benches!

I love to make benches. If I'm not making them, I'm painting them. I'd make or paint more, but there's no room for another one around my place. Plus IT Guy has put his foot down.

"Stop making benches," he said. Or maybe he yelled it when he stubbed his toe on one he had to move so he could mow the lawn. With Texas summers you have to mow every five days or so, which makes for a lot of bench moving!


I found this old bedstead in the garbage at the local thrift store. It was even too trashy for them to resell, which made it just right for me! The trim around the edge of the seat was one of those pieces I picked up out of the trash a couple of years ago, knowing that someday it would come in handy. The green shabby piece next to the bench is out of IT Guy's grandparent's house. Renee yells at me to put it in the house, but I HAVE NO ROOM IN THERE!





I didn't make this bench. My step-mother gave it to me, and I painted it with critters.

The ancient farm equipment in the background belonged to IT Guy's grandfather.

You can see our leaves are starting to fall here. They don't bother to turn colors before they go down. If they aren't blown off green by a hurricane, they just turn brown and float to the lawn.
To be honest, I stole the critters out of children's books. If you're not going to sell the item you're painting (in other words, if it's for your house only), I don't think it's a copyright violation. If it is, sue me for the money I made from it, which is ZERO.I needed something on the seat so I made it into what we call a "Texas two-holer."

Come back tomorrow afternoon for a tall glass of iced tea, and I'll show you a couple of more benches.