The Pond Patriarch. He is at one with the pond weeds. It will be interesting to see if the algae comes back, at the shallow end of the pond this summer. It shouldn't now.
Have you tried barley straw bales to reduce algae? I don't know if it works or not, but some people swear by it. We live on flowing water, so there is not much algae here, and we don't have fertilizer contamination.
Beavers with the Turnover Chainsaw! "Get it? Because they're the Beavers and Beavers chew down trees and build their homes out of them. Well, the players aren't actual beavers, so they can't chew through trees -- four out of five dentists do not recommend it, and that fifth dentist has been locked up for insurance fraud before -- and instead must use chainsaws." "What would be even better is if Oregon State kept all the footballs from each individual turnover and built a Beaver Turnover Dam out of them on campus."
My aunt died in February, and her daughter has been going through her things. Yesterday she surprised me by sending this picture. It's of my grandmother's house in WV that I painted at least 55 years ago, as a teenager. I gave it to my grandmother, and it hung on the wall in 3 more of her houses. It's had a long and full life. I don't remember what medium, maybe tempera, but the paint has chipped off. I don't think it was even ever covered with glass. If I had all the materials handy I might be tempted to try touching it up.
Thanks for the picture, Joe. I must have painted it from a picture. I always considered that cheating. But the angle is wrong. One would have had to be sitting on the side of a hill in the weeds and poison ivy, on the other side of a creek to get that angle. And that house was gone before color photos were common. I really don't remember doing it. I only posted it because it has traveled so far for so long, and she surprised me. If I were doing it now, I'd have to use a ruler.
The unexpected gift, that arrives "out of the blue" is the best kind! I would encourage you to work on 'restoring' your picture. You may have used a different photo of the house as a 'model', or better yet from a forgotten sketch.
That reminds me of another project. My father briefly tried going into the outboard boat and motor business, back in the 60's. I was "commissioned" to paint a giant fish jumping out of the water on a sign, to put out front. Wonder what ever happened to that! lol Which reminds me...outboard motor service and repair certification, Gale Outboard Marine Corp, Galesburg, Illinois. My father is 2nd from the right. Gale Outboard Marine made Evinrude, Johnson, and Gale outboard motors. All 3 were exactly the same, except for the outside cover, but the Gale motor was cheaper because it didn't have the name recognition. He chose to handle Gale motors because they were a far better deal in his opinion. No one wanted to buy them. They wanted the 2 name brand motors---Evinrude and Johnson. I'm rambling....
The closet is done! Center rod support. Not going to paint the rod. The paint will just come off. The chain links didn't come out at the right spot to support the rod perfectly level. Will pick up a piece of nice aluminum wire Tuesday (it's out at the farm) and string it through the chain. The chain should hide the wire. Carpet. Pretty ugly but good enough. Now the clean up!