"Shut up, I'm busy."

I learned something interesting this morning.  I was listening to the radio in the car on my way to work and on Writer's Almanac Garrison Keillor was talking about how April 14th was the day Abraham Lincoln was assassinated (150 years ago) and also the day the Titanic hit that big old iceberg (103 years ago).  Mr. Keillor said that another ship tried to warn them about the ice but the radio operator on the Titanic was so busy trying to get personal messages to the passengers his response was, "Shut up, I'm busy."  Hmmmm.  Bummer to be that guy.

In other news, it was 73 degrees yesterday afternoon.  My yard is still half buried in snow but I got out the rake anyway.  I am wishing I had been a bit more diligent in my efforts last fall.

**sigh**

I brushed her all off and she immediately dropped to the ground and rolled around again.  Then didn't want to move out of the way.

You can't tell from these pictures but there is still a giant snowbank in my front yard.  A bunch more melted today, and I even had a sudden emergence of crocus, but there is still plenty of snow.  At the end of the day I hauled Roxie into the bathtub because she was a dirty brown dog.  Man, she wanted NOTHING to do with it.  The dog who will spend an entire day trying to eat the water out of a garden hose and getting soaked in the process was shaking like a leaf in the empty bathtub.  I tried to get a picture but I didn't have enough hands.  I didn't even have enough hands to use the soap.  I guess someone will be getting her baths out in the driveway from now on.

Kathy, Evan and mom were here over the weekend.  And Ruby.  We took a lovely walk on Sunday and I only have two photos to document the event.

Evan found a spoon in a field.

"I can smell the barn from here."  I always say that to myself when I'm getting to the end of a run.  Unfortunately, at this time of year, we can smell THAT barn from a looooooooong way away.  Kathy was gagging but I thought it was a pretty mild day stench-wise.  Those cows have the best view.

I finally finished the St. Patrick's Day-colored wreath.  Two months later.  Kathy and Evan made a very clever centerpiece, so I had no excuse since the glue gun was already warmed up.

Using my purple wall as a backdrop was a bit of a mistake but the white wall I used to photograph all the other wreaths is now a bright apple green.  My paintings look cool on the purple in real life, but in photos ... not so much.

That's a little 5" x 7" cradled panel.  It's a hot mess, but there's nothing I like better than a good hot mess.

I was also working on a word piece but my spell checker fell down on the job and I didn't quite catch it in time.  I had to do some strategic removal and repair work.  I will finish it tomorrow.  I have a few more pieces in progress that I want to finish this week so the varnish has a good long time to cure before the craft fair on May 2nd.  I'm hoping to build my walls this weekend, then spend the next couple of weeks busting out a few more wreaths and generally getting my shit together.  Deep down inside I'm not the least bit looking forward to the craft fair so there will be a lot of positive self-talk happening around here.  "It will be fun!"  (Ha.  Right.)  "You will get to talk to a lot of people!"  (My fave.)  "The booth will look AWESOME!"  (I can only hope.)  "Your artwork will sell like hotcakes!" (Did someone say cake?)  "GET A GRIP!"  (Okay, okay, take a deep breath....)