Southern Sprout

Backyard Project – The Fence

by Doss on April 25, 2012

This is a picture back from when we first bought the house... 2007-ish

It’s time to start working on the backyard. We plan on replacing our deck and adding a lot of landscaping/relaxing elements to the backyard, but first we had to tackle something… the fence.

Let’s get this out of the way. We never did like our fence. The vertical, dog-eared cedar planked standard suburbia fence just isn’t something that compliments our house. Not only that, it was truly just a facade. The side fences and back fence are run-of-the-mill hurricane (or cyclone) fencing. Nothing inherently wrong with that… it’s just ho-hum boring. So, when the tree guys needed room to get their equipment in the backyard, it was all the excuse we needed to tear it down… with a chainsaw.

While we were tearing out fencing, the previous owners had the back corner penned in for their dogs which ate up a lot of usable space (about a 27′ x 45′ area). We stored our yearly branch pile and yard clippings (a makeshift compost pile) there. With the workshop starting construction some time soon and fresh from the destruction of having heavy equipment tearing down trees, we figured it was a good time to go back and starting tearing the fence down with the Super Duty.

Take the time to remove the fencing before you yank the poles out. It’ll save you the trouble of having to deal with a mangled mess of metal.

Most people suggested I dig the poles up and that it was going to take all day to get a few removed. Those people obviously don’t know what 700 lb-ft of torque and some chain will do. After loosening the posts, I hooked the Ford up to the concrete footings and started pulling. It didn’t take long until they were all gone.

Work tip: If you’re using a truck to yank posts, be careful. keep the chain or straps as short as possible and try to get the truck as close to over the post footing as you can. Do not yank the slack out! People are killed and injured every year from improper towing and pulling techniques involving chains and straps. They act like giant slingshots when they break. Also, if you have a spotter, make sure they are no where near the reach of the chain/strap when it is under load.

See this little guy? It’s a green wood gnawing beetle. It has a metallic green, iridescent shell and it packs a punch if it bites you. How do I know? It got under my shirt and bit me on the side of my stomach while I was driving the truck and pulling out posts… it felt like someone had just poked me with a hot iron.

Off to the big box store for some wood and cement. Helpful hint: See that bag of Quikrete on top of the 4×4? Do not put bags hanging over an edge like that. When you get home and try to unload it, the bag will split in half. Ask me how I know.

Wiley tried to help unload. Turns out he can’t lift 80 pound bags of cement.

With the truck unloaded, it was time to do some relaxing. Follow along as we build a new fence over the next week or so.

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Tune in Tuesday – Caine’s Arcade

by Doss on April 24, 2012

I remember when I was a kid that I liked going to the mall for one reason… the arcade! I could literally spend the entire day in there dropping quarters and mashing buttons. When I was at the arcade, I never really thought about making the games. I only could think about playing them. This video though, shows that some of us have a totally different goal.

At age 9, Caine decided he would start his own business. His dad, a small business owner himself, gave him some floorspace to expand on his dream. Caine constructed his arcade from cardboard and hit customers with a deal… $1 buys you four plays… $2 buys you 500! Still, no takers. Then, one day, someone stopped by and decided to play. Nirvan Mullick, his first customer and film maker (and, of course, director of this film), wanted to organize a small group of patrons to come down and play some games. What happened next was simply amazing.

The geek in me loves how he checks for Fun Pass authenticity. Awesome. Also, props to his dad for fostering such creativity so positively.

Hit Caine’s scholarship fund up if you think this is as awesome as I do.

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Friday flowers!

by Bonnie on April 20, 2012

(High Five) It’s Friday!

I just wanted to leave you guys with a few fun pics.

Babies have been popping out left and right lately. Sorry for the odd mental picture. So, I have been in super cute gift wrapping mode. Just when baby gifts couldn’t get any stinkin’ cuter, I’ve started adding HUGE paper flowers instead of bows to my baby gifts.

Lillyella Uniquely You has a good tutorial on how to make these. FYI, I use green floral wire because it secures better. This gift was a bathtub so I added the rubber ducky in the flower because I thought it just wasn’t cute enough.

This was a gift basket Doss and I put together that had lots of goodies for a young hip couple expecting their first hipster baby. I really wanted to find some hot pink Chuck Taylor’s, but ran out of time so the gold strappy baby sandals with pink pompoms ended up on the gift. Now that I’ve made you sick from the overload of cuteness, have a great weekend and see you back here next week for some backyard project update posts.

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Tune in Tuesday – Running by Yuri Jones

by Doss on April 10, 2012

Photo from Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yurijones/music-video-for-running-by-yuri-jones

Hailing from the Big Easy, Yuri Jones has known tragedy and misfortune. The music artist and poet was relocated after The Storm, Katrina, to Houston, Texas. Soon after, he was diagnosed with cancer… twice and defeated it. All the while, Yuri never lost hope and continued writing poetry and songs.

The spooky, almost hypnotic vocals of Running provide a homogeneous melody that seems fragile yet concrete at the same time.

Photos from Running music video

Enjoy:

Also, don’t forget to check out our feature that was on InspireByThis.com

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Happy Good Friday!

by Bonnie on April 6, 2012

If you had the day off, I hope it was lovely. If you didn’t, then I hope you have a lovely weekend.

We will be enjoying the fabulous weather this weekend with some outdoor projects planned and brunch on Sunday with friends.

See ya’ll back here next week!

And don’t forget to….

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Our house is featured on Inspired By This!

by Bonnie on April 5, 2012

We were so giddy a few weeks ago when we got a text from our good friend and talented photographer Beth Morgan. Well, honestly, I was the only one clapping my hands and jumping up and down. Doss was more nonchalant about it (as always). She told us she had submitted some photos of us and our house to Inspiredbythis.com and they wanted to feature us! So giddy, giddy, giddy!

Beth took pictures for us that can be seen on the left sidebar of our blog ( <— Over there) and all the photos on the About and Contact pages as well as our Christmas card photos. She is a joy to work and collaborate with.

So, TODAY is the day our house was featured on Inspiredbythis.com!

Check us out!

While you’re there, be sure to peruse their website. They have amazing ideas.

Special thanks to: Beth Morgan of Bmofoto & Inspired By This

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Tune in Tuesday – Art in the Era of the Internet

by Doss on April 3, 2012

In this PBS Off Book episode, the focus is on how the internet is affecting the modern arts. It focuses on some of the players in driving artistic innovation in this new age of art:

Lawrence Lessig – Co-Founder of Creative Commons

Yancey Strickler – Co-Founder of Kickstarter (who recently helped fund our friends over at Lucky Town Brewing Company

Ciel Hunter – Creative Director and Julia Kaganskiy – Editor of The Creators Project

They talk about funding, owning the rights and what that means in terms of the internet, and how to propagate your idea and have them persist and, possibly evolve. It’s a pretty fascinating piece if you’re an artist who wants to know more about the parts of the creative process that we normally don’t think about (or want to think about).

I know personally it has been a huge inspiration in how I design and think about different aspects of creating objects and pieces for distribution. Enjoy!

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craigslist buy – A wall sculpture by C. Jeré

by Bonnie on March 28, 2012

Earlier this week I mentioned in the weekend wrap-up post that I picked up a craigslist purchase on Saturday. I came across this wall sculpture by simply typing in “mid century” in the Mississippi area. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was special.

I did a little research on Curtis Jeré and found out some interesting stuff. Here’s a brief bio:

Curtis Jeré is not a single designer. It is a brand created under the company Artisan House around 1964 by Curtis Freiler and Jerry Fels. They combined their names and added the accent in Jerry’s name to appear more European. The founders’ goal was to produce gallery-quality art for the masses. The sculptures were all made in California until 2003 when they moved production overseas to China. Curtis Jeré pieces sell today from anywhere as low as $175 to over $4,000. One of my most favorite designers, Jonathan Adler, bought the rights to a few of the C. Jeré designs. J.Adler reproduces and sells them at his stores and online. C. Jeré pieces have been called “The Eames of Wall Art.”

For now, it is hanging above our bed until I get a larger piece of art to go there.

Here are some of the their most well-known pieces:

“rain drops”

“birds in flight”

“maple leaf”

“pom pom”

This is from the season 1 set of Mad Men.

When I picked up the sculpture from the nice sellers, they told me the history of this particular piece. Anytime that I can get the background on a piece of furniture, pottery, art or whatever, it’s sort of like a bonus to buying the piece. Sometimes, the story about getting and owning the piece is better than the piece’s history itself . Sometimes we get even more like an old photo for the piece’s past like the one of our Danish chairs that are in our living room. We got this old photo of the original owners with the chairs (you can see them on the right side).

I love this old photo!

I also love our Danish chairs.

Does anyone else like the old stories that go with old pieces? Share them.

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Weekend wrap-up

by Bonnie on March 25, 2012

Well, I can’t complain one bit. I had a great Mississippi spring weekend. Here’s what went down:

Friday was date night. With the weather being gorgeous lately, I told Doss we should go pick up our putters and play some goofy golf.

The rest of the weekend was very relaxing… for me at least it was We slept late Saturday and when I got up I whipped together some banana pancakes made with whole wheat pancake mix and served with fresh fruit.

Later that day, I did some yard work in the flower beds and checked on how my new plants were doing. Here is a little mini cactus that decided to bloom. Love the colors!

Before dinner, I picked up a craigslist purchase just north of Jackson in Madison. I am in love with “it” and can’t wait to share “it” with everyone here on the blog; but, you’ll just have to wait a little longer. I’ll post “it” later this week I promise!

For dinner Saturday, I made turkey sausage dogs topped with a mix of Italian spiced veggies and a side of homemade baked beans. The Italian veggies were a gift from Robyn and Andy, friends from Chicago who were visiting last weekend, and the homemade baked beans by Mary Margaret were leftover from our BBQ.

After dinner, I chopped up some left over peppers, an onion, and cheese and made a simple quiche. When I have partials of ingredients left over from other recipes, I try and find easy ways to use them in other recipes. I don’t make my own pie crust. I have never mastered making the perfect crust. Pilsbury seems to suit me best. After the quiche was prepared, I just threw it in the fridge.

Sunday morning I woke up feeling very rested. I preheated the oven and put my pre-made quiche in to cook. Once it was finished, I thoroughly enjoyed it while sitting on the patio with a cup of coffee (espresso!).

After brunch, I made a cozy spot on the lawn to sun bathe and read.

Clyde and I both enjoyed a few hours of sun. So, remember me mentioning that the weekend was really relaxing for me? Well, here’s what Doss was doing for most of his weekend.

My car was in serious need of some maintenance. New brake pads all around, fuel filter, tire rotation, oxygen sensor, plug wires, PCV valve,… so Doss being the gearhead he is (something I really love about him), got all the car parts ordered and got to work first thing Saturday. He finished up Sunday afternoon just in time for me to drive to Natchez on Monday for work.

Sunday night I made BLT’s with pimento cheese and baked sweet potato fries with avacado dip. It was so good!

I hope your weekend had some fun, food, and relaxing somewhere in it.

– FYI, if you’d like to know where I got the recipes or food for any of the stuff mentioned about let me know. –

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The Shed – Sketches

by Doss on March 23, 2012

With the trees finally coming down (well, the tops of them at least for now), the shed project is finally actually beginning. Last weekend, we had our old friends (Robyn and Andy, both architects) stay over. When the talk got around to what projects we were working on, the topic of my shed/workshop came up. Andy’s mind started racing and he sat down and started drafting up some concepts.

Oddly enough, his sketches were pretty much like the ones I had envisioned. He put up a few different looks and we agreed that a basic shed roofline (single slope, single plane) made the most sense for this build.

So, we sat down for a brainstorming session on dimensions and how to best lay out the building in terms of orientation, lighting, and functional spaces. The center of the structure would be shop space and a shed for storage. The outer overhangs would function as a carport on one side and a lumber storage area on the other. With that in mind, Andy started feverishly assembling a working model in SketchUp. His pace was staggering. Within a few minutes (and admittedly, one break for dinner… a man’s gotta eat ya know), a model was completed and we were ready to see just how functional the layout would be and begin our rough cost estimates.

As you can see, there is a large opening on one side of the workshop that is mirrored on the other side for cross ventilation. There will be a normal (well, my definition of normal) front door on the building and possibly a really cool siding treatment (that should remain true to our house). We didn’t bother with textures or adding the posts to the other side of the building. This was strictly for a quick mock up and visualization of the space.

We’re still working on the details and I can’t decide if I want to use sliding barn doors, roll up doors, or double-hinged doors to close the huge openings. After the initial cost estimate, I decided that this was going to be a little much to tackle in one phase. Luckily, we kept the building somewhat modular to aid in constructing the space as time and budget allow while avoiding the look of, “We just decided to add on to this thing with more random things.”

Follow along as the plans begin to finalize and the building goes up.

FYI, Bonnie wanted to mention check out the photos she took that were featured on Pizzazzerie earlier this week.