Morgan gets Her Wings

I know that there hasn't been a lot of activity here lately, or even this year. This time there is a better, for lack of a better term, excuse. We have been providing dog hospice for the last two weeks and Monday (10/5) we made the hard decision to let her go.

Morgan is a German Shepherd/Great Pyrenees mix. All the girls in the litter looked like mom and all the boys looked like dad. That's why she has pendent ears instead of the GS radar scoops. In the last couple of years her muzzle started to go white and I would tease her it was her inner Pyr coming out.

Back in May she was fine at her check up, a little chunky, so we were dealing with that. Then we noticed that she was loosing a lot of weight. We rushed her in to her vet, they did an ultra sound but apparently she was to wiggly to get a really good read and we were referred to another clinic (Alameda East of Animal Planet fame, its literally just a couple of blocks away from us). That session took about 4 hours and then we got the bad news. A mass between her spleen and liver and the x-rays showed spots all over, including her lungs. She had developed a very aggressive cancer. We were told it wasn't months it was weeks, she made it two and I think we were lucky to get that.

It’s a tough decision to let our pets go. Morgan was doing all her regular doggy things up till the last four days and it was time.

Morgan gets her, well-deserved, wings and I'm sure she is hanging out with Lani. I know they are keeping an eye on us till we join them sometime in the future, hopefully not the near future mind you.

Here's a look at Morgan over the years (to few, she was only 7):

5 Weeks Old

8 Weeks old and quietly sitting as we drive home from her birthplace on a farm in Morgan County

First treat certainly has her attention.

All ready to big for the bed

The food will not escape

Are you my mom? (Phoebe is pretty accepting)

Becoming a long dog

 

That black nose is a little overwhelming at this point.

Working on the tan.

Look at all those colors coming out

A Christmas ensemble

Getting her first kitten, that's Omar Bratley

Halloween ensemble

Hanging out with Larry the Cable Cat

How's that for a Valentine's day greeting

Morgan and Roxy, Morgan treated her like her own puppy.

Lounging in a chair

Last Days.

Cartoon Wednesday

 

Cartoon Wednesday

 

Cartoon Wednesday

 

Building the Barbose Mining Co. Stamp Mill - Windows and Doors

Things continue to progress at a slow pace. Weathering is pretty much finished on the four sub-assemblies and I'm moving on to windows and doors, which is pretty much in line with the instructions at this point.

I mounted everything on a piece of plywood with double sided tape, then primed, painted the base color and then added an oil based wash. They still came out a bit to uniform but I'm not sure what else I can do at this point. Will have to dwell on it a bit.

I test fitted the windows and doors and now I'm ready to add the window glazing. Not going for see-through windows on this one, everyone needs to be fogged so we just see the impression of light rather than the interior. There is not going to be very little if any interior detail on this one.

The painting on the windows and doors is complete.

And this is what it looks like after I have pulled them off the double sided tape.
One important note here. I used Scotch brand double sided tape, be careful to only tape the edges of the castings. This tape is strong and I broke off a few mullions getting the windows off, because I made sure they were well taped down!

Windows and doors waiting to be installed. Anything gray is the backside and are windows I had to fix.

Quick test to make sure everything looks okay. Its not bad and I think this was a better choice than painting the window and door frames in almost any other color.

The inside and why we don't want to see it!