June 19, 2011

Strange Signs

I have gone west on Southern several times over the last month. And there's this sign that has shocked and puzzled me as I drive past. It's just about a block down on Southern from Highway 528 and it's a lesson in why graphic design - instead of just throwing something up - is an important discipline.

This is what I have time to see as I drive past:

So, let me see if I understand that ... don't drink and drive, but the cops will sell you beer for $1.75 and margaritas for $3.50?? What the hell?

Now, I know there's another line below that and that I can't be reading this right, but I don't have time to read the entire sign before I've driven past it. Creating any kind of outdoor sign is a completely different art than creating a point-of-purchase display, for example, which is why you really need a professional graphic designer involved in the sign-making process even if the sign doesn't involve any illustrative or photo elements.

This is the whole sign ... which I didn't get to read the bottom of - despite traveling through there multiple times - until I actually pulled over to take a picture of it!

OH! Well now, that makes more sense.

Don't just let people throw signs up. Seriously. Find a professional graphic designer and make sure the layout is something that will WORK for the PURPOSE it's supposed to serve. Designers really are practical people and can prevent confusing signage. It's worth the money to invest in something that's actually going to serve your purpose instead of confuse the hell out of people.

Further on down the road, as they say, I went back to look at the house that I liked yesterday. Would it really be big enough? When we were house-hunting in South Bend, we fell in love with the last house we looked at on the first day. Part of what we loved was the rich wood paneling in the dining room and kitchen and the exposed beams. Love the rustic stuff. The wood was darker than I like, but it was gorgeous.

But, the only access to the basement was through the garage. Same for access to the backyard. That cut the effective living space in the house down by half as it was just difficult to go thru the freezing garage in the wintertime to a cold basement to work on hobby stuff. So, the basement became storage and little used. The house felt very small and cramped to me after a while.

So, looking at this house, I'm forcing myself to not make an offer instantly ... but the kitchen with its gorgeous tiled countertops ... the tile floors ... and this:

... this has me drooling. The house is gorgeous. The living space is laid out much better than our house in South Bend, but it is a smaller house without the basement. I think it should be do-able if we convert the 1-car garage into a room. And the backyard is much larger than anything else I've seen so far. Could quite easily build me a studio out back and still have a spacious backyard.

And, Tieg seems to approve. He really liked the backyard a lot.

He refuses to walk in the sand when I try to take him for walks - he plops his butt down in the sand and no amount of coaxing or dragging or Cesar Milan firmness and just keep going will get that little dog to move any further. But he really enjoyed the backyard when I was there with the realtor. And when I went back today just to look at the front yard again, he was quite happy. I wanted to see how much work it would take to make the fence dachshund-proof and as I'm studying the corner of the house and the fence, thinking I'll really have to build up that gap - he sticks his head through and tries to get into the backyard! Pretty good sign from our little coward-dog.

Then, I stepped back a bit and was shooting the garage so I could get an idea what size room that would make.

Wait. What's that on the gas meter?

Oh now surely that is a welcoming sign!

Posted by Red Monkey at 1:54 PM | Comments (1) | Blog | Vacations and Photos | Stumble

January 8, 2011

Why Couldn't This Have Been Friday?

I woke up and looked out the front window this morning and found this:

And then I looked out the backyard:

I would gleefully move back to Texas now.

I admit. It just might be funny to throw the miniature dachshunds out in that for 30 seconds. That is, if we could find them again within 30 seconds.

Posted by Red Monkey at 9:26 AM | Comments (2) | Blog | Struggles | Vacations and Photos | Stumble

May 8, 2010

Stillness

Click for a 1680x1050 desktop version.

Posted by Red Monkey at 12:36 PM | Comments (1) | Vacations and Photos | Stumble

May 6, 2010

Why Hello!

So I wanted to go on photo safari yesterday, but the weather was not particular accommodating. Since the park I enjoy is on a lake with some rather placid/stagnant areas, I waited until the day after the rains to go. Just driving into the park ... all the green ... the birds ... was so relaxing. The hike was one of the worst I've had out there because there were times when I was walking through clouds of gnat-things so thick I could barely keep my eyes opened. I almost turned back from the bugs, but I soldiered on.

I took a relatively small number of pictures, but managed some really nice compositions. I headed back to the park entrance earlier than I wanted, but it was starting to get late ... and then the park gifted me with this little guy:

He posed for quite a while for me - longer than I expected and he even let me change locations once. Cheeky bugger had to "hide" his face behind that vine, though.

Posted by Red Monkey at 8:40 PM | Comments (5) | Vacations and Photos | Stumble

June 11, 2009

Little Guy

Nope, still no name yet, but the only reason there wasn't a post yesterday is I wasn't home to write one! I picked up other half at 4:30 and we drove down to the breeder to pick him up. I managed to drive over a large-ish curb-thing because other half insisted we stop for Arby's. I thought for sure the car was damaged, but apparently lucked out. Sounded bad, though, and of course that was only about half way through the trip.

I was exhausted by the time we finally got there - took about an hour and a half to get there after a particularly long and brutal day, so puppy-therapy was just what I needed.

He had his vet visit today and checked out just fine. He's a li'l crybaby when he thinks he's alone, but he and Scraps are playing and having a grand time. Our female doxie, as we suspected, really doesn't have ANY maternal instinct other than to worry if he cries. Otherwise, she's actually scared of him.

I'm sure more pictures and perhaps some video will follow in the weeks to come.

Meanwhile, I still have to finish yesterday's post about Star Wars books .... :)

Posted by Red Monkey at 6:38 PM | Comments (5) | Vacations and Photos | Stumble

July 2, 2008

Dzilth-na-o-dith-hle

Just a camera-phone pic ... click to bigify.

Posted by Red Monkey at 8:59 PM | Comments (0) | Vacations and Photos | Stumble