Back at work with a new workspace

The $10 desk.

At left, you see the humble beginning of the jewelry maker's workspace.  Desk drawers contain the jeweler's tools. Any craftsman can see that this is inadequate. It is already serving as the computer desk and entertainment center (for watching Hulu movies on the laptop with the $5 flea market speakers).

Incidentally, we highly recommend two free Hulu movies,  THE RULING CLASS (1976, Peter O'Toole, strange spoof of religion, the British ruling class, and paranoid schizophrenia) and WHITE PALACE (1990, James Spader & Susan Sarandon, a look at love between an economically privileged younger man and a lower class older woman.  Tremendous acting in both, we think.

The Old Man is back.

We are excited that we have gotten a space at the upcoming St. David's Monastery arts & crafts festival.  Last weekend, Cougina began to get ramped up for jewelry making.  As we drove around the block, headed for Home Depot, we discovered a discarded waterbed frame.  Solid aged hardwood from the waterbed, a 1x2 from Home Depot, and Abraham's saw were all Cougina needed to build the worktop you see above left.

Cougina, never known for moderation, has been busy, building eight pieces of jewelry in the last two days.

Nice and tidy.

He added the finishing (at least for now) touch to this work area today, when he drilled the hardwood 2x4 to make a tool rack.  Evidence of his anal-retentive streak (his words, not mine).

A really pleasant bit was when he announced that he was going outside to drill the wood.  (When he built the work surface last week, he did not look happy at all when I asked him to go outside to saw the wood in order to keep my new rug clean.) But don't you dare suggest that I am implying that he is trainable.

Cougina thinks that you are entertained by these little peaks into our existence.  I think it's awfully mundane, but hope you enjoy...

Jewelry photos here http://theoldmansjewels.blogspot.com/
Serious hermetic blog here http://covinahermiticia.ning.com/

THINK GREEN
BLESSED BE
AGGIE & COUGINA

For Cougina's Admirers Only

Ernest Hemingway

Cougina

Alphonse Louis Constant

I have wanted to put up this photo spread ever since one of our regular booth visitors pointed out similarities.
Blessed be,
Aggie

The Winter Garden

Our first garden box (tomato, lettuce, herbs).

The new winter garden, to be covered soon.

What is a home without a garden? Not complete, we think.  One of our first additions was the box in front of the house, shown at left.  Our landlords gave us this box, and we immediately filled it with a big tomato plant from Home Depot that already had two green tomatoes.  It was touch and go for awhile, but everything survived transplant, and the tomato plant has one more tomato and more blossoms have come and set... Not enough, however.  Cougina began planning his winter greenhouse.  Once again, our landlords presented us with a gift, the frame that a previous dweller had used for growing.  We piled up rocks lying in the yard against the sides for insulation, and will add plastic covering soon.  This one has tomatoes, green beans, and cucumbers.

Cougina & Abraham

Aggie & Socorro

Here are our landlords, Abraham & Socorro, who we obviously like very much.  How often have you seen a photograph of Cougina with a smile on his face? It's almost impossible not to smile when Abraham is around, with his continual sense of humor.  Socorro has volunteered to teach Aggie Spanish, and has given her a page of homework.

THINK GREEN
BLESSED BE
AGGIE & COUGINA

Amazon: an easy way to help us out...

Just a reminder, folks... If you can remember to click on our Amazon link, bottom right, when you do your Amazon shopping, we will make a few pennies...
THANK YOU
BLESSED BE
COUGINA & AGGIE

Do you eat this sh--t??? Do you know???

From the website of Dr. Al Sears...
"The slimiest, nastiest slaughterhouse leftovers are put together by a company called Beef Products. Inc., (BPI) who then takes the dirty, feces-stained scraps and turns them into dirty, contaminated burger filler. How is that allowed? The government lets them use this filler because it’s treated with ammonia.The harsh chemical with the horrible smell that’s used for fertilizers and oven cleaners kills the harmful bacteria swimming around in the slimy meat soup. (It doesn’t get rid of it, of course. You’re still eating it, it’s just dead). What they do is pass the pink slime through a pipe where it is doused in ammonia gas. You would never know because they don’t have to mention this on the label. And you probably never think about it... until you buy some meat that stinks so bad you have to return it. Beef Products invented the process so they could find a way to use and make money from the absolute last and cheapest scraps of the animals. This meat is so cheap and popular that the National School Lunch Program forces schools to use it so they can shave a whole three cents off the cost of each burger fed to your kids. And it’s in up to 80% of the ground beef you can buy at restaurants or stores." 
Source: http://www.alsearsmd.com/i-like-my-burgers-without-oven-cleaner/

"McDonald’s, Burger King, and Cargill all said they’ll  continue to use  the meat, pointing to the fact that no cases of illness  have been  directly tied to BPI products so far."
Source: http://www.healthiertalk.com/retailers-defend-ammonia-treated-beef-1295

THINK GREEN
BLESSED BE
COUGINA

An Interesting Look at the Chakras, Bottoms UP

THINK GREEN (That's the one in the middle, Folks)
BLESSED BE
COUGINA

PS THEY LEFT OUT THE INDIGO HIGHER SELF// DON'T YOU MAKE THAT MISTAKE.

UH OH...

WE SPENT all Aggie's money and the rent is almost due//NOW SHE WILL LEARN WHAT A MINIMALIST IS (no more than 30 beers per day - Aggie)//YESTERDAY we set up at the courthouse in between City Hall, County Courthouse, etc., and Aggie got to see some real homeless folks (a man who was grateful to accept a half-drunk Coke from a woman passing by - Aggie), and also realize that even a major metropolitan city like Tucson is furloughing their people on 1 or 2 days per week, and there are few but homeless people and police people walking between the buildings.  Our expensive newspaper ad hasn't generated a single call, and the Craigslist ad just generated 100 copies of the same spam, and we are now resourcing my old try-and-find-a-piece-of-butt site, Tagged.  So I changed my profile.  Now, I'm in a relationship//sedentary and I ought to be able to think of something else to say here.  Oh, I got it:  I'm happy.  And pretty damned healthy for an old man.

Here's the message we've been sending to anyone who has accepted my friendship:  "I spent a couple of years on here trying to meet folks and had no luck with finding real people as far as relationship goes/however I know folks who did well// Am now using the site with my updated profile to try and establish myself here in Tucson, have been reading aura's and teaching hermetics for 70 years and decided to settle for a bit//appreciate your support in finding clients. I can be reached at couginamachek@aol.com or 602-386-8199/my lady Aggie and myself appreciate your friendship and would help you in your endeavors any way possible. Google "cougina" to find out more about me. Blessed be, Cougina"  What do you think?  How would you change this?  Would you respond to this old man? 

Here's another look at our new jewelry display setup.  Our selection was getting low after selling quite a few stones in Cottonwood.  But we just got a new shipment, and the view of all them together is pretty fabulous: red ruby and topaz; yellow and orange citrine, padparascha, and sapphire; green amethyst, phrenite, and tsavarite; blue aquamarine, tanzanite, topaz, and sapphire; and one small spinel; purple amethyst and tourmaline.

We have a good variety of large and smaller sized stones in every color, for every chakra situation.  For example, we find ourselves overstocked with large, 20-40 carat madeira citrine (orange 2nd-3rd chakra), and would be willing to set any of these stones in 925 sterling for $50 plus $4 per carat. We also have some beautiful pink tourmaline in the 15-25 carat range (a rarity in sizes over 10 carats) that we would be more than willing to set for an individual that needs a secondary support function between their body and soul.  You understand that a healthy pregnant woman develops that beautiful pink in her health aura during gestation.  And at your request, we would be more than willing to gestate a thought (any desire) in the setting, for only $6 per carat and $50 for the setting.

Also, we have picked up 100 pairs of silver plated feather earrings that would make an absolutely wonderful Christmas present for a younger person, for $2 per pair.  (Minimum 5 pairs - we have to pay postage.)  They may even be good for tickling your partner erotically - now that is an inexpensive adult toy.

THINK PURPLE
BLESSED BE
COUGINA