Buzzy's work: Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate

I don't come into the carving threads very often, but boy did I pick a good time. Buzzy, those Tikis and that whole stage area are spectacular! Just, wow! WANT. My backyard. Bring it. NOW!

Though not carved by Buzzy, another great feature of the stage (which was designed by Soccer Tiki and built by Bamboo Ben) has not been shown here:

Part of Amy's lamp collection in the ceiling:

All the elements and talents came together here to create a great edifice, a classic Tiki temple!

Buzzy work at Mojave was awesome (the fallen tree was a nice touch).

Buzzy rocks.

DC

[ Edited by: Dustycajun 2011-04-22 19:42 ]

On 2011-04-22 17:17, bigbrotiki wrote:
Though not carved by Buzzy, another great feature of the stage (which was designed by Soccer Tiki and built by Bamboo Ben) has not been shown here:

Part of Amy's lamp collection in the ceiling:

All the elements and talents came together here to create a great edifice, a classic Tiki temple!

Had to tweak Soccer Tikis design a bit but it's there for the most part.

Excellent tikis Buzzy, keep it up and you might be THE Tiki carver one day!
"Buzzy is Mr. Mojave Oasis! Great work, man! "

Totally respectable job out in the Mojave Sir, Whats Next?

Awesome!

Well done ya all I loved the pics of the Oasis Looks like a blast.

I'm off the reservation today so I can do an update. Thanks for checkin in all!

On 2011-04-05 17:08, danlovestikis wrote:
This is shaping up to be a wonderful event and a great tiki Buzzy. I am so sad to miss it. Wendy

Mojave Oasis will still be there waiting for you to come visit it when you can. In fact, it's still being worked on, so it will be even better than it is now!

On 2011-04-05 00:44, HOUSE OF KU wrote:
Some Big Wood there, Buzzy! (That's what she said) :lol:

On 2011-04-07 06:43, RevBambooBen wrote:
someone just won 5 bucks!

Congrats Freddie! (To improve worker morale while MO was being built up, I offered up $5 to the first person to use the that's waht she said joke each day at work.)

On 2011-04-15 16:01, cy wrote:
I have been going through your thread (it's more like a rope) and am amazed not only by the quality but the quantity of your work. How many hours/days do you carve per week? Very inspirational stuff Buzzy.

I carve as much time as I can possibly manage each and every day.

On 2011-04-17 13:43, MadDogMike wrote:
Now do we get our Buzzy back?

No. I really just started doing my thing out there. I just signed on to stay out there for a while longer.

On 2011-04-19 09:34, Benzart wrote:
BUZZY,,,,,, Congrats on seeing that through to the end, Well done, Awesome stuff, you Gotta be totally Proud, even if there are a Bunch more grey hairs on the old noggin!
Excellent Pictures Zaya, Thanks for showing those Pre-Benzart tikis. hard to believe those are over 20 years old and I remember doing that longhouse, they gave me 30 days and I finished it in 3 weeks. About Half as hard as Buzzy and the crew worked out there to make Amy's Magical dream come true.
Thanks,, Big Time!

Thanks Benz! We're making history happen out there.

On 2011-04-19 09:38, bigbrotiki wrote:
Buzzy is Mr. Mojave Oasis! Great work, man!
I, being the Tiki Modernist that I am, especially love this guy:
Are these two actually intended as a juxtaposition of traditional and modern? The two styles that hold up the house of Tiki?

Wow! I'm glad that you caught that. And yes, the idea was the juxtaposition of modern and traditional for the two pieces. I didn't come up with the holding up the house of tiki part with them, but I like that idea so much that I'll go ahead and run with that part now too. Originally it was casting a wider net of audience acceptance by including both styles. But the holding up the house sounds more profound than I just wanted more people to like the finished products.

On 2011-04-22 04:17, pablus wrote:
That stage is absolutely amazing.
Incredible work.

The tikis are actually holding up the whole stage, if you can believe that!

On 2011-04-22 16:09, GatorRob wrote:
I don't come into the carving threads very often, but boy did I pick a good time. Buzzy, those Tikis and that whole stage area are spectacular! Just, wow! WANT. My backyard. Bring it. NOW!

The only down side of having one of those in your yard is that me and Bamboo Ben would be living at your house while it was being made. And believe me, we both have a bunch of lifestyle quirks that sometimes do not merge with regular home life that well. The price of paradise....

On 2011-04-22 17:17, bigbrotiki wrote:
Though not carved by Buzzy, another great feature of the stage (which was designed by Soccer Tiki and built by Bamboo Ben) has not been shown here:

Just make sure you look me up before you start writing the "Behind The Scenes making of Mojave Oasis" book

On 2011-04-22 19:41, Dustycajun wrote:
Buzzy work at Mojave was awesome (the fallen tree was a nice touch).
Buzzy rocks.
DC

Thanks DC. For the rest of you:Here's the fallen tree he's writing of:

Here it is topped off just prior to carving:

Now carved:

It was tough to get a Moai out of it for a couple reasons: First, the tree was leaning the wrong way, and second, it was still alive, so I kept the carve shallow, hoping the tree would survive the trauma. In this shot, you can see the forward lean of the stump as well as some new branch growth on the back of the stump that came out since I carved it:

On 2011-05-03 05:45, Benzart wrote:
Excellent tikis Buzzy, keep it up and you might be THE Tiki carver one day!
"Buzzy is Mr. Mojave Oasis! Great work, man! "
Totally respectable job out in the Mojave Sir, Whats Next?

More tikis.

For instance, I do not think this area is "tiki" enough yet:

So, I'm making four tikis and some trim to jazz that reed fence up. Here's the first tiki I carved for it:

I'm almost done with the second one that size, and then I'll do two more 6'8" ones.

I'm also working as the Mojave's version of Magnum PI. I recently solved the case of the "Cold Can of Coors Light", as well as the case of the "Switched Jet Ski parking spots," and am really proud of the work I just did to wrap up the "Case of Secret Water Shut Off Valve." I sure there will be plenty more mystries to solve in the coming days as well.

On 2011-05-03 13:26, pjc5150 wrote:
Awesome!

It sure is.

On 2011-05-05 19:32, seeksurf wrote:
Well done ya all I loved the pics of the Oasis Looks like a blast.

thanks seeks! It took a lot of work to make all that fun happen. More work and more fun ahead!

Here are some other things I don't think I posted yet:

First warm up tiki I carved out there:


It ended up on the island:

I decorated some trashcans with some stencil art:

I woke up one morning and this was deposited in my work area:

It also came with instructions to get it looking presentable asap.
I scrubbed and sanded it and brought it back to respectability(photo by Matt Reese):

Crazy Al tiki #112, Lakeside Mojave Oasis

Here are some pics of the Lono before it was staged:

I finally sanded and stained this guy:

I also got the finish done on the drum, as well as the head:

And that gets me pretty close to being caught up.

If before my next update you have a mystery to solve, please call me, the Mojave Magnum.
Buzzy Out!

Buzz, carvings are looking cool. The fact that the Moai is growing is awesome . If that your client doesn't come get that drum soon , I am going to liberate it . Finally I have a caper for you , the case of the missing tecates?

ps. i have to pick up my ladder too.

**NICE LONO! **

When you back in Bay Park, Buzzy????

Years.

Cammo
NICE LONO! When you back in Bay Park, Buzzy????

GROG
Years.

Yes, Buzzy is there for the long haul, he is actually vacuuming and his BBQ skills are amazing. We love having him and we now refer to the guest house as "Buzzy's house"! He is doing Carving and a lot of behind the scenes things that add up to a lot of work no one sees except me :) ...Thanks Buzzy!

Amy

buzzy, i've been trying to call you. i have week off of work at the end on june, hoping we could hang out some. i have my spot on hold for goin primitive. i can't wait to break out my stuffed apes for this one!

Vacuuming????

**BUMP. **
Buzzy will be coming back very soon.
There is no party planned, but maybe there should be....

I mean back to TC, not to Bay Park.

Excellent! Been quiet around here.. :)

He's almost done vacuuming!

He's coming!

He's almost here!

Vacuuming SUCKS!

Bear

Good News:
I just got high speed internet installed here yesterday, so as Cammo mentioned, I'm back on TC!

Bad News:
My camera died last week. So, I'll have to get a new camera before I can post new pictures. Maybe that'll be my first back on the internet purchase.

when i moved up here, there were two owls who lived on the property.


They disappeared soon after those pictures were taken.

last week, I found an owl dropping on the lawn, looked up and saw that the owls had finally returned. And, they had a pair of these new guys with them:

Welcome new owls!

I also have new pet desert tortoise that was rescued from a savage bird attack.

Tiki stuff:

New product I made a couple weeks back for Caliente

Coconut scented cocobutter soap

I finished the second carving for the pump fence cover:

Here is the pair:

While I was doing some research, I refreshed myself with Maori fortified villages, so I think I'll make a spiked fence feature for this project.
For now, I'm working on the corner pieces. Here are two 6'8" logs ready for carving:

I have one of them just about wrapped up now, but I can't get a picture of it to show you. :(

In other Tiki News, I went to caliente in Palm Springs a couple weeks ago. I didn't plan on vending,but after a couple hours there, there was nothing to do and I was bored. In desperation, I took over the Mojave Oasis booth for the weekend and had the typically great time I always have at tiki events. Here I am with my good buddy GROG:

One of the highlights of the weekend was when my Cook Islands Fertility Staff found the perfect caretaker:

Moss now calls it his "Dick Stick."

I have to go do some lake maintenance now. I'll catch up on older comments later on. Be back soon...
Buzzy Out!

Buzzy - get a Canon Powershot G12, it's GREAT. I have a G10, but the G12 prices look good right now...

Check it out at...

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonG12/

or

http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/canon-powershot-g12/4505-6501_7-34176638.html

You can also get a G10 or a G11, but the 12 has high-def video!

Find any of these yet??

p.s. sorry for the large. good thang you got speed now.

cool.....Buzzy updates at last.

hope to see you at Oasis .........bring your burro...im sure you can find one out there in the desert

lov the new stuff as usual Buzzy!!!

It looks like the Canon G12 is the frontrunner so far...

Until then, I'm using a backup 1998 Mavica that Clysdalle gave me a few years ago. It makes the battery go dead after 3-4 pictures, but at least it works.

Best shot of the new owls that I could get with this camera:

They leave the hindquarters of small rabbits lying all over the place. I have to find them before the dog does. It's Rabbitland out here. Babalu would love it!

Speaking of the dog, she's turned into a mini mountain of muscle since she's been out here:

Yesterday she caught and killed her first gopher! She's slowly losing her city roots and becoming a countrified dog.

Here's the tortoise that was rescued from the birds a couple days ago:

He has some holes in his shell that look like teeth marks. I have to turn him loose somewhere, but I doubt I'd find a place out here where he'd survive long. This place is harsh, even if you're armoured.

Now on to Tiki Stuff:

Progress shots of the left post:

And now with the bottom face blocked in:


I'll move on to blocking out the other post before I do the detailing on this one.

Meanwhile, the live carved tree is thriving:

All kinds of growth surrounding the carving. It will look neat with the branches eventually trained around the Moai:

New little leaves everywhere:

On 2011-06-02 20:05, RevBambooBen wrote:
Find any of these yet??

Yes, in fact. Three days ago, Poki and I ran into this guy 4-5 times throughout the day:

(camera phone photo)
I also saw him about a week ago on the ramp leading to the work area. It's kinda like a corn snake colored gopher snake with a banded king snake head and a sandy colored tail. It looks like three snakes fused into one. He acts like a fake rattlesnake as well. He's not bothered or scared of me, but hates the dog. Freaks out when it can see her. It's about 3.5 to 4 feet long.

Alright, I need to go vaccuum now.
Buzzy Out!

Looikin good as usual master carver!!

Crappy camera sunset photo:

I started the second column piece yesterday:

On 2011-06-05 20:05, tikigodz wrote:
Looikin good as usual master carver!!

Thanks TG! I still got 14 more years until I can hang up that MC tag, but it's nice to hear a preview of coming atractions! :wink:

On 2011-06-02 21:05, closettiki wrote:
bring your burro...im sure you can find one out there in the desert

I've been looking for one,but I find one at the right price. There's been a shortage of them ot here since the cash for clunkers program took away all the good cars.

On 2011-06-02 10:34, Brudda Bear wrote:
Vacuuming SUCKS!
Bear

No way! The other day, I got a Spuds MacKenzie shaped light for vacuuming all the dead flies off my floor! In that case, vacuuming actually rules!

On 2011-06-02 09:58, TheBigT wrote:
Excellent! Been quiet around here.. :)

I'll try to noise up the place a bit.

Big day planned today: I'm going to the post office!
Buzzy Out!

Thanks for the sunset pic Buzzy, even if it's not up to your usual level of excellence. I got me a couple of those owls too - they gifted me with the front quarter of a small CAT the other day. Wasn't my cat - Darn! :P

BTW, are you sure it's Poki and not you that is becoming countrified? Take off your shoes and welcome to the family Cousin Buzz. Next time I'm up there I'll teach you how to skin a snake and how to do the Redneck Snot Rocket. Sounds like you've got a kingsnake, they are well known for shaking their tails to mimic a rattlesnake. There are about 30 different types of kingsnakes and they crossbreed, making species identification sometimes difficult.

Hey Buzzy, I took my kids to Disneyland yesterday, my seven year old daughter said "Daddy you should carve a tiki and put it in the Tiki Room". I said "No I think Buzzy should" She said "Who's Buzzy"? I showed her some of your work, there was no comment. I think she didn't want to hurt my feelings! Nice work on these latest ones. Good talking to you in Palm Springs, Thanks again for the pendant,shotglass and tequila.

More progress on the second pole:

Top guy blocked out:

sceond face done:

Both as they are now, side by side:

On 2011-06-06 10:37, MadDogMike wrote:
BTW, are you sure it's Poki and not you that is becoming countrified? Take off your shoes and welcome to the family Cousin Buzz.

Yo Cuz! I'm getting more desertized, than countrified. For instance, the temperature dropped to 72 the other day and I was feeling it was hot chocolate time. So, I made myself a big cup of it with marshmellows to warm myself up from that sudden "cold spell." And as for kicking off my shoes: I'm way ahead of you on that one. I haven't worn shoes in weeks(except on going into town days!) I've actually developed a condition that I fondly refer to as "African Running Man Feet." I have these calloused feet now with giant cracks in them. They look like I use them to run from Sudan to Nigeria for water every day. Zaya hates my new desert hoofs...I know how to skin snakes, but I may look you up when the little frogs here are edible sized. Gotta cook up the frog legs before the owls and ducks get 'em.

On 2011-06-08 13:58, tiki tonz wrote:
Disneyland ... I said "No I think Buzzy should"

Nice hearing from you Tonz! Disneyland would have someone like THOR make the tikis for them out of some kind of plastic crap...then they'd rip them out to make way for an ADA approved ride based on their newest shitty 3D kids movie...

I think my tortoise might be a turtle...
Buzzy Out!

See? All you need is a cardboard box and it's a ZOO.
Time to start charging 25 cents to look at the Desert Tortoise.
That snake is really scary, Buzz. MadMike's idea that it's probably a genetic freak is creepy as hell too. I'm staying in San Diego.

*"Disneyland would have someone like THOR make the tikis for them out of some kind of plastic crap...
then they'd rip them out to make way for an ADA approved ride based on their newest shitty 3D kids movie..." *

HEY How did you know about their next business move! That's TOP SECRET!

I suspect Western Box Turtle

On 2011-06-09 11:13, Cammo wrote:
That snake is really scary, Buzz. MadMike's idea that it's probably a genetic freak is creepy as hell too. I'm staying in San Diego.

Okay, education time.

Not necessarily a genetic freak, Cammo. But Mike is correct that cross breedings, correctly termed "intergrades," are not exactly a rare occurrence with many subspecies of Lampropeltis (Kingsnakes and Milksnakes).

From Buzzy's description, and from what I can make out in the photo, I'm betting that the snake in question is some sort of subspecies or intergrade of Lampropeltis getulus (Common Kingsnake), probably just a California Kingsnake with an aberrant pattern and therefore completely harmless to humans. A better pic would help to nail this guy's subspecies down.

Lampropeltis getulus californiae (California Kingsnake) has a very wide range, over most of California (including San Diego), a small portion of Southern Oregon, the South Western third of Nevada, South Western portion of Utah, Western half of Arizona, down into Northern Mexico where the Colorado river meets the Gulf of California and the entire Baja Peninsula.

L. g. californiae's color and pattern variations, just within it's own subspecies, are so numerous it can boggle the mind. There are banded patterns, ringed patterns, striped patterns, spotted patterns, AND to top that all off, combinations of these patterns have occurred. Colors can be black, various shades of brown, white, yellows, sandy colors and even albinism (albeit rarely occurring in the wild) producing a pale almost violet color. Just google or bing for images of Lampropeltis getulus californiae and you'll see what I mean.

Have a look at this guy from the Mojave. :down:

Vs. this guy from Newport/Long Beach area :down:

Vs. this guy from San Diego County :down:

All the same Genus/Species/Subspecies Lampropeltis geulus californiae.

Many other species and subspecies of Lampropeltis' ranges abut or overlap L. g. californiae's range. This is where intergrades can occur. Lampropeltis is a pretty forgiving Genus regarding intergrades between subspecies and the occasional cross-species intergrade. I'm wondering if one of his ancestors may haveintergraded with a subspecies of Lampropeltis zonata (Mountain Kingsnake), L. z. parvirubra (San Bernardino Mountain Kingsnake) is the most likely candidate as it's range is near Mojave.

There is another subspecies or coloration "phase" of Lampropeltis getulus floridana (Florida Kingsnake) known as a "Brooksi" (Golden Phase) that can have patternation and coloring similar to a cornsnake, but California is on the other side of the country from it's range, so I doubt it's one of them. A domesticated specimen may have escaped or (stupidly) been set free. Who knows? I still doubt that's what we're looking at. Here's a pic of a "Brooksi." :down:

All this having been said, it is possible for Lampropeltis and other Genus snakes to crossbreed, I've seen examples online of intentional crossbreeds that professional breeders have made with Kings and Corns, but I doubt that could happen in the Mojave as Cornsnakes aren't in the wilds of California. Again, somebody could have turned one loose or let it escape, but again it's doubtful. But here's pic of a Kingsnake that probably crossed with Pacific Gophersnake in the wild found in Yolo County, Ca. :down:

So maybe an ancestor crossed with a local Gophersnake??? Anyway, here's a page with range maps of snakes in California listed by species with links to pages of example images. See if you can spot your snake.

But the real point I want to make here is that he (or she) is a handy friend to have around. Lampropeltis have demonstrated that they are at least resistant, if not in some situations immune, to the bite of many venomous snakes in their ranges depending on the size of the snakes involved. Lampropeltis is also cannibalistic and has been known to eat other snakes including rattlers, copperheads and water moccasins/cottonmouths (hey Buzzy, how about a cannibal Kingsnake tiki?). They like to eat lizards in the wild, but have been known to eat small birds, bird eggs, and can help keep the rodent population down in rural areas.

Don't mess with them as they can still bite if you try to handle them, they aren't used to it and will consider you a predator, plus they can carry parasites. They also will, as Mike wrote above, mimic behaviors of venomous snakes in their ranges, such as vibrate their tails or even coil like a rattler as a defense against predators, biting is a last resort. Otherwise, they have no reason or desire to bite you as you're way too big for them to eat.

Their fangs are in the back corners of their mouths and are used for shocking their prey with the first hit and then holding onto it while they wrap around it, they have no venom as they are constrictors (they suffocate their prey, squeezing ever tighter every time their prey exhales, further reducing the amount of air it can inhale with each constriction) but a bite needs to be thoroughly cleaned so not to get infected, wild snakes' mouths aren't all that clean (domestic ones either for that matter).

Why do I know all this about Lampropeltis? We used to have a beautiful Kingsnake we raised from a baby. She was a Nigitus or Mexican Black intergrade. Her mother was a pure L. g. nigritus (Mexican Black Kingsnake) that was bred to a male that was an intergrade himself, half L. g. nigritus, half L. g. splendida (Desert Kingsnake). She looked like a Splendida with thin yellow stripes on her back merging into a yellow and black speckled pattern on her sides with a yellow belly when she was hatched. She gradually lost her pattern as she matured, she was almost entirely black at full maturity except for yellow spots on her belly (gift from dad's side of the family) that showed she wasn't pure Nigritus. She grew to over 4 ft long, but due to the size of her tank and her feeding schedule she never got to be her dad's size. He was a big damn snake for a King. BTW, the folks we got our snake from also owned the monitor lizard that was in the movie "The Freshman," she was HUGE.

Anyway, don't be scared of the snake, if it doesn't have a broad flat head and rattle, it's a good guy. Snakes are pretty much misunderstood creatures and many harmless snakes are killed annually by fearful yet uninformed people. Some may be spotted during "Going Primitive" so folks should be clued in to the differences between good and not so good snakes.

Sorry for hijacking the thread, Buzzy.

Okay, back to the tikis...

Bear :tiki:

I think it's a tortle! Buzzy PI, that's classic!!!

I came across the owls sitting on some rocks out in the lake a day or so ago:

Tiki Update:

second guy, second pole mostly blocked out now:

On 2011-06-09 11:13, Cammo wrote:
See? All you need is a cardboard box and it's a ZOO.
Time to start charging 25 cents to look at the Desert Tortoise.

I just did some upgrades to his authentic Mojave Desert environment, so I'll be charging fifty cents to see him now. He'll soon be at my new Living Mojave Desert Zoo, located in the corner of Everythings Pistachios(opening soon on the corner of RT 66 and Newberry Rd, in Newberry Springs)

Soon as I catch a rabbit, duck, toad, lizard or something else breathing here, I'll start charging a buck to get in. Legally, how many animals do you need to have to qualify as a real zoo?

On 2011-06-09 19:44, MadDogMike wrote:
I suspect Western Box Turtle

I'll go all Mojave Magnum and find out...

On 2011-06-10 05:36, Brudda Bear wrote:

Sorry for hijacking the thread, Buzzy.

Bear :tiki:

Thanks BBear for that post. No problem at all. That was great! I'll try to catch him with a better picture next time I see him. My pop is actually something of a herpetologist. His area is mostly CA and mexican Rosy Boas. He used to have a bunch of banded, striped, and albino Ca kings. Now I think he only has few Grey banded, if he has any of the kings left at all.
A few years ago, I had striped kingsnake that lived in my yard in SD. I'd run into him every few months or so. I also took a few common gopher snakes out of neighbors garages because they knew me as the "snake guy." I guess word got out because I had a couple Coloumbian red tailed boas, a pair of ball pythons, and some Chinese water dragons at the time.

On 2011-06-10 19:56, tiki tonz wrote:
I think it's a tortle! Buzzy PI, that's classic!!!

and right now, The Mojave Magnum needs to find out what the hell all these animals out here are.

My campaign for Mayor of Newberry Springs begins tomorrow...
Buzzy Out!

Awesome carves per usual Buzzmeister.

GROG put some of your pics in the wildlife thread.

Sorry, I meant "Cannibal Intergrade of Lampropeltis Getulus California Kingsnake with an Aberrant Pattern". If that was meant to reassure me, it AIN'T WORKIN'!!! (That was an all-time classic post, just kidding.)

Buzzy, 2 animals = 1 Zoo. Just throw an orange-spray-painted rock out into the desert and tell people they have to go to the rock, circle it and come back. It's called "The Desert Trail" and costs only 50 cents added to the Zoo admission.

I never thought Buzzy's thread could get an order of magnitude more interesting, but it's happened...

I'll start off with a san Diego sunset from my recent trip home:

and here's yesterday's from lovely Newberry:

I just got a new camera, so regular updates will commence once again. I haven't got around to taking any tiki pictures yet, so this junk will have to hold you over

Poki started becoming a lake dog recently. Here she is taking a break from the afternoon heat:

I wanted to share some owl photos with owl lovers out there, so I did a search for owl fan sites. I typed in "owl central" and all the links took me to Tiki Central conversations about the mythical owl central. Therefore, by default, Tiki Central has now become the defacto Owl Central. So,...

Here are some new pictures of the owls in the yard:

Since my last post, I had a couple trips back to SD to get some project stuff. I got to hang out at home sweet home for a while. Here's the view as you walk by my front sidewalk:

The big red dog's the new security system there. Right now they're both standing about 5 feet up on my log pile. They both continously bark and howl at anyone who walks by. I notice most people walk across the other side of the street now...

More Later,
Buzzy Out!

beautiful region where you abit

Desert sunset:

We've had the desert version of rainy days here the last 3 days. It's kind of nice because the temp drops from over 100 to the low 90's when it starts.

About 3 weeks ago, the summer kicked in here. It was 108-112 for a week straight. It's a little cooler now, 102-104 in the day, with nighttime lows of about 90. I've been trying to switch to a nocturnal schedule and get work done when it cools off at night.
I installed a shoplight on my back porch to help facilitate my night carving. Here's my 94 degrees at night well lit outside work area:

I'd usually be working on the floor, but the rain got my carpet all wet:

Second pole is rough carved. Bottom right face is now blocked out:

Since this picture was snapped, I did some final adjustments to the one on the left:

A little clean up sanding and it's detail time.

Meanwhile, I picked up the fence bamboo when I was in SD last week:

In owl news, I went to do some lake raking and came across one getting a drink:

On 2011-07-08 22:36, eric 21 wrote:
beautiful region where you abit

Yeah, it's pretty here,... pretty HOT!

In other news, it's hot!

See you tonight...
Buzzy Out!

Hey Buzzy I talked to the Horned Toad guy at the San Diego Fair (he does pewter casts of horned toads and is an encyclopedia of HT facts) and he said where you are, you're surrounded by these guys:

They eat about 100 ants a DAY so if you catch one just cage it over an anthill and it'll be real happy.

Buzzy, the new poles you have carved look great. Looks like you have a nice set up there. Keep posting pictures of the place, they are interesting.

Sunset:

It was pleasant today. It barely broke 100.

I got the two hanging tikis sanded and stained:

Now back to the final touches on the other two...

On 2011-07-10 11:41, Cammo wrote:
the Horned Toad guy said you are surrounded by these guys...
.... just cage it over an anthill and it'll be real happy.

Haven't seen one since I've been here...
However, the ants here are ready for one if it ever turns up:

I was thinking about mixing up a couple glasses of resin and pour it down that hole to see what's up. Clear resin would show how many I get, too! They did it on a science show once...

On 2011-07-10 13:30, hiltiki wrote:
Looks like you have a nice set up there. Keep posting pictures of the place, they are interesting.

Sure thing...

Here's the set up:

I'm in the little house in back

My carving area is on the right side, on that porch:

That's part of the set up, now on to some other interesting stuff around here

The Mermaid Lounge shuttered up, waiting for the next party:

A ceiling full of decor in it:

A closer look at the red globe light...:

and the dove nest above it:

Two babies in it right now, but I'd have to cut the net to get a shot of them. I tried to scare away the dove before it had the eggs, but it kept coming back. She makes a big mess, so I had to cover the bar with scrap wood. Soon as those little birdies are 18 years old in bird years, I'm evicting them and their deadbeat squatter mother!

I went to water the lawn this morning and saw this:

There were two there, but Poki started to go after them and chased both away

And finally, there's a photo contest this month themed "the dog days of summer", so I keep taking pictures of my dog like this:

And in very sad news, my petting zoo closed because the turtle passed away

More tikis interesting desert stuff to come...
Buzzy Out!

Aloha Buzz, nice to meet u at caliente. I just moved from Vegas to San Diego. No good palm in Vegas so I used all kind of hardwood there for carving. How long do I have to let this So Cal palm wood dry out? Saw some guys cutting down 2 giant fan palms n they gave me a bunch. Cleaned em, carved a couple, then mold started growing on the bottoms. Not that I can't appreciate the green color, but mold!!!!! Any ideas? Thanx
Aloha

Thanx for the PM. C u at oasis! Keep up the good work!!!

I don´t get it. Or I just can´t find, where it is written. Are you on vacation or did you relocate?

too many pics on this page already....

Let's meet up again on a fresh page, shall we?
Buzzy Out!