Too Many Irons in the Fire

I'm working on a few too many projects. I need to get myself on a posting schedule. The countdown tells me I have 92 more days to finish my first module, POP-001. 

To that end, I am working on artwork. Or at least, sharpening my skills. 

This is a copy of Frank Frazetta's style, which I hope will assist in creating pictures for POP-001. 

Project 2 is a little more down to earth. I'm getting the raised beds ready in the backyard. I'll have two 8x4 foot areas this year to prevent the overcrowding I experienced last year.

In addition to the tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, and peppers I grew last year, I'll be trying out lettuce, beans, radishes, and herbs. I plan to keep the strawberries, beans, and herbs out of the raised beds with a new area plus large planters. 

Ideally, at the end of the year, I'd like to bring the herbs inside. I didn't plan for that last year and managed to kill off everything by mid-December. There was some saving grace as I had a ton of dried herbs from the summer. 

Next up is a slow-moving project, one that may turn into a regular series here. I'm making a castle. I really love the classic look of Bodiam Castle and I recall drawing a rough floorplan for fun and as a blog post. 

Funny, I apparently forgot to blog about it and you are seeing the rough plan for the first time today. 

Anyway, I am upcycling some junk I have lying around to make this happen, I will probably detail my progress as I go. 

I don't plan on being too faithful to Bodiam or even rudimentary scale. I am letting the supplies on hand control the look. For a base, I used a bit of wood used for packing material. The towers stand 6 inches tall and will be spaced out 2.5 to 12 inches. The idea is to have something that would help out as a game space. 

As you can see from the image above, I have a bunch of different figures arrayed in front. I have a 1:144 scale T.I.E. Fighter, 1/296 Battlemechs, a 25 mm Space Marine from Aliens, a Lego figure, a couple of 25 mm fantasy figures, random plastic animals, and 20 and 15 mm figures. The block in front is 1.25 inches on a side. Roughly, anyway.  

It all seems pretty reasonable. 

Garden Images

Last year, I attempted a raised bed garden. It didn't really have a chance, but this year will be better. 

I have a few survivors from last year, a pair of strawberries, thyme, and 3 dill plants. I added purple basil and rosemary. 

Tomorrow, I will mulch and plant the rest the garden. After that comes some backbreaking work in the flower beds around the house. 

I need to figure out a table and chair set for the back. We have really nice lights so we can sit out and play games in the evening. I can't wait. 

Good Finds for the Gaming Garden

I had epic luck today. I found a bunch of things for my gaming garden. 

First up, solar lights. 

The flower shaped ones are from the Dollar Store. The really bright ones are from Ollies. I paid about $21 for 13 of them. I have no intention of leaving them in the raised bed, I'll probably arrange them around the hot tub and along the back of the garden. 

The raised bed is almost complete, I need to put up a center rail and some screens or chicken wire to protect the cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, basil and thyme from the bunnies. The goal is canning pickles and gardenia all from my own garden. 

I should have done cauliflower, onions and hot peppers, but I am out of space. This bed is 4 feet by 8 and everything that can go on trellises will. The problem is, I have 52 seedlings ready to go. 

That is where the garden hooks and random pots come in. I want the herbs to come inside at the end of the growing season, so I'll need to put them in pots. That covers about 12 plants. I figure I can squeeze 24 plants into the raised bed. I want to grow some under the arrowwood tree, which will be another 2. I need to find space for 14 more plants. 

I went a little crazy. 

In other news, I picked up a great book for a dollar. Swords' Masters is an omnibus by Fritz Leiber including three novels: 

Swords Against Wizardry (1968),
The Swords of Lankhmar (1968),
and Swords and Ice Magic (1968).

He is one of my favorite writers and I can't believe what a great deal I got on this hardcover. The cover is a bit... 80s? I don't know. The stories are better than the cover art, so I'll ignore it. I guess you now know what are the next three books I review will be. 

My final find was a length of rope. What adventurer doesn't have some rope? This one is in blue so I don't hit it with the lawnmower. The dog was very excited when I cobbed together a lead for her out of it. She loves being outside and will probably be a part of game night in the garden. 

No time. No time!

Time is short today. I prepped the lawnmower, filled the raise beds and stopped at Dragon Snack Games.

It's gorgeous out today, so I'm staying outside. 

I found a great deal on a lawnmower and with the money I saved, I dropped it all on some gaming products. The chance score were dice for 3 bucks a set. 

I love the way the look outside. Nice for pictures this summer. 

The zucchini and cucumbers are almost ready to plant. I also picked up some tomatoes and peppers. It's kind of late for those, so maybe I'll grow them inside. I don't know. We'll see. 

Gaming Garden - Phase One Complete.

Phase one of the Gaming Garden is complete. My son and I build a raised bed from wood scraps in the garage. It's light pine and a 2x2 cut up for stakes to hold it together.  

I busted up a four foot by eight foot section of grass with a shovel, laid down some compost I had from several years of yard clippings. Then the grass went back on top, upside down. 

In a week or so, phase two will start up. More layers to the raised bed: soil and mulch. Then I have a month or so of rest before the plants go in. It's like planning a D&D campaign. 

Don't let anyone tell you need power tools for this sort of job. Just go get the power tools from the start and save your hands. I regret using hand tools for the whole project. Everything hurts. 

But if it makes a nice backdrop for summer gaming in the backyard, it will be worth it. Last year, we spend a lot of time outside and 2021 is looking to be a rebuilding year. No family vacation this year.