This terra cotta pig had been sitting out on display at Stono Market for a while, and some of the voices in my head kept telling me I needed to get it. Not sure why. Maybe because it reminded me of the little yellow piggy bank I used to have when I was a kid.
So yesterday when I was back out there picking up my CSA share, I decided to buy it. No idea what I’m going to do with it or where I’m going to keep it. At first I was thinking maybe something along the lines of this on one side. I’ll have to find out what kinds of paints are suitable for terra cotta, or if terra cotta is even suitable for painting. One of my friends suggested wiring it up with a motion sensor and speaker so that sound clips would play when someone moved past it. There’s a lot of Arduino potential for it along those lines.
The dogs were mightily intrigued by the new pig when I brought it out to take pictures. Simba wasn’t quite sure what to make of it at first.
Didn’t take long for Nala to give it a few licks and taste it.
This is going to be the most epic bout of movie watching I’ve done since the back to back showings of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back before the premiere of Return of the Jedi.
I already purchased my ticket. Who’s going to join me for this massive gorging?
Deciding to go to this year’s CREATESouth was a bit of a last minute decision. Seemed like everything was going on this weekend. CREATESouth, Cupcake Camp Summerville, Pet Fest, LUG meeting (which ended up getting moved).
CREATESouth 2012 was smaller than previous ones I’ve been to, but I think this year was better, with presentations that were more interesting. Keynotes by Philippa Ballantine and Heather Solos were both very good.
There were a lot of sessions that I would have liked to see. I ended up going to the DIY Metallurgy/Metal Casting, Budget Barista and BBQ sessions. I found all of the sessions interesting and inspiring.
The DIY Metallurgy/Metal Casting session was perhaps the coolest one with a hands on part where we actually got to do some sand casting. Packed sand to make molds, and poured the metal to make these little CREATESouth logos. I think I may have found a new hobby.
Metal casting at CREATESouth
Budget Barista was a good session looking at some of the variables that go into making a good cup of coffee. Did you know a hot air popcorn popper can be used to roast coffee beans? I’m not a huge coffee drinker, but have been known to consume a cup now and then. After seeing the Aeropress in action at the session, I think it’s my new want item.
Aeropress in action
The Art and Science of BBQ ended up being an outdoor session with Andre Pope talking about how to do BBQ and showing his BBQ rig. I learned that you don’t need a big huge smoker setup to do BBQ and that it’s easier than it looks. You can make BBQ in a slow cooker, which I’ve done before but never really considered it real BBQ. Now that I know better, I’m inspired to do more BBQ.
Art and science of BBQ
Had a really good time at CREATESouth this year, and I’m really glad I decided to go. Got inspired to do new things, at least two of which I’ll probably do. The metal casting sounds like it will be really cool to take up as a hobby, but it’s probably not something I should get into right now.
Got to see the new ring tailed lemurs in their new enclosure at the SC Aquarium today. They’re pretty cool. The new Madagascar exhibit won’t be ready for a couple of months yet. The lemur enclosure is all done, but the rest of the exhibit is still being worked on. There are supposed to be a couple of vasa parrots coming too. I think the Madagascar exhibit is going to be pretty awesome.
The albino alligator was unusually active today. Most of the time when I see him he’s just hanging out towards the back or floating in the water not doing much of anything. Today he was moving around a lot more than I’ve ever seen him move before.
And then there was this turtle with his neck stretched waaay out.
