Pictures of a doomed Elephant Ear birdbath

Well, I tried my hand at making a birdbath out of an Elephant Ear leaf and it didn't turn out so well. - It was my own fault, live and learn, the cement was unintentionally too soupy.
When it fell apart, it was all chalky.

I made a Youtube video if anyone wishes to see it. - I did ALOT of showing plants and narrating,
it is nearly 11 minutes, just a warning! lol And hope you like the sound of Cicadas if you watch it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_wxnv2ihKo&feature=c4-overview&list=UUncIC3pLv0W-KhBjmMVkG6Q
Will

This message was edited Aug 4, 2013 8:38 PM

Hey Will I would think if you make it a thick casting you would have to reinforce it with rebar or something for it to stay together. Just a thought.

Thanks happ, I might do that next time. I'll probably make it thinner though next time.
And I will try to get a better consistency in the cement. The veins and the details of the leaf didn't come out good at all I noticed, that may have been due to the watery cement. I haven't given up yet, I WANT an Elephant Ear birdbath! lol

Will I have the instructions from garden gate magazine on how they did their ee casting but it is in adobe format. Don't know how to get it to you thru DG.

Making a Sand-Cast Birdbath Garden Gate Magazine
http://www.gardengatemagazine.com/53birdbath/
Will they still have the site up, this is the process I have always used. I did see on another site about adding concrete fortifier, which is a liquid which would be so much easier than using rebar.

Wow, now THAT'S a birdbath! I'll study how to do that next time.
Thanks happ

Will, I'll be back in KCMO in about a year, to help you through these trying times!!!!!

Oh I hope you are not moving back! If I ever got to move to Panama City they would have to dig my clawing hands out of that snow white beach and the first winter they would have to sedate me! On the other hand it would be great to have you close.... ;)

Well, my grandkiddos come first. My son is in the military and just graduated with his Ph.d in Psychology - the military is giving him an opportunity in Lexington, Mo. He and his wife have a 2-yr. old son and an 8-mo. old daughter - I am moving close to them so I can help with the kids.

PCB has a great climate and beautiful ocean and beaches, that's for sure, but the tourists interfere with 'normal' life - they glut the roads and beach etal. We have 8,000 residents, but on any weekend we have 20k tourists - you can't even get into the two Walmart's parking lots! This is a small ismus with 3 main roads - many times you are stuck in traffic, going nowhere for a long time.

We have spring break and 2 Thunder Beach motorcycle rallies - forget going anywhere - you just have to stay home. If there's a Wounded Warrior gathering, in come another 20k tourists, so you can see, it's not easy living a normal life here.

Oh, you sweet, sweet woman! I am fine, everything is okay here, things are no more dysfunctional than usual. I'm not one of those guys on the internet that preys on people with fake sob stories, (dry begging as Judge Mathis would say) and whatnot. The sob stories are true, but everybody has trying times I'm sure, but not everybody chooses to publicize them like I have at times. I know I yell like I'm a victim of society but everything is okay, now if you got some spare change, that was a joke! lol Yeah PCB would be a wonderful place, you would have to pry my fingers off the place too! We'll have to take a meeting, as they say in big society, when you come to Kansas City. It's nice to hear from you Kay, (not your real name). Wow, Lexington, Mo., he must be an officer in the military, the Wentworth military academy is in Lexington.
Will

This message was edited Aug 19, 2013 9:46 PM

If Lexington wasn't so far from good jobs and further than I like from my family I would move there. I LOVE that town!! I want one of those old houses except on land.

I can identify with the tourist after living in Colorado Springs, when I lived there it was a sleepy small town EXCEPT when the tourist appeared which was summer and winter...rofl. Funny one weekend the mountains were so busy we actually left the mountains and went back downtown Colorado Springs cause no one was there....rofl.

You are a DGM, but it will be fun being close to the family. I wish my DGD was a bit closer. They just live a couple of hours away, but it is more than drop by for a few minutes.

You all realize ,, after reading the posts here , and thinking about it a few minutes ,
I feel like I have never lived anyplace and have never tried anything ! lol
AND ; I thought I had been everywhere !!! and Tried everything !!!

I like Lexington too for that reason, lots of old homes for sale! We're talking homes built in the early and middle 1800's. I bet they need so much work though, I'd be broke in the first year of owning one!
I'll have an old home someday anyway. I want a house at least from the civil war era, (1861 - 1865) or before that. Lexington is a Civil War era town, like Independence, Mo. is but not as many homes here for sale.

It would be neat to be in a place where people want to go on vacation and live and everything.
It's funny, the streets here (and usually the highways) are always good to great because no one wants to be here, no one really wants to live here. I think that's why the Chiefs and Royals kinda stink, the players don't really give it their all because they'd rather be somewhere else. Actually, the great talent IS somewhere else, the good players often take a better deal in a better city and leave Kc. Kansas City has always been good to me, I expect I'll be here until I die, job or no job/career..lol

Hehe..ju! I am resigned to seeing news clips of cooler places and seeing pictures in magazines! Let's just say I know there's cool places out there that I haven't seen!

Will, I have invited you to visit here - you just don't like me enough to come down!!!

ju you are sooo funny. I have been lucky when I was younger before I wanted to settle down to get to live other places. Lived in North Carolina and I will tell you that was an experience I will never forget.....then Coloroado, and lastly San Antonio, LOVED Coloroado and San Antonio both. But came back to family, close but not sitting on top of....rofl.

I am awake Sister! I yelled at my neighbor unintentionally a while ago, out the window! Not really yelled but I was yelling..lol I thought it was my friend here taking another trash dumpster to the curb before she went to work and I just said, "I'll be out there in a minute to help you swap cars". Then I heard my friend just across the hall say, "I'm not out there". I turned and said, "oh boy, I just yelled at the neighbor". He's a friend of mine so I don't think he'll be throttling me about the neck and ears. He was probably just muttering something like, "go back to bed you crazy so and so!"
A couple minutes after that I heard his Harley leave, and I'm thinking, "yep, that was him..lol"

Thanks Jo, I'd come there if my car wouldn't require about $1,500 gas there and back.
My car is 19 years old anyway, not even sure it would make it. Don't be silly, your a wonderful person! I could probably sleep on the beach as well as any bum! What about my eyeballs, wouldn't they get plucked out by seabirds and whatnot?!

This message was edited Aug 20, 2013 7:46 AM

I am awake Brother, and already commuted to work....rofl. One of the perks about living in the country, getting up before sunrise to get to work...rofl.

I see, Sister. That's a long commute, your car has a lot of miles, I think 199k?
I better go back to bed for a little while.
Will

rofl....Will you are a trip. Have a great day, really nice morning better get out and play in the flowers!

Will, we wear sunglasses so the birds don't peck our eyeballs out.

Too funny.

Will's a funny guy!!!!

Haha.. Yeah, it's kinda funny how regular life is kinda funny, I don't mind! I try to be careful because sometimes I think it can sound insulting when I'm only trying to be funny! Thanks for the compliments you guys. I hate to say I'm like Seinfeld, but have you ever noticed how Seinfeld is a show about nothing?! lol I've seen each episode about a hundred times! I wouldn't say I idolize Seinfeld or the creator Larry David, (tho Curb Your Enthusiasm is also a favorite of mine). I guess it just gives people a reason to know life itself is funny.
You guys have a nice day too. It is so easy to make people laugh. Like when I was at Lowes yesterday, I said to the cashier when I walked by that there was a pricing error on the metal planters,
"the small metal bucket is higher than the large metal bucket". There was a customer lady there.too,
but this cashier lady just starts laughing, she doesn't even talk about fixing it! I guess it is a little funny, but I don't want to buy a little metal planter with handles for $30. It was a cool planter, I'd love to have it. Or at Walmart yesterday, I say to the greeter lady, "sunglasses by the exit, well done".
Although, I think she was about ready to call security on me..lol
Oh, that's how you keep birds off your eyeballs huh?!
Hehe.. "play in the flowers"? Didn't Dorothy do that!
Will

Will, I have the same affliction as you - I THINK I'm saying something funny, when, in truth, it's not funny. Listen to this 'funny':

I went to the bank last Thursday, and when I got up to the cashier, Keri (who is pregnant), she had a pained look in her eyes. I asked how she was and she said she had had a rough couple of days. Another customer was in the other line, so I said 'omg, stop whining about being pregnant - morning sickness just goes with the territory'. Keri said 'I just found out I have a tubal pregnancy, and will have surgery next week'. Talk about swallowing one's foot up to the thigh! I appologized to her, but how do you make up for a faux pas like this?

So, dear Will - you aren't alone.

Oh, yeah, that would be funny, but ewww a tubal pregnancy! I'm sure everybody understood that you misunderstood, nobody would make a joke on that if they knew it, yeah, that's the kind of stuff that might thwart a jokester.
But, laughter is the best medicine. But, if I make an obvious faux pas I try to straighten it out as quick as I can. You know how sometimes you kinda mumble and words just don't come out right? Well, I totally jacked up my name on first getting to the unemployment office recently and the receptionist lady repeated it on the phone to who I was seeing, exactly how I said it, all messed up, you couldn't even understand it! I thought for sure she knew who I was anyway, (I just gave her my social, which was the norm), I was wrong tho, she had to make a jackbutt out of me. I'll get my camera and make a short Youtube video of my voice, you have to hear it to get the funny! The people I've told that too, were like, "man, that was jacked up!" But, yeah, you definitely have the times when you're like, "great, they didn't get it and they took offense"! Sometimes, I think people take offense because they want to take offense, like they already have pre-conceived notions that they don't like one, from previous make-believe for ex..lol
Did I mention that I'm crazy?!

Thanks, glad to hear I'm not alone, you either, dear.

Here's that link to Youtube, it's only 6 seconds long. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZT2E4u3vYQ&feature=c4-overview&list=UUncIC3pLv0W-KhBjmMVkG6Q It's entirely clean, I would never link to anything obscene, Youtube don't do obscenity anyway.

Will


This message was edited Aug 20, 2013 4:27 PM

Oh, my dear Will - you should have never told me where you live!! I will be moving to Independence, Mo. and you'll be my neighbor - how fun will that be?!!!! What part of the town do you live in? I used to roam those streets many moons ago.

Sure, c'mon to Independence! Technically, I live about 2 blocks from Independence in Sugar Creek, Mo. But, I was raised and born and stuff in Independence. Sugar Creek is like a growth on Independence. Hey, the house next door is a foreclosure, I believe it can be bought for around $50,000. It's a decent house even, 3 bdrms, 2 ba., hardwood floors, a basement, a single but deep garage, the ac unit was stolen less than a year ago, (not really a lot of crime but the ac unit was in the dark, house was vacant, I'm sure it just looked too good to somebody). I live here with my good friend who I've known for over 16 years, we are great friends.

But, they might give like a 10k discount on that house just because there's no ac right now.
We and that house are on a dead-end street, so little traffic. I believe it's an 80' x 120' ft. lot.
Here it is at Zillow - http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/11300-E-Smart-Ave-Sugar-Creek-MO-64054/2288780_zpid/
I don't have a photo of that birdbath as it fell apart but I can upload a photo of my big fountain from today! -
Will

Thanks Will, but that house wouldn't be big enough for us - we need 4 bedrooms and at LEAST 2 1/2 baths. I have to get a house with a 2-car garage. I'm looking for a newer house - 1990's at least. Isn't that in the KC school district? I will have my 7th grade grandson living with me and I want him in Independence schools.

Oh, I see. It used to be the KC district until 2008 I believe, now it IS Independence schools.
I'm up watching Jenna Marbles on Youtube, I'm about to get me some breakfast and get my unemployment on. If Zillow (or anything) says it's KC schools, it's mistaken, there is schools West of here that are Independence schools. For the money, a house in Independence (especially West Independence, like around here) can't be beat, or any house in Eastern Jackson County, that's one good thing about this region. Actually, I was raised in East Independence, more open space there and more privacy, almost similar on the house you get for the money compared to West Independence, not alot of difference there, but I'd say a little. Facts is facts, for less diversity and more security, I'd go with East Independence, money savings on everything though, West Independence. Just Fyi - all of Independence is now Independence schools, desegregation is long over too, it was a failed experiment, they now know it.

Will

Good information, Will. I found a BEAUTIFUL home across from the Chiefs/Royals stadium, on an acre of land, but KC schools - bummer!

Just personally, I'd forget about that area, my Mom lives very near there and about half of her close neighbors have been robbed, and traffic there is bad because of the stadiums. I'm deleting most of this post.

This message was edited Aug 21, 2013 10:09 AM

Isn't that where MAMA'S FAMILY starring Vicki Lawrence from the Carol Burnett show spin-off took place , Raytown
I 'm only watching and listening this morning ..

Maybe, I don't remember ju. How are you this fine morning? The young guy from Mama's Family was back home after the show peddling soda, chips and candy bars as a vendor at a place I used to work. It was funny, he looked just like he did on the show, with the feathered hair and everything, (that was '93, '94 '95 or '96, somewhere in there). Actually, Raytown has a nice history from what I understand but it has gone totally to the dogs in the last 15 to 30 years or so. The "Ray" in Raytown is actually a guy who kinda founded the city. I believe there's some historic houses in Raytown, even a "Ray" house I believe. One of the old historic homes was even on some national ghost show because of ghosts supposedly in it. Now, people from Raytown are gonna come on here and say, "you sonuva"..lol

This message was edited Aug 21, 2013 9:21 AM

Oh doing fine , picking garden goodies and cleaning the house some . trying to get a few things done outside before the sun gets cooking .
That was a funny show , long time gone .
Caught this earlier also .. came up on their own a few weeks ago , their already long vines a blooming , as soon as it's been warm a while they always show up from self sow .

Morning Glory vines? Very pretty.

Juhur, those m.g.s are lovely - such a beautiful blue!

Will, the flyer outside the house said it was KC schools. I used to like Raytown, too - did lots of visiting nursing in that whole area, but wouldn't spend much time there now - it's gone to he!! in a hand basket, imho! the whole Bannister area has fallen into ruins, starting in the late 80's - a shame, because it used to be such a lovely area. Since Bannister mall closed in the 80's, it's turned into a slum area.

Hehe.. "across from the stadium"! lol Sweetie, that's why they sold, they probably couldn't get out of their driveway, had their car(s) stolen and they likely had inebriated folks urinating on their lawn! Oh, I don't know if I answered your question, Kay, about where I live, I currently live in West Independence or Sugar Creek technically, Independence is very nearby, like 2 blocks away, (after dogging KC, not sure I want to tell anybody..lol)! I don't know anybody, well, one person, not on DG, that lives in Kansas City proper. Everybody I know lives in the metro area and some, QUITE a ways from KC proper, which is good.

Yeah, the Bannister Mall, what a shame, at least make a Walmart Supercenter out of it! lol

I think Mama's Family even inspired some unknowing people to move there, now that I think about it.

Will, try to make friends with DG's Pepper - she is a lovely and very generous lady, whom I am honored to know. She lives in Oak Grove, Mo., about 15 miles east of Independence, off I-70. I was blessed to have her take a lot of my tropicals and house plants when I moved from Lakewood.

Hehe, yes pepper is real nice, we've met several times, she's a great friend! We've traded plants alot and she has sent me so many plants that I can't count them all! I do have a few friends, I am a friendly sort!
Will