Thursday bits

Daphne (dog, 12 years old), and Melody (blind dwarf Nigerian goat) out in the yard as I was cooking this morning, talking (I think) about the cat that had been sunning himself in that area just recently and where he was now that he was out of smell range.  They both went back and forth in that same little area for a little while after the cat got up, and the goat seemed to 'ask questions' to the dog, and then finally they both laid back down for a bit before Daphne decided it was time for her to bark at the door and go into the other bigger yard.

It is August, and the yard has been really really dry - but they have a big water trough (not seen from this angle) and we dump it and refill it every few days (lots of salamanders, frogs, and even sometimes little ringneck snakes there!).  There is some pigweed growing in one area but the goat finds anything she can reach that she likes (including tree branches and vines on the fence) and eats it with relish, as well as her alfalfa and oats she gets inside the house when we bring her in every few hours for a snack and a scratch and someone to tell her she isn't alone.  

 

Dogs and cats always going in and out at all hours, they each have their own way of asking.. we laugh sometimes that the goat 'meows' at the door when she is really lonely, having learned it from the cats.  That's even funnier, because the cats are Manxes and they hardly can make a squeak - but the goat really does sound like a cat when she cries loudly.

 

Made fried rice from leftovers and green onions in the freezer.  Crushed up a few dry roasted peanuts to put on top with some red chili paste.  I need to make another pot of rice to put up for the weekend later, but I have the container I like to keep it in the dishwasher right now. (reason for using up the last bit of rice)

 

Esme and Mark worked on the electrical boxes and wiring that she is trying to learn.  He had her taking bits apart in the garage to learn how to do it hands-on.  She has said she wanted to study that more, but hadn't been willing to get her hands on things that might break - so he gave her some old things from building the house and asked her to dismantle them to their base parts and then they'll hook them back up and she can see how to do it all properly in the garage circuits.

Other than that, did two hours of Japanese learning this morning, much more than I usually ever do for only one language.  And that is on top of what I will do later on this evening.  Usually I do about 15 minutes to an hour of multiple languages in the morning, and repeat that (not always with the same languages) later in the evening.  

This week, I've been doing almost exclusively Japanese.  I was told that Japanese is my best bet for any future translation work - and I admit it needs some more focus than I was giving it, especially in vocabulary.  

I'm doing the level 19-->20 on one Duolingo account, and reviewing level 10 Japanese on the other one instead of using the second one for multiple languages as I had been doing.  I've done babadum several times a day to 50 or 100 cards, baltoslav tools a few times each (you get three-strikes-out on there, but you can start over as many times as you want)  and tried translating anything I see on FB and Pinterest, and doing Clozemaster (that is Japanese and then Chinese, which does help with understanding the kanji characters), although that is only a few minutes every night.  My brain is doing the 'Hey, do you know this?' for words and symbols even when I'm doing other things, so that is working.  I know it is working best when the language keeps infringing later and things I didn't get quite right or wasn't 100% certain about (what is the symbol for ima (now, in Japanese), you know it when you see it but what IS it.. could you draw it?)

*baltoslav vs. babadum:  baltoslav there is no sound - you have to know what it says (hiragana or katakana shown, my katakana is still a bit shaky in the f and r sections, actually.. but this is helping), BUT, the kanji are there to help / intrigue you... and make connection.  You can keep google translate up in the next window and check the pronunciation to make sure you are reading it right, and that is cheating - but what is better than immediate reinforcement of the right sound / meaning when you don't know it?  babadum is the pronunciation and the hiragana/katakana mix, but no kanji, and you don't get to check what the right answer was because it is swoop onto the next thing, you got it right or wrong - and that is pretty good for learning like a child, as well - you start remembering what the right thing is because you want to get it right, but I am finding using both I'm learning differently on both, and that both help tamp down the pegs into the right places for vocabulary.  I think I kind of need a little of both.

I get along pretty good in it when I'm focusing on it, although I would still say it is well below my reading ability in French.  Japanese uses its own scale (N5 being the lowest level, up to N1 the fluent level) than the European languages (A1 being the lowest, and then A2, B1, B2 and C1 and C2 reaching fluent level).  I would have to say I know a lot of N5, but probably would still have to take a test in it several times because I am sure there are gaps between what they test and teach, just like everything has.  

 

I have a short work shift tomorrow, hoping the vehicle does all it should.  And then I have regular shifts on Saturday and Sunday.  I don't know when there might be traction on the little car we were told about - but he says he will let us know as soon as he knows something.  I stopped by there with the truck yesterday and got some of the issues it is having right now worked out, but not all - that brake spring is still not easy to fix, the fix we made broke again on the way back to the house *sigh*

Still : 

Yesterday the washing machine was acting up and the dryer looked like it had not dried the clothes or I had forgotten to turn it on.  Reset everything, and the washer finished out okay - whatever it was, it worked out.  The washing machine spun down to empty.  The dryer dried the clothes, and then I put the washed clothes in for the next load and they dried, as well.  I made dinner, Mark changed up what he was doing halfway through, and suggested instead we make two separate meals where I was working on one .. but I segued and still made what we were looking for, and what he wanted, and then we sat down and ate it while watching a cute film 'Earwig', a 2020 Studio Ghibli collaboration I had not even heard of.  I had a small nosebleed for about an hour through all of that - whatever luck that was it decided that was the right time for it and I just kept moving and tried to get done what we were doing, and it stopped finally.  I haven't had that for a long time, but then I haven't had a sinus infection for months, either - so I guess it follows trying to clear out all of that.   Today, I'm doing okay, working on the language work.  Next stress will be getting the vehicle to work on Friday and back home - and the battery is charging itself now, it was at 13.03 volts after I returned home which is well enough to crank it for Friday.   I just have to remember to not let the brake lights stay on when I'm not in the vehicle.

Funny bit : 

Night before last we made some egg / rice dog bread stuff with the rest of the pork grease and broth in the pork roast pan.  That is sort of a rich treat, so they didn't get all of it after it cooled, and we put some up in a bag in the fridge to give out here and there.  This morning, when I let the dogs out after the school bus ran, they lounged around the porch for a while.  Then, Minerva started barking she wanted to come in.  I went to let her in and the other two, Daphne and Charlotte, were laying in the leaves.  They both simultaneously put heads up, ears rotated, and everything about their body language said 'Will there be Snacks?'  It was a very clear communication to me.. so I said 'There could be, yes.'  To which, they popped up immediately and came running in to the house and all the way downstairs in front of me.  

Minerva had gotten up on the couch while I was talking to them, and looked at me like 'What did I miss?'  I said 'Snacks, come on' and she popped up and went downstairs, too.  I started giving them out and called for Sweetie, who was sleeping in the office on a dog bed, and she didn't come.  I went into the office with a piece in my hand and she curled up tightly and said 'I don't want another bath! (she got one last night, and it was cold apparently all night for her)'  But then I bounced the egg bread in my hand and she popped her head up and said 'OH' and followed me back into the kitchen.  Everybody got two more bits of egg bread and I put the last back up for later tonight.

I just love dog language - it is funny, and their emotions are very deep, from the I don't want a bath to surprise to pleading with their eyes for something they know is there (in the fridge, downstairs) and I still understand exactly what they are 'talking' about.

Two workdays language geek

 

As a part-time postal carrier my work week revolves around the weekends, when the full-timers are usually off.  I work during the week sometimes, sometimes I work the entire week with no days off... but it's all sort of up in the air and week to week I'm not sure of anything except - I'm usually working the weekend unless I arrange for something else to happen.  Also - I passed two years on DuoLingo streak the other day... but since the hearts upgrade I'm still quite unhappy with how sensitive the spelling and such is and how much that stagnates my progress.

 

So, this is Saturday and Sunday.  My daughter's birthday was on Saturday but we did things for her on Friday because I knew Saturday was going to be a full day with getting dark early etc etc..

 So I got home, we made dinner and watched a movie and did the dishes and I did a minimum amount of a few languages and crashed.  That is a typical Saturday.. yes. 

 

Sunday I run Amazon packages, and it starts a little later.  It was also Daylight Savings Time so my animals had me up 'early'.. and I got a little language work in because hey, I was up anyway.  Made dinner after work, watched some tv episodes on DVD, did a few language things and played a game, then crashed.. took a Welsh grammar lesson in the middle of the night when the dog had me up, but I failed it by two questions and have to retake it when my credits on that site pop back up. *sigh*  One 'cat's tail' apostrophe in the wrong place or a ddim () nawr instead of a erbyn hyn and it goes down.

I haven't been called in yet on Monday, and my chart is up in the other screen.  I only do the charts for a little bit, and it gives me an idea what my 'average' is... and how much I switch off for variety.  It's also been a stressful few weeks and I realize I fall back to doing more in French at times when I have stress - the grammar level is much much higher than the Spanish or the Japanese, but still, my brain likes it better and starts sub-translating more again as below:

On the route - aucun côté ou autre côté?  Ah!  Na ça va... ça va a ci.

I have no idea why I think aucun côté instead of something like 'ce côté' or 'mon côté' or even 'pas du côté' but it's in my brain that way when I don't have to go the other side of the vehicle and I think it's a mnemonic thing that the two terms 'aucun' and 'autre' feel right and left handed pair to me...

ink drawings

 Ink, as in dip nib pen ink, is one of my oldest hobbies that I have begun to get back into.  What now, twenty years ago? The year 2000, so yes... I did this almost every day as part of my drawing training at NDSU - I would do large 18x24 sheet papers of ink in many colors.  It took lots and lots of patience and close vision - which I had back then, and time, which I also had in abundance even though I was going to school and working at the Michael's store. (I also did not sleep much then, either *ha*)

I tried a little bit when Esme was small, but didn't stick with it.  Some of my inks have deteriorated over that time and I had to replace them - the brown turned to a purple, the yellow to a brown, and the red mostly just clotted up and is unusable.  So, I ordered some replacements and they came in the mail last weekend.

   

Kentucky BlueGrass ink from the Birmingham Pen Company

and Higgins yellow drawing ink (new stock)

 

Paper study between Master's Touch Mixed Media, Grumbacher Mixed Media, Stonehenge drawing paper and a regular Master's Touch drawing paper.  The results?  Both of the mixed medias (which I have because they are diff. sizes and I was at diff. places when I bought them) have their own unique qualities that could be used to get an effect with the ink.   

 

The Grumbacher is smoother, but can pool and make dark spots with the ink and those spots can easily tear or 'rough' and look bad in the finished drawing.  But it is a brighter white and takes the ink more smoothly across it's surface.  The MT has a rough tooth, is sort of ivory colored, but also leaves 'high points', white spots where there wasn't enough ink to fill in the tooth and the top of the surface.  Each has give and take.  I have yet to make a tear or rough pool point in the MT.

A small porcelain tea bowl I purchased at a specialty tea shop with my husband many many years ago - and finally found again this year through a comedy of errors in my cleanup of the studio after my eye surgery.  It is now in my ink kit where it belongs.  The pen on the left is a regular pen with a regular nib.  The crow quill pen is in the middle and I don't like it (but I gave it another try).  The brush is a small camelhair brush and I do use it a lot.  The pen comes with various other nibs meant for calligraphy, but I tend to use the one with the sharpest fine point.  Some nibs like the ones by the bowl have reservoirs, that hold more ink in them.  The one that is on the pen in the picture does not have a reservoir.

 

 

I've recently been embracing the probable fact that I was supposed to be left hand dominant, but was trained with my right.  I made a post earlier this month about that revelation while trying to draw portraits again.  All of the drawings to follow were drawn with the left hand only.

 

Manx Kittens Lyffan and Loki

in a mixed ink of 10 year+ brown and new red

which turned out sort of ruby or cranberry colored

 

Wood Thrush 

drawn the day the new brown ink came, with a nib that does not retain and needed to be dipped every third stroke or so - I then changed it out to one that had a small reservoir, and have been using that one since.  Although, it must be taken care at the end of writing or drawing to either 'draw it dry' or stroke on a piece of cork or ragged paper until all the ink is drawn out and it is as clean as it can be.  I used to have pen cleaner - but I never used it, and it went dry before I opened it.  I find 'drawing it dry' useful and leads to some interesting things, little sketches or lines of poetry sometimes.

 Hazelnut / Filbert tree

only one color of ink here - the new brown, but the 'fresh' ink in the pen is super dark, and as it lessens it becomes more of a 'tea' than a full ink of the pigment and gets lighter and lighter until the pen is dry and must be re-dipped.  This is something that can be used to advantage in drawing, but it will take practice.

Paints

Just a little happy tiger in the meantime...

Childrens books

Esme has enjoyed these recently:

The Mitten by Jan Brett.  Esme found this very funny, although I did the reading.  I told her the house was a lot like the one I grew up in (my grandparents, actually), with snow outside and mittens and a fireplace (ours was a woodburning stove) and Finnish/Norwegian decorations.

Alexander and the Wind Up Mouse by Leo Lionni.  We read this one tonight and Esme enjoyed it - especially after Alexander went to visit the magic lizard and got his 'quest' for the purple pebble.  She was a little sad he didn't get his dream, and was a little unhappy that he got a friend at the end - because she wants a friend, and it was mixed feelings.

Red Fox and his Canoe by Nathaniel Blanchert.  We are halfway to 2/3 through this and Esme is doing most of the reading on this one herself, thus the slowness.  The words get a bit harder as you go... she is sounding out some quite well and asking me about a lot of others.  Very fun - I remember this one from my own childhood.

Snow Trouble by Melinda Melton Crow.  Very low reading level - but a confidence builder as it was quick and she knew almost every word without guessing/sounding.  This was from the school library.

A Bug, a Bear and a Boy by David McPhail.  Fairly low reading level - she can read almost every word but it has some length to it so she is ready to be done when she gets to the last page.  This was from a library sale and she does like it quite a bit.

school bus bit

Tried to do the whole run this morning for practice.  Esme got it after the first few minutes - stopped being upset that it wasn't real school and started getting excited it was practice.  She had to go back and check her calendar in her room to make sure it said 'no school'... it was actually blank on today.  Ha!  I tried to explain it as best I can.  As I told Mark - she gets some things so early and so easily.. things I don't expect her to and then am blown away with (like building bat caves and rail systems in Minecraft) and then I have to explain things three or four times a day like 'no we have to practice so we get this right at the time it happens - which is Tuesday.'  But, she WANTED to understand today.  She felt better knowing that tomorrow is a school day.  She wanted to 'know all the things' and get 'practiced.'  And she finally got that Mom has to do all her own things to get ready for work at the same time as I help her do her things to get ready for school -- which is why we are pressing her so hard to do as much as she can for herself.  Mark did another hair brushing and hair tying back lesson.  I explained how LONG she would be on the bus so she needed both a snack and a bathroom break before she would 'normally' leave.  We even got on shoes and coats and went out to discuss where the bus would come and how she would get on and sit down and stay seated. 

Lots of little things.  Mama and Daddy culture shock... and Esme, as well.  For all her furious notes and drawings and Minecraft creations the past few days I can see she wants to be as ready as she can be.  We hope she isn't going to be too disappointed with the place the teacher starts for everyone... but hopefully it will pick up quickly...

Tomorrow, we all go for the half day, and I have that day off to do it with her.