ps. Here are some recipes from our fabulous Easter feast. Everybody wanted them, so enjoy.

Bon Appetit.

Hello Dollies

Graham Cracker or Vanilla Wafers (Crushed for crust)

1 stick margarine (melted)

1 package tollhouse semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 cans Eagle Brand milk

1 package Bakers coconut

1 small package of walnuts or pecans (chopped)

Melt margarine in 13x9 pan. Cover pan with crushed crackers or wafers.

Layer ingredients: Chocolate Chips, Coconut, chopped nuts, then drizzle 1 can of milk layer again and top again with 2^nd can of milk.

Easter Bunny Cake

1 yellow cake mix

Mix as directed on box & pour into round cake pan. (You will have extra batter – make cupcakes & decorate)

Cut round cake in half. Use frosting & put ½’ together. Stand on platter or board w/round side @ top. Cut a V into rounded part @ 2” wide but not all the way to the bottom of cake. This makes the shape for his head. Take that piece and and w/frosting put it as his tail. Frost cake, sprinkle coconut. Use jelly benas for eyes & Mouth. Make mouth w/licorice or tinted black icing. Use paper to make ears. Tint 1 cup of coconut green & sprinkle around bunny for grass. Add jelly beans around in grass.

Broccoli Silicate Salad

1 large head of chopped broccoli

½ chopped red onions

½ cup raisins

Mix:

1 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons of vinegar

½ cup sugar

1 package of bacon fried crisp and crumbled

Combine broccoli, onions, and raisins. Mix dressing add to ingredients. Chill for a few hours add crumbled bacon before serving.

Steamed Veggies W/ Pine Nuts and Mushrooms

- Steam Kale or Brusselsprouts until tender (5-10 minutes)

- Add mixed vegetables at end. (Carrots, broccoli, red, green or orange peppers, water chestnuts, etc.

- Sautee mushrooms and toast pine nuts.

- Put all in mixing bowl and add toasted pine nuts and sautéed mushrooms.

- Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar and garlic.

- Serve warm

Easter Chickie Buns

2T Quick Rise Yeast

6 ½ cups flour

½ cups sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1 ½ tsp. salt

-Combine above ingredients into a large bowl.

½ cup butter, melted

½ cup water

-Heat together in microwave until very warm.

1 ¼ cups plain yogurt or buttermilk

- Add yogurt or buttermilk to the other liquid.

- Stir wet ingredients into dry and than add 2 large eggs at room temp.

- Mix until you have sticky dough.

-Turn out onto floured surface and kneed 6-8 minutes until smooth and elastic. Put back into bowl.

- Cover with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.

- Divide into approximately 20 pieces. Roll each piece of dough into 12” long, skinny rope. Carefully tie into a knot, brining top end forward for head. Pinch beak into face and slightly flatten. Square off tail end. Cut 2 slits into tail and separate feathers a bit. Poke 2 holes in sides of face with skewer and push in currants for eyes. (eyes can also be added after rising just before baking)

- Place 3” apart on greased sheets and let rise in warm place for approximately 25 minutes or until almost doubled.

- Bake at 350° for approximately 15 minutes or until golden.

- Remove to rack to cool.

Easter Hot Cross Buns (Quick Rise Method)

3 cups whole wheat flour

3 cups bleached flour

½ cup sugar

1T cinnamon

½ tsp. allspice

½ tsp. ground cloves

1 tsp. salt

2 packs quick rise yeast

1 cup raisins (omit if making bunnies)

-Mix together in large bowl

½ cup margarine melted

1 cup milk

½ cup water

- Add all ingredients into bowl and heat in microwave approximately 2 minutes.

- Stir hot ingredients into dry ingredients.

- Add 4 eggs at room temperature.

- Mix well until sticky dough is formed

- Knead on lightly floured surface. Approximately 10 minutes until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if necessary.

- Place dough in lightly oiled bowl, turn over once to coat. Cover with waxed paper and damp cloth. Let rest for 10 minutes.

- Shape dough into 2” rounds for hot cross buns.

- Place on greased sheets and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in warm place until doubled in size. Approximately 10 minutes.

- Bake at 350° after glazing twice with 1 egg, 1 T. water and 1 T. sugar. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool and make icing.

1 egg white unbeaten

1 cup icing sugar (or more)

¼ tsp vanilla

1-2 T. lemon juice

- Mix together and pour into baggie with corner snipped for hole to glaze buns.

OK,OK, OK...I can take a hint. I'll finish this thing. Put it to bed. Give it a rest.

It's been right at one week since we laid our rollers down, and not quite a week since we've been home. Trust me - it's taken a bit to get re-acclimated. Got out of bed in the middle of the night and was truly disoriented. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

We got back to Franklin around 11pm Sunday night. A few brave souls stayed until Monday, but I believe that Kim and Loralei actually left around midnight! For a 16 hour drive! More power to 'em.

We did get a call from Kim a couple of days later. Seems that she had found a nice quiet place on a lake to just float and unwind. By herself. Just needed to decompress. Kinda took it personal. She didn't tell us exactly WHERE she was...

Poor JoHanna. Gave us a call on Tuesday. She was stuck in Meridian, Mississippi. Seems that she wanted to take a break on the way home and spent the night there. Woke up the next morning, started her truck, and sped out of the parking lot - at about 5 mph. Wouldn't go any faster. She got her truck to the local Toyota dealership, they put it up on the rack, and told her that she needed about $550 worth of parts. She asked them how in the world those two parts could go bad, when the truck was relatively new? Oh, they weren't bad, the mechanic said. They were GONE! Someone had gotten up under her truck and stolen them by removing only three bolts. Well, WHY, she asked, would someone steal those parts? The mechanic just kinda looked at her. Let me repeat, he said. You need to give me $550 for these two parts...

The walls really turned out well. Still waiting for the final inspection from TDOT, but from the folks we talked to, everyone seems happy. The parapets are spectacular (some people actually thought that we carved grout lines into the walls!) and the retaining walls look great. OK, there are some lap lines, but maybe those will disappear with the landscaping, or simply become part of the "look". I mean, actual rock formations have "lines" as well, so maybe it was just serendipitous that the color breaks happened the way they did. Makes it look more natural.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I have a confession: it takes a lot for me to work with other artists. Everyone that worked on the project was very talented. It's just that sometimes I get a little...well...look. I have certain ways I like things to be done. It's not necessarily the best way, but it is MY way. And most artists feel the same way. Now, put them together on the same project and...well...you can see the volatile mix. Keeping all of that in mind, as well as all of the myriad personalities on the project, and I'm truly surprised that the project came off as well as it did. We really only had one or two that "left early." I'm truly proud of the crew. You guys all deserve medals.

We've had some time to dissect the project. A whole lot of, "We should have done it this way," or, "We should have done it THAT way." Try to plan more and be more productive. Less people standing around. More assignments for everyone to do. See, this was a truly new experience for everyone. A real first. A lot of on-the-job-training. Learn as you go., seat of the pants kinda thing. Give me another of these projects. I think I've got it figured out.

I think that we had 35-40 people total who worked on this project. I can't begin to thank you all enough. From the initial crew who had to learn how to work with heavy equipment, fight with the weedeaters and pressure washers (and NO paint!) to the "primer" crew who had nothing but WHITE paint, to the final crew, who put on all of the finishing touches. To the catering crew, who fed us all like kings, to the massage therapists who worked out all of the kinks, to the condo folks who took care of our wall critters...and on and on. And especially to Mickie. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. This project would not have happened if not for her. Artist recruitment, housing development, catering, finance, payroll, entertainment (anyone wanna go go-kart riding again?), organization, planning, productivity - and even painting! My God, the woman can do it all. She even had time to lend a shoulder to a few poor souls who were really having some relationship issues. Probably relationship with ME, but I digress.

I wish everyone well. I hope your Spring and Summer are full of fabulous projects. We might even see you at some venue in the near future, like the SDP convention here in Nashville, or SALI in Chicago, or The Faux Event in Boca Raton in October, or a mural or faux class, or...you get the picture. We're a pretty tight community, so I'm sure we'll run into most of you somewhere sometime.

I know, I know...if I ever get another project like this, I know who to call.

Someone else.

Mike
This is just one of the ideas that I came up with for the large retaining walls. It wasn't just going to be colors. I originally wanted all kinds of things, but TDOT was afraid to distact the drivers. Let me tell you: after working on those highways for a couple of months, I know exactly what they are talking about.










Here is an idea for the parapet walls, or even the large retaining walls. Tried to come up with things tht could be done with just rollers. OK, so it would take a little longer...
















Like I said, colors weren't the only idea. Mickie thought of putting something like the Roadrunner tunnel on a wall, but that one didn't catch on real well. (I actually thought it was a cool idea, but those pesky copyright issues kept popping up.)









Remember what those walls USED to look like? Also, take a look at the date on the photo. I TOLD you that I had been working on this for a while!










Now doesn't this look a lot better?














One of the last ones to leave the camp, Kim is giving a heartfelt wave to everyone. My feelings exactly.

Now, go paint something!

I have to admit, I never thought that these words would ever be spoken, but here we go:

We're done.

Finished up about 8pm, rolling on the last of the big walls. We have a few touch-ups to do iin the morning (if it doesn't rain), and then we'll pack. Touch-ups will take less than 30 minutes, repairing water-damaged areas.

We let the ground crew go home right after lunch, with the lift crew hanging on until this evening. They're going to meet me at the pod at 9:30am for final clean-up, consolidation of paint, supplies, gassing up the lifts, etc. Ahhh, 9:30am. It seems like such a luxury.

I am sitting here in awe, because I can't believe that we actually did it. I drove from the beginning of the project all the way through and let me tell you: these walls haven't gotten any smaller. They're huge! And we painted them! 2500 gallons of paint. Wow.

I can't say enough about all of the wonderful and amazing people that worked on this endeavor. We couldn't have done it without you.

And of course, none of this would have been remotely possible without Mickie. Truly an amazing woman. And you all know what I'm talking about.

I'll close up with some comments and more pictures tomorrow. In the meantime. we're going to sleep - until late.

Well, until 9:30 anyway.

Mike

Right after finishing the last of the walls from the ground. I think that everyone just kinda backed off and let me put on a couple of strokes. The lift crew came over to help finish, since they were working through lunch to finish. We actually just felt sorry for them. BTW, those radios really came in handy.










This is how it's done, from 30' up. Notice how light the paint gets when it dries. A real bitch trying to match up the patterns.










Newbie Joe was trying really hard to drive his lift correctly, and he really did a great job. Or should I say, a bang-up job. I guess Blalock won't miss this barrel too awfully bad. Jonny and JoHanna did, however, judge it as a "clean kill."










With only a patch left to go on the wall, you can see how far these guys actually went - in two days! Well, the wall on the right, anyway.










Here it is - the last spot on the last wall. From the ground, anyway. Again, everyone did an amazing job.








Ahhh - the last of the last wall - All four lifts going at it, in the waning daylight. But we finished. I would have gotten kleig lights if it came down to it. Jack and Marsha had to come by to see the end. It really was exciting.









Mickie modelling some glasses she got from Marsha. She will HAVE to wear them in her new convertible.




















OK, now really, who looks better in the glasses?

Man - if we can make it through this thing without killing each other...

Jack jokes at the end of each day, "Nobody died. It was a good day." I used to think he was kidding. I'm really not so sure. The days are long and hot, and the work is hard and tedious. We're making great progress, and we are probably only a day or so from the end, but tempers are getting a little short. I absolutely understand why. If we can only just hold off from complete anarchy for a couple of more days...

I talked to Dan Carter, the foreman of the construction project who has been fabulous at helping us with traffic control (setting cones, clearing lanes, etc.). He said that he hates working on Sundays, because that's when he goes to church. I told him to pray for us while we worked. He laughed, said that he already has been, that I need to realize that I am a blessed man! I'll take all the help we can get, divine or otherwise.

Well, we made the Knoxville News Sentinel today - front page, HUGE picture above AND below the fold! Great story. Everyone looked fabulous - and busy! Check it out online - www.knoxnews.com.

Should be a wonderful day tomorrow, after a good night's sleep, looking forward to no rain, and the possibility of actually finishing! If we don't finish tomorrow, then it will only be a few hours on Sunday.

This is truly unbelievable.

Mike

We gambled a bit the other day and painted when it was real cloudy. It went great for a while, then it started to rain. Kinda gooped up the paint that hadn't dried, and we had to wash that part off and touch it up. Not too bad, actually.















When you go up in a lift, you have to wear a harness. And you have to get trained to wear it, as well. Welcome to the class.










These harnesses are supposed to "arrest" you when (if) you fall. There is a rigorous testing procedure for each unit. Only for those of brave hearts.


















Twyla, just giving it her all on the lift. Her first time, and she's a real espert already. At riding, not driving. Those honors go to Loralei.










Great shot of all of us working together. It really is a sight to behold.




















Catch a few winks anywhere you can. It was a cool and overcast day, until the sun came out. Mickie said that she felt like a cat laying in the warmth.











I TOLD you she was back! And she's still wearing the same clothes she left in! I think Jack needs to take his Mom shopping every once in a while - just for paint clothes!

It's getting so close I can taste it! We can actually see the end of the project. I'll bet that by today (Friday) we'll be done with the ground crew, with only a day or so left for the lift crew. I am almost beside myself. We're going to have a perfect weather day today, and hopefully one tomorrow, with only a slight chance for rain.

And to guarantee that we are going to finish, I went all out: not only did I call in the Marines, not only did I call in Mickie, but I called in none other than...

THAT JAN HARRISON!

You betcha! She showed up yesterday afternoon, a huge treat not only for her son, Jack, but for all of the crew who were here in October that had the pleasure to work with this amazing 72 year old. NOW we're gonna cook!

More later. I gotta eat.

Mike

What a day, what a day, what a day!

The first thing I will tell you is the last thing that happened today. I FINALLY SAW MY BEARS! As in PLURAL!

We (Me, Jonny, Steve and Joe - the girls were staying to shop a bit) were just leaving Calhoun's after eating some dinner tonight, and were pulling out the parking lot, when this HUGE black bear came loping across the street in front of us. OHMYGAWD! I pulled the truck around a bit to get a better look, and it just kinda stopped and stared at us for a while! I grabbed my camera, AND THE STUPID THING WOULDN'T TAKE A PICTURE!!! I guess it needed to be set a certain way, and I have no idea how to do it. Anyway, the bear took off across a small parking lot, and Stteve started to get out if the truck to get a better look, when it's CUB appeared! I told Steve to get his ass back into the truck - NOW! You don't mess with a momma bear and her cub. Even I know that! We watched them from the safety of the cab of teh truck for a few minutes, until they disappeared behind a building. It was soooo cool.

I can now die a happy man.

Well, it rained tday for most of the morning, and we told everyone tht they could take the day off if they wanted, but stay close, you never know. So about 1:30 we decided to give it a shot. Met at the pod, loaded the truck, and 7 of us went at it. Everyone else was gone. But we got about 3/4 of a large wall painted in only a few hours. Not too shabby.

Amd today teh papparazzi showed! OK, he was just a photographer from the Knoxville News Sentinel. Wants to send a reporter back to do a story. Great eye candy.

OK. This next one is something that you only read about in Reader's Digest. But it actually happened to one of our very own. I swear.

Marsha had to borrow Mickie's red Explorer so that she could drive down the street to use the facilities. No problem. Now, she had never driven Mickie's car before, So it was no surprise when she unlocked the door, climbed in, and tried to start it. Nothing. She couldn't even get the key to work. She kept trying and trying. Finally, an older gentlemen came to her window, and just kinda looked in, smiling at her. Finally he said, "Roll down your window." She looked at him like he was nuts. She didn't know this guy. Well, she kept trying the key, and nothing. Again, the smiling older gentleman asked her to roll down her window. She looked at him again, wondering what the hell he was talking about. So, she cracked her window, and asked him, "WHy".


"Because this is my car."

In her hurry to get in and get back to painting, she didn't notice that Mickie's car was 2 cars over. Oops. The key "worked" only because the gentlean's truck wasn't locked. He was very good natured about the whole thing. Coulda had her arrested. Didn't though.

And a nice adventure for Jack. We went to dinner last night, then ran by Food City to pick uop a few things, then came back to the condo. Jack was missing his phone and license. Kim swore that he left in on the table at the restaurant. So Jack calls the restaurant, talks to the manager, the waitress, the bartender, a couple of cooks - nothing. No phone. He notifies the police, the media, rents a plane with a banner - still nothing. Tonight, Mickie gets a call from Jack's mother, who lives in Bowling Green, KY. Seems a worker at Food City found the phone, switched the language to Spanish so he could read it in hopes of finding it's owner, and with broken English eventually contacted Jack's mother, who calls Mickie, who calls Jack. Phone is back, and Jack's a happy camper.

Never a dull moment.

Here are some pix.
Mike


Caught in the act. Hey! - Quiet! I'm busy being creative.









Hamming it up for the camera, all of these guys truly want to be in pictures.

Ahhhh....back to the blog.

Weird day. First day to use all four lifts, and it took a little while to get going. Recruited Edwin to drive #4, while Loralei was more than happy to drive #3. We only painted for a coupleof hours before the rains came in. I thought that we would be dry until at least the afternoon, but down it came. I thought that maybe we could wait until after lunch to see what the weather would hold, but a lot of folks just took off, figuring that the day was done. After lunch, I recruited Kim, Loralei, Damon and Mickie to go and paint some seams. Got the sprayer up and running, got one of the lifts, and went to the last wall. Huge wall. Probably 50'. Tallest one here. So five of su got most of the last wall ready to paint. I say almost, beause the sprayer conked out before we finished.

Speaking of walls, you need to check out the pictures of proof of a little visitor that we had while painting. Strangest thing I've ever seen!

Cool compliments from almost everyone we've talked to. All telling us that what we have done is"maaaaaahhhvelous". In fact, was talking to a girl behid the counter at a local gas station, and she said that she liked the small walls a lot better than the big ones The guy behind me agreed, saying that he KNEW that we spent a lot of time on the walls, especially carving out the mortar joints on the stone walls. I told him that they were simply painted, not real. He was blown away, saying that he been in the building industry for years, but those parapet walls .

OK. I've typed the last paragraph about six times. It's time for bed.

Later

Mike




End of a run, another wall finished, well-earned break deserved. Regardless of where you are at the time.






Looking up at the top of the wall, it looked kinda weird to see this stick hanging off of the top. Wait...a...minute. That's no stick!










Not a stick, huh? I have no clue what this thing was doing hanging over the wall, 50' up, other than just looking at traffic and wishing it had arms to drive a semi. Almost put a roller in it's mouth, this thing was big enough to hold it.










Kim is handy to have around the house.. Sprayer conks out, and who better to repair it? She and Loralei did a fabulous job.










Thought that you'd like to see how we utilized four lifts instead of two. Worked like a charm. Let me tell you: we did some rolling.

Sorry for the delay. Sabrina has moved on, and wiht her went her router. had to switch to the cable modem, and it doesn't work downstairs. So JoHanna let me borrow her 50' ethernet cable so that I could plug in upstairs and use it in our office downstairs. And it works! My only question: who carries with them a 50' ethernet cable? But, who am I to ask - we're back online!

Sunday was a bit different. We actually started the day at 7am - and some of us didn't even get back until after 7:30PM! We had the weather, we had paint, and I needed some walls painted. Great combination. And believe it or not, we tried it again today: met at the pod at 7am, but this time we broke down around 5:30pm, actually getting back to the condos around 6:30pm. Long hours, but you wouldn't believe the progress! We're actually using terms like: light at the end of the tunnel!

A couple of newbies joined us Sunday morning - Damon and Edwin. Both locals, and both ex-Marines! Know how I found them? By talking with our waiter at Outback. For some reason, I asked him if he knew of anyone looking to work for a week or so, and he said that his roommate was indeed looking for a job, as well as his best friend. Birds of a feather, I guess...

I know I've said this before, but I'll say it again: Mickie is on the wall! It's really one of the first times that she has worked on one of my projects(Painting. She is ALWAYS working on my projects behind the scenes.) And she is really doing a fabulous job! Slinging paint actually suits her. Now, I wonder what she's doing for my next project...

Mellissa has absolutely been here for too long. Said that she's going to name her first born, "Rumber". (Raw Umber)

Well, I'll be honest. Tomorrow morning is going to be getting her early...more later.

Mike

Newbie Steve, who actually hates to have his picture taken, doesn't really seem to mind, as long as he doesn't know it's being taken. Now, does that make much sense?



















Talking to the lift crew, trying to find out the best way to man the "second" lift crew. We decided on Loralei to drive, as well as newbie Edwin, with JoHanna and myself filling out the teams.










End of a long day, and we are consolidating buckets, getting ready for tomorrow. Pretty cool as to how everyone chips in without even being asked. Almost rote.










Look at this - these guys are doing a great job. Even if some of them didn't start out as such, they are truly great artists. Really proud of them.










Newbie Marsha during lunch at a park pavillion, right around the corner from the job site. Nice place to kick back. Ask Kim.











See, this is right next to the pavillion. Looks kinda fun right? But would you say that it looks...peaceful? Look closely...









Seems Kim is catching a few winks anywhere she can.Better here than on the lift. Dark, quiet, and really counting on school being in session as opposed to the playground being in use.

















See? I TOLD you Mickie was painting! Some folks didn't believe me - Actually wanted to see some proof!










This is how it looks from the ground. We get quite a few honks and jeers from passersby. And if I ever hear the words, "Git 'er done!" one more time...
















Great shot of what these guys look like from the top of one of the retaining walls. I think Mickie actually took thios one, I am truly impressed! Of course, Jack had to help her down...










Newbie Damon, taking in some rest time at the pavillion. It's amazing all of that vocabulary that the Marines teach you...



















Look at this...can you see the last wall??? Of course, it does turn the corner, but we're really making a lot of progress!










OK, I'm thinking that we're not working Jack hard enough. If I knew he could climb walls like this I could have saved TONS of money on lifts!










Newbie Edwin, fitting in a little to easily. Seems like he has "break time" down pretty well.

Welcome back.

Today actually turned out pretty cool. After a long rain delay, we got on the walls at 3pm, and busted some major butt until 7pm! If we can keep the same pace this week, we just might even finish! Well...of course we'll finish, I just mean that we should finish here in the next week to ten days.

I really need to take a picture of Marsha and Steve, newbies without faces yet. I'll have to catch them unawares.

Tomorrow should be a very full day. Sunshine is predicted for most of the day. at least until it gets dark. (Sorry.) I figure that everybody wants more hours, and I want to finish the wall - this makes for, as they say, a "win-win" situation. We're going to meet at the pod at (ugh) 7am. And if folks want to work until 7pm, we'll do it.

Sabrina is leaving tomorrow, but a replacement will be here before her bed is cold. We've actually got a local kid coming in, and he will be here for the duration. More on him later.

We're gettin' down to the wire, guys. This next week should be very, very interesting.

Mike

(Photos courtesy of Cindy Hernder)

The paint and supplies are loaded on the trailer, and we're getting ready to transport it far, far away to the next wall. Across the street.










Nice shot of Cindy. She told us not too worry, that she could handle this wall all by herself. No problem reaching the top. One-handed. Then she left for Canada.










As sweet as she is, Kim always reminds me of that special someone that would make you cross the street if you saw them coming towards you on the same sidewalk. Kinda like Mickie: you don't want her to be your enemy.










I TOLD you we had a band! Hadn't had much time - nor energy - to play much, unless you count 5 o'clock in the morning after visiting the local pubs all night. Hmmmm, Jonny? What about it, girls? Keep anybody up?