A New Insane Weekend Justice

It is alternate Friday and that means a New Weekend Justice is waiting for you. Just Click on the Words and that will take you to the wonderful site of Needcoffee.

Happy Birthday Spazhouse

Today is the first day of Summer and it was June 21st. of 2001 that I signed the papers to make Spazhouse mine. People have asked me over the years why the name Spazhouse. Well a few reasons actually. First the type of house I have. It is a converted carriage house that has two stories and is about 1200 square feet. At one point the first floor was open and stored a horse and buggy or just the buggy and the horse was housed elsewhere. The slab flooring which is cool in the summer and freezing in the winter slopes slightly to allow for easy cleanup. The lower floor has long been walled in with two front doors. The owners thought the lower lever would make an excellent office.

The upstairs living quarters were perhaps a maid's quarters or mother-in-law rooms. There are two large rooms living room and bedroom with bath and kitchen. The kitchen I believe was added on later as the material in the kitchen seems to be more of a back porch than an original kitchen. The ceilings upstairs are an impressive nine foot and the kitchen is about eight feet. Hence my theory that the kitchen was a back porch.

So, I have have living quarters upstairs with all the amenities, stairs that run to the lower level and a long hallway to the master front door. I had installed French doors to the lower lever with help from my boss who likes to work on houses. We had to break through three sets of walls and have Home Depot make a custom door jamb. The lower level has my art lab, small library, laundry and catch all room. I kind of think of the long single room that the second door or I like to call the servant's entrance door leads to the bike garage and laundry. 

There is a half bath that had been a problem area for the Landlord's in the past. One might call it the mouthway to Hell. or as my neighbor called it before the major clean up the Resident Evil Bathroom. I have disconnected all plumbing in that room until I see about re-plumbing the house. The Village idiot plumber my landlady employed had actually used cat litter in the toilet bowl. No one knows why he did this, all I know is that there are plenty of capped areas in my leadout to the sewers that cause me problems with clogs. The roots get into these caps that he made with bits of concrete. He could not be bothered with replacing the section. This allowed him repeat business. When it was found out how bad he was people dropped him like a hot potato. 

The age of the house is in question as there are several dates on different documents. One date lists 1901 and in the Riverside Avondale Preservation notations it is 1911. I would prefer it was the earlier date to at least 1910 (The year King Edward past away) This would make my house of the Edwardian period. This is an actual time period I enjoy for Steampunk wear.

The name Spazhouse comes from the shortened version of the word spastic. The house was and is to some extent disjointed and  uncoordinated in the flow of how a normal house works. The Riverside Avondale Preservation Association has listed my house as untraditional. This means that I can make adjustments to my home that do not have to adhere to the strict historical guidelines. Hence the bright red with blue and yellow trim color of the house.

In reading  in many of the 18th and 19th century literature I have noticed that manors and homes have their own names. Toad Hall for one, Brandybuck Hall from "Lord of the Rings" Falling Water of Frank Lloyd Wright, Jane Austin's books are full with homes that have names. So with those thoughts I had come up with the name Spazhouse.

The other cool thing about Spazhouse is that is cannot be seen from a satellite.

A New Weekend Justice is up

http://www.needcoffee.com/2009/06/12/what-would-quincy-do/

Tune in to the What would Quincy Do? Episode.

Brown Chicken, Brown Cow.

Full Contact Croquet & Bocce

Today was a great day playing croquet on the lawn of the Karpeles Manuscript Museum with the Cowford Steampunk Society. A genteel time was had by all.

Thanks to all the folks of the Cowford Steampunk Society who helped make a very nice picnic happen. 

It was a warm day, not as hot as last weekend, so I opted to wear tennis white and a straw top hat.

Sometimes Things get weird When you Game

I belong to a very nice role playing gaming group. That is, we all know most of each other's idiosyncrasies and they don't bother each other that much. I am the type of gamer that likes to think outside the box or just make strange leaps of the imagination. Last night was no exception. Our group was asked to find the sister of a young woman. She claimed that her husband beats her. The group ventures over to said house to gain access to the sister. I came up with the weird idea of getting a milliner to make sort of an Elephant Man bag hat for the sister. I started this bad sketch and Lena had helped with some of the details.

Needless to say the sister was not there so the quest continues, but we do have this great fashion sketch.

Caffeine Appreciation Month

March was Caffeine appreciation month and we were as by my Friends at NeedCoffee to submit out best caffeinated love images. My Sister known as Scum and her family has really jumped to the task at hand. The image of many Star Wars figures praying to a Need Coffee Mug was exceptional. Funny without talking to her my own image was that of a Minnie Mouse mug guarded by some Dungeons and Dragons Figures. This way to the photos. Enjoy.

Caffeine Appreciation Day/Month - Whatever

Widgett Walls at Need Coffee pointed out that it is the time for Caffeine Appreciation Month. I was playing D&D last night so I thought coffee and D&D. What a great combo. For last year's coffee gallery I had my niece pose with the great metal Scorpion at the Spazhouse estate.

This year I thought of a Minnie Mouse mug and some D&D Figurines.