Sunday, May 17, 2015

May 17,2015

Well, I am certainly NOT doing much with my blog of late.  I could have sworn I made a post in April.

Ah well, life has been pretty ho-hum anyway.  I have spent most of the last 5 months sick.  I got my sixth cold right after attending C2E2 in late April.  I had just gotten over cold #5 and was starting to actually feel human again when that last cold hit me...and hit me hard again.  I am now starting to feel ok again and I don't know what I will do if I get one more.  The upside of being sick is that at least I have lost some weight.  When I wore my Endor Trooper costume yesterday, the pants were definitely a lot looser...but I still can't get rid of my stomach. 

Anyway....I spent nearly 5 months constructing the set piece for the Joliet Library Star Wars Day event that will be the cornerstone of our Rebel display.  After all of those months, it feels great to say that my part of the project is finally done.  I still hope to add lights to the piece but that ball is in the court of one of the other members of my costume group.  There were a lot of ups and downs on this project and probably things I would do differently.  I am reasonably satisfied with the results.  Now I have to concentrate on other things that go into the display.  I started to work on some signage - that is something I am not very good at.  I lack graphics skills.

I did one Star Wars event in March and had not done any events since December.  On March 25th there was a child's birthday party that was looking for Stormtroopers in nearby New Lenox.  Normally I NEVER wear my Stormtrooper costume unless things are desperate. 
Well, the New Lenox party was desperate for a Stormtrooper as that was the birthday boy's favorite character.  The member who took the event as coordinator did not fit in his TK costume anymore and the other member going didn't have a Stormtrooper costume...so I signed on.  Thankfully, member Crix also came in his Stormtrooper. 

It was a short event and the weather was cool and sunny.  Where I generally hate wearing my TK, this event was perfect for wearing it.










In April I went to C2E2 at McCormick Place.  I got the ticket super cheap and parked in the nosebleed parking lot so it was not that much of an expense.  I wore my Hoth Trooper as it also was a perfect costume to wear to this event.  The weather was cool, so going outside to take a break to cool off was an option I used a couple times.  There is a lot of walking at McCormick place and the Hoth boots are super comfy so that was another win.  I generally just hung around at the Nar Shaddaa Base's fan table and had a few people that were looking for me for some costume advice.  There was also a member from Australia in town that I had wanted to meet.  I was successful on all counts...all missions were accomplished. 

I do find that now that I am really looking and feeling old that I am not so inclined to do as many Star Wars events.  I don't like the way I look and the ever present arthritis pains don't allow me as many hours of pain free enjoyment.  Yesterday I did do one more event at the Joliet Historical Museum.  I especially wanted to do that event because the Museum is the "home" of the Rebel Base for the Joliet Library annual Star Wars Day.  The staff at the Museum is always so good to us and the event yesterday was kind of a kick off event that had kids (and parents) doing a scavenger hunt for SW figures throughout the Museum.  It was a free day for families and gave them the opportunity to see the Museum exhibits as they looked for the figures.  I wore my Endor Commando yesterday because a new member was showing up in her just finished Return of the Jedi Leia.  She did an awesome job...and was a lot of fun to talk to.  The weather was really warm and muggy though and I soaked my headgear with sweat in no time.

I have also spent a LOT of time working on a project for the Master Naturalists called the Will County Monarch-y.  3 of us wrote a guide for installation of a Monarch habitat.  I spent a lot of time on writing, research and going through my photos.  In addition to making the guide, I also have been trying to raise milkweed seedlings and digging some prairie plants from my garden and potting them up for distribution.  It has been a lot of hours.  The front of my house looks like a nursery with all of the plants and seedlings.  I will be loading up next week and bringing them to the Will County Farm Bureau.  It will be nice to be rid of all of them.

I have also been trying to get my own garden in.  Thankfully, so far the flooding this year has been minimal.  With the last days of warm weather and rain the garden is already becoming quite the jungle.  Weeds are everywhere and things are leaping out of the ground.  I almost have the entire vegetable garden planted.  About the only thing left to put in the vegetable garden is the tomato plants.  I raised a bunch of them from seed and they are ready to go in.  We are going to have another cold spell later this week, so I am holding off on putting them in the ground.  The lettuce is already just about ready for cutting and I think this will be the best year for my beets and carrots in the last 3 years.  So much flooding the past two years left my veg garden a mess.  We are due for some storms later today and I am just praying that they are not that bad.

It goes without saying that I have spent a lot of time also doing volunteer work for the Forest Preserve District of Will County.  I managed to get a chance to do a burn at Messenger Woods because it was on a Tuesday.  I have also done a lot of foliar spraying of garlic mustard and reed canary grass and all of the other bad stuff.  The fun never ends!







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