Too Many Irons in the Fire

Where did that saying come from?  I have heard some interesting derivations of common terms or sayings.  It would be challenging to put them in a post and ask you, the post reader to add to the list until we end up with a dictionary of saying with derivations.  But not now.  I have too many irons in the fire to take on a new project like that.  My last post was May 8, 2013.  What the heck have I been doing?  Well, I'm back with a bunch of excuses.

JoAnn, my wife, and I have taken over our web site.  We weren't pleased with the way our original site had been designed and had been given very little access to make changes.  We decided to do it ourselves, from the bottom up with some assistance from a knowledgeable woman who teaches this in college.  For what we wanted to do with a web site she advised us to use FrontPage 2003 and arranged an account with Godaddy.  FrontPage has been around a long time and is more understandable than many other programs.  We got a "how to do it" book and started to set up our web site with four galleries to exhibit our work and a number of the other bells and whistles.  It has taken longer than planned, but we want to get it right so the viewers can find their way around easily.  I will be adding to the galleries as new work is completed.  Take a look and let us know if you like it.  Suggestions are welcome. Go to www.apatchablue.com
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Another "Iron in the Fire" has been my art work.  I am developing a series of vessels shown in Gallery 3 on our web site that I call empty/promises.  This process is explained in the heading of the Gallery 3.  My work is limited to smaller pieces now(12" to 20" tall) because of the down-sizing of our home.  More on that in another post.  I have six pieces in various stages of completion.  This is common practice as some of the steps require a curing time and I can keep busy on other pieces while this is taking place.  Most of the six pieces currently on the workbench are well curried.  I must confess I haven't been able to focus on them.  It's that irons in the fire thing.

In addition to the web site I'm using Facebook and Pinterest to get my word out.  I like to take a short segment of a post and put it on Facebook with a picture.  Then I will pin that same picture on one of my boards in Pinterest.  It isn't that complicated but it does take time.  I invite you to look at these two social media sites,   www.facebook.com   www.pinterest.com.

This past week I have spent 100% of my time on the book I'm writing.  It's my autobiography entitled "Growing Up in the Country" which chronicles my journey from boyhood on a dry land Montana ranch to retirement in Arizona today.  The 600+ pages have been written and currently are undergoing editing.  A potential of over 700 pictures, maps and sketches are collected to augment the story line.  I plan to use short portions of text and pictures from the book on future posts.  They will be identified with the book to give a preview of it's content.

This sums up my leisurely life of retirement and I am enjoying it immensely.  I guess you have to use judgment about when to put another iron in the fire.