50 to get 35

Augustine was over today to do a bunch of jobs including removing the old gas/oil heater from the middle of the house. It took awhile but we managed to pull it out while his nephew cut pipes and pushed from below. We were thinking of keeping the hole as an alternate route out of the house, making a wine cellar or giving Seven his own entrance to the living room. Instead we opted for it to be framed out and to drywall patch the walls. WL's skills as a floor installer will be put to the test again.
The old boiler did not seem very efficient, it stated that for every 50,000 btu's put in, 35,000 came out.
PS.... It took all of 30 minutes before one of the local scrap metal guys drove by and picked up the junk for us. Great neighborhood.

New Door Day 2

Louie was back early this morning to finish off the door job. A lot of cosmetic work and the placement of the huge center door knob. It all looks great and is awaiting some modest caulking and painting.

New Door Day 1

Louis got here early and ripped apart the old door frame. Good riddance! The sill had a lot of water damage/ dry rot/ termite tunnels. The previous owners love of caulk was on display and Louis pulled out a great big chunks. We were glad to see it go. The old, dented metal door served as a fitting work table for the new safety yellow, mahogany door. A new jamb and sill installed, the door planed to size and a British style night latch lock added. Tomorrow, he attaches the center door pull and finishes up the esthetics.

Lion Yellow

Finished painting the new front door. We put the door pull in position and really liked it. Below are some of our British inspirations from Flickr.

Garden Standoff

Praying Mantis foreground..... Grasshopper background.


The Mystic Spires Salvia is the hot bed of activity these days. This morning a mantis and grasshopper poised themselves on opposite stalks. Since grasshoppers are largely herbivores, we thought the worst of the praying mantis. When we came back from breakfast, the mantis was still perched while there was no sign of the hopper. Hopefully he realized there were safer breakfasts' nearby.

Hummingbird Breakfast

I was out taking a few shots of the early morning rainbow when I spotted our hummingbird grabbing some breakfast from the Mystic Spires Salvia. I love his coloring of brown, orange and green. He's very territorial and sometimes dive bombs us when we're gardening.

Darren's Pics

A few more shots of me in Michigan as shot by our on set dresser Darren.

Daily News

I forgot to scan this a while back. SP picked up a few copies when we were up north in Ludington. Amazing lakeside town. Beautiful beaches and some great restaurants. Definitely worth a summer trip. Anyways, here is what the local paper wrote about us being there a few days and blocking traffic......

Broiling

It is broiling today. At one point they said the temp was up to 112. But it's a dry heat so it's okay.... only feels like 102. Yikes....I started cleaning out and organizing the garage at 7 am this morning and had to stop about ten. Most of the plants are doing okay although the banana tree in the back is completely sunburned. Not sure if the main shoot will survive. Most of the plants are drought tolerant but not sure about heat tolerate!

Macy's

The huge Macy's spot we did at the Bronx Armory with JLo, Donald Trump, Martha Stewart and others has made it's way onto the internet. Watch it here

The Martini

The last shot of the filming day is called the martini. On the last shot of the last day of the Michigan feature, SP pulled out the stops and projected a huge martini glass on the wall. With music pumping, those of us onset wandered out to see the fun. A few takes later, the film (and our summer in Grand Rapids) was over.

Scrap Yard Rules

While we were at the Scrapyard filming the ending of our film...... the construction hut built for the sequence had some funny set dressing inside of it. Including our villain's theory on making money. Seems simple enough. Unfortunately for him and the hut, their dreams go up in smoke and CaseMc caught the effect of a flame thrower gone wild from his perch 80' above the action. Below, FN caught the Scrap Yard in it's eeriest light. Looks other worldly and grim.

Night and Day

I'm at work with the DoP focusing a light on high during a night shoot and then tracking cloud movements for a day shot. Both pics taken by our on set dresser Darren.