Tom Brokaw put it very well when he tweeted “It is not enough to talk about access to guns. We also have to address a popular culture that treats graphic violence as routine.”

Well, winter is here! Yesterday we had well over a foot of snow, half of what we got the whole winter last year. We really needed it. My grand-nephew has had an unexpected (for him and his dad) vacation. They came up Saturday to put the snowblower on my lawn tractor, and Scottie stayed overnight, with Scott expecting to come up Sunday to pick him up. The roads were too bad yesterday to get out of the city, and the same again today. So Scottie has had two days of snowmobiling instead of school, poor boy. Since we’re all plowed out now, Christian is going to run him down to the cities tomorrow.

The birds certainly knew that they needed to get filled up while they could. Sunday they were all flocking to the feeder.

Today was a lovely day (since I didn’t have to drive in it). It was a bit nippy, 5° this a.m., but there was no wind at all. Very nice! Here’s Dexter, our bull, waiting for lunch.

Those are 80’ trees back there, just covered with snow. Gorgeous.

And Suka and Pyr are just loving the weather.

Sadly, I may be having to give up lampworking, or at least seriously cutting down. I have arthritis in my neck, and it’s been pretty bad the past year, and between backaches and headaches, I was spending more and more time in bed. That’s no way to live! I’ve been prescribed several different medications, but they haven’t helped, and it seems like the doctor is at a standstill. The only thing that works is narcotics, and he won’t prescribe any more of them, so now I’m going to physical therapy. It’s helped the headaches a tiny bit, but not the backaches.

But as I said, spending half my day in bed is frustrating, so I decided I needed to find something to do in the recliner. I used to quilt, so I decided to try that again. I bought this wolf fabric years ago with my sister in mind, so I dug it out and have been appliquéing morning glories on it. The good thing about it is that I’ve been catching up on old movies and videos that I haven’t had a chance to watch. I’m halfway through Lord of the Rings, and I just might tackle eight seasons of NCIS.

My goofball Pyr and son, Christian,

What a warm day today! It was misting, and I didn’t even need a coat to do chores. If it weren’t for the drought conditions, I could really enjoy global climate change.

I’ve been really getting into making the focals again, and I really like these two. The first one is such a pretty buttery glass. Unfortunately, it’s a Vetrofond glass, and they’ve gone out of business. They made some of the most wonderful glass, and a very nice variety.

Just a couple bird photos, and a few stupid pet pics:
Cardinals! I’ve had a family of 3 males and a female hanging around lately,

It’s quite a zoo around here at times. Here’s Pry joining me on the recliner while I was trying to sew,

Suka and Pyr playing, with Pip trying to hump Pry (it’s a dominance thing),

I rearranged my computer and peripherals to get the computer up off the floor (too dusty), so my hard drives are on the shelf along side the satellite receiver. Well, obviously Honey missed the warmth of the hard drives.

They are now moved, hopefully to a little less precarious spot.
And the other morning Peaches showed up with a packing peanut stuck to her nose!

Suka found it quite interesting,

Oh, I do love Minnesota. A record high of 60° at midnight, and 5 hours later, 19°. Pretty nippy out there still.

I had 3 red cardinals at my feeder a little bit ago. Such a bright color on a cold gloomy winter evening.

I sure wish I knew what glass I used in this bead. It’s a dark midnight blue, but when the light hits it just right, there’s reddish-orange shimmers.

And here’s another one I wish I knew how I made it,

LOL, someone didn’t do a very good background check!

Mass. highway safety head loses job after report

The director of the Massachusetts Highway Safety Division lost her job Sunday after a newspaper reported that her driving record included seven accidents, four speeding violations and one failure to wear a seat belt.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2012/11/18/mass-highway-safety-chief-has-bad-driving-record/eXC5gcPxkGsQ6XRJXSzi8M/story.html

Suka, my husky, has a pretty intense prey drive. He likes to chase anything that moves, especially cats and chickens. I have a cat who likes to just stay in my studio, although it's open to the rest of the house. So Suka was in my studio, Honey (the cat) went to jump up on the desk, he grabbed her tail, she grabbed the kiln, and Suka pulled them both down onto the floor.

The kiln's top is a bit wonky now, a chunk of firebrick got taken out inside, but it still works, or at least it fires up. If that darned dog weren't so darned cute, I'd shoot him!
ETA: Someone was worried about the cat, and suggested I check her tail. Here she is on the desk behind my computer monitor,

and here she is after I checked her tail.

I don’t think she appreciated my concern.

I’m featured on Zibbet’s blog!

http://www.zibbet.com/blog/2012.11.04/featured-zibbeter-betsybeads#comment-8221

I’m in a slump again, too many clouds, too many headaches, too many backaches. I NEED A NEW BODY!!

I did update my website, www.greyhavenart.com, to show my latest pen and ink drawings, and a new ACEO.

It only took me 2 days to figure out how to make a new gallery for the website. Talk about frustration!

I’m still working on murrini, and that’s a whole new field for frustration. Can you image taking these colors,

and ending up with this?


Or how about this one,

and ending up with this?


Actually, it’s kind of fun!

Yesterday was a fun day, chaotic from beginning to end. It began with Suka grabbing S.C. (cat) by the tail and not letting go, me grabbing his collar and hauling him up to try to get him to let her go, with the two little dogs attacking her, and her sinking her claws in my legs trying to get away. My day ended with me going to bed with a snack of cauliflower and dip, and having Pyr sneeze all over it. Sigh. Who needs to bungee jump for excitement when you’ve got a life like mine.

YIPPEEEEEEE!!!!! Only 1 more day!!!!!!
And then no more political ads. :) :) :)

My personal opinion, this country is in such a mess partly because of this greedy attitude,

Analysts Disappointed in Apple’s $8.2 Billion Q4 2012 Profit

http://tidbits.com/article/13146

$8.2 billion dollars profit, and they’re disappointed?!?

It’s a meanderings post today. The other day we had a mixture of rain and snow for a bit, and both Suka and Pyr were loving the cool weather. The only problem? Pyr, with that long heavy coat of his, just soaked up all the wet sand.

But after he got all dried out, Christian and he relaxed in the recliner,

My nephew has bought his daughter and her new baby up. She’s a little doll, and here’s Scottie helping with her,

Speaking of Scottie, he and a couple of the other kids were out in back digging a hole, or so I thought. Here’s a part of what they actually did, two deep holes with a tunnel connecting them. I am so glad that Christian was out back and saw that. The tunnel is collapsed now, after a little lecture to the kids on how dangerous it was.

I’ve been doing some experimenting with my beads, and trying to paint kanji symbols with enamels and silver paste. This one turned out rather nicely,

And I finally finished with my percheron drawing!! Note to self: NO MORE BLACK HORSES!!!!

Oh, icky icky icky!!! It’s snowing! Whhhaaaaaa!

I am a happy camper today,

http://10thcoa.courts.state.tx.us/opinions/pdfOpinion.asp?OpinionID=11441

The Texas Appellate Court ruled in our favor. It’s been a long haul, and I still strongly believe that our justice system is seriously flawed that this was able to go so far and cost everyone so much. My thanks to everyone who supported AGLF, we wouldn’t have been able to fight this without all of you.

I was REALLY wiped yesterday. After I posted, I lasted about another 15 minutes and then went to bed and watched TV. Falling asleep watching the food network is NOT a good idea. I woke up about 3 hours later so hungry for sugar! My supper was a Hershey’s chocolate bar slathered with creamy peanut butter. Dessert was an apple and a pear.

I am just wiped, with good reason. I went to the dentist today and had a crown put on a broken tooth, had all of the fillings on that side of the mouth replaced, and had an occlusal adjustment (ground the teeth to re-align my jaw), and hopefully the last will help with these daily headaches. Thank goodness for conscious sedation, because I don't remember too much of it all. I've been a big baby about going to dentists since I was a teenager, when the dentist shot enough Novocain into my mouth to kill a horse (his words), and I was still crying from the pain. In January I get to go back and have the fillings from the other side of my mouth replaced. When he first explained that fillings had a limited life span, I was dubious, but they really do! So anyway, I'm playing recliner chair couch potato for a while longer. So much fun!

Whatever possessed me to draw a black horse? Did I not realize that a black one would have a gazillion dots compared to a nice white one? I’m still working on it, one dot at a time.

The drought continues, both in my mood and the rain forecast. We’ve had 4” of rain since July. It’s very worrisome.

I’ve lost my creative urge, both glass and drawing being just things to occupy my hands. I really need a kick in the pants. I tried making some new murrini last night, and they were less than inspiring. I really like working with silvered ivory, and it works best with making focals (also, with making focals, I get to use a lot more colors than I can with big hole beads). So I’m trying to make some murrini in the turquoise & coral colors. This is what came out last night,

I wish I understood more of the dynamics of the glass and the way the heat distorts it, because this is what the test murrini was like,

Pyr has been going through a teething stage the last couple of weeks. He’s chewed his way through several gloves, a pair of slippers and the shoe laces of my outside shoes. No funny photos of him today. But I do have bird photos, one taking a quite cold bath,

That’s it for today.

There hasn’t been much to write about, other than winter is coming. It’s been cold and cloudy and windy, and my back hurts and I’m depressed. Only another ten weeks until the days start getting longer, and another four months until I can feel like spring is on its way.

The cardinals have come back to my feeder. I’ve got one arguing with a finch right now. Here’s a photo of one the other day,

and a photo I took this morning, with the sun just coming up. He certainly stood out!

Pyr is growing, but he’s still a big goofy clumsy pup, and not too big to fit on Christian’s lap,

The other day I laid down for a nap, and he was between me and the window. Well, it wasn’t much of a nap for me, between his farting and snoring and turning over and scratching the window with his paws (in his sleep) and then turning over and flopping his big feet on my head. I still love him, though. :)

Look what was came to visit today, a pileated woodpecker, and he was huge! He was as big as some of my chickens.