5/5/09

Got a new shipment of glass today, stocking up on some stuff, and a couple of different TAG glasses, not that I can get it to do much. I just can't get the colors to come out in the TAG glass. I don't know why I keep buying the stuff.

Here's a photo I took this afternoon:

That's Honey. She slept in the box all afternoon, until Christian came in and tickled her ears to tease her.

I've been trying to attract woodpeckers with suet blocks for years now, but haven't had much luck, until last fall when I was at Menards, I saw a suet feeder that was round and had 1" holes drilled to insert plugs of suet. I got to thinking and went home, cut a foot section of an old tree limb, took a spade drill bit and drilled holes through it and filled them with suet. Success! I've had downy or hairy woodpeckers (can't tell the difference) and nuthatches come to eat from it.



A beautiful day today, except for the wind. We do need rain though. It's getting quite dry.

5/4/09

Ready for a laugh? I grabbed a bottle of cherry syrup to put some flavoring in my smoothie and set it down by my computer, right next to my bottle of hand lotion. Nice red, sticky syrup. Are you laughing yet?

Yup, I grabbed the syrup thinking it was the hand lotion. Red, red syrup on my desk (thankfully not on my keyboard!) and all over my hands. I have RED hands! Even after scrubbing with hot water and soap. Nice red hands.

5/4/09

I have a conundrum. When I first started bringing my beads to work to show, and then to sell, they started to refer to them as 'betsybeads.' So when I started selling them online, I decided to use that name, even though my website is Greyhaven Art. I had the idea of separating my beads from my drawing and painting. My banner at Etsy and ArtFire says betsybeads, and when I sell on ebay, it's under betsybeads.

When I opened my Etsy shop a couple of years ago, I opened it under the name betsymn, which is my signature in my email and on online forums. Now, the conundrum: last year someone opened a shop on Etsy under the name of betsybeads. She's not a lampworker, just a bead reseller. So what do I do? Some people suggested opening a new shop under the name Greyhaven Art. But I LIKE betsybeads. It's easy to remember and it just kind of flows off the tongue. And I've sold beads under the name for quite a few years.

Well, fortunately, ArtFire allows changing shop names, so now my ArtFire shop name is betsybeads.ArtFire.com. Now I'm going to go to Indiepublic and BeadArtists to see if I can change my name there too.

Should have been thinking ahead, huh?

A busy day today, 3 orders of beads packaged and shipped, made a few beads, took my nap, and this evening I made 26 newspaper pots and got all of my trees transplanted into them. I'll give them a couple of weeks to get established, and then start planting them out in the field.

Now I'm off to take photos and get more beads posted.

5/3/09

I had a very nice day today. Lukas and I went to meeting and enjoyed an encouraging talk. Then I dropped him off at home and I went to pick up my sister and we went to the Green Expo at the state fairgrounds. I wasn't too impressed with the exhibits. The few alternative energy exhibits were contractors looking to sell whole systems installed. Target and Walmart were passing out grocery bags made of recycled plastic. I told the Walmart man they would be better off passing out the cloth bags that I bought at the Walmart in Florida, instead of using plastic. The plastic bags aren't as durable as the cloth ones. I got one from Target a couple of months ago, and it ripped open after the 2nd time using it. So where's the advantage of using one of those? It's plastic and it's flimsy!

I did find out that I can use electrical wiring from Home Depot or Menards (as long as it's rated for outside use) to wire my solar panel to the charge controller. So the next time I get down to Elk River, I'll stop in and pick some up and get my system wired and up and running, instead of sitting in the basement doing nothing.

The best part was going through the landscaping section at the expo. I don't even remember the exhibit's name, but they were selling trees 12 for $10. I bought 2 dozen birch, red cedar, norway pine and white pine. Tomorrow I'll get them planted in some newspaper pots and put them in the greenhouse to harden off. Oh, and my upside-down tomato has a baby tomato on it!

After dropping Elaine off, I went to Menards and bought a couple of fruit trees. They have them on sale for $20. I bought a Rainier cherry tree and a pear tree. Yummy! I do hope the Rainier cherries are better than Montgomery cherries, which is the cherry tree I bought last year. They were quite sour.

My cherry bushes are starting to blossom. If you want a good tasting sweet sour cherry, get Nankin cherry bushes. They are delicious!

This is truly the best time of the year. The bugs haven't really started yet, so I can work outside without being swarmed. Ah, yes, spring time... I live for the month of May.

4/21/09

Brrrrr! There's a cold NW wind blowing, and even though it's sunny, it's COLD out there (and in here). Warmer days coming, it's going to be close to 80° by Thursday. I don't like the heat either, but right now I welcome it!

Cindy and Jill stopped off yesterday to check in on Lukas. They're willing to take care of Lukas if he has a seizure at the Kingdom Hall and I'm not there (I'm just a wimp about driving after dark, so I don't get to Thursday night meetings much). And they've lined up several other people who can give him Diastat to stop a seizure, which is not the most pleasant thing to do, since it has to be given rectally. What wonderful, supportive friends we have!

My beads have been just ripping off the shelf the last couple of days, and I love it!!! It's a nice feeling to have people willing to pay you for something that you enjoy making.

Here's some more Aurae beads:

4/19/09

Lukas had another seizure this morning, not even 2 weeks since the last one. The good thing about it was that it was just a break though seizure, he didn't go into full convulsions. He was able to talk throughout the whole thing, so I didn't give him Diastat to stop it. Hopefully this is a sign that the increased meds are starting to build up in his body and will work to prevent any more seizures for a while.

I was really looking forward to going to meeting this morning. He had called Jim and Cindy to tell them that we were bring Scottie, my 8 yr. old grand nephew, along with. Lukas had really been thinking ahead. Last night he said we needed to explain to Scottie that he wouldn't be able to get up and wander around during the meeting, and we needed to bring an extra magazine along with for him, and an extra song book, and something to draw on in case he got bored. Very disappointing.

Scott and Garin came up yesterday to work on my deck greenhouse. They're going to come back today to finish it up (yippee!!!). I was really surprised last night when they were ready to leave, that Scottie wanted to stay overnight. He is such a cute little boy, I just love the dickens out of him. So he got to sleep on the air mattress in the living room, and all night Pip was up and down on my bed because she wanted to go visit him. You could say they grew up together, because it was on our first trip out west in the RV that we got Pip, as a little puppy at a rest stop in Montana.

Since I'm stuck at home, I'm going to go make some more Aurae beads. I listed a set on Etsy last night and it was snapped up. So here's another one on ArtFire:

4/16/09

I do believe it's about time I went back on the happy pills. It seems all of my energy is coming out in tears. Jim and Cindy are out of town, and the couple they asked to take Lukas to the Kingdom Hall for tonight's meeting didn't know about his seizures. When I called them to ask if they knew, and told them if they didn't want to take him, it was OK. They declined, and to be honest, I don't blame them one bit. Even after 22 years of it, the seizures still scare me. And the neurologist's office called today, and he wants to get another blood level on Lukas. When I explained that they had to puncture him 4 times last time to get any blood, she said she'd talk to the doctor.

Just a struggle to do anything today. My big accomplishment, washed some rugs and finished putting a gate on the horse stand for Amber. She's broken 2 halters while trying to trim her hooves, and this is a last resort. And now, being I can't find any inspiration to do beads, I'm scanning negatives to put on my website.

4/13/09

I have GOT to start writing down what colors I use when I experiment with glass. I've got a strand that I really like, but can't remember which glass I used!

Here's a couple using Double Helix glass. I really like the way the silvered ivory webbing underneath shows through.


And here's one using Raku,

A very nice day today. Made some beads, took a nap, planted potatoes and pulled some quack grass. It's almost barefoot time, my favorite time of the year!

4/12/09

Just a lazy day today. Last night was a long night, between Chester, Lukas' dog, throwing up, and Pip throwing up, and Tynha whining to go out at 6 a.m., and not being able to get to sleep, tossing and turning, thinking too much and crying too much. Just too much to contend with lately, with Mom dying, Lukas' seizures, troubles at home, and then Les dying. Just too much.

I've know Les for 22 years. I didn't really get to know him the first 10-12 years, but then he decided to write his life story, and he did it in longhand. He paid me to type it up and scan photos for the book, and that's when I really started to get to know him. He had a bawdy sense of humor, and always was in a good mood. Only once did I see him get mad, and that was when he had to inject himself with insulin (he was diabetic), and it went in wrong. He swore! First and last time I heard that! He always had a joke to tell (occasionally a bit dirty), and was a great humanitarian. We had so many discussions about religion. I really missed seeing him every week when I retired. And then a couple of months ago he got cancer. I truly hope that after the resurrection, I'll be there to say "I told you so" to him, because he couldn't bring himself to believe in it.

One of the things that was repeated often at his memorial was his attitude of 'life is good.' I'm trying to adopt that attitude, as you can tell, with a bit of difficulty. But I'm trying. So my resolution is to be more positive and happy, and push this negativity aside. We'll see. There!! You see that negativity!!?!

Let's start over. It's been a good day today. Right now it's 56°, and I see more tulips coming up. I worked on the greenhouse today and put up some new plastic. I replanted tomatoes and peppers into bigger pots, and started some nicotiana seeds today. If you want an impressive, heavenly scented flower, plant ONLY THE LONELY NICOTIANA, https://www.superseeds.com/products.php?cat=160. It's 4-5' tall, with long 3-4" white tubular flowers that have the most beautiful scent.

My neighbor called and told me that another neighbor at the other end of the cul-de-sac called the DNR because they had a huge black bear in their garbage. That's lovely! At least the calves are big enough to run if it comes over here. That's the chances you take when you live next to a wildlife refuge, same as fox taking chickens, and coyotes taking cats. You just hope for the best and try to take what precautions you can, although there's not many you can take against a bear.

I annealed a load of beads and have a couple that I like.

4/6/09

Miserable night last night. Lukas had a seizure at midnight, and it was a hard one. He bit the inside of his mouth again. Even after 2 doses, it was 45 minutes before he was really coherent. I hate this! I hate watching my baby go through this! It just sucks!

After 9 I'll call the neurologist and see what he wants to do. It's been less than a month since the last one, when he upped Lukas' medication.

This is been a really crappy year. It's no wonder I'm walking around crying all the time. Mom died 2 months ago, these seizures starting again, and tomorrow night I'm going to the memorial for a very dear friend who died of cancer.

Some people call religion a crutch. Well, if you had a broken leg, you'd use a crutch. Jehovah is my crutch, and my hope.

3/28/09

Wow!! A bald eagle just flew right over the house. Dang, he was CLOSE! He must have been just a couple of feet over the roof.

3/27/09

Just a picture of some tulips to cheer me up. It's so cold, and I REALLY want some warm weather. Is it because I'm getting old, or has this winter been that much colder and longer than normal?

3/26/09

Cool! I just saw a Northern Harrier fly by. He went by this morning and I was trying to find what kind of bird it was. The males are very distinctive, with a white belly and under-wings with black tips on the wings. Here's a photo I found online:

Yesterday I had a bald eagle fly over the front yard. Neat!

It's cold and snowing. Very depressing.

3/21/09

Well, yesterday it was snowing when I got up, but today the snow is all gone, thank goodness. I am so glad spring is here. Yesterday I saw the first sandhill cranes fly over. They are one of my favorite birds. I love listening to them. I've had a flock of 30-40 Redpolls and a couple of white-breasted nuthatches visiting my feeders, and I heard my first Cardinal the other day. Yes, I do love spring.

I purchased a wide variety of Reichenbach glass a couple of weeks ago, and yesterday did some color tests. There are some VERY nice colors, so today I'm going to do some experimenting.





Aw, man! I just saw a mosquito in my window. Jeepers, I didn't want spring to come THAT fast!

3/19/09

I am SOOOOO frustrated! It started last night, bead release breaking while putting on glass, flame fluctuating all over the place and constantly having to adjust it, dropping things, glass dripping over in the wrong place, dots wandering all over the place, dogs whining to get out, dogs barking to get in. If it were warmer outside I'd go for a walk, but it's too DAMNED cold!

3/16/09

Sweet luscious 62 sunshiny degrees, warm and balmy, the Canadian geese are flying back, I can hear them down by the river, and I heard a cardinal singing. Oh my, what a joy spring is.

3/12/09

Long night, between freezing (-14° outside, 43° in my bedroom) and hot flashes, and little doggy toenails stabbing me in the back.

I sure wish I could sleep like Pip. She literally can pass out in 5 minutes, and sleeps like a log. It was so cold last night she burrowed under my blankets and stretched out right next to my back, and you know how dogs run and twitch in their sleep? You get the picture. So through the night I'm trying to push this snoring little lump away from me, and gradually she just slides right back next to me.

3/11/09

It is so danged cold! -5° with a wicked NW wind. I am so tired of being cold. Next year we're going south (God willing and the creek don't rise) and I DON'T CARE if it goes on the credit card!

Small consolation, I have hyacinths, tulips, daffodils and amaryllis blooming.

3/10/09

You know, life just sometimes sucks. Lukas had a seizure this afternoon. He's not sick or anything, just up and had a seizure.

Called the neurologist, and they're upping his medication. Well, at least we didn't have to call the ambulance and have him taken to the hospital. Just finished paying off the hospital from the last time, and still paying for the ambulance.

2/23/09

I'm a happy camper!! It's 22° above zero (after being -8° this morning). And Christian did the shopping today, bought me a new broom (doesn't take much to please me) and a foam mattress pad for my bed (hopefully it'll help me sleep a little bit better), and he went to the library. I had a couple of Kathy Reichs books and a Bones DVD in. AND my order of Double Helix glass came. They have a new color out, Aurae. It's a pinkish goldish metallic glass. I'm going to go make some beads!!

2/13/09

Well, I have my work cut out for me. I upgraded iLife, so my goal is to get my website back up and running. I've got my big printer going again, so I'm going to work on getting several prints of each of my drawings printed out, and I need to work on getting prints of my aceo's printed out. They'll be the hardest because of the color. Color correcting is such a huge pain in the rear.

Also on my list is to set up my website with Mom's photos. I've got 50+ years of photos to get scanned, and with Flickr's 200 picture limit, I just don't think that's going to work :) Since my web host provides 200GB of memory, that SHOULD be enough for the photos.
Here's one I did last night, me with my brothers and sister and cousins and my grandmother.

2/11/09

I should have known that it was going to be a bad day when I dropped a bead when I was taking it out of the kiln. Strike #1.

Strike #2, looking out and seeing Frankie (the cat) grab a chickadee and run away with it. Good thing spring is coming, so I can get the hose hooked back up and spray the cats when they hang around the bird feeder.

Strike #3, working on a bead that WAS turning out half ways decent, and the fluorescent bulb by my face sizzled, breaks and starts smoking. I'm sitting there stunned, thinking 'mercury poisoning!' Probably could have eaten sushi for the rest of my life and gotten less mercury (not that I like eating raw meat anyway).

So that was it for me. I toddled on off to bed to curl up with a bag of potato chips and the rest of the Kathy Reichs book that I'm reading.

2/9/09

It's raining. Even though it's something you really don't want to happen in the beginning of February in Minnesota, and it's gloomy and dreary outside, I like it. I like the sound of the raindrops. It tells me spring is on the way.

I cleaned up a load of beads earlier. I've been struggling to find some imspiration. Maybe looking at these will do it.

2/8/09

It's been a week now since I got the call that my Mom had died. The tears still come, but along with it comes a sense of relief for her. After working in a nursing home for 20 years, it was the last place she wanted to end up at. For her, the next thing she knows will be the resurrection, young and healthy with no more pain and suffering, with Dad and her parents, sisters and brother, and her baby boy being resurrected too, and the energy and time to do all the things she wanted to do, travel, gardening, art, and maybe I can even teach her how to lampwork a bead. I miss her terribly.

1/31/09

Just when you though it couldn't get any worse... It gets better!!! It's 43.5°!!! Wahoooo!! Yippeeeee!! Oh, spring is on the way!

1/30/09

Sheesh! It's -15.7°! WHEN is it going to warm up?!?

1/23/09

Good reason not to get into a fight with hubby: every time I do the next day I develop a canker sore.

Sure felt good getting stuff off my mind, though, instead of just stewing about it. Now I can let it go, and he can do whatever.

1/18/09

OK, I've got spring fever. My favorite wish books: Totally Tomatoes, J.L. Hudson, Burgess, Pinetree, and I haven't even opened Johnny's yet. I started some more seeds last night, and this morning made a couple dozen newspaper pots and cut bleach bottle plastic into plant tags.

I'M READY FOR SPRING! GOING BAREFOOT! DIGGING IN THE DIRT!!! Oh, paradise!

Fang was feeling especially deprived and frustrated after escaping my studio and being captured and returned. Here's a photo of her in my yucca plant, trying to see if she can jump anyplace from it, with Whiskers sitting on the floor waiting to see what she's going to do.

1/16/09

-29° at 6:15 a.m.

I am so tired of this. If the weather goes like the weathermen predict, it'll be in the 30s by next week. YIPPEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

1/13/09

BRRRRR!! It's -22.9°, 6:30 a.m. I'm watching the news, and the weatherman just said that December was our 7th coldest on record, and January will be down there too. We just have to get through the rest of this week, and by Saturday there will be a warm front moving in.

Yesterday I saw something I've never seen before this time of the year, a flock of about 20 robins. Those poor birds!

And here's another one of Scott. Ahhhh, a boy and his dog...

1/11/09

The boys are up working on the snowthrower. It's not working again. I'm just about ready to pull out the credit card and go buy a new one. Now's the time to get it if I'm going to do it; they're marked down to $1179, and if I use the Sears credit card it's another 5% off. It's a lot of money, but having the driveway plowed out for $75 a shot gets expensive too.

Some cute photos, one of Honey and Whiskers having a face-off, and Whiskers trying to pretend he's not beating up Bandit, the ferret. Bad kitty!




And here's Mark, working hard:

1/9/08

Here is a frustrated ferret:

Under my plant table I have a large rubbermaid box with dirt in it for the ferrets to dig in. Well, Fang was using the box to get up between the table and the windowsill to get up on the table, where she proceeded to dig up my plants. So I put a board up so she couldn't do that. She spent quite a while trying to get beyond that board before she finally gave up and then tried climbing my plant to see if she couldn't jump to it. She is a persistent girl!

1/5/09

What's that jingle, 'How low can you go?'

At 5:30 am it was -9.5°. Two hours later it's -13.2°. BRRRRRRRR. I'm ready to go back to bed with my electric mattress heater turn on high!

12/31/08

Last day of the year. Good riddance! We lost Shake day before yesterday. He was the youngest and smallest of the calves. This summer I'm going to super-insulate the chicken house so that if we ever get calves this young this late again, that's where they'll spend the winter. That's where Burger and Fries are, with the heat lamps on. Hopefully that was enough, because it got down to -20.9° last night. (I shouldn't whine; it could be worse. About 20 years ago it got down to -45°. That was on a mercury thermometer.) And another thing that's going to get done this summer, I'm going to build a couple of popcan solar heaters for the chicken house.

Oh well, only another 3 weeks and the days will start getting warmer. Spring is on the way!

12/24/08

OK, I have to admit it, it looks pretty out there. There's snow crystals on all of the trees and bushes, and the blue jays are busy at my bird feeders. I'm a bit concerned that I haven't seen or heard any cardinals this year. We always have them here, year around. I wonder what that means?

Here's a photo of my snowblower, dead in the driveway, and following is a gorgeous amaryllis bulb blooming.


Here's a couple of funny photos. The first one, a bathroom with a painted floor, was titled, 'Would you go into this bathroom?' The second is a smoker's lounge, with the ceiling painted.

12/22/08

-18.9° outside. It got down to -20.5° last night.

Well, one hurdle past, the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. And in less than a month, the second hurdle, the coldest days of the year. In only two months, we'll be just around the corner to spring. I can handle that.

My bean plant died, but my tomato plants are still alive, under the heat lamp and plant lights. I'm going to try planting another bean. Oh, the simple pleasures of life in Minnesota.


12:30 p.m.
I REALLY hate winter. Got the snowthrower going after putting the battery charger on it, but then the blades wouldn't turn. Christian had to do something with an electrical connection to get them to work. He got about 15 yards down the driveway when he said something started vibrating and it wouldn't go into reverse, so he turned it off to come tell me. Now it won't even turn over, nothing! So he shoveled out in back of the car, and went to start it, and the ignition was frozen.

I really would rather be in Florida...


1:30 p.m.
Ah comfort food, potato soup with lots of salt and pepper, hot cheese sauce and a generous dollop of butter, and 1 (or maybe 2) pecan tarts.

12/15/08

BRRRRR! It's COLD! -10°.

OK, the good side of it, we didn't get dumped with a lot of snow, less than a couple of weeks before the days start getting longer, just a bit over a month until the days start getting warmer, and in two months, spring will be just around the corner!

12/13/08

What a zoo this morning!!

It started out OK, got up, let the dogs out, got both stoves going, got my coffee and sat down & called my sister. We chatted a while, then I realized that I didn't see my brand new $60 bluetooth headset that I bought to listen to TV without disturbing dear hubby. I knew instantly what had happened. Last night after I went to bed, Christian had to come chase a cat off my computer desk. That stupid cat knocked it onto the floor, and the ferrets got it (they LOVE rubbery chewy things). So I had to get down on the floor and look under the desks, hoping it was there. Nope. So the next step was tackling their sleeping boxes. I have about a dozen small cardboard boxes that I cut holes in and hot-glued together to give them hidey holes. I took the whole thing and shook it a little and heard a rattling, and of course, they have to stick their heads out of various holes to see what's going on. So I tore apart the top layer and shook it. Nope. Tore apart the next layer and shook it. YUP!! Found it. They had tore a small bit of rubber off of the ear piece, but other than that it's OK.

So while I'm doing that, one of them went and deposited a little present right in front of the door to the foyer. Teach me to disturb them! So I mop that up, and figure I might as well change their newspapers. While I'm doing that, another one leaves another deposit in front of the door! Mop that up, finish getting the newspapers replaced and mop the rest of the studio floor. Another deposit!!!! GRRRRR!

Then Lukas starts calling me. A bit early for him, so I go in there. Fang got out!! So while I get her and put her back (instead of taking Squeak out right away), Squeak decides she can't hold it and makes a deposit of her own in Lukas' bedroom. Get that taken care of, come back into the living room, and see cat throw-up. Get some paper towels to take care of that, and see Whiskers on Lukas' computer desk playing with something in the garbage. Go check, and there's Fang! She was standing on the dog bed in my studio and jumping onto my chair, and then jumping onto the half wall between the studio and living room. Rearrange things so she can't do that, and go clean up the cat puke.

Sheesh!

12/5/08

I sure am glad I don't live in Saudi Arabia. I follow several bloggers from the area, and one posted rules for dating (which in Saudi Arabia is illegal).

First on the list was to keep an eye out for cameras, because a photo of her with an unrelated male (although how anyone could tell because the woman is covered head to foot with only her eyes showing) could ruin her chances of ever getting married.

Next is the advice to have a confident know where she is going so that if she isn't back by a designated time, someone knows where she was headed. Sheesh, are the men in Saudi Arabia animals?!?

Next is to take a can of pepper spray along with and have a planned escape route. For a date!

Next is if they get passionate and she thinks about letting him kiss her, check his mouth for sores or blisters, since that might be a sign of STDs.

Next is to know how to make an emergency call or text message their equivalent of 911.

Next is the advice to not meet at an unknown or remote location. This advice is for the man as well, because if the girl's male relatives find out beforehand about the date, they may be trying to set the guy up so they can 'take revenge' on him for presuming to try to see their female relative.

Saudi Arabia has quite a long way to go to become civilized. Some people are trying to make changes, including their king, but it's a huge struggle to pull their country out of the 13th century.

On a funnier note, I woke up and heard some noises coming from Lukas' room, so I called his name and he didn't answer, so I jumped up, buck naked (good thing it was still dark), and ran into his room, thinking he was having a seizure. It was just Squeak throwing up.

12/4/08

Just a few pictures tonight. Here's a rooster that decided my sidewalk post was a good place to crow from.

And here's Whiskers cleaning Squeak's ear. I love the first one where Squeak is not too sure of what his intentions are, and the second one she's saying 'ah, so nice...'

12/2/08

Can I just quietly start pulling my hair out? and can I maybe give a little scream here and there?

The neurologist just called and he wants to keep Lukas on the name brand medication. After a month of wrangling with the insurance office with getting him switched over to the generic because they wouldn't cover the Lamictal at the 80/20, and having spent the last two weeks switching him over to the generic (after getting the OK from the neurologist), now I have to call the insurance and find out, because the neurologist wants him to stay on the name brand, if they'll cover it 80/20, because the first 10 people I talk to won't know the answer! ARRRRGGGG!!!!!!

11/23/08

It's been a long week. Monday night at a little after 10 pm Lukas had a seizure, his first in 2 years and 11 months, to the day. It was a bad one, his lips were turning purple and blood was coming from his mouth where he bit it.

The big bad monster had indeed returned.

I gave him a dose of Diastat just a few minutes after it started. We're supposed to wait 10 min., but after seeing the blood I had Christian get the Diastat. After 10 minutes without it stopping, we gave him another dose. Then after 10 minutes I had David call the ambulance. It was a few minutes after that the Diastat started to take affect. The ambulance took forever to get here; David thinks they went by their GPS and ended up in the housing development south of us, just on the other side of our pasture. I decided to have them take him in to get him checked out, because he was running a fever (the doctor at the ER told me that the seizure could have caused that. I didn't know that.)

So they loaded him up, without any argument at all about taking him to Monticello instead of Princeton, and took him out to the ambulance. They got an IV into him without too much trouble, surprisingly. He was semiconscious by then. We got going, and I figured it was a good time to let loose (without the screaming I really wanted to do), and bawled half the way there and got it out of my system. Or at least it was out of my system until they tried taking blood at the hospital, and couldn't find a vein in either arm. Poking and digging, and Lukas going 'Ow, ow, ow!' I couldn't stand that and started leaking again. They finally put a hot pack on his foot and got some blood from there, not enough for a blood level though, so he has to go to the clinic tomorrow where they'll try again to get enough blood for it. David is going to take him in for that.

Turns out he had strep throat, and the fever is what set off the seizure. They gave him a choice between a shot or pills, and brave boy that he is, he chose the shot after I told him he would feel better quicker with the shot.

We got home about 4 am, would have been sooner, but Christian got lost and took a wrong turn on his way to pick us up. Not complaining, though. My eyesight isn't too good at night anymore, and I prefer not to drive after dark.

So this week has just been recovery mode. Lukas is doing just fine now, pretty much back to normal.

I've been in such a goofy mood, with the greatest urge to go shopping. Just what I need to do, haven't gotten the real estate taxes completely paid, bills up the ying ying, and there'll be more with the ambulance and ER bill. Well, I'm trying to spend moderately. I bought a used soda siphon on ebay, $20 compared to $100 new, for making my own pop. Actually, there's a cheaper way of doing it, but I didn't feel like hooking up bottles and hoses, mixing vinegar and baking soda and shaking bottles.

I annealed a load of beads, and was happy with a few of them. I've been trying to make owls, and a couple of them turned out pretty nice.




Another good thing, the floor of my studio is done! I really like it, and it's nice and easy to clean.

The boys started on my kitchen countertop now. The sink was really sinking, and it was definitely time to replace the counter. It's going to be black marble tiles.

Well, it's after 9, so I can go to bed now and not feel decadent! Goodnight all.

11/12/08

How many of you, when asked about American western history, think of horses, cowboys and their horses, Indians and their horses. The American mustang is so much a part of this country's history, and it is being destroyed by our own government.

The government has allowed the Bureau of Land Management to so totally mismanage the wild horses of America. They have been rounded up, herds decimated or wiped out, resulting in injuries from the round up and injuries from forcing stallions together, and shipped off to holding pens. Now they have over 30,000 horses considered unadoptable, costing tens of thousands of dollars to support, and it is being proposed to kill them or send them to slaughter as 'excess horses'.

In the past eight years tens of thousands of mustangs have been removed from over 19 million acres of public land, often under the pretext that the land is unable to support them, but yet it can support the cattle that cattlemen lease the land for, for $2 a month for a cow/calf pair. Too many cattle are allowed to graze over-burdened rangelands while oil and gas drilling leases are handed out like candy, and 30,000 mustangs, supposedly protected by federal law, are incarcerated with a death sentance over them. Something is seriously wrong with this picture!!

In Montana, the BLM has used infertility drugs shot from dart guns, which caused problems from abscesses, bleeding, and swelling on the hips at the needle site in 76% of the mares darted. The drug itself has resulted in foals being born out of season, in the fall and winter. You might just as well as shoot them!

PBS has run a program following a Palamino stallion, Cloud, from the time he was born, and the website, http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/home.html, publishes news of the mustangs in his area of Montana and other places in the West.

Please help the American mustang by writing your representative and congressmen/women, (you can find your information at http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt)
and the BLM,
BLM Washington Office
Director James Caswell
1849 C Street NW, Rm. 5665
Washington DC 20240

and
BLM Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board,
Attn: Ramona DeLorme
1340 Financial Blvd, Reno, NV 89502

or email President-Elect Obama at change.gov

11/6/08

I HATE the medical community!! It's no wonder it's in such a mess. I honestly think that computer programmers set up these computer programs for them, and the people who work with the computers can't even think outside of what the computer says.

OK, as I've posted before, Medica will only cover 60% of Lukas' seizure medication because there's a generic available. So rather than pay the $151 a month, I've decided to give in and go with the generic, which is $56 a month. But I want to wean him off the Lamictal and gradually get him on the generic. But in order to do that, I have to have both drugs. Well, their computer says you can't get medications ahead of time. Last month when I called Medica about it, the woman suggested trying the vacation option (which was denied by the pharmacy's computer). So last week I called again and asked how do I get this done. They said to have the doctor fill out a form and fax it to their pharmacy department. Called our pharmacy earlier this week to have them run it through to see if it got done, and no it was denied. So I called the doctor's office, and yes, they had faxed it, and they would re-fax it. So I called Medica and spent 45 min. (mostly on hold) trying to get it through this guy's head what I was trying to do. Told him I'd called Medica last month about getting the meds filled early, and was told to try the vacation option (he said there was no such thing). After about 15 min. trying to explain what was going on, and he wasn't getting it, I asked to speak to a supervisor. After about 10 min. on hold, he came back on and asked me to spell Lamictal, they couldn't find it on their computer. So on hold another 10 min. and back to him asking if I got a letter telling about switching over to generic. No, I didn't, and told him 3 months ago the pharmacy sent home the generic, and because there's been so many problems with breakthrough seizures with the generics, I returned it and got the Lamictal, and the next month was when the price shot up. Explained about me calling about trying to get the generic filled early so I could wean Lukas off the Lamictal and onto the generic. So back on hold for 10 min., then he came back on explaining about the formulary exception, and how I could have the doctor fill that out. Tried explaining again that I didn't want that (at this point all I want to do is try to get him on the generic. If he has problems with it, there will be no problems getting him back on the Lamictal. If he doesn't have any problems, maybe next year I'll talk to the doctor about trying to take him off the drug completely.)

So anyway, back on hold. Then he's back telling me I have to have a script from the doctor to switch over to the generic, and me telling him, well I didn't have a script from the doctor when the pharmacy switched him over to the generic. And he's explaining how the pharmacy calls the doctor and asks if it's OK to switch to generic, etc. That's when I lost it. I told him it was going over his head, and I needed to speak with a supervisor. Back on hold. Then the supervisor came on. I told her I wanted to get a month's supply of Lamictal and a month's supply of generic, and the next month I wouldn't buy any! She got it!! She asked so you'd give him the Lamictal in the morning and the generic at night? Yes!! So she said she see how they could work that, and would call back today or tomorrow.

There is something so WRONG with this system!

10/31/08

A typical day for me: Got up and had some SoBe while I read the news on Google & read my mail, switched over to NetNewsWire and caught up on some blogs I follow & read the news over there. Checked LampworkEtc. & caught up over there.

Mixed up the milk replacer for the calves (I do like my KitchenAid, sure beats a wire wisk) and went out and fed them, and then tried to keep them from sucking on each other while trying to stuff feed into their mouths. After a few minutes of chewing on the feed they started to settle down, so I took them out to the big pen and tried to keep them from trying to suck on the horses. Sally (the cow) let Shake suck on her a few minutes before she kicked him away. Took a bit longer to make sure they were settling down, then got the wood cart & filled it up & took it into the house & got the stove going to warm the living room up before Lukas gets up. Washed up the milk bottles and did a load of dishes. I can see my countertop!!

Had David call Kemper to see if the insurance OK'd the vacation refill for Lukas' med (which is what the insurance company suggested trying to do yesterday when I called them). It was denied. So I called the insurance company & explained what was going on. She said to call the doctor and have him call their pharmacy department to authorize an over-ride on the refill (I'm trying to get his medication refilled early so I can very gradually switch him over to the generic). So then I called the neurologist's office to leave a message explaining the above, and am still waiting for them to get back to me.

Now after reading a thread on Lampworketc. about ideas to save money, someone suggested making your own laundry soap. I've been meaning to try it, and I had all the ingredients I needed (fels naptha soap, washing soda and borax), so I mixed up a batch. I'm washing a load of rugs right now.

Made a batch of bread and it's in the oven now raising. Made a loaf of Italian bread and I'm trying to make a flat bread with parsley, garlic powder and Parmesan cheese. I should crumble up some dried tomatoes and put them on too.

Cleaned up a dog puddle and pile. I KNEW I should have let her out!

Have to get out yet and get a couple of packages of pink tulips planted, but first I'm going to do my Bible study.

That's it so far...

An Update:
Got the tulips planted. Made grape jelly. That was a long process, and if I do it next year, I'll make sure I do it as soon as I pick the grapes. I ran out of energy after picking them, so they've sat in a bucket out in the garage for the past week, and they got mushed and some got moldy. So it was going through handful by handful and washing and picking out the good ones. So now I have 10 jelly jars of Concord Grape Jelly cooling on my counter, and I'm sipping on the leftover juice. Pucker power!

Got all the dishes washed, again, and now it's back to mixing up milk replacer and get out and feed the calves and do chores, and if I have the energy, make some beads (after washing the bottles and pans, again). I got some new glass today, with a lot of new CIM colors and a new Double Helix color.

10/28/08

Well, I found out why Lukas' prescription went from a co-pay of $69 to over $150. Being that his seizure medication now has a generic available, they took the Lamictal off their approved drug list. Why don't I just go with the generic? Because when the generic came out, pharmacies were being told to switch to the generics, without even telling people. And the results was people having break-through seizures. Generic drugs do NOT have to be the exact formulation. They just have to be kind of close (like 20% deviation).

This just SUCKS!!!! I am so angry at the medical community! $1,341 a month for medical insurance, and we still end up paying thousands a year for medical care. And Lukas wouldn't have to have seizure medication if the doctor wouldn't have screwed up when he was born. I HATE the medical community!

10/26/08

The boys came up today and did some stuff around the house. They worked on my studio. It's gradually taking shape, and the floor is gradually getting finished. I REALLY like the part that's done. So much easier to keep clean.

We moved Lukas' computer out of his bedroom and into the living room now that that's all tiled. He wanted the stuff out of his bedroom, and it will certainly be warmer in the living room now with the wood stove going. The only problem is, he likes to talk, and talk, and talk, and I have to respond. Right now I'm trying to watch the history channel, and he's sitting over there burping and watching wrestling. Oh well, at least he's polite about it and excuses himself.

Got some new photos. The first one is Whiskers beating up on Bandit. Whiskers just had surgery on his ear. He had a hematoma and the ear flap was filled with blood, so the vet had to drain and stitch it. We had him fixed while he was there, too. $300 later...

Then there's Squeak protecting Lukas from Pip. Not very comfortable for Lukas, though.


OK, Elaine, here's photos of my flower garden. This is a picture of the pink hollyhock.

Now here are a couple of photos of what I thought was hollyhocks, but notice the different seed pods on the swcond photo.

10/22/08

OK, too tired to do much of anything besides sit on the computer, so I'll post some things I've been thinking about writing instead of just letting it sit inside of my head.

Let me see, there was last week when Christian and I went down to Fleet Farm to pick up feed, nipples and bottles. On the way back I drove, and we stopped at Burger King for some lunch. So I'm driving along (city streets and not the freeway, thank goodness), and see something moving on the windshield, look up and there's a big spider on the inside of the windshield! I HATE spiders!!!!! So I quick pull over into a parking lot and at the same time I'm yelling 'Christian, Christian!!' After we got stopped and I jumped out, I told him what I saw. He came around and got in and saw it and tried killing it with a napkin. There's a freaking space between the windshield and the ceiling of the car!!!! And guess where the spider went!! So I stuffed some napkins up in there the whole way across my side of the windshield.

OK, so there we are driving down the road again, and the spider comes out on Christian's side of the windshield! He grabs a napkin and tries to kill it, it slides down a web (and where the heck did that web come from or can they spin that fast?). He breaks the web trying to kill it and it falls into the Burger King bag into the fries! He gets it out of the fries and finally kills it, and then eats the fries!!!! EEEWWWWWW!

Well, at least the spider is dead.

And then there's the calves. They have the scours (the runs), and today is their first day on antibiotics. They're about a week and a half old, at least, and I've been introducing them to grain. The way you do that is when they've finished their bottle, you take some grain in your hand and stick your fingers in their mouth (they're looking for more milk, so that's not hard to get them to do that). OK, now Burger is the only one who has gotten to like the grain so far, but the other two don't much care for it, so you have to try to pry open their mouth and dribble a few grains in there (Calves have SHARP teeth, and it doesn't help that I have a cut on my left index finger and a scrape on the right index finger).

So there I am, dribbling grain as fast as I can into Burger's mouth, who is bumping and pushing me for more, and also trying to get some grain into Fries and Shake, who would rather suck on Burger's or each other's, how do I say this, male reproductive organ! They know that there should be an udder somewhere between the front and back legs of a four legged creature, and if there's something hanging down, they'll try sucking on it. So it gets to be quite a fiasco, trying to feed Burger, pry open the other two mouths to get grain in them, and detaching them from things they shouldn't be sucking on, and at the same time trying to stay away from their rear ends, because when something comes out from that end right now, it comes out! Yuck!

What a zoo...

Today I went down to Walmart to pick some stuff up. I don't get out much anymore, because Christian does the weekly shopping. Twenty years ago I was making $20 an hour doing house drawings for builders and was by default the computer tech at work, and now I'm feeling positively giddy browsing the tea isle at Walmart. Pathetic!

I'm not complaining, though. I've got it as good as it can get in this system, fairly healthy, a regular income, a roof over my head, land of my own (and the bank's).

Wait a minute, I can too complain! It was sleeting today! Winter is coming! NO, NO, NO!!! Oh well, I'm not going to think about it...