My torch is all ready to start making beads, but I have to wait until Chunk goes to sleep before I dare start working. He and Suka have to be closely supervised. Suka likes to swat at them with those big paws, which makes Chunk mad, and Suka also likes to grab their tails, which makes Chunk mad.

We’re in a snowstorm here, with a cold snap moving in. They’re forecasting -10° tomorrow morning. I’m not even going to try to get the tractor started to plow the driveway. I called a guy who does snowplowing to come out tomorrow or Monday. Here’s what it’s looking like right now.

Suka jumped off the deck and couldn’t get back up, and the snow was too deep for him to go around, so I had to get down and my hands and knees and pull him up. BRRRRRRR!

We’re still in the ‘Oh, how cute!’ stage with Suka.Yesterday he was taking a nap with me, laying on his back, spreadeagled. Would have made a cute photo.

Now if I tried sleeping like this, I would wake up with such a stiff neck!

It was COLD here this a.m., -1°. This poor woodpecker was all fluffed up trying to stay warm.

I’ve got a pretty cactus blooming,


And Suka playing in the ferret’s snow box,

And total relaxation, legs dangling,

And one more of the little diva, Pip, who’s been keeping me awake at night, growling at Suka,

Oh, now that was funny!! Chunk, the ferret, got tired of Suka trying to play with him, so he hissed at Suka and chased him. Yup, Suka can move pretty fast when he needs to.

I forgot that puppies are like babies, eating, sleeping, peeing and pooping machines.

But with a face like this, can I regret getting him? NO WAY!

Well, Suka certainly enjoys the snow!

My little family, Peaches keeping Squeak’s butt warm, along with S.C. (Scaredy Cat).

 My mornings start with coffee and news, and Pip keeping cozy wedged in behind me on my chair,

 Our family has increased. We’ve adopted a rescue puppy, a Husky mix. He got here this afternoon, and he is so small, only as big as Pip, and cuddly. It’s like cuddling up to thick polar fleece. We’ve renamed him Suka, Inuit for ‘fast.’

 

Look at those big puppy paws!

And here he is being introduced to the ferrets:

 So far, the ferrets are the only ones who want to play with him.
Here’s a video of him trying to play with BB, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZFAWKWrx5s

Love this photo,

And he's so tired now,

That was truly disgusting! Giving Daisy May a shot wasn’t bad, actually getting the medicine in the syringe took longer than actually giving her the shot. Cleaning the abscess was YUCK, YUCK! Had to break off the scab and stick my finger in the hole to open it and then push the syringe (no needle) with the iodine in and squirt it in, and then try to hold the hole shut and push the iodine around inside. Several times. Ick, ick, ick!!!!

It’s been a trying few days. The thermostat in Lukas’ toilet seat (it’s a wash & dry seat) went out again, so it needs to be sent in to get it fixed. The garage door opener quit working. The boys couldn’t get the snowthrower attachment put on the lawn tractor, so I had to call Sears, and they’re not going to be out until next week. Daisy May, the heifer calf that was born last May, had a big (football size) lump hanging from her tummy, so I was thinking she had a hernia and was going to have to have surgery (which at this time of the year is dicey). We had a snowstorm and Christian got the truck stuck when he tried taking the garbage out, the Ford 8N wouldn’t start so I couldn’t get the driveway cleared. And I’m trying to adopt a husky puppy, but the problem is that he’s in a foster home over by the South Dakota border, and the weather and other circumstances keeps getting things put off (hopefully he’ll be coming Friday).

Stress!

Well, the good news is that the truck is unstuck, the driveway is plowed, and Daisy May doesn’t have a hernia, she has an abscess. The vet opened it, flushed it out and gave her a shot of antibiotics. I have to give her a shot Friday and Sunday (EEEEEKKK, I HATE needles!!!!) and I have to run to town tomorrow and pick up some iodine solution. We have to flush it out daily for the next 7-10 days. Oh joy! Well, at least while the vet was here, he castrated Strip. LOL, he asked if I wanted the testicles! I said no thanks, so he gave them to the chickens, who really enjoyed them. Gross! People actually eat those things?!? Yup, Rocky Mountain Oysters.

I had a good month with my beads, and thanks to a couple of very good customers, I was able to buy a new camera, a Canon Rebel with a macro lens and a telephoto lens (Amazon was running a really good deal, the $200 telephoto lens cost me about $20 after the instant rebate). Of course, the first photos I took were of animals. Maybe tomorrow I’ll go out and take a photo of Daisy May with her football belly. :)

Teresa was right, the flocks of birds that were going over my house were sandhill cranes!

Here’s a closeup of one of my photo,

 And here’s one taken off the web.

We were going through a box of my grandma's, full of newspaper clippings. This was a funny story of someone from her home town:

And here's to show that teenage stupidity isn't a modern day phenomenon. This young man was a relative,

And this was an interesting article (from 1938). One in 7 people in the United States were infected with venereal disease?

I’ve been feeling nostalgic, taking a trip through old photos of mine.
The most memorable 4-legged friend I’ve ever had, gone now,

Christian’s cat, Baxter, as a baby,

as a kitten

and a little bit older,

As you can see, he’s quite a character too.

The boys and Chester enjoying summer,

And this was Christian trying to cheer up Lukas after one of his surgeries. Notice what Christian is sitting on?

Didn’t even phase her.

Chester is a cat magnet.

And this is absolutely my most favorite photo,

Enough for tonight.

Stupid Pet Photo of the day

OK, I thought the flocks that were flying by were trumpeter swans,

but according to the bird identification, they’re not. Trumpeter swans are all white, and these birds have black rimmed wings.

Anyone know?

Sigh, winter is here. We had a snowstorm Saturday, but thankfully we only got 4-5” of snow. I had to order a new snowthrower attachment for the lawn tractor, and it isn’t going to be in until Friday. The snow was a really wet, sticky snow. Here’s a pretty neat photo of it just slowly sliding off of the hay barn:

My Christmas cactuses are blooming. They are so bright and colorful,

And here’s Peaches, just stretched out on my studio floor,

I’ve learned how to use the video on my phone, so have been having fun with that. Here’s one of Christian with Honey, my studio cat, and one of my ferrets, BB (Bad Boy)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2pXqlc2VcM
And here’s a video of Pip, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCl5lu5MaDA. When Pip is ready to go to sleep, she does NOT like to be disturbed. So of course, Christian likes to tease her. She’s in bed with me, burrowed under a blanket, all sleepy, until Christian came along.

Photo'd beads tonight, and here's my favorites:

A milestone... today I made it to 10 minutes on the elliptical machine.

DON’T LAUGH!! When I started on it a month ago, after 30 seconds I thought I was going to die. Yah, I know, some of you out there are thinking, ‘Pathetic!’

Crazy weather again. November 9th, and my lilac bushes are leafing out. Poor things think it’s spring because it’s been so warm. It’s going to be up in the 60s today, with the normal high in the lower 40s.

On the bright side, I’ve got 6 orchids and an amaryllis that are getting ready to bloom.