9/24/08

Life just shouldn't be so complicated.

I bought a coffee/expresso machine several months ago, figuring to cut down on clutter on the counter (I like expresso, David likes his coffee weak). Last week it started blowing the circuit, and finally a couple of days ago it quit. My self cleaning litter box (less than a year old) quit working, so I figured I'd save the $100 and just clean the box myself. That lasted 2 days before I decided the $100 was well worth it. I've been having ongoing problems with my satellite receiver (signal dropping, etc.) and the tech has been out twice in the last month to try to fix it. My lawnmower deck has been making awful noises (my own fault, I know, for trying to mow a pasture with it). What else? Oh, Lukas got a cold, and now he's complaining about his good ear being clogged up. Why, please tell me, does he have all the problems on the good side, and not the deaf side. The deaf side produces almost no earwax, whereas the good side produces it overtime. I've done the peroxide soak twice in the last week, and I'll do it again when I get him up. Oh, and there's Tynha. She's the loveliest dog, but she's 13 and has hip dysplasia, and has started leaking. And she always insists on sleeping in my bedroom. Last night she tried getting up and fell down, which woke me up (besides the howling cold front that came in last night), but she tried again and got up and went to my door, which had blown shut, so I had to get up to let her out of the bedroom, and then had to go wash the pee off my leg where she brushed up against me.

I know it's just about time to put her down, but it's not quite yet. Not when she lays on the floor and puts her paw up to her face and whines/barks to come play with her. Not quite yet.

Oh, and yesterday I went and bought a new expresso machine (NOT a combo), got it home and was going to make a cup of coffee, and discovered the coffee filter for it was missing! ARRRRGGGGGG!!! Life just shouldn't be this complicated!

9/9/08

What a gorgeous fall day (although my garden got frosted last night, grrr!)

Went out mowing last night. We live on a 40 acre square with a 5 acre strip going out to the county road. I've been on that strip maybe twice in the past 18 yrs., so I'm making it a goal to get a path mowed and disced to that strip, with the intention of going and getting dead wood out of the woods there. Come to find out, someone has made their own path out there, with ATVs. So now I've got to get a couple of signs posted banning ATVs.

No new pictures to post, so I'm going to post one of my all time favorites. It's when Scott, Scottie & I made our first trip out west with the RV, and it's at Mount Rainier National Park. You can't see Scott's expression, but it's just pure bliss.

9/4/08

Just some photos to share today:
A bee in a morning glory, Mark grouting with Pip supervising, and a couple of pictures of Whiskers relaxing on the hammock. Goofy cat! And last, the woodstove installed in the living room. This is the stove that my mother's family used to heat their house when she was a child. I'm going to tile the Durock on the walls.

8/26/08

I really hate the medical community. Not only are they vastly overpriced, but they're arrogant. Yesterday we had an appointment at 8:15 a.m. for Lukas to get his wisdom teeth pulled. The dentist finally showed up at 9:05. I had decided that if he wasn't there by 9:15 I was pulling Lukas out of there, and was going to tell them I didn't trust a doctor who was an hour late at that time of the morning. Who knows what he was doing the night before. Almost $1400. With the original diagnosis and the consultation, it'll be over $1700. It is so disgusting!

Well, at least it's over and he's doing OK so far. The pain med and ibuprophen is keeping the pain under control. Here's a photo of him after we got home yesterday. He fell asleep in the recliner, and Squeak is keeping him company.

I miss my laptop. It's at the Apple Store getting a new fan put in. They said it would take about a week. I'm using the old iBook, and it is SLOW!

8/19/08

OK, I'm off on a tirade!! Health care! Lukas' epilepsy medication just doubled in price. This time a year ago it was under $70. Now it's $138. We pay almost $1500 a month in health insurance, which wouldn't be so bad if it covered our health care, but it doesn't. Our deductibles run over $4000, and then it covers 80% of our doctor bills.

This is just insane. And depressing.

8/18/08

Been having another heat wave. That's put an end to my pasture mowing for a while, which is probably for the best because that last patch of poison ivy got onto my arms.

Not much to write about, pumpkins and squash are looking good, gophers killed the cukes in one of my raised beds (next year I'm buying some hardware cloth and put that down in it), got a plague of grasshoppers. When I'm mowing in the pasture I have to pluck them off me and out of my clothes. It sure is fun to watch the chickens chase them though.

I've got some photos to share. First are pool pictures:
First is Mark catching the football, then Christian throwing Scottie into the water, then Mark/Nick and Christian/Scottie having a pool fight.



Then there's a hummer on my feeder:

Then there's Whiskers trying to take a nap.

But Squeak feels like playing...

We just can't let a sleeping cat lay there... Let's tease it!

OK, lay off already!! Now I'm REALLY annoyed!


OK, stand off.

Now Leave Me Alone!

8/4/08

It has been just too hot to do much of anything here. I admit it, I am a wimp concerning the heat. My comfort zone is 50° to 70°, and with it in the 80s every day, and black gnats, deer flies and horse flies outside, nothing much gets done.

Elaine and I went to our family's reunion yesterday. We got to see our cousins and my aunt and uncle, and got to look at some old photos. There was sadness in acknowledging the passing of time and the growing thinness of our ranks. Here's a photo of us with our cousins and aunt and uncle:

OK, let's lighten the mood a bit. Here's Fang trying very hard to get out of my studio. She's gotten out a couple of times, so she knows there's a way. The other day she tried climbing on a Rubbermaid shoebox that was on the floor, and tried jumping up and grabbing the edge of the table. Of course, she didn't make it. Belly flop on the floor! So here she is wanting to get out.

And checking out the situation from a stack of books.

That didn't look good, so let's try it from the tube roll,

Getting ready for takeoff!


Success! Or at least it would have been if I hadn't been there to grab her.

Here's a photo of Scott and his dog Vana.

And Scott and Vana discussing the state of the world,

And Vana trying to play with Whiskers. Whiskers isn't too crazy about playing with a dog he doesn't know.

Here's Whiskers playing with Squeak,


And here's Pip, sprawled out on the back of the recliner, at the end of another hot day,

7/24/08

Haven't been accomplishing too much lately with my beads. Too hot (bad excuse, since anything over 70° is too hot). But my lilies are blooming. Here's a couple of photos:


Worked on Teddy's feet last night (my pony, who has hypergrowth in his feet, and won't stand still for a farrier. The last farrier took an hour and a half to do him, and was supposed to come back to do my horse. He never showed and never called). I picked up a Small Farmer's Journal last time I was at Borders, and it had some drawings of stands for holding horses for farrier work.

I got to thinking and picked up some railroad ties and 2x10s and had the boys make a stand for me. I use an old hammock with a foam piece to hold him up so he can't go down on this knees. It works pretty nifty! Where before a tenth of the time was actually spent clipping him, now once I get him in there I can clip and file away. Much easier on him and on me.

We've got a load of hay coming in Saturday. That will be nice to have that done with. I'm still looking for a calf to pick up for next year's freezer (Sally had a heifer calf this year, so we'll keep her for breeding stock), and it's time to start watching Sally a bit closer to catch her in heat so I can get the AI guy out here. That's one thing that was really nice about her mother, Suzy. She was really easy to catch in heat. She'd start looking at Teddy with a certain gleam in her eye, and would take the first opportunity to mount him.

OK, that's been my day so far...

7/22/08

Quite nice weather this morning. It's in the 60s and a nice breeze. Perfect weather!!!!

The boys were up last weekend to work on the living room/library. We got it all cleaned out and they laid the cement board. Next weekend they're going to tile it. It's going to have marble tile in the corner where the chimney is. I have Mom's wood burning stove that they used when she was growing up, and that's where it's going to go. The rest of the room is going to be tiled in a creamy tan 16" tile. When they're done with that I'm going to have them help build floor to ceiling enclosed bookshelves and that's going to be my library.

7/15/08

Blah!! 88° and just oppressive out there. I sure am glad we have AC, even though it can't keep up with the heat. The good news is that my cherries are ripening and the lilies are starting to bloom, and the roof is done!!!!!

And here's a sandhill crane that was checking out the barnyard last weekend while the guys were working on the roof.

And here's Scott discussing the matter with Pip,


And here's my flower garden,

And a copper and brass capped bead I worked on a couple of days ago, when it was still cooler :). It still needs some more polishing.

7/3/08

It's 51° at 6 a.m. and VERY comfortable. That 91° on Tuesday was a trial. We were supposed to get rain when this cold front rolled through, but we haven't gotten a drop. We really need the rain. Things are starting to dry up, and that doesn't bode well for getting hay.

Went down to my ex-work yesterday. After the last manager was let go last spring, I began to regret retiring (couldn't handle the atmosphere anymore. Gosh, when the department you're in is told to not laugh at work, you begin to question the benefits of staying), but not anymore. The new manager has been lying to the employees, among other things, and moral isn't just in the toilet, it's in the septic tank. It's too bad. Our newspaper used to be an award winning paper, and we used to have pride in the fact that we worked there. When Elmer Andersen had control of it, it was a GOOD place to work. Now it's a board of directors in charge, and they have run it into the ground.

Enough said. Such is the way of the world when money is the only thing that counts.

I finished some silver cored beads.


The dark orange one took forever to do because it's capped besides cored. Hopefully it'll get easier as I make more of them like that.

6/23/08

Whew! My body is finally starting to straighten out, between massage therapy, chiropractor, physical therapy, traction, etc. Still have tingling and numbness in my arm, but at least I can stand to sit long enough to make a bead or two. It's been a long, painful road.

My flowers are starting to look nice; the roses are blooming and the lilies are getting ready to. When they start, I have to take pictures and post them. They are so colorful. The warm weather has finally arrived, and it's supposed to be in the 80s for the rest of the week. Too warm for me, but as Christian says, it's better than -20°. Can't argue there!

6/3/08

This year has not been going at all well. First, I haven't been able to do any torching because I have a pinched nerve in my neck, and the 'referred pain' goes into my shoulder and arm. I've been spending most of my time in bed, because that's where I have the least amount of pain. Then I haven't been selling on Etsy because a woman there has been buying beads from Ebay and Etsy and reselling them on Etsy as her own. Don't ever make a Lampworketc. member mad; boy, are they going after her tooth and nail. They filed complaints with Etsy, Ebay, Paypal, the FBI (Internet fraud), gotten her kicked off SRA (Self-representing Artists), SRAJD (Self-representing Artist Jewelry Designers), International Society of Glass Beadmakers, and others. They have found everything about her but what color toilet paper she uses (Wow, am I dating myself! When did they stop making colored toilet paper?)

This woman says she lives in Milan, Italy, but she has another Etsy shop for selling cookies, which she says she makes in Waco, Texas. She is all over the Internet. She's listed as a florist in Texas, and a tutor! She buys beads and has them sent to Waco, but when she sells beads, they get sent from Italy. For all the stuff that she claims she does, we've decided she's been cloned. You have to read the thread to really get a sense of how convoluted the path is. http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92814

She's bad enough, but the reason so many lampworkers are angry at Etsy is because they've had the proof (photos and receipts, etc.) that she's a fraud for a couple of weeks now, and all they've done is go into her sold items and removed the claim that she made the beads herself, and they've shut down forum discussions about her. Why they're protecting her is anyone's guess. So alot of lampworkers are not listing new items until she's taken care of.

And then yesterday morning, I got about 12,000 spams in the space of a few hours. I called the phone company and they said someone was using my email address to spam people, and what I was seeing was all the rejected spams getting sent back to me! Dirty rotten spammers! I just don't get it. I sure wish I could sent an electric current back to their computer and fry it. So I've had to change my email address. Now I get to go to all the different places I've registered at and change my address. What fun...

I'm going back to bed.

5/25/08

Boy, it sure is a good thing I've got a couple hundred beads laying around waiting to get listed on ebay or etsy, because I sure haven't been making many lately. My shoulder and arm have been getting worse, and I'm down to making just 1 or 2 beads a day. It's very frustrating! Next week I've an appointment with the chiropractor, the massage therapist, and the physical therapist. I sure hope with the combination they can help me get better. I'm also getting our pool filled up, even though it's still on the really chilly side for swimming, just so it'll be ready for when it does warm up enough for swimming. This is just the pits!

On the bright side, the Baltimore orioles are still hanging around, the crab trees are blooming, and the lilac bushes are finally getting ready to bloom. It's a wonderful time of the year.

5/14/08

I went to my first physical therapy appt. yesterday. She says that I have a pinched nerve in my neck, so she did traction and ultrasound and heat packs, and also sent a note to the doctor to ask about getting me on a stronger pain medication. The tears must have been an indication that the Vikodin wasn't doing it...

The orioles and hummingbirds are back!! I've got 2 pairs of orioles hanging around my feeders. The first one that came to the feeder couldn't figure out how to get to the nectar, so I put out some oranges with grape jelly to keep them around. The 2nd picture shows the male eating from the orange and the female sitting on the rail.


Today it's supposed to be really nice, warm and mostly sunny. It'll be a good day to go lay out in the hammock and soak up some sun. And get my asparagus plants planted, and get some quack grass pulled up, and some roses pruned, and get another pot filled with dirt to plant some calla lilies in. OK, I've got my list, now I'll see how much of it I get done besides laying in the hammock!

5/9/08

Made a really neat bead yesterday. I love working with the silver glasses!



I got to work outside for a bit yesterday. I decided to plant my bulbs, glads and cannas, in pots to make it easier in the fall, so I was mixing dirt and manure and filling up pots and getting them put around the deck. Even got some quack grass pulled! It is so nice to be able to be out in the sun. I've finally got some crocuses blooming and some tulips have some blossoms coming. Everything is so late! The trees are just starting to leaf out. But warmer weather is coming...

5/7/08

That was just so cool!! Three bald eagles flew right by the house! I am so blessed to be living where I do, 45 acres right next to a wildlife refuge.

I finally broke down and made an appointment to see the doctor today for the pinched nerve in my shoulder. The pain has gotten so bad, and the only time I don't have numbness and tingling in my arm is when I'm laying flat on my back. Kind of hard to make beads in that position...

5/6/08

I've been having fun with some of Double Helix glass. It's a glass that's has silver in it, and you can get some pretty cool colors when you play with a reduction flame. It shimmers with opalescent colors, and it's never the same. You can see it in the bubbles on a couple of my latest beads.

Today I'm going to get some shelves put up in my greenhouse and get some trays of seedlings moved into it, then get some more seeds planted. It's going to be a nice warm day, a good day to go out into my flower garden and sit in the dirt and pull quack grass. :)

5/3/08

Well, the sun is finally shining... doesn't feel like May though. It's only 40° with a stiff cold NW wind blowing. Maybe I shouldn't have built my studio with such nice big windows. Then maybe I wouldn't be so obsessed with the weather. Oh well, too late now!

The boys are supposed to come up tomorrow. I'm going to run down to Menards and pick up some clear corrugated fiberglass panels and have them cover my 'greenhouse' that Scott put up a couple of years ago on the deck. I need a greenhouse! I've got plants started but no place to put them.

I annealed a batch of beads the other night. Got some nice ones that I'm going to put on Etsy. Here's the first two:



Christian and I were out getting trees off of the fence. Our south fence is along the tree line between us and the housing development, and every spring we have to go out and get trees cut off that have fallen on the fence. For whatever reason, it's almost always the trees from their side that falls on my fence, and no one on their side takes care of it, so unless we want cows and horses getting out, we have to take care of it (Last year someone drove a 4-wheeler though the east fence and took it down. Stupid idiots! This is barbed wire! Hope it scratched up the 4-wheeler but good). Anyway, Christian is 25, and this is the first year I've let him use the chainsaw. I was hovering, actually hovering, while he was sawing. I am so pathetic!