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!!