Sigh, summer is here, it was 86° a bit earlier. I hate summer (and winter) as much as I love spring, with its warm days and cool, brisk nights. Heat and I just do not get along any more.
No bead photos today, but lots of everything else. My current blooming flowers,

I’ve been wanting one of the blue orchids since they came out, so when I saw one on sale, I grabbed it. I’m hoping the next time I get down to Bachman’s, they have their orchids on sale. Last time I was in there, I walked in, saw the new orchids, and my mouth dropped and I gasped. They had peachy orange ones, and white with peachy orange. They were drop-dead gorgeous!

This year’s amaryllis have really been spread out, I’m not sure why. I’ve still got amaryllis bulbs that haven’t sprouted, and they usually do that much earlier.

Baltimore orioles, bright, brash, and loud,

And Suka, trying to sleep in the recliner, being such a silly boy!

My morning ritual is to get my coffee, check my email and then read the news on Google News. Every day there’s that headline that just makes you shake your head and wonder about people. This is my sampling from today:
Crackdown On Human Baby Flesh Capsules
Dinosaurs' digestive gases linked to global warming

Saturday's 'Supermoon' Won't Destroy Earth

Two dolphins die from 'heroin' overdose in Swiss zoo after weekend-long rave
Lots of bird photos today. It was really windy, and the Oriole in my tree was really going for a ride,

And it was a busy day at the feeders,

The boys were up to work on the fencing, but it got cut short because of storms moving through again. We’ve had 4” of rain in the past few days, with more coming. It’s disconcerting to look at the radar and see the storms moving east, and look out at the clouds moving west.
I saw a different bird today, a white throated sparrow, but he didn’t stay long enough for me to get a photo, so here’s one from http://wwcbirdcrew.blogspot.com,

I’m still playing with making murrini, up to 117 tests now. Here’s some that came out nice,



And here’s a new bead,

I have a phobia about spiders, especially the ones that don’t stay in their corner catching mosquitoes. Black jumping ones and wolf spiders are an instant ‘YEEEEEK!’

I was cleaning the greenhouse on my deck and walking around in the house this afternoon, and got an apple and went to lay down. Long pants and socks on, laying in my bed, I felt something on the back of my upper leg. Instantly thought, tick! since I had been out working on the fencing, so I got up, took my pants off and was looking inside the leg. Just guess what was in my pants. YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!! It was a jumping black spider. Christian so kindly took care of it for me.

The fencing is on the downhill slide. The major parts of the 40 square are done, just a couple of short spots around the house and barn, and then on the 5 acre strip we’ve still got corner posts and wire to lay. Hopefully this weekend the boys will come up and we’ll get a gate hung and then we’ll be able to open one new pasture to the cows. They’ll enjoy exploring.

Oh, crap, tornado sirens are going off.

It’s going to be a long night, there’s a line of storm cells down to Kansas. The sirens were going on and off for a good half hour, but we just had some heavy rain. That little black dot right in the middle of the first photo is an eagle. A downdraft caught him and he came twirling down, then he recovered and flew back up into it.

More photos, we had a downpour, over an inch of rain (which we needed!),

My day has not started out all that well. 6:15 a.m., Suka (the husky) was stuck under my bed, and his thrashing woke everyone up. So up I get, get all of the dogs out to do their business, and then while I’m trying to get S.C. (Scaredy Cat) to come up to me on the sidewalk, Peaches (one of our other cats) tries sneaking out the doggy door, but unfortunately, Suka was standing right there. He grabbed her by the head and ran off with her, with the 2 little dogs running after to join in the fun, and me trying to rescue Peaches. The snot ran all the way to the end of the orchard before he dropped her, and then she swatted any of the dogs trying to get to her until I caught up, then over the fence she went.

Nope, not a good day so far.

Cool!! I saw a new bird today, a yellow-rumped warbler. I wasn’t quick enough to grab my camera, so here’s a photo off of the web.

It’s snowing! Extreme weather, I was almost dying of the heat day before yesterday.

It was really cool last night looking at the burn. Wherever there were trees, there was still fire going. I wish it had been warmer, I would have dug out my tripod and taken some time lapse photos, but instead I just snapped a couple of long exposures, so they were shaky.

DNR is doing a controlled burn today in the refuge,

The twins are growing,

Squeak went to the vet today to get her teeth cleaned, and they pulled all of her lower front teeth between her canines because they were loose.
Before,

After,

And before and after during the procedure,

We’re all happy that she’s home now, especially Lukas.

Wow!!! A bald eagle just flew over the house with a big bunch of grass in his feet, he had to really beat his wings to top my 20’ pine trees. Neat!

I really need to have a camera in my bedroom, since that seems to be where the cutest pet photos are coming from and my camera phone just doesn’t do it.

Suka is like Pip, when he’s ready to go to sleep, he just wants to sleep. And of course, Christian has to pick on him! Suka says, ‘Just leave me alone, I’m soooo tired.’

Suka just flopped over in Christian’s arms,

and then flopped the other way onto the bed,

right next to Pip, who doesn’t like to share the bed!

And of course, now he’s wide awake...

My tip for the day: Lukas likes the foaming hand soap, but I didn’t like having to throw away the bottle and buy another one just to get foaming soap. I’ve found that filling the foaming soap bottle with water and adding about a tablespoon of shampoo gives you foaming soap. Much cheaper in the long run, and less going into the recycling.

Eeeewwwww!!!! Had to scream for Christian to come kill a BIG spider on my living room floor!! Yuckkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!

Today was a brisk March day, like a Minnesota March day should be, unlike the abnormal temperatures we’ve been having (not that I’m complaining!). I broke down and started up the wood stove this morning and this evening. The grass is greening up, the perennials are coming up, and the trees and bushes are budding out. If we have a late frost, I’m not going to get any apples at all this year.

When my Suka puppy is ready to go to sleep, he’s ready, no question about it. Here’s Christian bugging him while he was trying to nap,

and here he is, all comfy! He is such a clown!!!!!

Most of my beads are, in my opinion, OK, some of them are ‘Wow! That’s not too bad!’ and then there’s that very rare one that I just can’t bear to sell. Here’s one of those rare ones,

And here’s one of the ‘Wow’ ones,
Blue Opal Galaxy

Meanderings: Did you know that olive oil works very well as a hair conditioner? Put a few drops of perfume or essential oil (tea tree or lavendar oil if you have scalp issues) in and it smells very nice. It takes just a few drops smeared between your hands and then run your fingers through your hair after washing it. It takes all the snarls out and leaves it frizz-free.

Christian took Suka to the vet today for his yearly checkup and shots. My poor puppy has Lyme’s disease! The vet said this is the earliest she’s ever seen it. So he’s on medication for a month. He has to go back in in a couple of weeks to get his Lyme’s vaccination booster. Oh, and he pee’d 7 times at the vet, he was so scared. Poor puppy!

LOL, Christian found a new trick for Suka, being a lip-flapper! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXBeWQCLf5g (turn your volume up a bit).

It is just so wrong to even be thinking about turning on the AC in the middle of March in Minnesota! At midnight last night, it was still 69°.

Some new beads to show off,
Shimmering Fire Galaxy 6443

Fire Galaxy 6455

Honey Peach Galaxy 6475

LOL!!! Channel 11 just ran a public service message warning about the dangers of frostbite! The weather forecast is calling for 80° tomorrow.

Oh, spring has sprung!!!! Way too early, but I’m not going to complain. The skies have been filled with geese, swans and sandhill cranes. This is absolutely the BEST time of the year!

My amaryllis are starting to fade, so I’m posting photos of them still in their full glory,

I’ve been trying to get some cleaning done, and ran across an old photo of Lukas. He was such a cute kid!

And here he is all grown up,

My Suka is such a big goofball! Here he is laying on the recliner,


He must be all tuckered out from being chased by the bull yesterday. We took him out to do chores last night and he started chasing one of the twins. The calf was running and bawling for mama, who was totally immersed in her food bucket. Dex’s instincts kicked in though, and he took after Suka. It was quite funny, watching him chasing Suka, and tagging along was Roast, the 6 mo. old steer. Suka ran out of the pen, the twin came back to the herd, Dex went back to his feed, and mama never batted an eye during the whole ordeal.