It is April, not January, right? Sigh, convince me!!!

Looking out my kitchen window,

and some bluebirds just waiting for spring to come,

Oh, this winter just isn”t quitting!!!! 8-12” of snow by Thursday! Yuck, yuck, yuck!!!!!

Meanderings today, just all over the place with my thoughts…

Evil or illness, or a combination of both? The big news in the Twin Cities is the trial of Aaron Schaffhausen, who last year killed his three young daughters, and is now claiming he was insane at the time. This past weekend, just a couple of miles from my home, a mother drowned her 6 and 7 year old children and then killed herself. In my thinking, mental illness can cause self-harm, but it’s pure and simple evil that incites a parent to kill a child. Again, in my thinking, denying the existence of Satan (or evil) is opening a door for him. What’s the saying, ‘know thine enemy?’

On much less tragic news, my puppy, Pyr, had to go to the vet. He was limping and I was really concerned about hip dysplasia, since he’s a big dog. They took x-rays, and thank goodness his hips are just fine, but he has a ruptured ACL (the injury that’s so common in football players), aggravated by congenital patellar luxation or knee dislocation, which is more commonly seen amongst the small breeds like Chihuahuas, pugs, poms, etc. He weighs in at 95 lbs!! So he’s on anti-inflammatory meds for two weeks, with lots of rest and no tearing around. Well, we just have to keep Suka from playing with him, since Suka’s favorite way of inciting Pyr is to grab a back leg and pull it out from under him. You can tell when Pyr is really excited and wants to play, he wags his tail and butt and looks at you. Yup, he’s a very excitable dog. Here he is enjoying the last of the snow:

I have lots of flowers right now, with lots of orchids blooming, and a couple of amaryllis too. This one is much deeper red than the picture shows,

And this is what my desk looks like right now, LOVE IT!!

Reading the news this a.m., had to shake my head at the headline, Ryan Gosling joins forces with PETA to call for ban on calf dehorning

“The American Veterinary Medical Association, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and third-party animal welfare auditing groups recognize the benefits of polled genetics for the dairy industry, so there is absolutely no reason - and no excuse - for the cruel, unnecessary practice of dehorning to continue.” http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/entertainment/celebrity/Ryan-Gosling-joins-forces-with-PETA-to-call-for-ban-on-calf-dehorning_67797128#ixzz2PVKfWFna

Yes, well, that’s fine if you’re supporting the factory farms and their limited genetic stock, but if you look at the wide diversity of heritage breeds, they aren’t all naturally polled (hornless). Both of my milk cows have horns, so when Heidi was born, we de-horned her. It’s not that the cows are mean or anything, it’s just that they are big animals, and their instinct is to use their heads to push things out of the way.

Spring is very slow this year, but at least the birds are coming back. We’ve had a bald eagle swooping down to grab hunks of old hay in the pasture. That is so cool to see. I’m sure it’s the same one as last year, since they return to the same nest year after year.

I’m still waiting for it to warm up enough to get back into beads again. It’s just been too cold to sit at the computer to do photos and listing, so I’ve been spending a lot of time in my recliner by the wood stove. The snow is slowly melting, though, and it’s going to be in the 40s for the next week. Spring is coming!!

Some beads I listed:

Yes, spring is here!!! Yesterday it was -2°, and this morning it was -1°. It’s definitely getting warmer!!!

Do I sound like I’m tired of winter?!? The longer it stretches out, the crabbier I have been getting, I’ve noticed. Sigh, spring is coming, spring is coming, spring is coming…

An interesting video:

http://economy.money.cnn.com/2013/03/08/wealth-video/?google_editors_picks=true

It was quite pretty this morning, frost on everything,
Here's some turkeys in the refuge,

Here is the calf (I haven’t decided on a name for her yet) coming into the house to get her horn buds shaved for putting on horn paste,

I have a gorgeous hibiscus blooming from a cutting I took last summer. I’m going to try doing that more later this summer, since it worked so well with this one.

We have a baby calf! Yesterday we went out to do chores and there she was, standing in the snow. We got her and mama locked up in the barn, and made sure she was sucking (and she is a strong sucker!). I decided to bring her into the pantry for the night, since it was going to get pretty cold last night. It drove the dogs crazy to hear her in there and not be able to see what was going on, so we let them see her before locking her up for the night.


This morning we took her back out and locked her back up with mama Gertrude. She was enjoying a nice warm breakfast when I left her. We’ll probably do the same tonight and maybe a couple more nights yet, until she gets going good. After we get past Friday, it’s supposed to start warming up a little bit.

The wind is just howling tonight. By morning the wind chills will be -20 to -40 below. Sigh, spring is coming... Eventually.

Oh, that was so cool!!!! A bald eagle swooped down and grabbed hay, assumably for nest building, from the pasture by the hay barn. Beautiful creatures!!!!

I am so tired of winter! They’re forecasting a low of -10° tomorrow night, and I’ve got a cow in the barn ready to calve in the next day or two.

Winter isn’t giving up yet,

And another picture of Pyr, sitting on Chris’ lap,

Another cold one here today, but thank goodness the wind died down. Last night was just brutal, and it was -18° this a.m. When the weather is like that, it gets pretty cold in my studio because of all the large windows. This morning it was 50° in here. That’s one of the reasons (the other is back and neck problems) why I’ve been spending so much time in my recliner working on my sister’s quilt. The recliner is right next to my wood stove, which is so nice and toasty warm. But the weather has to start changing pretty soon, it’s February, and maybe I can pull myself out of my rut. I’ve been getting the urge to find my seeds and get some tomatoes started, and I’ve been enjoying Pinterest and the gardening boards. I’m going to try building a hoop greenhouse out in the garden when the ground thaws enough to dig some holes, and hopefully that will let me get out into the garden a bit earlier this year.

Pyr is certainly growing! He’s about 9 months old now, and he still likes to think he’s a lap dog.

And I’m just about done with the appliqué on the quilt. Next will come some embroidery to define the flowers and leaves.

It’s -20°, and I hate winter!!

Tom Brokaw put it very well when he tweeted “It is not enough to talk about access to guns. We also have to address a popular culture that treats graphic violence as routine.”

Well, winter is here! Yesterday we had well over a foot of snow, half of what we got the whole winter last year. We really needed it. My grand-nephew has had an unexpected (for him and his dad) vacation. They came up Saturday to put the snowblower on my lawn tractor, and Scottie stayed overnight, with Scott expecting to come up Sunday to pick him up. The roads were too bad yesterday to get out of the city, and the same again today. So Scottie has had two days of snowmobiling instead of school, poor boy. Since we’re all plowed out now, Christian is going to run him down to the cities tomorrow.

The birds certainly knew that they needed to get filled up while they could. Sunday they were all flocking to the feeder.

Today was a lovely day (since I didn’t have to drive in it). It was a bit nippy, 5° this a.m., but there was no wind at all. Very nice! Here’s Dexter, our bull, waiting for lunch.

Those are 80’ trees back there, just covered with snow. Gorgeous.

And Suka and Pyr are just loving the weather.

Sadly, I may be having to give up lampworking, or at least seriously cutting down. I have arthritis in my neck, and it’s been pretty bad the past year, and between backaches and headaches, I was spending more and more time in bed. That’s no way to live! I’ve been prescribed several different medications, but they haven’t helped, and it seems like the doctor is at a standstill. The only thing that works is narcotics, and he won’t prescribe any more of them, so now I’m going to physical therapy. It’s helped the headaches a tiny bit, but not the backaches.

But as I said, spending half my day in bed is frustrating, so I decided I needed to find something to do in the recliner. I used to quilt, so I decided to try that again. I bought this wolf fabric years ago with my sister in mind, so I dug it out and have been appliquéing morning glories on it. The good thing about it is that I’ve been catching up on old movies and videos that I haven’t had a chance to watch. I’m halfway through Lord of the Rings, and I just might tackle eight seasons of NCIS.

My goofball Pyr and son, Christian,

What a warm day today! It was misting, and I didn’t even need a coat to do chores. If it weren’t for the drought conditions, I could really enjoy global climate change.

I’ve been really getting into making the focals again, and I really like these two. The first one is such a pretty buttery glass. Unfortunately, it’s a Vetrofond glass, and they’ve gone out of business. They made some of the most wonderful glass, and a very nice variety.

Just a couple bird photos, and a few stupid pet pics:
Cardinals! I’ve had a family of 3 males and a female hanging around lately,

It’s quite a zoo around here at times. Here’s Pry joining me on the recliner while I was trying to sew,

Suka and Pyr playing, with Pip trying to hump Pry (it’s a dominance thing),

I rearranged my computer and peripherals to get the computer up off the floor (too dusty), so my hard drives are on the shelf along side the satellite receiver. Well, obviously Honey missed the warmth of the hard drives.

They are now moved, hopefully to a little less precarious spot.
And the other morning Peaches showed up with a packing peanut stuck to her nose!

Suka found it quite interesting,

Oh, I do love Minnesota. A record high of 60° at midnight, and 5 hours later, 19°. Pretty nippy out there still.

I had 3 red cardinals at my feeder a little bit ago. Such a bright color on a cold gloomy winter evening.

I sure wish I knew what glass I used in this bead. It’s a dark midnight blue, but when the light hits it just right, there’s reddish-orange shimmers.

And here’s another one I wish I knew how I made it,

LOL, someone didn’t do a very good background check!

Mass. highway safety head loses job after report

The director of the Massachusetts Highway Safety Division lost her job Sunday after a newspaper reported that her driving record included seven accidents, four speeding violations and one failure to wear a seat belt.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2012/11/18/mass-highway-safety-chief-has-bad-driving-record/eXC5gcPxkGsQ6XRJXSzi8M/story.html

Suka, my husky, has a pretty intense prey drive. He likes to chase anything that moves, especially cats and chickens. I have a cat who likes to just stay in my studio, although it's open to the rest of the house. So Suka was in my studio, Honey (the cat) went to jump up on the desk, he grabbed her tail, she grabbed the kiln, and Suka pulled them both down onto the floor.

The kiln's top is a bit wonky now, a chunk of firebrick got taken out inside, but it still works, or at least it fires up. If that darned dog weren't so darned cute, I'd shoot him!
ETA: Someone was worried about the cat, and suggested I check her tail. Here she is on the desk behind my computer monitor,

and here she is after I checked her tail.

I don’t think she appreciated my concern.