I took the dogs and went for a walk today. If it weren’t for the wind, it would be downright tropical! It’s 38° and sunny, and the snow is melting.

I do believe Gertrude is starting to bag up, so I’m quite happy that we’re heading into spring and warmer days.

Kabob is growing, and as with all babies, he’s quite cute. Just look at those lashes!

Now I wonder how they figured out the time span people spent in purgatory, that they could take 20 days off the sentence. And what happened to a person who was supposed to spend 19 days in purgatory? Did he/she get an extra special day in heaven?

No wonder the Catholic church made it illegal to own a Bible in any language except Latin, which was a dead language no one spoke except those educated by the church; they didn’t want people to be able to read it and see that their church doctrines weren’t from the Bible.

“A grave discovered near the skeleton of Richard III, could belong to a mysterious woman who was so revered by the church that those who prayed for her were promised ’20 days off purgatory.’
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/archaeology/11442961/Archaeologists-lift-lid-on-mystery-coffin-buried-near-Richard-III.html

Got to have some humor after that,


And now I’m off to get the Bobcat warmed up to get the driveway plowed out. I am SOOOOOO glad it has a heated cab!!

ETA: Where DO they (St. Paul Pioneer Press) hire their reporters from? A grade school from Florida?

Rare winter storm leaves 1 dead amid scores of crashes

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_27631021/twin-cities-weather-3-4-inches-snow-coming

I can’t be too discourage by the snow, cold and wind, since it’s forecast to be 39° by Friday. Spring is on the way!!!

I have amaryllis starting to bloom,

I really like this one (Bogata) and hope it starts to multiply,

The calf is growing well and isn’t bothered too much by the snow and cold. He quite enjoyed being let out with the other cows, as you can see from the video.


That’s the bull he slid into at the end.  And just as a reminder not to get too attached to him, we named him Kabob (as in shish kabob).

I got a new shipment of glass in, and I’m going to do some torching today.

Watching the news tonight, there’s a right-to-work debate in Wisconsin about mandatory dues for unions. One woman said, “It is inexcusable that any American should have money taken out of their paycheck to be given to anything that they don’t agree with.”

Am I so critical? I find that statement absurd!! So if I don’t believe in Social Security, I shouldn’t have SS taxes taken out of my paycheck (if I still worked, that is), or maybe I don’t agree that I need health insurance, so I shouldn’t have health insurance premiums taken out?

I need a laugh after that.

and with a snowstorm coming tomorrow, my sentiments exactly!

Another cold winter day… this winter just drags on and on. But tomorrow is the first day of March, and I heard the weatherman babbling something about 40° in sight.

Our laundry room/bathroom is done, except for a few minor things, and now it’s just waiting until it’s warm enough to actually take a bath in there (it’s on the NW side of the house, so it gets a bit chilly in there).

I’m sure the birds are ready for some warm weather too,

Yesterday we got the cow and calf out of the garage and out to the barn. I’m happy to see that Heidi has developed her mothering instincts, she didn’t want any other cows near her baby. Christian said the other night that one of the garage cats got too close to the calf, and she went after him.

Some kind of funny winter pics from the Internet,

Jim is home now. A year and a half ago he started on his bike ride to the southern tip of South America to raise money for cancer research (his Dad and my neighbor, Wally, died of pancreatic cancer 10 years ago). He kept a blog of his trip with lots of amazing photos, http://pedalingforpennies.info/.

A video from Channel 9:

Life is never simple when you have animals, and the problem with having a bull vs. AI, you can get babies in the winter. So we have a calf in the pantry

and a cow in the garage.

Thank goodness it wasn’t born tomorrow, it wouldn’t have been alive by the time we went out to do chores, since she had it outside. I’ve also found out that Dexters are hard to tell when birth is imminent, unlike Jerseys who get a huge bag when they’re ready to pop.

Later we’ll take the calf out to the garage and see if we can get it to nurse. It’ll be spending a couple of days at least in the pantry, joy joy, since it’s going to be brutal cold the next few days. So very ready for spring!

Our laundry room/bathroom is done! I really like the way it turned out. Although, I do think it needs a bigger window in there. I can vision plants in there, or at least I could if it weren’t on the cold side of the house.

Impatiently waiting for warmer weather, along with half of the rest of the country. This time of the year just seems to drag, I want to get out and soak up some sun, go for a walk, get my plants out of the house, get some fresh air without freezing. My plants are struggling, except for the Meyer lemon trees I started. Anyone want a Meyer lemon tree? I’ve got 10 of them started. If I had known the seeds were that robust, I wouldn’t have planted as many.

I put in an order at Burgess seed (got 200 peat pots today), and I’ve got another order at Jung Seed. Some Mock Orange,
”double white blossoms with exquisite sweet fragrance”
a hybrid lilac, “the enormous trusses beautify the landscape while their exquisite fragrance wafts through the air perfuming entire neighborhoods.”
Honeysuckle, “intensely fragrant flowers beginning mid-spring and continuing all summer”
Mojito Mint, “A mint that traces its origins back to Cuba”
and a few other herbs and flowers.

My tiger drawing is progressing nicely,

Lots and lots of dots…

A couple funny internet pics:
(Actually, this is what my cats like to do with my bead kiln)

I had four trumpeter swans fly over the house the other day. They are so white against a blue sky. Thrilling!!!! Spring is on the way, even though we’re freezing our buns off here. We’re going to have a warm-up for one day, then it’s going to be frigid again. I keep looking at Intellicast’s 10 day forecast, hoping to see a real warm-up, but there’s nothing to cheer about yet.

My latest drawing is progressing. He’s laying in water, trying to cool down. I’m just about ready to start putting in some color.

Some new beads, I’ll be putting these on Facebook,

Another dreary day here, cold and raw and snowing. Oh well, at least I don’t live in New York or Boston. I really feel for them.

My leopard drawing is finished,

I’m working on a tiger now, and if it progresses well, I think I’ll finish it with color.

I have some new beads up on Facebook,


I’ve been playing around with layering some silver glasses over the Galaxy layers. The problem is that I’m ending up with some large (for me) beads. Just going to have to start with a smaller footprint.

Well, off to the middle room to work on my drawing. It’s warmer in there, especially if I use the electric throw.

I’m finishing up on my leopard drawing,

I think I’ll do a tiger next. Thank National Geographic for this spate of wildlife drawings, it’s been inspiring to watch their wildlife shows (except for the ones that show the kills, I have to fast forward past those scenes).

I am SOOOOOOO ready for spring! We had 40° today, and it was just teasing me. I’m just thankful I don’t live in Buffalo, New York. Gosh, have they been slammed this winter.

I have amaryllis and orchids getting ready to bloom, so hopefully next time I post I’ll have some beautiful blooms to show. In the meantime, some beads I’ve got on Facebook,

This is Arke, a Double Helix silver glass. It is really neat using it in a Galaxy stringer, it just shimmers like crazy.

January 2015

We’re having our January thaw, and it is SOOOOO nice to go outside without my fingers going numb in a matter of minutes. Winter is on its way out…

I took this picture last month and forgot to post it. It was a grapefruit from my tree, and it was delicious!

I’m almost done with my leopard drawing, and so far, I’m pleased with it. It’s coming out nicely.

Time to start looking for something else. I think I will do a tiger. I was watching a show called Tiger Dynasty on National Geographic Wild, and there were a couple of scenes that struck me.

Some new beads on Facebook; the first is on dichroic glass, and I’m not sure I like it, the second is a pretty Galaxy bead.