7/10/09

And here's another one of my favorites:

7/8/09

And here's another couple of my beads that I really like:


And here's a bead from one of my favorite lampworkers, Lydia Muell, http://www.lampworktreasures.com/home.html. She makes such BEAUTIFUL beads!!

7/7/09

OK, here's the best I could get of the male Baltimore Oriole. He wasn't very cooperative!



And here's a set of Aurae beads that I'm going to put on eBay this weekend. Every once in a while, I'll get a green tinge instead of the pink-violet. It all depends on how much oxygen it gets in relationship to the propane and how cool it gets before flashing it back into the flame. And this set has a lot of striations in it too. Very, very tricky!

6/30/09

OK, I'm not complaining, because this weather is better than 97°, but it feels like October. It's cold and windy and dark already.

The weather this year is just crazy! I've never had Baltimore Orioles this time of the year before. I am enjoying them though. I've been trying to get a photo of the male. He is such a bright color. Maybe tomorrow...

6/24/09

I saw a Indigo Bunting at the feeder this morning. This bird looks black until the sun hits the feathers at the right angle, then it's a beautiful blue.

It's a pleasant 70° right now. We had a thunderstorm come through and it cooled things down a bit. The last two days have been just miserable, in the upper 90s. My tomatoes are finally starting to perk up, though.

On a more somber note, I've been watching the events in Iran, and how ever much we complain about our government and politicians, we can at least complain. Right now they can't even do that. Here's a sample of the twitters coming out of Iran this morning:
phone line was cut and we lost internet - #Iranelection - getting more difficult to log into net -

reports of street fighting in Vanak Sq, Tajrish sq, Azadi Sq - now

in Baharestan we saw militia with axe choping ppl like meat - blood everywhere - like butcher

they catch ppl with mobile - so many killed today - so many injured - Allah Akbar - they take one of us

Lalezar Sq is same as Baharestan - unbelevable - ppls murdered everywhere

they pull away the dead into trucks - like factory - no human can do this - we beg Allah for save us

we must go - dont know when we can get internet - they take 1 of us, they will torture and get names - now we must move fast

6/18/09

Hot and muggy, headache and earache. Can you tell I'm miserable? Finally gave in and turned on the AC.

6/17/09

I just have to show off some beads I just finished cleaning:





IMHO, I think they turned out rather nice. Unfortunately, the photos just don't show the metallic shimmers that make them so luscious.

6/17/09

We got almost 1 1/2" of rain yesterday. We really needed it, as we live in sand country, and the drought hits us harder. Birds are really active this morning. I just saw an Eastern Phoebe. I had to look it up in the bird book as I don't think I've ever seen one before.


I just had to show these beads that I just pulled out of the kiln. I LOVE Aurae glass!

6/15/09

On NBC Nightly News, talking about Pres. Obama's health care reform, a politician said Americans don't want rationed health care, beaurocrats making health care decisions, people having to wait for appointments, etc.

Excuse me, but what do we have now? Last time I made an appointment, it took over 2 weeks to get in to see the doctor, and that was just to get a prescription refilled. And then the prescription, which I had been on for a couple of years, was no longer covered by my health insurance, so I had to call the doctor and get a different prescription. But then, congressmen live in an entirely different world than I. They don't have to pay $1341 a month in health insurance, and I'm sure they don't have my deductible or 20% co-pay on everything. If we all had the health care that the members of the US Congress have, I could afford to go to the doctor for the headaches, earaches, stomachaches, a Pap test, mammogram and the 5-year check-up the health insurance company says I should have, which I can't afford, since the visit to the doctor to get the prescription renewed cost $177.

OK, end of rant!

It's been warm here! Yesterday it was 85° and today it got up to 84°. No wonder I feel like puking!

That's right! I was going to quit complaining and be happy.

My irises are blooming. They are just lovely.



Well, I'm going to go out and see if the lawnmower will start. It's been on the battery charger for a couple of hours (needs a new battery). The lawn REALLY needs mowing, even though the grass is all dead from lack of rain, the weeds are certainly growing.

6/12/09

Just some photos to share tonight. I did a couple of beads this morning that I really like (I LOVE blue).


And I got a couple of nice photos of a hummer. Can you find it in the bush? It's sitting smack dab in the middle of the photo.

And here he is at the feeder,

6/8/09

Got the call from the bank with the new appraisal. Our property has lost about $100,000 value in the last two years, almost a third of the value. We're still going to go through with the refinancing. It'll be at a lower interest rate, and we'll get enough money to get the land surveyed so we know where to put the fence line, and to get the fence posts and barbed wire, and to get the RV in and get some work done on it, and hopefully enough to go on a little fishing trip this summer.

We got another stretch of fence almost done tonight. I HATE working with barbed wire, especially when I have to stretch it, with the creaking and pinging wire I just get visions of something letting loose and it going flying. It's wicked stuff, but it keeps the cows in.

We finally got the stray mama cat caught. She's a beautiful cat, black, white and orange calico, but very wild. She showed up in our garage about 4 years ago, and has a batch of kittens every year. Whiskers, the black and white cat I've posted pictures of here, is last year's kitten. Well, she had 4 kittens this year, and they're just starting to eat solid food, so we were able to catch them and get them in the mud room. Then by opening the door so she could get in with her kittens, and sneaking into the garage and closing the door, I was able to lock her into there. She's settling down a little bit, we've been able to touch her at least. I'm hoping to tame her down enough to get her into the vet and get her fixed. DON'T need any more cats!!

Interesting article on the news tonight about flea and tick drops causing reactions in dogs and cats, allergic reactions, seizures and death. I won't use them on the little dogs anymore. I bought some and put it on Pip (and yes, it was the dose for under 15 lbs.), and within a half hour she was whirling around and trying to lick and bite her back. I put her in the shower and washed it off, but she didn't settle down until the next day.

I posted some more beads on Etsy and ArtFire. Here's my favorite:

6/5/09

All right, I've read my email and the news, there's a cool breeze, and there's supposed to be rain on the way (which we desperately need!), everyone else is still asleep, so it's nice and quiet. I have a lady who wants lots of Troll beads, so I'm off to the torch.

5/31/09

It's a good thing that I had an artistic bent and was able to make a living that way, because I sure don't have any luck as a farmer. Frosted pumpkins and melons last night, chickens are jumping up into the stock tank and eating my tomato plants, and the calf got into the garden and pulled up half my sweet corn.

And this is what gets me through the winter???

Well, at least my hummingbirds and orioles like me.

5/25/09

I'm watching a Baltimore Oriole flashing his wings and chattering at the female Oriole. She's just interested in the grape jelly on the orange.

5/23/09

Long, long day. We got the living room and half of a bedroom cleaned out. Stupid jerks who broke in to Mom's house just trashed it, threw things down on the floor, tore the door off the pump house. What is the sense in that?

I hope I NEVER get to the point of saving every receipt, every magazine bill or every magazine I get. One of my goals has been to simplify and de-clutter. I can see now I haven't pursued it nearly far enough! I'm afraid too much of Mom has rubbed off on me. I need to be more ruthless in getting rid of things.

So next weekend we're going to be doing the same thing. There is furniture that needs to gotten out of there. I'm afraid the next thing the vandals will think of is to torch the place.

5/23/09

Going down to the farm today to try to get some stuff out of Mom's house. My brother said someone broke into it again and really trashed it. Stupid, senseless people!

5/22/09

Spent the morning doing bills. What a waste of time!! I'd rather have been making beads or being outside. The Baltimore orioles are sucking up the grape jelly off the orange I put out, and they are so bright!

But I've got two more doctor bills paid completely off. Next month another one will be done with. Yippee!!!

5/20/09

Minnesota, from freezing to 94° in a couple of days.

5/18/09

Why do we need health care reform in this country?

Last month Lukas' seizure medication's price was $377.73, of which the insurance paid $302.18, and we paid $75.55. This month's price is $527.99, of which the insurance paid $422.39 and we paid $105.60. The drug company raised the price over $150!!!!

5/15/09

And so the battle continues...

Background, in 1990 we bought 45 acres to build a house on. The bank wouldn't finance a house on more than 10 acres, so we went to the assessor's office and had 7+ acres partitioned off into a separate parcel for the house.

I received a letter from the assessor's office yesterday and called them this a.m. to find out what it meant. Seems that it's illegal to partition off a parcel for mortgage purposes. What the heck!?! This is the assessor's office, they're the ones who did it, and have been sending me tax statements for the two separate parcels for the last 20 years, and they didn't know it was illegal?!?

So what this is going to do to the refinancing, I'm not sure. At 9:00, I'll call the bank and find out (and hopefully I'll get an answer yet today).

Maybe people who bungee jump do it because they're so overwhelmed with everyday life.

5/12/09

Farewell to a dear companion

She was such a goofball, and loved to play:

And one of my favorite pictures, Lukas and Tynha:

I miss her.

5/12/09

Made an appt. to have Tyhna put down. She can't get up at all now. I was hoping to have the vet make a farm call, but neither of them can until next week. So now we have to try to get her on a blanket and loaded into the back of the van. This is so horrible. There has just been too much pain. I am so tired of it all. And I thought last year was bad. This year has it beat hands down.

5/11/09

Did you know that you can give hydrogen pyroxide to a dog to make it throw up? Just saved a trip to the vet.

5/11/09

Will it never end?!!?

Now my tiller won't start, won't even turn over. I just used it last week!

After chores, I went to the garden to work. Had to come in because the cows were bawling and the horses whinneying so much. They're not used to seeing me down by the barn other than at chores time, so they equate seeing me with food. Well, they already got fed!! Sheesh, so much for the peace and quiet of the countryside!

I'm going to go make some beads. Maybe in a while they'll all go out into the pasture and I can sneak back into the garden.

5/10/09

This has truly been the year from hell.

Friday I started the kiln to anneal a batch of beads, a week and a half's worth of work. I forgot to put the kiln controller's temp probe in the kiln. I wanted to go see Star Trek, so I asked Christian to check on the kiln. I reminded him several times before I left. He checked once. If he had done as I asked, he would have noticed the temperature not moving, and hopefully would have had the sense to turn it off and call me.

When I got home, I asked him if he remembered to watch it, and he looked at it and said it was at 780°. Actually, it was at 78°. I told him to turn it off. Saturday morning when I opened it, it was black on the bottom. All of the beads had melted off the mandrels and onto the kiln floor. And then when I plugged it in, and the elements didn't heat up, I realized the elements had burned out.

I didn't quite cry, yet...

I looked online to find a replacement, and ended up deciding to go down to St. Paul to J. Rings to buy a replacement. I got Lukas up and dressed, since I seem to be the only one who can do that around here. He handed me his remote, and I set it down, and promptly forgot where I set it down. At that point, I really was ready to sit down and cry.

David found it on my computer desk. I don't even remember going in there!

So I met Elaine at J. Rings and bought a kiln with a built in controller so I could never again forget to put the temp probe in. $600 later...

So today, after Lukas and I got home from meeting, I had a quick lunch and went to lay down because I had another headache. Opened the bedroom door, and there's water everywhere. The washing machine was overflowing, and it flowed into my bedroom!!!!

An hour later, Christian and I had it all mopped up. We've done 2 loads since then, and it seems to be working properly. But you can bet the first $500 that I have floating around, I'm buying a new washing machine! As Christian said, it may be 5 or 10 years before that happens, but I sure hope not!

I would love to be so bored with life that I wanted to go bungee jumping.

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.