I love hyacinths, the colors, the scent, the petals, but especially the scent. I have one pot sitting on my printer to my right, and another to my left. Heavenly!


The sandhill cranes were out in the pasture today, and calling down by the river. I would love to be able to go south when they gather for the migrations. It must be quite a sight.

Here’s my resident Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers,

It’s been difficult to write for the past week. It’s been horrible to see the videos from Japan, with the loss of life, and so much destruction. But my sister reminded me that it’s uplifting to see pretty pictures, so I’m back with some.

This bright boy has been hanging around for the last couple of day.

I wish the camera could pick up the metallic shimmers in these beads. They just gleam!



Spring is on the way. It was over 50 yesterday, and the snow is melting. I had a flock of Canadian geese fly over, and a sandhill crane. I cracked my bedroom window a bit more last night, and could hear the cranes down by the river. I am so ready for it, it’s been a long and hard winter. We had over 80” of snow this winter.

Christian took Suka to the vet today to get his shots. Suka is 5 months old now, and weighs 50 lbs. He is such a wuss! Christian said when the vet was listening to Suka’s heart, Suka put a paw on Christian’s lap, then his other paw, then he jumped up on Christian’s lap. And then when they did his nails, he piddled! What a baby! Here’s a photo with Christian (yes, I know my son looks like a lumberjack. He’s waiting until it warms up, then he’ll shave it all off and get a haircut).

He’s grown so fast! Here’s a photo of when we first got him,

Last night he was on the bed with me while I was reading, and Christian came and was wrestling around with him. Suka wagged his tail, and it thumped against the pillow, and he stopped and looked at his tail, like ‘what’s making that noise?’ Hilarious!!

Yesterday morning Peaches, the cat, must have been trying to get in through the doggy door while Suka was outside. I was sitting in my studio, and I heard her screeching, then she scrambled through the doggie door with Suka after her. She jumped over the half door of my studio, Suka banged into it (it’s has a screen door spring to keep it shut so the ferrets can’t get out), the door slammed into my cabinet, and I was thinking ‘that door is going to slam shut and wake Lukas up.’ Well, Peaches turned around and ran back through the door, and it slammed shut on her tail. Well, at least it didn’t make as much noise that way. Poor cat.

This is video of Suka playing with BB, the ferret.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avm4a2Z1_hU

I started some peppers and tomatoes, and have been dreaming of spring and warm sunshine, and no coats or shoes (I’m just a hippie at heart, hate to wear shoes). We have a snowstorm moving in tonight, but at least we won’t be getting the foot of snow that they were forecasting earlier.

It’s no wonder I don’t get any work done. I posted a couple of videos of Suka and the ferrets playing tug of war with a stuff toy and a piece of plastic, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvUrKB6-M-8

When I empty a bag of ferret food, I leave it on the floor for a couple of days for the ferrets to play in. Suka wanted to get every last crumb in it, and then couldn’t get the bag off of his head. When I called him to get the bag of of his head, he ran into the desk. Sorry, but I was laughing so hard I was crying.

I love Dark Aurae! I just wish I could get more of it. This is Dark Aurae on pink glass. The only difference is the oxygen/propane proportions and the amount of time flashing it in the flame. What you don’t see in the photos are the shimmering metallic glimmers of the glass. They’re just gorgeous!

More flower photos, a gorgeous rich velvety red Gilmore amaryllis,

And some more beads,

Lots of pretty flower pictures tonight. I’m getting the spring bug. We’re had really warm weather the last couple of days, and the snow is melting.

Christian thought if he held up Chunk by the amaryllis, it would give a better idea of how huge these blossoms are. Chunk had other ideas, like chomp!

The other Peacock Blossom bud has opened,

And a gorgeous Red Lion,

Another shot of the Minerva, or it this a Gilmore? I didn’t label the bulb.

The red-bellied woodpecker came back,

Stupid pet photos! This is Chunk flying through the air trying to get into the garbage can (he jumped from the litter box bucket),

And here’s Suka in his new snow box. He outgrew the other one. He does love his snow!


Bead photos,

And thanks again to Amy, AK Designs, for writing the tutorial on how to make these beads!

Life with a puppy:
6:30 a.m. Puppy yawning loud enough to wake the whole house,
6:35 turn on hallway light so I can dodge any wet spots on way to let puppy out
6:40 tug of war between puppy and me for my bra
6:45 break up fight between Pip and puppy for sqeaky toy
7:00 break up fight between Pip and puppy for sqeaky toy
7:20 get puppy off of cat
7:25 separate ferret and puppy because ferret grabbed puppy by the lip (don't feel bad for ferret! It's revenge for puppy dragging ferret around by the tail.)
7:35 puppy knocks over dust pan & broom trying to chase cat

I had a very unsettling shock. As I’ve mentioned before, we’ve been getting the old farm house cleaned out over the past two years because it’s falling down, and it was time to get in there and save what we could. A lot of stuff we just put in rubbermaid boxes and put in the trailer house or I bought them back and put them in my basement. Yesterday when I went down there to get some more amaryllis bulbs, I grabbed some small boxes and bought them up to look through them.

One box had sympathy cards from 1949, and it took a while to figure out they were from when my older brother was born. He was born severely deformed and live just a short while after birth.

The next box I opened was much worse. There was a billfold and a bank book, both charred, and a small box with charred coins and metal buttons and clasps. They were from my Dad. He was killed in a farming accident when I was 14 months old, out plowing and the tractor turned over on him and caught fire. My mother never went through the billfold. There were still photos of my two older sisters, his driver’s license, and some half burned papers still in it.

All I can think about is how horrible it must have been for Mom. She deserved so much better of a life than she had, and it’s my firm belief that she will get that life after the resurrection.

Another frigid day today. My fingers were just numb after coming in from doing chores. If I were rich, I’d have a heated barn, and a heated garage with a skid loader for hauling hay. In my dreams, sigh.

Goofy cat photo, Peaches and S.C. sitting on the posts staring at each other.

My amaryllis bulbs are just gorgeous this year! Here’s another shot of a double petaled one,

And this one is a Minerva,

And this one is the Minerva beside a HUMONGOUS Apple Blossom. The Apple Blossom measures 8 1/2” wide! And both of them have another blossom stalk coming up.

I love working with glass, but it gets so frustrating when I don’t take notes. I did this Galaxy stringer, but I can’t remember what glasses I used!

And here’s a couple of pretty Dark Auraes,

I wasn’t sure what to call this one, Wood Grain maybe?

January is done with (not that February is any better, with snow and frigid cold NW winds). I’ve really been in the dumps, and while I’ve been making a lot of beads, it’s been perfunctory. I’ve been trying to get beads done for the AGLF Random Bags of Glass, but at $5 a bag, I’m not going to make $15 beads. And that has left me uninspired. Uninspired, and in the dumps.

I’m watching Al Roker reporting the weather from Chicago. They’re getting the weather we had over the past couple of days, and then it’s heading east. Everyone, except maybe southern California, has got to be so tired of this winter.

And what is with people? A woman in Minneapolis tried mailing a puppy?!? And on the news this morning a woman sent a video to Dr. Phil showing how she punished her 7 yr. old by making him drink hot sauce, and by giving him a cold shower. Dang! What’s wrong with washing the mouth out with soap? At least that way you get clean teeth (voice of experience there). :)

Flowers, flowers, where’s all of my flowers? I want flowers!!!! These are two of the bulbs I bought online last fall.


My nephews were up Sunday. They got the chains put on the snowthrower, but it was so cold today, I just called and had the driveway plowed out. They also got my doggy door put in, but again, it’s so cold, I have to keep it closed.

Suka is a typical teeny bopper, lots of energy in between his naps, and a pest. He picks on Squeak, and the cats, and here he is bugging Chester,

And here’s the Stupid Pet Photo, Pip relaxing on her favorite spot, the back of the recliner,

 That little box on her collar is the neatest invention for anyone with a yappy dog. It seems to work best with smaller dogs, the bigs ones tend to just ignore it. It has an audio sensor, and when the dog barks, it sprays out citronella. When she’s got that on, she doesn’t get into those frenzied barking streaks.

Oh, gad, the windchills just west of us are already down to -30°.

I HATE WINTER!!!!!

ETA: I’ve been hoarding my Dark Aurae because it was an odd lot from Double Helix, and while they said they would probably have more when they did another run of Aurae, that was months ago. I’m down to 11 rods. Whahhhhhh!!!! I LOVE this glass, and this is why,

ETA: My sister came up last week and we did some more digging into our genealogy, and traced our Dad’s line back to our great-great-grandfather, who was born in Germany in 1806. He and his wife and kids immigrated to the US in 1858, and he died 2 years later of the fever. Our great-great-grandfather on our Mom’s side was born in 1821, and immigrated with his wife and 4 kids in 1867, and died 4 years later. Life was hard on the men back then.

This is my Mom’s grandparents, Wilhelm and Wilhelmina,

Here’s a family photo, my Mom is front center, mid 1920s

My Mom,

And after her Dad died of a heart attack at age 51, she and her brother did the farming.