2/13/09

Well, I have my work cut out for me. I upgraded iLife, so my goal is to get my website back up and running. I've got my big printer going again, so I'm going to work on getting several prints of each of my drawings printed out, and I need to work on getting prints of my aceo's printed out. They'll be the hardest because of the color. Color correcting is such a huge pain in the rear.

Also on my list is to set up my website with Mom's photos. I've got 50+ years of photos to get scanned, and with Flickr's 200 picture limit, I just don't think that's going to work :) Since my web host provides 200GB of memory, that SHOULD be enough for the photos.
Here's one I did last night, me with my brothers and sister and cousins and my grandmother.

2/11/09

I should have known that it was going to be a bad day when I dropped a bead when I was taking it out of the kiln. Strike #1.

Strike #2, looking out and seeing Frankie (the cat) grab a chickadee and run away with it. Good thing spring is coming, so I can get the hose hooked back up and spray the cats when they hang around the bird feeder.

Strike #3, working on a bead that WAS turning out half ways decent, and the fluorescent bulb by my face sizzled, breaks and starts smoking. I'm sitting there stunned, thinking 'mercury poisoning!' Probably could have eaten sushi for the rest of my life and gotten less mercury (not that I like eating raw meat anyway).

So that was it for me. I toddled on off to bed to curl up with a bag of potato chips and the rest of the Kathy Reichs book that I'm reading.

2/9/09

It's raining. Even though it's something you really don't want to happen in the beginning of February in Minnesota, and it's gloomy and dreary outside, I like it. I like the sound of the raindrops. It tells me spring is on the way.

I cleaned up a load of beads earlier. I've been struggling to find some imspiration. Maybe looking at these will do it.

2/8/09

It's been a week now since I got the call that my Mom had died. The tears still come, but along with it comes a sense of relief for her. After working in a nursing home for 20 years, it was the last place she wanted to end up at. For her, the next thing she knows will be the resurrection, young and healthy with no more pain and suffering, with Dad and her parents, sisters and brother, and her baby boy being resurrected too, and the energy and time to do all the things she wanted to do, travel, gardening, art, and maybe I can even teach her how to lampwork a bead. I miss her terribly.

1/31/09

Just when you though it couldn't get any worse... It gets better!!! It's 43.5°!!! Wahoooo!! Yippeeeee!! Oh, spring is on the way!

1/30/09

Sheesh! It's -15.7°! WHEN is it going to warm up?!?

1/23/09

Good reason not to get into a fight with hubby: every time I do the next day I develop a canker sore.

Sure felt good getting stuff off my mind, though, instead of just stewing about it. Now I can let it go, and he can do whatever.

1/18/09

OK, I've got spring fever. My favorite wish books: Totally Tomatoes, J.L. Hudson, Burgess, Pinetree, and I haven't even opened Johnny's yet. I started some more seeds last night, and this morning made a couple dozen newspaper pots and cut bleach bottle plastic into plant tags.

I'M READY FOR SPRING! GOING BAREFOOT! DIGGING IN THE DIRT!!! Oh, paradise!

Fang was feeling especially deprived and frustrated after escaping my studio and being captured and returned. Here's a photo of her in my yucca plant, trying to see if she can jump anyplace from it, with Whiskers sitting on the floor waiting to see what she's going to do.

1/16/09

-29° at 6:15 a.m.

I am so tired of this. If the weather goes like the weathermen predict, it'll be in the 30s by next week. YIPPEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

1/13/09

BRRRRR!! It's -22.9°, 6:30 a.m. I'm watching the news, and the weatherman just said that December was our 7th coldest on record, and January will be down there too. We just have to get through the rest of this week, and by Saturday there will be a warm front moving in.

Yesterday I saw something I've never seen before this time of the year, a flock of about 20 robins. Those poor birds!

And here's another one of Scott. Ahhhh, a boy and his dog...

1/11/09

The boys are up working on the snowthrower. It's not working again. I'm just about ready to pull out the credit card and go buy a new one. Now's the time to get it if I'm going to do it; they're marked down to $1179, and if I use the Sears credit card it's another 5% off. It's a lot of money, but having the driveway plowed out for $75 a shot gets expensive too.

Some cute photos, one of Honey and Whiskers having a face-off, and Whiskers trying to pretend he's not beating up Bandit, the ferret. Bad kitty!




And here's Mark, working hard:

1/9/08

Here is a frustrated ferret:

Under my plant table I have a large rubbermaid box with dirt in it for the ferrets to dig in. Well, Fang was using the box to get up between the table and the windowsill to get up on the table, where she proceeded to dig up my plants. So I put a board up so she couldn't do that. She spent quite a while trying to get beyond that board before she finally gave up and then tried climbing my plant to see if she couldn't jump to it. She is a persistent girl!

1/5/09

What's that jingle, 'How low can you go?'

At 5:30 am it was -9.5°. Two hours later it's -13.2°. BRRRRRRRR. I'm ready to go back to bed with my electric mattress heater turn on high!

12/31/08

Last day of the year. Good riddance! We lost Shake day before yesterday. He was the youngest and smallest of the calves. This summer I'm going to super-insulate the chicken house so that if we ever get calves this young this late again, that's where they'll spend the winter. That's where Burger and Fries are, with the heat lamps on. Hopefully that was enough, because it got down to -20.9° last night. (I shouldn't whine; it could be worse. About 20 years ago it got down to -45°. That was on a mercury thermometer.) And another thing that's going to get done this summer, I'm going to build a couple of popcan solar heaters for the chicken house.

Oh well, only another 3 weeks and the days will start getting warmer. Spring is on the way!

12/24/08

OK, I have to admit it, it looks pretty out there. There's snow crystals on all of the trees and bushes, and the blue jays are busy at my bird feeders. I'm a bit concerned that I haven't seen or heard any cardinals this year. We always have them here, year around. I wonder what that means?

Here's a photo of my snowblower, dead in the driveway, and following is a gorgeous amaryllis bulb blooming.


Here's a couple of funny photos. The first one, a bathroom with a painted floor, was titled, 'Would you go into this bathroom?' The second is a smoker's lounge, with the ceiling painted.

12/22/08

-18.9° outside. It got down to -20.5° last night.

Well, one hurdle past, the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. And in less than a month, the second hurdle, the coldest days of the year. In only two months, we'll be just around the corner to spring. I can handle that.

My bean plant died, but my tomato plants are still alive, under the heat lamp and plant lights. I'm going to try planting another bean. Oh, the simple pleasures of life in Minnesota.


12:30 p.m.
I REALLY hate winter. Got the snowthrower going after putting the battery charger on it, but then the blades wouldn't turn. Christian had to do something with an electrical connection to get them to work. He got about 15 yards down the driveway when he said something started vibrating and it wouldn't go into reverse, so he turned it off to come tell me. Now it won't even turn over, nothing! So he shoveled out in back of the car, and went to start it, and the ignition was frozen.

I really would rather be in Florida...


1:30 p.m.
Ah comfort food, potato soup with lots of salt and pepper, hot cheese sauce and a generous dollop of butter, and 1 (or maybe 2) pecan tarts.

12/15/08

BRRRRR! It's COLD! -10°.

OK, the good side of it, we didn't get dumped with a lot of snow, less than a couple of weeks before the days start getting longer, just a bit over a month until the days start getting warmer, and in two months, spring will be just around the corner!

12/13/08

What a zoo this morning!!

It started out OK, got up, let the dogs out, got both stoves going, got my coffee and sat down & called my sister. We chatted a while, then I realized that I didn't see my brand new $60 bluetooth headset that I bought to listen to TV without disturbing dear hubby. I knew instantly what had happened. Last night after I went to bed, Christian had to come chase a cat off my computer desk. That stupid cat knocked it onto the floor, and the ferrets got it (they LOVE rubbery chewy things). So I had to get down on the floor and look under the desks, hoping it was there. Nope. So the next step was tackling their sleeping boxes. I have about a dozen small cardboard boxes that I cut holes in and hot-glued together to give them hidey holes. I took the whole thing and shook it a little and heard a rattling, and of course, they have to stick their heads out of various holes to see what's going on. So I tore apart the top layer and shook it. Nope. Tore apart the next layer and shook it. YUP!! Found it. They had tore a small bit of rubber off of the ear piece, but other than that it's OK.

So while I'm doing that, one of them went and deposited a little present right in front of the door to the foyer. Teach me to disturb them! So I mop that up, and figure I might as well change their newspapers. While I'm doing that, another one leaves another deposit in front of the door! Mop that up, finish getting the newspapers replaced and mop the rest of the studio floor. Another deposit!!!! GRRRRR!

Then Lukas starts calling me. A bit early for him, so I go in there. Fang got out!! So while I get her and put her back (instead of taking Squeak out right away), Squeak decides she can't hold it and makes a deposit of her own in Lukas' bedroom. Get that taken care of, come back into the living room, and see cat throw-up. Get some paper towels to take care of that, and see Whiskers on Lukas' computer desk playing with something in the garbage. Go check, and there's Fang! She was standing on the dog bed in my studio and jumping onto my chair, and then jumping onto the half wall between the studio and living room. Rearrange things so she can't do that, and go clean up the cat puke.

Sheesh!

12/5/08

I sure am glad I don't live in Saudi Arabia. I follow several bloggers from the area, and one posted rules for dating (which in Saudi Arabia is illegal).

First on the list was to keep an eye out for cameras, because a photo of her with an unrelated male (although how anyone could tell because the woman is covered head to foot with only her eyes showing) could ruin her chances of ever getting married.

Next is the advice to have a confident know where she is going so that if she isn't back by a designated time, someone knows where she was headed. Sheesh, are the men in Saudi Arabia animals?!?

Next is to take a can of pepper spray along with and have a planned escape route. For a date!

Next is if they get passionate and she thinks about letting him kiss her, check his mouth for sores or blisters, since that might be a sign of STDs.

Next is to know how to make an emergency call or text message their equivalent of 911.

Next is the advice to not meet at an unknown or remote location. This advice is for the man as well, because if the girl's male relatives find out beforehand about the date, they may be trying to set the guy up so they can 'take revenge' on him for presuming to try to see their female relative.

Saudi Arabia has quite a long way to go to become civilized. Some people are trying to make changes, including their king, but it's a huge struggle to pull their country out of the 13th century.

On a funnier note, I woke up and heard some noises coming from Lukas' room, so I called his name and he didn't answer, so I jumped up, buck naked (good thing it was still dark), and ran into his room, thinking he was having a seizure. It was just Squeak throwing up.

12/4/08

Just a few pictures tonight. Here's a rooster that decided my sidewalk post was a good place to crow from.

And here's Whiskers cleaning Squeak's ear. I love the first one where Squeak is not too sure of what his intentions are, and the second one she's saying 'ah, so nice...'