My little family, Peaches keeping Squeak’s butt warm, along with S.C. (Scaredy Cat).

 My mornings start with coffee and news, and Pip keeping cozy wedged in behind me on my chair,

 Our family has increased. We’ve adopted a rescue puppy, a Husky mix. He got here this afternoon, and he is so small, only as big as Pip, and cuddly. It’s like cuddling up to thick polar fleece. We’ve renamed him Suka, Inuit for ‘fast.’

 

Look at those big puppy paws!

And here he is being introduced to the ferrets:

 So far, the ferrets are the only ones who want to play with him.
Here’s a video of him trying to play with BB, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZFAWKWrx5s

Love this photo,

And he's so tired now,

That was truly disgusting! Giving Daisy May a shot wasn’t bad, actually getting the medicine in the syringe took longer than actually giving her the shot. Cleaning the abscess was YUCK, YUCK! Had to break off the scab and stick my finger in the hole to open it and then push the syringe (no needle) with the iodine in and squirt it in, and then try to hold the hole shut and push the iodine around inside. Several times. Ick, ick, ick!!!!

It’s been a trying few days. The thermostat in Lukas’ toilet seat (it’s a wash & dry seat) went out again, so it needs to be sent in to get it fixed. The garage door opener quit working. The boys couldn’t get the snowthrower attachment put on the lawn tractor, so I had to call Sears, and they’re not going to be out until next week. Daisy May, the heifer calf that was born last May, had a big (football size) lump hanging from her tummy, so I was thinking she had a hernia and was going to have to have surgery (which at this time of the year is dicey). We had a snowstorm and Christian got the truck stuck when he tried taking the garbage out, the Ford 8N wouldn’t start so I couldn’t get the driveway cleared. And I’m trying to adopt a husky puppy, but the problem is that he’s in a foster home over by the South Dakota border, and the weather and other circumstances keeps getting things put off (hopefully he’ll be coming Friday).

Stress!

Well, the good news is that the truck is unstuck, the driveway is plowed, and Daisy May doesn’t have a hernia, she has an abscess. The vet opened it, flushed it out and gave her a shot of antibiotics. I have to give her a shot Friday and Sunday (EEEEEKKK, I HATE needles!!!!) and I have to run to town tomorrow and pick up some iodine solution. We have to flush it out daily for the next 7-10 days. Oh joy! Well, at least while the vet was here, he castrated Strip. LOL, he asked if I wanted the testicles! I said no thanks, so he gave them to the chickens, who really enjoyed them. Gross! People actually eat those things?!? Yup, Rocky Mountain Oysters.

I had a good month with my beads, and thanks to a couple of very good customers, I was able to buy a new camera, a Canon Rebel with a macro lens and a telephoto lens (Amazon was running a really good deal, the $200 telephoto lens cost me about $20 after the instant rebate). Of course, the first photos I took were of animals. Maybe tomorrow I’ll go out and take a photo of Daisy May with her football belly. :)

Teresa was right, the flocks of birds that were going over my house were sandhill cranes!

Here’s a closeup of one of my photo,

 And here’s one taken off the web.

We were going through a box of my grandma's, full of newspaper clippings. This was a funny story of someone from her home town:

And here's to show that teenage stupidity isn't a modern day phenomenon. This young man was a relative,

And this was an interesting article (from 1938). One in 7 people in the United States were infected with venereal disease?

I’ve been feeling nostalgic, taking a trip through old photos of mine.
The most memorable 4-legged friend I’ve ever had, gone now,

Christian’s cat, Baxter, as a baby,

as a kitten

and a little bit older,

As you can see, he’s quite a character too.

The boys and Chester enjoying summer,

And this was Christian trying to cheer up Lukas after one of his surgeries. Notice what Christian is sitting on?

Didn’t even phase her.

Chester is a cat magnet.

And this is absolutely my most favorite photo,

Enough for tonight.

Stupid Pet Photo of the day

OK, I thought the flocks that were flying by were trumpeter swans,

but according to the bird identification, they’re not. Trumpeter swans are all white, and these birds have black rimmed wings.

Anyone know?

Sigh, winter is here. We had a snowstorm Saturday, but thankfully we only got 4-5” of snow. I had to order a new snowthrower attachment for the lawn tractor, and it isn’t going to be in until Friday. The snow was a really wet, sticky snow. Here’s a pretty neat photo of it just slowly sliding off of the hay barn:

My Christmas cactuses are blooming. They are so bright and colorful,

And here’s Peaches, just stretched out on my studio floor,

I’ve learned how to use the video on my phone, so have been having fun with that. Here’s one of Christian with Honey, my studio cat, and one of my ferrets, BB (Bad Boy)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2pXqlc2VcM
And here’s a video of Pip, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCl5lu5MaDA. When Pip is ready to go to sleep, she does NOT like to be disturbed. So of course, Christian likes to tease her. She’s in bed with me, burrowed under a blanket, all sleepy, until Christian came along.

Photo'd beads tonight, and here's my favorites:

A milestone... today I made it to 10 minutes on the elliptical machine.

DON’T LAUGH!! When I started on it a month ago, after 30 seconds I thought I was going to die. Yah, I know, some of you out there are thinking, ‘Pathetic!’

Crazy weather again. November 9th, and my lilac bushes are leafing out. Poor things think it’s spring because it’s been so warm. It’s going to be up in the 60s today, with the normal high in the lower 40s.

On the bright side, I’ve got 6 orchids and an amaryllis that are getting ready to bloom.

I’ve been going through a box from the old house that was marked as Grandma’s recipe books and papers. I got a double whammy of this desire to clip recipes, from my Mom, and from my Dad’s Mom. It was full of newspaper clippings, but not all of them were recipes. It was fun going through and looking at the backs of the clippings. Need a new vehicle? Here’s one, and it’s on $61.90!

Something newer, maybe, gas powered?

Amazing how little has changed with scam artists. Dodd’s Kidney Pills cures everything from malaria to heart failure to ‘diseases of women.’

How about this? A postcard from a local politician (postage stamp is from 1925). Nothing changes...

Sometimes a bead just comes together, the Galaxy plunges have shimmering, metallic undertones that peek through, the highlights just gleam, and the TerraNova swirls don’t get washed out from too much heat, and the colors get heated and cooled just enough to bring out all of the colors.

Here’s two that worked, just listed on ArtFire:

One step forward, two steps back...

Christian and I fixed our toilet seat!! Background, we have a wash and dry toilet seat for Lukas, since he needs help with toileting. Well, last week the toilet was leaking, so we shut off the water until a friend could come over and look at it. The bolts holding the tank onto the toilet had eroded, so he replaced them. Well, the toilet seat wasn’t functioning right. It wasn’t heating the water that sprays up to clean, and after 10-15 seconds, the seat would beep and the water would quit spraying. So I called the company that makes them, and since it was still under warranty, he said we could ship it back, or we could try to take it apart and checking to see if the thermostat had been tripped because of the lack of water in the tank.

I was hoping my nephews would come up this weekend and do it, but Mark had to work. So today I got the screwdriver and tackled it. It took a while to figure out how to get it apart, and then Christian and I just looked at all of the little gadgets and wires inside there. We couldn’t figure out which one was the thermostat, so we just pushed everything that looked like a button, and finally found it. Got it put back together and tested it, and it works!! Yippee!!

That was the one step forward. Now for the 2 back...

My computer has been really slow opening and saving files, and I suspected that it was one of my internal drives. So I got a newer, faster one and yesterday Christian put it in. So last night I got to install a new system. Well, of course, all of my programs and prefs needed to be reinstalled and replaced. So I figured I’d try using SuperDuper to clone a copy and installed it on the new drive. I still have to put back in all of my serial numbers, and now my Photoshop isn’t working. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling it twice, but it still won’t work. So I’m biting the bullet and buying and downloading the upgrade. And it is soooooooooooooooooo slow! It’s got an hour and 36 minutes left. Information superhighway!?! More like a gravel path meandering through the back 40.

I got the last of my bulbs dug up. About time, considering Monday will be November 1. November... hmmmmmm... only another 8 weeks until the days start getting longer.

This time of the year (winter depression), I find it daunting to accomplish anything. So I instead of thinking, I have a load of dishes to do, supper to make, beads to list, varnish the new glass cabinet, find hinges for it so the drawers the boys made will all come out, move my glass rods into it, etc. etc., I find it easier to break my tasks down.

I just listed 2 beads, cleaned the cat litter box, had Christian move a fan and more bulbs down to the basement, tried to find the hinges (and cleaned off the kitchen wood stove instead), watered some plants, and am now back on the computer.

Here’s one I listed on Etsy, with the proceeds going to AGLF (Artisan and Glassworkers Legal Fund),

Listed another bead,

made Lukas his supper, washed dishes (I love well-seasoned cast iron frying pans, they're so easy to wash), cleaned the counter, back to the computer.

Isn't this exciting?

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Dark Aurae!!

Meet Strip (as in New York Strip, just a reminder that he’s not a pet).

Chickens are so fascinating to little kids (animal and human).

Some new beads to show off: