Purple Podded Pole Beans

More Sara

2012-01-06T13:51:00.001-08:00

In the chair

2011-12-17T15:02:00.001-08:00

Canning

2011-11-25T15:29:00.000-08:00

Found an almost empty bag of navy beans in the pantry, several years old at least, and thought it would be a good time to try my hand at canning beans again. I found a recipe that sounded good in Jackie Clay's canning book and decided to give it a whirl.

I made two batches, the first, exactly as per the recipe, until I realized there was nowhere near enough liquid and had to make another batch of sauce. They still came out very dry--I was afraid to really stuff the jars in case there was something I didn't know about expansion and tomato juice.....

The next batch that's in the canner right now looked wonderful---I mixed up a quadruple batch of sauce and then added a quart of last years tomatoes for a bit of texture. I made sure to run a knife down the sides to get out all the bubbles and get the sauce all the way down to the bottom.
I'm betting there was a mis-print in the book on the quantities, and hopefully these beans come out as wonderful as they looked going in!!

Sara

2011-11-13T20:51:00.000-08:00

She loves her sunbeam....to the point that she growls and barks while trying to get back in it when it moves.

Trees

2011-11-12T13:34:00.000-08:00

I've been very remiss in my blogging lately.....working on orders and trees...

Where did I put that mouse?

2011-10-27T13:56:00.000-07:00

Discs

2011-10-04T09:25:00.000-07:00

Sara

2011-09-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

Etsy coupon

2011-09-20T12:05:00.000-07:00

Chuck needs to buy some new gear for the job, before his first paycheck comes in, so I'm offering a sale coupon for Etsy....just use "newshoes" at check out for 20% off.

Fall is here

2011-09-16T16:29:00.000-07:00

we tipped over the edge and it's all a downhill swoop from here! Then a slooow crawl back up to spring and start the cycle all over again.

I really don't feel like I did anything this year. Hubby has been pursuing a better job all spring and summer, and it looks like it's finally happening. He'd been working two jobs, both part time, and this job will replace them both.

We're all glad to see the end of that night job, let me tell you!

More later!

333

2011-09-02T18:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I rather liked having 333 posts, but it's time to move on now...

transition time......I feel kinda stuck & not sure what I should be doing, what plate to catch & what plate to drop...

Discs!

2011-08-29T15:36:00.001-07:00

Doldrums

2011-08-28T17:18:00.001-07:00

Not very much happening at the moment...Moshe the lizard has passed on, and Punkin is not very happy about that.

Beads are being made, bread is being baked....

More bobbins..

2011-08-25T08:23:00.000-07:00

Bobbins

2011-08-22T10:44:00.001-07:00

Bread

2011-08-11T12:39:00.000-07:00

Rye bread!
I've been tweaking an old recipe, and greatly enjoying the process, especially now that there are tomatoes to put on it...

Beads

2011-08-03T11:01:00.000-07:00

leaves

2011-07-31T11:25:00.000-07:00

More Sara

2011-07-30T16:48:00.000-07:00

Since she was a bottle baby, she still likes to nurse on a finger, it's a social thing for her. She'll hold your finger with both paws, suck on it for a bit, then fall asleep in your lap.

Sara

2011-07-30T16:20:00.000-07:00

Early snow, I wish....

2011-07-30T12:44:00.000-07:00

It pours sometimes

2011-07-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

But thankfully it's plenty warm! The hot water heater just sprang a leak....I'm very grateful that it happened now and not in the middle of the winter.
Last time this happened we did the camp shower thing, and we can again.

Guess I better get my orders caught up & do a "water heater sale" on Etsy!!

Just for fun

2011-07-15T15:09:00.000-07:00

Playtime

2011-07-13T15:07:00.000-07:00

Just pics

2011-07-11T09:51:00.000-07:00

Girl

2011-07-09T18:51:00.001-07:00

Sign of the times

2011-07-08T20:43:00.000-07:00

We ran an ad in the local newspaper for our puppies and so far four have gone to good homes...we're really happy with everyone who got one.

The best was a mother and son, he was probably about 12. They looked at all the wiggling pups and he thought for about thirty seconds and pointed at Peepers.
They left briefly to go to the ATM, and when he came back and picked up the pup, the tail wagging was a sight to see! Definitely meant to be!

But we've gotten several relay calls and a call from Ohio, all scams....amazing, considering how very far out of the way we are here. The relay calls really annoy me, this is a free service for people who need it, not nigerian type scam artists.

Jam

2011-07-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

Time for strawberries!
We're headed for the u-pick strawberry farm today and I'll be very busy tonight!

Three of the little guys have gone to new homes, and the house is much quieter, thank goodness.....the little girl is growing, she's still tinier than the others, but she sure makes up for it in attitude. She's graduated to dry cat food, although we still give her a bottle of milk every day for the calories.

Big one

2011-07-03T08:33:00.000-07:00

storm, that is.
Four windows broken, a downspout ripped off, and my garden flattened. The neighbors could smell my cilantro and garlic from their house.

Connie sat in the storm room with Peanut and the little girl (who snored through the whole thing) and we crammed all the other pets in the downstairs bathroom. Except Joshie, who stubbornly vanished til it was over.

Then we went out and cleared the storm drains every few minutes or so, and prayed the water didn't rise any further....it was level with the curb, and we don't have sandbags.

This morning we're picking up glass and I replanted my cilantro patch....

Too long

2011-06-28T23:33:00.000-07:00

since I posted.
Con has gone to camp and returned....she had a great time! Thanks to everyone who bought beads on Etsy for the camp fund!

We've had several bad thunderstorms that have messed up the phone lines, although the phone company can't seem to find anything wrong on their side of it. Rather frustrating, but at least the problem has somehow mended itself. We have a central switchboard here in town and I think they run over there and hit the reset button, then do the service calls, since things work beautifully for them that didn't work for us five minutes earlier.

The neighbor came over this evening to tell me that he found a dead baby bunny on his lawn this morning and would I please keep my bunnies in at night so he doesn't have to see this again......I really couldn't think of anything to say. My yard is fenced, and the babies don't leave, they aren't big enough to wander far from home. I've come out in the morning to feed and water and all three of his cats go sailing over my fence from the area of the bunny pen.

I'm not often speechless, but this time I was. It's probably a good thing.

More birds

2011-06-15T11:50:00.001-07:00

Connie's going to camp!

2011-06-12T18:00:00.001-07:00

It's that time again...Con's camp fund listings!
Today's listings are up on Etsy, with more to come tomorrow.

Made it a little further

2011-06-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

Bad news

2011-06-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

Well, bad news about the puppy, she had a little fit two days ago and her tiny tongue turned white, so we rushed her to the vet. By the time we got there, she was much improved, licking my chin and otherwise being adorable.
The doc took a look at her anyway and discovered she has a cleft palate, which he seems to think means I should put her down.
I was very discouraged at first, especially with Connie crying in the background as I was trying to talk to him. But, we've gotten her through three weeks with a bottle, not knowing there was a problem, so I'm going to keep going. I've found several websites that suggest a. these can heal at 10-12 weeks of age, and b. some people have kept dogs with this problem and they have a happy life. The main thing seems to be that they have to eat hard dog food all their life, but that probably isn't the end of the world.

So, we're going to keep on, and see what happens....maybe later on have we'll have a special bead sale for surgery if it turns out that we need it.

New photo

2011-05-29T07:37:00.001-07:00

The girl is still much smaller...she's very sweet, with bright little eyes when I feed her. If she gets through this, it will be very hard to let her go. Punkin is already talking about selling off the adult dogs, and I'm trying to explain that it doesn't quite work like that....

I heart my hubby

2011-05-28T15:19:00.000-07:00

I somehow managed to sleep through the five am feeding, but he got up and fed her for me. I woke up at seven and he told me I'd slept right through the alarm. I can't remember it going off, so I must have been really deep.

Don't know I mentioned that one of the rabbits, Missy, has decided that colony living is not to her liking. She's very good at getting out of the pen, the last escape route we saw was up on top of the wire cage from the opening, across the top, along the hay bale fence and down the other side.

We have several stacked wire cages left open, with a little ramp to the top one, a wire fence surrounded by hay bales so the buns aren't visible from the alley, and a partial roof of plywood over the entrance to the den. They like to lie just outside the entrance and relax, this protects them a little and keeps rain and snow out of the hole.

It's rather funny because we have chihuahuas also, so the dogs will come racing out of the house and tear after the bunny. She runs for a bit until she remembers that she's as big as they are and probably heavier.....she'll stop suddenly and turn to face them with her ears back. They slam on the brakes and remember urgent business elsewhere...

Rain, rain

2011-05-25T08:42:00.000-07:00

go somewhere where they really need you....please.

The river overfloweth and puddles prevail.

More puppy pics

2011-05-21T12:55:00.000-07:00

Cocoa and her puppies

2011-05-21T12:36:00.000-07:00

Tired...

2011-05-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

Still nursing that puppy every two hours with a bottle....she is gaining weight, just not as fast as the others. I find myself resenting the five other little dogs, just lying there being fat and healthy, while the little girl fights for life.

We finally found a little bottle that she likes, we've been trying syringes, doll bottles, and fingers with a trickle of milk, whatever she'll take at a given time. This little bottle seems to be the thing, so hoping for a fast turnaround!

Puppies

2011-05-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

Finally! Cocoa had her puppies....six of them. Two golden ones, a chocolate, and three blacks. She had a harder time, and we're bottle feeding the littlest golden girl. She can't seem to nurse properly, although Connie's pinky finger with milk works just fine. Every two hours is not quite as fine, so we're hoping she perks up quickly.

Pictures later, it's been so hectic that I haven't had time to work them up on the computer....

Wind.....again

2011-04-30T09:20:00.000-07:00

And cold....good thing I didn't get carried away and plant anything!
The weather is so erratic here, it will be warm and sunny, and lull you into thinking that spring is here, then overnight the wind comes up and the temperature drops 20 degrees....at least back home, you knew there was no planting til Mothers Day.

Busy day today, bread to bake, tamales to make for Pastor's birthday party, beads to make.....see ya later!

Long time

2011-04-28T14:49:00.000-07:00

Long time no write......the Denver show is done, the last one til September..(maybe)

My finger is almost healed, enough so that I don't want to scream every time I touch it or put my hand in my pocket. Surprising that such a non-serious injury could be so painful. I caught my index finger on a crate and peeled quite a lot of skin off between the first knuckle and the tip, right where I roll mandrels, of course.

Time to alternate serious gardening with beadmaking.....I need to get back to listing a couple of items a day on Etsy if I can, and doing garden work everyday, too.

Spring cleaning

2011-03-26T10:44:00.000-07:00

Time to redo the photos in the Etsy store....I'm tired of the dark backgrounds, and it occurred to me that I used to do everything on white. Wonder what happened?

This might take a little while, but it's worth doing, I think.

I'm also offering a sale coupon for the Etsy store only, for the duration of the re-do.
The coupon code is springcleaning and it's good for 20% off your Etsy order.

Bun pics

2011-03-18T19:27:00.000-07:00

The moon rabbit

2011-03-18T19:12:00.000-07:00

The moon does look larger tonight: I read that it will appear 14% larger when it's full, hopefully I will be able to get some good photos.

The weather was beautiful today, I took a chair and sat by the bunny pen and watched them acting like bunnies...so funny when they sprawl out and stretch their legs out behind like they are flying. Soon we'll be able to pick grass and dandelion shoots for them. I brought out a hubbard squash for them last week, and they ate the middle out and left the skin, then the next day it was gone without a trace.

Four winds

2011-03-16T09:30:00.000-07:00

Feeling very numb the last few days...I can hardly comprehend the magnitude of what has happened in Japan. My prayer is that the land of the rising sun shall become the land of the Risen Son....

A random photo from the past...

New look

2011-03-10T09:24:00.000-08:00

The new look is compliments of the Punkin.....I was staring at the template page and she offered to "take a whack at it", so I decided to let her.
I rather like it, although the header photo will change soon, I had planned something more springy than the bare trees...

Cold again

2011-03-07T16:52:00.000-08:00

Cold again, with snow....yuk.
Wonder if the little cilantro plants are frozen solid under the snow?

Snowing again

2011-02-24T10:03:00.000-08:00

And here I thought you'd come early, you fickle Spring....Instead it's supposed to snow several inches and stay cold through the weekend. Good thing I didn't pull the mulch off the cilantro bed.

Working hard on orders, since I lost a week to that tooth right after Tucson. S'ok though, I don't have a great desire to be outside in this....

Just a couple of photos today, I've been slacking on picture taking...

Reprise

2011-02-23T08:55:00.001-08:00

Over the holiday I spent several hours going through my sold items on Etsy, looking for inspiration. Tucson was a little surprising this year in terms of what sold well, so I went looking for a pattern on Etsy. I don't think I found one, but I did find some things that I wanted to redo and update.....

I called this one "Seafleur", a title I must love, because I've used it for a number of years. Maybe not a great idea, because I've done both focals and sets with this title, and I'm sure they don't all match.

More beads

2011-02-22T13:03:00.000-08:00

Beads again

2011-02-18T09:53:00.001-08:00

Snippets

2011-02-15T09:45:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the first day that I didn't need to take ibuprofen for my tooth, yay!
I hate to take pills for anything, more as I get older, so it was disappointing that I couldn't get by without it.

Connie sang me a little song this morning;
"Dashing through the house,
chasing a barfing cat,
meow-meow, meow-meow,
meow-meow meow-meow, splat!"

One guess what was going on at our house.....
On that edifying thought I will leave you with today's birdies.

The wind

2011-02-12T14:06:00.000-08:00

The wind blew all night, it seemed.
Back home, as a child, these warm winds were always southeasters, with the attendant difficulties of being directly in the blast.
When we came home from town, (assuming we went in the first place) we'd pound up the other side of the bay until we reached the cove, then swing around and swoop down with the wind so we wouldn't get quite so soaked.
Getting the skiff out on the running line in that was never fun, and sometimes we'd actually anchor it out on the back side of the spit til the next day.

Last night I lay in bed and dreamed I was young and home again, with the waves shuffle, shuffling on the beach and the spruce trees whipping against the house.

General ick

2011-02-09T08:34:00.000-08:00

Sounds like a cartoon character, actually....has a nice ring to it.

Dentist today, a rebellious tooth needs to be extracted. Not much sleep has been happening with the tooth pain, and the pain pills prescribed for me aren't working very well.

I expect things will be much improved this afternoon, once that tooth is gone.

And update: called my Pastor for prayer and feel very much better already!

Last shipment

2011-02-07T16:45:00.000-08:00

Last shipment out the door, yay!

I may not even make beads tonight, gasp... But then again, I might. In revisiting my past work I remembered how much I enjoyed sunflowers. They've been in my garden the last few years, blooming magnificently, but I really had fun making a sunflower vessel yesterday.
So maybe I will work.
Just one vessel.
Or two.

I think I will go turn the kiln on...

Coming up for air

2011-02-06T22:01:00.000-08:00

Time to breathe....
I've been working harder than ever since Chuck left for Tucson, shipping beads to him at the show and trying not to fall behind on orders.

I finally splurged today and bought a new font for the newest Etsy banner. In looking at my fonts list, the last time I bought a new one was in 2008, so I decided to freshen up a bit. I really like this one, it's similar to ones I've used in the past, but the crossbars are more defined.

Trunk shows happening this week in Albuquerque and Colorado Springs, then back to normal, whatever that is.

Tragedy

2011-02-05T12:52:00.000-08:00

As I was removing Mr. Bird from the mandrel, he flew from my hand and landed on the tile, breaking his tail off. He didn't look good as a partridge, so I glued it back on for photos...

The birds

2011-02-04T09:01:00.000-08:00

Countdown

2011-01-25T08:05:00.000-08:00

Tucson is getting frighteningly close, and I think I have steam coming out of my ears...

Last night I was working, not really knowing what to make, when I realized that I haven't made florals in a very long time. Years, even. I hadn't had any good clear, so I just stopped making them. So I tried making one, with just the stringers I had on the table, nothing fancy....it felt good. So I made another, and another.... :)It actually felt like coming home.

When I was done for the night I went and looked up my old website photos from Alaska and browsed through them. Some things I would change now, but overall, a nice body of work. I got some ideas to translate into the newer glass and press shapes.

So, while the photography isn't the greatest, I was really happy to see how much we've changed in the last 10-12 years, and how much we haven't changed, either.

Cocoa is out of trouble, sort of

2011-01-24T18:41:00.000-08:00

Well it turns out there was a tiny little gap in the wire in the bunny cage....Cocoa probably didn't go in and catch one after all. We went out to water and there was a tiny white fluff running back and forth trying to get back into the pen. Of course all three Chi's took off after it, and I must have woken the neighbors yelling---they did stop and we were able to capture it and put it back in its home.

We also discovered that there were more than we thought, which is a nice bonus.
I had wanted to ask the neighbors if they would like Easter bunnies for their grandchildren, maybe I will ask them tomorrow.

I'm still upset, but Cocoa was only doing what instinct told her to do.

It will be a good day today

2011-01-24T08:22:00.001-08:00

Warmer and the sun is shining......it WILL be a good day!

Sadness

2011-01-23T12:52:00.000-08:00

Cocoa has managed to kill a baby bunny...I believe she was trying to bring it in the house to mother, but crushed it in the process. She was out last night and wouldn't come when I called, so I went to find her....she came awkwardly around the corner with something in her mouth that she could barely hold. I told her to drop it, but it was limp when I picked it up, and with a tiny sigh it was gone.
Poor Cocoa was in disgrace, I swatted her with the flyswatter while I held the body to her face, then sent her to the bathroom for the night.

I think she must have crushed it trying to jump back out of the bunny cage with it, she would have had to grip it tightly since she is so small.

I was supposed to make beads

2011-01-18T19:04:00.000-08:00

Instead I cleaned beads and cut my finger when a bead stuck on the dremel..then Cocoa came in from the back yard with a big thorn in her paw, broken off of course.
We tried holding her down, she tried biting us. We wrapped her in a towel and put a sock on her head. Then we tried putting her in a pillow case and lying on her. Then I tied her hind legs up with a bathrobe belt. This all took 45 minutes.
I finally became frustrated and duct-taped her up in a bundle in the pillow case with the sock on her head. Finally! Thirty seconds and the thorn was out. Who would think a seven pound Chihuahua could put up such a fight?
Now she is zooming around on three legs when we're watching, four legs when she thinks we don't see her.....

Leaves

2011-01-17T19:00:00.000-08:00

Bead, not much else today..

2011-01-05T18:57:00.000-08:00

Miss Mary

2011-01-01T11:51:00.000-08:00

I called Miss Mary to wish her a happy new year, and see if she needed anything, since it was blizzarding outside....she was fine, but the weather reminded her of the blizzard her late husband had lost his toes in. (I didn't ask how many) She said it was just like this, wind, snow, below zero and the boss told her husband to go out and tend the cattle, so they all went, not sure why. He got the feed out, but on the way back the car got stuck and so he left her and the two little ones in the car and walked through the snow to a house, following the fence. He got back with a blanket and help to dig the car out, but he had no boots, only cheap shoes, so his toes were frozen and they didn't know it. She said it was 1953, and they had just come from Texas in 1949, so they didn't know about blizzards. When they got into bed, she said, his feet were so cold, "like blocks of ice", that she became alarmed and looked at them. They tried to warm his feet but it was too late.

God was painting this morning

2010-12-29T08:57:00.000-08:00

something new

2010-12-28T14:21:00.000-08:00

Some photos

2010-12-23T14:15:00.000-08:00

Beads again

2010-12-10T11:09:00.000-08:00

Beads

2010-12-08T13:21:00.001-08:00

Frost

2010-12-06T09:35:00.001-08:00

Lunch

2010-12-02T13:31:00.000-08:00

Took the last of the bread dough from the fridge (wheat with coarse ground cornmeal), rolled it out thin and stuck it in the oven to pre-cook. Chopped up an onion and fried it, then added the last of the counter-ripened green tomatoes of summer, cut in chunks. A few green olives and a sprinkle of adobo, then I pulled out the crust, spread sauce and topping on, grated a bit of cheese over it all and put it back in for ten minutes. Yum!

The wind is back

2010-12-02T07:43:00.000-08:00

Winter always means wind, here. At home I loved the wind, but here, not so much. It's cold and cutting and since we live on the edge of town, we always wind up with other people's garbage clinging to the fence and the sunflowers----plastic shopping bags rattling in the trees.

I've made a windbreak of hay bales for the buns and they come out when the sun is just right and huddle in a roiling ball of white fur in the shelter of it, blinking and furling their ears.

Fellowship of the traveling sunbeam

2010-12-01T09:10:00.000-08:00

We don't keep our house very warm in the winter, we leave the thermostat on 60-62 during the day and 50-55 at night. The littles (chihuahuas) are very grateful for the morning sunbeams and will all three crowd together so they can be in the sun.
It reminds me of some kind of chihuahua sundial, I can tell time by the location of the dogpile!

Quiet days

2010-11-30T08:36:00.000-08:00

Much happening, but I've had no words....like floating down a river with a camera, you may not take pictures for a distance, but you still traveled that distance..

Con got her first deer. I was very worried that something might go wrong, but it didn't. She made a perfect shot, right through the lungs at about 70 yards, and that was all it took. He was a big one, five points on one side, with the other side missing, so he would have had a nice spread. We will mount the one side and the stump of the other for her anyway.

We had venison for Thanksgiving, and it was good..

Everything seems like it's waiting, very still and silent.

Bunnies

2010-11-17T12:59:00.000-08:00

Ten babies!

2010-11-13T18:54:00.000-08:00

The first day I only saw one baby bun, the next day I saw three, then it snowed Thursday and I didn't see any. Yesterday I saw three again, today there are ten!

I was standing by the enclosure and watching them, when I realized one was quite a bit smaller then the others, and up came another, and another, and another....til there were ten babies bouncing around like cottonballs. Of course no camera, but maybe tomorrow...

Babies!

2010-11-12T08:16:00.000-08:00

Jubilee year

2010-11-08T13:14:00.000-08:00

Turned 49 last week, and so this is my 50th year....my year of jubilee.
I've been pondering this, and what it means to me, if anything.
It's the year of freedom from bondage, of lands reverting to their proper owner.

I think I'll start by releasing all emotional debts....forgiving any and all offenses against me from the past.

Bare trees

2010-11-04T06:11:00.000-07:00

was an old Fleetwood Mac album before the witchy one came on board.

Also the view from my window. The little ash tree dropped everything in one day, but the locusts are still hanging on a bit.

Time to get the garlic in the ground, probably next week. It wouldn't be proper to plant when my fingers don't freeze! I actually bought some grocery store garlic to try, as well as the named varieties. Fifty cents a bulb beats 1-2 dollars and it will at least be edible. I probably won't be able to tell the difference, since my pallate is untrained....

Pizza

2010-11-03T06:10:00.000-07:00

Crust:
3 cups warm water
1 1/2 T salt
1 1/2 T yeast
6-7 cups of flour (I like to mix it up a bit, add some whole wheat or fresh-ground cornmeal)

Stir yeast and salt into warm water, stir in flour.
Dough will be somewhat sticky, that's ok.
Set bowl aside for 20 minutes in a warm place while you work on the rest.

Saute some chopped onion and garlic if you like it in oil, add some finely chopped summer squash and continue to cook. You can also use thinly sliced and chopped winter squash or pumpkin. I like Kabocha and buttercup for this, but any squash will work.
I like to season the sauteed part fairly strongly with adobo, curry, ras el hanout, or whatever your favorite blend happens to be.

Take about a fourth of your dough (flour your hands) and roll it out on a lightly floured board. Oil a cookie sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Place the rolled out dough on the cookie sheet, poke it all over with a fork so it doesn't puff, and bake at 350-375 till slightly browned on the edges.

Take out, spread with your sauce of choice, sprinkle on your toppings, and smother in grated cheese, again your choice, and slip back in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

Remove and enjoy.

Other toppings we use are green chilis, fresh when we have them, canned if not, olives, canned mushrooms, chickpeas, shredded chicken, etc...

Days gone by

2010-11-02T11:54:00.000-07:00

Some photos

2010-11-01T08:10:00.001-07:00

Helloooo in there....

Kissy face!

It's cold this morning!

Vignettes

2010-11-01T06:59:00.000-07:00

Driving home at sundown: a tree full of blackbirds, sleek little outlines like leaves, a blue heron launching against the fading light, going wherever they go at night..

We put up our new mailbox last night and Con painted the post with an old can of gold spray paint we had hanging around. Not sure how long I can keep her from painting the box itself, it is plain grey, after all....

Feels like home

2010-10-25T07:39:00.000-07:00

Black sky and bright leaves, I love that combination! It's been chilly, and we finally turned the furnace on. I was planning to wait til the first of November, but I can't make beads if my fingers are too chilly, guess it's that age thing creeping up! This is the time of year that I remember the cottonwoods blazing against a dark sky and the smell of snow on the wind.

Tomorrow is the last outdoor market day in Morrill, I think I'll still go, in spite of the weather. We can tape the table cover down and bundle up a bit.

Sadness in our church family; Pastor's father-in-law passed away last week, and Sister Veva's mother also. The older I get, the more grateful I am for the gift of eternal life.

Drive by beads

2010-10-06T19:56:00.000-07:00

I haven't had any new listings for a while.....between the bead show, the parvo, and the farmers market. I made three batches of bread yesterday morning, 18 loaves. I only have six glass bread pans so I had to rotate things through just right. We drove off to the market with Connie holding the last batch out in her lap on a tray-- they were much to hot to bag.

Anyway, bead and dog pics coming right up!

Can you tell someone loves clean laundry?

October already

2010-10-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

Should be little white puffballs popping up any time now!
We bought three white bunnies earlier in the summer, planning to breed for meat eventually. Meaning someday, not right away. We looked, we researched, we offended the bunnies greatly in our quest to get one boy and two girls. We were certain that we had succeeded until the neighbor lady who knows animals very well double checked us. Turns out we managed to get three girls. Oh, well, not the end of the world.

Fast forward a month and some odd behavior on the part of one of the "girls", which I assumed was dominance and pecking order establishment. Picked up the "dominant" girl one day and whoops, that ain't no girl!

So much for planned and controlled breeding! We had allowed the buns to dig burrows since we didn't have the building supplies for a proper hutch, and now there's no way to see when the babies are born, we'll have to wait for the moms to wean them and bring them upstairs.

Meanwhile it's time get the hutch made, since the babies are going to find it much easier to get through and under the fence.

Blessed

2010-09-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

I am very blessed!
My puppies are home from the vet: Gabriel was horribly ill all week and had to be hospitalized, and Peanut began showing symptoms on Saturday, so he went in for observation also. Turned out Gabe had parvo, which was a surprise because he'd had a couple of his shots already. He was so sick, it's good to see him with bright eyes and an appetite.
Peanut is torn between never ever speaking to me again and being glad I brought him home....it's funny. I've never seen such a moody dog.

Sweeping cobwebs

2010-09-17T06:49:00.000-07:00

There! I think I got them all!
Seems like I've been busy, but if you ask me what I accomplished, I'm not sure I could tell you.

We've had colds and a sick puppy dog, got most of the mud/dirt out of the bead room and off my glass--it doesn't just burn off, unfortunately!

Next week I am going to take a day and do nothing constructive whatsoever....we'll see if I can make it past noon!

A dog's life

2010-08-28T17:03:00.001-07:00

Mud

2010-08-17T07:43:00.000-07:00

in my house....in my workroom.
A thunderstorm rolled through last night and the hole though the foundation wasn't sealed up yet from replacing the water line. Needless to say, I'm feeling a bit discouraged at the moment.

Hope

2010-08-13T13:07:00.001-07:00

Just found a couple of tiny Galeux D'eysines squash hiding in the tomatoes! Long story there, I had planted them in the spring and nothing happened, for 3-4 weeks. I finally put the last of the tomato plants in the squash bed, and chalked it up to bad seed. Well, a week later, what do I see but squash seedlings popping up! I left them alone, as they can just as well vine out into the lawn, but I really didn't expect any results. Now it seems I may have squash after all!!

Cicada emergent and Monty would be proud

2010-08-11T23:43:00.000-07:00

I caught this cicada crawling out of its old skin, and came back later to check on it, it was all the way out and waiting for its wings to harden.

The bun, well, what can you say about that? Ni! Ni!

This is my favorite time

2010-08-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

It's still hot, but not QUITE as, the sunflowers are blooming, the sweet corn is ready....there's that stillness and waiting just before the headlong descent into autumn and then winter.
As usual, I've not done what I think I ought, but that's always the case....

A few new beads over on Etsy, before I dive into canning sweet corn!

Beads

2010-08-09T16:38:00.000-07:00

I'm a listing fool today...it's not my favorite activity, so I tend to save it up and do a large grouping all at once.

When we had the two computer crashes in a row, I lost all of my mailing list, so if you were on my mailing list for sales, etc, I lost you...

If you'd like to be on that list again, just let me know. You can leave a comment for me here, or drop me a line through Etsy. About once a month, I email with links to new things, announce the freebie of the month, etc.

Beans

2010-08-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

Green beans, purple beans, and rattlesnake beans!
Just starting to come on, we've been picking a few every day, trying to stay ahead of the grasshoppers.

Tuesday I made a really nice vegetable dish.
I cut up one onion and a few garlic cloves from the garden and browned them in oil. Added one can of coconut milk, a tablespoon of red curry powder from Spice House, a tablespoon of generic yellow curry powder, and a dash of sugar.
Then I peeled and cut up three potatoes, from the store, alas, and added them, along with a handful of fresh green beans, and a chopped up zucchini.

It was very good, we ate it with cornmeal frybread.
Then we had the leftovers for lunch the next day, with more zucchini added.

My poor Peanut (gross alert)

2010-08-02T19:36:00.000-07:00

I was holding Peanut today and felt an odd bump on his flank. At first I thought it was a cat scratch, but it didn't seem right, so I looked at it to see. After poking at it for a minute, IT MOVED. Blech, blech, blech. Not so happy dog either. I had Con help me hold him down and I squeezed the awful thing and out came a larvae of some kind. Poor pup went from wild thrashing to instant calm as soon as it was out.
I cleaned it and made sure there weren't any more, then called the vet. Evidently this is not uncommon, all they said was clean it and put peroxicide on it.

Needless to say, we went over the dogs very throughly!