post birthday recovery

first off thank you all for your birthday wishes, i do appreciate it.
we had a good day
i went out to lunch with jen and lesley.
we went to applebees, and i had some sort of penne with chicken and cheese sauce
we went to hobby lobby fast too, i got a pencil sharpener and two erasers .

then bernie got a raise, there was some confusion as to how much he actually was making at his job...... it still is not all straightened out but he is getting a raise........not the amount everyone (including his boss) initially thought.

we went to red lobster (finally) to lump all the celebrations together, from our anniversary, my birthday, his raise, and his birthday (in 8 days) i was exhausted
i did have cheesecake at red lobster.

this morning i naturally had trouble getting up!

now back to the real world, ..........DUCKIE news....... due to the extreme rain and flooding.....i had to bath duckies before bed last night...... lillianna was completely black and covered with mud
the black mud is my wonderful organic compost laden garden soil washing out...
oh man
that duck was filthy!
phoebe too and momma was but just a little....... oye
so before we could go anywhere i had three duckies one after another in the bath

we also stopped at petsmart and saw a few light gray parakeets with white wings, but they were older so i didn't bring one home...

it's supposed to get warmish this week and downright hot over the weekend so i may plant beans on the new fence. and my impatients are up!!!! oh and some of my lettuces also sprouted.
i have to fill a planter with leeks and one with lettuces as well..... i have so many chores now
oh and the bad pullets that i caught laying and immediately EATING the freshly laid egg...... they ARE going up the hill before they teach my other chickens bad habits

(i just asked mark on facebook if he has time....he'll get to it this week)

let's see, what all else........ we hopefully have decided to get a storage shed and a greenhouse instead of the lawn mower, so that when we do get the lawn mower, it will have a home...... i hope anyway.
i saw a greenhouse kit for 799. it's 10X12........ it would make my life easier i think..... bernie wanted to know where i was going to put it...
i think that with jackass neighbor's demon spawn kids gone.......could be out on the lawn there ( and then that further reduces the mowing area) and maybe we should put the shed on the back of the house........ where we have to take the wooden wall/door down to replace it.....why not just put a shed there and extend that area...?
i also need some cold frames for over wintering greens

we need to talk about this again...
now the weekend is due to be really warm so bernie just may put the patio furniture up....if he does i would imagine we'll grill
and i need to start more pepper plants today
oye

i am soooooo disjointed and distracted
later.......

today is my birthday *** warning, a tiny bit of MATURE content***

i am going out with jen, and i imagine lesley will join us
i have to put the duckies out
it's raining
i got the woodstove lit!!!
maybe today won't be so bad after all
of course there won't be any baby goats or lambs in it
which is really really sad.........cause that was the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER (when i helped deliver triplet kid goats)
but i expect this one will be pretty good too

it's dark out though
and as soon as i finish this very fast post i have to go put the ducks out and then shave my menopausal chin

oh the joys of aging....... everything goes south, literally......... and if you live on the east coast you MUST go south at age 65, it's mandatory....... look at florida does that NOT look like a flacid penis to you??- just reflecting it's population no?

anyway i suppose considering all of the alternatives, a little bit of chin hair isn't too bad......of course it DID migrate down from my HEAD
but hey.......
i suppose by the time i am 70, i will have the HAIRIEST hobbit toes in pa............
i mean considering the migration that is going on NOW....

so anyway
i am going out with jen, bernie is going to try to get home early
and i better take supper out now while i think of it
i ate the angel food cake
yes the whole thing over two days, it wasn't that big anyway
i really love angel food cake (shhhhhhhhh maybe more then icecream and cheesecake)
i haven't had one for a few years, like ten

ok i gotta run
them whiskers ain't going to remove themselves, nor will my smelly chickens and adorable ducks feed and water themselves ( i have got to clean chicken pens, the ducks are all clean)

ttyl

the weekend and todays rain

one of my paper dolls that i am working on> we went out saturday night with my cousin nick and his wife michele, and their kids, and grandson.
it was a last minute for us, but since it was michele's birthday we went we had a good time
then we ditched the kids and closed down perkins again, and had a blast ---we laughed so hard that bernie spewed coffee numerous times out his nose
hahahah           
i knocked over a chair (all without anyone having drank anything stronger then coffee!)
and nick......while MOCKING ME.........got up laughing and knocked over his chair
he had to sit elsewhere until he could stop crying with laughter

yesterday bernie made me an angel food cake
he brought in wood, and i made shrimp scampi over angel hair

• melt butter (a LOT of butter, i used a stick) and saute minced red onion and garlic, add shrimp and cook until shrimp is finished add fresh ground pepper and some parsley, meanwhile cook whole grain angel hair pasta until al dente, and drain and toss into the finished shrimp/butter sauce......... takes about 10 minutes. serve with locatelli cheese over the top.

i knitted on my lace (the emily dickinson shawl cause i needed a simple project)
btw----i also spilled some melted butter on my lace yarn.......(oh man) so after it's done in addition to the regular blocking wet........i have to give it a real bath with most likely dawn detergent
damn
we were SUPPOSED to go to alice and wonderland, but found out that the gift card bernie had gotten from work for christmas was almost empty, we had used it during one of the middle of the night road calls
right now i am worried about the local taxes we have to pay, followed by the car insurance/homeowners insurance bill we have to pay, and of course bernie who is burning the candle at both ends, the middle, the top and the bottom....and who will not listen to reason.
he never does until after something happens

he wants a lawn mower with the tax return, originally i had thought ok....now i realize that without a SHED to put it in......that the very expensive riding lawn mower will just rot out in about one season
soooooooooo we are going to have a fight as we have got to get a shed for that and the snow blower...........which is under the deck and cluttering up the exit from there
we can get a lawnmower next season, it isn't like this is an entire grassy acre......... not at all
(although i wish he would get to the back more often- but i may pick up a walk behind)
he's never home to mow anyway.........

it's been chilly and woodstove weather again, and of course i have a full ash bucket, full woodstove and the bucket is too heavy to lift.
oye
right now i am watching my AGAIN cranky woodstove limping along
it's not too cold in here this morning though, yesterday was a nightmare.......2 HOURS to try and get it started.
i was freezing my assets off........

bernie made me angel food cake yesterday, but something was wrong with the oven, the top burnt, and yet it wasn't totally finished, (just THIS side of unfinished) but still eatable.
angel food is my favorite and i did ask for it
i guess i need to figure out how to get the oven calibrated or something
he isn't taking tuesday off for me, so i told him next weekend NO road calls......no working......no nothing
period
it's our celebratory weekend- ok so who wants to take odds on something stopping that?
oye

now today, it's raining HARD, it's also dark out. i am going to finish my coffee and take my ducks out even though it looks like 5am out
i am going to graze my girls a bit too, as i miss seeing little feathered butts up in the air while they work over a pile of wet leaves for worms, small bugs and sprouted seeds-
bernie put them out and took them in the other day, i watched from the window, lilli nibbled his pants legs.....she went running up to him to do it and then waggled her tail and took off to graze....
THAT'S the real reason i make him do ducks and chickens every time he can.....cause he does love when they do things like that
and i think he needs the grounding after a nightmare week

ok day's started ttyl

oye

just oye.

now today is saturday, bernie is working.
i tried to read but fawnie in her infinite cat wisdom decided (as cats do) that books will keep but little brown kitties won't and plopped her furry rug like butt on the book.
i spent an hour kissing her little head and petting her and all that.....she licked my eyebrow
and told me that it was a start...

i came down to find the woodstove pretty much out, the back door open, and thaddeaus with his nose out of joint..........HIS woodstove wasn't hot enough
the budgies weren't active enough

the good thing is bernie brought small splits in last night, to help the pile of large stuff i got off the deck
so lighting the stove wasn't bad
it was weirdly quiet outside this morning too, no bird noise, not a traffic sound either..........

now in knitting, i am knitting an 'emily dickenson' at first i thought the directions were wildly messed up.
i showed a knitter friend and she said that it was knit from the bottom up
i had been looking at the charts and it wasn't making sense....
it came to me last night
i am so used to looking at shetland lace charts or even estonia lace charts and edgings that i was looking for a regular edging chart, and this wasn't one
it's sort of an all in one....... as if you outlined the edging in one continuous line
i at first thought there was an easier way, but now that i am knitting it, i am thinking......'you know what.... it's maybe a 'cleaner' way' that doesn't mean that the shetland or estonia knitters somehow muddied up a simple process.........but for this it is a clean line-less solution....... without a provisional cast on

yes mo, i am an experienced knitter but i am used to picking up stitches to knit on an edging or even to have it knitted as one but a clearly DEFINED edging and this isn't
i guess i am trying to say it has 'flow'
so after this i am thinking of knitting one of the more traditional shawls to see the contrast, (although i have a lot of lacey scarfy amounts of yarn floating around)

when i get to the fiber festivals this year, i am going to pick up some cobweb and do another one of these i think.
i am also debating on another ice queen for my sister in law, this one in pink- and since she is a girly girl, most likely with pale pinkish pearls for beads

i am sorry about yesterday's post, it was sort of disjointed, i was running late EVEN though i had gotten up at 4:30......... and then i got a few phone calls....and had to make a few.
and i think i also forgot a few
oye
i had a bad shock when i discovered that our insurance no longer covers 100% of diagnostic, it has a 1000 per person deductible now, and it costs more as well.
i found OUT when i got billed!
another bill i was not expecting
this was for all that genetic testing......which isn't cheap btw.
i have never HEARD of insurance having a deductible just on diagnostics.......have any of you?
so this means no mammography, no biopsy on my thyroid, no T-3/T-4 tests for my levels for my meds
cause we can't afford it!
bernie won't be able to get his physical either, we don't have the money!
so effectively we are paying for insurance we can't use.

now, donald, i can't put a web cam up, i am going to have to get new batteries for the camera and do a few video's of the duckies..........and when the weather gets warmer and i can take the budgies out i will also do a few of them
the cats are pretty boring, they just basically sleep alot unless they are getting into trouble
ok so that would be DA BOY getting into trouble-- and then i am normally trying to rescue either one of the girls he's beating up or something he's not supposed to play with
oye

now it's going to be cold it looks like, all day.........so all day will be stoking the stove
i hope my baby plants outside are ok
i still can't believe that the back door was opened all night
oye

i am drinking Puerto Rican coffee this morning
vickie brought it back from puerto rico for me, i think that it was grown there, and it's really good......
it's a tiny packet so it won't be around too long but every once in a while i brew up a pot and today was the day.

i am hoping to get back to the drawing board over the weekend
i have two drawings waiting to be laid out
and as soon as the endless nightmare of tax season, and renew the insurances season is all over, i hope to make an art supply order....... bristol board, ink, watercolor papers (the good stuff) qouashe, brushes, and some odds and ends ...........meanwhile i am working on the paper doll clothing sheets and i will finish up the bristol with the next few drawings (i want the high end bristol now, i have been using the pro grade but now i want the next grade up......what's it called?  'insane artist' grade? and a plate finish)
i could use some drawing pencils as well.......not many, a couple of the higher range H
and one or two of the B's
like a B4 and maybe a B7
and a sharpener, as i am SICK of using the Exacto knife to sharpen the pencils

i really need to bake bernie some snickerdoodles........and my cousin nick as well.
i am going to put a few rolls of cookie dough in the freezer too
it will actually save me TIME that way.......do a few days of big batch stuff and then have it
oye
i need three of me.......... younger, stronger and with a lot more energy

it's a cold wet day today

i got a slightly cranky woodstove that i think decided to finally start, but i had to baby it.
(twists of paper with smallish bits of bark, twigs and slivers of wood in them)
and small split logs with the bark down to the flames. i can now hear the very welcome snap and pop of the fire
it's sort of chilly but not too bad in the studio today.

i made supper last night as mostly is usual, stew- which in light of today was a very good choice.
browned that stew meat i got two months or so ago, and added a bunch of dried veggies (rehydrated)

• potatoes
• sweet peppers
• broccoli
• celery
• carrots
• then fresh onions and garlic
• parsley and coarse ground mixed colored peppercorns
• some paprika

it was pretty good!
bernie said it smelled good-THEN said it tasted as good as it smelled...... so he's got that for lunch today too, so do i- and with a biscuit topping maybe supper too....but i'll add more veggies such as corn and peas to it if i turn it into a pot pie for tonight (and that IS looking like what is going to happen- with a cream gravy/sauce)
i should bake as well
but i don't know if i feel for it

i started a new knitting project last night, it isn't what i had thought at first, i THOUGHT i was a shawl is a very scalloped pointed border that was knit in one..... it turns out that it is a blocked in border. not exactly what i was expecting but if i don't like it i will reknit it with a pointed knitted in one border.

ok i am going to end this now as i forgot it
oops

yesterday down in the valley

i went to the lehigh valley with jen, the yarn store, and B&N (my favorite bookstore now that we aren't living near womraths in hackensack) i got some yarn, oops............. like i needed more
and i got some books........again.......big oops like i needed more
but at b&n you can get 4X the amount of books you can get anywhere else.
i got a gardening book, two ghost stories books, and the follow up to a novel called garden spells
i would have also liked to get some history books and a book on quantum physics but i restrained myself.
at the yarn store i got some varigated yarn in deep bright rainbow colors, and a nice heathered lace that overall is a textured reddish shade BUT has blue and red and purple and orange and yellow in it.....however you have to look CLOSE to see that...... i want to bead that one with purple amber and ruby colored beads...... i swear in another life i was a romney gypsy and most likely also a quadroon in the big easy.
jen keeps trying to get me into greens......ahem, NO
i like my bright gypsy colors and i continue to seek out the bright and warm colors.

bernie is working saturday. that sucks big time as my BD is tuesday, which i will be spending alone
i will also no doubt be feeling seriously sorry for me as well.
he won't remember a cake for me either....last year i had to ask if he was going to make me a cake.....
he'd forgotten
he works too hard and too many hours i think

in duck news, phoebe has abandoned her paper feed sack that she's took to laying in and went back to her dishpan under the sink
so because we were running........ AND she didn't want to come out
phoebe got to stay in the house all day
today she is going out FIRST
the others will all be bathing and i am going to have to flip a burger i think for them and the chickens
since i wasn't home all day yesterday, the pullets ate their eggs
i wonder why i haven't brought them up to mark yet.......but i will
their egg eating days are numbered

with the rain the past few days (not yesterday or sunday though) the seedlings are UP outside
spinach is really really up.....chard is up but not as much it would like it a bit warmer
the lettuce and pakchoi would like it a bit wetter!
mother nature will have to sort it all out

i am thinking....... the animal population in the house is about at max, what with snowy eventually coming and we'll be getting more ducks
i would like a few more parakeets as they are flocking birds, and i will get two more buff orpingtons as they are the BEST chickens........but then that's pretty much it, until we move to a farm
i would like to top flight the entire garden and turn the chickens out daily, and i think i am going to try and figure a way to do that. it would make working in the garden so much more pleasant not to be feasted on by TICKS

now today after ducks......come supper and dishes, then i really need to do some tax stuff and drawing work.
 i should do some spring cleaning but really if i do some hand laundry that will be a lot.
i have to start putting the winter clothes away too....so they all need to be washed
it's so back and forth with weather now i am not looking forward to doing this
i have the warmer clothes to freshen up and iron etc too
i think for some stuff i will go the lazy route and put them in mesh bags in the washer with delicate....
then just either lay them out or hang them
sweaters are always a problem for me to dry as i lay them out-even the machine washable acrylic.

the woodstove is lazy too today, it's burning but not hot
and it's pretty cold out......like 34!
ok i am going to poke up the fire now
so ttyl

off to the yarn store in allentown or something

i am again typing this ahead, so it's really.......tuesday night, while waiting on bernie to get home. his supper is made and i need to get off my fat assets and do the stove.....
i am going to town tomorrow with jen.....
i haven't actually seen jen for any day trips since the beginning of feb.
we were over there saturday briefly to use the computer (ok so it wasn't so brief and i lust after her mac)
so tomorrow we are going to the yarn store, and most likely hobby lobby, and probably b&n for bookish goodness....... and maybe if there is time.... michaels as well
we go to the GOOD stores
crafts, yarn, book....what else is there? oh yeah.......pet stores, kitchen stores, garden centers, hardware and farm supply..... i think that's got it all about covered no?
but tomorrow i know for certain it's the yarn store, and most likely one of the craft stores
i will miss my beloved and very clean ducks
and i better crock pot tomorrow too
oye

i puttered around in the house today- planted pakchoi and lettuce outside -red sails lettuce
did dishes and hand washed pots and casseroles that i didn't like when they came out of the dishwasher.....
finished more clothing sheets for the paper dolls

bernie just walked in, it's 8:38pm, he's got a new cell phone from work and blue tooth!
he doesn't like the phone, it's a flip phone
and i started the fire, which appears to have actually started up well!
i made up a sort of 'sausage' of newspaper and kindling, small kindling with scrunched paper inside a wrap and twist of paper which i set on top of more twists of paper, then some 1/2 inch wisteria vine, and finally two small split logs
when the logs catch well enough i am going to add some big stuff........ it's warm but overnight it is going to go down low
so i want to have the woodstove going well
it's going to be nice and warm in the morning
i slept late today, because i was up from 2am to 4:30 am then fell asleep until almost 9!
thaddeaus threw up a few times and i was up after that
he is again sleeping in my arms under the covers, really i love that..... a real live breathing cuddly toy
what more could you ask?
oh and i found a place in oklahoma that has white meat strain muscovy ducks 6 for 35.00 and that includes shipping......he said he isn't worried about the new law on the muscovy so i am thinking of ordering.....they will ship in may, as his birds just started to lay, about the same time mine did

and deb and i are still trying to figure out how to get snowy here, who most likely will be renamed heratio.....or laretes......
gee i am going to have a LOT of babies i think.....
(and you know how much i love all my babies)
and not one of my babies are spoiled i am proud to say!
not ONE
(glaring around and defying anyone to doubt that statement........)
this week i also need to clean day pens, and i seriously need to do chickens
along with lasagnia gardening......
oh and planting a few beans wouldn't hurt either!
oye
never done i tell you
never done
or is it never more? nope........that would be the raven

ps: donald a web cam on the duckies may not be really easy for me
but i do take video occationally
phoebe ate a small snake today

coffee, email, and thou

hey isn't this great, i turn ON the computer and here you all are!
today i started a small fire in the woodstove, it's under 50 out and it is pretty chilly in here
so a tiny woodstove fire (it looks like it took)... by the end of the week we are to have very cold nights again.
i'll cover the deck planters and baby plants but i think they'll be ok
i have to empty the big ones and refill with fresh soil for this year.......snow peas here we come.

meanwhile here is one of lillianna, from last summer. i am wondering what i am going to be walking into when i take them out today, i cleaned lilli's crate and did momma's the other day, i have to do chickens but haven't started yet.
i have so much to do and am not getting most of it done.

i just had to poke up the fire again, it's needing a lot of attention since really it's way too warm out for it
but it's really cold and damp in the house so a smallish fire is good right now.
it'll take the chill off AND keep the stove ready for the cold at the end of the week.

bernie is talking about putting the patio furniture up on the deck, and getting his lawn mower, with our tax return. i don't know where he is going to put the lawn mower however, as we don't have a shed or garage and if he just tarps it, it will just rust out like his other ones did. oye
we could use a few small sheds and a couple of chicken/duck coops......
a wood shed would be helpful also
i could so go for a wood shed

i keep trying to remember all the things i wanted to look up while i was off line- one was a book

'The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire '

doesn't that look GOOD? oh man that looked soooooooo good at the book store the other day, (we went saturday) i so could have walked out of that book store with 100's of dollars worth of books that looked good- there was a graphic novel that was a true biography about a person who's father gave him cancer in the 50's by repeatedly taking Xrays of him from when he was a baby....thousands of them, then didn't treat him for a while.
i saw quite a few true ghost story books i wanted ( i did get one- an anthology from fate magazine)
i ended up spending the most time in the history and historical biography section ( THERE's a surprise hahahahaha) i did try for the fiction section but soon got confused and wandered over to history.
bernie got a book on some person who was in the military in WW2 he told me about the guy and now is reading his memoirs.

HANG ON THIS ACCIDENTLY published early, i am not finished yet............

so now for today, ducks of course (every day no?)
dishes naturally
planting of some impatient seeds i think, transplanting tomatoes to larger quarters,...
maybe lettuces or maybe i'll just start filling planters and wait until after the weekend cold snaps for the lettuces.
and i have to get another start on that blk/wht drawing- my fingers are itching to get involved in another one, even though there are parts of it that are boring, there is something very soothing to be doing the repetitive work of a drawing like my blk/wht pen & inks.
it becomes meditative
and it also looks like my tiny fire is caught finally (think a cratchit fire from dickens...)it should raise the temp in here by about 5 degrees which is all i need at the moment.
i can hear it pop and snap as i have to keep the door open to the woodstove, i'll give it one more log, a bit larger one and we'll call it a day on that.

last night's supper at 9pm was pork chops off the loin, (thick ones over an inch) with homemade bbq sauce, perogies and corn.......(bernie picked the vegg)
homemade bbq sauce: fast down & dirty- mustard, ketchup, garlic, onions, vinegar and brown sugar...... taste it, it should be sweet/sour/tangy........ then heat it to combine and you're good to go
if i would have had time i would have stuffed and breaded them, ( stuffed with something like fruit or chard and cheese) but he's getting home late now

in knitting news....there isn't! but i want to be making a shawl with some blue/green yarn from the yarn club and some beads..however i can't make up my mind sooooooooooooo i haven't started anything
i got startitus and then stopitius with everything lately.....
i imagine that is spring fever no?
oye

ok off i go
and you can now disreguard the ' HANG ON THIS ACCIDENTLY published early, i am not finished yet............' above as i am now done
have a nice day everyone

vi

getting caught up with myself

i have been off the net since thursday evening, i did stop at jen's for a fast brief blog post and to pay bills
(cause you KNOW that friday was payday.......damn)
 did you all miss me??
sniff
I MISSED ME (and i missed you all too)
 ok so the trouble started thursday and i figured it was verizon's problem so i sort of ignored it.
friday morning i still thought it was verizion's problem but i needed to pay the bills so decided to call and find out
they said it was my modem as they tested the line and saw up to the modem.
that meant a network card
sooooooooooooo
i called my cousin who picked up my baby and installed a card today (bless my cousin nick)
and i am now back here amongst the living

friday was a pretty nice day, i got the ducks out and washed that drake
saturday was errands mostly
and i washed the ducks
sunday i got really sick and ended up back in bed until 2pm, then even though it was 80 degrees out ( according to our new outdoor thermometer that we got saturday) i was in a teeshirt, sweatshirt, wool dickey, wool hat and jacket.......i sat in the sun in the garden for about 45 minutes before i got warmed up
bernie was pretty concerned, as i never go back to bed during the day unless i am half dead
which i was
i replanted some of the multiplier onions.... but nothing bulbed up good
i also got falstaff back in the pond for a second bath...this time was a thorough one, and i am pleased to inform you all that my formerly brownish and cream drake is now cream and white.......he is supposed to be ALL white but we're taking baby steps here
the water was opague when he was finished.
he had tried to jump poor tiny little phoebe while she splashed happily in the water........ahem....i don't THINK so
so i grabbed him and made sure that he was saturated,- at that point he figured why not finish......
so he did
45 minutes worth of finishing
i sat and watched him

btw, i also have discovered that the idiot's with the dogs and the nasty 20 year old don't annoy us when bernie is home
imagine that ~! ( and imagine me with heavy sarcasm in my jersey accent saying that)

now today we had rain, but i went out in my duck clothes (old clothes) to get my tower back from nick
he said i looked like a farmer, hahahahaha, not really but ok
i do have some whiskers on (damn that menopause)
the ducks were not happy about getting rained on........ they only like the water in the pond or mud puddles. but we dealt with it.
me howver got soaked to the skin and i am now all bundled up and freezing my assets off..... i can't get the wood stove to go as it's 60 out
and bernie will of course be late
ha
ok
now to amuse myself without my computer, i worked on the paper dolls i been drawing......i did a sheet of their clothes, i HAD started another blk/wht but realized i needed to use  a different refrence picture of one of the ducks. but since my computer was up the hill at my cousins, i didn't have any, nor could i take one as i would need the computer to see it
(the computer came back today, which will be your yesterday when you read this)
so i worked on the paper dolls
bernie forget and asked to 'watch that tv show' last night, i said 'but bernie, you watch them on the COMPUTER' ..........he was sort of like 'ya.........umm right' cause he didn't remember
(huh? i better get him checked for alzhiemers i swear)
in addition to all this, we have discovered that yes i was right about the insurance, and bernie was wrong (there's a surprise), and now we owe a ton of money for the lab tests from the specialist.
basically the lab work isn't covered (1000 deductable per person)
so that means no meds either, as i have to have labs done periodically (quarterly or more often)
it also means no other diagnostic tests as the diagnostics aren't covered
so no biopsy on the thyroid or mamography!
bernie was assured that this was incorrect....hahaha
i called the insurance company and it is sadly accurate
oh boy
let's see what all else
(besides i am really cold right now)
we finally got lightbulbs!!! yeah for being able to SEE
i think that is about all
i was lost without my computer
i use it for bills, for pictures, for writing, for you all, for email, for entertainment etc
it's such a part of our life........ even bernie didn't realize it
now i need a net book as back up
(and i could set it up by the drafting table and not have to run back and forth so much huh????)

oye
btw, my spinach is up out on the deck
and i transplanted my african violet babies..... all the peppers and tomatoes are up too as well as the eggplants
i can't wait for the snow peas and beans
spring is about here

i am back!!!

thank goodness my cousin nick fixed my computer

gone until further notice

i got computer woes... i am at jen's on her new mac
so you all better not forget me

i hope to be back by  wen

vi

you know i started to miss you guys

when you don't check in..... flicka i was wondering about you too...
and angie, and a few others.
i wonder if i am co-dependent? ***columbine from last spring, i got it bad i think***
ok now as i type this, it is thursday afternoon, it's nice   out....and i am sitting at the computer, what is WRONG with this picture?

i did find some paper and some kindling outside and made up two paper/kindling packets for the woodstove, one for tonight and one for tomorrow AM.
they are sitting on my stone cold stove (it is stone and it is cold)
meanwhile i have the back door open, the radio on (that is a rare occurrence, normally the only sounds around here are animal sounds or me talking to them)
and the budgies are singing to the car commercials (huh?)

i spent about two hours with the ducks, watching them graze, bath, and in the case of falstaff, try unsuccessfully to get some nookie on the side.....
i have no idea what to make for supper and i am painting a really crappy halloween inspired painting on the crappy paper just to keep painting
i really want to be doing that black and white.......so i really should just get to it
OR
i should block out a halloween painting like i block out a duck painting and give it my all
that would make too much sense huh?
and i decided i want a glass of lemonade!
i should go to town, jen invited me to coffee at the bookstore tomorrow
i said no
i got it bad i think
yet i would really like to go book shopping and have a coffee at the cafe there, not to mention scope out the budgies at the pet store not even three stores away....( where i saw the yellow keet)
but i really can't afford it, now that i know what our taxes are for this year to pay, followed by homeowners/car insurance..... then firewood
oh man
i also need to make a few new pockabooks (that's jersey for handbag or purse)
and i need to plant more........ much more
oh i let the ducks scrounge around in the sleeping garden, and discovered i got garlic and onions coming up
the onions are multiplier onions, so i have to dig them, harvest the big ones and replant the smaller ones
i may still have a walking onion there too, i hope so

in knitting, i ripped that scarf out i was working on and screwed up. i am about to wind off some cashmere/silk/merino blend to knit up with beads. may as well, since i can't stop thinking of that one.....so i'll start it and the one i ripped, will eventually have beads in another incarnation.....

i realized that i should also be working on the paper doll series i started last year, they need their clothes done yet. i am going to sell them.....they'll be available on etsy eventually.....
along with i think posters that are backgrounds or little setting for them to 'live' in
i want them to be really really well printed on very good heavy coated stock, something you would be proud to give to a very special little girl (or i would be proud to give to a special little girl)
there are a few of them,  and their bodies are all the same size and in the same position so that all the clothes are interchangeable. they are also all different ethnicities..... cool huh?
i did have fun with them, and i need to paint their clothes on overlays- that makes it so much easier for me and more accurate as well.
ok it's now 8pm, and bernie is of course not home yet, he went to alpha and i told him that there was an issue with rt 78 but i suppose he didn't listen, he's also to stop at the store on the way, (normally he calls when he gets into town, no call........no bernie)
good thing we are having sandwitches for supper.
today i was able to sit with my ducks without getting barked at......!!!!!
amazing huh?
if you heard this dog bark you would understand. the dog barking at momma duck
ok there is a link to some really BAD video with audio of that dog barking, it actually went on for over 20 minutes nonstop......it give us headaches.......there are three there and two of them do this, it used to be constant

wow!!! bernie just walked it! not too bad, and i think he got me a newspaper to burn tonight and tomorrow to start the woodstove

ok we can't light the stove, it's too warm and i can't get it going.....i'll try in the morning
night all

wen night, posted thursday morning

thank you for letting me know catherine and donald.....

i am having a bit of depression right now, i don't know if it's the weather, the results of the missed for a few days meds, or my birthday coming up......or not spending enough time with bernie.
i had a good day with the animals though, i gave the budgies a bath again, fed and watered all of the animals, retrieved a few of the new chicks from wandering around, bathed ducks including falstaff... broke up duck fights, grazed ducks, hugged ducks, kissed ducks...........talked to ducks ( i most likely need to get a life)
talked to cats and chickens and budgies.....
and got more depressed-

i pulled that blk/wht off the drawing board and put a sort of easy breezy halloween illustration up to work on and got my knitting (which i promptly screwed up and need to tink back) and looked in my bead boxes to see if maybe i could make me a new pair of earrings....
right now i am out of sorts and nothing much is working
i keep forgetting to put batteries in the camera too, so i didn't catch the budgies first bath
OR the asshole neighbors UP the hill who turned one of their nightmare chihuahua dogs loose on me and the ducks..... those dogs next door go off like fire alarms.
me and the ducks were peacefully and quietly sitting just out side our back door..... lilli was in the pond, and falstaff was sort of watching her, momma was in the A frame eatting......i had taken a chair out and was sitting in the afternoon sun just enjoying the warm weather and watching lilli bath
that dog ran up to the line beyond where the new fence is..... and went OFF like a freeken BOMB...
they all were calling it but of course it doesn't listen.
i brought the ducks in
we just paid 1600 for that section of fence and the damn dog goes to the top of it
you know....i hate bad dog owners
and let me tell you all, people that inconsiderate make me never want to go out the door.
i got ducks that don't quack so i wouldn't disturb the assholes...... oh man
the good news is that they no longer 'talk to me'
which means i no longer have to hear about how fat i am, or, how i shouldn't call bernie at work, or how i am so stupid for a smart girl.....
some of the better ones were (when i got my international cover) 'that's nice if you like that sort of thing'
or after the company picnic 'i don't care how nice bernie is, he is fantasizing about all those woman he works with' (HUH? believe me i know my bernie......and if he is fantasizing at all it's about a vehicle, tool or car model)
another one that pissed me off royally was the woman next door's SHOCK when one winter during the coldest jan/feb part, she called me in from working outside putting the ducks out and shoveling, when i got hot in the goosedown and pulled off my hat..... exposing my very bald little head......she was SHOCKED and said 'you don't walk around like that in front of your husband do you?'
i almost said no....... i walk around bald and nekid......but i held my tongue
this damn dog thing today upset me a lot
actually them next door stopping talking to me, is the BEST thing that ever happened to me......now if they would stop their damn dogs from 'talking' to me

bernie got home at a reasonable (for him) hour, at about 7:30, and he also fed the chickens ( so that makes it twice today at least, and about 16 times for the chicks)
i need to clean their pens
i got three eggs from the ducks today (one was lilli's from yesterday that i didn't see) and i got two from the 8 chickens
i made me an egg custard- that was my lunch.

i really hope this out of sorts mood passes soon, as it isn't fun to have, it's preventing my work going forward, i get pissy and whiney......... and got nothing interesting to write about

oh and i forgot, i am again casting around for a plot for the duckie book....i sorta blew it out with that last blk and wht..........
any suggestions?

ok we're going up now.......i need some sleep i hope
and bernie could use a month of sleep

ttyl

9pm tuesday night-posting wen morning/Happy St Paddy's day you all

bernie isn't home yet, he is almost home but not yet.

he's been working like this now for a while, his fleet is very big

it was warm today ( ok this will be yesterday for you all)

it was warm enough that i grazed the ducks, washed water buckets and sat with my beloved ducks, lilli on my lap
soon it will be illegal to have babies from my babies....
i hope to get 6 ducklings from hoffman's prior to march 31
http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/RegulationsPolicies/reg2010/Muscovy%20Duck%20Final%20Rule%201%20March%202010.pdf


i got the woodstove to go again, it's warm out but it's going to get cold overnight
it is fighting me however, and i am freezing sorta
i planted spinach and chards (all sorts) and am going to be planting my lettuces as well
i don't have enough chard or spinach
i'll be planting more peppers as well
and then starting the beans etc out in the garden, i am thinking of starting them under cloches, as i sure could use a jump on the season

the budgies took a BATH today ( so did falstaff, but him i forced) i put their freshly filled water tube in their cage and they rushed over and tried to bath in it!
so i put a large divided food cup in with warmish water and the babies dived in!
now i been giving them the bathtub bernie got for them weekly more or less (not in the really really COLD part of the winter)
and they've ignored it
today was the magic day i suppose.
that made me laugh, i so love to see a bird bath

my ducks were having a blast splashing around, momma duck has to be kept away from phoebe, as does lilli, but at least lilli only really bothers phoebe when they are in the little pool
momma is suddenly all over phoebe all the time
i was in no mood for that crap

i started another black and white drawing of the ducks, this one is them on the driveway looking up towards the front of the house....
i hope it will be as interesting as the last black and white one. i had to give up for now on color
but just for now

we had corned beef and butter braised cabbage last night, we were to have had it sunday but we weren't able as you all know
it was wonderful
i love cabbage braised in butter and slightly carmelized..........
it is all gone now..mmmmmmmm
tonight is BLT's with left over bacon because bernie is so late
it is about 9:30 now......bernie left at 5am this morning.....it's a very long day- i miss him a lot

i am finding myself tending to not go out much, more and more i am staying home, keeping to myself.
i don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing or an age appropriate thing.
i love my friends but when they cancel plans i am ok with it......
i also want to draw more, i didn't get enough drawing done today either. when the weather gets even warmer, and we put the table up on the deck, i will try and work outside- and if we can get stairs back to the deck again......it will make life so much easier for me.
(and a wood box right there would help as well.....so would a half bath)

oye
ok well this is tomorrow's post so i am going to schedule it
flicka, donald, catherine,........ all the rest of  you folks? are you still around?
or have you all gotten really busy now that good weather is finally here?

it's ALIVE........... ok well semi

thyroid meds when taken are a very good thing.
so is sunshine at the moment
i am going to go clean duck pens
and then dishes then draw and supper too
last night was corned beef, butter braised cabbage and potatoes, bernie got home at like 8 or 9 and then ate
he's a happy boy.
thaddeaus is feeling better too...another happy boy
i blocked out some ducks for a new drawing......
and it's ok again around here
it's also getting warmer so i planted spinach and chard in the window box out on the deck
today if i get a chance, i'll plant a box of lettuce, and maybe some beets, and more chard.... then the big barrels will get snow peas, and some peppers i think
i want eggplant up on the deck this year as well
in the main garden i want beans, squash and cucumbers.... a lot of each with a couple of tomatoes and a few extra peppers
i need a good harvest this year.
also this year i need to replenish the dried vadalia onion stash. 50 pounds sliced and dried winds up in 8 quart jars.
i got 10# of carrots to do as well, i love having them dried. they take up a lot less room and are ready to go into any thing i can think of during the winter (zuchinni and eggplant, peppers and tomato, cabbage and celery all dried and put in jars- last night we used my dried potatoes in the corned beef)

meanwhile the budgies tried to take a bath with their tiny water bottle so i gave them a bath tub......but they are ignoring the tub
figures
oh and it's to be like 60 today so no woodstove, that figures too as i got some loose bark in for kindling

now i best get going as i have laundry to hang and ducks to take care of so will you folks check in so i know you are all out there? i don't know...you all could have gone to spain or the moon or something

vi

i remember the meds today

jen called and reminded me, but really she didn't have to.
once i was back in my routine i am ok
so i came down, made the coffee and took my meds
i can't get the woodstove going however
i've tried numerous times, i have no kindling so that doesn't help
and it's pretty warm out for a woodstove in the 40's
so it's cranky
it's about 60 in here which is a bit cold for me

i have to plant more seeds today, something that i was to have done yesterday but due to the road call......well you know
i also twisted my ankle again in the mud yesterday going down back to replay the straw bedding in the a frame

so today i have dishes, seeds, drawing, and ducks
i am making corned beef which we were to have had yesterday.
we had this other thingie 'kasha'  buckwheat groats.......wow was that great!
bernie of course hated it
i loved it and i want to have it replace rice here as i can eat it!
it's really good for pcos patients
today also if i can i would like to make the parakeet mash
it's beans and veggies coarsely chopped (in parakeet sizes) with some whole grains and seeds
i am going to take them off seed except for a teaspoon at night
i am going to try to keep them as healthy as i can and increase their lifespan if i can
in the wild they would eat all sorts of stuff
i got them used to and craving chopped veggies with coucous........so next is the mixed veg with beans
so i am going to soak the beans and cook them a while, then chop the veggies dry some of that up and freeze some.
i got them a sweet potato as well, so i want to chop that and dry it
there was a food called 'beak appetite' that just went out of business....they loved that stuff so we are going to make our own

they are actually doing pretty well accepting new stuff now
some stuff i add gets the 'budgie death stare'
but that doesn't last too long anymore
they hopped right on the new ring toy, actually they like it better then the OLD ring toy
i am hoping to get them a few more toys as time goes on
and move the ones they have around
i gave them folded paper the other day, THAT they adore..... they were on that so fast it surprised us. and i didn't make it easy for them to reach it, they had to figure it out....makes for interested challenged budgies and i think keeps them healthier

now today, as soon as i am functioning i am going to take my ducks out
lilli was exceptionally affectionate yesterday and i felt terrible that i had to leave her downstairs while i came and crashed
i can't wait until summer when i can sit out with them while they bath and preen and do duckie things
OHOHOHOHOHOH
phoebe got the FIRST WORM of the season friday!!!!!
yeah for phoebe!

we're back- we left at five am

and fought our way through the flooding down to edison, where bernie had to change a mangled tire on a critial care isolette unit.
we just got home, it's 12:21pm right now
i didn't sleep as we got the call last night but due to extreme flooding bernie could only send a back up unit there and then go down this morning.
i am very very tired
we haven't eaten yet, and the ducks aren't out yet
i am just now starting the wood stove up
oye
so forgive me if this is short as i am extremely tired

shhhh it's really friday night.......

but you all will be reading this saturday as it's due to post then.
the bears are still kicking my ass...... i am working on them though
who knew freeken polar bears would be this tough? i should have figured as they LOOK just a pillow which only means that extra is needed to get the subtleties and the subtleties are all you got
i think......we're gonna be here with the bears for a while......damn

now as for saturday, some errands
feed store: scratch & oyster shell
home depot: light bulb for range hood
kmart: socks for bernie
pet store: two new budgies (and a few more toys)
grocery store: milk & chicken
craft store: 'studios' magazine & beads for my blue/green yarn from spirit trail
AND if i can find a few extra bucks.... a book maybe at borders?

if you noticed that there were two more budgies on the list...... well we decided that just in case we will be increasing the flock so we'll start to look around.
i would like a yellow (lutino) one and a violet or double violet, and a sky blue...... along with one of those BRIGHT glow in the dark greens
six is the maximum my aviary is rated for so that is what we'll get
i would like to get two in the near future and another two in like two months
and 6 ducklings...
(shhhhh no one saw the six duckling thing right?)

we're to have bad rain all weekend and into next week. so i would LIKE to get the salad window boxes up and planted over the weekend....it's perfect for them
i am dieing for some FRESH swiss chard and raw baby spinach...... oh man.... i can't WAIT

i also need to make yogurt
it's been WEEKS...
and if i get some time, i need to grind grain and make a new pocketbook
oye
i really need a bigger studio

i out smarted a chicken--- for the moment anyway

we have a couple chickens, as some of you folks know. dulcette and henrietta who are older then dirt and lay an egg here and there....henrietta is 'confused' and crows, has grown spurs and still will lay a nice egg.  (the picture at the right is lilli in a greenhouse type daypen)

then there are the new baby chickens i just got.....the speckled sussex X buff orpingtons

well we also have 'the pullets'

they are about 18 months old now. - i never did like those damn chickens.

now they are trying to eat their eggs

yesterday i outsmarted them and got the egg before they ate it

one was ok one they'd pecked through the shell.. i gave the pecked one to phoebe.

she'll clean it up for me and they (the chickens from hell) didn't get to eat it

(yes they do get oyster shell and granite sand and all sorts of goodies..... they are just terrible chickens-they don't even crouch for the rooster-they aren't even polite chickens, with good chicken manners)

meanwhile momma is laying me a nice egg a day

so baking and rice pudding making will be resuming soon.

thaddeaus i think is doing better but it's sort of touch and go, this rain today is not going to help much. he doesn't do well in the rain. he came up to bed at about 3am for a while... i was so happy he finally came up. i was worried about him

but the rain will help the ducks little pool so for that it's a good thing

i should plant my outside deck planters, however i didn't put new dirt in....that would be tomorrow,  i separated out the seeds:

lettuce

snow peas

spinach

chard

purslane

we are looking at what may be a very early spring and a hopefully productive growing season. oh and my little seeds i planted the other day are germinating.

i have more to plant today and tomorrow the rain is good for that even if it isn't so good for cleaning the animal pens.

i was supposed to go to town this week twice, once wen, to met a friend, and then again today to meet another friend--- yup yup, i basically don't go out for two months....... well the plans fell through so i didn't go which is fine with me!

as much as i wanted to see these friends, and i do want to see them

i am ok without going to town

i can't get the fire going again, we're out of kindling and paper. that too will get taken care of this weekend.

i am still up in the air about the watercolor paper situation.

i need to sample some but that's pretty pricy.... so i am going to use my inktense pencils for now on the paper.... however i don't think they are light fast, or as light fast as i would like them to be, which means any originals done with them will have to be kept in a black box and only reproduction archival prints made from them- archival prints would last long then the originals! i think they are rated for 100 years! which is ok for straight commercial work but i think that i would eventually like to put all this work on the market for sale. those i wouldn't be able to with a clear conscious.

now regular watercolors will last hundreds of years,......now you know why i was trying to get the paper situation under control. i still intend on it, but it will take a while as the paper isn't cheap at all.

i just gave the cats their fancy feast with hot water and chinese sinus herbs, they are all still sneezing a bit. the budgies just got their minced veggies and are chattering away, the chickens have their light on. so as of right now all is right in my little world

we are starting to look into a few more budgies, this cage will comfortably house six, so we are sort of looking into more..... budgies these days don't seem to have a very long life, no matter what you do to take care of them so i would like to make sure there are a few just in case we do lose one, the others will still have flock members...... but maybe if we have 6, we WON"T lose any as they will have the flock and enough excersize etc?

i would hate to lose any of these guys, they are such charming little birds, and with so much personality.  i do love them. and they do make the studio very lively.

i tried to upload a very short video of momma duck splashing happily in her little pool but that didn't work for some reason. so you have a picture of lilli in her day pen

meanwhile we are a bit chilly here with no woodstove going......... so i am going to go and see what i can do about it..... we don't have enough kindling to get the wood to take well and it's a bit warm out

meanwhile i better see to it before the feathered and furred inmates start to get angry....

one ruined painting

well maybe it's a good thing it was ruined. when i went to take the maskit off, the paper on the bear and the ducks pulled up. i tried to fix it a bit but it's a mess. (it doesn't look too bad here but in person what a nightmare) so i decided to really look at this painting and flipped it horizontally. what i decided was the following
it was a good thing it got ruined, as i may have decided it was good and it wasn't mediocre
1) the composition is not right, it's ok but not great...just mediocre and who wants mediocre?
2) the bear is rendered stiffly, and doesn't quite look as real as he should be specifically his hind leg
3) the snowy plains behind them are a bit muddy in color
4) the duck on the far right is not right
5) i am not sure i truly like the shadows and light, i think i need to make it more extreme
6) i think that the feeling of this is ambiguous as well- it isn't funny, it isn't scary, it isn't anything... but just there in other words it doesn't tell it's story well (and it is boring me)
so we got some issues with this

 

the good points...the sky
the snowflakes and the center duck's head

 

now as an aside, the ruined part is the paper's fault, it's a cheap grade of professional paper
it is fine for FAST loose studies but terrible for detailed over washes and glazed color, and obviously it can't take a mask either so now we know.

 

now as to the paper, there are two or three brands that i believe will stand up to what i dish out at it.... but they are like 12.00 a sheet, plus shipping. i can get four paintings out of one sheet which i realize brings it down a bit but i also need brushes too
i am at a loss as to what to do
i really wanted to go back and forth between blk /wht and color but it's starting to look like it may all have to be blk /wht as i may not be able to afford color!
but i am going to try a few more with arches paper..... and see how it goes, i have fabriano artistico paper as well so i will try that too.
but really i am thinking twin rockers ( a brand of paper) is what i need here.

ok back to daily life.
i got more seeds to plant today and i am going to try and clean some of the pens as well.
i don't know what to make for supper, last night was burgers as bernie got home so late, and i was pretty tired
i think i should consider a crockpot something today.
it looks like rain out there too
and i am sitting here in my sleep tee, and not really moving much!
just drinking coffee and thinking out loud to you all
sort of a few mental lists that i need to get done.

• a) winter coats washed, dried, and put up
• b) cardboard for the lasagna gardening taken out and put down on the garden
• c) deck containers refilled with soil
• e) canning shelves cleaned and jars all checked (one unsealed on me!)
• f) grain mill run ( sad to say i got this a few months ago and didn't run it yet- i swear i don't know what is wrong with me
• g) impatient seeds started-wow i am WAY late with that
• h) apple branches cut for the budgies (behind on that too)
• i) pens and crates all cleaned

so there you have it........ and dishes aren't even on that list! maybe i don't really have time to waste on painting and drawing, with all the stuff i need to do
oh man
so what do you think i am going to do today?
get the ducks out
do the dishes
start some seeds
and do some layouts for the next drawing
i am nothing if not a procastinator.................

doesn't EVERYONE have a duck in a dishpan under the sink? NO?

you mean i am the only one? oh man, i so don't like being
'special'
phoebe has decided that she is going to nest under the sink........in a dishpan
(and you thought human women were complicated? ha.....try figuring out a female DUCK)
and at the crack of 2pm she came out from under the sink to join me in the back for a bath.
sorta
it was cut short by the appearance of the hawk.
anyway, when phoebe was under the sink in her dishpan, i asked her WHY??????
she turned around and fluffed up her tail.....which she then very POINTEDLY make sure was pointing in my direction
i was told off (yet again) by a duck
i tell you.....you haven't lived........
oh man

meanwhile on the drawing board, are purple ducks.
don't ask
bernie won't like them no doubt
and a polar bear that susan swears is supercilious........(she is right you know, the bear IS supercilious)
right now they are covered in white mask preparing for the northern lights to yet again be slashed across a paper.
(and spent i don't know how many hours cleaning the masking fluid brush....cause i am ocd that way)

meanwhile i planted seeds
peppers: ace and lipstick ( and i need to do banana peppers yet)
tomato: juliet sauce
eggplant: nadia, and orient express
i have to get the other seeds ready to go and put them in
i want at least 4 red cabbages (1 early, 2 mid, 1 late)
leeks, broccoli, chard and greens (lettuces and other salad stuff) spinach, peas..... beans, squash, pumpkins, cuc's and maybe some beets, kolrobi etc.....
i am hoping this gardening season is a good one
i really should spend tomorrow in the garden cleaning up and doing that lasagna gardening thing
but i would like some help so maybe i don't throw my back out this time?
i also have to put fresh dirt in the deck containers, (which reminds me, one of the window boxes suddenly fell off the deck yesterday while i was bathing ducks)

momma laid her first eggie of the season!!! yup today!
and the pullets (not the new chicks) are going to the stew pot as soon as i can get the guy....... they laid and ate an egg today
possibly two eggs
so tomorrow ( so to speak) we will have them for dinner...... they will be in the soup pot
i never did like them pullets
(yes i heard them lay.....came to get the egg only to find them gobbling it up FAST before i could 'get it from them')
these pullets were a bad lot from the beginning
however they will redeem themselves with some parsley and carrots

in budgie news....they have discovered the bottom of the CAGE........ohhhhhhhhhhh ahhhhhhhhh
amazing! new territory!!! uncharted by any BUDGIE BEFORE THEM
oye
i found the two of them running around on the bottom of the cage today.....gee when they decide they aren't afraid....... they AREN'T AFRAID
oh man

thaddeaus continues to be under the weather. i am trying to decide if he is sick enough for the vet or if it'll pass. i don't want to stress him by taking him to the vet if he'll be ok in a day or so.
he's being a good boy so i know he's sick
and i am worried.

falstaff is getting antsy....... bernie tells me that falstaff wants a bit of nookie from his 'ladies'
(leave it to a man huh?) he is 'threatening' to peck me......at least behind my back
if i turn around he pulls his head and his crest up and says 'who me? i wouldn't EVER do that to you mom'
bernie said if i would let the bird at the ladies.......he'd calm down
bernie is most likely correct but i don't have a secure pen to raise the babies
as bernie didn't FINISH the secure pen i need to raise the babies in......
it is just missing a few things like DOORS
minor details

i have decided that i need 1000. of found money for the art supply store.
i need some odds and ends. paints, brushes, brushes, brushes.............. some paper, brushes, a few palettes.......brushes.......oh and did i mention BRUSHES???
my good brushes are not great, i have one decent one but i need more
so i keep saying over and over 'i need 1000 for the art supply store'
think that's going to help any????
i didn't think so either

oye
i want my supper now thank you (ps this is being typed at 7:38 pm on 3/9/2010.......you'll all read it in the am.
will you guys check in so i know you are all here????
cause now i am sorta talking to you folks..

vi

we are up early- due to cat vomit

poor little thaddeaus, i think his sinus thing is breaking up. he lost a bunch of mucus all over the bedroom floor so i am hoping this is it

if not he goes to the vet tomorrow.
(even though the vet will give him more chinese herbs which we have, and tell me let it run it's course)
we took him upstairs into a steamy shower last night and i think that started to break it a bit
he's been (and is right now) sneezing like crazy
and swallowing so i think that he's draining, as that's what i do when i drain.

yesterday i spent a fair peice of time with the ducks, in the bath. (they were in the bath, i was on hawk lookout) it was really warm so i figured they could use a bath each
momma doesn't mind breaking ice to bath but lilli and phoebe do
so i filled their pond with warm water and momma got cool water
and off we went
i can tell you that lilli loved her warm water
and that my ducks are not spoiled.. they are just well loved. THAT is my last word (hahahaha) on that.
lilli splashed around until two hawks flew overhead....about 40 minutes.
phoebe piddled in the bucket (she also piddled in the pond with out washing so much as a wing....so she got her bucket and lilli the pond)

i am working on a big male polar bear right now..... who's giving me a hard time (and why would i expect any less from a MALE polar bear) i think it is going to end up another study so while i am trying to work it....i think i am going to have to stick with the black and whites for a bit...
until either i get something to stretch this paper on ( watercolor paper is better stretched)
or get a different subject i just wanted to see if maybe i needed to rethink everything about this project
(i do need to explore all area's of it)
which is what i am trying to do... i figure use the duck stories as the framework.
i have a friend that does tarot cards. she's never gone to art school but she's always painted.
she's on her 4th or 5th deck
that's 72 paintings per deck however i've known her for years, and she may do maybe 6 times that amount of paintings for each deck
it's just the way it is
i think it may be more about the process

i am going to start the seeds today. i'm late with some, early with others
i need a cold frame and i need help in the garden (think i am going to get either?)

bernie just left....it's a quarter to 5
i feel so bad for him. thaddeaus woke him up. i had to clean up thaddeaus' mess so i had to put the lamp on.
i came down and stoked the stove too
really now i am pretty tired and i can just go back to bed...as i didn't sleep much- thaddeaus kept climbing into my arms so i don't sleep when he does that.

good thing i made bernie,  steak, baked potatoes and spinach for supper- cause that's what he's got for lunch and also at least that made up for the whole early morning light thing i hope.

i uploaded a cropped photo of lillianna take from the studio window on sunday morning. bernie put the ducks out for me-- the white sort of line that is going up diagonally is actually a fence post that is holding down a tarp on the A frame pen (the blue tarp is over the a frame) lilli later made bernie carry her to the back pen.
so did momma duck
i tried to get pictures of that but they were too quick. he came in and told me that my ducks needed to 'stop that shit' hahahaha
yeah RIGHT...and WHO carried them?? it wasn't me....i was up in the studio taking the pictures!!! hahahahaha
yeah like i am the only one that loves those ducks... he really shouldn't lie like that......no one believes him- not me, not you, and certainly not the ducks!

so it's time to make the coffee and to put more wood on the fire.
the budgies are waking up and it's a bit too early for them. i can hear them softly talking to each other- she's on the wooden swing.....he's on a perch below that is going to get moved (it's not a perch he should sleep on, it's a nail trimming perch )

btw, has anyone seen 'alice in wonderland' the new tim burton? we're thinking of going with vicki and bob next week. i like most of burton's movies and this one looks as good as sleepy hollow.
but i wanted to know if anyone saw it yet?

oh my.....i forgot to title this!

here is the beginning of polar bears in color. i have already done this story in black & white (last year actually) AND as it's better to draw what you know..........AND due to the fact that there aren't polar bears laying around out back here (thank goodness) i need to learn the bears, which i am doing by photo's. now from what i have seen in photos, there is a vast difference between the captive bears from the wild ones... they seem to move differently, - their body shapes are different as well. their skin seems to be too larger for them a lot of the time as well.

 to my eye, the captive ones appear softer and rounder- while the wild ones appear more solidly put together. i also discovered that all of the LOOK different! which surprised me ( i don't know why i should have been surprised-that does make sense)  it was so distinctive that even bernie noticed after looking at about 40 pictures of them (i've collected over 400 of their digital images at the moment and i keep looking at them as a slide show)

so now, back to the rough study.
i lucked out on a couple of things- first i lucked out on the splattering of the mask on the paper prior to the first wash.
then even though when i tried to do the northern lights, they came out looking like a bad childrens book illustration from the 50's, when i did decide to go in and just work on studies the ironic thing was that the funky blue and the yellow fell into the right places on the bears! my eye must have noticed but i didn't. i highlighted them with white just enough to suggest moon light from above.....again my eye knew but i didn't
bernie doesn't like it as he doesn't like the colors at all......too red, yellow and blue for him
but then again if i'd done it in cold icy blues he most likely would have loved the color
he also doesn't like how i did the baby. (i only used the picture for reference.... and went and did my thing) so i have a lot of studies ahead of me now.. to learn bears as best as i can while not actually looking at the wild bears up close and personal. (hey if i was doing a book on bears AND had a mega advance....i would be going to churchill alaska and studying bears first hand so to speak)

in the budgie cage last night, the intrepid pair have found their new ladder! as well as the bottom half of their cage. (that's WHERE the new ladder is!) i was sitting here looking at bears and realized that the chirping was coming from much lower then normal. ( usually their chirping is at my ear level)- yup they were on the bottom, playing and fighting over the ladder!.... so this means a birdy play pen in the bottom and some plexi for guards from the cats

thaddeaus overnight came upstairs, he isn't feeling well but he's still eating ok, so no vet yet.
the vet and i had decided that to help him acquire a better immune system which was not efficent when he came here, we would stress him a bit here and there.......open windows all summer, and his chinese herb sinus meds while sick UNLESS he doesn't eat.....then we give him the zithromax.
so far it's working i think. he is still eating, but like everyone else i know......has a sinus thing going on
he's sneezing and can still breath so we're watching him close
that is not hard to do when he's sleeping with his head on my pillow and under my covers in my arms.....sneezing all over me
oye
cat snot
what's not to love?
we got a quilt drying outside on the line cause thaddeaus puked on it the other night and we washed it........

anyway back to my study really fast..... i am not going to document the whole thing like that duck drawing but i though you all would like to see that one
i got a ways to go yet
i still want to do egg tempera but i need to learn these bears first (i may do an egg tempera of somthing else though)
now today i have seeds to plant, and more studies of bears
dishes too
yeah like i ever get away from DISHES.....oye

ok ttyl

it's a budgie morning

i was greeted this morning by a lot of chirping and fuss, it seems that the budgies decided they were out of food! (two HUGE FULL food cups plus treat cup and they think they are out of food- and no it wasn't hulls i checked)

so since i am a good mommy and they got me well trained.....i dumped out the seed and filled up both cups again... i checked the seed and there was some hull but still a LOT of seed. oh well... now they got full cups again

i am also working on switching them to a mash/veg/legume diet with minimal seed.... and i would prefer the seed that they DO eat is sprouted. they don't agree with this so it's slow

aren't they cute? that is mrs fezziwig on the left and on the right is both of them... captain cuttle was on the cuttle bone chirping at me and at her-now they are playing with their toys

after all that they each ate two seeds out of their cup! i think maybe they just wanted attention?

we got woken up again today by bernie's job..... today's wake up was because a driver had run out of fuel in one of the units, a diesel unit. she was a bit annoyed with bernie that she had to wait until someone got out there, and was demanding that 'someone' get a 'gas can' however gas and diesel don't mix ....poor bernie was trying desperately to wake up as he'd been in deep rem sleep. (i could hear it in his voice.........he's exhausted) I made bernie call one of his guys out to deal with it... so bernie sent danny.  as danny was RIGHT THERE although he still had to make the driver wait as the gas station didn't open until 8 am.

but that was it more or less for bernie's sleeping. he does worry about his guys when they go on road calls and even if the drivers are nasty to him (which is pretty rare actually, as he does try hard to take immediate care of the downed units) he worries about the drivers as well.

he's also ALWAYS polite to them, no matter how stupid a mistake they made. that makes me so proud of him. he's amazing with the amount of patience he shows for people's sometimes really dumb mistakes

right now he's making us breakfast, and i am stoking the wood stove and writing to you folks (and drinking some really excellent coffee..... bernie ironically makes fantastic coffee...and he is a TEA DRINKER!)

i don't know what we are going to do today, most likely make bernie rest more....i got him to lay down for a nap yesterday for a few hours... and then he went up at 10pm

i told him that maybe he needs another nap this afternoon...... he's still trying to catch up from february sleep depravation

so i am not really pushing him to do anything more then get the wood in

thaddeaus is feeling better, he had a rough day yesterday with his sinus. the meds the vet gave us for him have started to work i think today. we did everyone's nails yesterday and later we'll give him some of the fast balace GI just in case (he threw up last night) calpurrnia is fine now...... no more green runs.......fawn is just sneezing a bit.. but the boy is still iffy.... better but not tip top yet

he really looks like a curly lamb all over now.... i i hope you can see his curls in this.....they are all down his legs too and his little belly as well.....all over really

he's got a bit of sleep in his eye too, which when he'll let me i can take out...it's from his cold.

anyway that's him sitting in the window right over the woodstove.

we're about to take the ducks out for the day, i think falstaff in the A frame again....with momma and lilli out back and my phoebe in the small temp pen.... this juggling ducks isn't as much fun as it sounds.

i got to clean pens and crates too this week

along with drawing polar bears and such.

just in case anyone wants to know why polar bears...

all along on this blog i been writing down the day to day life and stories about the animals here. winter time is especially fun with the ducks (not) they swear they see stuff in the snows and ice. usually it's stuff that they think will EAT their feathery little butts

like killer whales (when there was snow patches on the black driveway) or polar bears (their first snow, everything was all white) monsters in the swirling leaves. ( well duh! obviously or the leaves wouldn't be SWIRLING......- you just gotta think like a duck)

considering they stand what? maybe 9'' tall giver take an inch or 3..........

i guess large predatory creatures after them is a real fear.

so anyway, when i started this, i decided to go back to my roots, which is as an illustrator, and the only thing i really have around is animals..... so i started with duck stories. i could have easily started with chicken stories, or lamb stories or cat tails...

but it was ducks

(i was asked why ducks.......... well we ain't exactly got dancers or nudes laying around all over the place...ducks we got-draw and write what you know)

plus they make me laugh.... they also make me cry and get seriously annoyed but hey the way to true love does not appear to be smooth

the biggest is that they do make me laugh...... and i hope you folks get to laugh too. the ducks don't mind, as a matter of fact they SEEM to try to make me laugh, and they are really sweet little things, and because they are i figure they would be trying to make you all laugh too

AND they WAG their tails...

what's not to like?

(plus no quacking....... peace, heavenly peace)

ok and speaking of our models.... i need to get them out, and at least clean momma's crate as lilli's was just done last week

and i also need to get a jump on the chickens but that will be during the week

as polar bears are calling me..............(more like taunting me but hey....)

til next time

vi