snow continues

snow continues to fall. for those of you who enjoy the snow and especially for those of you who live in climates where you just don't get to see snow, here's a feast of backyard snow scenes for you. first we have icicles hanging from the gutters around our home. this is a new phenomenon for us. as you know, we had a new roof put on our house this year. we also had leaf guards put on our gutters. apparently, the gutter guards are preventing the freezing liquid from going into the gutters, so it is just freezing over the gutter guards and forming icicles down the front of the gutters instead. according to the roofer, this should not pose a problem. they are kind of pretty, but i don't like lengthy icicles near doorways or walkways as when i was very young, a friend of mine had a grandmother killed by a falling icicle (she was impaled by it!!!!) i guess you could say i have an unnatural fear of them (should be a horror movie about that...) anyway, we'll have to figure something out with the icicles, no matter how pretty they are. 

for those keeping track of the snow on the patio set - here you go. last year it was virtually buried. let's hope it doesn't get to that this year. 

then we have guinness, my cavalier king charles spaniel, being a nut in the snow. he loves snow, but more importantly, he loves chasing leaves and this particular day it was very windy. quite a few leaves were blowing on the top of the snow (if you look real hard you can see some brown specks on the other side of the fence, those are the leaves he is after). well, guinness is easily distracted by these things and this particular day i had to literally go out and carry him in as he wouldn't/couldn't stop focusing on the leaves. it was also very cold, with a high around 5 degrees without the windchill. 

i love birds and if you look carefully, you will see a male cardinal in the feeder. he is not happy, as he doesn't like the feeder to be all covered with sticky wet snow. he's making the best of it though. i have several feeders, including suet feeders, as i love woodpeckers also. i also have a heated birdbath outside my kitchen window so the birds can drink during the winter months. i feel so absolutely sorry for these creatures this time of the year and any way i can help them out, i do what i can for them. 

last year was the 2nd snowiest winter on record for wisconsin and so far this december we are close to being on track with last years pace with snowfall. i certainly hope we don't make it to that point. personally, i don't mind sitting in our nice warm home watching the snow fall, but with our home, his mom's driveway, and an apartment building to take care of, marc would never be here - he'd be off snow blowing and shoveling. i don't like that. i help out when i can, but that's not a whole bunch. 

artwork update: i have finished my holiday cards! i did a mix this year. a handful of store bought disney cards from when we were in walt disney world, but the majority were made by me and this time a hybrid. the front of the card was a digital card photo and the inside was a tag, stamped and embossed with a hand painted punched snowflake. of course i always do multiple stardust gel pen signatures from marc, me, the dogs and cat. have i every mentioned stardust gel pens? gosh i just LOVE them! they are beautiful no matter how or where you use them and the colors are FABULOUS. 

note: i recently found out that they are canceling the tv show pushing daisies. major disappointment in my life. i love that show. i knew it would happen sometime because: 1. i love it!; 2. it's a wonderfully creative show; and 3. did i mention that I LOVE IT? anyway, i have all the episodes aired so far on my ipod. i haven't watched last weeks episode. i'm saving it for a special time... enough said. if you get a chance to check it out, you will not be disappointed. apparently it is very expensive to produce and hasn't had enough viewers to continue production. there is talk about another network picking it up (PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE), but we will see. in the meantime, i'm hoping my other fave show, life stays on the air. i'm not a cop show kind of person, but the zen influence on this show is enough to carry it and keep it interesting. i'm not sure where it's going with the story line, but it's interesting enough, suprising enough (i hate knowing what's going to happen in a show before it happens) and the music is great too. that's a plus. 

stay warm! ps - it's snowing tonight, but also freezing rain off and on. at daylight we will see what mother nature has up her sleeve for us. 

blue monday

monday morning. just getting ready for work. i did sleep last night, but because i stayed up late (posting blog) i am still somewhat tired this morning. still groggy from allergies too. how can the spring blooming, which is so beautiful, make me so miserable? it seems to get worse each year. tree pollen will subside soon, i hope. 

i set up my drafting table in the studio last night. it has a solid oak base with cast iron supports and an elm/oak table top. the covering that was over the top of the table is gone. I cannot tell what was on it at one time. i need to figure out what to cover it with so it doesn't get totally ruined by paint stains. for now i'll put plastic over it and then put the fabric down on it, held in place with clamps. it is so cool. i found it at the elkhorn flea market yesterday, along with an antique "edison no. 12 mimeograph". it is not a mimeograph machine, it is too old for that. it is over 100 years old. it is a totally awesome box with a plate on it telling what it is. when you open the box, it has this wooden framed plate, which was used with the roller. the roller is there, but missing the actual rolling part of the roller. it has the handle and pins that hold the roller in place. there are two tubes of ink also! i cannot imagine how gummy and yucky they are by now. there is also a paper tube which holds the wax paper which was used for creating the stencils which were used for the copying process. it was used, as the plate is covered with remnants of ink. not sure if i should clean that up or leave it as is. the instructions are even still attached to the box. i will post photos, but i've been lazy and having downloaded pics from my camera in over a week. i have to sort through them. 

i got more cabinet cards yesterday too. they call to me when i see them. i found some more interesting characters. i am looking for photos of interesting men and couples now too. there are so many photos of women. 

wren is singing outside while i write this. he must have found a mate, as he's been busy building his nest on the northwest side of the house. i have three wren houses, and every year he has trouble deciding which one is right for him. he usually picks out that one in the end though. we clean it out every year before he comes. one of the houses is difficult to reach, so this year it did not get cleaned. i hope he doesn't mind. i need to put out my hummingbird feeder and oriole feeder (which some oranges). i get all of those birds and occasionally a blue bird. i do not have the right spot for a blue bird house, so they only come by to visit, not live. i'd love to put up a bat house, but again, i don't have the right location for it. we do have lots of bats because there is a tiny lake (used to be a quarry) nearby. they like water - lots of mosquitos.  glad i can oblige them. at least someone likes mosquitos. we had to cover the newly planted garden last night. it got down to just about frost last night. don't want to loose my plants! marc planted a whole bunch of raspberry plants this weekend too. he loves his raspberries. so do i, but i don't always enjoy picking them. i usually get pricked by them. i planted asparagus over 8 years ago here, and we get a handful of the tasty treats each season. i'm sadly disappointed by their performance. maybe they need fertilizer? they need some sort of help. my whole garden has been sadly neglected lately. for the past couple of years anyway. that's directly related, in part, to my passion for creation. i've been redirected to put-zing in my studio the last few years. hurting my foot two years ago (thanks, guinness) didn't help either. i was laid up for the entire summer that year.