The weather was beautiful today and I had a mental list planned of the many things I wanted to accomplish.  I make a list like that everyday and never get to most of it as it was today.  I have really good intentions but the day gets away from me.  That's when I find myself in my studio at 2am working on a piece of that list.  By the time I mosey in to bed the sun is rising over the pond and it's almost time for Skip to get up.  Sometimes I wonder if I intentionally don't get to my list in the light of day.  If I stay up until morning, then I can sleep without the vibrations of Skips snoring.  It's not his fault but it's not always a restful sleep.  I did accomplish something that wasn't on my list.  Face book has many stories of all the unwanted animals in shelters and some horrible stories of how they got there.  Sometimes I have to scroll down because it upsets me too much.  Then I sit and think about how I can help them.  We already have 4 dogs, 3 cats and a farm full too many to list.  I looked at my dogs and told them how lucky they were to have such a great place to live and CaseyMae looked up at me and seemed to be asking, "how can I help".  So I told her, Casey, you're going to learn how to paint and you're going to do it with your tail since it never stops wagging, why not put it to good use. She wagged at me and I took that to mean yes, I'm game, let's do it.  First I tried putting a rubber band around her tail and sticking a brush in between.  She wagged a few times and the brush flew across the room.  I said to myself, Hmm, her tail looks like a brush why not use it like one, dip it into the paint and let it wag.  So I filled some empty Chinese food containers with water colors and waited for my friend Dawna who was nice enough to come and help.  She said if Casey was going to paint she would need a beret.  I thought ok, no self respecting dog should paint without one.  Dawna came with a beret that she felted herself.  It was perfect.  We went on the back deck and told Casey that this was her job and she needed to paint a nice picture to help the shelter.  I dipped her tail in yellow, Dawna held the paper and Casey shot that paint in all directions including on to our clothes.   It was fun so who cared, anyway it was water color and I chose non staining colors for just that reason.  In between  colors Casey would lie on her belly and scoot across the snow cleaning herself of paint.  I thought to myself, that looks like fun but I was already tail painting with a dog, that's enough fun for one day.  We did a total of 6 colors taking a break for her master piece to dry after the first four.  She was proud of her job and she should be, it was a fine piece of work and her very first one.  After it dried I got down on my knees and painted her pads with black and she proudly put her paw down and signed her work.  I am going to mat it and put it up for sale all proceeds will go to ulster county SPCA.  I emailed Cindy Brody to ask if she wanted to sell it since she knows many more people than I do and she's been collecting money for them for a long time.  I'll let you know where it will go on sale.   There might be another puppy artist in this family.  My Sheltie SnavelyMill has quite the tail but unlike a black lab who sheds water, she's sable and white with fur that sucks water like a sponge.  We'll see, maybe when the hose thaws out.

CaseyMae with her home made beret

Casey's master piece un matted

Skip and I were finally able to go for a haircut today.  We planned to go to Sbarboro luncheonette in Coxsackie for breakfast.  I was in the mood for a hot chocolate with whipped cream.  Skip took that opportunity to inform our waitress that I like more whipped cream than hot chocolate.  She brought me a cup that had 4 inches of whipped cream, like a mountain standing straight up.  People were staring. We discussed the importance of whipped cream and I told her that I squirt it right into my mouth until the whipped cream is oozing out.  She said she did the same thing and then would bend down and shoot it into her dogs mouth.  We both came to the conclusion that anyone that loves whipped cream and denies mouth shooting  is just plain lying.  I thought about the dog thing and when I got home I tried it with CaseyMae.  I am here to report paws up for the cream.  I thought that I was being really sneaky with the whipped cream stealing but I found out today that Skip can hear the air from the next room.  He shared that bit of info with our waitress.  Someone should invent a silencer for whipped cream cans.  Maybe I should apply for kickstarter  funding.
When we were about to leave the luncheonette  I got a strong feeling that we should stop at Coxsackie Antiques, so I took out my pendulum to ask if it was to find a tool that Skip is looking for and I got a yes.  I walked around this huge building hiding in corners with my pendulum so I could at least find out where to start looking.  Every isle was a no.  At the very end of the store in the upper corner I found a caliper, the exact one that Skip was looking for and only $15 and I found a really large tibetan prayer wheel for $5.  I'm getting good with my pendulum.
I can't believe it but I finally finished processing all my fiber, all 2 years of it.  It was a good day.  The sun was shining and there were puddles on the ground, Josh, our barn cleaner came today and the  barn is now refreshed with new wood shavings and I finished my fiber, a major accomplishment.  Oh, and I ended my day with a fried calzone from Franks that arrived at the table just as I was thinking about how tight my jeans were and that I better start a diet tomorrow.

nice puddle

Josh our barn cleaner and life saver

ready whip for the girls

taking Lukes fiber from the carder

picked and ready for carder

Skip electrified my carder, I love it

tip for the day, do not eat popcorn while processing fiber
I noticed it after I took the picture

9 batts for sale in the shop, soft as butter, popcorn not included.

a little about me

I thought I would tell you a little about me today.  I'm not the writer that Skip is so my blog will not be as poetic as his.  I am also told that my art can be a little strange at times.  Skip says that he was ok with the alpaca poop keychains that I made but my shower spiders are even too gross for him. They are made from sheep fiber.  The idea came to me when I was showering and noticed that all the hair that I lose when I wash my hair gets balled up and put on the soap dish to get thrown away later.  They look like spiders, big ugly spiders.  So I made one out of sheep fiber. No one else likes it but I do and it's hanging in our downstairs bathroom.  No one likes to admit it but I know all of you lose some hair  in the shower, you just don't see it as art and I do.  So  I decided that I will show you all my work, even if it's a bit too weird for the average person.  The other thing about me is that I am a dowser.  A lot of people would think that a bit strange as well.  For some reason spirits seem to hang around our house.  Some nice and some not so nice.  I check with my pendulum on a daily basis and if there are demons and ghosts attached to me or the house I call my friend and acupuncturist Jordan Su and she sends them off to the light.  It doesn't always work when I ask them to leave.  This all may    
seem a little strange  but I have known about my spirit guide since I was a kid.  It wasn't until recently that I actually saw him during one of my acupuncture sessions.  He's American Indian.  For as long as I can remember I always felt that I was on this earth to be a light worker.  There are people that enter my life that I feel I have a karma with.  Some times I feel the urge to just give someone a piece of my art.  I do that just because I feel that they need to have it.  I have given away lots of my art.  99% of the time the recipient is very happy to have it and it makes them feel good.  Making someone feel good is the reason I give it to them.  I am working on a couple of things right now that I'm going to give away.  Some one that needs cheering up.  I am a horrible business person and don't do well making money since I give away way more of my art than I sell.  It was much easier to make a living as a nurse.  I could give away my gift of healing and still get paid by my boss.  Sometimes I get gifts from other light workers.  One picture was given to me by a special friend named Ellie Steffen.  We met about 6 years ago, she is an outstanding artist that lives in Woodstock.. She has a painting of mine as well.  I continue to work towards becoming a reiki master and I do that with two people.  Jordan is one and Cindy Brody is the other.  Cindy is an animal communicator that came to me from my dear friend Isabelle.  I have taken some other courses with Cindy that helps with all the animals that are in my care.  So that is a little piece of me.  Below are some pictures.  Every  night I burn white sage to keep the bad spirits out.  I started some of my seeds early but I expect those will grow inside (green beans and peas

this is my shower spider

 

burning white sage in my upstairs studio

my seed starting area

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my hibiscus that I keep alive all winter

Picture that Ellie Steffen gave us

This is Rosebud Rosie for short, she's a love

my first attempt at putting up pictures.

This is my very first blog.  Since Skip blogs about our farm and really enjoys it, he decided that I would too.  I'm not quite sure if I will or I won't but I'm going to try it and see.  I'm going to share my art and my farm life.  It might not be to your liking and it might.  My art varies from fiber to painting to stained glass.  I'm going to attempt to put up a few pictures of some fiber that I'm working on.  I've been processing our animals fiber all winter long.  I refuse to pay the price that the mills are charging so I've learned (making many mistakes and felting lots of fiber along the way) by watching many you tubes and reading books.  I also did some spinning the past few days. The colored yarn is from our suri "Slugger"  he's white and I've dyed it several different colors.  This yarn has two of the colors and I've plied it with silver thread and sequins.  The white yarn is coltswold sheep.  I fell in love with the long curly locks.  I bought some roving from a lady that raises cotswolds in Whitehall NY.  I thought I would spin some up to see how it turns out.  I think I really like it and hope to  buy a lamb from her this spring.  Don't know how often I'll blog, but I'll try to keep it pretty current.  All my art will be available on line or in our store.  Hope you enjoy my art.

Luke being processed on my drum carder

lock  spun suri with metallic thread and sequins

plying from a single ball

plied on my kromski mazurka

plied cotswold

From Animal to the Shelf......

This is the first post on my very own blog where I will connect with friends and visitors to show you all my latest art projects and things that are happening in my everyday world.
I have been processing fiber all winter long, making batts and rolags...roving and spinning some of it into yarns. As you can see from the shelves below, it makes a nice pile of yarn for customers to choose from.

Stay tuned while I learn how to maneuver around and give you the latest about what I'm into. Keep checking back...