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Tuesday, June 30, 2015

June 30 More on Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin and Peregrine Falcons

Today one of the broadcasts on Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) spoke on how United States was having problems with its youth when the US was forming itself. What I got out of it was the founding fathers used religion to guide youth into becoming good people - role models. I could be way off base on this since I only heard some snippets of the program and I can't find it on their webpage. Role models are needed because everything is so loose now. Like in another blog I wrote, there's so much gray areas now that peoples' boundaries are becoming endless. The only thing that happens then is the lack of control, which is very apparent in our society. But, on the other hand, we don't need ISIS's form of controlling youth. Balance is good.

Someone was also promoting Milwaukee. If you haven't been there before, it's a city full of surprises and history. It's a place that I could never tire of seeing and if I was younger, would consider moving there. It's like a little big city. The one bad thing about Milwaukee is you would get stuck with their governor. Wisconsin is now having a battle with college tenure. If Wisconsin keeps going the way it is, they will lose their young people to other states. It's almost like you would have to watch your back otherwise the state would take something else away from you. It's definitely a state that promotes businesses but if you don't have workers, those businesses will fail. I am so glad that I don't live in Wisconsin.

The earrings I made and wore today are going bye bye. I was asked if the earrings were gauge earrings. Don't think I'd ever wreck my ear lobes with gauge earrings. Our earlobes and ears in general contain so many pressure points. Even piercing plays havoc on those points. An interesting site on the ears/pressure points can be found at http://www.bethtuttle.com/2014/10/07/discover-health-benefits-ear-massage/

Started my morning out wonderfully with watching and listening to four falcons. I believe there was an adult pair and two babies. Last fall, there was only one adult in the area Here are the photos



This falcon looks headless but it's looking the other way.




Angry bird?


 You can see the head here.


 
They sure are noisy birds. they were a block away from our house but I thought they were overhead. While I was taking photos, they quieted down a little. You can see what they look like and how they sound at this site: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Peregrine_Falcon/id
 
 
Today's earrings
 

 
 

Monday, June 29, 2015

June 29 - Earring Making

Thought a lot about making earrings. A person that I showed them to wanted to buy a couple of pairs of them. Needless to say, I gave them to her. It makes me think that I could sell them but I want to keep this as a hobby. Usually when I start to sell things I make, it becomes work and I get sick of it. Right now I enjoy making the paper and fabric beads but will I if I start selling them. It would be nice to recoup some of my expenses, after all, I really don't want to wear all of them. But then again...I could wear all of them and then donate them. My parish is always looking for used jewelry to sell. I could wear the ones I want, and donate them along with the pairs I don't wear. Kind of liking this idea.

Was listening to a radio station whose theme for 90 minutes was lightening. Their conversations led me to the New Mexico Tech Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research. Thought their website would be pretty cool but was very disappointed with it - lack of photos and lack of past webcam lightening activity. Couldn't believe their photos were two years old.  http://langmuir.nmt.edu/storms-above-the-desert The one thing nice on the site is an out-of-print book entitled "Storms Above the Desert" by Joe Chew and it might be something that I will "chew" on at a later date.

China is going to take the world by a storm by starting a China-led international bank. China is number 2 in the world's largest economy, with United States as number 1 and Japan as number 3. What scares me is that what if countries make all this investment into the international bank and China reneges on their contracts. China has had many years of turbulence and is not a democratic country. I don't think I would trust a country that doesn't trust its own people to make their own decisions. However, it does seem like China is changing how business is being done. Still, I have a sense of foreboding on this. Ironically, their banking terms are in US dollars and their contract language is in English. Why isn't it in Chinese money and in Chinese? Granted the US dollar and English are pretty standard universally but why aren't they promoting their own. If it smells bad, chances are it is bad. Granted, if it wasn't a communistic country, I would probably feel more comfortable about the new banking adventure. I see repercussions coming and in the end, it is not just the countries who have signed contracts that will be having problems, the trickle down will be even worse.  http://news.yahoo.com/57-countries-hold-signing-ceremony-set-china-led-014655091.html

Today's earrings are a pair of earrings I made with paper beads. Like the "Asian" look of the earrings.

Sunday, June 28, 2015

June 28 - Ooops, forgot to write yesterday!

Had a great day yesterday. Spent most of the day with a coworker, who has become a good friend of mine. We have the same food tastes so about once a week we go out to eat together. Yesterday we had Olive Garden. I love their "all you can eat salad" and was only able to eat a little bit of my pasta. However, as good their pasta is, they will never be able to beat the restaurant my brother and his wife took me to in St. Paul. The charm of the restaurant, the staff, and the prices were great and what was even better was the food. There's something about home cooking that is missing in a chain restaurant.

Got more supplies for my bead/earring making. Thought I was going to invest in a tool that you can make ear wires and realized that the earrings that I would be making wouldn't be the best ones. Sticking with the premade wires and won't be messing around anymore trying to make my own.

Had breakfast with my one brother who lives close to me. We get together frequently on Sundays and catch up on what has gone on the last week. He's retired now and is able to go fishing when he wants to. Learned that he's been going for drives too. He's a nature nut and besides liking to spend outside, he is an avid hunter and fisherman. The trout that was in one of my photos was one he had caught. Think that was on the opening day of trout season. Think it's time for him to catch a couple more for me to bake.

Forgot to wear earrings yesterday and today, I was so busy making beads and earrings, I forgot to wear them again. The earrings in the photo below are made from fabric and were fun to make. One of the things I talked to about with my sister is that I'm afraid I'm going to get tired of putting together earrings. Maybe if I get better at bending the wire for the beads, it might change how I feel.

 
Will have to buy a rotary cutter and mat to make more fabric earrings. My paper cutter can't even cut paper so I won't attempt cutting fabric. Never used a rotary cutter before but heard once you get used to it, you'll love it. Hope that's the case.

Friday, June 26, 2015

June 26 - Latvia Reader, brother's birthday and of course, Donna's earrings

First reader from Latvia so that means it's time for an egg recipe. You're probably still wondering what egg recipes and Donna's earrings have in common. Absolutely nothing. When I started writing, it was so cool to see readers from different countries around the world. Thought to myself, what do we have in common and eggs came to mind. Eggs are common in all cultures, or at least I think they are. So that's how that got started.

How did Latvia get its freedom from the Soviet Union? One would think if they could do it, why is there such a struggle between Ukraine and the Soviet Union. It is something that I'll have to do some reading on. When I was young, I loved reading about Peter the Great and remember reading about his wife too, who was from Latvia and eventually became Catherine the Great. There is conflicting information about Catherine but I believe that she was Latvian. Here are two websites on Latvia and Catherine. By the way, I was madly in love with Peter the Great too. https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Latvia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_the_Great My mom and I watched the movie "The Rise of Catherine the Great", a classic, and I thought there was a classic on Peter the Great too, however, I could have fallen in love with him just by reading history. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRfrbww6C2E

Looking for Latvian egg recipes was quite simple. I know the two most popular things about Latvian eggs are the Latvian Easter eggs and bacon turnovers http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Speka-Piragi-Bacon-Turnovers. However, I chose something off the beaten path with hard boiled eggs. Yes, I like hard boiled eggs. Latvian spinach soups sound delicious! Little bit of ribs, potato and rice, fresh spinach, hard boiled eggs, and sour cream. Just typing the combination makes my mouth water. Ribs are on sale this weekend....

Happy birthday brother. Sounds like you had a good day today!

Donna's earrings

Thursday, June 25, 2015

June 25 - Long Day, Short Night and the Days are Getting Shorter

Who knew the month of June was going to fly by without much notice. Think we had our heat on during the month several times and at least are ending the month with the air on. The month got away from me I forgot all about taking a road trip looking for wild flowers, which is something I do every year. Some day there won't be a next year to do an activity that I enjoy; it will come to an end so I don't want to let little things like picking wild flowers get away from me.  The days started getting shorter again. Need to make the most of the sunlight that I can this year.

Had a long day at work today and have an early appointment before work tomorrow so this is going to be short.

Tonight I worked on my paper beads that I made last night. Dipped them in their first PC Wood hardener and will do that at least a couple more times. I liked how my other beads turned out using the product. Learned it from an expert on paper bead making on YouTube. This time I'm going to try to keep my matched beads together. Used colored toothpicks to keep them as matched as possible. Then my OCD kicked in. This photo tells all

The toothpicks came with multiple colors in one bottle. Not any more...it will be much easier to match the earrings if I at least make them on the same colored toothpick. Then when I string them up on the fishing line to dip them, I can quickly match them first by the color of the toothpick and then by the bead itself. Haven't figured out how I'm going to keep the matched pairs together yet. Can't put them into a container and mix them up. Might have to do something with all that fishing line I have and tie a pair together. That won't be so hard to do, just tedious but not as tedious as finding a mate while looking through a couple hundred beads.

Today's earrings were a simple pair from Donna. I'm getting to like black earrings and my new bead purchase has lots of opportunities for me to make earring with black in them.

Remember the talking hand? Looks like this talking hand has its mouth zipped shut - guess with the telling of that, it is definitely time for bed. Good night.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

June 24 - Arnold Schwarzenegger -

Gee, his biggest failure is his marriage but I can't believe he said he had to "make the best of it." To top it off, he used his marriage counselor as the cause for his ultimate divorce. I've been to marriage counseling and learned a lot about myself. Maybe that is what his problem was, he didn't want to learn about himself. I'm far from perfect and anytime I can make advances in making me a better person, I try my hardest even if it's something I don't like. https://celebrity.yahoo.com/blogs/celeb-news/arnold-schwarzenegger-slams-therapy--talks-maria-shriver-split-202713165.html

Having lots of computer problems and can't even watch much of my Asian shows. Bummer. Think my computer is getting old and tired and like me, wants to retire. Well, it's not going to happen yet. Keep trying different things so my streaming doesn't keep quitting on me. Usually I use IE but tried both Mozilla and Chrome but had the same problems. Some people I know like to blame IE as fast as they can but in this case, it's not IE.

Today's earrings are from Donna. These felt fantastic in my ears and it was probably because they were possibly sterling silver. I do know that I have to polish them because there are a few spots on them but wore them anyway. They were so light-weight that I forgot that I had them on and frequently checked to see if they were still hanging.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

June 23 - William Shatner

Who would have thought that William Shatner lived in his truck after Star Trek was cancelled. Then again, who would have thought that William Shatner is extremely popular and he's 84 years old. I love the man and everything that I can remember he acted in. Of course, being a Star Trek fan, that would be my favorite. https://www.yahoo.com/tech/captains-log-william-shatner-speaks-about-122176538399.html While watching this interview, I saw my nephew instead of William Shatner. Can't believe that my nephew  has the same movements and speech. What do you think sister-in-law - do you see the resemblance?

Today was the birthday of my ex-mother-in-law. She's been gone for a number of years but in my head, I celebrated the day with her. We sure had a lot of fun together and I miss her. After my mom passed, my mother-in-law and I became very close. She also made the best apple pie that I've ever had and have not had one that good since the last piece of pie she gave me.

The earrings today were Donna's. They're pretty small earrings but I really liked them. They felt comfortable on my ears and I didn't want to take them off.

Monday, June 22, 2015

June 22 - T-Rex, Velociraptors, and Jurassic World - Hmmmmm

T-Rex had excellent eyesight, supposedly even better than hawks and eagles. http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/05/true-t-rex-couldnt-see-didnt-move/ I'm pretty sure in "Jurassic World," the T-Rex's vision was corrected. However, the Velociraptors wasn't corrected according to this article http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/07/everything-i-thought-i-knew-about-velociraptors-was-a-lie/.

I must have missed something in school because I don't remember ever learning about dinosaurs until my sister taught me. Maybe it had something to do with changing of schools. I changed from a parochial school to a public school and missed out on learning cursive. Think I already wrote in the blog that my dad taught me how to write. Dad could learn anything and teach anything. The only thing he couldn't do was pronounce words beginning with "th" correctly. I know I've mentioned this before but it's very common for my siblings and I to tease about tree and a turd, which in Dad's Norwegian English meant three and a third. It would be nice to blame my penmanship on my dad's mispronunciation but I don't think that is what happened.

Any way, a Velociraptor (which my blog spell check does not like) is the size of a turkey. Well, wild turkeys can be pretty vicious so I can imagine what a Velociraptor could be like. Now it makes me wonder about the pterodactyl and lo and behold, there is no such thing as a pterodactyl. It really is a Pterodactylus. http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/typesofdinosaurs/ss/10-Facts-About-Pterodactyls_4.htm#step-heading Tracy Dye wrote "What Are 'Jurassic World's Pterodactyls That Look Like Tiny T. Rex Called? The Answer May Surprise You"  http://www.bustle.com/articles/90103-what-are-jurassic-worlds-pterodactyls-that-look-like-tiny-t-rex-called-the-answer-may-surprise Guess it's probably mostly movie fans who call them pterodactyl.

Hope no one is offended that the website references are in very small print. The link still works and the size helps readability.

Today's earrings were a pair from Donna

Sunday, June 21, 2015

June 21 - Road Trip and More

My brother and I did some sightseeing today. Left pretty early and ran into some very heavy fog. Can't believe how many people don't turn their headlights on when it is foggy. Many semis had their four-way blinkers on. Often, you could see shadows in the fog of the back end of a semi. It was kind of like a light going on and off, only it was the darkness flickering through the light.



We saw a lot of fields of vegetables that included sweet corn, potatoes (which Wisconsin grows a lot), carrots, onions, and others we couldn't identify. The cranberry bogs don't have water in them now so they're kind of different looking than when they have water in them during harvest season. Alongside the road in one stretch, it looked like cotton puffs landed in the trees. When we stopped to see them, they weren't cotton puffs but spider webs or some other creature who makes a nest. Possibly these were cocoons. Too hard to tell because we didn't stop and look, just slowed down and took pictures.


Christmas in June.

A couple of weeks ago when my sister and I went to the rock show, we stopped at a lake. A local farmer told us the water was green because it was so low. It's really green. This area was first settled by Norwegians. Bet you it reminded them of their homeland. I know my dad had relatives in the area at one time but it's been so long ago that I'm not going to go searching for them.

Here's the county park and lake. Will go back at a later date so I can get some good photos of the lake looking the most beautiful blue.





















This photo is a peregrine falcon that I had to be fast at taking its photo. Too bad it was looking my direction.  Right afterwards, a plane flew by and that would have made a spectacular photo. Guess that's why they're called photo opportunities.


Here are the earrings I made last night

Saturday, June 20, 2015

June 20 - Working on earrings

Saw "Jurassic World" today,which my sister and I both liked. Both of us said we dozed off once or twice. Overall, it was a good movie. Think they blew the kiss seen and should of had it at the end and not when pterodactyls are flying all around you. Then there were a couple of stupid lines, which I can't believe they didn't cut them out. Can't remember what they were but it was like "huh?"

Forgot to wear earrings today. Got some supplies to try out the plastic earrings made out of soda bottles. Used a heat gun instead of boiling water but next time (if there is a next time), I'll try the water. By the time I got done with the permanent markers, I had marker all over my hand - nothing like the video showed. Guess it has something to do with these being my first. Like everything else, practice probably makes it perfect.

Used Petrified Wood solution on my paper earrings. Wasn't sure if I really needed it because my brother-in-law did a test on my paper earrings. I forgot a pair in my pant pockets and they got washed, not once but twice and one of them was with hot water. They looked like they were new still. The Modge Podge held them together. Maybe the other solution really isn't necessary.

Going to try something new again. It's a process using glass pieces, dripping fingernail polish into water, swirling the polish a little and then dipping the glass into the polish. Pretty neat process and I think it would make good earrings. It's called watermarble jewelry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-HYVWxaIwE

Getting up real early tomorrow to meet my brother for breakfast at 6 a.m. Better head for bed and get a few hours of sleep. Will be wearing my new earrings that I put together tonight. Will show them to you tomorrow.

Friday, June 19, 2015

June 19 - 3 pairs of earrings

Been a busy week at work and the blog writing got away from me.

Got my new snow cone machine yesterday and tried out a couple of flavors. The machine is made by Hawaiian Shaved Ice http://www.hawaiianshavedice.com/?gclid=Cj0KEQjw-46sBRD7x6P0stibwbsBEiQA IoMi4Zs3JjZKNRccs5DAKSGqU2WcALxCG4ERofFd_F6A_MMYaArd58P8HAQ. It was a toss up between the shaved ice and the snow cone machine but the crunch of the ice sounded better. Got three syrups too: watermelon, margarita, and the best was homemade ice cream. The company threw in a small container of evaporated milk and suggested using that to enhance the ice cream flavor but it didn't need it. We tried it with just a little bit of the syrup and was delicious. Wasn't sure if it was going to taste good but knew if I didn't like it, I could always get rid of it. However, it was the best flavor of the three and tasted exactly like Kemp's New York ice cream, which my sister and I like a lot. Low calorie and delicious, what more could you ask. Don't think my cat will like it as well as real ice cream. Will have to give her some to try, you just never know with a cat.

How sad about the tragic deaths of the people at their bible study. Supremacy doesn't belong to man. Today I saw a guy wearing a t-shirt about a gun and I thought to myself that it was in such poor taste. Then I realized that he probably supported the shooter. The t-shirt was not a means of promoting our liberty to own a gun; to me, I felt like it was a threat.

Two pairs of earrings are mismatches and you can probably tell the one pair that is a matched set.

If you couldn't tell, it was not the first pair but the last pair.

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

June 16 - Mismatch #1 (even though I've already worn a couple pairs)

Today was the day I started to wear mismatched earrings again. Think I had a couple of pairs that I wore before but now I'm going to try to wear those that I've paired up to make a set. Saying those words reminded me of math...pairs and sets. Didn't want to tax my mind this much this late at night. If you're interested in pairs/sets, check out http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/62908/how-can-an-ordered-pair-be-expressed-as-a-set. I'm too darn tired to care about it and wonder how I ever understood it years ago. Now there's a newer new math. You still get points if you understand how to figure the problem out even if your number is reasonably incorrect. That in itself is quite a statement. What's gray or what's black and white. My head is spinning.

Talk about spinning. Last night I read about China's newest spin doctors. (Spin doctor -  "a person (such as a political aide) whose job involves trying to control the way something (such as an important event) is described to the public in order to influence what people think about it" http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spin%20doctor) The article was about hiring of young college students to sway others to support their nationalism and they get paid to do it. When you think about it, it's probably not a bad idea and probably not a good idea either. The article is entitled "China's teenage spin doctors" and well worth reading and much easier reading the math reading above. http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-33138601

For the last couple of days, my living room has been an assembly area, not an assembly line. Purchased a six-drawer stand  that I had to put together. It wasn't hard to do but there was a lot of assembling to do. Wish it was a different color but it's better than black or white. Already I'm thinking the ten-drawer stand would have been better but I can use this as a work surface for my bead making.

As you can see, it was filled rather quickly. Between this and my plastic bead/jewelry making stuff, I should be set for a while. Need some clothes catalogs to make paper beads and need some small pieces of material for material beads. Bought the stuff to help make the paper beads hard/strong. Have to get some kind of system in place to do this because you have to hang the beads to dry.

Today's earrings




Monday, June 15, 2015

June 15 - From Mismatch earrings to van Gogh's "Live Ear" to Peruvian Clouds

Was all over the place tonight on Internet after pairing up some mismatched earrings. My sister laughed at a couple of the mismatches and thought they were too mismatched. She was right, they were definitely mismatched but I tried. There are only about 10-15 earrings that aren't paired up but I bet now that I've got Donna's earrings, there are probably even more. Starting tomorrow, I'll be wearing my mismatched earrings.

Speaking of earrings - did you hear about the "live ear" made from one of Vincent van Gogh's relatives? It's been on display in a German museum. You can speak into the ear and computer generates a "crackle." Well, that cracked me up. First off, I think it's kind of gross. The ear was formed with a 3-D printer. http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-27667422 That technology blows my mind away. It's still too expensive for me at $1200 but it would be fun. However, I don't think I'll be making any ears but maybe some earrings. Here's an updated story on how van Gogh lost his ear and it makes sense to me if there are letters to support the theory. http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=7506786 What I can't figure out is why van Gogh went to a prostitute with his ear and not to a doctor.

As to looking at the ear, I'd pass and would rather look at the interesting conceptual pictures of the organs of van Gogh, Salvador Dali, and Pablo Picasso done by an Argentinian ad agency DDB Brazil. I would like to think my organs as being very creative and not just colorful but also patterned. http://io9.com/5906720/oh-look-the-dissected-organs-of-salvador-dali-vincent-van-gogh-and-pablo-Picasso

 Somehow all of this got me to looking at satellite images of clouds over Peru, along with the story of why mummies are so old in Peru. Good combination - huh?  In the one close-up photo, the clouds look like frost on a window but it is a cloud formation "when drizzle forms." http://www.livescience.com/51209-clouds-over-peru-nasa-image.html


Today's earrings are my own. I got these at a local gift store and bought several pairs of them. Each is different. I do have one earring that doesn't have a match. Because it's so different than my other earrings, I may have to create a match.


Hate my feet. They're big and I have Norwegian toes inherited from my dad (along with the size). Ironically, what I inherited from my mom is my quad A heels. Here's my take on modern photography:





Sunday, June 14, 2015

June 14 - A day without earrings

Another packed day. Started early and ending late. Went to Dollar Tree to see what treasures needed to come home with me. Got a splatter guard for when we are frying food. Still using that technique  with the chicken where you put it into a cold cast iron pan and bring up the temperature. When you bring up the temp, not only do you get a crispy skin, you also get splatter. Going to see if the $1 gadget will cut down on cleaning.

Spent some time reviewing snow cone and Hawaiian shaved ice machines. Was leaning towards the Hawaiian shaved ice machine but changed to the snow cone machine. I like to crunch ice while drinking so I thought I would enjoy the snow cone machine more. Also bought some flavors: margarita, home-made ice cream, and watermelon. The machine I got has great reviews and was only about five dollars more than the one I am returning to Walmart. Thought the Rival snow cone machine would be good but was disappointed. After one snow cone, I noticed the difference in the blades and length of time to chop the ice. Buying me new one from this site http://www.hawaiianshavedice.com/?gclid=COXHy-fZkMYCFQqOaQodvT0AuA Shopped around for quite a while and think I made a good purchase from the company. Can't wait to try it out.

No earrings today. There was so much going on and now that I'm ready for bed, I realized that I didn't wear earrings. Well, I guess I did but not for long. Attended a semi-formal event today and wore the liquid silver earrings my coworker had given me. Last minute, I changed my outfit and boy, am I glad that I did. Friday I called the company sponsoring the event and was told it was "semi-formal" dress attire. Guess I must of been part of the handful that called. Pretty much the clothes ranged from business class to business casual. I would have been way too formal if I had kept my original outfit on. At least now I know what to wear next year.

Another project was tackled today. Putting together a wood "roller cart"  that has six drawers (or will have). A few years ago, I bought one and then saw how much effort it was going to take to put together (many screws), and returned the cart. Needless to say, I forgot why I returned the cart the last time and bought another one. Good thing it's not the cart with a lot of drawers. Got the cart almost assembled and assembled on draw. The drawer fits too snug so I don't know what I'm going to do. Will have to ask my landlord for his advice. Almost made a big boo boo. Can you tell what it is? The first photo shows the incorrect way and the second photo shows the correction. So today makes five or six blonde days!

Time for bed, I feel asleep while writing this. Good night.

June 13 - Check out Betty's Blog - She's in France

Betty Ming Liu, who I've never met or talked with before, took a ten-day trip to France to paint. She painted, in all places, Monet's garden. The photo of the lily pond reminds me of Monet's paintings. What a great adventure and learning experience http://bettymingliu.com/2015/06/last-minute-madness-before-the-trip-to-france/ I even learned from her experience!

Today's earrings

 
These were Donna's earrings. It's the second pair of them. They weigh more than most earrings and even though that being said, they feel wonderful while I'm wearing the. Almost get an energy-like feeling.