What’s There to Crow About?

I’ve mentioned before that I started keeping chickens and guineas. I bought them as one-week-old chicks and keets from Atwoods. There was a very helpful and knowledgeable lady there that answered all my questions and guided me on what I would need to start my chicken-guinea adventure. Four of the chicks I bought were ‘sexed’, meaning that they were supposed to be all female. I bought two others that I told the lady I didn’t care if they were male or female because I did want one rooster. The keets came as straight-run, meaning they were (probably) 50-50 male/female.


Fast-forward 15 weeks.

My routine each day starts with a walk up to the road to let the birds out of their coops and then on to collect the newspaper. The dogs and cats usually make the trip with me. It’s not a long one in distance but time-wise it can take quite a while, depending upon what I find to slow my progress. I have paused on my route for sunrises, flowers, birds, turtles, and anything that sparkles on the path.

This morning started like most others. I let the chickens and guineas out of their coops and checked their food and water and then made my way up the driveway. Anna, our beloved Pyrenees, was ‘guarding’ the driveway from a depression in the grass, so I made my way over to pet her and say good morning, and the other dogs joined me, nuzzling her to say ‘hello’.

Then we heard it; a strange sound. Something I had never heard before. I paused, and the dogs did too. Waiting to see if the sound happened again. Yes, there it was. What was it? It was coming from the chicken yard. Could it be? But that’s not what it should sound like. And again – the sound. Yes, yes, yes!

Crowing!

I walked up to the yard and watched as one of my ‘guaranteed female’ hens was crowing. I have wondered about this particular chicken for a few weeks because it was much larger than the other hens and it’s comb and tail feathers were larger. I have read that if one has only hens that one of them will take on the role of the rooster, crowing and acting more rooster-like and giving up their egg-laying role. But I don’t think it alters their physical appearance and starts at this early age, and especially since they haven’t started laying eggs yet.

Crowlee

So, I do have my rooster. It’s not one that I expected, but I’ll take what I can get. As to the crowing, I think it’s one of the sweetest sounds I could ever hear.

What a way to start the morning!

Plug Into Your Creative Process

Exactly what is the “Creative Process” and how do we plug into it?


Much of my work requires that I know how I want the finished product to look or work and then work backwards to achieve that. This works for my jewelry pieces as well as my programming tasks. To me, this is fascinating; working backwards to achieve the goal!

For a program I’m writing I need to know how the user will use the application, with needed input and desired output, then breaking that down into the steps it takes to go from one to the other.

For a jewelry piece I envision how I want the piece to look and then figure out how to put the components together to achieve this.

In either of these endeavors I usually sketch what I want, literally writing down steps of a program, or drawing the finished jewelry piece then figuring out how the wires will work together by drawing the wires as they are bent and woven. Some of my sketches literally look like scribbles because I ‘wrap’ the line I’m drawing on the page around the last one drawn. I imagine that these little sketches wouldn’t make much sense to anyone but me, but even months later I can look at the sketch and see what the wire would be doing in that piece. Often I can see that what is in my head doesn’t work with the wire, so I literally work it out on paper, saving time and effort, not to mention precious silver! Many times one sketch gives me an idea for another piece or a different way to do something, so they help me to come up with new ideas for my jewelry, too.

Sketch of a ring design idea.

These sketches are very important to me and to my creative process. I have sketches for wire wrap ideas going back years, to when I first started making jewelry. These ideas are still useful to me and I do refer to them often, especially when I want to make a piece similar to one I’ve done in the past.

So, for me a large part of the Creative Process involves putting a pencil to paper and actually drawing what I want my jewelry piece to look like. I would recommend that if you get in a rut design-wise try sketching your idea. The sketches don’t have to be frame-worthy, just enough for your ideas to come together in a finished piece.

Sketch and Pendant

Sketch and Pendant

Greet the Morning?

So what’s so special about dawn that all the animals in the house want out and all the animals outside want in? And why can’t I sleep through it? I know the answer to the second question, but will I ever know the answer to the first? Probably not.

I do know that animals have an internal clock, humans included, which is pretty accurate. Our kittens have (for months now) started playing and jumping up on the bed at almost the exact same time every morning, attacking my feet, jumping on me, trying to rub their whiskers on my face, wanting me to get up and feed them. Coco, one of our dogs, starts whining at about the same time. Not to go out and ‘do’ anything, but to sit on the front porch and bark at the morning. 

I’m not opposed to the morning. In fact, I love the morning and I am usually an early riser anyway, but this morning I wanted to sleep in. Just a bit. I had stayed up late last night working on the computer and wanted just a bit more sleep this morning. But, it wasn’t to be, and I did finally get up and start my day.

 Sunrise Over the Pond

 
So, I hope your morning was a bit gentler than mine, and that you were allowed to sleep as long as you wanted to this morning. And if not, you have my sympathies. In any case, get out and enjoy the morning. The streaks of pink, gold, and orange painting the sky. The smell of the crisp, cold air. The birds chirping their welcome to the morning.

Have a wonderful day!

My, how time flies!

It’s been almost exactly a year since I posted and I can’t claim any great endeavor that kept me from it. Just life. A busy life. So much has happened that it can’t really be condensed into a paragraph or two, so I won’t even try. And while it does seem like that might mean great, or life changing, or catastrophic events, it wasn’t. It was just life.


So, here is another attempt at keeping a blog. I have questioned my motives, wondering why bother, but in the end I would just like to share. Some of my insights and techniques and thoughts. It might not be interesting to anyone but me, but who cares? If you want to join me on this venture, please do. If not, have a great day. So here goes.

I started keeping chickens and guineas this past year, and while there is a lot of information on the web about that, there are little things I’ve learned as I went along that I wish I had known. One of our cats had a litter of kittens, which are now almost grown. Even now I’m trying to type with two cats in my lap. Big, purring, male cats. More on all the antics of the animals as the blog progresses.

Dolly

Gretchen

Anne

Guineas enjoying their millet

Also, I would like to share some of my thoughts on the creative process and share how I go about creating, be it a guinea house, a piece of jewelry, a lampwork bead, or another artistic effort.

One of my hand blown Christmas ornaments.

So, come and join me as I sip my coffee and muse about life.

Doorman for the Dogs

One of these days I’m going to count how many times the dogs go in and out of the house in one day. I’m sure I’d be amazed. I’m also amazed at ME getting up every time to let them in and/or out. I’m sure you have questions as to why I’d be such a slave to the whims of my dogs. . . Why don’t we put in a doggie door? Well, since the largest is over 100 pounds any doggie door big enough for him is big enough for a human being and I just don’t want to leave the house vulnerable like that. . . Why don’t I just ignore them and leave them out and/or in? Well, they can be pretty darned annoying is why. Have you tried to sleep with a dog whining and whining and whining? . . . I can’t either. . . Another ‘trick’ they have is to hit the cat door with their paw or nose. This makes a clicking sound as the magnets in the door react to the magnets in the frame. Click-click. Click-click. Click-click….. and sometimes even Click-click. Click-click. Click-click. Click-click. Click-click. Click-click. Click-click. Click-click. Click-click. Who can ignore that? So, long story shorter, I am a self-proclaimed doggie doorman.

Christmas Ornaments

The cold weather puts me in a Christmas mood. Secretly I always wish for a white Christmas even with the driving problems associated with snowy weather. One of my favorite Christmassy things to do is decorate the Christmas tree, and I especially love handmade ornaments. In recent years I have given my handcrafted ornaments to everyone in my family and I hope that they are something they will cherish for years to come. Other things I like at Christmas time are the stories and legends that are told at this time of the year, so it makes sense that I would want to combine my favorites by making ornaments to tell the Christmas legends. Last year I made Christmas spiders. This year I’m making Christmas dragonflies. I don’t even have the legend written down yet, but that will come soon. . . meantime, here is a peek at my dragonfly ornaments.

I will post these in Etsy my Etsy store in the next day or two, so watch for them.

Star Light Star Bright

First star I see tonight. . . and what a night it is for stargazing. The cold front has cleared the air and the sky is crystal clear. The night is cold but there is no wind so it wasn’t too uncomfortable to take a few minutes while walking my dogs to turn off the flashlight and gaze up at the heavens. I could see the Seven Sisters clearly, hunted by Orion. The big and little dippers were showing, too, which is unusual because light pollution makes it almost impossible for me to see the little dipper any more. I wish I had a comfortable chair to recline in with a really warm blanket and I would have stayed out in the cold and stargazed for a while.

I remember our whole family lying on blankets in the front yard looking at the stars oh so many years ago. Daddy would point out the different constellations and I would try my best to see the animal or person he was pointing out. Later, as teenagers, my friends and I would while away some time looking at the stars. Someone would tell the tales associated with the constellations and I would dream of the people and places so long ago who made up those stories. Do parents still stargaze with their children, or is that too mundane an activity? Do teenagers still enjoy the stories in the stars? I’m glad that I got to stargaze with my parents and my friends when I was younger. Those are the best of memories.