Nothing To Sneeze At

 Since not a lot has been going on around here you all know that you are going to get either bird or chicken pictures!  Ha!  Actually, a fair amount has been going on around here but I don't think ya'll are really that interested in seeing my organized bookshelves, clean bathroom or piles of stuff going to a flea mall, E-bay, the recycling center or Goodwill.  As I mentioned in the last post, I have been feeling somewhat better and my little bit of new energy has been going towards cleaning, purging and organizing.  January is always good for that sort of thing.  And, it's the only thing I know to do when my future is uncertain and I don't know what my next steps are going to be.  By this I mean my job, or what I'm going to do now that I can't do pottery anymore.

I am considering trying my hand at slip-cast pottery because you can better control the growth of mold in slip and drastically reduce your exposure to such things.  I have been playing around with it some but so far I'm not real enthused.  I think I need to make some molds of my own work and then it might be a bit more interesting to me.  Slip cast work can be just as durable/ usable as any stoneware, as long as it's made of stoneware slip and fired correctly.  So, the quality is there.  I mean, after all, all the CorningWare you buy is slip cast.  Heck, even toilets are liquid clay to start with!

 So for now I am selling a bunch of stuff through E-bay and Allen has gotten into the flea mall scene, so I'm sharing a booth with him selling collectibles and some handmade crafts and such.  I've been lugging around boxes and boxes of stuff for 20-something years that belonged to my brother and an aunt and something needs to be done with it.  Fortunately, my brother had excellent, expensive taste and I've made a fair amount off some of that stuff.  In case that sounds kinda harsh, I have kept a few things that were his.  Mainly I just wanted his photos and things of that nature.  None of my other family was interested in keeping his china or such and he had a huge sci-fi collection of books and all sorts of things that didn't really interest anyone either.  So, whadya do? 
It's also a good way to get rid of some of my pottery I consider seconds and make a few bucks.  This particular flea mall we are in has very high traffic and I've been selling a decent amount of old books, tableware and other collectibles I had from my first marriage that I have no interest in anymore.  I always feel better after I clean and get rid of stuff!  Even better if I make a little money!

  I have sold all my show stuff (tent etc.) and sold my big clay slab roller back to the guy I bought it from, so that gave us room to build some shelves in the basement for starting seeds with grow lights and such.  I have never really been satisfied with the veggie starts I buy at the local co-op or whatever and this way we can start the exact types we want here.  Because of my allergies now I am having to eat a little bit of a different diet, one that includes many, many fresh plants and not so much meat, so expanding on my own gardening is about a necessity.  For example, I cannot really eat red tomatoes but I may be able to eat white or green tomatoes.  And yes, there is such a thing as white tomatoes.!  I also need to eat a more diverse selection of greens and herbs and about the only way to do this sort of thing is to grow it yourself.
So, it's all a lot of change- out with the old and in with the new!!  But all you can do is just go with it and try to make it into something interesting and fun.

One other note:  JO, sorry if it looked like I skipped your comment in the reply section and that it took me so long to post it.  For some reason, a very few of ya'lls comments do not show up in my email and I don't know that a comment has been left unless I check either the blog or the blog dashboard, which I forget about and don't do a lot.  Trust me, I really appreciate ALL comments left here and don't mean to ever skip or overlook anyone.

Something To Talk About

 First, a big thanks to all of you that left a comment on my last couple of posts.  I appreciate hearing from you and I do want to revive my posting a bit.  I don't think I'm through with this blog by any means.  Maybe just taking a breather.  I am feeling a bit better.  I think I have made some important discoveries in my health issues and I'll tell ya'll all about that.  I'm still learning and experimenting though and sometimes stuff backfires on me and I end up feeling like crap for a few days, so I still have that to contend with.

I'll also admit I just got kinda fed up with a few things here that I have not mentioned..  Social media can be a great way to make friends and connect with people and it can also astound you with people's pettiness and hateful attitudes.  After my post in October I had a couple people send me some fairly smarmy, sarcastic emails as if they knew anything about what was going on in my life.  Then this other "acquaintance" was reading my blog posts and then running back to her Facebook page to post lengthy ramblings about how my post was totally stupid and wrong.  Didn't have the backbone to disagree with me on my blog.  And the subject matter and timing was so specific it was not coincidence or such.  I'll admit that being in pain every day shortens your temper and patience quite a lot and that was part of the reason I just said "f**k it" for a while.  Plus, I just did not seem to be contributing anything constructive with complaining about how bad I felt all the time.  Long time readers who also disappeared seemed to back that up.  Who wants to hang out with a crank all the time?

 We also lost about 6 of our girls this year.  Some of that has made me very sad.  You may remember in one of my last posts that Little Red had been injured badly by a rooster we had and I was trying to nurse her back to health.  Well, it just wasn't meant to be; she wasn't going to be able to walk again and had stopped eating so I had to put her down.  We had a couple more die just suddenly (not sure why) and the rooster got taken off to another farm.  Then, one of my favorites, Susie, finally lost her battle with some kind of internal issues she had been having for over a year.  The medicine just seemed to stop working and she died.  She was one that loved to sit in my lap and be petted.

 So, we have about 15 hens left and thankfully they all seem real healthy.  The two little Silkies we adopted are doing great and are fitting in real well with the big girls.

This past year was very hard to say the least.  A lot of bad emotions and hard times but I am leaving it all behind and looking forward to a much better year.  I'm trying out some new stuff as far as making a living and art and I'll tell ya'll more about that soon.  And, I will post some more about my health discoveries and how I've been feeling better.

You may have also noticed that I put up a link to the new 2016 calendar I made this year.  I'm not sure why I make those things other than I like to use them and my Mom always gets a kick out of the one I give her!  Anyways....here is one of the only sales pitches you'll ever see me post or allow on this blog:  if you have enjoyed my blog for some time and have the money I would certainly appreciate any purchases.  I don't allow ads here or ask for tips like a lot of bloggers do (which is fine) but I'll be honest, writing this blog over the years has taken a lot of time, especially with the photos, and it would be a help to me if you could purchase a calendar or two.  They are very reasonably priced and very well made.  Just like the kind you would buy in a book store.  In fact, they are printed nicely on thick card stock and many of the photos would be suitable for framing later.  For those that just can't afford it though, I completely understand.

I've heard a number of folks say last year was pretty crappy and I hope we all enjoy a better year in 2016!!
So what have ya'll been up too?  Any big changes?