Moo, I am a cow!

Today was a gorgeous day in Maine. It was incredibly windy, which kept things nice and cool. The dog lay around all day outside, and I scored a entire car-load of bubble wrap and packaging materials at the local recycling center (bubble-wrap is a petroleum based product and has gotten quite spendy). Charlie ordered a new and different kind of glass to work with that it a third cheaper than what we've been using (we got it from Holland so as the dollar drops its cost has spiked). The other great thing about it is that it "melts" (moves from raw material to glass) a full 200 degrees lower than what we used to work with.
I know 200 degrees doesn't sound significant, but when it takes you from 2100 to 2300 (and you have to hold the furnace there for a little less than 24 hours ) It does a number on your electric bill ( a long unfathomable series of them actually!). I've recently been looking into solar panels (again). I'm shocked by two things:
How little power they generate, and how much power we use. I wish those two numbers weren't so far apart.
It's good to think of these things in terms of perspective, how they relate etc. Recently the perspective has started to seem like a mountain viewed from a chasm. ...The chasm being what we use of course. It's the amount that I'm starting to grasp in relation to how I'd generate it myself that boggles the mind. Right now I'm tangling with the figure of what 30,000.00 would buy us:
250 sq. feet of pvc that would generate: get this 2.5 weeks of our typical power bill out of an entire year.....That is with it up on the roof sucking up rays all the time! If it was just our home we'd be cool (in debt but with no electric bill at all). That is to say just fine.

OK, so lets break that up with a picture or some good news or something!


Aren't I lovely? Charlie made me. I've got a lovely sexy little udder...It's very rounded and bubble-gum pink....I do more than just look cute! I'm a pitcher.

Other good distractions today included this glowing praise via and email to Terrill:

I am in love!!! The colors are exactly what I am looking for, if this is what you are suggesting for colors you are spot on! I am so excited about the blown glass pieces featured in the show! Most of the Boutique show will focus on your blown glass!

this sort of adoration is infrequent in a business where "perfect will be just fine" (an actual moto at an SF business). As I raced around today finishing projects for clients I realized how much I really enjoy working with other peoples ideas....I like the mix of work that happens in the shop. I especially love having my powers of color perceptions praised!