Everywhere I went this weekend, it was all about sausage. It's the time of the year when all the deer hunters are making sausage. Saturday, we took Rob and Gwen's kid Evin with us when we went to see Deb's nephew Connor for a bealted 2nd birthday celebration. Bunch of folks couldn't come last weekend because of the blizzard. So it was Deb, Evin, me, and Deb's mom. Deb's brother Mark was home but his wife Gretchen was gone with her relatives. So Deb and her mom got maximum Connor time to themselves. The weather was so bad Saturday. We awoke to huge blasts of wind from the west hitting the house. It's windy a lot when you live on the prairie but not usually this bad. It was shaking the house like a tornado which is what we though was going on when we awoke. I looked out my bedroom window and could see how hard the wind was blowing because it was pushing snow ahead of it but the snow couldn't stick because of the force of the wind. When we got ready to leave, I tried to open the front screen and leaning all my 240 lbs. against it, I couldn't budge it. It was cold too. It was only 28 outside and the wind chill was in the neighborhood of -30. Not good on my ears which were stopped up because of my sinuses anyway.

We were driving straight into it going to her brother's house too. I was so glad I had the truck and not the car. As it was, we were getting tossed around like a toy in the wind. So we spent a couple hours with Connor Saturday morning. Her brother Mark gave us several pounds of deer suasage he had made up. Yum. Then Deb, Evin and I went to El Rancerito in Macomb to eat lunch. Afterward we went to a gem show at Western IL Univerity which was really the big reason I agreed to go in the first place. I was in heaven at the gem show because unlike the ones I go to to get things for my jewelry business, the main focus of this one was minerals. I wanted to get some new things for my healing practice and just enjoy the energy of a lot of minerals. Only problem is you also have to endure the mixed energies of a lot of people too and that's not always fun but it was OK, that day.

I ended up getting several pieces of Red Calcite which has a great feeling to it. Some more Blue Lace Agate which I'll need for treating the wolf. A really nice piece of Azurite which will also help with journey work. Two very nice crystal clusters of Aragonite. Just beautiful pink/orange color and exceptional crystal structure. I'll have to scan some of these things and show them off. I also got a nice little bag of Varascite which I've never worked with before. On color, kind of a cross between Turquoise and Crysocolla. Nice soft energy to. Oh and I fianally got a piece of Chalcopyrite. This stuff is very well named as peacock stone. It has all the colors of the rainbow in it in almost chrome sheen. I've been trying to get some off Ebay for a long time and always get outbid. I also got a nice thick polished piece of Rainbow Flourite which I'll also use for the wolf.

While I was there, a thought occured to me and I voiced it to Deb. Other than for jewelry purposes, I don't really like faceted stones or cabochons. She asked why and I said becuse when people cut stones, i don't think they take into consideration what shape the stone spirit would like to be in. I know a lot of healers use polished stones and cabachons especially in "laying on of stones" because they are easier to lay on a patient but I prefer to use the stone in it's original state, all shimmering there full of it's original energy and form, not forced to be something it may not want to be.

Deb was in jewelry finding mode and was looking for finished stuff. She was also looking for a nice cute red sapphire for herself. We found one and it was a full carat. I managed to talk the owner down from $250 per carat to $175 but by then we'd pretty much shot out load on other things. So I took his card and told him I'd call him back when we had some more money. Maybe for her wedding ring.

Deb and I saw the fetish necklaces at the same time. A woman from Peoria whom we'd done business with before had them. She said she'd gotten them from a dealer in NM but wouldn't reveal the name.It's OK because I knew from the workmanship who it was and I'll just go directly to them the next time. Only New Mexico Bead and Fetish finishes their necklaces like that. Anyway, we bought two nice long ones so we could take them apart and make more necklaces. $60 for two seems like a lot but from those we will be able to make at least 20 other necklaces and charge $15 to $25 each for them so now $60 doesn't seem like much. Deb also got a bunch of stone beads of different sorts.

Evin learned a lot which was cool. I always love it when a 9 year old learns something new and tells you about it. He had been listening to me talk about Azurite so by the end of the show he told me "Azurite, that's blue because azur means blue right? And when stones start out with "var" it usually means they are green right? and the "fluor" on fluorite means it changes color under a black light right?" Right Buddy, that's called fluorescence.

After about three hours there, the combination of the energy from all the stones and the odor of formaldehyde that they store the agate slabs in was getting to my head so we left. We got a nice haul though.

We took Evin home and at last we had the wind behind us. We made it home pretty quickly that way. We decided to hang out with Rob and Gwen for the evening. Rob had me help him making 50 pounds of summer sausage and the girls came down to watch and make fun of us. I helped him mix the pork with the venison so it would have some moisture. We munched on the venison jerky they'd made the previous weekend while we worked. Then I cranked the sausage make while Rob held the casings to fill them. Then I tied them off and put them in the smoker. We got a good rythm going and made about 40 big summer sausages ina couple hours. After cleaning up, Rob and I made a beer and pizza run and we all sat around eating, drinking and watching DVD's for the rest of the night.

Sunday, I worked on my car all day while Deb made jewelry. I got the transmission unbolted and dropped from the engine but I didn't get the new clutch in before it got dark and cold so I gave up and maybe I'll take Wednesday off to finish up. So I'll have to drive my gas drinking truck for a couple more days. At least the heater works well.

Now my boss just called and she's decided to take me to lunch at Vonachens for a belated Birthday gift. Vonachens is the place where a lot of people go to be seen around here but the food is really good. Plus I don't mind at all being driven to lunch in a Lexus with a rich woman. Time to get some work done. Status meeting tomorrow.

Peace,

Wander