Hi everyone, Well, as promised, here I am posting about what in the world I've been doing all summer while traveling to & fro Wisconsin. As some of you already know, I work with fish-eating birds: cormorants, pelicans, herons, egrets, gulls, wood storks, etc. My husband and I have been working in Wisconsin for the past 3 years, but we also regularly work in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Michigan, Ontario, and a few other places. Yes, we are a husband + wife team, working together out of the same office. Many people are surprised that we work together, but it is great. We make a fantastic team, and are often at our best under challenging field conditions. Great minds think alike, and being dear friends & in love sure helps too. (ok, enough with the mushy stuff). So now for a few photos from the vegetation surveys we did this month. Background: We are working on remote islands in Lake Michigan, around the Door Co. Peninsula area. All the islands have nesting double-crested cormorants and herring gulls. Some also have nesting Am. white pelicans and Canada geese. Back in April, we put up some 6 ft x 6 ft pens (we call them exclosures) to exclude the cormorants because they damage vegetation with their nesting activities (too much POOP!). So then we went back in August to catalog everything that grew in the pens, by plant species, and weighed it to also determine biomass. That meant breaking out the field guides, studying up on botany and the flora of Wisconsin, and bringing the plant presses for species we couldn't identify on the island. We compareed the exclosure plots to some "control" plots, which had nothing but 4 wooden stakes at the corners. We had 45 plots to do on 3 islands, plus another 3 islands down by the city of Green Bay that we did simple vegetation surveys on (no pens). It was alot of work, but very interesting. The bottom line: there are lots of nonnative species on those islands, like motherwort, catnip, pigweed, common mallow, stinging nettle and sow thistle. The native vegetation was primarily lambsquarter and smartweed species. Almost done clipping this 1-meter plot: Looking for small plants beneath the lambsquarter The finished, sampled 1-meter subplot Who would even know what this was?!?! I saved seeds to winter sow and see if I can't figure it out. The very last veg plot to measure. You can tell, because we look so happy! A friend found crawling across the plant press The stinging nettle I hacked through to make us a nice trail to get to the center of the island. At least its not poison ivy! Ok, that's all for now. Have a great evening. Katie (heh - I've been working on this post for days!)

ok - I am kinda sentimental tonight - that brought tears to my eyes - I am definetly doing that for my two kids (for their dad) and my sisters for our mother - this is the best idea I have seen all season - thank you so much ((hugs)) ..... Lynne

I think I'd let the purchaser get their own stand. That would help you get more profit. Not sure how much you should price them at. We don't have many craft fairs around here anymore. Plus if you plan to sell more of them, you might want to try and stock up on the ornaments on after Christmas sales to cut costs and add to your profits.

Instructions for Pearl Twist Angel I posted about earlier. Pearl Twist Angel Instructions 1. Thread pearls on wire and put a couple circle twists on end of wire and bend wire flat against the end pearl. Push pearls towards bottom of wire. 2. Wrap end of pearl strand around pinky finger and continue to twist in circles (such as sample). Leave enough of a space between pearls so that they twist easily and arenÂt buckling. 3. Leave the last 4 pearls straight and make 3 sets of figure eight wings (around an inch or less wide) on top of one another in layers. Try not to get too many kinks in the wire. Use your fingers to smooth wavy or kinky wire as you do this part. 4. When wings are complete, hold tightly and wrap around the middle of the wings once on each side of the middle wire to keep them anchored. 5. Put the large pearl (head) on and do two tight curly twists on the top to hold it in place. 6. Use the rest of the wire to make her halo, twist around bottom of the curly anchoring twists and snip off excess. When using your tools to twist the ends of the wires, be very careful with the tips as the finish on the pearls scratches easily. 8. Make hanger from gold thread (for ornaments) or gold crochet thread and tie at bottom of halo. You may bend halo forward if youÂd like. Spread wings out like a fan. Supplies and counts for making Pearl Twist Angels Small wire cutters and needle nose pliers (rounded) for cutting and twisting the wire ends. 30 inches - 20 gauge wire 40 each - 5mm pearls 1 each - 12mm pearl 32 inches - 20 gauge wire 50 each - 6mm pearls 1 each - 14mm pearl 41 inches - 20 gauge wire 50 each - 8mm pearls 1 each - 16mm pearl