This weekend I encountered a new need for problem-solving. This time it had little to do with the design work and more to do with “hand” work. But, let me start at the beginning.

We have outside pets, but rotate them, one at a time, into the house for their own special treatment. My Mother’s cat comes into the studio so that she can eat and then goes back out. The ranch is so inundated with ants that she can only get about two bites of her food on the porch before it is covered in the little varmints. After dark, when the ants are gone, the raccoons come up and take her food. They are brave little critters because even when I stand with the cat outside while she eats, the raccoons still come. I’m dismayed that they aren’t frightened by my mean look and scary voice. I’ve failed as a raccoon scarecrow! That’s why the cat comes in for food in the morning or mid afternoon.

Our dog Bruno comes in after supper each evening for his bit of TLC. This gives the two female heelers a respite from him. I think they need it. For example, tonight as the oldest one walked past Bruno he just reached his paw out and whacked her. He and I had a talk about this, but I fear I have about as much influence on him as I do the raccoons.

Saturday night while Bruno was inside, he followed me into my studio. That’s when the trouble began. I forgot that I had not put the cat back outside. You can probably imagine the surprise of all three of us when we realized the cat and dog were within a foot of each other. Before I knew it, Bruno had the cat in his mouth and she was whacking him on the head with her claws. When I extracted the cat from the dog’s mouth, she, of course, ate my hand and scratched my arms as I yelled for help. My spouse dragged the dog away as I tried to catch the cat again. Did you know a cat can actually scale the wall of a house? I finally caught the cat and put her outside. As my husband held the dog, he kept making biting sounds as he cracked his teeth together. He really wanted to eat that cat!

Luckily, neither the dog or the cat sustained any injuries. The cat had wet fur, but no abrasions and the dog was left with one cat claw stuck in his forehead right between his eyes. Unfortunately, I wasn’t so lucky. I was pretty badly scratched up and had one deep wound on my left hand. I tried to ignore it, but by Sunday it was extremely swollen and today, Monday, my nurse friends sent me to the doctor. We’re anticipating that the antibiotics will help. Currently the swelling is half way to my elbow.

So, that’s how I became a one-handed beader. It’s been very perplexing to try and figure out what I can do with one hand. Yet, undaunted by my plight, I got started stringing and found that I can do that with one good hand. The picture below shows what I accomplished last night. It’s pretty slow, but better than being completely idle.

The two necklaces on the left feature glass pendants made by my friend at Light Work Glass (lightworkglass.etsy.com) You can see the pretty colors in the close up below.

I was fortunate to have these on hand since there is no way I can wrap a cab for a while and one-handed hammering of a metal pendant didn’t work either.

I guess, like Aesop, I can say there is a lesson to this sad tale. First, keep the dog away from the cat and second, even a one-handed beader can get things done. I hope no one else has to learn this the rough way.