Just thought today needed a happy horse!

Zues, half-friesian, half-warmblood with his mother, Ruuby. Taken by my mom on my parent's farm.
My birthday is tomorrow, get to visit the horses and go hiking a bit. Can't believe how quickly the year has gone by. I'm getting to be such an old lady. ;)

Courtesy of Mbala, here are some pictures from our recent adventures:


A waterfall on the Hemlock Trail in Hoosier National Forest.

( Come with me... )

I know I haven't been around much lately, and I had plans to post a big wrap-up of places I've been, things I've been doing, and play catchup, but I find the months trickling by and myself not having the time to do so. So, instead, have a random mini-post. :)


Meet Vegas, the newest addition to our flock. I had no plans to add another bird to the family, but Vegas is a special case. I worked with her for many years and when it came up that she needed a home, it was a no-brainer. She's disabled (she was attacked by her parents in the nest and requires some special care/caging) and is an absolute sweetheart. She has a wide vocabulary and wonderful personality. :) She's already settling in amazingly well.

I've been keeping extremely busy lately - traveling a lot for shows and getting ready for two big ones coming up later this month. I've got lots of new art to post soon!

I just got back from a trip out to Lexington, Kentucky. On the way we had deep dish pizza in Chicago (a must when driving through) at Lou Malnati's - I do think Gino's East is better but I'm glad we tried it. :)

Mbala and I got the chance to camp and hike at Hoosier National Forest on our way - an absolutely gorgeous place. We went climbing on the Hemlock Cliffs trail which had beautiful grotto rocks, overhang caves, and waterfalls. Mbala took some really nice photos, I'll link to those when he posts them.
In Kentucky we had amazing southern style fried chicken and cooking and were hosted by some wonderful friends in the area. Got to check out an awesome animal cognition laboratory at the University and visit the famous Kentucky State Horse Park (and hang out with Peachcat who came down from Cincinnati to visit). I wish we could have stayed longer! They had a Gypsy Vanner horse show going on at the park so we were able to see some amazing horses. I was amazed how soft they are... adult horses usually have a rather rough hair coat, but the vanners have an incredibly soft, plush feel to them! So cool. :)

On our way back, we went through Cedar Rapids Iowa which has a Czech-Slovak museum. Unfortunately the museum, along with the Czech village square were destroyed in a flood last year, but there was a new restaurant which served Czech food that was really tasty and fun. Czech cuisine offers a lot of very amazing and unique dishes, I am surprised it is so difficult to find here in the U.S.

A few weekends back we had the chance to spend the day canoeing locally, down the Zumbro river. It reminded me just how beautiful southern Minnesota can be. Cliffs and water, fording the canoe over river rock trails, absolutely relaxing and awesome.
Also got to check out the international eagle center in Wabasha with a friend. Very neat birds - there are a lot of permanent pairs on the Mississippi river there due to power plants in the area that keep the water unfrozen all year long.

I know I'm forgetting a ton of things - will try to get back into the habit of posting. Once I get the chance to go through and catch up on all the tons of photos we've been taking... :)

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the autumn time!

My sale is ending this weekend - there are far fewer people in on the garage sale end of things so the chances for winning a free commission on those are much higher!

Details:
http://foxfeather.livejournal.com/225167.html

Online Garage Sale: (Free Commission Chance!)

#1 - $5 + $5 shipping ($10 total) Small flat rate box/envelope

# 2 - $10 + $10 shipping ($20 total) Medium flat rate box/envelope

#3 - $10 + $15 shipping ($25 total) Large flat rate box/envelope

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, or so they say! After a lifetime of packratting, I’ve accumulated quite a lot of stuff. Instead of trying to list stuff on Ebay, I’ve decided to have an online garage sale. If you like to take a chance and like a surprise – get yourself a box and see what silly things could end up with.

This sale will run for the next 2 weeks and then be over!

How to buy : Send paypal to foxfeather@foxloft.com with: your mailing address.
*Please add a note ‘GARAGE SALE’ to your order!*
You can order as many as you like – just comment with which package/packages you are buying. Prices include shipping confirmation and tracking which will be emailed to you as soon as your box is sent!

**As a bonus, one of the boxes I send out from the orders will randomly include a certificate for a FREE full-color painted commission – either a conbadge, bookmark, mini-painting, or painted glass pendant**

Examples of items I’ve got to send: Art/craft supplies, small electronics (clocks, wireless T.V.), Books, CDs/Movies (all originals, no ripped copies of anything), computer games, cables/cords, magazines, toys / figurines, etc! The sort of small things you’d see at a garage sale. There’s no guarantee of what I’ll be putting in the boxes, just a promise I’ll fill it with some stuff from my home and send it out!
________________________________________ ________________________________________ __________

**Art Clearance Sale!**
In conjunction with the Garagle sale items, I am going to run a clearance of overstocked, discontinued, old, or damaged artwork.

#1 - $10 + $5 shipping ($15 total) Small flat rate box/envelope

# 2 - $25 + $10 shipping ($35 total) Medium flat rate box/envelope

#3 - $40 + $15 shipping ($55 total) Large flat rate box/envelope


How to buy : Send paypal to foxfeather@foxloft.com with: your mailing address.
*Please add a note ‘ART SALE’ to your order!*
Include: Your T-shirt size (or sizes)
3-10 of your favorite animals
Adult artwork Ok – Yes or No

You can order as many as you like – just comment with which package/packages you are buying. Prices include shipping confirmation and tracking which will be emailed to you as soon as your box is sent! This sale will be running 2 weeks only, as soon as the 2 weeks are up I will be divvying everything up, randomly awarding the Prize (see note below), and sending them out! You will be guaranteed to get at LEAST 3 times the retail value you spend, if not 5-10 times the amount in merchandise!

**As a bonus, one of the boxes I send out from the orders will randomly include a certificate for a FREE full-color painted commission – either a conbadge, bookmark, mini-painting, or painted glass pendant**


I have accumulated quite a few items over the years that I no longer offer for sale and it’s time for me to clearance them out! Items include: Original artwork/sketches, prints, greeting cards, totem drum rattles, tagua pendants (discontinued images or slight damage), t-shirts (all clothing items will be NEW only), wooden/glass pendants, etc.!


Any questions just email me at foxfeather@foxloft.com :)
Thanks for looking!

**The shipping quotes are for U.S. orders only! International charges are as follows: International charges for shipping would be (instead of what's there now) -

#1 - $14
#2 - $42
#3 - $54
Sorry those are high but that's what the postal service charges for the flat rate around the world

I just wanted to post and say that I am alive!

I know I say it over and over again, but when I think life can't get any busier, it finds a way. I'm working on paring things down so that my era of 18 hour workdays and solid 7-days-a-week type schedule will no longer rule my life, but I'm not there yet.

Lots of new art to show off soon - the website overhaul which will let me finally update is getting closer to completion, not there yet.

I've been on the road a lot lately - a few highlights include:
-Grooming a baby horse for the first time (they are so amazingly soft!) thanks to the newly born addition to my parents' hobby farm - a little friesian x warmblood colt named Zeus.

-Knocking off a 100-things-to-do-before-I-die event by going to Sturgis bike rally in South Dakota. It was really incredible - I didn't think so many motorcycles actually existed. I believe attendance was over the 500k people mark - it's truly something you have to see to believe. I was sorely tempted by an Aerosmith concert at the Buffalo Chip but instead was just breezing through. Someday I'll go back on a bike! I can see now the big allure of it, even though I always wanted to go, I didn't understand it before now. I did get to eat at the Firehouse brewery which was packed with bikers and drool over some amazing chrome (and worn-in black chaps ;)

-Putting some of my work up at Wolfsisters gallery in Hill City and catching up with Goldenwolf. It's really an awesome place and the Black Hills is just gorgeous. Driving through the park with the mist obscuring everything but looming treetops was incredible.

-Driving through a town with population:1 in Wyoming. If I had infinite money Wyoming is on my top 3 list of places I'd love to live. I'd buy a multi-thousand acre ranch in the middle of nowhere and be population 1 myself (I don't think Mbala could count for the listing because he's not an official U.S. citizen yet - just a permanent resident). Foxloft, Wyoming.

-Attended Rocky Mountain Fur Con in Denver, which was a lot of fun despite the totally insane dealers room hours (9am opening Fri, Sat, Sun? That's just cruel!). Got to hang out with the most awesome of people and recharge my batteries a lot despite the 3 hours or so of sleep a night I got for a solid week straight. I (being so macho and butch) was dragged kicking and screaming (ok, not really) to the movie Julie & Julia which was actually really cute and very funny. Not at all what I expected. I'm going to have to pick up a Julia Child cookbook now as I'm already a cooking addict. I really liked the line about 'no excuses and no apologies' - I'm repeating it to myself constantly. Quite a tidbit of wisdom, there. My work (art, cooking, etc.) may not be the best in the world, by far, but it is what it is and I will not apologize for it again. :)

-Long drives on the road, 12+ hours at a time. Drives like this are good for my soul. Watching the road slip on by, the scenery change so quickly, the endless possibilities this country offers - it's meditative to me.

A few other things of note:
-Finally got rid of cable t.v. I'm not a big t.v. watcher but I liked having it on as background noise while I'm working at home during the day. I was dragging my feet about the decision, but I finally pulled the plug. Thank you to everyone who recommended music, I'll be checking out all your stations and suggestions and broadening my auditory horizons some more.

-Stepped out of the ice age (and retired my 8 yr old Nokia) by upgrading to a Blackberry Curve. I absolutely love it. The novelty of being able to update facebook from a decrepit gas station in the middle of Nebraska that doesn't even accept credit cards... excessive and priceless. I officially got it to accept credit cards wirelessly on the road and it works like a charm. I was afraid I wouldn't like the phone since I'm pretty happy with simple push-button style phones, but I love the thing. I bought Mbala an Iphone for his b-day which he's also in love with (now we can be super tech geeks and sit on our phones at restaurants and in the car). I am guessing someday we'll all have these services implanted directly into our brains and we'll be reminiscing about the archaic, old stone age where we had to type onto unwieldy plastic boards and carry bulky phone cases everywhere. ;) Live long enough to live forever, isn't that what they say now?

-Going crazy getting ready for a big all breed dog show next week. Looking forward to it a lot. I've got another dog show set for September and then a trip back to Denver for Denfur and possibly a 'world animal day' show in MN again in October.

-I know I had a lot of other things to say, but I can't for the life of me remember any of them right now.

If anyone is waiting on emails from me, I apologize, I'm still playing catchup from being gone. It's gotten to the point where I'd love a personal secretary, I get about 20-40 emails a day that require response. Oy!

Back to painting whippets!

Since I can't otherwise update my website at the moment and share art, have a fennec:




She always looks like Dobby to me. ;)

I've got too many skulls at the moment, so I am pondering selling a few.

These are natural skulls, professionally cleaned, bleached in great condition. If you're interested in any of them, drop me an email ASAP (foxfeather @ foxloft.com without the spaces)! They are full skulls including the bottom jaws. At these prices I'm not planning to take individual photos of them but I may eventually take a group pic.

I will NOT be shipping any of these outside of the U.S. - federal permits are required and unless you'd like to order a large quantity of them, I'd rather not fuss with it.

Coyote: $30
Raccoon: $25
Red Fox: $25
Otter: $35
Mink: $20
Bobcat: $35
Badger: $40
Beaver: $25

Shipping: $6 for one skull, $2 extra per additional skull (includes tracking).

Thank you to everyone who recommended music in the last entry, I'm going to be going through the list and sampling everything. :) I'll let you know what I think once I have!

I realized I'm generally listening to the same library of songs over and over, and even on Pandora I'm getting a bit stale.

So I thought I'd ask, what are some of your favorite songs? Bands? Do you have a favorite pandora station?

I like pretty much all music, save for rap. If you suggest something, I'll give it a try!

Where does your inspiration come from?

That is the number one question I am asked about my art, from other artists and the nonartists alike.

My inspiration comes from life! From everything. Everywhere I go, all that I see, everything I do adds to my overwhelming fount.

I think one of the number one things that can help many artists, especially those who would ask this question, is to learn to really see the world. To open your eyes and become an observer. As artists, it is our job to capture emotion, moment, experience - to share these wonderful snapshots, ideals, ideas with the world. How can you thoroughly share and connect with something that is not dear to your heart and clear in your mind?

Society bombards us with information. Flashing lights, media ads, sights and smells of the city. Everything is fast paced, in your face. As a result, most of us learn to shut down. To put the blinders on to cope. How many times have you walked down the street and never seen the people you passed? How many drives have you taken where you 'wake up' at the end and wonder where the last fifty miles went?

When you practice observation, you will be amazed at how the world opens up to you. When you learn to live in the moment - the world is an amazing place. Look at the grass, the trees, the squirrel snatching someone's tossed away hamburger bun.

This has the amazing side effect of perspective - reminding you how easy it is to get entrenched in your routine, your own head. How easy it is to block everything out and let your problems circulate, enlarge. When you're involved with the world, it's much harder to focus on yourself and let yourself slip into destructive or depressive patterns.

So go watch an ant for an hour. Lay in the grass and marvel at how many species are really growing in your lawn. Try to follow a squirrel through a city. Sit in a coffee shop and people watch.

If you can't find anything interesting or inspiring in your life, that is a big sign you need to shake up your routine a little. If you can, travel. It doesn't have to be a huge trip, get out and take a different route around your neighborhood. Find a new bike trail. Windowshop at a store you've never been to. If you absolutely can't, open yourself to your daily routine. Look at what you do, think how you would describe each thing to someone else if you were writing your auto-biography. Notice a new tree, a crack in the sidewalk.

If you haven't done this before, or have fallen out of the habit of it, try it (again!). You'll be amazed how it can change your mood, your perspective, spark ideas.

For me, personally, animals are my biggest inspiration. Working with them, sharing my life with them, I am constantly amazed and re-inspired. Before my home became a host to these awesome creatures, I would spend the day at the zoo, volunteer for the humane society, work at wildlife rehab. Anything, to be around them. My art focuses on the unique spirit of animals and their connection to people, culture, and individuals.

However, I get inspiration from everywhere. Music, travel, culture, behavior - all of these things are especially fascinating to me.

I can remember clearly, one day driving home exhausted after a long overnight shift at work, grumpy and drained. When nearing my house, I shook off the zombie mode and opened my eyes.

Beyond the street lights I saw a beautiful sunrise, the orange light casting a golden glow on the farm field at the farthest reach of my view. It was so simple, so beautiful, the play of colors and light. Someone else could look at this and think, another midwestern stretch of wasted cornland, or just not see it at all - but seeing this, taking a deep breath and smiling, I let everything else wash away and realized just how amazing anywhere can be, if you just look at it from a different viewpoint. We all chose how we react to any given situation. Love it or hate it, doesn't change what is - just how you feel about it.

So I ask again, what inspires you? :)

Kerrygold reserve cheddar (imported from Ireland - aged 2 years) is SO good. http://www.kerrygold.com/usa/product_cheddar.html

I've been eyeing the black label cheese at the store for a long time and since Mbala and I have decided to do more cheese-and-cracker type european breakfasts, I bought it. It's amazingly delicious! I've had some much more expensive fancy cheddars that haven't tasted half as good.

Nomnomnom!

One day Fox was out walking along. He'd been hunting but had no luck. It was a long time since he'd eaten. His stomach was growling so loudly he could hardly hear anything else.

Suddenly he realized someone was coming singing a song. Quicker than the flick of a horse’s tail, Fox leapt off the path and crouched down on his belly in the bushes

Louder and louder grew the song. Then Fox saw something begin to appear over the crest of the hill. It was a feather plume. Fox moved his front paws, getting ready to leap out at the bird he thought the feather was attached to.

But as the feather lifted higher and higher, he realized it was no bird at all. It was the feather attached to the top of a metal helm, which was attached to a fearsome looking warrior.
If he sees me, Fox thought, I can forget about my hunger forever! It was well known that fox furs were prized by humans. Fox shivered and tried to make himself smaller than a mouse, hoping he wouldn't be seen.

Closer and closer the man came. He was wearing fine clothes and Fox could hear the words of man's song very clearly now. It was a boasting song.

“No one is braver than ShiningSword," sang the young man
”And I should know that for I am he. No one wears finer clothing. No one is a better hunter. If you doubt this, look and see."

He was on his way to the apartment of a young woman he had been watching for some time. He was going to try to impress and then she would fall in love with him. A sure thing, he thought! His song and his fine clothing were part of the plan.

But Fox was no longer listening to ShiningSword’s song. He was not seeing those fine clothes. All of Fox's attention was on what he was smelling. Meat! That large pouch hanging from the young man's leather belt was full of fried chicken!

Fox's mouth watered and his tongue hung out. It had been such a long time since he had eaten chicken. His fears left him. The young man passed him by, but Fox's thoughts were far ahead.
Yes, Fox said to himself. I think there is a way. As quickly as he could, he ran along through the woods keeping out of sight of the road. Soon he was ahead of the man. Just around a bend, Fox laid himself down by the edge of the path.

He closed his eyes and opened his mouth so that his tongue hung out in the dirt. Not moving a muscle, he waited. Soon he began to hear ShiningSword's boasting song.

ShiningSword was so intent on his singing, trying to find a few more words to describe just how fine he looked in his Armani suit that he almost walked right past Fox. When he saw Fox out of the corner of his eye, he stopped. "Enh," he said, "what is this?"

A dead fox?" Picking up a long stick he carefully prodded the side of the animal. It did not move. "It is surely dead." He bent down and looked at it closely. It was skinny, but the pelt was in fine condition.

He picked it up by the tail. "Hmm, it has not been dead for long. It only stinks a little bit." When he said that, Fox's mouth opened a little and his lips curled back from his teeth, but ShiningSword did not notice.

Hmm," ShiningSword said, "maybe I should skin it out now." When he said that one of Fox's eyes twitched a little, but ShiningSword did not notice. "Neh," he went on, "I should not skin him out now. If I do I may dirty my fine new suitcoat. I will just take him with me." He unlaced his pouch.

He smiled, "when my beautiful Laurel sees this fox I caught she will know I am a great hunter. Then she will surely marry me. He dropped the fox in with his chicken, laced the pouch shut and began walking again. Soon he was singing again. This time it was a song about how great a hunter ShiningSword was.

Inside the pouch Fox lay still for a few minutes. Then he began to gnaw at the side. When he had made a hole large enough, he began to drop the chicken pieces out, one by one. Finally, when all the chicken was gone, he made the hole larger and jumped out to freedom and his best meal in many days.

Too busy with his singing, ShiningSword did not even notice. He walked all the way to the town where his sweet Laurel lived He stopped in front of her stoop and stood there, singing till many people had gathered around.

He sang of his beautiful armor, of the many fried chickens he caught (he actually bought them on Ebay), of all monsters he defeated. Laurel came out of the building and watched as he reached back for his pouch. Now he would show them just how good he was!

When he held up pouch and saw that it was empty with a hole in the bottom he stopped singing. Turning around, he ran back off the way he came, humiliated. He learned that day that boasting songs do not make a person great.

It is one thing to find a fox and another skin it.

Been awhile since I posted one of these (nature you might-not-know-abouts), so here - have an amazing striped rabbit!


Found in Laos with only a few sightings ever (but an actual specimen as well!)

Check out some more info here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/422674.stm

(And because I can't resist... Sparklerabbit!)

So I haven't posted any art here since... January? Oy. Well, for those of you who don't watch my online galleries, here's a bit of an update! I'll try to be better about spacing these things out as I go in the future. :)



A little something different - a more stylized/abstracted pendant I made for Mbala's mother for christmas.

( Lots more under cut! )

Ok, after just getting above freezing at night, it hit 90 degrees today and now it is sunny, thunderstorming, and dropping GOLF BALL sized hail bits all over our house. I'm not kidding, it's pelting our house so hard I'm afraid one of the windows will break.

Crazy, crazy weather!!

When exactly did the egg-basket-candy-tradition die off?

Mbala and I usually never eat candy but we decided to go out this morning looking for a single Cadbury egg.
We couldn't find one! Not at Wal-mart nor gas stations nor qwik-trip... they just apparently do not exist in this city.
I remember a time when you would seriously see displays of them *everywhere*. No creme egg for me. :<

And not just Cadbury eggs - but there was NO easter candy! Well, a few sad white rabbits at Wal-mart but the gas stations didn't even have any at all.

Is it the economic crisis or do people just not do that stuff anymore?

We bought strawberries and angel food cake instead - which is much better and healthier, but seriously... what's going on?

Since I'm making this again today, I thought I'd share! Eventually I'll put it in a nicer format and get it up on my cooking page/website but for now, here you go:

Ingredients:

1 whole roaster chicken
2 cans Ro-tel (find this near the tomatoes/sauce in almost any grocery store - if you cant find it you can use a can of diced tomatoes and a can of green chilis)
1 packet taco seasoning
Cumin - Salt - to taste

Take chicken, cut off some of the excess fat. Rinse and pat dry. Place in slow cooker.
Cover chicken with two cans of Ro-tel. Brush tomatoes off chicken so they fall to bottom of cooker.
Sprinkle whole chicken with taco seasoning. Cut breasts/thighs and rub seasoning in. Sprinkle with extra cumin and a little salt if desired.

Cook all day on low (till chicken starts falling off the bone, totally cooked - about 6-8 hours depending on cooker). Skim fat from top layer of juices periodically, discard.

When chicken is cooked, remove and put on cutting board, let cool.
Throw away the skin and bones, put good chicken back into sauce mix in cooker, stir.

Continue cooking for 1/2 hour or so - then leave on 'keep warm' until you're ready to use it.

This mexican chicken is seriously delicious - better than you'll get at most restaurants! It makes a large amount for under $4 (chicken + spices/cans) and can easily feed 4-8 people depending on what you do with it.

Make enchiladas, tacos, etc. :)



My favorite thing to do with it:

'Mexican Pizzas'

8 flour tortillas (try whole wheat or multi-grain, these are great!) - fry each of these individually in vegetable oil until crisp/golden brown. Place on paper towels to drain.

Place tortillas on baking sheets (with lip to catch juices) - cover with refried beans, chicken, cheese, fresh diced tomatoes and any favorite veggies (olives, etc.) This sounds dumb but Land-o-lakes White American cheese is delicious on these. I found out by asking that's what most of the restaurants here use! (And I thought it was some fancy mexican cheese, ffft.)

Bake in oven at 350 until cheese melts. Serve hot! These are absolutely awesome and make good leftovers, too. You can cut them up into 'pie' slices with a pizza roller and use them as appetizers as well. Serve with guacamole or sour cream, salsa if you wish.

Bonus: The tortilla packs usually come in 10s, so fry the extra 2 tortillas. Sprinkle one with cinnamon/sugar and honey. Add ice cream. Top with second tortilla, repeat. This makes a quick, delicious desert that complements the mexican meal perfectly! Ghetto fashion sopapillas. :)


Enjoy! Now, for me, back to painting!!

I love to cook.

One result of my loving to cook is wanting to grate my own cheese. I think it tastes fresher and better that way than pre-shredded cheeses. This precludes buying chunks of cheese from the deli to shred myself.

Now, I don't have any prejudice against grocery store workers. I've worked many jobs in my life including cleaning bathrooms and doing laundry in a hotel. But the fact that every time I go to the grocery store I inevitably have the same problem makes me really start to cast doubts on this job in general.

Each time I ask, simply, for a block of cheese. Not slices, a block. Take a cheese wire and cut off a chunk. I even know (pretty accurately) how many inches from a given bulk block it takes to approximate half a pound or a pound. Chunk of cheese. Not a big deal? Right?

Yet, every time, I come home with a bag of mangled cheese pieces and slices. The employees look at me like I am crazy. Who ever would want a block of cheese? Didn't I mean thick slices? The cheese slicing machine cannot make a big chunk. Despite my protests they stick it in there anyways (they are supposed to use it afterall!) and crumble and destroy my cheese.

Today, whilst putting away my groceries, I looked sadly at my bag of garbled cheese, worse than usual. It reminds me of many other experiences I have had with corporate workers who cannot or will not step outside the bounds of the repetition to think about what someone is asking for two seconds and solve the problem. Is what I am asking for really so crazy? Am I the only person in the world who wants bulk cheese in chunks?

I guess this is what I get for shopping at massive grocery stores. But we don't have a local, little cheese market. It makes me wish I lived closer to Nelson, that's for sure.

It's been some time since I posted, so I thought I'd give a short, general update!

Things here have been really busy - I'm not quite sure where the last few months have gotten to.
I've had some big projects that required most of my time but things are evening out now and I'm getting caught up in general.

Last week thornwolf flew out from California to visit, which was awesome! There was much good food involved - including an over-the-top dinner of berry-stuffed french toast smothered in bananas foster. Usually we eat healthy, really. ;)
It was mostly a working vacation and we just kind of hung out around the house working on art stuffs. Thorn helped me paint a 6 1/2 foot tall anthro husky wooden cutout to be my new mascot/t-shirt model. Mbala did an awesome job on the construction so that he folds up and is easily transportable. I'll get pictures up soon! :)
After dropping Thorn off at the airport I did a local siberian husky dog show. It was my first time doing a dog show in many years (I used to show/junior handle shetland sheepdogs a long, long time ago!) - it was awesome! The husky people are so much fun and the dogs are a hoot. One of the huskies howled through the entire obedience event, slowly wandering around and 'woo wooooing' about every command. What a great dog breed. :)

I'm definitely going to check into doing more dog shows (and dog art!) in the future. If you know of any awesome dog shows to check out, let me know! I'll probably stick close to home at first (though I'm sincerely tempted to do the husky nationals this year which are in Chatanooga (and how can you go wrong with a show titled 'Chatanooga woo woo'??)). There are shows in Rapid City, MN here, and Iowa that look like they could be worth attending!

I also got the pleasant surprise of being accepted into CONvergence in July - so I will be trying that out as my first fantasy/sci fi con. :) Looking forward to that one a lot!

Mbala and I are currently fighting off the flu, just the time of the year for that here, I guess. I haven't been sick in forever! All the animals are doing well, everyone is enjoying the longer days and ability to open windows and let in fresh air.

It's also our three year wedding anniversary tomorrow. :) mbala <3!