Insanity is a Terrible Thing to Waste

Champion Trick Dogs - Poodie Girls!

2011-10-09T12:35:00.003-04:00

Last Sunday we videoed most of the girls tricks for their trick championship title! Friday the certificates and metals arrived. Penny approved of the metals - they had a border of rhinestones. Bling is "in" as far as Miss Penelope is concerned. Penny's video is on Youtube.

Our own personal photographer, Kim, took all these cool pictures (and most of the video as well). Maggie and Penny were the first champion poodles - we were the third and fourth dogs to obtain the champion title and we are still the only ones that weren't handled by certified trainers! My thanks to all those the wonderful trainers that have trained me and especially to Kim for all her consultations!

Kyra Sundance really liked a trick we threw in last minute for Maggie where Maggie opens a garbage can, finds the "scented" tennis ball out of over a dozen identical tennis balls. Maggie's video is also on Youtube. I'm very proud of my Poodie Girls!

Card Shark

2011-08-02T05:38:00.001-04:00

Kim and I are teaching our girls to do the majority of tricks from Kyra Sundance's "101 Dog Tricks"." Sunday I worked on teaching Penny how to pull a single card from a deck. This is challenging because both Penny and Maggie are professionally trained hunting dogs (thanks Jenny Broome!) so they have fetching any object hardwired in to mean that they grab the entire object. I'm having to teach them to grab just a tiny corner. Penny picked it up pretty quickly.

The next photo is earlier in the training session and she's grabbing "too much" of the card.

Kim let me borrow (and slime) these cool cards she found on eBay - they are nice and big to make it easier for the girls and also so the audience can see what card the dog pulled. That way I can show the cards to Penny and say - pick out the card that is the most like you!

OK, now pull out the card that matches Maggie!
Smart Poodle!!

Now, you may ask how Maggie is doing with this trick? Well, she grabs an entire card, drops it, tackles it and starts chewing it up. I owe Kim a few cards ;). So we "back-chained" today and just worked on Maggie taking a single card from my hand and holding it. Sometimes you just have to go in teenie tiny baby steps!

The Slam Dunk Kid

2011-07-31T16:26:00.005-04:00

We have been working on our trick titles and so far Maggie is an "Advanced Trick Dog" with help from Kim. Kim lent us this very cool basket ball hoop. We got Maggie to start throwing the ball into the hoop while standing on a stool. Then we took the stool away. I've been spending a couple weeks with the hoop next to my computer and the only way I will throw the ball for Maggie is for her to put it in the hoop.

Now that Maggie is conditioned to throw the ball in the hoop with her reward being me throwing the ball, we literally raised the "bar" and put the hoop over Maggie's head by about 6 inches. This forces her to jump up, keep the ball in her mouth, and put her head over and then drop the ball in the hoop (this is harder than it sounds for a dog with really long legs.) She got it in about 2 tries!
Maggie is staring at the ball telling me to "Stop holding the basket stand and throw the flipping ball!!" I don't have full weight in the basket stand and didn't want it to fall over on her - a great way to regress in her training!! We'll keep raising the basket for Maggie until it is well over her head and she will be slam dunking with the best of them! ;)

Lover of Life

2011-07-22T19:09:00.004-04:00

Here's a little sketch from my 4" x 4"kraft notebook. I was trying to capture Maggie's complete love of ... well, anything. She is such a joy to have around!

Oki is Off to the Lexington Horse Park!

2011-07-20T05:10:00.002-04:00

Oki and his young owner Mallory is off to the Lexington Horse Park to compete in the National Junior Young Rider's Program!! AND we're invited! Len already knows where he wants to eat ;)

I have been very lucky to have my horse's new owners keep me updated in what they are up to and even invite me to events. They have been VERY generous. Anni is doing great and I better get out to one of her driving events soon before Ilyana stops inviting me! Aikman is doing great in upstate NY. Of course we can't give away Mr. Mac the evil one. He is doing great here with Jennie Meyer at Meygas - we are keeping our fingers crossed that he makes it without any sickness through this August (a bad month for him). So all is well on the equine front. May it stay that way!!

Oh - and Oki's trainer/seller Jennifer Baumert is off for Olympic try-outs!! Wish her luck! And thank you Jen for staying in touch with me - it's been over a year since you sold Oki!

Road Trip!

2011-07-19T10:23:00.003-04:00

Here's a "catch-up" post. We went back home to Indiana to visit my Mom with the girls in May. Maggie slept the whole 15 hours, Penny hyper-ventilated for 12 of the 15 hours: despite herbs, a Thunder Shirt, and all other suggestions. We arrived on Mother's day and invaded my Mom's small apartment.

Upon introduction, the girls made an impression - "Wow! Your dogs SIT!" This was rather funny to hear. I was annoyed with Maggie because she was pulling harder than she should. I forget that I have a very high bar on behavior!

We put on a performance for my Mom's independent living residents and a large number of assisted living people came over as well. We got a great turn-out: people on two sides of us. It was the first time I had ever done this and I was nervous. Luckily the girls were wonderful! Penny did her "Singing in the Rain" debut. She did great considering all the distractions.

Maggie did her "Agila-Dance" routine to "76 Trombones". I brought some jumps, a short tunnel and Kim's weave poles (thank you!!). Maggie did a great job especially considering she was really sliding on the carpet. When we warmed up she was sliding all over. I put on her boots and it was just as bad. So I had to really slow down her down in the routine.

I also did a short hunting demo with Maggie for the crowd explaining the origins of poodles. People really enjoyed it. I demonstrated a bit of obedience with Penny - not too much to bore people!

I brought both girls out together which was new for them since I work with them singly. People asked questions and everyone had a great time. The facility's organizer Nan was thrilled with our program.

After the show one resident with very young great children stayed and Maggie "adopted" herself a little boy. It was sooo cute to watch. She'd bring the ball to him, put it in front, and patiently wait for him to throw the ball!

Not bad for a pup that couldn't figure out toddlers earlier in her life ("what's up with these short people?!?!")

The next day we went to the "Memory" building. Early stage Alzheimer's patients were in that locked facility. I didn't know what to expect - I thought we'd be going to individual rooms as we do back home every week for therapy dog work. I decided to "visit" Maggie and have Len hold Penny. Technically I can only visit with one dog at a time. I was surprised when I walked in on a large space rings with chairs and lots of people. Probably 20. Maggie never visited this way before and she was a champ! Everybody wanted to pet her at once.

Since I had room, I put Penny through a lot of dance moves. Everyone loved that. Penny was great - even better than the performance the day before. I considered to bring my music - I should have.

At the end of the week, over a dozen photos of our performance were on the TV - the facility has its own TV channel. It was all very exciting and the girls did fantastic.

My Mom loved seeing Penny again (she wanted me to leave her) and thought Maggie was pretty funny.

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T22:18:00.003-04:00

Here's "Uncle Mac" wishing everyone a happy 4th and GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS!!

I've been having a lot of problems with my right hand/arm (thus the absence of posts). I tried 5 different tries on this cartoon. I just couldn't do it. Since doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of insanity I decided it was time to change my technique. My "old" technique I just couldn't execute with my current issues. So I spent 4 hours watching some Sandra Angelo tapes and going through some books and came up with something I could do until I get better. Different paper, different style. But at least I can draw again!!

Spring is Here?!

2011-03-22T15:35:00.004-04:00

Spring arrived on Sunday, March 20th according to our local weather man who in the next breathe announced the snow/sleet to arrive the next day. So should he have described it as a "springry mix" instead of the "wintry mix" he's been announcing the last couple weeks? Ha! He didn't dare after the winter we have had. Now we actually shouldn't complain (but of course we do). We actually had a normal winter. We sort of forgot what a real winter was like in wonderful Upstate New York. We have been blessed by global warming the last few years and forgot what winter is suppose to be like. Now, don't turn me into Army Fighting Global Warming folks. But logic dictates that I prefer it to the our past. We have evidence all around us of the glacier that this area sat under for thousands of centuries. So yep - I'm a global warming girl... Very easy for me to say since we live hundreds of feet above sea level.

Now, back to this alleged arrival of Spring. I spent the first day of said alleged Spring walking the farm with a manure fork in hand. I'm doing what I've done during the last couple weeks of the thawing of 3 to 4 feet of snow that we accumulated over the winter - picking up dog poop. Yes, it is a glamorous job, but someone needs to do it. There is actually amusement to be had in this function. We had snow piles from snow removal higher than 10 feet high. Our puppies, being the clean freaks that they are, liked to go on top of the highest snow pile to keep the poop out of sight (it was difficult for them to run to the middle of a field and hide it there.) Come to think of it, Penny was being neat. However I believe Maggie did it to acknowledge the fact that she climbed to the highest point in her world and it was her variant to planting a flag like those conquering towering heights of the world's highest mountains.

Maggie reveled in winter. Penny is a sensible girl and stayed to the plowed and shoveled paths. Maggie went "cross-country" doing laps in the deep snow although due to considerable ice, she mostly managed to stay on top of the crust. When Maggie did run down the plowed roads, she would careen side to side bounding up the plowed drifts and leaping off back to the road and across to the other side of the road like a drunk tobogganer. Very fun to watch. Over an inch of ice did not slow Maggie down. She would still run as fast as she could and then spent a lot of energy to try to slow down so she could turn. She reminded me of Bambi on ice (but this Bambi was clearly on Crack). Meanwhile, I could barely hobble with ice grippers clamped to my boots. Maggie had the advantage of 4 feet and a fearless attitude. Penny would stick close to me, but too close in case I fell. Penny is not like Lassie who would throw herself under me to break my fall. If I fell into a well, Penny would run home and "tell" Len she should be fed more since I wasn't coming home for dinner - ever.

So how can poop pick-up be amusing? I guess because of the mountain of snow we had at the end of our driveway by our house. When I could safely climb on top of it, I would clean it up. Then we'd have more melting. Another layer of poop would be revealed. I felt like an archaeologist working my way down through geological time. I could identify our 18 inch storm, then the one inch of ice. Just like any civilization, I saw evidence of weather impact on the inhabitants. No poop right after the ice storm - not even Maggie could make it up the snow mountain when covered with ice that was then wet with rain. There was stretch of time when there was only Maggie poop - the weather was so cold that Penny decided she could hold it for a day or two until the weather behaved itself. I was reminded of the winter we had in reverse order as that snow mountain melted down, was built up again, and melted again. Yes, we can see the ground in the flat areas of the farm , but the snow mountain still remains, a shadow of itself.

You may in reading this surmise that I clearly live a boring life. It is quite the contrary. I can find something amusing wherever I go and in whatever job I do.

Have a great Spring (whenever it gets here!)

Penny's ARCH EXCELLENT Rally Championship

2011-01-02T21:14:00.005-05:00

Our girl has done it again - Penny added 3 more championships to her credit. Penny obtained her ARCH Excellent championship and along the way got her Level 2 and Level 3 championships.

Penny achieved this despite me. I am still struggling with my arm/neck/shoulder. We hadn't practiced in months. During the trial I found out that my body language was "off." My asymmetry ended up worrying Penny in the ring. But despite that, she qualified every run and was in the mid to high 200s for all but one of them. What a pro!!

We are very proud of our little girl!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T20:26:00.003-04:00

A Red-Gloved Lady soon to be postcard!

Why do we Dock Dive?

2010-10-28T20:21:00.008-04:00

Our last post for the summer contemplates why do we dock dive a Poodle? We get asked this by Lab and other hard core diving breed owners. A Poodle can't be competitive and win. I will agree that is true for Maggie - but don't put it past another Poodle - especially those big hard driving males I've seen in hunt tests! And to argue the competitive point - she is very competitive in her jumping class. I'm too lazy to go count the first places we've won (not to forget that BIG Ultimate Air Dog trophy!).

Why do we dock dive Maggie?

Maggie LOVES it
Maggie LOVES it
To show Poodles are more than dogs with bizarre hair cuts
To encourage other people (especially those with the "non-traditional" dogs) to dock dive. After all, if a Poodle can do it ANY dog can do it. So join in on all the fun - the more the merrier!!
Maggie LOVES it

One of the most satisfying moments during the dock diving eventing season was an overheard conversation. When Maggie came up on the dock someone said "Oh no! NOT a Poodle - what can that dog do?" Then Maggie jumped and retrieved the dummy and the same person said "WOW - look at what the Poodle can do! This made my day - mission accomplished. Yes, Maggie will never jump 25 feet. Yes, she will never be a "sonic" speed retriever. But what Maggie lacks in distance and speed she makes up for in enthusiasm and style!

When we field hunt our Poodles we have a motto. We will change people's minds about a Poodle's ability to hunt one hunt at a time. We use the same motto for dock diving - changing people's minds one dive at a time.

The overwhelming thing we did find at the fair was how popular the "girls" were. We had a steady stream of people coming into our tent asking about our Poodles and how we got Maggie to jump. We ended up making a brag board showing the girls and what all they could do. Many people were people who had Poodles when they were kids, or who now have Poodles, or people who were just astonished to see a dock diving Poodle.

In the meanwhile the girls soaked up the attention and Penny did what she did best - looked calm, obedient and glamorous. Penny had to balance against Maggie who was in her dock diving induced insanity standing on her hind legs howling at the other dogs jumping off the dock!

Maggie's Speed Retreive Title

2010-10-22T13:28:00.004-04:00

My oh my it HAS been quite awhile. For the past 2 months I have been suffering from a pulled tendon in the elbow of my right arm; which in trying to protect the elbow by using my left arm I managed to totally screw up my neck. Don't ask. The details are boring. I asked my physical therapist if I could just move in with her to save all the commuting. I hope I heal before Thanksgiving. So, before it snows, I do want to finish off a couple noteworthy summer posts. This is one of two.

As Maggie was working on her Big Air National title, she was also working on her Speed Retrieve tilte. What is speed retrieve? Speed retrieve is where you and your dog stand behind a line 20 feet from the end of the dock, a signal is given and you send your dog out to retrieve a dummy at the end of the pool. The time it takes for your dog to run, jump, swim and pull the dummy off the holder is recorded. Maggie now has her "Express" title. It is actually quite funny to watch her. Maggie has such a soft mouth that it takes her a good 3 seconds to pull both sides of the dummy off the holder (both sides have to come off to stop the timer). Needless to say she will not be setting any speed records. One of the officials commented "I've never seen such a soft mouth on a dog!" Well, a soft mouth on a hunting dog is a GOOD thing.

Maggie's Big Air National Title!

2010-09-01T20:00:00.005-04:00

Maggie obtained her Dock Dogs Novice National Big Air title in 3 days at the Dutchess County Fair. We are very proud of our little girl who is now a titled dock diver. The venue was VERY different than those of te two 1-day regional competitions that we have attended. The national was packed with people both in the stands and surrounding the pool. There was all the noises of a very large fair and very loud outdoor sound systems blairing to copete in luring people to their exhibits. On arrival, my goal became to just get our little girl to jump in the pool! Needless to say she exceeded our expectations!

We kept stress levels down and her fitness up with the way we structured the jumps. We showed 3 of the 6 days, avoiding the first day with it's craziness and then gave her a day between each to rest. She can hunt in fields for hours but these events tire her out - the mental stress, excitement, and all the people and dogs. Maggie not only obtained her title, but got 3 1sts and 2 2nds. EVERYONE had a great time and I'll have more posts on this event.

Before Maggie earned her title, Zoe got her national title at the same event. Here is a picture of Zoe showing how it is done! She is a strong jumper. Maggie is striving to be as good as Zoe!

Ultimate Air Dog

2010-08-25T08:49:00.011-04:00

We had some real excitement this past weekend. First the GOOD excitement. Maggie won the novice championship at her first Ultimate Air Dog event at L'Oreal! We were so happy AND surprised. We've been in 2 single day competitions at Hudson Valley Dock Dogs which is only 2 hours away from us. These events are quiet and where we practice. At L'Oreal it was NUTS! The dock was way shorter, the pool was 10 feet shorter, the exit was a wobbly ramp instead of stairs, and people and dogs were EVERYWHERE even hanging on the edges of the pool. I was happy Maggie jumped in these conditions, so to win the championship was a major feat for her! Len and Penny was not there - they were at a shooting event. When Len so the trophy he asked if I was the "novice" and Maggie was the "champion" and I said YES! Penny said - "hoo-hum, what on earth is the big deal and where is my food?" The trophy is bigger than Maggie and has a cute cartoon of a dog flying into the water.

Here's a few pictures to get a feeling for the venue.

This is our first practice jump - Mom didn't throw very far - it was weird throwing in a short pool and I was worried to throw too far and hit the people at the end of the dock!Here is our first competition jump - looks like I was praying but I was clapping because she finally went off. She was completely stopping before jumping. It is quite amazing she can clear 10 feet from a total standstill.
Here is Maggie's best friend Zoe showing how it is done! Zoe did very well and got into finals in her division. Zoe took third against VERY tough competition. The really big air dogs find the short dock difficult so they were jumping in her division. Zoe is a sprinter and doesn't need the long dock. In this shot Kim threw the duck over my head out of the pool. It gives you a sense of how short the pool is - I'm taking a picture from the end of the pool. To the left is the "evil" ramp Maggie had trouble with. By her last jump she sorted it out. Of course Zoe figured it out the first time. I don't need to tell you which one is the "smart" friend of the duo! And here is what Maggie SHOULD of looked like ;). At practice she finally got running and jumping without stopping. I was excited and hoped we'd have this for L'Oreal. It was not to be.We are VERY proud of our Maggie. And to tell the truth - she would have not gotten a championship if she was running and jumping. Instead of jumping at the top of her division, she would have been in the bottom of the next division. We had a BLAST at L'Oreal and I will get my post up on that. I'm so behind!

Here's the BAD excitement. Mac got sick again the Thursday before we left. I figured he was on his way to the hospital. We almost didn't go on Friday, but his fever was down and we went. Then when we got to the hotel and I called to check it was up. I was deciding whether to turn around and go back home. We decided to wait until morning. Then his fever was DOWN. It was an omen to continue with the event - and what an event it was! Mac pulled through WITHOUT going to the hospital. Routine treatment of his ulcers even when he seemed fine was the major difference. He appears out of the woods. We immediately started treating him for Lyme (AGAIN - he was on doxy for 3 months the last time) and are waiting on getting the blood work back. I HATE TICK BORNE DISEASES!!

Stay tuned - I do have lots of posts to do. Life has been, as always, crazy with plenty of funny stories and news and fun art!!

Art de Cure Reception

2010-08-08T21:09:00.003-04:00

The last Friday in July found Len and I at the Art de Cure Reception where two of my works are on display and hopefully will sell. 50% of the proceeds will go to the American Diabetes Association.
The Art de Cure is a very interesting venue, the brain child of Jackie Watsky and others. Jackie explained how 1500 patients visit the medical practice a week. This gives a unique opportunity for many people to view regional artists.
I was amazed at the sheer wall space of the large medical suite - completely covered by art! It is a wonderful idea and Jackie told me how it is loved by patients and staff alike. It is a win-win for everyone!
Jackie also explained how they devised "Art de Cure" to be generic so that it can support any cause. Jackie also wants to "export" the idea to other medical practices. It is a wonderful idea - great thinking "outside of the box!"
So our hats are off for all the hard work of these wonderful ladies and the men who support them!

Make a Splash!

2010-07-27T01:57:00.002-04:00

This was the layout of my first idea for the "Make a Splash" submission for the Art de Cure show. I've been working on a new musical free-style for Penny: "Singing in the Rain." When I heard the theme was "Make a Splash", I immediately pictured one of my red-gloved-ladies joyfully dancing in the rain. My original pencil sketch had her holding an umbrella dancing in the rain. But the portion was wrong - the piece would be two narrow and tall. I am very pleased with this version - she is so happy splashing in a puddle after a down pour. I hope someone loves this piece and buys it. She is pure joy and makes me smile whenever I look at her. I want to put my boots on and splash in puddles with her!!!

This is a scan of the final piece with the puddle and splash completed.
Again - this scan doesn't do the final piece justice - it is very vibrant.

Time to Cool Off

2010-07-26T08:51:00.000-04:00

I re-did my mischievous pair of Poodie Girls for my Art de Cure submission. Well, one mischievous and the other rather annoyed. I am happy with the result. The redone art piece is more watercolor than water color pencil and gives it a light feel. I still felt that the background was better as white: this makes the girls "pop out." I'm happy with how I captured both of their personalities. Maggie is always trying to annoy Penny. She will come out of the pond and try to body slam Penny or shake off by Penny - getting Penny wet. And of course Penny is mortified that she is getting her "do" wet. Maggie continues to be very low on Penny's list.

This is the matted piece (I couldn't fit the frame on the scanner). Unfortunately you can't tell by this scan but the piece is brighter and very cheery with the bright blue mat. I sure hope someone likes it and buys it for the event: it is for a very good cause! If not, I'll be happy to keep it and use it for my next show. It will make a lovely postcard as well.

Art de Cure: Make a Splash

2010-07-05T18:20:00.004-04:00

I have been neglecting my art lately. So what is the best possible way to motivate me to do some art? If you wisely said to have a deadline by which to make art, you would be entirely correct. My friend Kerri tends to kick me in the pants at key moments: she got me invited to "Art de Cure" to benefit the American Diabetes Foundation. The theme is "Make a Splash" and the opening is July 30 with an art drop-off date of July 18th. Yep - that is REALLY close. So naturally I am panicking! I've never done something with this close a deadline.

I had high hopes of doing mixed media with lots of acrylic paint and various inks. It was not to be because 1) I spent 10 hours creating GARBAGE and 2) our AC went out in my art room and we are in the middle of a wicked heat wave. So I moved to Plan B on Saturday night and worked using color pencils and water color. I sat on the couch ignoring my friends and family (much hurumphing from Penny) Saturday night and produced the art work above. The next day I looked at the finished piece to find it was defective - I had "splatter" from Maggie on the white background. I tried to fill in a background and it looked muddy (I scanned the piece prior to adding the background). So I moved to mostly watercolor to avoid tiny specks of color pencil. UGH!

So today I ended up re-doing it below. It is much better in that there is no "splatter" and the white is pristine. I will be framing it with a mat. Len has had nothing but criticism of it saying he liked the first one better AND it should have a background. I'm going with the "clean" look for this piece (and the second one as well) since I am not doing a collage this time. Perhaps I will get brave later this week and add a background. I'll post the second piece tomorrow with, of course, the story behind the art!

New Artist Statement

2010-06-24T17:05:00.007-04:00

I occasionally have to go through the pain and suffering of writing an artist statement. It is painful, it hurts, it is boring, it is tedious, it feels really retarded. I procrastinate writing one at all costs. I rather go to the dentist or even the gynecologist!

I am actively marketing my art which means, yep - I need to update my artist statement. I followed the recent advice of one of my favorite artists Luann Udell. AND IT WORKED!! I finally have an artist statement that tells my unique story & allows people to understand the "me" behind my art. I wonder if I was finally able to do this now because I recently figured out who I am and what my art really is?

Here is my artist statement thanks to Luann Udell for the inspiration, Kerri Posson for the encouragement, and Kathryn Barth for the great editorial advice!

Debbie Wachel
Artist Statement
June 23, 2010

I have spent over half my life struggling to create “serious” art. The cartoons I’ve happily created since the day I could put crayon to paper I viewed as fun doodles but not real art. I finally realized that after I labor for days trying to produce serious art all I can see are the flaws in the finished product. In contrast, looking at one of my cartoons produces a smile and often a delighted giggle.

I now have the wisdom to realize that seriousness is highly over-rated and I have given myself a great gift: the freedom to embrace my silly side. By doing this I hope that I am giving you a gift as well. I want you to smile, and even giggle, when you look at my art because it strikes a chord deep inside and conveys a funny story that relates to something you have experienced.

I have been drawing since I can remember and am self-taught. As a child, my primary subjects were horses, dogs and girls. I think I drew what I didn’t have but desperately wanted. There were no pets in our home. I also had no friends my age. I grew up in the heyday of Disney and Looney Toons where animals were major characters with personalities, not just accessories to life; I’m certain this had a big influence on my art.

Decades later, my subjects are the same: horses, dogs and girls (with a cat, bird and occasional goat thrown in here and there). At the age of thirty horses entered my life. In my forties wonderful girlfriends entered my life. In my fifties dogs entered my life. Life is indeed good! Real life models of my childhood inspirations and desires now surround me.

My art falls into three collections: ponies, puppies and ladies. These are the images that best represent my true art and who I am as an artist. I am inspired by funny phrases, funny situations and the amazing personalities of my human and animal friends. Most of my cartoons are inspired by a real person or animal and are based on a true story.

I draw horses and dogs that I know well since my goal is to capture their essence and their perception of the crazy world in which humans live. I love sorting through situations where their world intersects ours because hilarity often ensues at these junctures.

I draw my friends and myself in various situations and love to explore different facets of the same person. Some of my ladies represent various alter egos that I wish I could take on (and sometimes do!). My “Red Gloved Lady” series just happened one day and evolved into a society with a rather large membership. These spunky red-gloved ladies are quite popular.

I enjoy crafting my cartoons in a non-traditional mixed media style, which allows me to explore different methods and brings a different dimension to a traditional cartoon. This also makes cartoons more accessible as art that can be hung on the wall in your home.

I hope you enjoy my art as much as I enjoy creating it. And, if I’ve succeeded in my ultimate goal, may you find your smile turn into a giggle. We need more giggle-filled days in our lives!

Haflinger Hair Nests

2010-05-10T18:59:00.006-04:00

Here is my colorized version of a sketch out of my farm journal and soon to be a new Art Storycard! I'm probably going to redo it in my "green" format which is color pencil & watercolor on brown bag paper. I'll then do a vote on which my fans like the best!

This is the original. And I'll reproduce the story behind the picture. I actually did this sketch by my Mom's hospital bedside. It was our first visit to her after Dad's death. It was also our wedding anniversary. We went out to dinner and came home to find Mom had quickly taken ill. We ended up taking her to the hospital which she had to stay for two days. I am still amazed I did this in such stressful circumstances. I take comfort and strength from the farm and critters so I think that is why this came into being at that time.

Haflinger Hair "Nests"

Spring is such a wonderful time of year - the ponies start shedding their winter coasts and its time to shorten their long winter manes for the summer. So each pony gets their new "do". Because it takes so long, only one pony is done a day. When the task is complete a huge mound of white hair appears on the floor and is swept to the side. Mysteriously the pile starts to "shrink" as the day goes on , and if you wait long enough, sometimes the pile completely disappears. And where did it all go? If you look up in the barn and outside in rafters there are little nests, some made entirely our of Haflinger hair...

Trying to Keep my Head Above Water

2010-05-02T20:33:00.006-04:00

That is where I have been (not in the toilet, but figuratively trying to keep my head above water)!! It is timely that tonight I just order this image as my newest Art Storycard! I added a background to a cartoon I did in 2008 about our house "turning traitor" on us.

This will be my 26th Art Storycard to date. Of those 26 sets, only 22 are "good" - I had a couple small printing problem with 4 sets that I won't sell. I'm learning. Many of the images I will "tweak" for the final greeting card. This one is has the saying "Keep Your Head Above Water" thanks to my beloved spouse and great friend Kathryn who tweaked the words.

So I hope you all are keeping your head above water!! I'm struggling to not drown!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T20:53:00.001-04:00

Introducing Art Storycards!

2010-03-28T13:38:00.006-04:00

What is an art storycard? Their current incarnation is a standard size glossy postcard with one of my fun images on the front and a corresponding saying on the back. What makes these art "storycards?" I came across this idea because in trying to create various types of art, I repeatably find that my "best" art always ends up being my cartoons. They are the ones that get the most emotional "attachment" - they speak out to people in ways that my attempted "serious" art does not. I believe my cartoons are my best art because each cartoon has a story behind it; and I am better at "telling" a funny story than a serious one. These stories inspire me; whether they are about my ponies, my dogs, my friends, my dreams or life in general.

I've been busily turning my cartoons into art storycards. Currently I am using Vistaprint to produce these lovely full color glossy post cards. I'm starting with postcards because they are less expensive than note cards. I am gaining experience in 4-color printing, layouts, wording and what images appeal to various groups of people. They are also fun to send! Postcards are also less work for the sender - on a postcard there is less room to feel obligated to write in.

Eventually I hope to produce art storycards in a note card format. The format will allow me to put the image on the front, the saying inside, and the story behind the image on the back of the card. For now, the stories will be (or already have been) posted on my blog and I will organize links for them.

You'll be seeing some changes on my blog as I add links to market my art storycards. Yes, I know I should just do a website. But I tried that with my artbooks and I felt that ended up being a waste of time and money. I want to see how my "test" market works with them. I am going to be peddling them to some local stores the old fashion way.

And you will be seeing some other fun products as well like this tote. So much fun!

Luck of the Irish

2010-03-21T19:30:00.004-04:00

Ok, so I am a tad late. A big work project took over my life for the last 6 weeks. I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel. With any luck it won't be a high speed train.

Despite my computer's hard drive going south on me (I guess I dropped it one too many times on the tile floor) I have made a lot of progress with my postcards. I have 4 postcard designs completed with 6 more on the way. I also ordered some note cards, a small tote, and a sticky note pad. Just experimenting around seeing how things may work. Originally I was going to use the postcards to build sample packets to send to greeting card companies. My dear friend Kerri talked me out of it. So I'm going to try to market them myself. Wish me luck.

Mummy Background Check

2010-02-26T22:21:00.005-05:00

OK, I have spent HOURS fighting with Photoshop Elements to finally get a background and I think correct look for my Mummy postcard. I did print two sets with a white background that (and this is a long story) had a "flaw" in it making them unsellable. So I took the time to make the background. Still don't like the bottom. I may play with it tomorrow. That and I may need to lighten the background a tad. As Scarlet says, tomorrow is another day!! ;)

ARCH Shangra-la Penelope

2010-02-21T20:15:00.004-05:00

Penny has achieved her APDT Rally Championship title! Penny has a number of agility and rally obedience titles, but this is her first championship title and thus goes in front of her name. It required a number of high point totals in two levels of classes in the same trial.

The smaller ribbon is for her individual level championship title. This one is for Level 1, or RL1X. She is 3 qualifying runs away from having her Level 2 championship and we're be working on her Level 3. We are also working towards her Championship Excellent title.

I'm am so proud of Penny who is 5 years old now. I had to retire her from agility because of a medical condition but she can compete in this venue. She is such a gracious soul because she is my very first dog so I made so many mistakes and she forgave me over and over again. Thank you Penny for your patience!

Her is my little winner with the judges and our very pretty instructor (in the back). Thanks Tara for teaching us how to be winners!!

Say What?

2010-02-16T08:15:00.006-05:00

I am letting you guys in on a little project of mine. I'm turning my art into some postcards for sale and you are invited to be my artistic consultants!

Vista Print has such good deals on full color printing as I found with my Christmas card that I'm going to take advantage of that resource. During the sales (which are almost continuous) I plan to put a design order in. I can collect a series of 4-6 cards and package them up for sale. I can easily print up a thumb print legend for the packet. Probably the packaging will be my most expensive part and that will determine if it will be commercially viable. All I'd like is a clear "envelope" box. That way I'll put one image facing out to draw attention, and on the back info, price and a thumb print of what cards are inside.

Kerri has been pointing out to me for years that my art would make good greeting cards. This is a way to find out if she's right without a big expenditure! Greeting cards are much more expensive to print up so postcards are a good way to start!

I also plan to do a pack of dog photo postcards as well if I can get my partner in crime to buy in since her dogs are even more photogenic than mine and she is a great photographer!!

So what can YOU do? When I throw out the artwork let me know what you think. Primarily the following:

Is the image commercially appealing?
Suggestions on a saying to go with the image.
Comments on the background (or potential background when one isn't there)

I'll be putting background to most of them and as we know, backgrounds are my weakness. Many of my backgrounds are taken from sources which I can use freely UNLESS I sell the work. So I can't use those backgrounds and have to go back to the drawing board.

I already sent in an order of "Who's your Mummy" and will show the finished product when it comes in. I have set templates with Vista Print unless I pay another $10 to upload my own image for the back. It may (or may not) be worth it.

So, the current project is my little lady who I have named "Hair on Fire." I'm thinking of a sea green background that has a little texture. So have some fun and let me know what your ideas are! And of course you'll get a free set of cards! I can't wait to see what you come up with because all my friends have wicked senses of humor. They have to since they have me as a friend!

PS: Another potential is my lady currently in my header who I dubbed "Out of Sorts." I guess I subconsciously picked them first because it is how I feel! ;)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T19:29:00.004-05:00

From a Valentine Duo!

The girls and I hanging out after therapy work.

A close-up of the Valentine Queen.

Hope you have a great Valentine Day! My Mom is celebrating a good one. She is almost fully recovered from a stroke a couple weeks ago. Len and I have been taking turns being with her. Please keep her in your prayers!

Signs, Signs, Everywhere a Sign...

2010-01-13T19:03:00.009-05:00

Catching up on our England vacation posts. This post is dedicated to a few of the fun signs I came across.

It is very kind of the Brits to remind us Americans which way to look.

And it is good to give a "hoot."

No "Three Coins in the Fountain" - or anything else!

You gotta LOVE the names of some of the streets:

And Mary got around before she lost her head.

And of course because I do LOVE Dollar Stores...

A different way to say shaken, not stirred.

It is fascinating to look at old headstones that are centuries old. This is one our tour guide pointed out. Now it really isn't the real Scrooge. It was carved for a movie. The really strange thing is that it is an actual headstone with the original "owners" name on the other end entirely worn away. I wonder what the original owner thinks about being declared a scrooge!

And this one was on a cute compact on the antique make-up table in our room.
Nag, nag - we left on a Saturday! However, a week later ;)

Maggie

2010-01-12T21:11:00.004-05:00

Here is a sketch that I colorized directly on top of a pencil sketch in my 3"x3" little memo book I carry around. This little notebook has been all over with me. Normally when I colorize a pencil sketch it doesn't turn out and loses it's character. This one worked! I guess there is a first time for everyting. This little sketch I made of Maggie trying to capture her essence - one of pure joy. It makes me happy every time I look at it!

And so Maggie doesn't get left out of the "brags:" she received her ASCA open jumpers title (now she is in "elite" - the highest level) and her ASCA novice standards title (moving up to "open")- a difficult one for her because she would leap off the contacts! She has been doing great. Problem is that she is F-A-S-T. I had to finally break down and get good running shoes to wear.

An Unexpected Surprise

2010-01-10T18:33:00.010-05:00

I have spared you competition outcomes regarding Penny's rally obedience and Maggie's agility. Pictures of dogs with ribbons can get very boring. However this one I must share. I received an email from Tara, one of our favorite trainers, congratulating me on Penny achieving a National Ranking in APDT Rally Obedience for 2009. We ranked 4th in the US for her Level 3 title (the highest level). I didn't expect it because we've only done 3 shows and we aren't fast in our runs. I was already proud of Penny because she got first places in all her Level 3 title runs. We need two more "double Qs" for her Championship title and hope to get it in February.

Go Penny!

PS: I just got in the mail Penny's "Award of Excellence" for her Level 3 Title. She has an "Award of Excellence" for her Level 1 Title. Unfortunately, I screwed up and made a mistake on one of her Level 2 Title classes so she doesn't have an "Award of Excellence" for that titles. Much harder to train the owners than the puppies! LOL

Flurries?!?

2010-01-05T15:37:00.006-05:00

We're up to our ...

Over the New Year weekend they predicted "flurries" with accumulations of 1-2 inches. We already had perhaps 2 inches on the ground. This solar-powered snowman light is about 18 inches off the ground. And with the "flurries" he was going...going...

GONE!!

We ended up with 12 inches and drifts over 2 feet. Not MY definition of FLURRIES!!

I pulled the tractor snowblower out and plowed one day (3 hours and I looked like a snowman without the cute smile) and the wind filled it all in again by the next day. Is it spring yet?

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T14:08:00.002-05:00

Have You Been Naughty or Nice?

2009-12-25T10:10:00.005-05:00

Merry Christmas - HO HO HO!

This is the Christmas postcard we sent this year. I took it last year when I had the Christmas Tree set up. Maggie was one year old and a very patient soul! She looks so different now because she is in her "hunting cut." I will have a post on this new look. Yes, I'm VERY behind! I ordered these through Vista Print who I love: great deals, great interface and nice results. I got the full color back that has a cut out of the photo with the words "Have You Been Naughty or Nice" and "Happy Holidays." Lots of fun!

I think I have my idea for next year. We went visiting with the girls partly dressed up. Maggie's Santa Suit no longer fits her and the Christmas robe I got Penny was too tight. X-Large means for an extra-large Chihuahua. When at our primary Vet, the office manager came out and took a picture. What was funny was that Penny had a Christmas tree on her head that sang "Jiggle Bells." Nonetheless, Penny was very happy because I had food in my hand. Maggie, was totally annoyed with the antlers on her head. When Shannon took the picture I knew that Maggie licked her lips and I wondered if the picture would have a big tongue in it. No tongue, but a VERY funny mouth!

Penny looks totally annoyed and Maggie looks deranged! I can DEFINITELY work with this for a card! Check back next Christmas!

Chatworth England

2009-12-06T19:17:00.004-05:00

Ok, I have been busily editing pictures to place on my blog and realized how boring it would be for my faithful viewership of 3. After all, one can find much better pictures in books and on the internet taken by real photographers. So true to myself, I am going to share mostly those that are, shall I say, uniquely "Debbie."

The following pictures are from Chatsworth - one of Britain's best loved historic houses and the heart beat of the Peak District National Park, home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire.This is an interior view of the "house" - which is British for castle ;). We were given a personal tour by Lady Penrod, a personal friend of the lovely couple who owned the estate we were staying at. One person complained because the resident rooms were closed. However, I thought it was incredible because the estate was all decorated for Christmas. Being a Christmas decoration JUNKIE, I was completely happy not to see the bedrooms. More info is provided at their website.

Outside I was fortunate enough to several pictures of the double rainbow that I showed in my previous post. I was also delighted to find a family who actually satisfied one of my welcome signs in our front hall:

Pets are Welcome, Children Must be on Leash

So, here you go...

Yep, this young mother came down the hill with two of her children on leashes. And for good reason! Look what the third one NOT on a leash did:

Yep - children on leashes is a pretty good idea and leave it to the no-nonsense Brits to put it into practice!!

Here is another example of no-nonsense British ingenuity with an artistic flare.
This was a "coal" chute that originally funneled coal to the Estate. Once the Estate was switched over from coal, they turned the chute into a waterfall. This gives a new meaning to "Fish Ladder." I don't remember what the sign said - perhaps "no fishing."

At the end of the tour we returned to our private tour bus with our own British Blue Badge certified guide who was a combination of an excellent historian and a hilarious stand up comedian. We were waiting for a couple people to return so I decided to take a bit of a power nap only to be awaken by sirens.

Turns out an escort of Mercedes and a motor barricade must have dropped off some Very Important Person(s). They all ended up parking by our bus. I snapped this quick photo while Ian (our guide) told me that he wouldn't spring me out of prison. The "plain clothesmen" looked just like they do in our country - totally conspicuous. However, I must admit that the undercover chaps were VERY good. See them there in the right hand corner of the photo?

Here's a close up:
Pretty good eh?

Where I've Been

2009-11-22T18:25:00.004-05:00

No, not naked at the end of the rainbow!

We've been in Jolly Old England! It was quite a trip of 9 days - great eating, touring, eating, hiking, drinking and did I mention eating? It was a terrific time. The only wrinkle was that upon return my back decided to go south (it was suppose to be going west at the time.) So I had to repay all that pleasure with some pain. An eight hour plan flight, a very cozy but extremely soft bed followed by another eight hour plane flight did me in.

So here I am a bit more behind AGAIN, but I will be catching up and filling you in on the fun!

View from on High...

2009-11-06T05:38:00.005-05:00

...atop a Friesian!

This is a REAL catch-up post. It is doubly "catching up" because it is something I've wanted to do for several years now: ride Janus, Jennie's Friesian! I personally like short horses being short myself, so this monster is bigger than I've ever sat on before. I had to wait till I was limber and pain-free enough to be able to get back off him. It wasn't getting up I was worried about, it was the getting off and not shocking my joints. (Of course my beloved husband pointed out it is far easier getting off a horse because they can "help".) Getting off a Friesian is like "watch that first step - its a doozy!"

Janus is FUN!!! It is the first time I've felt a horse really collect for me. This says volumes about Janus (and naturally of Jennie who trained him)- that a "rider" as bad as me can actually collect him!! I'm definitely keeping to my exercises this winter with a goal to take lessons on him this spring provided Jennie doesn't sell him first!

I was an idiot and forgot my camera so forgive the blurry pics. I just loved them and wanted to share regardless. He is SOOOO handsome!

I promise some art work soon. I've been traveling and hope to have some fun artwork when I get back.

Diving Divas Update

2009-11-04T05:49:00.002-05:00

The girls take a break from dressing up. Zoe has become a diving diva. She's gonna be a force to be recon with next year!

Here Zoe is on the starting line.

Take Off!

Flying!!

Entry!!

Our other diving diva. Hum - well, she still stops at the end of the dock before she launches. Let's just say she'll be cheering her friend Zoe on next year! It is amazing Maggie jumps as far as she does seeing that she stops first ;). We're hoping that Molly's Spirit will help her out next season!
And Penny thinks it is all a waste of effort. Penny excels at diving under the covers!!

In Memory of Molly

2009-11-02T06:55:00.000-05:00

The world was a bit sadder place this past summer when Molly, Leanne's beloved Labrador, crossed the rainbow bridge. Molly graced our farm from June, 1998 until she left last December. Molly was the World's Best Dog. I described her that way even once I had a dog of my very own.

We always felt truly blessed to have known Molly's wonderful and generous soul. Molly is the gold standard to which we will forever measure all other dogs. Her photo sits in our picture gallery - where it will always be: Molly will never be forgotten. Part of her spirit will always roam our trails and swim in the ponds. She did indeed have a wonderful life and wonderful family who did what was best for her.

I have mentioned "Molly's Pond" in past posts. Molly's pond became that when in 1999 we drained and cleaned our 3 acre pond. Molly would swim all the time in that pond and it literally disappeared. Fortunately we had a settling pond dug as soon as the main pond was drained. The function of this settling pond was to prevent silt from an incoming stream washing into the main pond. This smaller pond could then be easily cleaned out taking far less effort than the main pond. This settling pond was dubbed Molly's pond because this is where she spent her summer swimming. It had a huge pile of dirt next to it and Molly would run and leap off the top diving into the pond. Molly would have definitely been a champion dock diver! I was lucky enough to catch her in mid-dive with my 35mm camera jumping into her pond. Molly was just over a year old at that time.

So we found a wonderful statue to put by Molly's pond in her memory. Molly's pond is one of three ponds on our property and is the prettiest. Wayne built us a waterfall and that is where Molly will sit in the spring, summer and fall - overlooking her pond. In the winter, Molly's statue will sit in the barn where she always sat. In the place that when you came to the barn you would see her sitting in that spot to greet you, tail perpetually wagging.

We miss you both!

Happy Halloween!!

2009-10-31T04:30:00.000-04:00

From the Witches of West Cambridge

And one of their pumpkin carving friends!

Have a holloweening good time!!

Next week I will be posting some "catch-up" posts to try to catch up with life that just keeps FLYING by!!

Pumpkin Carving

2009-10-29T19:32:00.000-04:00

Friends coming together to carve their hearts out!

All gutted and ready to go - our blank slates

Carving and watching the "Nightmare Before Christmas"

Our helpers - it is VERY tough work you know!

The Line Up!!

Packed back in the car to store in the barn
where it is cool until Halloween night!

The Witches of West Cambridge

2009-10-28T05:17:00.001-04:00

This last Sunday we did our final Halloween month dress up.

I even convinced Kim to join the fun.
With that hat on she had to "duck" under door jams!

Of course I wouldn't let her have all the fun!

These girls look as good from the back as they do from the front!

Faces that EVERYONE can love!

Cheering and Clowning Around

2009-10-25T20:21:00.007-04:00

Part II of Halloween Month!

The girls were back in costume for therapy dog work.

Penny got the clown outfit from her friend Zoe. Kim said Zoe looked demented as a clown so the Poodle got the gig ;). Don't you just love Jet's "team"? GO D-O-G-S-! Penny even has her tail decked out!

But there was a small issue of when Penny's tail wagged the decorations flew off. So they moved to her ears.

Jet is cheering it up - go DOGS, go DOGS!

Oh - I forgot - Penny got tired of the hat so I ended up with it. She looks as if she really rather not be seen with me.

And Maggie didn't escape. We dressed her up afterwards. Good thing we didn't take her for therapy work. She'd just lie down on the job!!

Well, I was planning on alternating between putting up a post of pictures, then art work. Life had different plans for me so we'll be catching up with LOTS of pictures.

Unusual 911 Responders

2009-10-11T21:02:00.005-04:00

We started our "Halloween Month" last weekend for our therapy dog work. This means that we are dressing our beloved puppies for their visits to the delight of the guests and staff.Here are our girls showing they are ready to respond to any 911 call. Maggie is the K-9 Fire Chief ready to snuff out any fire or help a kitty that is up a tree. Of course, with help like Maggie's, the kitty may prefer to stay up the tree! Zoe is the number one sheriff in town and I wouldn't give HER any trouble!
Zoe poses with one of the Guest's home staff. We need special permission to publish any pictures of residences so here is one of the helpful staff loved posing with Sheriff Zoe. Zoe is begging her "Mom" to GET THIS THING OFF ME!! It was an extra large costume made by people whose idea of extra large is a guinea pig.
Maggie ponders if those shoes are fire retardant or not - they look rather suspicious...

But Horses Don't Like Milkweed

2009-09-27T21:09:00.000-04:00

This is what I heard over and over after Mac almost killed himself on August 25th of last year by eating milkweed. (Man - I can't believe it was almost a year ago!!) I lost count of the number of people who told me - "why our pasture is full of milkweed and the horses never eat it." Well, their horses aren't Mac. Mac, being Mac, not only ate it, but he pushed boards off the fence to get to it.
I was naturally at work when this happened and the event was in Leanne's capable hands. Len was home and went over when Leanne called. Len said he felt there was a 50% Mac wouldn't make it. Len said he never saw Mac (or any other horse) look that bad. It looked like more than a bad colic.

Fortunately Len walked the pasture to see if there was something Mac ate (Leanne was busy keeping Mac OK until the vet arrived). Len found the broken boards and eaten down plants which Tess's Mom identified as milkweed. Len, being Len, went on the internet and researched milkweed, printed stuff off and had it for the vet when she arrived. They "pumped" Mac's stomach best they could and treated him for colic. Mac was feeling better by the time I got home to find Len and Leanne busily topping off waters so Leanne could get to her agility lesson. Mac strikes again - taking a few years off my life!!

In retrospect, we wonder if this was just another indication of Mac's poor condition. Jennie and I've been going over Mac's health issues over the years. There has been something not quite right with him for awhile. This "over reaction" to milkweed may be another piece to a puzzle we will probably never solve.

So Long Dear Friend

2009-09-24T20:14:00.002-04:00

This is an overdue "catch-up" post. At the beginning of the year I "sold" Anni Star to a wonderful person, Ilyana. Anni stayed with us until May at which time I had to say "so long". It would have been very easy to keep Anni. But I vowed to give up my selfish streak and Anni deserved a rich life with a great family. Anni has that now.

Here I am putting on my "happy" face with my beautiful mare the day she left. Anni looked great. Tess and Sarah were riding her regularly and Kim and I lunged her inbetween to get her in shape especially since she started driving again. I hooked her back up with our dear friend Sue to make certain Anni hadn't forgotten her driving. She hadn't. I forgot what a blast it is to drive that wonderful mare.

Ilyana couldn't even look at me the day she picked Anni up. Ilyana is a person who is compassionate enough to know what I was hiding behind my smile. Funny, someone who barely knew me, knew me better than some others who should have.

Anni "missed" me up until the time she dove into the hay bag on the trailer and has been very happy ever since. I have pictures of her new home that I will post in the future. The home couldn't be more perfect for Anni. Anni is being ridden and driven and is showing again. The entire family is enjoying her and her them. I couldn't have designed a better home for her.

The month after Anni left, Ilyana called me with an update every day. Even now I get a call twice a week. I've been out to see Anni and her family invited me to come out for dinner and take her for a drive. I was so fortunate to have this wonderful family placed in our life to give Anni the life she deserves.

So long dear friend.
You are very missed in the barn.
We are all thrilled for you in your new life!
You deserve it!

How Are You? ... Really?

2009-09-23T17:31:00.000-04:00

How often do you hear this and then automatically respond "great - and how about you?" Have you ever reflected upon how often you lie in your response? I realized that I lie quite a bit. I just find it not "nice" to say "Well, I feel like shit because..." and give the reason "I'm in a lot of pain, my Dad died, my husband's in the hospital, my Mom's sick..."

Sometimes I think it would be funny to respond as Whoopi Goldberg's did in "Jumping Jack Flash" when under the influence of truth serum. I don't remember the entire dialog but something like "well, I hate my job, I hate the city, ......, I feel like I'm on my period all the time...." That would be very funny.

I realize I lie basically for two reasons. I don't want to complain and I don't want to make the other person feel bad. Probably the third reason is that I am trying to trick myself into believing I feel great ;).

Because of this behavior, I have been deemed "cold" and "uncaring" by some because I try very hard to put on a happy face and do my crying behind closed doors. I wasn't always like this. But once I entered a predominately male dominated field there was no way I wanted my male associates to see me engaged in a stereotypically "female" reaction.

Eventually this attitude extended to personal issues, primarily because I didn't want to make people feel sad. I deal better with emotionally painful situations if I can focus on what needs to be done and shut the door on my emotions. I've spent years of being in situations where it is prudent to appear unemotional whether at work, sitting in a hostile lawyer's office, dealing with my Husband's heart issue or my Father's death. But this doesn't mean that I don't care or don't agonize over things. I just do it at night when no one is around to see. I deal with a chronic sleeping order and have a happy face during the day - so let people call me uncaring and cold.

So, how are you? I'm just great!! Really... ;)

Love at First Ride

2009-09-20T14:03:00.003-04:00

The two posts before "Dock Diving Diva" I wrote about what was going about Mac. Mac is back on the mend...again. I won't tempt the Universe again and say how great he is doing. ;)

I promised a post about his current trainer, Jennie Meyer at Meygas. Jennie has been a long time instructor and friend. She started with us when we only had the Haflingers and helped Leanne and them (and even me - a very "challenged" rider) become better. Jennie is a believer in dressage for all horses and is NOT breed prejudice. In fact I believe she loves the challenge of a non-traditional horse. Jennie is the reason we got Oki since she was the one that went with Leanne and gave wonderful advice. Jennie was also was key in helping Leanne bring Oki back after his surgery. Jennie is classically trained and an amazing teacher. I can say this after going to clinics with Leanne and Oki to the BIG NAMES in dressage. And you know what? Jennie is as good and even better than the BIG NAMES and way cheaper. I always felt it was a gift to have her so close.

So naturally I sent Mac to Jennie's to help him get back in shape per the vet's instructions. Jennie was amazing at bringing him back. She started him by lunging and would set up a small round pen in her arena to lunge him in. I felt so foolish watching her do this. This was something I could have had done at our farm - we had a round pen AND hot walker so if bolting was a worry we had the facilities to address that. However, I hadn't known he was not being worked at that time. That 20-20 vision again!

After Mac's first trip to the hospital Jennie got him back in work. Mac would whinny to Jennie whenever she goes in and out of the barn. He is IN LOVE with her. It is so much fun to watch Jennie work him. She is not afraid of him although she recognizes he can be a shit. Jennie will ask him to do something "hard" and he'll do it. She'll tell me as he is doing it and then says "but he knows that I will let him relax in a bit so he'll do it." And he does. I love watching him and her work. It is quite magical. Especially after he has been criticized in the past. I describe Jennie as a "fair alpha" and Mac respects and loves her.

It is a two-way love affair - Jennie absolutely loves Mac. She tells everyone what a blast he is to ride. I'm very happy that Mac is so happy where he is. It would be easier to bring him home and have him here. I miss seeing a golden pony out in the pastures with the brown ones! But I don't know how much longer Mac will be with us and I want him to have his remaining days be happy ones. Each day is a gift, and I will miss him dearly when he leaves us.

Dock Diving Diva

2009-09-16T20:17:00.000-04:00

After her diving debut, Kim & I packed up Maggie & Zoe into the car and went to the Hudson Valley Dock Diving Club where we practiced on a real dock. The people there were so helpful. I couldn't get Maggie in. She'd stay on the end of the dock and cry and jump up and down. So I ended up going in, with all my clothes on. It was not in vain - Maggie did jump. After that, I didn't have to get in again...well...so far! I think I earned points for going into the water for my dog with everyone there. A dog that was - egad, a Poodle!! Needless to say, Maggie was the only poodle there!
Back at home, Kim built us a dock for "Molly's Pond*" so we could work on getting our girls to run and jump. We want to go to a couple dog diving trials next year just for fun. In particular, there is a really cool event put on by L'Oreal called appropriately "Because Your Dog is Worth it Too." This event has all kinds of fun events including dock diving and benefits breast cancer. This event definitely needs a dock diving poodle!!

*More about "Molly's Pond" in a future post.

Here Maggie is starting to get her feet under her. They measure the distance by where the hind feet land so you want them to gather there rear end under them when they hit the water.

A "mood" shot taken by Kim. Maggie is very good at keeping her head up when she dives! Oftentimes the top of her head will still be dry. Penny taught her that - so she doesn't mess up her "do".

Here are some great pictures of Zoe. She is a POWER HOUSE!!

Zoe will definitely be the winner in this duo but Maggie will be her stylish side kick ;). What a funny pair of friends.

The Dog Dayz of Summer

2009-09-12T11:55:00.007-04:00

Before fall is upon us I want to share pics of the summer. The photos in this post are from the "Dog Dayz of Summer" event. MUCH fun was had by all and in supporting the border collie rescue program we won a gift certificate for grooming ($75 value and something we do every 6 weeks!!) and a gift certificate for a private agility lesson. We came home with much more than we left with including a WHOLE LOT OF FUN!!

It seems that this is just going to be a "behind" kind of posting year. I have been MIA because I tempted The Universe by my last post and Mac landed back in the hospital - for 7 days. If Jennie hadn't had him in just great shape we would have lost him. He is back home and we have fingers crossed - put little prayers out into the ether for him! My Mom's having surgery so I'm off to the great Midwest for awhile. I have art in progress and for now I'll post some photos until I can finish my art ;).

This is an example of how animals make you a liar. There was dock diving and our good friend Kim wanted to try with her girls so I couldn't resist although I was positive Maggie wouldn't do it. Maggie was very shut down in agility because of her thyroid condition and not very excited about anything apart from her friend Zoe and the tennis ball - perhaps not in that order ;). Maggie was crying/barking and standing on her hind legs watching other dogs go off the small dock so we gave it a try. It was an excellent setup for beginners. So, yep, Maggie did go off the dock for me. Just to prove me wrong. Len is showing off her ribbon in front of the dock.

One of the few things that Penny can do in agility is the weave poles. Jumping and any contact obstacles aggravate her condition. We were warned to even be careful of tunnels because she has to duck to go through them. But believe it or not they use weave poles in rehab to help flexibility so we still do weave poles. Len wanted to run her through the "weave pole challenge" of 36 weave poles. I didn't think she'd do it because Len couldn't use food. Well, turns out my other poodle also made a liar out of me. Len successfully took her through without her popping out and she was a few tenths of a second from placing. This was so nice for Penny because Maggie has been doing so much with Penny having to stay on the sidelines. Penny is now "back" getting to do something at this event in addition to her Rally and Dancing career.

This was such a fun event! They had all sorts of things to do, vendors, a great raffle and great people. I'd highly recommend it for anyone who is owned by a dog! The entry was $10 but they provide a nice lunch. They had other fun games where you donated a dollar but you'd get a toy or box of biscuits. Giving was never so much fun!!

Mac the Magnificant

2009-08-11T13:01:00.005-04:00

Here I am, still desperately trying to catch up on posts which includes the colorization of my many pencil sketches. I don't know why I decided to do this pencil sketch of Mac as a Viking in my sketch book months ago, but here he is - in all his glory.

The other area I am behind on is what has been going on this year. It has been such a year of transition and changes. Most of them good, some of them sad.

We came close to losing Mac earlier this year. Mac has been doing poorly for the last couple years. Indulge me while I beat myself up for things I didn't do and should have done for a couple paragraphs. I try not to do this - hind sight is always 20-20 and I always yell at my friends NOT to do this. So dear friends forgot I told you never to do this and pretend that I'm not doing it now ;). But bottom line, I had my head up my...er...in the sand and should have paid better attention!

When we bought Oki, I seriously considered selling Mac and Anni as a driving pair. It would have been the right thing to do. Driving is what they excelled at and loved. When my previous trainer/employee left in 1998, Mac & Anni was never showed as a pair again because I didn't have the talent to drive the pair and the new trainer's love was dressage. Mac and Anni were just coming into their own and performed in combined driving events (CDE) as a pair for only a little over a year. There is an age limit to compete in CDE which is 4 years old and we had to wait for Anni to turn 4 (she is one year younger than Mac). I knew in my gut once Oki entered the picture that Mac and Anni would move to the background and they should do something they loved. I was selfish. I kept them because I couldn't bare to let them go. My gut was right - once Oki came they weren't shown at all and fell into the background - especially Mac.

Over a year ago I was looking at Mac and remarked how bad he looked - he did - he looked like an old worn out horse while Anni did not. I was told that he was merely an old horse and his conformation was not good and that made him look older. My gut told me something was wrong - 16 was not old for a Haflinger - but I conceded to the expert.

So, I was selfish/ignorant/both and Mac really paid for it. The good news is that I followed up on expert information with care for Mac's back. Turns out that Mac needed steady work, that he wasn't getting, in addition to the back injection that he got.

Mac was is terrible shape when he went to a new trainer at the beginning of this year. I knew he hadn't been worked in months but it turned out to be more serious than I thought. His breathing was shallow (he'd get winded at a walk) in addition to having no muscle tone. Mac ended up in the hospital and we would have lost him if not for quick action on the trainer's part and the excellent care he received at the vet hospital. I was away when this happened because my Mom went into the emergency room and ended up having surgery so I flew out to help her. When it rains it pours.

I got home in time to pick Mac up from the hospital. I ended up arguing with the vet over the phone to have Mac tested for Lyme. Another horse had gotten it on our property and as well as our dog and a friend's dog. Both of our dogs also had anaplasmois (another tick borne disease) as well as a boarder's horse, so I was very sensitive to tick borne diseases. The vet hospital said Mac was not symtomatic but I said I didn't care - I wanted him tested. I was waiting for the results and finally realized that my local vet had thought that the vet hospital had tested Mac who hadn't. When Mac was finally tested he was VERY positive for Lyme.

To make this long story a tad shorter - 1 month of apple-flavored powdered doxycyline in Mac's feed (he actually liked the stuff) and now Mac is a new horse. His trainer (who I will have a separate post on) has done an excellent job with his recovery and Mac looks like he did when we bought Oki. Actually, better. Mac is VERY happy in his work.

The hard part now is to find him a good home, but I have great hopes on that front. The right person will come along. Mac is too young and likes to work too much to just be my pasture horse for another 10 years!!! Keep fingers, paws and hooves crossed that we find him a great family.

And - oh - NEVER beat yourself up for things that you regret you did/didn.t do in the past. Just make certain you that you learn from the experience and don't do them again. And also make certain you do what I say and NOT what I do ;).

Dream Crafting

2009-08-02T20:30:00.005-04:00

I once had a dream - a dream of a musical dressage freestyle performance. I watched every upper level musical freestyle I could, collected articles, I sat with video footage of Oki and a metronome to determine the normal speed of his gaits, I collected possible music saved in an iTune play list titled "An Oki Event" and figured out what I needed to know in Garage Band so I could put together the music end of the performance. It was a wonderful combination of two of my loves: music and horses. This is the best example of what my dream looked like. Amazing performance! There was of course a major flaw in my plan - since I don't have the riding talent, the execution relied on someone else. And whenever something depends on another, it is completely out of your control.

However, my dreams die hard and this one has been restructured in a way I could have never possibly imagined. That dream was my previous post - musical freestyle with my girls. The best part is that much of the information I had collected to do dressage musical freestyle is applicable to canine musical freestyle. One of my favorite things is finding music, editing, and designing the routines. I have 14 songs already edited down to the standard 2 - 2.5 minutes and more keep popping into my head. Training my girls to do what they need to and when will take much longer but I am having a complete blast. We continue to do library performances and I am learning so much. I have a great teacher and wonderful resources in several excellent dog trainers. The practice I do without my girls to perfect the timing is keeping me physically fit. I am also incorporating my art into the routines. And the great thing is that because it is "free" style me and my girls can continue to do it even if physical constraints affect any of us!

No matter how old I am, I will always have and pursue my dreams - that way I will never truly be old! Pursue your dreams and don't let them depend on others!

Performance Dogs

2009-07-15T21:24:00.012-04:00

OK, I admit I am VERY behind on my posts and I will give the background to this post in the near future. But for now I have to share with you what we did tonight - the "surprise" I eluded to a couple months ago. We have added a new meaning to what our girls are: "performance" dogs. They are classified that by our vets because of their hunting, agility and other athletic endeavors. Tonight we have done our first traditional "performance": that of dancing to music!

Back in April I took a workshop with a very special lady, Bev Blanchard, who gave an info-packed presentation on all aspects of musical freestyle. The last couple months I've been taking lessons with a very talented lady, Caryn Tindal, creator of Dazzle Dogs. She asked us to be "special" guest performers and we did that tonight at our local library.

Penny, of course, was first. She played, well, herself - a Princess. I was - yep - a frog. Here is our girl - her lovely collar was made by our good friend Tess who also took these pictures.
Penny was very happy to perform as you see here as she is "jumping" in time to Peter Gabriel's "Kiss That Frog." Tess also made that niffy bow tie for me.
Since Penny is WAY more graceful than me, she did all the jumping ;). And at the end I was still a frog since she never would kiss me :(.
Maggie is patiently waiting for me as I do my pantomime at the beginning of the Contours' "Do You Love Me?"
My little girl was a little distracted but she did great and at the end she did "love me" ... "now that I can dance" - well, sort of ;).
I want to thank Caryn for being such a great teacher & inspiration and giving us this opportunity, Bev Blanchard for her awesome freestyle clinic back in April, Kim for helping me with her amazing training expertise & encouragement, Tess for her wonderful support and sewing talent, Len for helping with set-up and finding froggy stuff ;) and all my friends for letting me bore them with all of this! We couldn't have done this without you all!!

Independence Day

2009-07-04T07:00:00.003-04:00

Today as we all celebrate the birth of our nation and the freedoms that we often take for granted I dedicate this post to Kerri's niece Avery and am sharing one of my favorite pictures of her and Max some years back.

You probably remember seeing posts wishing for her quick release at the end of last year. Avery has been back in the hospital for several months now - she is fitted with a mechanical heart and is waiting for a heart transplant. But please, don't feel sorry for her, this little 5 year old spit fire has more courage in her little pinky than most people I know. The courage of her family and how they are facing this challenge with love and optimism is an inspiration to us all. You can find out more about Avery from Kerri's blog where she posts news. Scroll down to the bottom to see pictures of this amazing little girl.

Let us all in our celebrations today pray for the continued independence of our country and for the independence of this amazing little girl. God Bless All!

A Major Award

2009-07-01T04:58:00.001-04:00

And a New Job...
I typically don't talk about my "real" job on this blog but I couldn't resist sharing this. I recently won a major award at work and every time I heard it referred to as "a Major Award" I couldn't help but think of the movie "Christmas Story" and the exchange:

"What is it?"
"Well, why it's a Major Award"

I was honored for more than 10 years of work on a ground breaking experimental program and the careful documentation of said program creating a living document of over 3,000 pages for those to learn from all my experience AND mistakes. I don't want anyone to fall into the same "holes" as I did - especially those containing sharp pointy spikes! This way, future test performers will only fall into holes of their own making - hopefully minus the sharp pointy spikes.

This program was probably a once in a life time endevour which was my "child" for so many years. I must admit I was sad when the apron strings had to be severed. But I got lots of kind words, a fancy dinner with my spouse, and a nice plaque that I can send to my Mom.

With that project done since the beginning of the year, I'm now off on a new job. I'm still in the same location, I even kept my same desk. But different boss with a different style and a really different project. I don't know anything so I'm learning from square one. Because I love to learn, this is a lot of fun. But at the same time it is totally terrifying. I feel I don't know enough to be useful yet and that stresses me. I know this will quickly (I hope) change. I hate feeling non-productive.

All of this I expected to feel. The one thing I'm surprised to feel, at least temporarily is...relief. In my other project I was it - I had no one to learn from and no backup. The buck did indeed stop with me. I never had any problem with that and was proud of the fact that I was point-man up the entire chain of command. But at the same time there was the stress of whenever something went wrong - I was responsible - PERIOD. Again, I had no problem with this. It was my project, my baby. If the baby was naughty, it was for me to address it.

Now I have a mentor at least 20 years my junior and I'm proceeding under his guidance. He's a great young engineer who has advanced quickly because of his talent and hard work. He also has a great positive attitude which is so helpful because the work is very difficult technically and also has a strong legal and political aspect to it which can be frustrating. I am very happy to be working with him.

Needless to say, my overall responsibility is quite low at the moment. I'm only required to learn and work on the project. I now have many "backups" to check my work. My overall responsibility will grow as I learn, but for this short time, that stress of being the lone program administrator is gone.

The experimental program of my "pass life" did fortunately transfer with me to my new job. I'm still supporting prep for the next program, but that does not require much effort compared to the those required during program execution. The program has been suffering continuous delays and there is a good chance that the data collection portion will happen after I am retired.

So, I do miss my "baby" and don't know if I'll be around for the "birthing" of the next one. I hope I will become productive quickly in my new job. Life changes and we change with it. And along the way, life sometimes gives us a "Major Award."

Duck!

2009-06-28T20:57:00.004-04:00

Zoe does this amazing trick with a tennis ball where you place a tennis ball on her nose and she balances it until she snatches it out of the air so fast, if you blink you can completely miss it.

Today we were totally non-ambitious and we didn't feel like throwing a saliva soaked tennis ball for Maggie and Zoe. So we found ourselves inside an air conditioned house where I hid all tennis balls. Poor TB-deprived Zoe found a duck and brought that instead, looking so hopeful that we'd toss the bird. Instead, Kim started balancing the duck on Zoe's nose and Zoe did her trick. It was fun to watch and balancing the duck on Zoe's nose was not easy. Us humans are so easily amused!

We thought "how cool is this?" That was until Len called and when he inquired what we were doing, I heard myself tell him "we're balancing a duck on Zoe's nose." Kim and I both starting laughing thinking how lame that sounded when we said it out loud. (A lame duck perhaps - sorry, couldn't resist - and I owe that to my dear friend Kathryn.) Anyway, Zoe still is absolutely amazing even though her owner's friend is a lame one ;).

Later, I walked into the room to view the picture above: Maggie sacked out with - yep, the duck - on her head. Sorry Maggie - you just don't have near the talent that your beloved Zoe has!!

Heavy, Heavy, Heavy!

2009-06-24T20:20:00.000-04:00

I try very, very hard to bring my lunch into work. For several reasons: 1) I don't take as much time for lunch, 2) if I get caught in a conference call or forget what time it is I don't miss lunch altogether, or 3) it is far cheaper and better than our cafeteria food. I end up eating in the cafeteria for several reasons: 1) I forget my lunch in the frig at home, 2) I forget my lunch on the kitchen counter at home, or 3) I forget my lunch in the mudroom at home because I set it down to go back into the house to get something that I remembered that I forgot. Hum, do you see a pattern developing?

Whenever I DO eat in the cafeteria I typically get the salad bar. It has a good variety and I haven't gotten sick on anything...yet. I was doing very well at avoiding said cafeteria because Len would remember to put a lunch together for me AND remind me it was there. Then he forgot and I forgot and I found myself in work's cafeteria after months of a happy hiatus.

I piled up my plate to be weighed by the ounce and stood in line. When it was my turn, the lunch I expected to be under $4 was almost $7! I exclaimed - "Wow! That is expensive" and looked back to hopefully see that some wise @$$ed co-worker had their finger pressing down on the scale. There was no said co-worker doing anything. Just my little plate of salad sitting there staring back at me rather innocently.

Upon my comment, the cafeteria worker pointed at my innocent little lunch and said "HEAVY, HEAVY, HEAVY!!" punctuating each word with a stab of her pointy finger. Why couldn't she just say that there was a price increase rather than implying I was a glutton? Well, some people have NO sensitivity what so ever!

I sketched two types of scales and couldn't decided which to post so there is two. I am not only forgetful, but indecisive as well. I like the old fashion one, but the electronic one is the one that the evil, insensitive, OVER PRICED cafeteria uses.

A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss

2009-06-23T21:04:00.001-04:00

And Len needs to learn that a rolling husband gathers no tennis balls!

Len was taking a nap and Maggie proceeded to bring every tennis ball
she could find in hopes that he'd awake like a sleeping prince and throw them.

Luckily the other 6 balls were out of reach under the dining room buffet.

Cops & Robber - Therapy Dog Fun

2009-06-22T21:55:00.004-04:00

Much fun was had as these cops & robber broke into the guest home!

Zoe's out fit has K9 as the last characters of her ID.

A face EVERYONE can love!

You can't read it, but Maggie's outfit says "K9 Cop"
While her posture says "Ain't I cool?!"

Doing "hard time."

Maggie proves she ALWAYS gets her dog!
(Note the hand cuffs - they came with her outfit!)
These girls are so tolerant!

UPDATE: I woefully neglected to give homage to someone who you DON'T see in the pictures. Kim, Zoe's owner, is taking the picture. Kim is a wonderful person and trainer of dogs and horses. She has a real gift and her and her girls (Zoe and Jet) are fabulous role models for me and my girls!! I've learned, and continue to learn so much from this generous soul!

Go to the Mattresses

2009-06-21T08:36:00.006-04:00

You know how you have those "little" projects that sort of lie in wait to pipe up to be done at inappropriate times? Well, I've had one. That was to remove some of the gym mats in our attic.

The mats are there for the trampoline that my husband NEVER uses. I have rationalized to leave them be since I use said trampoline. However, lately I've wanted the space for a new project. The surprise project. That probably anyone who reads this blog knows about because I have a great big fat mouth and can't keep exciting stuff to myself.

My reason for NOT doing the job was because it was a big one that I couldn't do by myself. AND there was a ton of paper sitting on it. Well, I exaggerate. Not a ton. But probably a couple hundred pounds that I got for free when a print shop went belly under and they were going to throw it away. I hauled a tiny fraction of the lot - as much as I could stuff in my truck. But first, I needed to clean the storage room up so I could move said paper in there. That was my "reason" for not moving it.

Then enters Kerri and my first artist's date in months at my house. We go upstairs to start art. I fill Kerri in on my plans and how I want to take the mats up. Kerri, being Kerri, offers to help and I exclaim "NO WAY - you are here for art, we are doing ART!"

Now a bit of background. We are BOTH guilty of procrastinating cleaning our art room instead of doing art. So I wasn't going to corrupt her and I was going to do ART.

But then the idea popped into my head. "But you DON'T have to clean the storage room first - you can just pile the paper were it is." The thought nagged me. Then another thought "Oh - you can make room on those shelves in the storage room, just pull the stuff off the shelves and pile it in the storage room. It a great big mess away." And more unwanted thoughts: "Len is home, he can help you move the paper - it won't take long - and the paper is fading there in the sun." UGH!!! So I moved said paper.

And then I started moving, and of course CLEANING all the gym mats AND the floor. Luckily Kerri progressed in her art. I was a GREAT example of want she shouldn't do!!!

In the process of making room for all that paper in the storage room I found a very large empty canvas left over for something we had planned to do for our art show a few years back. So I brought it out and suggested that we do a "joint" art piece. Kerri was up for it and we took turns at it. So among the mattresses art was made by even me. I'll post the canvas in a future post.

It took me 2 more days to get everything cleaned since I also cleaned the mats that were staying there and the floor underneath. There is 800 square feet of 4" thick mats. I don't want to think of how much weight that was. I was VERY sore. And Len was rather annoyed, but was a good sport. But it feels great to have it done. I haven't cleaned the mats in over 10 years and they haven't been pulled up since they were put down. Oh - and I washed the trampoline too.

I want to sell the "extra" mats but Len feels we should sell all at once. Now that I have the space there is a voice calling "get a mini trampoline and claim the rest of the room." Hum...

Agility - It's Not Just for Dogs Anymore!

2009-06-18T01:05:00.001-04:00

File this under the category of "Kids are the mothers of all inventive fun!!" We had some friends coming over whose daughter LOVED dogs. I set up the agility ring for something that Claire could easily run Maggie on. I ran Maggie once, and Sebastian immediately wanted a piece of the action. I told him I'd show him how to do it. But no, HE wanted to run it! And run it he did.
Of course Claire, his sister, did not stand by and let him out do her! Look at the concentration on that young lady's face!!!
Maggie thought this was all rather interesting: "Hey - LOOK - they can do this too!!" FYI Maggie doesn't know what to make of "short people" and was very shy at first. She was trying to sort of hide but was curious and would sort of "sneak up" on them. Then Maggie realized that these short ones can throw balls. Her attitude completely changed!
Here's Claire after the tunnel. Maggie thought - "So she runs through the course and I get my ball - awesome!!"
Meanwhile, Penny thinks "Look at those youngsters. Balls! Running agility! I'm hot. I'm staying in the only shade to be had! Let THEM get heat stroke." Yes, Penny is my smart little girl!!

Okidokie is Okidokie

2009-06-16T00:34:00.002-04:00

Oki is back in North Carolina after returning from Florida. He was there for the winter dressage season in Wellington. He has been doing great with his new trainer Jen Baumert. She does a lovely job and he loves her. Hopefully we'll find him a new home soon! He, as always, is a barn favorite. He is such a loveable guy!!
Here Oki is being warmed up to go for a trail ride - he LOVES going on the trails they have there. They wind through the beautiful country side and cross streams and over bridges. It is great for him to be able to get a break from the dressage training, which he also loves. He gets "hacked" every Friday, weather allowing.

Where Does Time Go?

2009-06-12T12:23:00.003-04:00

I'd really, REALLY, REALLY like to know the answer to that question! As a teenager I loved the song "Time" by Pink Floyd. I knew even then, at some level, the truth of those lyrics. I vowed never to "fritter and waste the hours in an off handed way." And I'd never be "waiting for someone or something to show you the way ".

I had a copy of the lyrics up on the wall when I got my first professional job over 20 years ago. The most important verse to me, is the one I would think about every ten years since:

"And then one day you find ten years have got behind you

no one told when to run, you missed the starting gun..."

I didn't miss the starting gun. I've known I've been in a race and I try to pack as much life and love into every day that I can.

This year has been a huge transition year so I've been doing a lot of re-organizing and strategizing and re-prioritizing. I also have a new job that I'm learning. I'm spending lots of time with old and new friends and lots of time with my puppies. And I've been spending more time with Mac and Anni as well. More on all these topics are coming "soon".

So please be patient with me and my scarce posts. I will try really, really hard to post more often. And since I've done SUCH a lousy job, I can only do better!! I've been spending more time living than posting. The truth is - that "finish line" is getting closer and closer and I have so much more I want to do in my journey!!!

Happy Memorial Day!

2009-05-25T15:19:00.002-04:00

We have had just a beautiful weather for the last few days: mild temperatures with a nice wind and mostly sunny. Today is the prettiest of the last few days. And befitting of a pretty day is a pretty poodle and friends! Here is Penny decked out in a bandanna that our friend Kim lent us for our therapy dog visit yesterday. Penny matched Kim's Zoe, her partner in "crime", at the guest home for visits with the residents.
I had to try the "look" with Maggie. Here with her FAVORITE friend, Zoe. I didn't bring Maggie to the guest home because her short summer cut her ribs show. Yep - we are still trying to get weight on her. Zoe is amazing - she is a great therapy dog and she puts up with Maggie!
This is a another picture of Penny - I had trouble figuring out which I liked better. I'll let you guys vote!! A freedom that all of our honored veterans have fought, and some who have lost their lives, to provide us all.

Hula Haflinger

2009-05-01T14:01:00.003-04:00

Well - here's Anni getting into the native grove!! My work finally sent me somewhere besides the desert or a shipyard. Hawaii for a conference!! Very cool. A looooooong trip but VERY nice once there!! Put on a grass skirt and join our mare for a dance!!

I wanted to use watercolor to give the piece a nice "movement". However, the waterproof pen I used wasn't. It started smugging so I switched to color pencil. Not my favorite color job - but I love my hula-ing mare!!

The Trials and Tributes of Miss Maggie

2009-04-02T20:15:00.003-04:00

I figured you all would be sick and tired of seeing pictures of Maggie flying through/over/around agility obstacles. Instead you will see how hard our little girl worked at the agility trial this last weekend. If Maggie had a better handler she would now have her CPE Level 1 Title. ;) Update - she HAD her Level 1 title after her March trail - her handler is also a lousy score tracker!!

But she still has (sing to the 12* days of Christmas):

Six Qualifiers
Four first place ribbons
Two new level titles
Two second places
One third and fourth places
......and a ugliest dog toy....

* Yes, I can't count....or sing....

Yes, the dog toy is called "the Ugliest Dog Toy."

Signs of Spring

2009-03-31T17:07:00.004-04:00

We were beginning to wonder if it would ever happen. Especially since it was below 32 degrees the first day of spring. But yes, spring is indeed sprouting.

Some of you may wonder what strange "creature" is lurking among the day lilies. I was thinking about how the coming of spring means different things to different people. The signs and symbols differ. Some view it as trees forming buds, birds returning from the south, the Cubs starting their loosing streak in spring training, and other signs.

This photo captures two common ones. The first is pretty universal - the sprouting of plants. The second will be recognized by the horse crowd. What you see is an article of clothing known as "pony fleece." It comes in a variety of styles - gloves, jackets, pullovers and even hats. They come in all colors but quickly turn into whatever color your horse's winter coat is. The gloves shown here is a specialty item known as MacFleece. Yes, this is the time of year that I transfer all the hair off my horses onto my clothing and hair. Since Mac is part woolly Mammouth he generates a generous amount of hair. The sad part is that I actually brushed my gloves off before I took this picture.

Ahhhhhh spring is in the air. AHHH-CHHHOOOO!!! Oops - that's not the only thing in the air - pony hair up my nose on the way to my clothing. ;)

The Princess and the Pirate

2009-03-22T19:26:00.010-04:00

Wow - that sounds like a title to one of those tawdry bodice-ripping romance novels. But, noooo - just the pair of therapy dogs who went to do therapy work this Sunday morning.

So here is the rookie - Maggie, playing the princess.

Here is the pro - Zoe -
showing what a model therapy dog should look like.
Maggie is fortunate to have Zoe as an excellent role model!!

Here's the pair - doing their best to put smiles on faces!!

They sure put smiles on our faces and hopefully yours too!!

Pixies

2009-03-11T19:56:00.005-04:00

I figured I better post something before my fans (all 3 of them - remember it is not the quantity - it is the QUALITY - and they are THE BEST!!) disown me.

I did these little ladies months ago. I think the first one looks like Drew Barrymore!

I'll have more coming soon - how things are going, what I got done (NOT) on my 2008 aspirations list and my 2008 Ta Da list which is very meager.

Stay tuned - I will try to make more art. My artistic energy has been into the puppies lately and also my horses who will be leaving to new homes soon. The ponies are a casuality of my aging body and also the economy. The first new home is a totally fantastic one so I hope the rest all follow that lead!!

Agility Run for Avery!

2009-01-18T19:05:00.007-05:00

At the end of December Maggie went to her first agility trial which we dedicated to Avery. Eight runs in 2 days including complicated games that I have only done once before. Maggie was on antibiotics for Lyme disease but didn't want to let Avery down. Maggie went on to get 6 1sts, 2 2nds, 5 "Qs" and a title! Despite the medication AND especially having the handicap of her human handler, namely me.

Here's some pics to enjoy. Maggie can't wear a collar when she runs. But I had a heart on her lead which I removed for each run and I had my heart pin on. Hope you come home real soon sweet Avery!!

Hearts for Avery

2008-12-24T22:17:00.003-05:00

We've been hoping and praying for Avery, a very brave little girl, and her devoted family for a couple weeks. We've been wearing hearts every day as this vibrant 4-year-0ld has been in the hospital having her 5th, 6th, & 7th open heart surgery. You can see this delightful little sprite on Kerri's blog. Penny and Maggie have been wearing rhinestone hearts on their collars. Today, on Christmas Eve, we extended the hearts to our horses - who are VERY big hearted themselves!

These pictures are dedicated to Avery and her wonderful family - you are in our hearts, minds and prayers!

Tess's horse Benny checks out his heart

Mac gets into the spirit with some reindeer antlers.

Anni Star sends her love off to Boston.

Avery's hearts will stay in place until Avery is home, safe and sound.

Santa Paws

2008-12-23T06:37:00.000-05:00

I bought a Santa Claus outfit for Penny and much to her delight, it didn't fit her. But it fit Maggie. Maggie was a good sport and wore it the buffet at the Guest Home that she and Penny visit as therapy dogs.

Maggie goes with a very experienced Lab on visits so we test road the hat and beard on Jet. Jet was not amused and told us in no uncertain terms that "let the Poodle wear this thing!"

However, Jet didn't mind posing with "Santa Paws"- just as long as she didn't have to wear "the suit." The only shame is that Jet looks FABULOUS in red!!!

Here's Snow in Your Eyes!

2008-12-22T05:45:00.001-05:00

Better than mud in you eyes! And how pray tell did these girls get this way?

Trying to retrieve snow balls ;)

I promise to catch up on posts. I have lots of fun pictures and also interesting pictures between an ice storm and then a snow storm. My scanner is currently not talking to my computer so no new art for a bit. This year I've gotten quite behind between a nasty cold, company change, boss change, work change, farm changes.

This year I have stepped up my contributions to charities this Christmas. Times are very tough for everyone. As I watch my savings plummet, I remind myself that there are people with no savings, no food, and little hope. So I contributed much to "Empty Stocking", Salvation Army, Good Will and various food pantries. I enjoyed shopping for our "Empty Stocking" child at work since he requested art supplies from an art store. Usually I give a nice check - this time I maximized a great selection of art supplies by using all my art coupons. I got over $200 in art supplies for less than $100. It was fun. I am very behind on Christmas for friends and family but I know they understand that these things needed to be done first.

Deck the Halls

2008-12-07T18:59:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I finally starting feeling better and wanted to decorate the house in preparation for a party for Leanne and Dave who are moving on to bigger and better things. We will miss them terribly. I haven't decorated for Christmas in a few years so I looked forward to doing it with the family.

Well, you can see the kind of help I got.

Sort of looks like a rerun of Thanksgiving.

Then Len came to "help."

Maggie was the one who came closest to helping me decorate.

It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it. I just realized I never took pictures of the finished product. Oops!

How We Spent Our Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T19:46:00.002-05:00

Need I say more?

Happy Turkey Day

2008-11-26T02:11:00.000-05:00

From You Favorite Turkey!

Butter Licker Part Deux

2008-11-22T15:57:00.014-05:00

This is indeed a follow up to Maggie's earlier butter transgression. Today we went to make breakfast to discover we only had frozen butter. I placed the butter in the spot where we soften cream cheese - on the kitchen floor at the base of the cabinets directly in front of the heating vent. I told both girls to "leave it" and asked Len if he'd be in the kitchen to keep an eye on it (and "them"). I knew I could trust Penny, but Maggie...well...

I went into the family room to call our equine vet and surprisingly got her on a Saturday. I was expecting only to leave a message. As I was engrossed in my notes and conversation, I noticed out of the corner of my eye Penny trotting in with a thin slip of what looked suspiciously like a butter wrapper. Now, Len does put cream cheese wrappers on the floor for Penny to lick - perhaps that was what happened. However, my spider senses did go up. I finished the conversation and walked into the kitchen: no Len, no Maggie, no butter. I looked over behind the couch to Maggie's "stash" cushion and this is what I found:

Of course she gave me her totally innocent look.

So, butter wouldn't "melt" in her mouth? Hardly. Here is the evidence for the prosecution (note the suspicious teeth marks):

Well, unfortunately with the DNA match from the butter and matching dental impressions (pretty easy when you are missing 7 teeth)...

BUSTED!!!

Luckily Maggie got off lightly. She's a minor and she drove the judge absolutely crazy with fetching her tennis ball - a ploy our lawyer recommended - it worked! However, the judge did inform us that she butter not do it again or he'll have to throw the book (not ball) at her. ;)

How Do You Eat Your Oreo Cookies?

2008-11-20T04:17:00.002-05:00

I have been doing serious cleaning out at work and ran across the following print-out. It is rather amusing if you aren't too sensitive.

Psychologists have discovered that the manner in which people eat Oreo cookies provides great insight into their personalities. Choose which method best describes your favorite method of eating Oreos:

The whole thing all at once.
One bite at a time.
Slow and methodical nibbles, examining the results of each bite afterwards.
In little feverous nibbles.
Dunked in some liquid (milk, coffee...).
Twisted apart, eat the inside, then the cookie.
Twisted apart, eat the inside, and toss the cookie.
Just the cookie, not the inside.
I just like to lick them, not eat them.
I don't have a favorite way because I don't like Oreos.

Scroll down to find your results...

The whole thing: This means you consume life with abandon, you are fun to be with, exciting, carefree with some hint of recklessness. You are totally irresponsible. No one should trust you with their children.
One bite at a time: You are lucky to be one of the 5.4 billion other people who eat their Oreos this very same way. Just like them, you lack imagination, and are just one of the herd.
Slow and methodical: You follow the rules. You're very tidy and orderly. You're very meticulous in every detail with everything you do to the point of being anal retentive. Most people hate you.
Feverish nibbles: You boss likes you because you get your work done quickly. You always have a million things to do and never enough time to do them. Mental breakdowns and suicides run in your family. Megadoses of Prozac and Valium are called for. Now!
Dunked: Everyone likes you because you are always upbeat. You like to sugar coat unpleasant experiences and rationalize bad situations into good ones. You are in total denial about the shambles you call a life.
Twisted apart, the inside, then the cookie: You have a highly curious nature. You take pleasure in breaking things apart to find out how they work., though you are not always able to put them back together, so you destroy all the evidence of your activities. You deny your involvement. You are a compulsive liar and exhibit deviant, if not criminal behavior.
Twisted apart, the inside, and toss the cookie: You are good at business and take risks that pay off. You take what you want and throw the rest away. You are greedy, selfish, mean, and lack feelings for others. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Just the cookie, not the inside: You enjoy pain. And I'm pretty sure you have herpes.
I just like to lick them, not eat them: Stay away from small furry animals and seek psychological help - immediately.
I don't have a favorite way because I don't like Oreos: You probably come from a rich family, and like to wear nice things, and go to up-scale restaurants. You are particular and fussy about the things you buy, own, and wear. You are a priss.

When I showed this to a co-worker they figured that I was #3. I guess they hate me. Look at the comments to see how I really eat my Oreo cookies. Actually, I do two methods: one if they are fresh and a different one if they are stale. How do YOU eat your Oreo cookies?

Anne's Little "Helper"

2008-11-18T05:09:00.000-05:00

"Hi Nancy & Debbie. I had help from Maggie the poodle yesterday. Mostly she just watched. When I was dragging my tarp to the weed pile, she would jump on it and make it stop. When I turned around to see what happened, she stepped back and said Huh? Wasn't me. It's okay if she helps more often. They are both so polite."

Catching up on some ideas I jotted down in my idea-book. Anne sent me the email above and it begged to be illustrated! This is just a quick sketch - I hope to make it into a finished piece using acrylic paints. Maggie is such a clown!!

Emotional Baggage

2008-11-16T17:18:00.003-05:00

Whew! MUCH Better!

Jet's Birthday Card

2008-11-09T12:10:00.004-05:00

I realize that I never posted the birthday card that I made for Jet. Kim throws an elaborate birthday for her girls - she even makes creative cakes with dog food (human grade even!) and does the writing using Cheese Whiz. Very cool. Jet is very good at opening her presents. Since it is such a special event I like to make a handmade card. Black dogs are really hard to do!

I painted Maggie on the back so when you turn it over and open it up it looks like this:
Maggie is ALWAYS looking for trouble.

Mag-lite

2008-11-06T19:21:00.001-05:00

Sorry - couldn't resist. We got tired of not being able to see Maggie at night so we got her a Pup Light. It is fantastic. It is bright, comes on a nice adjustable clip collar that has a guard so it doesn't get caught in her fur, and the light is angled so it doesn't shine in her eyes. And it helps me to see where I am going. Worth every penny of the $21.95 price tag (I went back and got a second one for Penny as well) and it runs on AAAs for a long time.

Have a Ball?

2008-11-04T05:39:00.001-05:00

Shouldn't have given Maggie the concrete-filled tennis ball!

Treat OR Treat??

2008-11-02T18:01:00.005-05:00

With our girls, it was all about treats and no tricks!! Halloween evening we went to visit our friends at our town's Guest Home. We had 2 pumpkin girls (Zoe and Molly) and Penny went as a hot dog.

Frank here is our biggest fan & looks forward to the dogs' visits each week. We joke that he just likes to get the girls into his bed.
Zoe is very happy to comply!

Zoe was amazing - she wore that little pumpkin mask!

Penny was not so amused. She thought this dressing up thing was totally beneath her.

More news to come - Maggie went to get her Canine Good Citizens AND Therapy Dog International certifications so she can join in the fun. Maggie will be a super therapy dog - she LOVES people.

Hydo-Girl

2008-10-12T19:19:00.006-04:00

Penny has been going through rehab at Shaker Vet for the last month. They have an underwater treadmill - like the one we wish we had nearby for Oki a couple years back. I get to drop Penny off before work (as early as 5am) and pick her up after work. The facility is 25 minutes from my work but when you do a 2.5 hour round trip commute, putting in some extra drive time isn't a big deal. Especially when it is for a four-legged member of the family!

Jenn and Rebecca at Shaker Vet are absolutely fantastic. Penny gets laser therapy first, then heat, then a massage, some stretching, and then she goes into the hydro tank!! Friday I went it to see Penny and Jenn do their stuff!
Here's Penn with Jenn - who she absolutely adores. And the feeling is mutual! I am lucky to have such a wonderful facility and people close by. Next stop is the underwater treadmill. Jenn asks Penny "Are we ready for a swim?" and Penny wags her tail enthusiastically.

The trendmill is just like one you'd find in the gym - except for the water part. It has speeds up to 5 mph and also has an adjustable incline. The water level is adjustable and provides resistance for a good work out. The low impact is perfect for rehabing surgery patients - Shaker Vet rehabs a lot of dogs that undergo knee surgery. I took this picture pointing the camera at a big mirror they have to the side so Jenn can view Penny from that angle while she stands directly in front of Penny.

After the 15 minutes in "the tank" Penny gets dried off and then goes into her "when-I-get-all-wet" crazy play mode. Penny goes back to the rehab room for a nice ice pack and then...
...she takes her place of honor under Jenn's desk. Typically Penny naps there until I come and pick her up after work. This little girl certainly has the life! I wanted someone to warm up and massage MY neck so I could curl up with Penn under the desk and take a nap. But alias, I had to go back to work. Bummer ;).

Fall is in the Air

2008-10-07T13:14:00.003-04:00

This morning we woke up to the first real frost. I'd like to report there was frost on the pumpkins, however, they all liquefied when we were gone. They are now compost.

This fall could be a bit better. The economy has hit the farm hard and we are looking at closing things down. We are selling Oki which is very traumatic. He is such a lovable horse. Yes, we bought him in 2004 with plans to sell him in 2 years and it didn't happen. Then he needed an operation. Then he needed to recover and get back his strength. And try as hard as we tried not to, we fell in love. Love bites... The goal now is to work as hard as we can that he sells to a good owner. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

On the canine front, Penny is still lame (since the end of June) and Maggie was excelling in her field training until last week when she got a snotty nose. It won't go away. Antibiotics aren't help. Today we are having a specialist scope her (that means sticking a tube up her nose and taking a peek) to see if she has a foreign body up there. Does this sound familiar? Can you spell A-N-N-I? I sure hope we're not replaying that senario. VERY frustrating. The good news is that Maggie doesn't have a fever and is eating fine. But then the same was true with Anni. Meanwhile we're taking Penny in for more x-rays later this afternoon. I hope this month comes to a close with two healthy dogs!

Apple Care?

2008-10-05T16:58:00.005-04:00

Sorry I've been MIA lately. A combo of travel, dealing with things on the farm I rather stay in denial about, and "upgrading" my beloved Mac computer. A bit of background on my Mac. I started out with an iBook that was literally bullet proof. However, I filled up the 30 GB hard drive (mostly with music and photos) so I got a PowerBook with a 80 GB drive and a much faster processor so that Photoshop Elements would run faster.

That was 3 years ago. Believe it or not, I filled up my 80 GB of hard drive on my 12" PowerBook. It has performed great for me, even after I dropped it from 4 foot onto a tile floor, when it was open. No, I DIDN'T do this on purpose - my foot caught the power cord. Oopsie! I really didn't need a new computer, just a bigger drive. I entertained the thought of erasing things off but was far too lazy. So I call my favorite Apple Guy who no longer sells Apple computers - but repairs them. I had a couple questions for AG. I've had trouble with my superdrive and wanted to replace it BEFORE my Apple Care warranty ran out. I also had one of those batteries that could catch on fire - again - too lazy to replace it earlier when they recalled them. And I had the storage problem. He gave me a great option - put in a 160 GB drive for a little more than buying another external one. AWESOME! Problem solved. I also saved on the installation because opening up the computer to replace the superdrive was covered by the warranty.

I happily dropped off my Mac before work and expected to pick it up afterwards. Then I got "the call." The AG forgot that in order to get to the superdrive, he'd have to pull the logic board out - which was akin to doing brain surgery. He was chicken to do this so he needed to send my beloved Mac to Apple. There were many apologies and he wasn't going to charge me for the installation of the hard drive which was very nice of him. I was leaving on a week trip and figured it was a good time to send the computer to Apple. I brought it home for the night to copy some files I needed and set up my email. I love Apples - it looked EXACTLY like my old one - only with 80GB of extra space. Everything was there - all my preferences, bookmarks, passwords, etc. I dropped the computer off the next morning and left the state. That is when the "fun" started.

The Apple Care Guys decided for some unknown reason to reformat my new hard drive. I lost everything. But not to worry - I had the old disk drive. I took it back to the original AG (not to be confused with the ACG) so he could repeat what he did. The only problem was that something happened to the old disk drive and the AG had to bring my files over by pieces. I lost my preferences, my calendar, etc. Bummer. Luckily I had totally backed up my old drive on my backup hard drive. I have been spending time trying to get things back to where they were - computer people are twisted and don't put files where you think they should be. I needed an absure file called com.apple.iCal.plist buried down in the file structure. NOT very intuitive - luckily my AG helped me over the phone. So I'll be using my computer and see what I'm missing as things don't work. Lovely.

The good news is that I just burned 2 DVDs and it worked - both times. My computer is now WAY cooler because of my new battery. I use to be able to heat our house with it. I have a theory that the superdrive died because of the heat (the battery sat right under the superdrive.)

Computers - can't live with 'em, can't blog without 'em!

Lounge Queen

2008-09-13T10:32:00.006-04:00

This picture so reminds me of the Carol Burnett version of "Princess and the Pea". Maggie illustrates that Penny isn't the only "Queen of the Cushion". Maggie will jump up on our pile of deck furniture cushions when we bring them in. Sometimes they are piled 7 high and she can make it without knocking them down - for at least a little while.

Penny thinks this is terribly un-lady-like and claims a REAL Poodle only lofts Herself on a single plushy cushion or plushy piece of furniture. As usual, our little Maggie has a different point of view.

Maggie also illustrates that no pile of cushions is complete without a tennis ball. Maggie's idea of an essential fashion item!!

Day Break

2008-09-04T21:29:00.001-04:00

Here's to a bright future on the horizon.

Think positive so that which you manifest is before you!

I promise more art soon dear friends!

Where I've Been

2008-08-24T16:21:00.002-04:00

Ha! And here you thought I'd be reporting form somewhere glamorous. I think not. I have been embroiled with life's "pleasures." Our house turned traitor on us about half a year ago. Nothing that we couldn't ignore: some of the cycles of our dish washer wouldn't stop washing unless we shut off the circuit breaker. The automatic ice and water dispenser on the outside of the fridge stopped dispensing, our water pressure has slowly gone south leaving us with the added extra bonus of black grit in our bath water. Add to this those silly water-saver toilets that were installed in the house to be environmentally conscience that have to be plunged if anything more than 2.75 sheets of regular Charmin (0.77 sheets of ultra-strong Charmin - only useful if you have a butt the size of a pixie - which I don't) gets flushed down them.

Wait a minute - I digress. Those toilets have plagued me since the house was new. Every year I request a new toilet in our master bath as my anniversary present. Ah-back to the traitorous house. We are also in the middle of putting in emergency backup generators to keep the houses and barn water supplies working and keep from freezing solid during one of our many power outages. Believe it or not, our power grid is so ancient that it has been brought to it's knees by small rodents - namely squirrels and chipmunks. The rest of the time it is Mother Nature. More on Her later. We don't yet have those generators operational so that in the event of the next squirrel migration we will have power to our dishwasher that won't stop running EVER, so our water pump can dump a slow stream of gritty water on us and the refrigerator dispensers remind us that when we forget and out of habit go to get water, that they don't work. We are waiting for transfer switches so the generators can be hooked up. We've already paid for everything (propane tanks are expensive as well as the propane that goes in them) and even the NEW stuff isn't yet working. Perhaps whatever our house has is contagious!

OK, so all these things are not a big deal. However, the fact the septic system has broke in the house that Leanne and Dave live in is a BIG DEAL. And I'm having problems getting people out to fix it. Currently it is unknown what is up. We are BIG on preventative maintenance and pump the tanks every 2 years (it has been 1.5 years). It is unclear if all this rain has caused a problem, the generator installing equipment broke something, or if the old farm house caught the same disease from our house and because it is older it really broke but good.

All of this, added to another issue, made me feel like I've been living in the ... yep. You get the picture. And speaking of the picture. Maggie "helped" me with it a bit. She kept knocking my elbow when I was trying to paint: she was trying to get me to throw her tennis ball. At least Maggie didn't "help" me as much as Penny "helped" me in writing an email to Kerri. Kerri's reply was "--It's a good thing that Penny has so many other talents. She's a terrible typist!" Gotta love how that Kerri!

UPDATE: (This post has sat in the "edit" stage for awhile.) The distribution box between the septic tank and leach tanks was "plugged", so the shitty problem has been found and fixed! The back up generator is working for the barn and other our house. Meanwhile, our house continues its traitorous ways and the new power generator is missing...parts. I guess it IS contagious!

It was a Small Group with Particular Tastes

2008-07-30T04:37:00.001-04:00

That is what I was told when I picked up my unsold artwork at Hubbard Hall on Tuesday. Supposedly everyone was looking for landscapes. The coordinator was so apologetic about the fact that NONE of my artwork sold. I felt bad because my artwork not selling means it did not make them money. We walked over to get my pieces and it turned out that they had packed all the unsold pieces in my box. It turns out that one of my pieces sold as well as two of Kerri's. There were only three other pieces left which was really better than the last time. They made over $6,000! YAY!

Here's the only one that sold.

This is the one I had yet to do a background for in an earlier post. The background is more colorful than it shows here - this is rather bleached out. I find it amusing that the one I feel has the most whimsy to it sold. That is probably telling. Or perhaps it merely matched someone's bathroom.

I'm not devastated. The ones that didn't sell will make great gifts. I realize that I did not post the one I did of my "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" travel sketch. This one I will give Tess - Bennie's human.

A very amusing event transpired in the identity of the only piece of Kerri's artwork that didn't sell. It was the piece that Kerri just never liked because she thought the lady looked possessed. Kerri called her "pissed-off woman" or "annoyed lady." Len and I found this very amusing because we liked this piece the best. Kerri so blocked this piece out of her mind that when I asked her what to title it she emailed me "Dreamer." What is quite funny is that when I went to put the link to her piece I found that she had already titled it "Alight" and forgot. I guess you were trying to just block her out of your memory Ker! ;)

Dirt Diva

2008-07-19T16:09:00.004-04:00

I wrote a lovely post to go with this drawing in an email and somehow deleted it. So I'll try to remember what the heck I wrote!

I had a great artist date with Kerri, my favorite partner in crime. We had the luxury of me staying over night so we could indulge in relaxing and not having to work to such a strict time schedule. Kerri spoiled me with great company, great food, and an only 15 minute commute to my work (compared to a 65 minute commute). I did have a bit of a art-challenged day. I couldn't mix paint colors to save my life. I tried to put together a drawing I wanted to do and it just wasn't coming together. I finally have the wisdom to stop trying to force something that doesn't want to work to work. So the above lady just appeared and I decided to roll with it.

My Dirt Diva is a tribute to Kerri. She loves and nurtures her landscaping and flowers. She made a comment that I found that I also very much relate to. She won't miss her house, but she would miss the outside parts. I totally agree. I love my perennial gardens that I curse at every year when things either die out or totally take over. Seems it is always one or the other!

We had another storm coming with hail so I decided to take some pictures of my gardens before they got clobbered. Here's a couple. We've had storms predicted all weekend and we only got one so far. It took the power out as I was writing this post. Luckily, Len fired up the generator and I'm able to finish. Bye for now!

Poodles vs Labs

2008-07-13T20:49:00.005-04:00

Ha! Ha! Try to get your toy back!

Mine! No, MINE!, No it's NOT - IT IS MINE!

Sure - now you bring in your friend to help you!

The only way you are gonna get back your toy
is to pry it out of my cold, dead teeth.

A bit swamped to do art, so a few pictures of 11 month old Maggie and Leanne's Joey (7 month old Lab pup). These two LOVE each other and with Penny's shoulder hurting her it is good to have another puppy to run around with like a complete lunatic!

Vogue

2008-07-10T22:37:00.002-04:00

This is probably the only one of the Hubbard Hall boards that I like. I had this pencil sketch kicking around for awhile, wanting to "colorize" it. This is all acrylic with some pen. I sort of used the technique that Kerri used for her boards. The MFD was coated with white gesso. Then I lightly penciled in the drawing. I filled in the basic colors. Then I painted in the background. I did this because I was petrified that I would end up screwing up my main subject by blopping background paint right in the center of the subject's face. I then painted in my lovely lady and penned in line work. I then put a mask over Miss Vogue and dropped in texture using a background stamp inked with a Color Box chalk ink pad.

Now comes the tricky part. I liked it as it was. I was going to drop in the words "V-O-G-U-E" vertically down the side. I was really nervous to do it. I felt that it needed nothing more. Was this true, or was I being lazy? Or was I nervous I'd ruin it with that "one-last-thing" like I frequently do with my art. Sometimes I just don't know when to quit.

So I stamped the words on a transparency to see how it would look. this is a scan of it. I still think I like it just plain. But I figured I would show my devoted fans and get some independent opinions. I have looked at it way too much. If I put the lettering in, I probably should start the word with the "V" where the "O" is. Hum...

Artist Date & Hubbard Hall Project

2008-07-09T22:33:00.003-04:00

During our artist date I was really struggling in creating some art on the 6"x8"MDF (medium density fiber board) supplied to us. This time around, we can do other sizes and don't have to use the MDF.

Last year I played with a variety of projects that lended themselves well to the board. 3 of the 4 pieces I made sold. This year I really wanted to translate my cartoons to the board. This was tough since I typically use watercolor, or a combo of watercolor and color pencil. I repainted one board 6 times.

This board was one I was very happy with the basic background which is acrylic painted stamped over using two colors of Color Box chalk ink. It is modeled after a ATC that I made a while back using an Anahata Katkin background. I got stuck at that point. I decided to do the red gloved lady in watercolor and cut her out instead of painting her directly on the board. I did paint the "arch" directly on the board. I used a compass to draw the lines for the rings. The "petals" I cut out from those sponges that are flat until you drop them in water. I then "inked" them with acrylic paint.

I'm not real happy with the finished product and like my original ATC card much better. The paint I used for the ring was shinny when it dried. So I painted over with dilute matte gel medium to take the shine off. It muddied the color more than I like. The plus was that I could use color pencil over the top of it to lay in details. Over all I am not thrilled with this. But I did learn a few things I would like to try to perfect. I am not confident that this one will sell.

Don't worry - I'm not on a completely negative jag - I'll be posting my favorite one next!

A Matter of Scale

2008-07-08T20:08:00.002-04:00

I was playing around trying to translate some of my red gloved ladies into finished, salable art. This is a lady I created for a Illustration Friday topic. I painted her on watercolor paper and cut her out. Then I got side tracked. I was looking through some of my favorite art work: Anahata Katkin's "spare parts" that I have used in my art work. I so love her color combos that I will peruse her art work for color combo ideas. In this case, I was looking for some good background colors that I could use as a seed idea to create an interesting background using colors that I don't normally use. Typically, I fall in love with a color palette and then have trouble of "letting go" of it. In the process of looking through Anahata's book full of journal pages, I fell in love with one and had to drop my little red gloved lady into it. So I'm sharing it with you all.

I will need to go off and make my own background for this lady. I doubt it will look as good as this one. When I paint my own backgrounds I can't do anything this detailed.

Apple of My Eye

2008-07-05T21:53:00.009-04:00

Another drawing from recent trip. I had in mind a series of "bad girls from history." This one got "Eve-fied." The serpent on the head piece brought to mind the garden of Eden so I threw in an apple.

My travel kit for this last trip was quite light. I did a small carry on only and wanted to tuck in a small art kit. I focused on doing the finished art in my 4"x4" kraft paper notebook. I brought my color pencil set, smallest travel watercolor kit with my custom palette, a couple brushes (one with a built-in water reservoir), a few permanent pens, a pencil sharpener and an eraser.

All packed up the supplies were quite compact. Of course I had with my trusty Moleskine notebook where the pencil sketches that end up in the kraft paper notebook are born.

I recorded which color pencils that I brought with in the back of my kraft paper. After doing a few drawings, I could narrow the colors down even further.

Happy Independence Day

2008-07-04T22:51:00.007-04:00

I got quite a treat this holiday. It was to start with an artist date with Kerri, my partner in artistic crime, on the 3rd. I got a delightful surprise that when I invited Kerri to bring Max and stay over night she finally said yes!! That made up for the fact that I blew out my back and was in a world of pain and unable to clean the house. But true friends don't mind that you haven't vacuumed your house. ;) Maggie was ecstatic that she had a new canine pal in the house and Penny just moped around hoping to hell that this one wasn't never going back home like Maggie still hasn't.

Kerri and I started Thursday doing some projects to donate for the Hubbard Hall Project fund raiser. I am certain that Kerri will be posting her fun art. I'm still fighting with mine. I am doing some of my cartoons in acrylic paints - a medium I really don't know how to use. But that ain't stopping me. I'll post my creations in various stages of un-doneness over the next few days. I have repainted one background 3 times now. I hope tomorrow I will figure it out.

Thursday night we had a wonderful dinner and then headed out with the puppies to a near-by drive-in: Wally E and Get Smart. We got a short sit outside the car until it started to drizzle rain. Max was begging some popcorn with real butter from Kerri. Sorry for the blurry picture, but I am amazed it came out at all - it was almost dark and I shot it with the flash off. We enjoyed Wally E having to turn the car off and on now and then to defrost the front windshield. The hot air from 3 people and 3 dogs and a very humid night created a bit of fogging. We couldn't stay awake through Get Smart so we headed home to our beds.

Friday, the 4th, consisted of some nice walks on a beautiful day, some art, and tacos for lunch.

After stuffing ourselves with tacos, margaritas and guacamole, everyone was really in the mood for a siesta. A great day was had by all.

Hope everyone had a great Independence Day! I'm sitting through the 4th showing of Independence Day - something good to watch and paint by.

Twinkle Toes

2008-06-24T21:14:00.004-04:00

Life is totally crazy but I had to share this photo that Dave (Leanne's husband) snapped of her and Oki. This was from the show-from-hell. It was super windy and horses were flipping out all over. Leanne was wise and asked the judges if she could wear her helmet instead of her FEI top hat. I was VERY happy about this. The judges agreed and said they wished more people would have done it that day.

Aren't they the such a good looking pair!?!?

Illustration Friday: "Hoard" - Fact or Fiction?

2008-06-22T20:33:00.010-04:00

I thought a bit about the act of hoarding. Of things that I have been accused of hoarding. Of things I have accused others of hoarding. Of things I've advised others to hoard for that rainy day or impending meteor impact. So the following are a few scenarios that I will leave for my readers to decide.

Mac's Carrot Hoard

If you picked "a" as fiction and "b" as fact you are correct. Mac has been unsuccessful in hoarding food stuffs. His style is to stuff food in his mouth, keeping his hoard in his belly only temporarily.

Maggie's Tennis Ball Hoard

If you picked "a" as fact and "b" as fiction you would be partially correct. Maggie tries to hoard her balls in Penny's crate. However, she is the charter member of TBA (Tennis Ball Anonymous) because Maggie can't hold her balls - she brings them to any available human who throws them until they end up under the sofa.

Debbie's York Peppermint Pattie Hoard

If you picked "a" as fact, you are correct. I kept my hoard of York peppermint patties at work in the second drawer of my file cabinet. I try very hard to "ration" them out during the day. The chipmunk look isn't a good one for me so I eat one at a time. The migration time between drawer and my mouth is directly proportional to my frustration level during the work day. Some days they don't last past 7:03 am!

The technique was really quick in a 4" x 4" kraft paper notebook using pen, color pencil and water color (which bled through the thin paper muddying things up a bit - oops - I don't typically put 2 page spreads in that notebook.)