Tuesday Morning

Can't you relate to this little girl? She looks pretty grumpy to me! Actually this is a fine morning, and I'm happy to be awake and enjoying a cup of coffee before rushing off to class. The little hummingbird in this picture sits on the tomato lattice and gaurds the hummingbird feeder from other hummers. What a selfish little thing! Although..I suppose I guard my resources every bit as much as she does- especially my time.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life" Matthew 6: 25-27

Over the long weekend, I was able to get some painting done (and let the dogs run all over the apartment since all my neighbors were gone).

I went on an African Art painting spree - I finished 5 paintings similar to this one, but this one is my favorite. They seem to be fairly popular at ATCsforAll, so I might make a few more since I enjoyed making them so much. They are simple to make as well. I simply masked out the sun, did an orange/yellow wash for the background, painted the brown ground, painted the clothing, and used a liner brush to paint the people. On subsequent paintings, I let the people dry and then went back and added shadows to the ground and clothing. Last I removed the masking fluid and painted some light yellow around the perimeter of the sun. Quite fun and relaxing.

I did this one for my latest swap. I'm trying to break myself of the habit of outlining everything!

This last painting may or may not be for my swap. I have to decide if it fits the theme of COLORFUL Hot Air Balloons. I'll see if anyone sends in cards that could be swapped for it :)

Friday features the first test of this instructional block. So goals for this week...

• keep up with house work (less distraction for studying)
• read bible daily
• Complete Week 1 of 10k training.
• KEEP UP with STUDYING!

Those are lofty goals for me, but I think they are doable. Leave some encouragement if you drop by!

Peace and Love to all!

**edit: Chase informs me that that is male juvenile Ruby Throated Hummingbird as indicated by the one little reddish dot on his throat. Whether male or female, it's one grumpy-looking bird!

Butterflies!

Chase and I recently went hiking at 3 Creeks. Chase didn't have much luck finding birds, but I enjoyed taking pictures of all the butterflies. So today I dug out the bug book Uncle Bo bought us and here's what I came up with. Whatever they are, I think they are beautiful, and I might try painting them someday.


Red-spotted Purple - Limenitis arthemis astyanax

Gorgone Checkerspot - Cylosyne gorgone I think?

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - Papilio glaucus

Hackberry Emperor - Asterocampa celtis

Small Hound Meets Big, Scary World: Dog Park Fail

Well, it's me again - the lovable beagle-mix who needs a home. Last night I rested wonderfully! I didn't feel the need to howl at foster-mom for putting me in a crate or anything. The crates not so bad..it's good for sleeping in. Anyway - when I woke up, foster-mom and the other 2 dogs all went on a nice walk in the beautiful morning sunlight. I like grass now! It has lots of good smells! Baaooo! After that we all came back and us dogs all took a nap!

Around lunch time, foster-mom put me and Ruby in the car. I'm not sure I like the car..after all I've only ever been in one on one other occasion! Well when we finally got to this "dog park" thing, we went in. Foster-mom let me go off leash! I was a little nervous about it... I was sniffing this humongous-darkish-flat-shiny surfaced-wet thing when all of a sudden a large dog (much larger than me) bounds up to me! In my surprise, I stumbled head first into the thing (mom called it a "pond"). I flailed my legs and gave the beagle-cry. Before I realized it, I had flailed my way into the middle of the pond. I thought I was going to die. I fought for my life! Suddenly something grabbed me, and I was so frightened, I snapped at it. But it carried me to dry land, and to my surprise it was foster-mom! She had saved me from the "pond." I stayed glued to her side for the rest of the time at the "dog park." It wasn't much fun, so we left really fast after that. I'm so relieved to be back in the apartment...I'm going right back to sleep!

Colorful Hot Air Balloons

http://www.atcsforall.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16585

If you're an artist - join my latest swap: "Colorful Hot Air Balloons"

What a beautiful morning! I'm sitting in the den enjoying the sun and a light breeze through the screen door. Occasionally a hummingbird alights on the feeder or the lattice of my tomato plant. It's very peaceful so I think I'll get some studying done.

Small Hound Meets Big World

Hello Everybody!

My nickname is Nestle, but foster-mom says that probably won't be my forever name. I was born 7 months ago in a laboratory. My daddy carries a gene that causes a shaky disease....er....Barkingson's [Parkinson's] like disease (or something like that). Not sure why they call it Barkingson's - not sure what so bad about barking sons, but it must be bad.. Anyway, whatever it is the scientists said I don't have it nor did any of my 5 siblings - must be those fine beagle genes from my mama! So the scientists began the search for a forever home since they couldn't use me and they wanted the best thing for me. All my siblings have found their forever homes (see Will and Lauren's blog for my brother, Marcel's story. He's a Texas hound now!), but I'm still left...

Today was a crazy day. I thought the lab was all there was, but boy was I surprised. Today foster mom came. She's come to visit me a couple of times, and I always love her visits because I get to go out in the hall and PLAY!! Baoooooooo!!! Oh, here's a picture of me from June...





But when foster-mom came to see me today, she put this funny thing around my neck. She called it a "leash" but I think she must have meant leach... I don't care for it all that much. Then she picked me up and took me out of the lab! Did you know there's a whole world out there? And there's this stuff called "grass." It smells funny and it tickles my paws. I don't really like walking on it, but foster-mom promises me that someday I'll love grass.. What's so good about grass? After I met grass, foster-mom gave me a bath. She said I won the prize at most challenging to bathe...it was not fun, but winning a prize is good right?

This is me today! I'm a bit nervous in this picture. Foster-mom says I gained 10 pounds since my June..that makes me 26 pounds. Foster-mom says that I'm "pudgy." That means cute, right?

Foster-mom really likes me, and I determined to give this BIG world a chance, but right now everything is so new! If you know anyone at all that would like to be my forever-family, please tell foster mom. Although she loves me very much, she just can't keep me!

Yeargh!

This weekend Chase and I visited Branson with my family. The only show we saw was Noah. The set was amazing and the trained animals were fun to watch.

We also played miniature golf at the Pirate course. Fun times!

Don't you love his pirate face?

My family is a huge blessing to me. I'm very grateful for all of them!

Summer Adventures

Each morning I wake up to the sound of puppies whining to be let out of their crates. So I crawl out of bed, wash my face and get dressed for the day. After leashing all the puppies, we make our way out the door trying not to get tangled in the mess of leashes. Sometimes I make 2 trips. I come back and get the coffee started (or Chase starts the coffee). While the dogs play musical dog bowls, while Chase and I eat breakfast. Then the dogs chase each other around like wild animals for an hour..we go outside again. Then it's my favorite part of the day: puppy nap time. During this peaceful time, I read, paint, watch television, clean the house - whatever strikes my fancy. My favorite shows are Clean House and Warehouse 13. Clean House features incredibly messy homes filled to the brim with clutter and keepsakes that are cleaned up and redecorated using proceeds from a yard sale...that is if the folks will let go of all that junk! It's so easy to get caught up in the American attitude of consumerism - until we hold on to things until they are suffocating us! I feel sorry for the folks on the show because most of them have lost someone important, and they've attached memories and feelings to the junk in their house. They struggle to let it go because to do so would mean they are letting go of the person they lost. So Niecy Nash, in her high heels and colorful suit, gives the owners a firm scolding and challenges them to separate their feelings from the inanimate objects, and honor their lost ones in another way. Meanwhile, Trish, Matt, Mark, and the team clean up the house, organize a yard sale, and redecorate. I love seeing the homes transformed from "foolish to fabulous" and feel inspired to clean up my own foolishness and mayhem. Aaaah...blessed organization! Warehouse 13 is just a fun syfy show.

My summer reading so far has just been 2 books - Francine River's The Scarlet Thread and Jerusha Clark's The Life You Crave; the Promise of Discernment.

Here's the description of The Scarlet Thread:

"The story of two women, centuries apart, who are joined through a tattered
journal as they contend with God, husbands - and even themselves – until
they fall into the arms of the one who loves them unconditionally. When Sierra
discovers the handcrafted quilt and journal of her ancestor Mary Catherine
Murray, she finds that their lives are amazingly similar. Though the women are
separated by time and circumstance and Mary Catherine endured the hardships of
life on the Oregon Trail, many of the issues and problems they face are
remarkably similar. By following Mary Catherine’s example, Sierra learns
to surrender to God's sovereignty and unconditional love."


Of course it is an amazing book just as I would expect from that author! The book deals with destructive forces within a marriage - the challenges of maintaining a marriage with the social pressures to achieve more - and trusting God in all things. It's a fabulous book, and I recommend it whole heartedly!

Jerusha Clark's book is more of a challenging read. I take time process and comprehend what she writes. It's a very good book as well...and who couldn't use a little more discernment in their lives? I know I could...



Anyway, I'm off to organize, clean, or work on some other little summer project! Peace and love to all!

Dogs!

They are just so cute! Marcel and his brother, Hershey love to snuggle and play together. I'm happy to see them going to new owners, but I'm going to be sad they are separated! They are just such good buddies.

Recent Artwork

Marcel

Family and Friends, meet Marcel - our fur-nephew. We are his foster parents until we deliver him to his new parents - Will and Lauren. He has a great temperament. Gary and Ruby have been showing him the ropes of living in a home, and he's been a trooper. He's already gone potty outside twice (and not once inside). Of course my favorite Marcel moment today was nap time - he snuggled up for a 2 hour nap and didn't budge the entire time.

This Marcel when we went to go pick him up at the lab. He's a stinky little fellow!

Here he is after his bath! All clean, shiny, and silky smooth!

Chase and Marcel are already pals :)

However, it's been a busy day for Marcel - experiencing the outdoors for the first time - meeting new dogs...

Dog-aholic

So what sort of trouble can I get into now? Last summer we found 3 puppies and the momma dog abandoned in an Arkansas forest. This summer, my mission is to find homes for these adorable little guys! Now, you are probably wondering "what the heck is a creagle?" Well it's a Chinese Crested crossed with a beagle. Why was this odd combo created? The sire of these dogs is a Powder Puff Chinese Crested owned by one of my professors. He carries a gene that causes a Parkinson's like disease. This dog is bred to a beagle in hopes that some of the pups will have and express the gene. Anyway, the normal puppies are vaccinated, spayed/neutered, and adopted out to new owners. I don't think it's ever come to this, but if they aren't adopted they are euthanized. Here's an update on who needs homes still:

Cocoa - Unfortunately died during her spay.
Tootsie - Adopted!
Hershey - Adoption pending
Reeses - adopted
Snickers - Adopted
Nestle - Needs a home!


Chase and I are willing to foster until you can come pick it up should you decide you want one!


Love and peace to all of you!

Beer Butt Chicken

First I prepared the chickens. I trimmed the fat, rinsed the birds off, and spread poultry seasoning (I bought at a store in St. Charles) all over the birds. Then I went to heat up the coals (well actually I called Chase, whined until he came home, and watched while he lit the coals). Notice the two beers on the counter - an integral part of beer butt chicken :)

Now that the coals are nice and grey, open the beer cans, "discard" about a quarter of the beer from each can, and shove them up the rears of the birds. Then sit the birds up on the can and put them on the grill.

I let them cook for about 2 hours (internal temperature of 170) and they turned out just magnificently tender and juicy!

The meal: beer butt chicken, baked beans, peas, corn on the cob, pasta salad, bbq chips, and brownies.

All in all, it was a delicious meal, and I was happy to put to use many of the platters and such that we recieved as wedding presents.

Found a Pony! (Can I keep it?)

And now for something strange...



Last weekend, Chase and I went to Eagle Bluffs to look for birds. Instead of our feathered friends, we found this little guy wandering the street. Of course, I wanted to put my Equine Science minor to work (and perhaps save an animal) so I caught the little fellow. Chase walked through the neighborhood and asked folks if they new someone missing a miniature horse. Finally he located the owners, and I walked the little guy home. How bizarre!

Sometime during the week, my over-excited-"I'm so glad you're finally home"-greyhound, Gary wagged his nearly 3 foot long tail too vigorously. I came home to discover my bland apartment walls had been redecorated Gary-style to resemble a red and white Dalmation. Yikes.... So I bandaged up his clearly broken, bloody tail. We went to the vet, and she shaved it for me, and we discussed amputation. We got home, and her bandaging fell off within 15 minutes. The poor guy had a couple of more bleeds, but as of today he's doing a lot better. It looks like Gary might get to keep his tail after all!