Cute, Cuddly, and Cannibalistic

life update: dog bite edition

Sun, 23 Aug 2015 02:00:16 GMT

I got bit by the neighbor's dog yesterday. fortunately it was AFTER I finished all the stuff I needed to do for art show, but still hurt.

Went to say hi to dog, body language said she was happy to see me, and she just bit down on my hand. Then let go when I yelped. Then dog just sat down and chattered teeth and whined.

She then apparently kept up the teeth chattering for about another ten minutes after owner took her back inside. She'd apparently been ramping off an anti-anxiety drug that had not worked for her, so had been a bit out of sorts, probably due to medication side effects.

I'm honestly more worried that the dog is okay, because this was very out of character for her and that she immediately let go seems like she wasn't expecting to chomp a hand. If she was going to bite someone, I'm glad it was me instead of a stranger since she's an eighty pound pitbull. It HURT, but from how little damage she did, it seems like she wasn't expecting to get my hand. did she think I had a toy? I don't know.

she's up to date on shots and had been at vet previous week to deal with the anxiety issue, so really unlikely I'll get anything FROM the bite. it's been thoroughly cleaned and coated in antibacterial stuff. the nicks are so small I don't even have a bandaid on it. I just have tooth shaped bruise in one spot.

Hopefully neighbor figures out what's going on with her. Normally frida's a very happy, friendly dog. I'd knocked on apartment door Saturday night, and frida was so excited to see me she was doing the wigglesnort thing and ran to go get a toy to give me. with little excited hops. and has apparently been enjoying having the foster kitten in house from shelter, sleeping with kitten and playing gently with it. she's normally such a nice dog and seeing her so completely out of sorts makes me sad.

Not a graceful dog

Wed, 10 Jun 2015 17:07:12 GMT

NYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM, BAM!

The other dog was fine, just needed to be fussed at after mine ran into them full tilt.

and yes, that's a Newfoundland mine was playing with. it made Mac look tiny.

Upcoming projects and shows (June and beyond)

Tue, 19 May 2015 01:18:09 GMT

Current shows:
* Trailerbox Gallery- Til end of May- 3+1
* Bethel Artspace- Til end of May

Upcoming shows/ installations
* Bethel windows- black light furry OMG what the fuck forest. date unknown. I'm reusing the material from the window project that went to hell and making it even MORE cracktastic. I have a lot of blacklight paint. so much paint
* Shared Worlds- Danbury Public Library- October & November- I took measurements today and have general plan. gotta get cracking
* Total Environment- Trailerbox- date unknown, winter? fill whole gallery with total environment. Jim was kind of at "whenevs, but I wanna work with you within next year or so"

PROJECTS:
* Bawdy Bartender- scanning- OMG I FINALLY FOUND THE DAMN FINISHED PIECE. I misplaced the sketchbook I did it in. cause I R Organized. where have all my pants gone?
* Rage Art Draft- I will have more info up on this soon. through end of July
* Remastering Warcouncil- more Rage stuff. redoing layouts, will do replacement art
* Coloring for Bastiaan Rours- about 90% done

Upcoming projects and shows

Sat, 21 Mar 2015 03:03:30 GMT

Forest of Dreams- DEVELOPMENT HELL. this is an art installation in a public space. its installed and I need to get in to fix an electrical issue with the lights. last I heard from my contact they were very sick and going to hospital for blood tests. that was a week ago... clearly project is cuuuuuuuuuuursed. it looks awesome other than the lights aren't coming on. ARGH. I am worried about their health, but also frustrated by having simple issue screwing up whole thing.

Bawdy Bartender #2- almost done with piece for portfolio with Tabbiewolf and a whole bunch of other folks.

Trailer Box show- midapril with three other artists. first show of the year at Trailer Box, so should have good attendance. the other artists make dinosaurs and augmented photography, I will be supplying sculpture. since I have so much florescent paint left in exact right colors from Forest of Dreams, will probably be doing a "life size" (well for cartoon life) Centipeedle sculpt from Steven Universe.

Bethel Arts- solo show April/May- mostly just old work rather than new work. I just need to reorganize it into a more logical flow.

Rage art- currently working on coloring work for Bastiaan Rours (see lots of examples in my gallery) and starting piece for Frank Jacobo (new) and will be doing so alone work

Shared Worlds show- Sept & October- solo show at Danbury Library. I know two of the things I'll be doing, but haven't decided rest as of yet

I had to put my dog down due to a near drowning accident

Wed, 17 Dec 2014 18:20:03 GMT

If you don't want the details, stop reading now. There is no happy ending.

I had let dog off lead to come up to house from car, just like every night. as I'm walking across bridge she tries to cut me off by jumping over the brook. it's only a 2-3 foot span.

she misses and lands in the brook. I drop what I'm carrying so I can try and grab dog.

She drags herself out on the spillway for the dam between brook and pond and shakes off. I go to grab her and she jumps off the dam and into the much bigger and deeper pond.

I briefly consider jumping into the pond but I'm wearing heavy boots, am fully clothed, and the pond is about 4.5- 5 feet deep right now. I'm 5'2". seeing how fast dog is swimming, there's no way I could catch up with her in dark.

I run around edge, calling her to try and get her to come to the steps, only about ten feet away. she veers away and is furiously swimming for far side of pond. I run over there to try and get her out. (its where I'd pulled her out the time she fell in several year ago, in early fall) all the time trying to get dog to come to me. she turns again and head back across pond.

I run around to far side and she's very low in water now, almost under. I manage to grab her this time and haul her out. she was starting to try and turn away from the edge again when I grabbed her...

she'd been in water less than a minute.

I pull her out and I'm not sure she's breathing. I put her down for a moment and push on her chest a few times to get her to cough up water. She makes this great wracking gasp, the sort that arches up whole body. I grab her and put her head side down and she throws up a bunch of water.

I run inside with her and into bathroom and pull shower head down so I can run hot water over her, try and bring core up. Yell at dad to call the vet. it's late enough they might not be there.

Bathtub won't drain so pull dog out and just start furiously rubbing her with towel to try her and get blood circulating. Still takes a few of those wracking body arching breathes, very slow to the point you don't know if another will come.

Vet is there and says to come down immediately. Dad grabs keys and a I grab a dry towel and the dog and we run out. Dog is totally limp. It's only about three blocks.

We come in and they have us run back to surgical suite and stick her on oxygen. Get out all the warming stuff and start warming her up.

Then its all basically waiting for an hour. I send Dad home to pick up the stuff I'd dropped in middle of driveway and fetch me dry pants as I'm soaked all along one side from midthigh to ankle on one side. Mom comes back with car and we stand around and wait. at this point there's not much else they could do except warm her because her blood pressure is so low they can't put in fluids and don't want to overwhelm system. so I can sit and pet her while she's under the warmer.

During this she goes from being limp to rigid. she clamps down on her tongue which had been hanging out and drools bloods and the section outside mouth is turning blueish.

She finally comes back up to temperature and finally unclamps jaw to put her tongue back in but isn't really responding correctly. Her eyes will dilate but isn't really responding to people. She really can't hold her head up. She thrashes a couple times like she wants to get up or to swim, but even holding her up with support, she can't get her feet turned right way to stand. she keeps knuckling under on all her feet. Her heart rate is up but she hyperventilating.

The vet takes her for x-rays and compares them to older ones from when we determined she had a heart murmur. Her lungs don't look clear. she clearly inhaled water and maybe blood from earlier. Dog clearly is not going to bounce back with just rest. But she's not an emergency vet. they'd had the veterinary books out while this was all going on to doublecheck stuff because they don't normally DO emergency stuff. but we were two blocks away and speed was more important than anything else initially.

So we go to the emergency clinic in Newtown which has 24 hour emergency staff. We wrap dog up in blanket like a burrito with just head sticking out. (normally she HATES this and would thrash out within a minute) I sit with her next to me with her head on lap. by the time we get there my pants are soaked through with drool because she's not swallowing correctly. When I pick her up to go inside, her head flops forward and blood and drool pour out.

The emergency clinic is gigantic, easily five times size of regular vet. They take Mana in back while they do assessment on her. Two other emergencies come in while we're there. They wipe up the blood we got on the floor from bringing her in.

we get assessment which is basically "IDK we can't guarantee anything, all we can do is intensive supportive care and see if she pulls through." Which I get estimate for. a single day is more than it was when my Dad had been in emergency room. It's more than my current car cost.

SO sit around for a few minutes determining whether its worth it. I love my dog, but she's 14. she's got a heart murmur. Our regular vet had us stop doing regular dentals on the dog because risk of knocking her out for it was too high. We'd stopped going on long walks earlier in year because she was too worn out by them when she was younger she would dance and snort and roll around in excitement at walk. Now I'm sometimes carrying her to the car because she's stiff and doesn't want to walk. and she's getting a bit hard of hearing and is developing cataracts.

Tuesday had been a good day. She was up and bright and snorting and rolling in excitement over getting petted and was excited over new treats. But still was walking very slowly everywhere and mostly naps between brief bursts of activity.

So even if she pulls through, she probably won't get back up to the level she was at previously. She may also have brain damage. she had previous issue with that (menigitis) so that's not good prognosis. She's also never liked being away from me. I leave on trip, she barely eats and twice she's run away from home to go to work to find me! I don't think days in doggie ER are going to go well/

I say we'll put dog down. It's more likely at this point we're just going to give her many more bad days than good days. They bring her out so I can hold her and she's limp and hyperventilating and can't pull her tongue in. I pet her tell her what a good girl she is while they get stuff ready and handle paperwork. Shot is very quick and its over and we take her home.

I need to bury her today, but I only managed to dig half the hole before I had to go to work. the ground is absolutely soaked from it raining.

I feel guilty for being smart rather than heroic. If I'd jumped in, it might have been heroic, but I probably wouldn't be writing this today. I'd probably be in the hospital recovering from hypothermia and might not have even managed to get dog to the vet at all. The only reason the pond didn't have ice on it was due to all the moving water from it being at flood stage. so it was probably just above freezing.

And I feel guilty for not going route of having her in intensive care. But I really felt like that would just be buying her more bad days and no good ones. and that odds were she'd die in intensive care without me there. Doing EVERYTHING medically possible might be heroic, but it didn't seem responsible. Maybe she would have recovered fully, but she still wouldn't have had many more good days left at her age. Putting her down while she was being petted and loved so it just stopped her hurting was better for her.

I just feel bad for making the responsible decisions.

Whole stuffed pumpkin

Wed, 26 Nov 2014 18:51:53 GMT

PHOTOGRAPHING FOOD IS HARD. this looked amazing in person.

Top: a whole baked pumpkin full of cheesey stuffing. It was AWESOME. Bake the whole damn thing, then slice like giant cake. It’s easy, but it looks super fancy. I actually served as the main entre and with a standard size baking pumpkin, served four with about 1/3 left. This is a HEARTY meal.

Bottom: Massaged kale salad with roasted pumpkin seeds and cranberries.

PUMPKIN RECIPE!

Ingredients:

a whole sugar pumpkin
stale bread, or stuffing mix
Non-bread things to add to stuffing mix. good mixes: cheese and apples, cheese and caramelized onions, apples and cranberries, apples and nuts, caramelied onions and apples, you get idea.
liquid- cream if you’re doing cheese, some type of vegetable broth if you want to go vegan.
spice: salt, pepper, nutmeg, garlic
vegetable oil
Since pumpkin vary a bit in size, I’m giving you ratios rather than precise amounts.

1. Cut the top out of pumpkin at angle so you can put lid back on without it falling in. scrape out the seeds and stringy bits with spoon. put aside seeds.
2. Rub outside of pumpkin with oil and stick it in a shallow pan with a lip. (pie tin is good option)
3. Mix salt, pepper, and nutmeg together in ratio of 3 parts salt, 2 parts pepper, 1 part nutmeg. rub around inside of pumpkin. If you have any leftover, dump it in bowl you’ll be mixing other stuff in.
4. (if using packaged stuffing, follow package directions for cook in bird and skip to step 7) Cut up your stale bread and your other items. shred cheese, if using. (this is good way to use up dried out cheese ends in fridge) you want about 1/2 to 2/3 bread to 1/2 to 1/3 Not Bread.
5. In large bowl, mix the other ingredients. about a tablespoon of crushed garlic for every two cups worth of filing.
6. Add liquid to the mix. about 1/2 cup per 2 cups dry. You may need more if you used very dry mix (bread, nuts, and raisins, for example) or a little less if you used ingredients that are very moist (cheese, apples, and onions). It should be slightly moist, no liquid in bottom of bowl, but not obviously wet.
7. Stuff it all in your pumpkin! pack it in firmly. put lid back on.
8. Bake in oven at 350 for 2-2.5 hours depending on how big the pumpkin was. take the lid off for about last 10-20 minutes to brown the top. It may ooze over edge a a bit.
9. Serve the whole damn pumpkin at table and make thick slices like cake. depending on thickness of skin you may or may not want to eat skin. otherwise just scrape flesh away with fork.

Toasting the seeds

1. clean as much of the stringy stuff off as possible. cover with water and they’ll float free. some may need to be pulled loose
2. put in a shallow pan, don’t dry. (pie tin is good)
3. salt liberally and shake the pan to distribute evenly. the water still on it should make sure it’s evenly mixed.
4. bake in oven about 30-45 minutes. when you hear them starting to crack, they’re done.

Here’s the recipe for the kale salad. I just used pumpkin seeds instead of the sunflower seeds they called for. and that was dinner. the kale provides a nice texture contrast.

Fri, 14 Nov 2014 21:35:16 GMT

I made giant trilobites for new show I put up "What Lies Beneath" at City Center Danbury CT through January 3rd. Wholebunch of other aquatic stuff as well, but here's the trilobites.

They're each about 18-20" long. (click to full size)

Not accurate to any specific species, just general trilobite body plan. Paper mache, acrylic, polyurethane

tumblr link with all of them together, for easy sharing

ANd you though the midterms were boring...

Mon, 03 Nov 2014 23:22:23 GMT

Finished looking through info on the candidates for elections tomorrow and we have some REAL WINNERS in the lot this:

* The green party candidate for attorney general is a 9/11 truther. The towers were taken down by the US government. yes, the GREEN PARTY candidate. oooookay then.

* one of the people running for state congress here, Candace Fay, (the challenger) is under investigation for gross negligence in overseeing a probate court appointed conservator for an elderly veteran who was in temporary care due to a fall. The conservator was SUPPOSED to manage finances so he could return to home after a fall that required he be in extended care. Instead the conservator A) put him in nursing home he had to pay for...when he qualified for a FREE space at VA nursing home, thus draining his life savings and B) spent his remaining money and his social security checks received during that time C) billed him for repairs that were never done D) rented out his house without permission. E) applied for a reverse mortgage on the home F) stripped the home of metal for sale as scrap
They were supposed to be overseeing this conservator (and others) as the court appointed attorney for case and advised conservator he COULD do the reverse mortgage thing. he can't, that's a type of bank fraud.

Here's the long, detailed complaint with a timeline and documents.

dude, no. even if the other dude has fucked up recently, he hasn't fucked up THAT BAD.

Here's a newspaper article with a more general overview

* our town charter is up for revision. Opponents aren't really helping their cause with baffling handmade signs scattered around town with message like

"charter ???

No, bad!"

really, that's the actual sign. WTF. I need to get a picture of one of them.

I spent about two hours trying to sort out details anyway and it really looks like they should have split the 6 revisions into about 12 because there's too much stuff lumped into each question. Which largely came out as "this is reasonable" combined with a "hell no". FAIL. One of the absolute no brainers (correcting misspelling of comptroller in the charter) is probably gonna fail cause its lumped in with a bunch of other provision. WEEEEEEEEEE.

Snallygaster & Dewayyo

Wed, 24 Sep 2014 15:33:49 GMT

The first written reports of the snallygaster date to 1735 when German immigrants to Maryland talked of the “schneller geist” or fast ghost. The flying beast was alternately described as being like a bird, a dragon, a harpy, demon, or some combination of them all. It was only sighted at night and was unbelievably fast, so unsurprising reports disagreed. Most agreed that it had wings, a razor sharp beak with teeth, tentacles on the face, scales, a scream like a steamtrain whistle, and an extremely bad attitude.

Most sightings were in Maryland but snallygaster would sometimes fly to other states and terrorize the local people for as well. Usually it stole children and livestock but it would occasionally go after adults as well. In 1909 it had an hour-long confrontation with three men on a train platform who eventually managed to drive it away. Theodore Roosevelt was contacted to try and hunt it down but sightings died down for awhile and the former president went hunting for big game elsewhere.

In the 1920s some federal agents managed to get a good look at one as it had been attracted to a still and drunk so much moonshine it fell down dead, into the mash. The agents were rather surprised to find a monster in the mash, but they had a job to do so blew up the still and the monster in it.

The only real check on snallygaster is the Dewayyo. It has dark, spikey fur, stands like a man, but has a wolfish head. Occasionally it will chase locals if provoked, but its full fury is reserved for the snallygaster.

Dewayyo hatch out of clutches of snallygaster eggs from apparent duds that hatch much, much later. So they are born with the smell of snallygaster all around them and spend their whole life hunting down the beasts to have a bloody family reunion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The tentacles on the face description of snallygaster made me think of the wattle on the turkey, so I designed the tentacles as if they were a more elaborate version of that. The beak full of teeth definitely screamed “goose” to me, so the head, neck, and body structure are based more on that. We had a watch goose when I was a kid and those are TERRIFYING when they actually chase you.

The rest of the body design I went with the more serpentine body to end up with something that looks rather like if a cockatrice came out of a goose egg rather than a chicken egg. Considering how unpleasant a cockatrice is, a goose based one would be that much more terrifying! (gandertrice?)

In researching this, there really was no reason given for the animosity between snallygaster and dewayyo, but I did see some versions that referred to dewayyo as hatching from snallygaster eggs. So I went for familial strife. Maybe if Snallygaster had waited for him to hatch, Dewayyo wouldn’t be so damn angry. WHY DID YOU ABANDON ME?

I went with that putrid yellow green color scheme for snallygaster’s plumage to sort of call up that ‘rotten egg’ theme between the two. what happens when the cockatrice’s egg goes rotten?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part of Anomalous Animals of the Americas show, through October 23rd 2014 at Molten Java 213 Greenwood Ave (rte 302) in Bethel, CT.

Hours:

Monday 6:15am-9pm
Tuesday 6:15am-9pm
Wednesday 6:15am-10pm
Thursday 6:15am-10pm
Friday 6:15am-10pm
Saturday 7:15am-10pm
Sunday 8:15am-8pm

RECEPTION- Meet the monster maker! Saturday September 27th 6:30-9PM

Griffin Ranger kickstarter

Mon, 18 Aug 2014 03:32:13 GMT

martes has a kickstarter up to get her novel Griffin Ranger printed. Go check it out if you like griffins or really cool extinct North American wildlife

Fri, 18 Jul 2014 18:39:27 GMT

Credence tells the story of a family torn apart during the last evacuation on earth after violent storms have made survival impossible. Hope has been found in the form of new worlds that support human life, however due to limited rocket capacity and life expectancy only children are permitted to evacuate, and even then - only the rich have ended up getting tickets. Our short film follows 2 fathers' decision to make the ultimate sacrifice to give up all their possessions to ensure the survival of their daughter, and the entire human race.

indigogo campaign

Broken Star Trek video

Thu, 19 Jun 2014 19:29:25 GMT

So much random clipping. and hanging midair. random spinning. and accidental disco dancing.

GET THE POPCORN

Mon, 09 Jun 2014 23:12:37 GMT

The current local drama-rama is marijuana dispensary got approved by zoning board.

... and the neighbors are now suing town over approving it.

among the things they're using for grounds for suit:

# some paperwork wasn't filed correctly several year ago to build the building they want to occupy. It's total procedural bullshit because it was approved and all that, something just didn't get filed in correct spot in shuffle. The paper trail is THERE, it was in wrong folder.

BUT THERE'S A TWIST. The lawyer for people bringing the suit was the head of zoning at the time. So his failure to ensure it was but in correct space five+ years ago is the basis for the suit he's bringing.... WAIT. so may be booted for conflict of interest.

# Neighbors are also screaming that it may bring down property values. as opposed to the building that has been unoccupied for several years.

BUT THERE'S A TWIST. Before they built the unoccupied building (business it was built for never occupied building...) the LAST business in that place was a brothel! as yes, the legal medical marijuana dispensary, definetely a downgrade from that brothel...

# It can't be approved for occupancy as its not open to the public, only to those with an appointment.

BUT THERE'S A TWIST. The business currently across the street from it? private fitness studio that has a sign out front saying "By appointment only".

The appeals board meeting is going to be a hoot and a half as there's lots of screaming over NOT IN MY BACKYARD! and lots of random craziness about how weed is going to kill us all. It would also be the only one in the county so there will also be a side of people from Bridgeport might come here! poor people!

I am fully expecting someone to trot out the argument that illegal aliens will come here for our weed and prey upon the middle class neighborhood nearby. WHITE PANIC TIME!

Meeting will be both hilarious AND horrible with the amount of racist/classist shitheads that will be in attendance.

Its an absolutely beautiful location as it was built as some sort of medical clinic. Extra handicapped spaces, curbless parking lot for easier wheelchair access, full ramp and all one level. single driveway that share with no one. They really could not ask for a nicer building for a clinic.

Small town is cray-cray

Fri, 16 May 2014 04:41:02 GMT

Looked at local news site to see outcome of budget vote and also clicked on article on change to exam policy in nearby school district (danbury)

There were TWO comments on it about Newtown school shooting being a false flag operation.

That is the town next to us. Our schools went into lockdown. We pulled all our cops and sent them to our neighboring district. Some of the kids had their wake at the funeral home downtown. You likely personally met relatives of those that died. Did you go to vote today? There was a poster on the door to the poll saying Newtown loves Bethel for the aid we gave them.
and you're claiming its a false flag operation?
WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE.

Local newsites comment sections are usually cesspits of cray-cray, but claiming your neighbors who were brutally murdered were actually ACTORS employed by the government? WHAT IN THE FUCKING FUCK?

and now to defuse all that OMG WHAT THE FUCK, when I went to vote on budget today, there was church carnival on the town hall lawn. You can vote and then ride the ferris wheel and eat cotton candy. weeee, democracy!

Show time!

Sat, 26 Apr 2014 03:34:31 GMT

I have gallery opening at Trailer Box Gallery in Danbury, CT with myself and two graffiti artists.

Refreshments are provided at opening.

Show opening is Saturday the 26th 5-8PM at Trailer Box, 15 Great Pasture Rd. Danbury. (back unit) regular gallery hours are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 11AM-5PM through May 24th.

Snake Oil

Sat, 12 Apr 2014 19:24:28 GMT

Snake oil
I was watching youtube video and it had one of the inevitable commercials at front. It was one you could click through but they actually got me to watch it because of sheer WTF.

standard this secret health problem is hurting AMURICANS and the government and doctors are covering it up it. it affects more people than HIV, something, something, and POLIO combined.

wait.

back the truck up.

POLIO?

Is this some sort of time travelling snake oil ad?

POLIO?

There were no cases of the polio in the US in years and only about 400 in the entire world in 2013. and this is what you chose to compare your (secretly) wildly prevalent health problem to?

POLIO?

WIP

Thu, 20 Feb 2014 03:48:20 GMT

work in progress for upcoming gallery show.

2013 year in review

Tue, 31 Dec 2013 21:17:35 GMT

I think it's required by law that you make one of those types of post. November and December kind of became one giant blur between business and art stuff. Thanksgiving weekend I did artwalk thing where I had work on display AND i was sculpting live at event in front of people. weeee.

I was stuck in a window, like the weirdest red light district ever.
more pictures

And then had a temporary gallery set up downtown for rest of month where I ended up sitting the gallery several times. That was rather less organized than the artwalk, just because it was spread over longer period. I was involved with the organization of both things, which really why exactly as chaotic as you'd think it'd be. Organizing artists is like herding cats. On upside, I do have an invite to do a show at nearby gallery in April-ish. woo.

I also was busy apply to another juried thing at same time and got picked up for two month long shows next year in August/septmember and November/December. SO my schedule is getting quite full.

Everything sort of seemed to come together at end of year to do really well with the exhibition end of stuff, but I didn't feel like I actually got as much done this year. WHich was sort of true, sort of not when I finally tallied stuff.

Art made:

Sculptures: 3.5*
One outdoor earthwork sculpture
One installation
13 illustrations/paintings
15 illustration collaborations
art direction for 3 different CCG projects, including all layouts

Shows:

three galleries
One artwalk
one convention

I also worked on getting some old writing reformatted and posted, so got about 10,000 words editted and up. at least that much more still to do/

I also did some reformatting of older CCG projects to improve clarity and readability. And improved some of the art I did for those previous projects while I was working on it, though that was effectively minor edits, so I didn't count them in the finished works. Not new works, just better versions of old ones.

Oh yeah, and doing collab on a totally new game with tabbiewolf I am doing all the actual mechanical design and balance. She gets to do the art and making the cards pretty. Yeah! LAYOUTS I DON'T HAVE TO DO! I CAN DELEGATE TO A PROFESSIONAL! HOORAY!

So I actually did do a lot of creative stuff I just did very few new sculptures. I only had one actual new sculpture to SHOW this year (the hoop snake) because the other two were commissions. The .5 was the one I worked on at the artwalk. It's almost, but not quite done. I'll get it finished in January, while working on the last of the Call of the Sea stuff for Rage. so more art direction, more sharks, and lots of pirates.

Hopefully that will translate well to the show I am supposed to do in April, which is comic book and superhero themed. I *MAY* end up doing a collab piece for that as well, but I'll know details later.

I don't have an infection, my body just decided to attack me

Tue, 19 Nov 2013 02:12:15 GMT

I have had an earache since Thursday, so went to see doctor since it hadn't resolved over the weekend. (which generally resolve in 2-3 days if its viral) also had been having trouble swallowing from discomfort.

Yeah, I don't have an ear infection!

BOO, I apparently have a canker sore so far back in my mouth its registering as ear and jaw pain. The doctor looked in my mouth and went "that's the biggest canker sore I've ever seen back there." THAT WAS NOT REASSURING.

He also told me there is literally NOTHING that can be done about it. Nothing I do will make it better or worse any faster than my own body feeling feels like fixing it, since its an autoimmune thing. could be hormone, could be reaction to stress, could be reaction to an earlier cold, could be very small demons infesting my mouth. FUCK KNOWS.

So more or less said eat whatever you want. If it hurts, don't eat it. If that means you eat nothing but soup, that's fine. If you eat nothing but ice cream, that's also fine. whatever works. You want to gargle with salt water, do that if it feels better. If it doesn't, don't bother. Had some people that swore by gargling with diluted benadryl, but he's not gonna swear that'll do anything. May just be placebo effect. DO WHATEVER YOU LIKE. You can't make it worse or better, just do whatever makes you feel better. Take some over the counter painkillers to dull it down, otherwise, don't worry about it. Come back if there's any change in a negative direction. Otherwise, just wait.

Wee. looks like I'm in for an indeterminate period of painful swallowing and not-actually-ear-pain.

Furfright- all my drama was travel related

Sun, 10 Nov 2013 05:32:47 GMT

Had a good time at FurFright. Played games, sold lots of stuff, finally managed to playtest project for tabbiewolf. woo. overall a good ol' time. Everything went smoothly.

AND THEN THERE WAS THE TRAVELLING.

I'm finally typing up now that its more hilarious than making me going ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH.

And for those of you who know me... I managed to avoid being sucked into New Haven, so it wasn't THAT bad.

TO THE CON!... EVENTUALLY
We ran a little late as I played tag with the postal service trying to pick up something that I was supposed to have for FurFright. No dice.

we finally hit the highway and apparently when I'd topped up the windshield washer fluid and checked oil day before, the hood latch hadn't engaged 100%. so we hit highway speed and you can see it jittering. AIIIIEEE! so right back off the highway we get and then fiddle with that for a bit til we're sure it'll stay latched. we're now behind schedule so, take slower more familiar way, take much shorter, less familiar way. Lets try and make up time...

Yeah. no. We miss the exit we need to take because someone wouldn't let us over (why are you passing in the slow lane, WHY?) so attempt to get off at next exit and backtrack. Next exit... drops us onto a highway interchange. !$%@$@$@$ Let's get off at next exit... ANOTHER HIGHWAY INTERCHANGE. what the hell.

We get off and the exit just has road name, no town name. So we end up stopping at a veterinarian to find out what town we're in and then having to try and navigate to hotel using map. (no GPS in car. my car doesn't even have a functioning CD player)

We get there 5 minutes before dealers room opens and end up shotgunning stuff onto the table so I spend much of Friday going "where did I put that? I dunno. it's here somewhere..."

CON HAPPENS!
It was a good con with no drama that *I* was involved in. It was a furry con. somebody had some drama somewhere, I'm sure.

We went out to dinner and crammed one too many people in tabbiewolfs car than there were seats, so I ended up sitting in the cargo area, riding backwards, no seatbelt. WEEEEE. Then spotweld forgot to let me out of the car and I had to make sad faces at them to let me out.

There was a visible fire in the woods near con on way back. no idea what happened there. far enough away to probably NOT be furries.

MEANWHILE BACK AT MY HOUSE...
My parents lose my dog. Again.

Mind, I live with my parents, so the dog is not anywhere weird. there's a routine, they're just ones handling routine dog stuff instead of me for three days.

Normally dog goes to work with me every day. But she gets mopey when I'm gone, so since she was still asleep when Mom was going to store, she decides to leave dog home with Dad (aka Scary Guy so far as dog is concerned) for day. town is supposed to be having trick or treat thing so she's expecting trick or treaters at store. I'd even given her long lead to use at store, just to prevent mopey dog from going outside to see if I was outside. (dog is getting a little deaf, so not 100% on coming when called anymore) But nope, left dog home.

Sometime during Dad taking laundry outside, dog follows him outside and decides to walk herself to the store. SOMETHING SHE DID A PREVIOUS TIME I WAS AWAY AT A CON. Thus the precautions on making sure dog does not go walkabout looking for me. ALL FOR NAUGHT.

Dog gets to Agway (about two blocks) and get caught by nice people there and gets a trip to the pound at 6PM on a Saturday. animal control guy goes home. Mom comes back from store. Dad has not seen dog for most of the day. They both assume dog is sulking in my room. Until they go to put dog out at 11PM... where's the dog? search for dog ensues. no dog in house. Off to the store to see if she walked herself to work. The previous time, the neighbor had caught her and drove her home. No such luck. check with the business next door (24 hour gas station) no dog. check at police station to see if any dog were picked up. Description vaguely matches our dog and its a smaaaaaaall town so the night officer lets them in to pound to see if its missing dog. YUP.

Pay fine for wandering dog. DOG IS SO HAPPY TO SEE THEM. they'd been chopped liver all weekend, but now they are the best thing ever! well, at least until I get home Sunday night. Mana still loves me best.

MEANWHILE, WE NEED TO GET HOME! WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?
oh look, it's night paving season in Connecticut. how lovely. where did all these cones come from? we should merge. IF THIS GUY WOULD LET US. ah yes, the classic, lets not actually pass or allow you to pass, lets just hang directly next to you no matter what you do. speed up? I speed up too! slow down? I slow down too! !$@$$$@%# there's still some distance left before merge is required, but its coming. giant blinky arrow says so.

and then suddenly in the middle of the lane, there is a downed cone. someone clearly clipped it earlier and flung it into this lane

Choices:
swerve and hit lots more upright cones
swerve and hit the guy that is determined to sit next to us
stop dead, be rear ended up by person behind us (who's also boxed in by same guy)
slow down, hit cone

SLOW DOWN, HIT CONE.

WHAM, WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

and now finally we can merge into the one lane with no way to get off.

WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

well that sounds bad.

We manage to find gap in cones, right by two state troopers and pull off. Examine car. State trooper comes over after a minute and we explain the SURPRISE CONE IN MIDDLE OF LANE and she holds flashlight for us while we figure out what the heck happened.

I detached the underside of the bumper from the main part, so its rubbing against tire. awesome. at least since we have all the gear in the car we HAVE tape. so crawl under car with packing tape while trooper holds flashlight for me.

we get it reconnected enough to get home. trooper asks if she should follow or we're fine. we say we should be fine, we'll pull right back off if it didn't work. but yeah, they might want to loop around and find out where we flung the cone TO. it's not stuck under car, but no idea where it is now. she watches us to make sure we're fine, then off to deal with the CONE OF DOOM before it attacks again.

and then I get to go home and see my dog. who is VERY HAPPY TO SEE ME.

I still need to take the car in to have a better fix done than packing taping it back on. at least its not visible.

Clearly next year I should take the dog with me to FurFright so she can't go walkabout.

AGAIN.

Small town is small

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 16:19:03 GMT

I missed meeting for local arts council last week, which I told them up front I had prior committment.

Get up early, on my day off, to go to meeting. NOBODY THERE.

You’ve been sending me e-mail about stuff all week, no mention this week’s meeting was cancelled. THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN RELEVANT INFO.

The majority of messagea have been about picking a logo. Let’s just go with it was designed by someone that understands neither graphic design nor typography. It’s not awful, but it wasn’t good either. It wasn;’t eyerending, but it was extremely bland. It looked more like the sketch you’d give a professional graphic designer to work from. But then were talking about getting it printed.

no. just no.

we’ll see if they can get their shit together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In other small town news, the local news site is overrun with comments about how someone, and it MUST be a candidate!, is stealing campaign signs. (its more likely that many were placed somewhere they came loose and blew into road.)

Someone wrote a song about how stealing campaign signs is WRONG. and candidate is EVIL for going out at night and stealing campaign signs in the dead of night!

Maybe this will actually get them to quit smoking! (probably not)

Tue, 22 Oct 2013 17:28:47 GMT

You know a man is REALLY sick when he says to call the ambulance instead of driving himself to the hospital.

so yeah, my father woke up this morning having trouble breathing and told Mom to call the ambulance. same man that bashed his hand with a chainsaw and drove himself to hospital. so you KNOW he's feeling really, really sick.

So printed out his spread sheet of his blood pressure he's supposed to be taking everyday and wrote up list of what he was taking. In that, discovered he was using a nicotine patch as a bookmark. and also had three different types of inhalers. (though only one appears to be current)

EMTs turned up, stabalized him breathing and hauled him off to hospital. So they gave him something to open up lungs and a scrip for steroids to help with that. He'd had some breathing issues about a month ago and regular doctor had given him short course of steroids and antibiotics to break up chest infection. so now has longer course of steroids to build lung function back up.

He got discharged and came home and goes "I want a cigarette" and Mom goes NOPE and slaps the nicotine patch on him from the book. and stole all the ashtrays. So now Mom is hiding in back and smoking instead. so they're back at the attempting to quite smoking again. and likely cheating and smoking in the bathroom like they're teenagers.

so both of my folks are probably going to be SUPER CRANKY for rest of week while they attempt to use patches instead. I'm rather happy I will be gone for FurFright this weekend.

this is why I'm not allowed to name things

Mon, 21 Oct 2013 15:55:25 GMT

I ahve apparently been sucked into going to official meeting things. Been to a bunch in last month. This morning was local arts council which is just starting to form up. So they asked for names.

Nobody else said anything, so I suggested the Illuminati.

One person got it. everyone else looked confused. BUT STILL DIDN’T SUGGEST ANYTHING ELSE.

So right now its being a boring acronym. But me and the one other council member are calling it the Illuminati until they pick a better name. The posters would be 110% better if we were the Illuminati than the current acronym of BAC.

also I think BAC is being used by a local political party.

ILLUMINATI IT IS!

80K cattle dead in freak South Dakota blizzard- no disaster aid available due to gov. shutdown

Tue, 15 Oct 2013 21:26:14 GMT

From inside a small plane cruising over cattle country here, Scott Reder spied the carnage and felt sick to his stomach.

Mile after mile, half-buried by snow, the dead animals lay huddled in groups, calves close to their to mothers — carcasses by the dozens strung out along field fences and packed into ditches, black hooves poking up through the drifts like macabre stakes.

"In 20 years of flying, I've never been sick, but I had to let my friend take over," Reder recalled. "I looked down and saw 120 of my cattle laying there dead. After I'd finally had enough. I said, 'Let's go home.'"

Reder is among thousands of ranchers who last week watched helplessly as a killer early-autumn blizzard decimated 80,000 head of cattle. Calling it the state's worst economic disaster in decades, officials say the storm has ravaged South Dakota's $7-billion livestock industry.

On Friday, as rain pelted the region near the historic Black Hills, ranchers continued tallying their grim toll, roaming the soggy backcountry, collecting carcasses from melting snow, knowing that perhaps tens of thousands more still lay buried.

Silvia Christen, executive director of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Assn., called the die-off a "perfect storm" of bad weather and — amid the federal shutdown — worse political timing.

The disaster has already caused a "noticeable jump" in the price of live cattle, a rise that could eventually be felt by consumers, she said. "Beef prices will depend on how fast we can get cattle to market again," Christen said. "If people want to help, go out and buy a steak tonight."

South Dakota ranks sixth in the country in livestock production, with nearly 4 million head of cattle. Officials say 6,000 ranching operations suffered losses from the storm.

The blizzard hit just days after 80-degree weather, before ranchers had moved their herds from less-protected summer grazing lands. Most ranchers were set to bring calves to market — the satisfying payday after another year of grueling labor. Thousands of head had been recently relocated here from Texas and New Mexico to escape punishing droughts in those states.

"Some ranchers lost all their cattle. They've yet to find one alive," Christen said. "They're facing absolute destruction."

Yet Washington's shutdown has deprived people here of a traditional safety net: Congress hasn't passed a new farm bill to subsidize agricultural producers, and the lockout means legislators won't be voting on the topic any time soon.

These days, Reder passes a federal Farm Services Administration office whose doors are closed. Like most American ranchers, the 47-year-old is a resilient small businessman used to tending to his own problems, with help from neighbors whose families settled this land generations ago.

Still, he's frustrated and feels that federal lawmakers have turned their backs on the nation's heartland in a time of need.

"We're just a bunch of ranchers from South Dakota — it's hard for our voices to be heard," he said, sitting at the kitchen table at dawn Friday, drinking coffee, fielding calls from fellow cattlemen. "You see crises across the country, the hurricanes and tornadoes, and officials are right on top of it. But something of this magnitude, that has just about leveled this part of the country, and there's nothing."

Many residents in this conservative region had supported the government shutdown as a way to make Washington more fiscally responsible. "But one appropriate role for these guys is to lend a hand after disasters like this," Christen said, "and they're not here."

Reder's losses are steep. Out of 750 head of cattle he grazed across 40,000 acres, 200 are dead and others are missing. He lost 100 of the 450 calves he had planned to market this month. He says he's already lost between $250,000 and $300,000 and expects the losses will grow.

Many exhausted cattle could die in coming months. Ranchers also face the task and expense of burying their lost herds and are scrambling to beat any warm spell that would spread a reek of decomposition across the range.

"These dead cattle will burden people here for a long time," said Butte County Sheriff Fred Lamphere. "If these ranchers aren't under enough stress, they now have to dig trenches for livestock they've spent years cultivating. I've watched good men break down. I feel for these people."

Ranchers described how the fluke storm struck Oct. 3, with heavy rain that rapidly turned into flurries. By the next day, as much as 4 feet of snow, combined with 70-mph winds, doomed cattle and sheep trapped out in summer grazing land known as gumbo fields for their soft sticky soil.

Lamphere, a former ranch hand, said the cattle lacked their warmer winter coats to protect them from wet snow that stuck to bodies already chilled by freezing rain. He said cattle caught in the open field by bad weather instinctively head downwind, their heads low, as they seek shelter.

"They go into survival mode," he said. "Some animals walked 12 miles, breaking through fences, crossing highways, until they finally met their end."

Unable to see, many livestock fell into ditches, quickly covered by trailing animals in a tragic chain reaction. Some animals were so weary they stood frozen in groups, eventually suffocated by piling snow. Cattle collapsed along fences, perishing from hypothermia, others hit by passing cars.

On Saturday, snow plows moved scores of dead animals from roadways. "I found two cattle still alive laying in the road," Lamphere said. "They were just flailing on the pavement, unable to get up." He finally put them down with his .45-caliber service pistol.

On Sunday, when the blizzard finally quit, Reder and his wife, Angela, rode snowmobiles into isolated country miles from any road, stopping to collect the ear tags on cattle that carried their brand. Locating one animal they had given to their 9-year-old son, Reese, they hugged each other and wept, standing in the field in their snowsuits.

"These aren't just inanimate objects. I personally know each and every one of these animals," said Reder, a tall rangy man in a well-worn cowboy hat. "I bottle-fed most of them as calves."

Ranchers here have survived freak weather. In 1996, a spring squall killed numerous livestock, but that time the federal government responded with partial compensation, often paying ranchers a third of an animal's cost. The last year brought drought, and many ranchers sold off parts of their herds rather than pay for expensive store-bought feed.

The fall blessedly brought rain, turning brown fields to green, and many started to feel good again.

And then, this.

Rancher Steve Schell, who lost half his herd, said he can't bear the idea of finding more dead animals beneath the melting snow.

"I'm just so damned whipped," he said. "I'm played out."

The 52-year-old recalled the shock of seeing mountains of dead animals.

"I can't explain what it's like because, mister, you can't imagine it until you witness it with your own eyes," he said. "To see 15 or 20 cattle piled up — the fruits of all your hard labor — you just have no concept."

The sight, he said, broke his nerve.

"I just sat down and bawled," he said. "Then I got up and threw up. And then I got angry. I don't what exactly I was angry at."

He paused. "It hurts just to talk about it," he said.

Reder feels the rancher's pain: "For all these animals, that was just a cruel way to die."

source: LA Times (warning, has picture of dead animal)