Category: Pets

Collage, Crankypantsing, Pets, Photography

Lazy Sunday Morning

Shelly

100_3000

I think Harriet may have the right idea. We were waked up at the ass-crack of dawn by Mr. Upstairs plonking away on his keyboard. Electronic harpsichord at 6am is really beyond the pale, I think. I have a feeling there will be napping later today.

I adore the duvet cover in the picture. It came from my mom. Both sides are shades teal (I love teal), but the “right” side has some thin red and yellow stripes I’m not too keen on. It occurred to me that I could flip it over, though. Et voila, problem solved. It’s a heavy, crispy cotton, too, which feels nice. I filled it with a fat, ugly comforter, so it’s wonderfully squishy and crunchy, all at the same time.

The bed side table in the upper left in the picture is the one below. It was really ugly, but sturdy and a nice size and shape. I decided it would be much improved if it were sporting a decoupaged the shit out of it.

Collaged End Table

Pets, Photography

Arting and Dogblogging

Shelly

100_2934

100_2935

100_2933

I spent the afternoon cleaning and putting away the mess I made last week. There were scraps of paper and junk everywhere. Thankfully, I can shut the door on it when I’m fed up with it and don’t want to look at it any longer. But, since I’ve finished the Hemp Bound Journal (yay!), I really had to clear away the debris before I could start on a new project. This may be the cleanest this room ever gets, so I thought I’d take pictures before I went to work dirtying it up again.

I didn’t get much else accomplished today. I’m not quite sure where the day went. I did manage to slap a coat of gesso on a crappy old painting I found at a yard sale. I think I paid $2 for it, which, considering I don’t have to stretch or prime it, was a damned good deal. A coat of black gesso slapped on with a credit card (no brush to clean!) covered the hideous Madonna (under)painting. After that dried, I layered some dress pattern pieces, gluing them down with acrylic medium. I don’t have a specific plan for it yet (paint or oil pastels will be involved), but at this point, it kind of looks like a road atlas.

I haven’t decided what I’m going to do, journal-wise, now that I’ve finally finished the Hemp Bound Journal. I’m thinking I might tear down some black Stonehenge paper I’ve got. The surface is a little hard and slick for my taste, and I don’t like how much it buckles with wet media, but it might make a fun change from the earth tones I’ve been stuck in lately. Something more colorful would be nice, and black paper would lend itself well to gel pens. Hmmm. I think I will do that. Maybe tomorrow, even.

And now, gratuitous dogblogging:

Harriet at the Fence

This is an older picture that I’ve Photoshopped. It was taken last April, in the country. Harriet liked to stick her head through the holes in the livestock fence, and graze on the grass on the other side. She also would stand like that and call to the bunnies. I think she was trying to convince one to hop in her mouth. Not one of her more brilliant plans, as it turns out. Rabbits are surprisingly unreceptive to that sort of mind control.

Pets, Photography

Catblogging

Shelly

I woke up this morning to find that my furnace was not working properly. Again! This time, it cycled on, and even produced heat, but it would only run for 20-30 seconds before shutting off. So, I went to work for a few hours, came home, and called the repair guys.

This is the third time the same two guys have been to my apartment to fix stuff. Last time, Pandora sneaked into the furnace while they weren’t looking. This time, they were wise to her stealthy ways and averted her attempts to explore. The also both took time to pick her up and pet her, which was nice. She’s an awfully gregarious cat, so she really enjoys the extra attention.

She also spent some time playing with the dog’s toys (she has a death wish), including a tennis ball. Pandora rolled around on the floor with the ball between her front paws, kicking it mightily with her back feet. When she’d finally subdued the ball, she lay on her side and wrapped herself around it, then gave it a good wash. Clearly, she was feeling her oats this morning.

The antics reached a climax when she stole a wadded up piece of paper from the trash can in the studio. She knows she’s not supposed to take paper[1]. So I told her to drop it, and she took off running through the house like a bat out of hell, paper wad crammed firmly in her thieving little mouth. Now, I’ve been lured into the occasional ill advised and unintentional game of keep away by dogs, but never, ever, EVAR by a cat.

So what did she do when I caught up with her? She dropped the paper wad and instantly started to wash herself furiously. Like she had no idea that she’d just stolen the damned thing, nor that she’d flown the scene of the crime, nor that the evidence had just two seconds previously been in her mouth, and was now lying rightnexttoher. “I’m sorry, were you talking to me?”

Pandora has always been a bad, bad seed. The photo below was taken in 1996, at about the time when she developed her paper/cloth fetish. Note the pure eeevil emanating from her.

C005

_________________________________________
[1] We–Pandora and I–have discussed her paper/cloth fetish on numerous occasions. I don’t mind so much that she’s a rotten little thief, but when she carries paper wads through the house, she meows. Because her mouth is stuffed full of paper, it’s difficult to tell whether she’s on a murderous rampage or she’s going to hork up a hairball. O ick. I can’t stand the sound, so I do my best to keep mouth-sized pieces of paper and cloth out of her reach.

Pets, Photography

Festivus

Shelly

I went to visit my family for Christmas, something I haven’t done in a few years (visiting at Christmas, not visiting in general). Harriet, of course, went along. She appointed herself as head of Neighborhood Watch, and spent a good deal of time at the windows, keeping an eye on things outdoors. There’s not a whole lot of foot traffic by my mom’s house, which is probably a good thing. Every time anyone walked past, even if they were on the other side of the street, Harriet told them to go away, please.

And, in case you weren’t aware of it, Harriet is a rare variety of Pocket Boxer. Or so she thinks. She was perfectly happy to be picked up and carried around by Andy. I think she secretly enjoyed the higher vantage point.

100_2903

100_2906

100_2902

100_2911

100_2914

Harriet also spent a lot of time sleeping (supervising an entire neighborhood is hard work!), which, of course, meant she was well covered.

Pets, Photography

Pandora in the Sun

Shelly

C007

C008

C003

C004

C001

C002

The top photo was taken in 1995, the second one in 2001, and the last four in 2004. The top two were taken with a point-and-shoot Minolta 35mm. The bottom four were test shots taken when I got my Canon T-50 (I don’t remember the lens specs, and my mom has custody of my Canon right now so I can’t check, but I think it was a Tamron). When I was shopping for a film SLR, I wanted an older, used, all manual body. I read all sorts of bad reviews of the Canon T-50, but folks I knew and could talk to in person said it was a decent entry level camera body. And, they can be picked up dirt cheap from places like KEH and B&H, so I felt like it was worth the risk. It turns out, though, that the Canon T-50 takes by far the best pictures of any of the cameras I own. I love the way it handles light and shadow (I couldn’t have taken this photo of Harriet with my digital). I’m lazy, though, and I suck at getting film developed, so I loaned the Canon to my mom when I got a digital camera.