Finding Time for Everything

After I started my new meet up group, I vowed I would produce at least one drawing a month for my book. That really is the only way I can try to keep up some sort of rhythm, being held accountable for a deadline! Check back on Friday and I hope to have a finished graphite sketch. Does anyone else have trouble juggling everything? I find it hard to stick to a schedule because so many unexpected things come up either with the kids, my Mom or even with me. I've been snatching time before bed to write, but the illustrating is coming along much more slowly than I'd like. But, now I promised you something, so I'll have that sketch on Friday!

First Day on the Job!

Here we are.....first day on the job as a certified pet therapy team! Cosmo did great-not surprisingly he charmed staff and patients alike! It felt really good seeing the joy he brought to so many people in just an hour. Just one of the many reasons I'm writing about him and why I'm so grateful he got a second chance at life - sniff, sniff - now you can dry your eyes! Thanks very much Quiltworks & Ms. Anomoly for your great advice about our walks! We went on a pre-hospital walk this morning and sure enough, in the middle of it he did his 'belly-flat-out-legs-sprawled to the sides-number'. I brought his fav squeaky squirrel, but that just didn't do it for him. I tried to go the non-food route first as he tends to put on weight quickly, but of course him bein' a hound and not a retriever and all, the treat did the trick! Luckily I only needed to use it once and I broke it in half so it was small. Have treats, will travel! Going away for the weekend so I'll see all of you next week - thanks!

Stubborn Beagles

Question for all dog lovers out there. I know any dog can have a stubborn streak in their personality, BUT....beagles are notorious for this. As some of you may know, Cosmo and I walk just about every day. Although he is a very sweet and obedient dog there are a couple of things he is an absolute pain in the neck about. I'll just mention one of them now and come back to the other another day. What happens is, we'll be starting off on our walk at a nice clip for a few minutes and then......SPLAT! He completely flattens himself out and won't budge an inch! We coax and pull, but if we pull too hard, we end up dragging him and of course we don't want to hurt him. On walks when I have enough time, I'll stand and wait, but after ten minutes goes by and he only wants to go the other way, I end up giving in 'cause I can't stand there for half an hour! Sometimes this will happen more towards the end of a walk and I figure he's hot and tired, so I try picking him up. He's 40 lbs. though, and I can't carry him that far! Usually he'll get uncomfortable enough and squirm so I'll put him down and he'll continue. The only times when he won't pull this little number is when I can drive to a hiking spot. He seems to have all the energy in the world exploring the woods and jumping over the rocks and fallen logs. I can totally understand how this is much more interesting to him, but most times he's got to just walk around the neighborhood because of my schedule, I can't drive to trails and parks every single day! I also make a point of going out earlier in the morning or later in the evening when it's cooler during the warmer months. So......my conclusion is that he just wants to go where he wants to go. If he can't get his way, then no matter how much he loves walking, if he's forced to go somewhere he doesn't want to - then forget it, it's not worth it and he'd rather go home! But, who's the pack leader here, right?! Thoughts or suggestions anyone!

Successful New Group!

Just had the first meeting last night of my new group - Southwestern CT Artists! If anyone from the group is reading this, thank you so much for joining and coming to our first meetup. I hope you had as much fun as I did! It helps to connect in person as well as online with like-minded creative people, thanks again.

Updates on book

Follow up on GA animal control - nice lady Beth emailed me back with some brief info. on where Cosmo may have been picked up. Her description of the beagle picked up around that time doesn't exactly match his.......but the area is small and there are probably about 500 beagles running around at any given time! I was actually able to find a few pictures with Google maps (love Google) of different parts of the road she mentioned, so I have some ideas for reference. I think this part of the book and most of the beginning will be the hardest for me to do. No surprise, when we visited the vet who rescued Cosmo, she said he was very underweight when he was brought in. I've been researching canine skeletal structure to properly show some more ribs. I'll also have to mention the history of his attack and surgery, just have to do it in a kid-friendly way. I was thinking of showing him bandaged, not his half-broken face! The trick is to keep the kids interested to get to the happy ending and not make them cry a quarter way through the book! Of course I will start with happy present and go back to tell his story working up to the present day. I've also been researching other rescue stories. Happily there is not one out there quite like mine, so I hope to fill a void.

Keeping at it

Yesterday spent lots of time researching other blogs similar to mine - hope you all got my messages! Also spent MANY hours trying to get a slide show up from Picassa. The show, or "movie" as they call it finally came out pretty well - not perfect, but keepable. Now it won't play on the blog, only as a link. If anyone has any idea how to fix it, please let me know!

Keeping blogspot

Decided to keep this blog and use my Wordpress account as more of a "real" website. For now it's a stepping stone, I hope to get my own domain early next year. Can't spend too much time blogging though as drawing is more important!

Working Hard

My other site is coming along - will finally have lots of pics of my work to view! Time to call it a night soon!

Moving to new site soon

Thanks so much everyone for all your support, it means a lot! I will let you know when I'm ready, but I just recently started setting up another website. It's still a blog, but a lot more "professional" looking. So until I get my own domain, this is what I'll be using. Will keep you posted - TTFN

Photos

Was finally able to photograph Cosmo today. Not only will he not sit still for drawing (what dog will) but he's scared of the flash on the camera. Luckily it's a very bright day and the stupid flash isn't going off. We need a new camera, it goes off even when it's not necessary, and when I switch to manuel - whatever!