Pup Update

Ironically, it's four AM. I walked outside in my boxer shorts, a Boston Red socks tee, my bare pasty Irish legs pouring down into my brown Danska's, wrapped in Orion's fleece dog blanket. I was, as my friend would say, "A hot mess," waiting for Orion to do his business (something that he finished up inside the door to exit the apartment and blew his cover by having little paw prints track away from the puddle).

Regardless of the time, my attire (now eyes half drooped, computer screen brightness set to the lowest, flopped on my futon), I write to say, henceforth, all updates on Orion have been moved to a more appropriate venue called, mylabtabs.blogspot.com. This decision was made last night in celebration of our one week anniversary and I realize this blog is really meant for straight up art updates (which have taken a hold with the arrival of my little baby). SOOO... because I love talking about Orion, I made him his own blog. Right now he's dragging a nylabone across my wood floor--very peaceful, yet he'd raise holy hell if I put him back in his crate. Funniest, craziest thing.

So that's it. I'm going to try and catch a few more z's.

Finally posting on the pup

We (me, myself, and I (and Orion)) are on day three here of having a new puppy. Whew! I am absolutely in love with the little fellow too. We had a big day today going out to see the bald eagles in Indiana--Orion spent the majority of the time tucked into my coat. Orion had his first day on a leash too and wasn't entirely convinced it was for him--chewing on it in front of him, dancing along, or yanking backwards when there was a slight tug for forward movement. But it was wonderful to have him along for the day. Made me smile to think of how nice his companionship will be when he's older and he of course has such a darling little face all snuggled into my jacket, that I wasn't complaining on his companionship just the way he was today either. As I type now he's stretched out snoozing on the side of my futon--also throwing the occasional hot dog farts my way. Due to the fact I have an air mattress bed, I thought it'd be smarted to relocate to the futon until his chewing subsides. I tried the floor the first night and am bruised in every bone that has edges in my body--the futon was a much better choice last night. I'm waiting for one more bathroom run to process his hot dog training treats before I too call it a night.
Crate training is pretty solid at night--he sleeps and whines only when he has to go to the bathroom. In the day... well... that's another story, but again, we're making progress. I called a friend for consult when he sounded like he was going to take down the house in howls. Luckily I met the people upstairs outside and they said they can't hear anything from the lower apartment (ironic considering I can hear every single one of their fights and wailing baby sounds) but that made me feel like I could let him hollar for a while and potentially still reside at the apartment.
It is very dear to watch how quickly he adapts to me. He'll come with happy little hops when I call him (most of the time), and he will crawl into my lap when he's tired to conk out. Where this will go when he's an older huge pup I don't know, but I enjoyed the other yellow lab I knew doing the same as an adult so I'm happy to indulge this cuteness.

Orion Play Date

So today I had a lovely play date with my soon to be very best friend Orion. He gets to come home next Thursday but I wanted to go play with him, get him familiar with my smell when his eyes were open, and have a blankie that would smell like his present environment. (I learned this from a guy in the WalMart baby aisle as we picked out doorway fence for our various pups. All I can say is that any reservations that I picked the right pup for me are set aside. I went into the office and he's hanging out with his siblings. Ron, the owner, said, "Can you pick out which one is yours?" And I pointed, and sure enough I was correct. Orion just snuggled up in my lap and poked around. His sister made for holy hell that I wasn't paying attention to her, and his brother just ignored me, content to sleep in the corner. Finally, I scooped up his sister, only to have her like a little ball of energy digging around my sweatshirt, not staying still. I'm not saying Orion was still by any means but temperment wise, he did not alarm me and feel the sequel to Marley and Me on the horizon. He was playful, not crazy. And he whined a little when I was playing with his sister and not him, but all and all, happy, adorable pup. His brother slept the whole time. Could care less I was there. (Good thing I switched before my first visit)

So here he is:

sketches of birds

Birds, Birds, and more Birdies!

My friend just adopted a baby girl and has set up his nursery with a bird theme. He asked if maybe I could do some art for the room... and as we all know, I love having focus with art, so I had a wonderful morning coming up with sketches and playing on the computer with Corel's woodcut effects.

Then I took a power nap that lasted an hour and a half, and am just now revamping for art day number two, rocking out to grooveshark (a cool way to listen to music without having to wait to hear the songs you want).

I find myself also missing my grandparents for some reason tonight. And my Aunt Kathy who took off for New Zealand after everyone passed on. I guess that's just how it goes though. People die and you just kind of miss them here and there. I can see where people enjoy re-meeting again.

So I'm rocking out as usual, looking ridiculous, working on a portrait for a friend of mine. Oh, side note, today I found a new pet store and met this little girl playing in the bin of dog toys. "Do you have a dog?" I asked her. She said yes, and held up her stuffed little black pup, "Do you?" "I will." "Is it a boy or a girl?" "Boy--what's yours?" "A boy." "What's his name?" "Zack. Mom said we can't get any more toys though because we have too much stuff in our house." I look up to the mother and she nods her head. "Well, you can help me pick one out for my dog if you'd like because I hear they like to chew on things and I think he needs a few more toys."

Morning at Starbucks

Since I got up nice an early only to discover the appointment I was headed to was provided in pacific coast time, I took a detour to Starbucks, which was SWAMPED with customers. Opportune moment to practice sketching body types... on to birds!