One crazy week

Well life threw a few twists. The weather has been causing my nerve endings and other neurological tweaks to go haywire to the point of my non medical remedy for my sleep seizures to not work. I've thankfully gone three nights without one, but very exhausted nonetheless. I ripped my pants picking up Snoopy (the 18 pound bundle of ornery at the shelter), and he seemed to find it amusing.

 

Here he was telling me that he had nothing to do with it.

Work was bustling like crazy, I thought I was going to have dreams of all the customers who were saying "We're from Fairbanks!" "Do you have a Fairbanks special?" "Why don't you guys open an Arbys up in Fairbanks?" (There was an Arbys in Fairbanks, but it got no business at all so it got shut down), and then the good 'ol "I'll have (insert multiples of 10) roast beef sandwiches/sliders." I'm still not sure what in the world was going on to have alot of people from Interior Alaska down here, but it was nuts. With how often we get asked for a Fairbanks special, which is something we stopped doing 8 years ago, I have strongly considered doing a group of decorator custom stablemates and call them "The Fairbanks Special."

I have also managed to create jeweled Egyptian Arabian halters, nothing too fancy but they turned out way better than I expected. Honeysuckle and Sundown really like them.

 

Honeysuckle's bald face does not like my camera at all.

Spot also gave us a huge scare. She started acting lethargic and uninterested in everything, and the Bengal kittens were watching over her intently. Because she's the leader of the little "colony" and was showing a great deal of weakness, Bear kept on attempting to attack her but was foiled by DeEtta's speed and Gizmo's size every time; so my service animal in training decided to be Spot's body guard. We started to get worried when she stopped grooming herself and was turning down the offer of treats, and started wondering if she needed a vet visit on Friday.

Between Friday night and Saturday morning things took a very bad turn. Spot had been sleeping on my bed since Wednesday by DeEtta's beckoning so I got used to sleeping like a corkscrew. Around the midnight hours going into Saturday I woke up to a very upset and distressed DeEtta who was mewing up a storm and worriedly mothering Spot with Gizmo sitting on the floor upset also. I turned on my light and found Spot bleeding all over my bed and herself and barely responding to the Bengals. Fast forward to a few hours later and we had the vet telling us she has pyometra, basically the cat form of endometriosis, and they were giving her a very small chance of survival. For those who don't know what pyometra and endometriosis are, and are too lazy to look, they are basically infections of the uterus and are very life threatening.

The vet told us the recommended choice was surgery that had a 30% chance that was out of our budget despite getting paid the day before, and there was a smaller chance with how weak she was of it being successful. She did give us the option of trying antibiotics, but told us it had just as much of a chance of being successful, but was way cheaper; so we took that route knowing that if she wasn't better in 48 hours we had to take the sad route of euthanasia. Saturday was still scary with her, but Sunday morning we found her eating and moving around. Since then she's been improving wonderfully, and is strong enough to not need a guardian kitty and swiftly reminded Bear of her place. She still seems a little tired, but I don't blame her. Here's to hoping the next week goes smoother!

 

Sunday night she was being herself trying to make Jason stop playing Division.

Triumph and trial

Well this sickness is more than I wanted. Doctor said that I have an ear infection...on top of my respiratory infection that I thought I was done with. Awesome. Hopefully the medicine I got this time around will help, because it's no fun being drained halfway through my work shift.
Despite the not so appealing health, I have some good things come my way. My recent mail has come in, and I have been stoked since I opened them.

 

I am not a child, just child like.

My two latest Breyers came in, and I have been as giddy as when I cook myself a batch of deep fried pike bites. I have since put them down but I was holding and gawking at them for the fifteen mile ride home and the first few minutes after I got in the house. It also occurred to me that my current breed crush is Arabians, I actually only had two (not counting stablemates) until a few weeks ago. For being older molds, these guys are gorgeous, especially the proud Arabian stallion I just got. Since I'm exhausted I'll end it here with pictures of my two new beauties.

 

This is the one I referred to as Tamarisk's new girlfriend, I have named her Acacia.

And say hello to Sundown.

 

Sick day and ramblings

Just my luck lately. Get crushed in a door over the summer, have my left lung forget how to function, catch a respiratory infection in January, and get a nasty cold once I'm healed up from the infection. The most annoying part is when it keeps me from going to work....how am I supposed to add to my collection if I'm not making money?! At least the cats are happy that there's a human to pick on all day, three of the five commandeered my bed when I got up to get a drink. The other two were playing, but it got suddenly quiet. Knowing Gizmo and DeEtta that can mean anything from nap time to plotting on how to climb the walls in a different fashion.
In other news, I got a girlfriend for Tamarisk (I'm keeping it a secret from him) and I'm perfecting my braids for Arabian tack. I found a four strand method that works nicely as long as I have a way to hold it down, and it has a smooth symmetrical result to it. I think a bit more practice and I can create some lovely pieces for my growing Arabian collection (I wonder what color will go well with the wood grains). The joys of a berserk nervous system makes me contemplate working on my stablemate sized customs, but there's one I would love to finish and another that I believe I have found a good color for. There was a time a couple years ago when the only blockade from finishing a model in one sitting is my tendency of having to put it down before I get annoyed, now that happens faster depending on what kind of day it is with my twitches and shakes. I also found another flaw of mine is being impatient and not wanting to clean the brush or water down the paint to make more smooth brushstroke-less layers.
One fine example of this is my custom Epona, who I completed in a record two hours (not recommended). She did turn out as I wanted but also atrociously. If you look closer you can see little balls of dried acrylic paint that stuck to my brush that I decided to not have the time to clean.

 

Bad Ali, no pretty ponies or potato salad for such impatience! 

Here is my work in progress whose color turned into a whoops. Stonewall Lee was supposed to be a dapple grey, but I went wrong somewhere in the beginning and didn't notice until I was too far along to want to retry. He is almost done, just waiting on a good day to not twitch everywhere while detailing his mane. My major mess up was not thinning the paint, so there are a few brush strokes on him, especially his black stockings, and I'm theorizing that is another reason his grey came out far darker than expected.

 

Points to whoever can think of a name for his coloring!

Working on him will be for another time when I won't potentially cough up gunk on him. These two definitely aren't my first customs, but the others are packed away. I am thinking of sewing together some pony pouches to better pack everyone in, and I'll take pictures as I find them. And to end today's random entry, I shall display a photo of what all the cats are possibly doing! Starring DeEtta, who is keeping an eye/ear on me.

 

Zzzzzzzzzz...

My new pretty and ideas abound!

So much for posting my new addition the other night! (The bengals can be very demanding and giving me no choice but to step away from hobbies.) I've always had a soft spot for palominos, and finding this family arabian mare from the 70's-early 80's in rather decent condition didn't help. I think I'll name her Honeysuckle, not fully decided on it yet.

 

Not too scuffy, and a lovely color.

Also got around to picking up one of my ongoing projects last night, an alabaster unicorn on the running stallion mold. I'm on the fence about if my modifications will make him look better or worse...

(I would put a picture here, but the ways he looks right now is a bit creepy and also constitutes as nightmare material, no joke. I recommend not cutting off his mane and ears and placing him in a spot where he's constantly watching you.)

Some mornings start earlier than I would like, so I use the time to rake up ideas. Today's inspiration was a scene for a performance class, but not your typical "this horse is a badass winner in the arena." More like the riding academy horse who isn't in the mood to run the course, or the stud who breaks his form while being judged in halter because there's an irresistible smelling mare nearby that he wants to meet. That's right, the arena bloopers. For some reason my brain exploded with ideas that would be easy and amusing to replicate, and it is something I sure wouldn't expect in a show if I was a judge. Not only that, but it can be a drag being serious and trying to replicate something and achieve 500% success. Got to find humor and keep lighthearted in life to try and rise above the negativity.

 

Not gonna lie, that's another nightmare piece.

In the next installment of this mess of my thoughts, I will introduce a part of my collection that always interests me and keeps me learning new things!