All posts tagged Annie
Scenes from the studio. Routine.
On April 4, 2012
In Art making, Life in North Dakota, Living with Greyhounds
With 2 Comments
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Homebound.
The weather has turned cold. January is not a favorable month for smooth haired creatures living in North Dakota interested in outdoor activities. However, we are half way through the month and the winter has been relatively easy. Hooray!
Annie discovered the blanket filled chair and curled up in her newly discovered spot. The chair is small and has wooden arms. Not greyhound friendly. Guess the blankets tipped the scale.
Not to be outdone, the second Annie relinquished her new perch, Winchester had to try this new spot.
Greyhounds are funny.
Utilizing resources.
Using my iPhone and the wordpress app. Wondering if this will work?
Here’s Annie. Stretched out on the couch, literally. Making every bit of her 69 lbs count!
Gray and green.
Cold. Wet. Rainy. Gray.
On the bright-side the basement is dry. That can’t be said for most of my neighbors. Or those along the Missouri river here in ND. Flooding. Sandbagging. Stress.
I don’t know how long it has been raining – just that it seems like we’ve had more rain this year than ever. If memory serves, we’ve had three nice days in all of May. I long for 70+ degree weather. I had to turn the furnace on last night.
And no Greyhound Gathering in Kanab, Utah. And no Art Show at Dewey Beach, Delaware this year either. I sit with no set events this year. No finalized engagements. The calendar is wide open with not a deadline in sight. I’m not sure I like this.
But my memory box goal for this month has been met. The boxes are drying and should be ready soon (rain/humidity is slowing the process down… slow drying is a good thing… but it takes forever…) There are also smaller smoke fired greyhound and saluki sculptures ready to be fired. In about a week things might shape up around here. The kilns will be firing, at last. I’m excited for the results. I’m really liking this batch of boxes and small sculptures.
The hounds and I have been squeezing trips to the dog park in between rain storms. I’m not crazy about them running on wet grass, but there has been little choice, of late. They need exercise and while the leash walking does fulfill some of that, it isn’t enough. The dog park ground is squishy and saturated like a sponge that needs to be wrung out. The hounds don’t seem to mind it or the baths when they get home.
Back to work. May has been a productive month. Memory boxes started. Small sculptures started. Shipped a larger piece (cross your fingers UPS will be kind in shipment). Have two other larger works possibly sold. Am *this* close to completing a $36,000 grant at the library job. It’s all good.
Annie and the dog crate
Dog training & gardening. Two things I wish I could do better.
I picture my backyard rich with lush green plants. Carefully chosen flowers blooming in succession. A pleasant courtyard with a sculpture garden. My backyard looks nothing like this.
And as for the dog training… My hounds are easy to live with. They are housebroken. They walk on the leash. They sit when asked. They are polite at meals and don’t charge out of open doors. But if we go deeper… not so much.
The reason both these things aren’t further along? Me. Time. Effort.
Especially with the dogs. They are smart, eager to learn and easy to train. It’s me that is the big, tired push-over. But there are “Things We Must Learn.” So I made a list.
One of the things on the list is “Annie must learn to settle in her crate”. So I set up the crate, began feeding her in the crate, and dispensing treats for being settled in her crate. It took no time and soon we began seeing this:
Hurray! We’re working on duration (with the door closed) now.
She’s a smartie, my girl! She’s figured out another use for the crate:
All the better to survey the neighborhood.
And snow it goes
The temperature was near 70 degrees Fahrenheit. And the weatherman was warning of an upcoming blizzard. Such is spring in North Dakota. Turns out, this time, he was correct.
Winchester woke me this morning around 4AM. The wind was howling. He wanted me to be awake to hear it, I’m sure. The wind sounded like a train, but just a bit of snow. Wet and heavy. Then more snow… and wind. Ugh. Blizzard.
Just a few days ago, spring was here. The dogs and I have been visiting the dog park more often. We are all out of shape. We all love the sun. To be outdoors again.
Yes, every couple of days it snows. Then green grass and sunshine again. Just this time, the wind came.
This snow knocked down many (14?) of the very, very few trees that are in Bowman. We are short grass prairie. Every tree here has been planted. They don’t make it on their own.
I know there is green grass under the snow. The snow will be gone tomorrow or the next and the warmer temperatures will return. Such is spring in North Dakota.
Dog park wish.
The weather was beautiful today. The sun is shining and the snow is melting. I thought we’d try the dog park. Didn’t really go as planned. Going to be awhile. Lots of snow out there. In the photo above Sage hasn’t sunk to the bottom. It is belly deep for him in most places. Wish we could use the dog park…
We came home instead. I tried to encourage the hounds to run in the backyard. Mostly they looked at me, but Annie and Sage did play a little tug to blow off steam.
I have mixed feelings about February. On one hand, I would like it to be over so that we will be closer to Spring. On the other, the deadline for the DSU exhibition is at the end of February. The 25th to be exact.
I know I can get everything finished. But its going to take some work.
I’m shooting for 24 pieces finished and ready to exhibit. Some of those are not fired yet. Ulp.
I’m worked on four pieces today – putting the finishes on them. Several are going to need wooden bases, so that’s sanding, staining, more sanding, and then finishing. I want to start them now so that they have time to dry thoroughly. That’s #1 on the To Do list for tomorrow.
I’ll fire the unfired work on Monday. The kiln is loaded but I’m not *quite* sure everything is dry – especially the trooper’s hat piece. That piece along with the new Prey Drive piece, the rabid rabbit, and the Faith In My Lucky Rabbit’s Foot are all in the same kiln load.
The wall pieces need their hanging devices. Not quite sure how I want to do this yet. This is also on the list for tomorrow. No weekends off until all the work is complete. All the work will have to be photographed before it’s packed to go to the gallery.
Also, I’m fairly sure that all of the work will not fit in my vehicle for one trip to Dickinson. Going to have to make two trips – that’s 180 miles round trip for one trip. I’ll all work out. Need to get to work.
Three years old!
On tuesday, Sage and Annie will be three years old!
What wonderful hounds they have grown up into.
Seems like they were just babies a second ago. I’d do it again in a second (but with all the knowledge I’ve gained with raising these two). What a wonderful ride it has been.
Library.
What is that expression, “the shoemaker’s children have no shoes?” Seems like I remember my Grandmother using this expression along with “wishes don’t wash dishes.” When I think more about it, I’m not sure she actually said those things, or if, instead they seem like something she would have said. My memory has mashed them into the memory of my Grandmother.
Anyway. My point. I work in a library, and my own library was a mess. A Mess. Stacks of books propped against the book shelves sitting on the floor. Like was not with like. Like the shelves had rejected the books. So remedying this problem was my New Years Day project.
Here’s the problem. I never discard a dog book.
Like “The Other End of the Leash” – love this book. See the nice new copy on the bottom of this photo? The copy of this book on top is Winchester’s version – as a young Greyhound he stole the book and tore out page after page. And I feel like I must keep it. Cause its a dog book. I makes me think of Winchester as a teenager – gawky and destructive – how can I throw the damaged copy away?
I put all the training books with training books; Greyhound books with Greyhound books. Including these two: the spiral bound is a privately published book of stories edited by Mary Bauer with my first Greyhound, Sterling, on the cover; the book in the foreground is also a book of Greyhound stories with Annie Greyhound on the cover. This book is available at the Greyhound Gang website.
On the bottom of one of the piles – gasp! – is the 1888 book, Our Prize Dogs, by Charles H. Mason. Its a record of prize winning dogs from that time. It has cool photos of old Greyhounds:
Here’s a Greyhound named : Mother Demdike. Love those irish markings.
Here’s Champion Highland Chief.
Here’s the Italian Greyhound. No Whippets yet. It’s a cool book.
Among the books was a metal film canister of dog tags – most are from my Greyhounds, some were finds from antique stores, etc.
What is it about the tags? They are so personal. The GPA 031 tag was Striker’s. 162 must have been Apollo’s. Who was the dog that wore the Venturia 4 1949 tag? A mastiff? or An IG? Who knows… Love the dog tags.
Sweet Princess Annie supervised most of this book/memory lane visit. I culled enough books so that the remaining collection fits comfortably on the shelves. Job well done.
Tomorrow, more art.
Back to work.
So I spent my Christmas working. I’ll admit it. But it’s not really work in a way. Putting the finishing touches on this two Greyhound sculpture. Hard to stay away once these pieces get close to finished.
Not quite finished, but getting close.
Annie says, “Needs a bit more work right there!”
Also worked on some bunny rabbits. For some reason I kept thinking of toasted marshmallows as I was working on these. I know the hounds can read my thoughts, but am I starting to pick up on their’s?
Three slightly bored Greyhounds are not the best of studio partners. Work? Who needs to work? Like Winchester here, as I was attempting to photograph these pieces for this blog. How do you get dog slime off the camera lens again?
Then Sage kidnapped a roll of bubble wrap – trailing it around the house as he RAN.
Who? Us? We aren’t guilty! 
Opening kiln. Finding Christmas.
The heater in the studio has been acting up lately. Of course it is when it is most needed. Is this because I’ve noticed the problem or because of some Murphy’s Law phenomenon and/or the Karmic laws of the Universe?
Outside minus seven Fahrenheit. Inside a ton of clay that must not freeze.
So I fired the kiln. Kiln = big electric oven = warm studio for a while.
There are some masks in the kiln and some three-toed Greyhound feet.
And bunnies. Lots of bunnies. They are roughly the size of the bunnies that have been running around the backyard at night. To these live bunnies romping though my yard: Please bunnies. Please. Go somewhere else. While the bored Greyhounds would love to run after you, I don’t relish dealing with the little tapeworms that live inside of you – that might live inside my Greyhounds if they catch and eat you. So please. Go Somewhere Else.
In a fit of out of character-ness, I dug out the holiday decorations. In all the seasonal rush, I rarely hang decorations since time is so scarce between shipping packages and the like. Check out the box they are in…. a Sony Betamax box!
The box itself reminds me of Christmas when I was a kid. Especially the year when Dad brought home the VHS player from the high school library over Christmas vacation and the one VHS tape the school owned, Old Yeller. This was the 1957 Disney version. VHS in the home was new technology. My brother, Hamilton, and I must have watched Old Yeller a dozen times that Christmas break. I remember how we laughed so hard when the fast forward button was pushed and the people moved so quickly and how we cried each time Old Yeller died.
We got the Betamax not long after that. We had A Christmas Story on Beta. And The Breakfast Club. I know there were other movies but I can’t recall the titles. The Betamax’s remote control had a cord. That cord eventually died thanks to a bored Standard poodle puppy. The machine wore out eventually. I still know every line to The Breakfast Club.
Miss my brother. Wish he hadn’t died. Memories are good. Must learn to think of the good parts and not let the story play out to the end. It’s the end part that’s sad.
And so today is the 12th of December. We are so close to my favorite day of the year: December 21 (or 22) when the days begin to lengthen and the light returns.
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