sculpture: Ron Mueck

These lifelike sculptures have to be the most amazing art i have seen in awhile... Do a google for Ron Mueck and have a look!

on happiness

The problem isn't materialism as such. Rather it is the underlying assumption that full satisfaction can arise from gratifying the senses alone. Unlike animals whose quest for happiness is restricted to survival and to the immediate gratification of sensory desires, we human beings have the capacity to experience happiness at a deeper level which, when achieved, can overwhelm unhappy experiences.

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama

a thought...

one half of my children's childhood was spent living in conditions that would be considered by most as "camping out." Half of the remaining portion was spent actually camping out, while the balance was spent just wishing we were.

what compelled me to say this - well, i was just thinking how fun it would be to go camping.

bits o' wisdom from the severly unqualified

mikie say:
to remain in a perpetual state of contemplation results in reposing prose.

Howdy ya'll! as you may have noticed (or not) i have not had a whole lot of anything notable in quite some time... honestly, i still don't, but am feeling like a real slacker not saying anything at all - i mean really, how much effort DOES it take to come up with SOMETHING?

anything.

Whats going on in my life? hmmmm... not a lot. On the other hand, G-Spot got himself a new recumbent bicycle, loves it, and will be riding it this weekend in one of Texas' biggest bicycle events - the "Hotter'N Hell Hundred" out in Wichita Falls.

i'll be staying home with the critters.

i REALLY need to get my "groove" back and do some painting... or something creative. Yesterday, received an email that the Lawndale Art Center has the tins available for creating retablos for their Dia de los Muertos event. Even with only one tin allowed per artist, the tins go quickly. Would like to try to make it down there to pick one up sometime this week during my lunch break. Maybe, just MAYBE if i actually get a tin and sit long enough staring at it, communing with it, i will suddenly become so incredibly inspired as to break this 6-month shit-funk i have been in.

Maybe it is time for me to try another medium, or another subject? hmmmm... maybe i just need to dye my hair.

works fer me!

This morning i stumbled into Lady Terri's place and found this image...which so nicely sums up my feelings about Bush i had to steal it from her site, run back here as quickly as i could and post it.

JL Awesome Esq

Me youngest is temporarily overcome with boredom... more film at 11.

Success!

around 2:15 i said a prayer.... "please let this be the night she shows up for him."

as i sat in the dark waiting, listening to his pitiful chatters and calls... suddenly he became very loud and the chatters sped up into a frenzied fit... i slowly made my way over closer to the cage he was in and sure enough, there on the other side of the cage was the momma trying to figure out how to get to him.

As i cautiously approached, she backed off just enough to let me open the cage door, i could hear her making that quiet deep call that i can only describe as a sort of "boom" - a moment later baby found the open door and they were reunited! Momma wasted no time turning around and heading away with her kid. I sat and listened as they made their way off into the darkness... i could hear the little guys chatter trailing off into the night.

That was at 3:30 in the morning... I drank a whole pot of coffee since 1 am... i was afraid i would fall asleep and miss the window of opportunity to open the cage. Needless to say I am completely wired and fried. I wish I could have taken pictures but really did not want to add stress to the situation... ah well, I had a great view and let me tell you it felt good seeing them together.

Oh! and she did not have the rest of the kids with her... or at least not close to her in my line of sight... I'm guessing she has them tucked away in their new home... i sure hope it is not someone else's wall or attic.

I am sooooo relieved... tending to the demands of a baby raccoon really is exhausting - I don't see how on earth a momma raccoon can deal with the average litter of three at a time.

Well... i'm off fer now...Good night!

argh

almost 1 in the morning... I just saw a raccoon outside, but I don't think it was the momma as she did not have the other two babies with her. this might be a long night.

second night is a strike out

I sat outside in the dark with Baby until midnight. I intentionally did not feed him hoping his hungry calls would help attract his family... Even still he was much quieter tonight than he was last night. The mosquitos were of course terrible and when i checked in on Baby at midnight noticed there was quite a cloud of mosquitoes that had collected in his carrier.

I decided to bring him in and feed him, and put him in a clean carrier. He ate really well. I am bothered at how quickly he has adapted to me... he calls to me, and when he is out of the cage will follow me where ever i walk. I am trying hard not to interact too much with him.

Throughout the rest of last night rather than subject Baby to the mosquitoes (and myself for that matter) I would get up every couple of hours looking for signs of his family eating... no signs at 2am, nothing at 3:00, and then nothing at 5am. But I noticed that they had definitely been there because all the food was now gone and I could see where momma had been washing her food.

So, one last feeding for Baby this morning before i tucked him back into his carrier for the day while i am at work. I have renewed hope that tonight will be the night he is reunited. My plan is to set the alarm for 3:00 and stay outside waiting for the family.

Some side thoughts and concerns:

1) I have learned that raccoons are commonly the host carrier to a large (5-8") round worm that lives happily in the racoons intestines. This round worm can be passed to other animals and to humans. The bad thing is that in hosts other than raccoons, the worm will become "confused" and instead of going to the intestines, will go to either the brain or eyes... Gross! I have been diligently washing and changing my clothes everytime I have to handle him as the whole brain-eating worm thing really freaks me out.

2) It is not true that a momma bird will refuse to take a baby back if it has the scent of human on it... but with the extremely keen sense of smell that racoons have, I am worried if the momma will recognize him as her own and take him back... god i hope so.

--UPDATE--

After speaking with local wildlife rehabbers I was assured that the mother would not reject the baby even with his new and strange smells attached.

Since I blogged about this whole incident, I feel a sense of responsibility to whom ever might read this. In most all cases when it comes to rescuing wildlife you should generally not attempt to feed babies. 99% of the time there are techniques and diet considerations that HAVE got to be used, if someone meaning well attempts to feed or give water to a baby that does not know these dietary needs or techniques in feeding they will kill the baby. The factors that I considered with deciding to do this were the following:

1) The baby had not eaten in three days.
2) Despite the lack of food for three days the baby appeared healthy (as did the rest of the family when we saw them after 2 days of being trapped in the wall.)
3) The baby was old enough to go to the bathroom without my assistance, he was also clearly old enough that he had enough of the mechanics of eating to compensate for my being an amateur.
4) I have some past experience with wildlife rehab, have watched experienced-rehabbers feed baby mammals, and read up on the techniques and diet of raccoons.

The reasons I did not simply place the baby in a carrier and contact a rehabber were:
1) I was positive i could follow the protocol for feeding and care as well as provide a quiet, dark, safe place away from other animals.
2) I was certain the mother was returning to the area and reuniting the family results in better success than ANY rehab situation.

Critters in the Wall

For two days we stayed up all night being serenaded by a family of racoons having a party in the walls of our house... we cut numerous holes, the noise we made creating the holes ultimately frightened two baby racoons back to the spot they entered the house from - where they were able to hook up with mom and leave. That was on Monday... soon after we realized another unfortunate baby had managed to get himself caught in a very bad spot that he could not get out of and after cutting more holes in the wall we were finally able to extract him yesterday evening after work.

It was my hope that last night we could reunite him with his family when they showed up looking for food, but the family never showed. I stayed out in the dark about 15 feet away from the pup who was in a pet carrier. I just sat quietly, sipping my wine, waiting for signs of the family as I was eaten alive by mosquitoes. The little racoon managed to escape from the carrier about 2 hours into our vigil... I cautiously approached him thinking he would not take kindly to my being close to him intending to get him back in the carrier, but instead he scrambled up my leg and clung to my shirt making begging noises.

We know interaction should be avoided, however, this little fellow had not eaten or drank anything for three days. Ultimately we wound up bottle feeding it kitten formula as he showed no interest in food placed in a dish. After about two attempts with a bottle he figured out the strange new process.

Tonight I will sit up with him again... surely the mother will be back tonight to raid the cat food.

a good day to start posting again

it was this day, 25 years ago that a miracle happened in my life. My faith in a greater something was ressurrected and i was overwhelmed with a love i had never known before... this was the day that i held my first-born daughter, Chelsea, in my arms... fresh outta the womb indeed!

Adventuresome, sunshine, laughing, gentle, lil' momma, earth-mother, hamster- Chelseawinnmyffs... Happy Birthday Hon!

Without a doubt, my children have been my salvation... infinite smiles and laughter, unconditional love, learning how important it is to honestly represent yourself in the eyes of your children and as a result finding out i was actually a good person, and the triumphant discovery of personal strengths I had not realized i had in me before - as I could not allow them to see me fail or have them go hungry as a result of my inability.

that isn't to say that while growing up my kiddos did not have do deal with a lot of difficulty as a direct result of being my children... but we managed to make it together... and such marvelous adults they have become!

25 years ago today I received the first of many wonderful gifts in my life, i am so grateful! I love you so much.