Pet Shops 'N Shizz...

For my Biology class, the teacher gave the option of either completing 24 hours of bio-related community service, or write a 10-page research paper. Ummmm, can we all agree that research papers SUCK B*LLS??

The Rio Rancho Animal Control apparently no longer use volunteers (what?!?) and none of the area vets needed my services... I was scrambling. I reeeeally prefer to work with animals instead of people... not that I'm anti-social, but...

I get the semi-genius idea to stop by the pet store in RR that is notoriously, um, iffy. The owner GLADLY accepted my offer.

My first day involved six hours straight of cleaning out 20 reptile tanks. They were dirty dirty dirty... this is post-cleaning:



I didn't have the heart for 'before' and 'afters.'



I did brink my opaque whiteboard markers, and I re-did all of their tank labels. They were just written on all willy-nilly, and I made 'em bright and pretty.

I also pulled every tank down to clean the hell out of each shelf... fortunate that I did, as a large Boa had been on the lam and was in residence behind the Corn snake tank. He must've been there a while, because he had time to almost completely shed back there and poop, too. EW.

The next day that I went in, I took it upon myself to start with the kittens... I mean, who couldn't resist this:



I cuddled each and every one of them, but I can proudly say, I didn't bring home a single one. Hooray for self control!

I also cleaned out the residence of 4 squirrely Ferrets. I've always liked ferrets, but after dealing with their musky stinkiness and cat-sized poops, their ranking on my 'Animal Love Chart' has gone DOOOOOWN.

I scrubbed the Bird Room for 4 hours on Sunday, and found a runaway Rat Snake in there. I was told that the runaway snakes go there a lot, as there are a lot of mice infesting the bird seed... EW. Poor little pet store. I feel so bad for the animals! I'm less supporting the bad pet store owner and moreso I've convinced myself that I'm doing it for the animals. I wish I could rescue them all.

I was well-versed in snake wrangling for my reptile cleaning job, as the week before, the dogs alerted me of THIS resident of our backyard:

You really must click on it and get a closer look. It looked like an alien! It was just a large, piggish garter snake with an unfortunate toad in it's mouth.

I scooped the whole kit-n-kaboodle into a big pot, and the nasty snake proceeded to vomit the expired toad out...
I do pride myself on my bravery in the most yuckky situations

I walked Mr. Snake down to the Bosque and released him... I swear, he turned and shot me the angriest stink-eye... garter snakes are so ungrateful!

Prints Of My Insides

I will disengage from my husband's side to return to blog-a-boo... I thought that when he got home, I'd have oodles of free time to do all of my favorite things... blog, artsy-poo stuff, photography, cleaning, organizing, yadda, yadda, yadda...

But NO.

I spend my free time chilling with my husband, exercising, doing homework, and volunteering at a pet store.

Huh?

You heard me. I'm basically cleaning the hell outta a particularly needy pet store in Rio Rancho... more on that later.

I'm taking Printmaking class this summer; VERY fun. I'm sticking with some of my favorite themes.

We did lino-cuts first. Pill-bugs, VOILA!


That is all of my meticulous carving. I only made myself bleed ONCE. That's not bad for a beginner...

Below are my proofs and rejects. The good ones were handed in to my instructor. Only FOUR good ones survived, so it is a limited series of 4, entitled "How To Protect Yourself."





We're working on woodcut prints now, carved outta a big hunk of birch plywood. Here is my gameplan for it:



Steampunk Dodo Bird! The prints are tenatively titled "How To Prevent Extinction." I've done the first layer of printing, which is yellow. Thus my wood is stained thusly:



If you have even a hint of OCD, then printmaking is extremely satisfying.

In other news, husband bought me a shiney new SUV:



Well, not BRAND new, but new to me. A 2006, which floats my boat just fine, thankyouverymuch.

My Mom's day flower garden is doing okay... there's been a few fatalities, but I'm still learning what will thrive in the heat and at this ridiculous altitude.(Rio Rancho's elevation is 10 feet higher that Denver... Mile-High my arse!)



My lillies are kicking butt. I bought 2 last year, they died, I cut them down, and in the spring, SHAZAM! A million little babies popped up. Totally unexpected. I apparently know SQUAT about this stuff, but sometimes I'm lucky.

Pretty!


Can you spot the wee grasshopper?


More on my ridiculous animal exploits later...