Orange Julius the baby vole

This is Orange Julius. Dave found him in Tink's mouth yesterday but Tink let him go so Dave put him in a box in his studio till I got home from the city. We bought some baby formula and have been trying to feed him from the tip of a paint brush but sometimes I can't tell if he's eating or not. He's under a heat lamp to keep him warm and he has lots of cozy blankets and a cardboard tunnel to hide if he wants. I spoke to a rehabber this morning and this is about the best I can do for now. His chances of survival aren't very good but that has never stopped me from trying. Even before Ichigo there was Manuel, a young pigeon that had a broken back that I tried to save. The rehabbers said 10% chance he'll make it and we tried but ultimately he never fully recovered. I loved him soooo much.
Anyway, this little guy is still alive so far so we're gonna keep trying to do what we can. He is super cute and really teany tiny.

Orange Julius the baby vole

Coleman goes to class

I don't have a picture to post with this but Coleman and I started going to group classes last week. We're taking the Canine Good Citizen class at Animal Farm Foundation where I volunteer. I've dreamed of getting him his CGC (it's sort of a title you earn after you pass the Canine Good Citizen test) ever since he was young but we never found the right place to go for training in the city that I could afford and he needs to brush up on some of his behaviors. He has had trouble with being reactive to dogs when he is on leash so that has always been the main hurdle. In our first class though, he had no outbursts and stayed focused the whole time even with dogs on both sides of us that really wanted to come check him out. I am grateful that Bernice and Ashley made sure to set him up for success, even asking me at the door if he would do better entering the classroom last or before the room filled up. We might not pass our first time around (or maybe we will) but we'll be working hard for the next 6 weeks so we'll be as ready as we can.

Coleman goes to class

Boredoms in Troy

(photos by Bryan Thomas - you can check out better resolution pics and lots more from the show click here)

Dave and I drove up to Troy Friday night with our friend Kelly to see this year's Boadrum. Dave was able to play in the last two 77 and 88 Boadrums and had the time of his life so we couldn't miss this year's incarnation. Even though there were fewer drummers (only 9 this time), there was more precision because of it so that was an interesting change. Since I didn't fly out to LA with Dave for last year's 88 I can only compare it to the first one, 77 in Brooklyn. As much as I loved how crisp the sound was at the EMPAC center which is SO amazingly beautiful, I admit that I missed the insane energy that can only be created and looped back and forth by a very large audience of sweaty people and a very large group of sweaty musicians. But, it's sort of like comparing apples to oranges I guess.
Kelly, who came with us, wrote his senior thesis on the evolution of Japanese noise music and most specifically the Boredoms so it was nice to introduce him to his idols Eye and Yoshimi. I was happy to see Hisham since we hardly get to see him anymore and Dave Nuss who, for those of you who were at our wedding, married us.
I never go out anymore so it was a nice treat.

Boredoms in Troy

New Fall Clothes

My friends Tom & Barbara drove in from Michigan this week and brought me clothes and knits they made for my store. I don't have pictures of Tom's crazy knitted headbands, scarves, and hoods, but Barbara took some pictures of her clothes before she gave them to me so here are a few looks. I especially like the jumper dress that has the beetles on them. I wish I could afford to buy it! (It always is strange to me that I cannot afford most of what I buy for the store.) BUT I am very lucky because some of my friends/designers take pity on me and give me pieces for free every once in a while and Barbara gave me a different version of the hot pink bag featured above. I LOVE it.

New Fall Clothes

The dilema with feeding the carnivores in the house

So over the last few years, I've been trying to find the cats a good raw diet that is easy for me to prepare, isn't overly gross to me, and is easy to find and buy. Most of the easy to find ones have a little too much vegetable matter in them than I think they should be eating or have something else "wrong" with them so that I haven't kept using any variety for very long. Recently I noticed that the cats were getting overly addicted to their canned food so I looked online to see if I could find any new products or something I haven't seen before. I stumbled upon the Feline Future website and decided to give it a try. Their ingredient list is pretty simple (total of ten) and all you do is mix it with any kind of raw meat. It arrived today and the cats gave it a try. They all ate it up. So far thumbs up. Now the next thing will be to find a place to buy relatively inexpensive ground meat that is hormone free. I used to be able to go to Whole Foods in the city for that kind of thing but not sure where to go now. I don't trust the supermarket very much.

The dilema with feeding the carnivores in the house