Bona Fide Tennessee Mountain Cur

I ended up getting about 2 total hours of sleep yesterday-fun times.

My first stop in Metropolis was the Giant Superman:



Isn't he handsome?



Yep, HAD to get a giant crotch shot.



Incognito.



Drugs? No thanks, had my fill of those yesterday.....



Which is why I looked like this.



Metropolis is also home of 'Big John'. He is a giant bag boy I think.



My past week has been kind of full of random giant things for some reason.
First Albert The Bull, then Giant Mad Girl, then Huge Superman and Big 'Ole John. Weird.
Well, I am a weird magnet after all :)



So after I finished all my big fun I hit the road- only 8 more hours to Asheville.
After a couple of hours we stopped for some gas, then I noticed two men staring at Pete in the truck. I politely smiled at them and they proceeded to come over and started telling me how handsome Pete was. Now, keep in mind that we were in the hills of TN at a tiny gas station that was so old, the pumps didn't even take credit cards. Those two men were straight out of 'Deliverance'- I seriously could almost hear the tune of 'Dueling Banjos' as they approached me.

It went down like this:

"Now I ain't never seen a Cur from Iowa!"

"Well, we found him in Texas and brought him to Iowa with us."

"Well I'll be damned- a Tennessee Cur living in Iowa. He looks to me like a full blooded bona fide Tennessee Mountain Cur- they are born and bred right her in Tennessee. I have 2 of 'em. Best hoggin' dog I ever did see. And very smart too."

"Really? I just thought he was some strange mutt-that's so cool!"

"oh no, he's a Cur alright. And if you have coons in Iowa he would love to chase them too."
(Sorry, I found that extremely funny sounding.)

Anyway, I was so excited to learn that Pete wasn't some random no name dog!
And extremely relieved that they didn't tell him he had a "purdy mouth" and ask him to squeal like a pig!!

So we got back on the road and headed down the highway with only 2 hours left in our trip.



It was a gorgeous day. The Blue Ridge Mountains were on the horizon. I was almost to my Aunt's house. AND I had my very own Tennessee Mountain Cur. Life was good.

I called Bonnie to tell her I'd just found out that Pete was a Tennessee Cur, and she busted out laughing, promptly grabbed her dictionary and read the definition of Cur below:

{Cur refers to a mutt, a dog of mixed ancestry, typically characterized as one who tends to growl frequently rather than maintain calm.It is also a derogatory term in American slang to insult someone by calling them a dog. Particularly, a mixed-breed dog.}

WHAT??? Pete is a bona fied purebred mutt?
Of course he is.
Awesome.



I did research a little more after I got to Bonnie's house, and found there really is a breed called the Tennessee Mountain Cur.

So as far as I'm concerned, from now on he's Texas Pete, the Tennessee Mountain Cur.

I love it.

What Would Superman Do?

Pete and I covered some serious ground yesterday, we drove almost 12 hours before I decided to call it a night....when I saw the exit sign for 'Metropolis, IL- Home of the Giant Superman Statue!'
And OF COURSE I rolled right on into The Metropolis Inn, and was thrilled when the clerk told me I'd gotten the last room! Imagine my joy in landing the last room AND being only 1 mile from Giant Superman! Golly Gee I am just so lucky sometimes!

I was so beat I collapsed into bed 10 minutes after I'd checked in.......
um...but...that was 6 hours ago. It's now 4 am Friday morning and I can't sleep.

Why you ask?

Well let's see: the shower in my room won't stop dripping. The toilet runs a swishy cycle every 4.5 minutes. The smoke detector on the ceiling has a tiny green light that blinks off and on and off and on and off and on and on and on. There must be an ice machine right outside my door because it dumps a new load just about every 10 minutes...usually right after the elevator dings and screetches and vibrates my wall.

Oh, and that family of giant ELEPHANTS above me are very talented cloggers indeed!

So what would Superman do? I'll tell you what he wouldn't do-
he certainly wouldn't go on a roadtrip and take these:



...and expect to sleep anytime within the next 12 or 20 or so hours after taking them.

Nope. He sure wouldn't.



You guessed it.

Super jinky pills + shithole, noise infested hotel = you aint sleepin' tonight.

It's times like this when I'm painfully reminded that the Mensa gene skips a generation in my family. My parents are Mensa smart, I am not. I used to tease my mom when she would attend her annual 'Mensa Gathering'- I called it the 'Nerd Convention'. Mom told me that her Mensa friends referred to us common folk as 'Densans'.
That's pretty funny.
Regardless, I bet those nerds weren't lying awake in their hotel rooms with the caffeine jitters staring at the moving walls either.



Boing.

Boing.

Boing.


Hey, Mr. Elephant.....your ice is ready!


There had better be one helluva Superman statue on my way out tomorrow today.

Life's Funny Like That

Today I am joining my Australian friend Bush Babe in a virtual celebration for Debby's final chemo treatment.

I wanted to leave something funny that would brighten her day, so I decided to add a new caption to my infamous cat picture.

This one's for you Debby!



You are a very strong, brave, and amazing woman.

Congratulations on your final treatment today!

I Need A Sign (Cont.)

Now for the rest of yesterday's story.....

After I saw the Giant Mad Girl billboard type random cut out thingie, I decided to stop at the Loess Hills Visitor Center on my way home. I was secretly hoping to find out if any of my photographs had been selected for the calendar, but was too embarrassed to ask the woman at the counter. After a few minutes she said, "aren't you the girl with the Catahoulas?"
(I had visited the shop back in September-and she could hear my dogs barking in the truck and wanted to go visit with them. Darrin and I find it easier to just tell people they are all Catahoulas- we really don't know for sure since they were all rescues.)
ANYWAY- I told her yes, that was me. Then she asked how my photography was going, so I told her I had submitted some pictures for the calendar, and she told me they would announce the winners in 3 or 4 weeks. She also told me they'd love for me to bring in some prints that I could sell on commission in the shop. Then she told me to go across the street to the Cultural Center and introduce myself to the ladies- it was closed but they were inside making a quilt.

HOW CUTE IS THAT? So cute.

So Mayberry cute.











They showed me the original Moorhead Jail that is on display. Apparently, the only crimes back in the day were usually just public intoxication, so they would throw the drunks in the cell until they sobered up. I love it.



So I chatted with the ladies for a bit, and when they learned that I was "good with a computer" they got very excited. One thing led to another and I volunteered to help out with the center and some upcoming projects & art exhibits. They are also talking about printing a book of photographs and poetry of The Loess Hills and want me to help with that too.

AWESOME!!!!

Things always seem to work out for me when I take my little random road trips.

Which is why Pete and I will be heading to Atlanta tomorrow.....
First stop-Asheville, NC to visit my fabulous Aunt Bonnie.

Stay tuned for updates and oddities from the road.

I Need A Sign

I always seem to stumble upon something really cool when I go for a drive with no real destination, like the time I found the The Little Red Schoolhouse completely by accident.

Today I was in the mood for one of those drives.

Mostly because I've been trying to decide if I should fly or drive to Atlanta next week for the shoots I have lined up, because I really HATE dealing with the airport anymore....and I think a roadtrip right now might actually be kind of fun.

I was hoping for some sort of sign today to give me the answer.

So I hit the road and headed to Omaha-but got off early at the exit for "Loess Hills State Park" because I've been wanting to check it out for awhile now.
So I'm driving down some road in the middle of nowhere, looking for a park that I never did find, when I see this....



You can't really tell from the picture but they were HUGE!
Like billboard size.
WTF??
I have no idea. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

So, to me this SIGN is telling me to DRIVE to Atlanta,
and that I should take our dog (Pete) that likes to eat my stuff.

Right???

Today's story doesn't end here, it got even better when I stopped at the visitor center in Moorhead. But I'm tired so I will have to finish tomorrow.

I knew my handful of fans would be disappointed if I didn't post something tonight.

LOL.

To Be Continued.......

Today's Fortune

Today was a Blah day. I tried to work on listing stuff on my Ebay store and on some new ideas for my Etsy Art store, but I just couldn't pull it together.

I did, however, stumble upon a random Blog called The Naked Soul. Today's post was very enlightening.... "At any given moment take solace in knowing that you are exactly where you are supposed to be on your journey. You are never in the wrong place, you have never wasted time. Be grateful today for exactly where you are".....you can read the entire post HERE.
Very good stuff.

Yes, I can be very 'airy-fairy' when the mood strikes me.



So when exactly is that next new moon due anyway???
I'm waiting.
So is Pete.

The Peanut Gallery

Today I'd like to share this little clip of Pete just being his amazing self.
The dog can SHELL his own peanuts. He is pure genius I tell you.
Can someone call David Letterman for me please?

Albert's Family Jewels

I've been wanting to go see Albert The Bull for several months now. Well, today my dream came true! Albert is the largest bull in the U.S. and is only about 80 miles or so from us.



He is 30 feet tall and weighs about 45 tons.



Darrin's 'thinking' pose. Don't ask.



Al has cute eyelashes.



I even checked underneath for Claire and Joanna, but then I remembered
that bulls don't have udders.



No udders but he sure had one big set of Nads!!!!



WOWZA!



Graffiti nuts!!!



I knew everyone would be disappointed if I didn't take a pic with Al's Big Boys.



What a great Valentine's Day trip!



Thanks D, I had a ball today!!

Something Wicked This Way Comes

WARNING:
This post includes some graphic images not intended for the faint of heart. It is advised that small children and/or the squeamish do not continue!

Today I received some pictures from my good friend Maggie that scared the ever-loving shit out of me on first glance.
Her email simply said, "Meet Ozzy".
Now- I'll admit that I WAS hoping for a good Friday the 13th type story to happen for me today, but never in my wildest dreams would I have wished for something like this.
Oh no.



OMG! This is her new cat!



Dear God Noooooooooo!

I'm hoping he at least has a good personality.

Cat Burglar

My mother was on the 'I Can Has Cheezburger' website yesterday and noticed that someone had uploaded one of MY pictures without permission. The nerve! So of course I emailed the site immediately-they apologized and gave me photo credit.
My exciting life.
The caption they added IS pretty funny though.


more animals

Spunky Skunky

I promise I had no intention of posting dog pics for three days in a row. Seriously. But yesterday we let the kids go on a little run....and all 3 came home COVERED in skunk. OMG. I have no words for the smell. It happened to Banjo a few months ago- but never to all 3 at one time. Holy Mother of God I've never smelled anything like that in my life. For some reason I imagine the whole thing went down just like this Casper Episode.

Darrin and I spent about an hour washing the idiots.
And they're still a little skunky.
It's not funny.











Thanks Casper. Good one.

Phodography: A Look Behind The Scenes

I am organizing all the files that were saved from my dead laptop and I came across this series of pictures from September. I thought it would be fun to show y'all how many pictures I actually have to take of my beloved idiots just to get ONE halfway decent shot of the 3 of them together! And yeah, there is an Orb in a few of these too, and it is clearly distracting them in some of the shots... ; )

ONE.


TWO.


THREE.


FOUR.


FIVE.


SIX.


SEVEN.


EIGHT.


NINE. (although this is pretty cute)


TEN.


ELEVEN.


TWELVE.



THIRTEEN. Finally. A good shot.

Now if only I could get them to smile.

Hey, I just realized it has been awhile since I posted a 'Did It' from my '2 tears in a Bucket List' ....I know everyone must be having Di Did It withdrawals. LOL. So here ya go...

#11- Walk on a Volcano.