When we want to get out of bed, the animals have to get out first, in alphabetical order. That way, we can extricate ourselves from the sardine can. First, Lisle (Saint Bernard), then Mac (Irish Wolfhound x Mexican Chihuahua), Muffin (mouse-gray, purebred house cat from champion domestic bloodlines) and finally, Pete (Border Collie). The rest of the cats do not venture out of Phyllis's room, other than to go outside through the open window, weather permitting. Of course, the finches and parakeets are (finally) confined to cages.
My daughter said we live in a zoo, but what is a zoo without an Indian Elephant? I currently have my scout in Mumbai negotiating for an young bull in an animal shelter. Poor thing. Don't people think about the long-term commitment when they buy a baby elephant?
Phyllis and I went to Target and I got some tee shirts that are other than white, though still light colors. A white tee shirt, even if the front had a hand-painted copy of a vintage fruit label, would be a deal breaker. It would be like trying to turn Naugahyde into deer skin leather. White tee shirts are meant as undergarments for sweaty, hairy men, so they don't get armpit stains on their dress shirts. Colored tee shirts with pretty designs are for going out to breakfast at International House of Pancakes.
We also went to Sports Authority and I got a gel cover that fits over the street bike's bicycle seat, which is now on the mountain bike. Maybe Phyllis doesn't need extra padding on a bike seat, but I do. Then, we went to Hobby Lobby and chose two sets of fabric markers for our self-imposed Arts and Crafts therapy.
I started a tee shirt painting, copying a vintage fruit label from Delta Brand California Oranges of Riverside, California. It has a few big oranges, big green leaves and branches, and a few white blossoms. The tee shirt painting began with promise, like driving to Rocky Mountain National Park on a clear, June morning. All of the vintage fruit labels are colorful and stylish. The artists put creative ingenuity into those labels, back in the early Twentieth Century. They didn't have computers, and it must have been messy. Professional, computer generated art requires talent, but you don't get your hands dirty. Manipulating paint flowing off a brush requires an entirely different skill set than using a software program. You have to get just the right viscosity with paint, or you end up trying to restrain an unruly mob.
The tee shirt painting turned into a lightning storm while hiking above tree-line. Perhaps that was because I didn't bring the required amount of patience "to the table." I used an old, white tee shirt, as a practice piece, and in the end it was still an old, white tee shirt that was born of a practice piece. I finished it, salvaging scrap metal from a train wreck.
Anyone know where we can get a Nauga?
