Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
A pebble mourning dove could be done: just use a juvenile bird for a model. The fledgeling doves have shorter tails (and are more or less pebble-like anyway in shape). They have a full set of feathers, not down, but the wing- and tailfeathers haven’t finished growing out yet.
He’s very nice, grayfire! Those are some fantastic color transitions (and excellent colors, too). I particularly like the accents you put along his dorsal ridge: it looks fabulous against the blue. Great depth of color everywhere. Very fine work! 🙂
I’m here at least a couple times a week (more frequently on my weekends) but I seem to have missed that particular thread. 😕
When I was about five, I got a sock horse made from these crazy red, yellow, and orange-banded socks, with a mane, tail, saddle, and bridle made out of yellow and red felt. I don’t remember if he was a Santa present or not. “Sock” followed me everywhere. His left side is all patched and stitched from various cosmetic “adjustments” I made when I was little, and was always removing or adding stuffing so that he looked more horselike. His mane and tail are on at least their third incarnation (there’s still a single strand of the original tail, which I’ve jealously defended) and for years he wore a pair of replacement ears made from brown fake fur, after his original ears fell off. Sock went with me to college, and he didn’t lose his pride of place on the bed until I got married. He’s out in the garage somewhere, snoozing in a box.
I sure wish I could find a pair of wild kneesocks that were durable enough to make him a little brother. Sigh.
Oh man, get me started on old cars . . . My second car was the family car, a 1975 Mercedes-Benz 300D that my dad had bought new. (My first car was a 1974 MBZ 240D; the “one-hamsterpower special.”) By the time I got the ’75 it already had well over 100,000 miles on it, and I proceeded to put another 100,000-plus on it in the twelve years I had it. Now that’s not to say that the car didn’t have problems over the years. We replaced the engine once, the transmission a couple of times, and that car went through alternators like candy corn. But I loved it, and it was a very bad day when I had to admit that I couldn’t keep up financially with its slowly expanding problem list. That car had been in the family for twenty-nine years, and it tore me up to see it go. (Word of advice: If you drive a diesel, never, ever, ever fill up at a shady-looking gas station in the middle of nowhere. If there’s water in your fuel, algae will grow–must be some freakish type of algae–and it wrecks your fuel system.)
Currently I drive a 1991 Ford Explorer when I need to haul hay or large amounts of stuff. It’s got well over 200,000 miles on it; I think we’re at about 270,000. Likewise it’s had its problems–many of which manifested in its first five years–but once Dad got all of its “growing pains” taken care of, it’s been fantastic. Snorts like a bull, corners like a brick, and has a terrible stopping distance; other than that, no complaints. 😉
My husband has a 1996 Saturn SL2. Not far from 300,000 miles on it and it’s only now finally starting to die; we’ve lost a cylinder, and the cost of revamping the system is just plain not worth it. My husband’s pretty bummed, especially since Saturn has disappeared. He really likes that car.
My niece loves Schleich figures, and since not only Target but also the local feed store and super-cool-independent toy store carry them, I’ve “accidentally” picked up a few myself. (“Oh, rats, she already has the stinking adorable white tiger cub. Darn!”) In the not-even-pretending-they-were-for-anyone-else category, I have a couple of small dragons (another feed-store find), the running pegasus, and the griffin (love him). I’m currently considering the Yorkshire bull, various chickens, and some more of the drafters. They really are very nicely made. There’s also a Christmas ornament given me by a friend who is a groomer; I have to laugh every time I see it. It’s the Rhode Island hen, suspended by a tiny rubber band around her neck on a piece of red ribbon. Got to applaud her: she used the materials at hand!
WAHOOO! Phoenix time! Many thanks to Susie, for keeping these e-mail notification lists: she has absolutely made my day. 😀
. . . ‘m gonna paint, ‘m gonna paint, ‘m gonna paint paint paint . . . . 😈
I know your plate is pretty full, but I would love to see more Copper Griffins someday, either with or without the blue and purple. Both versions were just beautiful! I am kicking myself really hard for missing the auction on the second one: he was gorgeous. 🙄 Would you consider perhaps a modified form of this color as a limited production color? I’m thinking of a griffin colored something like a golden eagle, with a dark brown body and base and copper and gold highlights on the feathers, plus or minus a few cream irregular marks on the big flight feathers like a young eagle would have. The way you did the Coppers was fabulous; I’m just trying to think of a way to make that color scheme more feasible for limited production. squeek*
Worse luck, there don’t seem to be any stores in San Diego that carry Windstones any more. We go down there yearly for Comic-Con and I’ve made a lot of phone calls to stores on the list. Struck out big time. There’ve been a lot of stores closing in the past ten to fifteen years, and others that changed hands and changed styles. I think even the smoke shop in the Parkway Plaza Mall in El Cajon closed, and they only had a few pieces. It’s a darned shame. There used to be lots of candle shops and little statue shops down there that had Windstones, and I miss them. 🙁
It’s true; the best places to find retired Windstones any more seem to be either shops that have been around for a couple of decades and still have stock, or the Forum itself. I found a Rainbow Emperor up in Yreka three years ago, at a general store, of all places! And a Grimalkin turned up at an antique mall near Fairfield. There’s also eBay, but of course shipping could be a real pain in the neck.
Good luck to you! 🙂
Got home from work late, had dinner, then indulged in a wild worknight revel: one good book, one chocolate cupcake, one bottle of Bubble-Up from Henry’s Market. 😀
Right-hand column, second from the bottom: yellow indicator light instead of green.
It’s a darned shame that I am so ignorant about computers that I can’t really tell what I’m looking at, though. 😳
Oh, I know they’re harmless–the left brain knows, anyway–but unfortunately they set me off into yeekyland just based on looks alone. And, admittedly, they can deliver a painful bite if provoked. I’ve never been bitten, but I took a good hard look at the dental equipment on one of the smaller Sacramento variety, and holy cats! Speaking of same, I’ve seen them charge cats (the cats gave ground). About the only creatures I’ve seen get the better of them was a flock of hungry young chickens. (Carnage. Absolute buggy carnage.)
TDM, no offense taken, I assure you! 🙂 It was one of those moments that made me think, “Five years from now I’m gonna look back on this and laugh; for now, I think I’ll curl up and shudder for a while.” Fortunately my husband is made of sterner stuff than I, and has always been quick to sprint to my rescue with an empty jumbo jar and a sheet of cardboard. We evicted quite a few of those critters during our time in the desert, although I was home alone the day I discovered the very pregnant five-inch-long scorpion who had mistaken my crafts room for a maternity ward. Fortunately she was rather slow in her condition and I was able to grab the bug jar and escort her outside to a nice flowerbed. Thank heavens I found her before her “blessed event!”
For another visual guaranteed to upset arachnophobes like me, Google the phrase “clock spider” and prepare to be appalled.
Regarding big spiders: in the desert we had sun spiders (another name for wind scorpions and camel spiders). One evening my husband and I were sitting and watching TV when we heard a shrill squeaking and scratching sound coming from the window. There, about halfway up the glass (glass, mind you) was a sun spider with a leg-span the size of my hand (eight inches). Thank heavens he was on the outside of the house. As it was, we drew straws to see who was going to go out there and call in the dogs.
I have also had sun spiders accost me in the shower (I learned to inspect the shower closely before turning on the water, because having something like that racing around in a panic at close quarters is nothing to experience while starkers). And one night I awoke to the feeling of a hair tickling the end of my nose. I kept brushing at my nose, trying to get rid of it, but without luck. At last I woke up enough to get mad and think, “The stupid thing must be stuck to the pillow!” So I reached up and grabbed . . . something quite large and rather squashy.
Well, that led to one of those full-body convulsions, the kind where you kick your spouse, launch the spare blanket from the foot of the bed, and straight-arm the lamp right off the bedside table trying to turn it on. Meanwhile my right arm made an executive decision and threw whatever it was holding as hard as possible across the room. By the time we got the other lamp turned on, there was nothing to be found anywhere on the floor, and at last I quit shivering and went back to bed.
Two days later, we found the very large, still slightly stunned sun spider lurking in front of the closet.
Dear Lord, that thing had been sitting there on my pillow for several minutes, giving my nose little pats with its legs, trying to figure out what it had found. GYAAAAAHHH! :shout: If I had opened my eyes and seen that thing squatting there, they would have had to check me into Intensive Care for protracted hysterics. I guess this is an unexpected advantage to having a very dark bedroom. And a pronounced disadvantage to having a dust ruffle on the box spring.
Both are wonderful dragons! I have a soft spot for the “piebald” look of the white wing patches on Redwood Magpie: blame the current batch of chickens, which has a splash rooster and a black Polish with a few cream accents. Anyway, it’s a very cool effect having the white juxtaposed against all of that intricate color.
As for Crimson Sapphire, yum, loving those eyes! Are those by any chance a set of Dreaming Tree eyes in Full Metallic? Or are they something else? Because I have a thing for glowy eyes on a dragon, and would love to play with that idea. (Like I need an excuse to order more eyes . . . .)
As far as the fit in the eye socket: yeah, I’ve run into that too, they don’t quite fit. I’m planning to experiment with that, though: maybe with a little Apoxie Sculpt stuck on the back of the eye, they might fill the sockets a little better. But I’m reminded of the Wall-Eyed Goof-Up dragons as I say that; it may not work! :shrug:
