Back from break.

A few notes this morning:

Hubby has filmed the fiber artist sponge fly creating its tidy outer cocoon cage with the "chain link stitch". Coolest part? it uses its butt. A dazzling display of dexterity.

We've been dealing with another "walking dead" lately. Not the chicken, Sean, this time, but our cat Archie. I would love to upload the photos, but it would make the squeamish hurl. Skip ahead past the next paragraph if you are faint of heart. Every year or so we are adopted by another stray cat. We live on the outskirts of town and our yard is a handy dumping ground for unwanted litters. We currently take responsibility for 6 male cats. This is not recommended. Although we had all of them neutered in a timely manner, there is something about having to share their territory with other males that makes them regenerate the ability or desire to spray. You just can't be a house cat if you're constantly marking the hallways, closets, upholstered chairs, drapes, etc. as your territory. Sorry.

Archie came home after not being seen for a few days. He had a gaping, maggot-infested neck wound. Okay, actually his neck skin was completely severed all the way round except for 2 short spans. Which is fortunate because otherwise his hair shirt might have slid right down over his shoulders. (Now there's an image.) The vet fixed him up as best he could, but bandages don't cover the entire thing and we get an anatomy lesson every time we look at him. You can count muscle fibres. Looks like it will take quite a while to heal as the skin has to grow over an inch-and-a-half gap. But he seems to be feel fine, which is the freakiest part. We can only speculate as to what happened to him. He wasn't wearing a collar so it didn't get hung up somewhere. He might have got caught in something, but i think he got an abcess on his neck, from a skurmmish with another cat, and it just festered to point of weakening the skin.

Sorry if that was too much detail for you.

In a MUCH prettier note, i took a job caring for a baby on a part time basis. He's just the sweetest, easiest little guy! It's such a pleasure to completely change the pace of my day and spend time with him. Oh the things I'm going to show him and talk with him about. He's only 3 months old, so a dot on a blanket can hold our attention for a good ten minutes!

I would love for someone to let me know why my blog views jumped from 100o to 12000 when i wasn't looking...

I've been working on the BirthBones business. I'm designing a counter-standing display board for them. I will start with a few local vets/dog grooming places and see if they will take them to sell in their establishments. I was approached by the Handmade Brigade of Orange County to supply BirthBones promotional material for a craft sale event they are having later this month. And some animal shelter and other dog-related fundraising groups in Tennessee will be using my lampwork bones in fundraising items this fall. So I've got a head full of the business side of things--not my forte at all, but it's a learning thing!

Tomorrow's blog posting will be about an etsy painter. You'll want to see her fun work!