My greenwing macaw friend went home to his new family today. I was really lucky that I was at the aviary early enough this afternoon to be able to pet him and say goodbye. His new family is really nice and I think he will be just fine joining their flock at home. As he was being carried to the door he was looking back at us with his head feathers all ruffled up as baby macaws are so good at doing, and that was my last goodbye look at him. 
Yesterday I made two new toys for you-know-who. I hope they are lovingly chewed up and enjoyed to the last thread and splinter. As I was making the toys I was thinking of my big greenwing macaw friend and the large toys I would make for him if he were mine . He would need lots of very large blocks of untreated lumber to chew, and the cotton ropes would have to be a larger diameter too. I hope he does well in his new home. His personality is so laid back I'd hate to see that change.
This drawing is coming along. I don't work on it every day, and when I do I place some tracing paper over the top and draw on it first to get into the groove, so to speak. Sometimes going away from a piece causes one to loose the fluid feeling that happens when in the middle of work. Starting up again after even a short break can be awkward and can look really different than what has already been drawn.
At least this is what happens to me sometimes on these kinds of drawings. Even though this is a free form drawing I would like for my hand to feel the same when returning to work. If you ski, skate, or ride a motorcycle think of the feeling of making a smooth, fluid, series of 'S' turns where the movement happens without you having to think too much about the input. The effortless fluid feel is what I am referring to. Does this analogy make sense?
We finally got a good soaking rain a few nights ago.
Do you see a cat's paw in the picture? That is my assistant who stops and looks at the same things I stop and look at.
This little goldfinch hit my window this morning and ended up in a crumpled heap on the deck. I picked her up and she got cozy in the palm of my hand. The very tip of her upper mandible took the hit, but she will be okay.
Ready to go back outside.
On the left is my dad's old sketchbook. I took it out to look at his drawings and get inspired. I really like his flowery drawings and this one became the inspiration for some of my recent doodles. He liked to use the smelly, alcohol based markers, and they were so fluid that they would soak through two pages in his sketchbook. Often he would make drawings on the inkblots that bled through evolving one drawing into a series, or making a different doodle on each page.
I think I will fill this page up then see where the muse takes me.
I really wish I had a welder here at home because I would like to make modifications to a motorcycle along the lines of this vehicle, only with more imagination.
Luckily there was no human or other living creature being transported in the passenger.. chariot?
I made a self portrait. Looks like me, no? I like the cheesy grin. Thank you to the Haagen-Daz Help the Honey Bee web page for this. They made a nice web site you should go check it out and if your speakers are on you can hear the birds chirp.
P.S. on the bird cage... no dice. Returned to the store unfortunately.
Violet's new cage is here. If you have ever cursed an Ikea instruction set- take all that cursing back! This gem is way better worse. Made in China.. need I say more? Sigh, sigh, and sigh.
This part is particularly endearing with its backwards printed numbers. I may end up with a Picasso like cubist sculpture when I'm done but hey, that could be cool!
This horse was trimmed only 4 weeks ago. As you can see there is a lot of new growth and the feet are starting to self trim. Left unattended these hooves would look very ragged but they would probably chip back to a 'proper' length on their own. We have had very little rain lately and the ground is very hard. As a result my horse's feet are very hard and he has very little thrush in the clefts of his frogs. I took the hoof wall length down, beveled the edges and didn't touch the frogs or soles.
Sole view of Right and Left front feet before trim (top) after trim (bottom). Click on pictures to enlarge view.
You might notice that the heels on the right foot (left side of photo) are not the same length. I trim his heels down to the level of the sole and no further. If I were to make both heels even I would end up rasping his sole quite a bit which would cause him to be sore. If his feet were like cubes with even sides things would be easy, but his hooves are like tilted cubes with one side always askew. I do make sure to bevel the edges well especially if I see separation starting, or in the area where there are chips as in the case with today's trim. Beveling the hoof wall eliminates the leveraging forces that would worsen splits and separation.
Studying these pictures is very good for me because I am catching details that I don't notice while I am working. Looking at the hind feet I can see I need to bevel the hoof more at the quarters- inside and outside. The toe could be maintained more as well. My horse has difficulty keeping his hind legs raised for me so I usually work very quickly, and in compromised positions. I can see that working this way is causing me to miss some important things.
Hind sole view. Before on top, after on bottom:
I apologize for the less than perfect pictures. My hands get shaky with the exertion of trimming. There are more hoof comparison stories listed in the side bar. Thanks for visiting!
