Winter Chicks

Over half of them died on the way here. They froze to death. The eleven remaining have been living in a wooden box with not one, but two heat lamps on them. I think they are a month old, now. The poor dears. I decided to move them to a new coop today, and hope they make it. I was afraid they would start hitting their heads on the heat lamps and catch fire.

They're my exotic chicken mix.

I know. You're thinking, Why did you order baby chicks in winter? Well, it's never been this cold before. And I personally have never felt a winter this cold. And I ordered them in fall, actually, for "next available" and the next available just happened to be in the dead cold and dead middle of the coldest winter in two decades. So there you have it.

Here are the exotic hens who did not freeze to death, the survivors, so to speak:



The one on the far left has so many feathers on its feet, it looks like it's sitting on another chicken when it sits down.

The one on the far right always looks to me like someone was trying to draw a bird, but they didn't really know what birds looked like. Here's another picture of the poorly drawn bird:



So goofy. I love weird chickens.


Follow Up Reports

* Since I did my post on the art of Mary Wright, other people have taken notice. The Ravenous Monster Horror site did an interview with her recently. Mary Wright told me privately that she does not believe her art belongs in this genre, but I have to disagree! I think she belongs there, and I think that's wonderful. Best quote from the interview [about Barbie]: "Barbie, the quintessential American icon of beauty and the unobtainable role model for almost every little girl in the country, myself included, is the perfect spring board for these glorified Day of the Dead-inspired skulls. The hours I spent staring at her as a child, dreaming of being like her someday. She did give me hours of happiness as a girl, along with a life-long subconscious feeling of inadequacy."
"One Day" by Mary Wright

* Remember that painting I did for the book cover? Well, the book came out today! It's called Mother of Darkness and it's by Christina McMullen. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I will be reviewing it here, once I have. She changed the colors in the painting to match the other two books in the series:

She gave me free copy of the book. Thank you! She also paid me for the work, but let me keep the original. She only wanted a digital copy. So now I can have my cake and eat it, too. The painting is hanging in my bathroom.

* And then there was that underwater portrait session. Remember that? I did actually show up. I dieted for the entire two weeks and lost all of two pounds! But my weight didn't matter. The problem was just that I can barely open my eyes underwater, much less smile. I tried to smile and unintentionally discovered my evil grimace. I was like Inspector Clouseau trying to say "Hamburger".
How could something so easy be so difficult? Here is the best one they could get of me, after trying ten or twelve times:

Trying to drown my daughter, apparently. We ended up buying a picture of Little Z swimming alone. Which looks beautiful, actually.

* And what about Exhaust(ed), the great book that wasn't a book but was a good story and appeared here as a serial? I'm writing an epilogue. The epilogue will get tagged onto the end of the book and I'm going to offer it for sale, probably in ebook form on Amazon. I will most likely also delete Exhaust(ed) from the blog- so if you haven't read it, you might want to do it now. I've gotten some insanely wonderful comments from people about it. Honestly. I'm humbled. I think I will donate some of the proceeds to The Sun magazine, for teaching me how to write. Here's a sneak peak of the cover art:


* And then what about the Dinosaur on the Moon song? Wheatbread Johnson and friends have actually formed a band called "Dinosaurs On The Moon"! They are working on their first album. How cool is that? This is the album cover:

Look familiar?

I highly recommend "Liking" them on Facebook- if you do that sort of thing. Right now, if you follow this link, you can hear a little sample of their music. They may take the sample down as they complete more songs.

I'm so happy. Not only did a band name themselves after my painting, but a good band named their band after my painting.

* What else... ? Oh, yes, we are all dead, because it is so terribly cold. Except for the sheep. The sheep are fine. As always.

Top Ten Reasons The Daily Show is Not Downloading

10. The subterranean trolls are clogging the internet tubes with their singing again.

9. The Seventh Seal has been broken.

8. Because Wil Wheaton is 41 years old.

7. The electricity slows down a lot when the weather is bad.

6. Odin ended the world a few days ago, and now he's angry that nobody noticed.

5. I can't really go into details, because this place might be bugged.

4. The internet tubes fear my great beauty and wither with jealousy.

3. Two words: Goddess Intervention.

2. Bodkay is watching.

1. Because winter is here and it's never going away and spring will never come and the last winter lasted five years (that was on Game of Thrones which won't play, either [and you think that is a lot of naked ladies and gay sex, but you should read the books!]) and you ask what this has to do with internet and The Daily Show but you try and-- wait what? My fingers are too cold to think any more.



He's 41.

Portrait of my Niece

 
This isn't Wonder Niece- this is another one. She's probably a wonder, as well, but she has never visited. My sister donated to Little Z's Jump for the Heart campaign, and I had put it out there that day that if you donated, I would give you art, and if you donated over $25, it would be a portrait. So, she donated a tidy sum, and here's the portrait I'll be mailing her!

Cthulhu Goes to Disneyland

"Cthulhu Goes to Disneyland"
8" x 10" Painted portrait of Micky and Mini and their pal Cthulu, in front of the magical castle. Acrylic on recycled wood. $60 First email gets it! cellar27door@yahoo.com

Stuck Truck

"Hey, Honey!"
-
"Well, I tried to get it out, you see, and when I tried, it slid, and when it slid, I tried some more, and so well..."
-
"Well, yeah, there was so much feed to haul that I thought I'd..."
-
"It'll come out soon. Like, think in geological time. The snow will melt in, what, three nanoseconds?"
-
"Yeah, I realize we're not mountains, I was just-"
-
"Well, you don't have to get all personal..."
-
"No, I didn't say fairies did it. Did I say that? I did not say that! Although I'm not saying that fairies couldn't have done it.."
-
"What, drugs? No, just that prescription from the doctor, I-"
-
"No, I don't think you're an idiot! I-"
-
"Boy, this nacho cheese sauce is good! Isn't it?"
-
"Change the subject? No, no. I was just mentioning the-"
-
"Just two more geological nanoseconds, and we'll have it out of there!"

"I'm feeling a bit horse today."

It's odd that I did this, because I am more than a little afraid of horses. 
8.5" x 12" acrylic painting on repurposed wood. $35. First email claims it at cellar27door@yahoo.com. 

However vast the darkness...

there is always some light.
$20 and it's yours at cellar27door@ yahoo.com. Sold already! Thank you so much!