The Newbie Cat Owner Kinda Life

So I have two little shadows now. We've still not named them but I thought about posting a few pics. They love to follow me into any room I go to just to be close I guess. It's kind of strange having cats because I really don't understand them. They've been a lot of fun so far.... except for thinking it's OK to poop in other areas than the litter box. I'm trying to remember that their kittens and they make accidents... I just hate that part. I'm also trying to help them learn what is proper. They are learning.

The kitties like to get into everything. They've found lost buttons, strings, among other items, attacked one of my paper cranes I made, have gotten bags out and climbed over any area they can so far. They're little explorers. They are always next to each other and I can't believe how imaginative they are. It's like they make believe attack things too. It's so funny.

They're just learning to purr also. It sounds like a little rumble thats just a little off. Mine started it first but Kyle's is starting to learn.

This is possibly their second favorite thing to do. Sleep.

So I thought I was getting a cat, but I apparently have a bird.

This one loves to sit on my shoulder.

One of My Favorite Places in the World

Leonard Springs Nature Park is a place that is really special to me. It's like a secret hiding place. It's a place I still miss today because I've never found a place like it. I feel that this is one of the best things about my hometown.. There were tons of hiking trails and nature parks all around that were either in town or just outside of town. And most of them have some type of story big or small. Leonard Springs is one of those places. Although it's history is not that interesting to some, I actually found it pretty interesting.

I found this place by accident actually. I was just driving down some country roads one day and decided to take a turn onto a road I've never been on and see where it would take me. To my surprise I found a little parking lot hidden behind a cow farm all enclosed with trees and shrubs... I parked, got out of the car, read the sign to the right, and decided to take a walk down this strange place I've never even heard of. These are not pictures from that walk its self but they give you at least a little bit of a picture of this favorite place of mine.. I truly do miss it too. I took a lot of these pictures at two distinct seasons.. Summer and Winter about 3 years ago when I first got my camera. The winter ones are the very first pics I took on it.

This cave is kind of in between the stair case you have to go down.. There's a platform and everything to observe inside the cave.

This is what the spring looked like in the winter.

I use to lay on my back next to the spring and just think about everything... This place was my solace. If there wasn't a lot of rain that week, I could usually sit or lay on a sheet of limestone next to the spring. You could see how through time the spring had carved down the main part it flowed over and the part I would sit..

This is it. lol It was really cold that day.. brr too cold to do anything but walk around and take pictures! brr February!

This is what I would see when I would lay there... It was always nice to watch the change in the trees. I took both of these images in different seasons..

Passing over the spring you wander through a trail to this awesome view of the wetlands...

There's a little observation platform I was sitting on. This was the only view you really had through this curtain of trees and shrub. It was awesome.. I couldn't hear anything but nature. Another great place to sit. I would always feel like I was in a lost world and some dino was going to run out of the bushes at any moment.

This is actually the same view as above... crazy what a lil foliage will do.

I don't remember exactly where I took this, but it wasn't too far from the above area.. another opening I think...

When you walk far enough, you can either go left and start making the curve around or go right... I went right. I was walking on top of the dam. There were trees and shrubs blocking my view on both sides until I got to the end of the dam... What a view. It's of the whole wet lands I was just beside...

Winter view...

This is just a pic of the view I had before you look over the dam to your right... not much. lol

Here's some pics of some butterflies I found... they didn't show up well but they're still there.

The World's Largest Egg

So the other day we went on a road trip to The Skye Village. To go to Skye Village from Lexington you go through Winlock. I've never been up there before. Turns out to my suprise Winlock is an actual town! I actually really have a fondness for small towns. My first apartment on my own was in a lil town called Oolitic, IN (pronounced Oh-lit-ick). There wasn't much to it but it wasn't even 2 mins away from an actual city. Bedford. All around the area were little small towns, and I really loved them. Springville being one of my favorites. So going to Winlock brought back some good memories. My camera was starting to die so there are no pictures of the actual town. I wanted to save the batteries for Skye Village. I took a few pictures of the town's most famous thing though...


This is the World's Largest Man Made Egg! lol

It belongs to this Co op

Skye Village was suppose to have been a Scottish themed town from the local Skye clan. They started building about 10 years ago. For some reason they built a Shell station then stopped building the village...


So now the only thing there is is this Shell station.


This must be their clan's coat of arms I'm guessing... I'm not sure.

Skye Village has some pretty cool views actually. This is what caught my eye when we drove up. My camera didn't pick up on alot of what I saw. It made it look farther away, and it didn't help that it was partly cloudy or dusk either. I still think some of these pictures are cool.


This one is the best pictures I have. I really like it. It's really not something I would see back in Indiana. I wonder if those hills have a name... hmmm


It's amazing how clouds can hide so much of the surroundings out here.


This last one is actually a cloud... but it looks mountainous doesn't it?

The Kitty Kinda Life

My roommate Kyle's parents have a litter of kittens at their house. Every time I go up there there's this one I see that I've really started to fall in love with. I've been indecisive about getting a kitten or not though.

They call her Gizmo because she has a lot of the same markings as Gizmo from 'Grimlins'. If I do get her she'll have an actual female name. lol



This is the second one we may get so the other isn't lonely when we're gone to work and stuff. Hector Vasquez. This will be Kyle's. It may be a girl so the name may have to change. I call it Bootsie as a nick name. All four paws are white.



This is an on going thing with Kyle. He names his cats mexican names. Thier mother's name is Rosa Diega Vasquez. Here she is.




The very first one he ever gave a mexican name was Jose Vasquez (RIP). No relation to the other cats. I really liked this cat. He was really beautiful and had really green eye. Jose lived with Kyle's grandparents and his grandma called him Frank. lol






This one below is another kitten who has all the same markings of a Boston Terrier, guess the name. Answer, Boston




This is the whole litter of kittens going to sleep after running around the house and wrestling with each other.





Here are some extra pictures of my possible cat.





Her and Hector wrestling.. She is a fiesty lil thing!



Here she is cleaning herself







Here's a few pics from last year of Rosa and this litter's uncle Horashio (I nick-named him Mulatto) when THEY where kittens. They grow so fast.. *sniffs* :)

Stories and Plant Life

So I have this story that's been in my head for some time. I've been coming up with the story line, the look of the main character, and I finally have a written out beginning and background for the main character... Now I've been thinking of other character creations like the main character's family, the villains, friends, neighbours, etc... I've also thought of the ending... several endings come to mind but one I think would be a good twist.. we'll see.

Once I've charged up my batteries I'll have to post some sketches I've done. I really think this will be a good story and I can't believe I'm the one coming up with it. I just need to come up with a good middle.. hmmm... Will work on. I don't want to post anything yet about the actual story till I feel like there's enough to actually post... but there are more than a few sketches for sure!

In other news, Today I've been enjoying my day off from work. Been running errands and picking up little odds and ends.. I am slowly but surely buying stuff for the patio. We got this place back in June and I really couldn't afford to get a lot for the patio at the time. This year it's gonna look nice. Especially since some family is coming out in June. I love plants. I always have.. so today I bout this lava plant that looks like clover only with this lava orange tint to it, two little plants of lavender (one is english and the other is a spanish variety), 5 elephant ears, 4 echinacea, and 20 glads. The glads I got for only 2.50.

I've been in the garden with my mom since I was born.. I think that's why I've always enjoyed it. My grandpa use to have a rose garden and taught my mom how to garden. Now my mom has taught me. And when I have kids some day it's something I want to teach them. I guess it's a tradition in my family. I never got ot meet my grandpa. He passed 2 years before I was born. So this is at least one thing I have to feel some sort of connection to him.


One early childhood picture of me is with a little toy mower mowing the lawn for my mom.. She tells me this is something I would do all the time.




For all my hard work she'd get me a glass of iced tea. lol

Every summer my family would go out and buy different plants. Some of the main ones I remember are those little orange marigolds, rose moss, alyssum, begonias, petunias, and celosia or as some call it, cockscomb. Cockscomb were one of my favorites because one variety looks like little brains. They're fun to touch also.


I want to bring a little 'back yard' feel the my patio this year.. I bought a japanese maple, some honey suckle, and a few other things before today. I'm wanting to buy some big pots for a veggie garden. Thinking of some lettuces, a tomato plant, carrrots maybe... It'd be cool to get a bean plant too... hmmm, we'll see. I've been drawing up plans so I don't buy too much.. I've already measured the patio out, made a few sketches and concepts.. It get really windy up here so I want to try to get some stuff to help break the wind too so it's not so ruff on the plants. Probably a trellis that goes the whole length of the railing would do well. Maybe some vines, we'll see. When it's all complete I'll post some picks. I think it'll be awesome myself.

The Art Kinda Life.

I have been drawing since I was a small child. I've always enjoyed it, but it wasn't until I was about nine that I knew that one day I would be an artist. It was after someone bought me my first comic, Batman # 482. I was so inspired by the art of making cool costumes and giving these people powers and making up stories in my head... I knew that that's the one thing I would love most to do.



From that first comic I started to imitate how to draw people. I studied for hours on how to recreate the pages I was reading. I studied lines, facial expressions, poses, ect. I'd study and draw until I felt like I had it down to do myself.. It's a habit I still use at times, but any more I can draw from memory.



From Batman, I grew to my next love. The X-Men. I loved them so much! I loved the stories, the art. (Which was drawn alot by Jim Lee at the time) I loved the characters too; Rogue, Gambit, Storm, Nightcrawler, Jean Grey, Jubilee, Multiple Man, Beast, and even Wolverine. I'd faithfully buy and catchup on stories. I'd study them, consume them, eat, sleep, drink them! I even had favorite teams. X-Factor, then Generation X being my ultimate favorite. I've even re-bought the first Generation X comic.. *loves*



My obsession with comics started to wan after the whole Onslaught story line when I was about 14. http://www.marvel.com/universe/Onslaught_%28entity%29 I didn't even finish it. Around this time I started to have a huge artist's block. I had no inspiration, no creative juice.. nothing. This lasted for a long period of my teen years, and it started after I read the Sandman grapich novel called, 'Preludes and Nocturnes '.



Today, I've picked up a few comics now and then and get re-inspired like I use to. Usually I read graphic novels though. Batman: H.U.S.H. being one of my favorite stories of all time. I even caught up on what happened with the Onslaught line too but can't get into any of the new stuff. the 80's and 90's X-Men will always be my favorite. I still have a dream of being an artist, an actual one. I'm my very worst critic and probably always will.. I do feel that with some actual schooling I could be really good.



So here it is, my first blog I hope anyone who has read this has at least enjoyed it a little. lol