My schedules for this blog neve seem to pan out

I thought I'd still be able to do these on a regular basis once I went back to campus for the fall semester but that hasn't worked out so far.

In order to get all the math I require before I graduate I had to start taking it and it's not really one of my best subjects, so it's been eating up a lot of my time outside of class. Which is probably good thing- I'm getting the help I need because the math department has an excellent tutoring and student study session set-up so I can ask questions when I need to. Hopefully by the time I'm at Calculus it won't be quite as much of a chore.

The other thing that is taking up a lot of time (a good thing!) is my vertebrate paleontology class wich has probably the most awesome professor ever teaching it. After I talked to her last semester about my interests she agreed to waive the pre-required classes so I could take it, which makes me the youngest person in the class (a sophomore with mostly seniors and some juniors and grad students). It's not a huge class, which is nice, but it goes at a quick pace and there's a lot of information to process. The reason it works is that there are both biology majors and geology majors in the class, so she does have to go over a few of the basics for both that I've missed by not taking the other classes. Things I will have to do in order to graduate anyway like historical geology and organic chemistry.

I am getting a lot more out of the class than just simple paleo lectures though. I love labs and this class has a lot of them- the specimens are fun to work with, and the length of the class leaves plenty of time for discussion. I've also learned a lot about what the grad students are doing. A couple of the undergrads are working on their own research as well which always adds a fun dimension onto the class discussions. It's also been helping me narrow down my focus as well- I'm pretty sure I want to work on the paleoecology of this part of Idaho before the great Bonneville flood. Possibly with further focus on Onychodus, a Devonian era fish with a set of tooth whorls and a possible ambush predator. I'd do sharks, but it seems a bit like the easy route because there are quite a few people interested in them in this class- specifically the Helicoprian sharks. We have a lot of those specimens which makes it a good thing to work with.

As a result of this the subjects of my art recently have been influenced so expect my shop to have a nice glut of extinct fishes and tetrapods in stock for awhile. I'm using them as a study guide.

Free shipping and spring is here

"Volcano Horse" now available as a print in my Etsy shop.

In order to celebrate having found a wonderful local print shop who can print my art professionally on high grade papers for a good fee (I knew about them because I had volunteered to work for some projects they printed historic photos for) I have decided to offer free shipping on anything in my shop! Mention my blog, Twitter or facebook fan page in the notes to seller.

The image at the top of this post is exactly the same one that I used on Etsy, for it's listing ( [here] ) but Etsy apparently hates dark, high detail files for some reason and made it pixilated no matter what I tried to save it as. It's actually quite finely detailed, which the photos on the shop listing failed to capture. :(

New things are in the works! I also have two other digital pieces I hope to be offering soon- another Volcano horse in "flaxen gold cream" color as an 8 x 10" (the Dark Brown is available in 8x8" if desired!) and also a small landscape/scene although that second one might take me a bit to get completely finished. There's also a line of "Bird Scrabble" tiles. They will be sold in word packets or singles. There is a OOAK tiny drawing on each of them depicting a different kind of bird. They will already have eyepins in them and will be ready for use as pendants or charms.

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Now that it is officially spring by the calendar it's time to start planning the kitchen garden! I like to use as many fresh and organic ingredients in my cooking as possible, so every year I figure out what kinds of spices, veggies and fruit are used the most in the kitchen and try to plan accordingly. This year starts out with planting some bok choy and catnip and getting the garden ready for some berry bushes and grape vines.

As it starts warming up, I'll start plating some basil, thyme, rosemary, chives, dill, fennel, onions, garlic and leafy greens. Waiting for the farmers market to buy any tomato plants though. There's a woman there who sells a lot of her own hybrid varieties, and we found one that everyone in the family likes last year. Nice and meaty for slicing or eating whole, but also good for chopping into sauces or salsas.

Hopefully by the time I leave for college next year there will be so many different recipes under my belt that there won't be too much trouble actually making decent meals for myself (and possible roommates...). The only thing that would be even better would be if the hens were still laying eggs as often as they were when they were younger. We get maybe three or four a week from three hens pushing four years old now.

The animal menagerie at our house is loving the spring weather as well. Penny the bloodhound mix was a winter puppy, and this is her first spring, so she's absolutely thrilled that the weather actually stays warmer then freezing. She gallops around the yard with her ears flying every which way a lot.

All three of the cats have taken to sitting in any available window space to watch the birds outside as they nest. They're all indoor cats, but that doesn't really matter to them. They still think they own everything in sight. Old Fedora is a may kitten, and this year she is fifteen so at least some of my paychecks (whenever I manage to find someone who'll hire me. :\ ) will be spent making the house a bit more accessible to her. She's getting a nice fluffy pillow in May where she likes to sit most often.

As far as I can tell the fish are indifferent to all of it.