Trip to the Safari Park 2009

I hope you enjoy this photo journal of our trip to the safari park in Alamo, TN! We had a great time! Click on the photos to see them larger.

We were greeted by this fella. He's quite handsome, don't you think?

Aw...sweet...Momma and baby Zebra.
Uh oh, Momma Zebra wants treats...

Maybe I'll try the guy in the front seat...

Got food?

No treats? Phooey on you!

I was glad these Kangaroos were fenced...they probably would have been jumping all over the car!

Hello!

Taking a Sunday afternoon nap

Hey Dude, if I give you my Elvis look, will ya gimme a treat?

Yeah, I'm pretty and I know it!

Dude! I'm over here!

We thought this was a bale of hay...when we got closer, we saw it was a buffalo!

I'm backkkkkkkk!

You stay there, we'll stay here, and no none will get hurt.

Just got my hair done...whaddya think?

Hey Ethel...you see all these crazy people taking our photos?

I'm starting to think we shoulda gone to Hollywood!

Lucy, you really think we could be famous? Wow!

Can I have a little privacy puh-le-eze?

How many ya think I got in here? C'mon...go ahead and guess!

I am not responsible for her condition...I swear!

Admit it...you wish you had nails like mine!

I see some peacock feather earrings coming out of this deal. :)

If you won't open this lock, I'll just chew it up!

Hello, my name is Jerry. Got any carrots?

The highlight of the day...a one day old Caspian Mule. CUTE CUTE CUTE!

Hello. Goodbye. I can say more, but that's all you're gettin' today.

And you thought the three little pigs was just a fairytale.

A sheep sharing words of wisdom with a pig, who appears to be sleeping through it all.

They call me Santa Claus.

This spider monkey was quite friendly. He wanted to shake everyone's hand. A moment later, that little boy in the photo decided to lean over the rail and hang his head down. Oops...monkey apparently also liked to grab hair. Screaming ensued. Guess that's why they have that warning sign up there. Hmmmm.

All in all, it was a fabulous day! Hope you enjoyed the photos. :)

Our Newest Addition...Sassy/Sparta

I call him Sassy...the kids call him Sparta. Either way, this cat is nuts! Always has some fabulous expressions. We think he's a relative to the other cats.

Preview Christmas Cat Digital Painting - Nikko

Continuing on with my Christmas cat painting...working on Nikko now. Here's a preview, including her original photo I worked from. Click on the photos to see larger versions!

And here's Nikko and Rowdy together:

Christmas Kitten & Wedding Kitten photos

Christmas Kitten Gift Tag Cards by jaisjewels

Yesterday I added one of Oreo's Christmas photos to Zazzle. The photo is available on a wide variety of gifts, but my favorite are the gift card tags for Christmas packages shown above (click the link to see the back of the cards too)

Wedding Kitten Card by jaisjewels

This is Oreo's wedding photo...also available on a variety of gifts.

Deer in the neighborhood

Last night after the kids walked the dogs, we were standing in the front yard and Allyson shouted "Deer!" And sure enough, in the field behind the neighbor's house, there were two of them. Allyson ran to get the camera, and she captured these shots:

Of course I couldn't put photos up here without putting at least ONE cat photo with them. :) Here's Bootsie, doing her "Elvis look" for Allyson last night:

Preview Christmas Cat Digital Painting - Rowdy

I've started work on my big Christmas cat painting. In this painting, there are 6 cats who so graciously modeled for me in priority mail boxes. :) The painting is being airbrushed, one cat at a time. Thought you'd like to see a preview of Rowdy and how he's coming along. His Christmas box (and all the others) will have ribbons/bows painted on later...this is how it looks like to begin with though and as you can see, it's really basic and rough looking at this point. After I finish the background, all the cats, and all the blending, then I'll add finishing details such as ribbons and bows. Click on the photo to see it a little closer...you can really see the detail in the larger image!

Also, I've shown the original photo that I started with below:

Oreo's Not Happy & Some Other Photos

Oreo is NOT happy. She had to have a vet visit today. "Grandpa Bill" suggested I take her because she's lost an excessive amount of weight this past week, and I agreed she needed to go. It was a good thing I took her...she has hookworms! She got poked and prodded and had a Feline Leukemia test (negative, thank goodness!). Then she had worming medicine, and she has to have this other "high calorie food" which is like a pasty-vaseline kind of stuff that will help stimulate her appetite and get her weight going back the right direction.

She's not happy about ANY of it. NONE. So...since I'm the one who took her to this "monster" who manhandled her, she's mad at ME. I've tried to explain it was necessary to help her feel better, but she has no interest in hearing anything I've got to say, as you can see by her photo.

Here's some other recent photos for you to enjoy. Here we have Mr. T. He's not unhappy with me (though he also received worming meds when I got home)...in fact, he just wants his belly rubbed. Upside down, he looks like a skunk! Gotta love this pose. :)

This next photo is a bug. I think some kind of moth. Bill told Allyson it is a Sphynx Moth or something like that. I think it's one of the most artistic looking moths I've ever seen!

And here we have one of our neighborhood mushrooms. A cell phone is next to it for reference as to the size. This is the biggest one I've seen so far this year. Looks like a HUGE pancake!


Allyson has worked on a series of cat photos - which I'm going to be doing a project with for Christmas art. I look forward to sharing those with you soon!