profile
'Tivo Overo
User: [info]altivo
Name: 'Tivo Overo
links
Today's aphorism
"Horse sense is the thing a horse has that keeps it from betting on people." - W. C. Fields
calendar
Back November 2009
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930
page summary
tags
Altivo's Horse Tails
Wandering about distractedly

Advertisement

Add to Memories
Tell a Friend

Jamming at the James' Tent
Originally uploaded by Altivo
The weather relented and was quite pleasant, which meant there was a good turnout for the festival. While Gary and Rob were performing on stage from 1 to 3, I sat in the front row of the audience spinning cashmere on a small drop spindle. This of course generated many of the usual questions. This year's prize winning exchange:

Visitor: "What are you doing?"
Me: "I'm spinning yarn from wool, as it was done before the spinning wheel was invented."
Visitor: "What is yarn?"

(This was an adult male, not a child.)

The photo shows Gary and Rob jamming with Ray James, surveyor, history professor, and bass player. Click through the photo for a larger view and access to additional photos from the festival.

Tags: , ,
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: happy

Add to Memories
Tell a Friend

That visual meme
From many friends:
  • If you like, post this meme and your current wallpaper.
  • Explain in no more than five sentences why you're using that wallpaper!
  • Don't change your wallpaper before doing this! The point is to see what you had on!
Obviously, this is a still shot from the Dreamworks film, Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron. It was one of several that they gave away on the web during the pre-release publicity for the film. It's one of my all time fave animated films. It has a horse, it has wings, should be obvious. XD
That visual meme

Tags: , ,
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: dorky

Add to Memories
Tell a Friend
Gray and drippy all day again. Further complicated by my own screw up. A month ago I read an announcement about a seminar I thought I should attend. It was to take place today. My boss agreed to pay for it, I signed up, and received a confirmation. Sponsored through the state library, to be given at North Suburban Library System. Note the word "system". Both I and the boss, looking at this, saw "North Suburban Library District" because we attend meetings there all the time. The district headquarters is 28 miles west of home. The system headquarters is 40 miles east of me.

I was surprised not to receive a reminder mailing yesterday (turns out that one was sent, but after I'd left work for the day. Duh.) I had the original announcement though, and at the right time set out for the district office. Got there on time, and the auditorium was dark. Asked at the desk, no, no presentation today. Looked at the notice again. Grrr. I passed through heavy construction on the way from home to there, adding 50% to my normal travel time and making it just in time. No way could I go 68 miles back the other way, through the same construction zones, and probably more, to get to the actual location before the meeting ended.

Went online quickly and cancelled my participation. Probably too late for a refund, but the cancellation option was still available through today according to the notice. Drove home, which took another hour and a quarter. So, I missed the presentation, missed the spinner's study group that I'd normally be at during the same time slot, and get to take half a vacation day since I achieved nothing by not being at work. To add insult to injury, my dentist called me yesterday afternoon to ask if I wanted to move my next appointment up to today, since she had a cancellation. I said I couldn't make it because of this presentation. Actually, had I realized where the presentation was to be, I could have made it. She's about ten miles from there, and would have finished well before the meeting began. Total FAIL.

On the bright side, Tess is walking better today. Just a slight limp, but improved from yesterday. By the weekend she'll be looking normal again and, I hope, feeling fine.

Also, something that happened a couple of days ago. I received my deck of the Endangered Ark cards. This is a furry art project that raises money for several animal charities. A full sized deck of cards, 54 cards including the 2 jokers, with a different art print of an endangered species on each card. Notable artists like Heather Bruton, Blotch, Hibbary, Foxfeather Zenkova, and many more contributed images for the project. The cards are beautiful. You could play solitaire or poker with them if you wished, but most of us are going to add them to our collections of animal art I'm sure. Check their website linked above for sample images and ordering information. This was a limited edition of 1000 decks, so they won't last forever. Only $28 plus shipping, folks, and remember, it helps to support endangered animal protection charities.

Tags: , , ,
Current Location: Soggy oak grove
Mood: drained

Add to Memories
Tell a Friend
Really cool preliminary sketch by Lightstep here.

She's making him into a tag badge that can be worn on a chain or a collar. ;D

Thursday night it rained. A lot. We think we got three inches all in a brief gully washer. This is weird for February here.

I went out to feed the horses and turn them out, and Asher was standing in two inches of icy water in his stall. He's such a sweetheart, he never complains. I didn't even notice until after I'd given him his carrot and grain. Seems the water had overflowed the sills and concrete footings of the barn and run into his stall. I must say his hooves were really clean. ;p

Anyway, I ended up taking the day off from work so I could get the water out of there. Gary had classes in Dekalb and was already gone. The outside temperature had dropped to 21F and everything outside was frozen hard. The barn was at 31F but would certainly cool off during the day, so it had to be drained right now to keep it from freezing in place.

It wouldn't drain the usual way, all the drainage routes were blocked by ice. I had to shovel the water and muck into a wheelbarrow and take it out to dump in the woodlot. Six or seven trips (I lost count) using one of those big grain shovels that has a wide end and a narrow, deeper bowl near the handle. I could pick up about a half gallon with each scoop if I was careful. I must have removed a couple hundred gallons in the end. Anyway, Asher got new dry bedding and I'm really sore today. Fortunately it's going to be a quiet weekend.

REMINDER: Today is the last day for submitting Ursa Major Award nominations.

Tags: , , ,
Current Location: Frozen oak grove
Mood: sore

Add to Memories
Tell a Friend
Big thank you hugs to [info]miktar for his birthday portrait of me:

Maybe makes me look a little better than I really do, but I'm not complaining at all. That little hint of some donkey ancestry that I drop now and then almost shows through here. What Mik has captured that I really like, though, is my good nature. Sometimes I lose it, but not often, and it makes me feel all warm and murry inside that he could see it and show it like this.

Also on FA, in case you want to comment or fave it there. Miktar is a good artist and does commissions too.

Tags:
Current Location: At work, alas
Mood: bouncy

Add to Memories
Tell a Friend

Argos by Jim Groat
Originally uploaded by Altivo
Here is Jim Groat's fun caricature of Argos, at work with his weaving. Unlike my two year old 'Tivo badge, I had the privilege of watching the master develop this drawing which was fascinating in itself. Thanks, Jim.

Fursuit photo ID badges are here.

Tags: , , ,
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: cheerful

Add to Memories
Tell a Friend
Some of you may well be aware of this. I'm probably late to discover it. I knew about "steampunk" as a writing genre, but was unaware of it as a genre in art until just the last few weeks. It consists of recasting functional and contemporary tools into the forms and stylistics we would expect from the Victorian and Edwardian eras (roughly 1835-1915) and there are a few practitioners who have carried it to magnificent extremes. The photo below shows a "telegraph sounder" that taps out news headlines derived from RSS feeds. Click on the image to reach a gallery and article from Wired magazine that describes the movement and some of its leading artists.



Really now, I don't have time for another hobby. I don't.! But the idea of turning an early microcomputer, such as a TRS80, into one of these things is just irresistible. Or perhaps a cell phone that looks like a pocket watch? An MP3 player with headphones that came right out of the Titanic? The possibilities...

Tags: ,
Mood: ecstatic

Add to Memories
Tell a Friend


"For Better or For Worse" by Lynn Johnston, August 27, 2007.

Tags: , ,
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: amused

Add to Memories
Tell a Friend
Found while searching through accumulated junk for something else...

Proof that I was a furry before I knew about "Furry":
Illustration behind cut )
Oh, if anyone wonders, the assignment was worth 8 points. I did seven different examples, and got the full point count.

Tags:
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: nostalgic

Add to Memories
Tell a Friend

Altivo by Miktar Altivo by Miktar

Original art by Miktar Ezekiel Dracon 2006 ([info]miktar)
Thanks, Miktar, you're a real sweetheart.

Tags:
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: happy

Advertisement

Customize