No One Wins in a Parrot War

planettom and I started talking (I am annoyed at myself whenever I use the term "talking" for emailing, im-ming, etc. but do it anyways) about what scarred us for life.

I realized that most of the things I remembered scarring me for life were broadcast on TBS!

There was Dirk Benidict transforming into a snake in "Sssssss"


and that scene from "Prophecy" where the guy can't make it under the fence, so you just watch his top half as his legs and pelvis are EATEN BY A RADIOACTIVE BEAR on the other side of the fence! Sorry I can't find that scene. You'll have to imagine it.


But my personal winner was definitely this one:


Enjoy!

The talented and wicked-crafty lorigami made me think of this with her entry about butter wrappers...

I once dated a girl who had parents much older than you would expect, as they adopted her later in life. Her father had grown up during the depression. One day I noticed these... cans. You may know where I'm going with this already.

On top of the cabinets in their kitchen, cans were carefully placed all along the wall like some sort of commemorative "coffee cans through time!" themed border. There were enough of them to make a chain around the entire kitchen.

She caught me admiring them, and blurted it out, a little defensively. "Yeah, my dad saves grease." What?

"He saves grease. Every morning after breakfast for as long ago as I can remember, he saves the grease. Bacon grease, whatever... he just scrapes it into a coffee can and puts it up on the cabinet."

"What..." I was stupified. "What is he going to do with it?"

"I don't know," she said. She picked up an apple and walked out of the kitchen. "No one knows."

It is a wonderful and ACTION PACKED time here! I am working on the online store using "Volusion" which should be up STARTLINGLY SOON! I will keep you all posted on how that goes.

Also, there are going to be things you can wear with my art on it coming soon.

I am trying to use a much better process for making art prints. Hopefully I can get that incorporated for this run of prints and buttons.

New creations coming soon! I could post sketches, and previews, but it's probably better just to put up the final drawings.

Also, tales of funnel cakes, and regular cakes.

It's nuts over here, and Allen's gone for the rest of the week and the weekend. In her absence, if no one saves me from it, I'm just going to hole myself up with old mummy movies and work myself to death...


Has anyone ever seen the documentary "Stevie"? This guy is a really talented and awesome home-musician who reminds me of Stevie. In a good way.
Hello Youtubes!

(If you've ever seen "Stevie", you are cringing right now, and you'll just have to trust me and check out the clip to see what I'm talking about.)

Leila had her operation.

Apparently the proceedure was a success, and her surgeon was extremely happy with how it went, and how things are going. He is expecting very strong functionality from the leg in the future. I will have to take him at his word, because to my untrained eye the X-rays appear that someone at Pep-Boys was told they had thirty minutes to repair a cat using only what they could find on isle three. Apparently if I were educated in such matters, however, I would see the post-op X-rays and say something like "Nice work" or "Masterpiece!" instead of, "No, Dad... I told you to NOT try fixing the cat yourself."

Leila has seven more weeks to stay in convelescence. She has her own room with a thick blanket on the floor, her own food and water, as well as a litterbox. It's her Fortress of Solitude. She really wants to be out, though. Roaming the house, climbing on furniture and going outside. We have to stop her from hobbling out of the office any time the door is opened.

And it sounds like there is a tiny pirate when she walks around. Thump... thump... thump... It's going to be a long seven weeks.

Also, she doesn't clean herself anymore. Do you know why cats clean themselves so often? Apparently it is because they are disgusting. We have to brush her and wipe her down with pet wipes on a regular basis, just so she doesn't look like a castaway.



I am overwhelmed with gratitude for everyone who bought art (and then some), came by and visited the yard sale, helped with the yard sale, dropped stuff off to sell, wrote about it in their journals and linked back to the Leila posts. Yesterday at the pet store, we were having a conversation with a cat rescue person who just perked up and said, "Oh wait, I've heard about you! You're the ones who had the yard sale for their cat! I told people about you!"

Thank you so much, everyone! I will continue to keep you posted on Leila's progress.

Umm... did you guys know about this?
Green Hornet with Seth Rogan (getting into better shape every time I see him) and Stephen Chow! STEPHEN CHOW! (Kung Fu Hustle, Shoalin Soccer)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0990407/

I really, really hope the "wackiness" is kept to a minimum. It's going to be funny, but it needs to be more like Pineapple Express in mood.

It raises a question. WHAT FILM, BASED ON SOMETHING YOU GREW UP WITH, WOULD YOU BE THE MOST EXCITED ABOUT, AND IN WHAT STYLE/MOOD?


Mine might have to be either "Battle of the Planets" as a serious action film, or
Gilligan's Island as a horror/survival film with scarce moments of black comedy. I have talked to my friend Chris about this, and we both agree that Gilligan would have to be mentally handicapped for this film to work.

If you were going to choose the same button/badges in different formats, which would you be more likely to purchase?

The ones with the springy pop-in pin in the back of the button?


The ones where the wire pin is inserted through the little holes in the back?


ASSUME THEY ARE THE SAME SIZE, COST, AND LOOK JUST AS CUTE FROM THE FRONT.

Poll #1420161 Which kind of buttons?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Which kind of buttons would I rather buy?

ALSO:
Who would you hug first?

I wish I could tell you everything. Just how beat we are, how great it has been to have people donating, ordering Leila prints, or the signs from the yard sale. How wonderful it has felt to have people come up and tell us that they saw our signs, read about this from other bloggers, etc, and thought it was a neat thing we were doing. People were bringing by items to donate to the sale and talking to us about Leila, telling us their own cat and dog surgery stories, and just hugging us over and over. So many hugs, and so many strangers giving us hope, admiration and commiseration.

And how fun it was. Making deals, thanking people, drawing for folks, selling prints... I wish I could let everyone reading this know exactly how it felt. To have so many people care about our efforts... It was incredible.


Best of all, we're going to make it. It's still going to be a tight month, but tomorrow the vet bill will be paid. And it's because of you. Thank you to everyone who donated, and everyone who WANTED to donate but couldn't, but wrote me emails of encouragement and hope.

I'm falling asleep writing this, but I wanted to just say thank you to everyone. It's been a real adventure, and I'll keep you updated with more X-rays and progress reports. I will be also sending you arts!

Love you.
Thank you!!!!!!




( More Garage Sale Art after the cut... )

Thanks to everyone who's donated so far, you know who you are, and so do I. Your art will be coming to you soon, wrapped in gratitude, love, and a cardboard tube! I don't know what to say, besides THANK YOU!!! We still have a ways to go, but with your help, we might just make the vet bill by Monday!



**BONUS: Everyone who donates or has already donated is also getting a set of the first Red Rocket Farm buttons!!! Four little wearable robots for you, just for being awesome! Wear them with pride, knowing that when it was needed most, YOU ROCKED THE CAT BOX!!!

So, Tom aka planettom came up with the idea to do Burma Shave ads for Leila's Yard Sale, and he wrote one. I wrote the other one, but Tom had to help me because his rhymes are so tight! I made the signs by printing them out on a Xerox machine, and gluing them to cardboard with spray adhesive. Then they were held down by little sign hardware available from Ace Hardware for $1.57 apiece.

Click on the image below to read Tom's...



Here's mine. Click the image to reveal....


I placed them so that the address and arrow fell right at the intersection. The signs are pretty small, but they seem readable from a car. Two people honked and gave me a thumbs up while I was taking these pictures. Thanks, Tom!!! Whatta genius.

So Allen has stepped up to the plate to give 15 minute theraputic massage for the donation of your choice! She is a Certified Massage Therapist, and she knows what she's doing! Because she is super-talented, she will also be offering haircuts (NOT at the same time). Now, she is NOT a licenced barber and I have to admit to you, I was scared at first, but she gave me the best haircut ever.

So, make sure you come on down Saturday or Sunday between 7 and 7, even if you're just gonna hang out and get a picture of a robot from me.

Thank you everyone who has been so supportive of what we're doing, and all the offers to help and to donate money to Leila the cat's giant vet bill.

I have had some requests to add a donation button here, but I haven't wanted to take donations until I had something to offer in return. I've put together some Leila artwork and everyone who donates, will get hand-signed artwork. Any donations are appreciated more than you could possibly know!

$1 - $14: 8 X 14 Black and White "Squirrel Attack" strip or "Yard Sale" poster
$15 - $29: 8 X 14 COLOR Squirrel Attack or "Yard Sale" poster
$30 - $49: 17 X 5.5 JUMBO *LIMITED* COLOR "Squirrel Attack" or JUMBO "Yard Sale" poster
$50 and up: 17 X 5.5 JUMBO *LIMITED* COLOR "Squirrel Attack" AND JUMBO "Yard Sale" poster, AND a custom Robot/Monster drawing.


Click to biggify!
Leila is so sweet... EXCEPT TO SQUIRRELS! She works so hard to keep our yard SQUIRREL FREE, and this is how she does it! The 17" long JUMBOs are our biggest prints to date, and the size really helps you to see Leila hiding in the bushes as she moves closer... ever closer...

I don't normally limit prints, but this is a special occasion. To say thanks to people helping out, only 250 of the JUMBO 17 X 5.5 "Squirrel Attack" posters will ever be made! Each one will be signed and numbered. If you want one, please jump on it soon. I have no idea how long these will last and once they're gone, they're gone.

Anything you would like to donate, is HUGELY appreciated. When you donate, please remember to give your Name and shipping address and which artwork you prefer!

Thank you!!!!

It's just stuff, we don't need it.

THIS SATURDAY and SUNDAY! 7-5

We were planning on having a yard sale anyways, but now we're just going to be more aggressive about what we're getting rid of. I'll be selling my comics, and other treasures that frankly don't matter as much as a cat's ability to walk.

If anyone is interested in donating things to sell at Leila's ALL TIME WORLD'S GREATEST YARD SALE EVER, please let me know here, or shoot me an email at: jason "at" redrocketfarm.com so we can schedule something.

If you do feel like donating items THANK YOU VERY MUCH! YOU WILL GET ART! and if it doesn't sell, we are donating all leftover items to the Kidney Foundation.

I will be putting together an online store soon, and I will let everyone know where Leila-themed art will be available for purchase.

EDIT: PLEASE feel free to drop off items WHENEVER YOU LIKE, whether we're here or not. We would be immensely grateful for STUFF ANY time, but any time up to Friday night would be BEST, so that we have time to get it ready on Saturday at 7 am. (That being said, even ON Saturday would still be GREAT!)

ALSO, THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE WHO HAS BEEN REPOSTING ABOUT THIS! LEILA LOVES YOU ALL!

I'm editing this old entry from 2005 for length, and reposting it upon request. I've been watching the old episodes lately, and am surprised at how dark and well written many of them are for a 70's kids show. It's a treat to see them in their entirity, because when I was a kid, I just turned the television off and played outside at the first sign of sleestak.
( LOOK HYEAH! Krofft Television, Sleestak, and Six Flags behind the cut! )

On Friday afternoon I overheard Allen talking on the phone. Our cat "Leila" is a beautiful but overweight Maine Coon who we love. A neighbor called us to say that they thought her leg was hurt. We took her to the Village Vets to see Doctor Franklin. Allen was a little weepy while we waited to go over the x-rays, and I told her that even if it did turn out to be a broken leg there was no way it was going to be more than $600, they'll fix it, and Leila will be fine, worst case scenario. They'll put a cast on her, we'll get a buncha laughs, we'd be out $600, all done. It sucks, because money's tight for us right now, just like everyone we know, and after months of doing shows or other jobs on the weekend to make extra revenue, we're starting to feel like we finally have a handle on things.



Doctor Franklin walked in. I hadn't seen her since Gus' kidney failure, and I was surprised how small she looked without the fifteen babies she apparently had. I imagined her doctor telling her, "No! Too small for babies! Get dog." Apparently, her imaginary OBGYN is a Russian cartoon character.

Her tiny stature made her wide eyes look even wider. "Okay, I have some bad news," she began. "I am so sorry about Leila, but her leg is broken. It looks like she fell, or jumped down from something a little too high up." Doctor Franklin brought the X-rays up on the screen, and mentally I said goodbye to my beloved six hundred dollars.

Doctor Franklin pointed to the monitor. "So, if you look at the x-rays, you see where her calcaneous is broken. Pins here... wires from the... transplanting bone cells from the tibia..." Doctor Franklin's words were just blurring together and I got dizzy from all the veterinarian mumbo jumbo as it was becoming uncomfortably clear that this situation may be shimmying into the $650 range. Years ago, Allen had almost the exact same foot injury as Leila, so she understood all the procedures much better than I did. I was counting on her to pay attention and listen out for suspicious terms like "solid gold femur" or "bionics" as she nodded to the weird deja vu of hearing a doctor tell her all this again. I just sort of zoned out and put my arm around her and waited for the part about how long until our cat would be running around tearing squirrels apart again. I mean, she jumped from a porch or something. It's not like she'd been hit by a car.

"Three thousand dollars."
Something went off in my brain. "Howmanyclowns? What?" I resisted the urge to get a glass of water from the waiting room, bring it back to the office, and spit it out in wide-eyed shock. Okay Jason, time to play it cool. You have to be verrrrry casual about what you're going to say next. The next words out of your mouth could very well be the ones that Allen tells all her friends after the breakup. And she has lots of friends.

"So..." I started, giving my most convincing Psshhw! Well-we-were-about-to-buy-her-a-three-grand-cat-condo-anyways-look. "What... are our other options?"

"Amputation." Doctor Franklin's eyes got wider somehow. Yikes. I was thinking "cast" or maybe just something that didn't involve discarded NASA technology. Without moving my head I glanced down at Allen. Her eyes were tearing up again, or maybe they never stopped. Now was probably not the time to tell her about how much cats actually love amputation very much, and that I was pretty sure Leila had a birthday coming up.

"Another option is just to do nothing," Doctor Franklin continued. I wondered if my eyebrows went up, or if anyone saw them if they did. "She would never be able to walk on the leg normally, and she would just... sort of... drag... it behind her." Doctor Franklin looked at me and for a brief moment gave an ever-so-subtle pantomime of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, then stopped herself. I furrowed my brow and looked at the floor.

"Well, I'll leave you two to discuss it. Again, I am so sorry."

There was a quiet in the room. I thought about $3000. I presume there is some very real law of human psychology that states that unexpected expenses will always cause a person to think about what they could have done with the money that they will now be spending just to get things back to normal. A trip to France perhaps. The biggest television they've ever seen. Good lord, if the damn cat hadn't jumped off the neighbor's privacy wall, we could just rent an inflatable jumping castle for a year. We could have gotten a trick cat from the circus.

I looked at Allen, and thought about Leila. I thought about our cat dragging her leg behind her as she hobbled underneath our 85" television. I thought about Leila limping out to the mailbox to see a postcard with a photograph of us waving from the front of the Eiffel Tower or staring out the window, watching us jump around in our giant yard castle with Circus Cat. I felt like a dirtbag for entertaining my thoughts of "what if we just saved the money instead?", law of human psychology or not.

I guess I never considered myself to be the kind of person who would spend an infinite amount of money on a cat operation. As much as I'm definitely an animal lover, I feel that I'm pretty pragmatic about such things, and the fact of the matter is, that cat refuses to work even part-time. I have insurance for the dog, but I guess I always just assumed if a cat needed three thousand dollars to live that I'd just have it put to sleep because, you know... I'm a dog person, and it's only a cat. Let's not get crazy here.

But I found out that you don't really know until you're there. I love that cat, and I realize I couldn't live with myself if we didn't spend whatever it took for her to be okay again.

Allen looked at me. "I guess we should talk about our options."
"No, we'll just get the operation."
"Where are we going to get three thousand dollars?"
The office smelled like Lysol and dog treats as the x-ray flickered away and the computer went to screen saver. I squeezed her tight. "It'll be all right. We'll find it somewhere."




We checked out and received a bill for $550 for the day's x-rays, pain meds and consultation.

( More artwork behind the cut )

Like art? Like BBQ? Looks like they have come together in Bart Webb's unholy combination for the second year.


"TASTY BAR B QUE BEVERAGES"!?!?! It's like a BEAUTIFUL DREAM!

This Saturday, from 10-6 at Bart Webb Studios, I will be selling prints, drawing pictures, and doing another art-find. (Hint: It will be on a small stretched canvas). Come visit! The full color Holland prints will be available at this show.

2840 Franklin Street, Avondale Estates, GA, 30002

"Over 100 artists and quite a few musicians will be on Franklin Street next Saturday for the 2nd Annual Art-B-Que, organized by Bert Webb. Southern Boys A' Cookin will be serving BBQ."

Any suggestions for a hosting company that might do a good job providing e-commerce?

I was just on hold with justhost.com, I wanted to get ahold of a sales person to ask questions about getting business hosting. After 20 minutes, I hung up, and tried to navigate away from their homepage. A window popped up (UGH!!!) telling me to "WAIT!" and that an authorized sales agent can offer me a 20% discount if I want to wait and text with her.


Connecting to Agent...
You have been connected to Isabella

Isabella Says:Hey Wait!! I have just been authorized to offer you a 20% discount on our UNLIMITED hosting plan! To take advantage of this special one-time offer just CLICK HERE

Isabella Says:When you are ready just say "Hi" and we can get started....

You:Hello?

Isabella Says:Hi my name is Isabella thanks for visiting Just Host today!

Isabella Says:Is there anything I can help you with? Or if you would like to check out our last minute 20% discount, please CLICK HERE!

You:I have been on hold waiting on sales for about 20 minutes.

Isabella Says:I'm sorry to hear you have been on the phone for that long. Maybe I can help you with something.

You:No, that's okay. If your sales takes that long, I can only imagine what will happen if I need support.

Isabella Says:I am great thanks. Do you want this awesome one-time offer as it may not be available tomorrow? If so just CLICK HERE

When I do a painting, I then do a digital version for prints by scanning or photographing the original, and doing line cleanup and color modification. Here is a preview of the "Holland" limited print which will be available later this week.




In other exciting news, the store is coming along! Soon you'll be able to order my artwork online.

Last weekend's Indie Craft Experience was really, really great.



It was a very select group of arts and craft folks. Walking around, I didn't see any junk or resell items. I saw something I genuinely wanted at almost every booth. If they wanted, the planning committee could have just packed the place with booths, but instead they want a smaller festival of high quality goods. Looking at the other vendors, I felt really proud to have been chosen for it.

I got to know a lot more of the other vendors, unlike at the other festivals. People were coming by and introducing themselves, and being really nice to give compliments about my artwork. At some point there were some guys huddled over the prints, really geeking out on them. Allen leaned over to me, "PSSSST! Those are the Fuzzy Ink guys! They do all that artwork with mustaches. YOU LOVE THEM!" Oh yeah... wow!

Another person who came by was Jon Wye who is terrific. He makes t-shirts, wrist cuffs, and buckles, but especially he makes belts. AWESOME BELTS. He approached me and asked if I would do the artwork for one. I am seriously hyped about this. When I tell you his belts are awesome, I mean SOMETIMES ZOMBIES DIE ON THESE BELTS! So that is a project I am excited about.

Also, the Fuzzy Ink guys were interested in my submitting some artwork. Hope they like it!

I will also be teaming up with Rebecca Scott to do a pair of SWAP ART! She came by the booth, and I suggested we each do half a robot-themed painting, then swap, finish the half-done paintings, then swap again to keep the finished product. We'll be doing that soon, and I'm happy to have not one, but two Thomas-Scott team-up paintings out there soon. I'm not selling mine.

The other thing that was new to this festival, was that I tried hiding a painting. I had a small painting that I put in a tree Saturday morning. It sat ALL DAY and no one noticed it (even though some people stood beside it for long periods of time), except when it fell down and we had to put it back up. The fella who eventually found it later in the day came over with it, and was really nice and grateful.
Finder: "Uhhm... did you put this painting in the tree?"
Me: "Yep!"
Finder: "For someone to find... and keep?"
Me: "Congratulations!"
Finder: "Uhmm... for real? Really?"
Finder's friend: "Are there any more?"

He told me about how he forgot his wallet at home, so he didn't think he'd be able to get any art today, but he'd seen my stuff and really liked it, then FOUND ONE IN A TREE!" I signed it for him, and drew a robot on the back congratulating him on his alert nature.

Me: "Well, I'm really glad you found it. It sounds like you really appreciate it."
Finder's friend: (looking at feet) "I wanna to find a painting in a tree..."
I will definitely be doing this in the future.


In other news: Due to popular demand (thanks for all the demand everyone!) I have been encouraged to start an online store! I don't want to do an Etsy, because much of what I'm selling wouldn't be handmade (like prints) so I am researching a service to provide a store template that I like, and easy credit card processing. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

Also, I finished the Seahorse prints, and a bunch of people went home with Seahorses of different colors.

Who wants to come see UP Saturday morning? IN 3D!! It's going to be amazing. Even if UP looks like it's going to be "blah" to you, remember Pixar always does "Less is more" trailers before their releases. Then you see it and it blows you away. This'll blow you away.

FREE BONUS: I have some art prints left over from my ICE booth. I'll be giving them out to whoever comes up and says HI until I run out. I'll be wearing a turquoise shirt covered in birds.

So, be there at 11:00 so we can all say "hi" in front of the theater, and we'll start piling in at 11:30.

Get tickets for the noon showing of UP in Disney Digital 3D on Saturday the 6th. They will give you the glasses (they're the good ones, not the red/green ones) and the matinee balances out the 3D, so tickets should be around $10. Worth it.

Remember, don't be late, or we'll already be inside in the dark watching 32 Disney trailers.

Regal Hollywood 24 @ North I-85
3265 NE Expressway Access Rd
Chamblee, GA 30341

link

If you haven't been to this theater, it's tricky. You need to get off at the Shallowford Rd exit and take the access road around. The theater is visible from the interstate on the East side. If you pass it, just get off on Chamblee Tucker and go back to Shallowford Rd's access Rd.

Here's some pictures of Wendy. She was wearing a bunny costume for Easter.