ê¿êspi20.com — watching and writing

Well, I’m broken hearted as Bill and Star got the axe on Greatest American Dog tonight. The judges admitted that they didn’t think anyone really deserved to be axed, but they HAD to choose someone and Bill and Star’s performance was the weakest of the ones who would not jump off a 50′ tower.

She also wouldn’t stay for the elephant’s approach (which I truly didn’t expect her to after the debacle with the Golden Retriever puppies last week), so two bad weeks in a row signed the death warrant for my favorite pair.

No matter what, I still think Star is a great dog and they have nothing to be ashamed of for not finishing at the top.

Now speculation will run rampant over who will be the final winner. I would have said it was going to be JD and Galaxy, but she’s apparently hurt her shoulder and may have to bow out of the competition all together. That would be really awful too.

I don’t much care for JD personally — he’s a bit of an asshole, but Galaxy is an awesome dog and they have a wonderful working relationship. I was really surprised that she didn’t stay locked down for the elephant charge, but I guess some things are just too much for a dog to handle and that was her breaking point.

Of the remaining teams, none are stand-outs. I think Laurie and Andrew have an “in” with the one judge since Andrew is a Maltese which is her dog’s breed as well. Not to knock Andrew too much. He’s obviously a happy little fellow and Laurie and she have a good relationship. He’s also very well trained and works very hard for Laurie. She’s just a little hard on her fellow competitors.

I do have a soft spot for Teresa and Leroy, but I doubt they will win because none of the judges can get past Leroy’s constant barking. It IS irritating, but it’s an indication of how wound up he is. If he weren’t wound up, he wouldn’t do as well as he does in some of the more physical things they are asked to do.

Travis and Presley — well Presley is such an unknown. He came into the competition not even knowing how to sit on command and still has issues with holding a sit for any length of time. As the competition gets harder, I feel that he will either turn a corner and “get it” or he will blow up and fail. He’s sitting on the edge right now and a lot will depend on how Travis handles the new things they are challenged with.

The producers of this show have pulled off some scary stuff. If I had been competing with one of my dogs, my pulse oximeter would have maxed out! I have no doubt that the Elephant they used tonight was well trained, but throwing it at those dogs none of whom had ever seen such an animal and knowing how Elephants smell, I’m truly surprised that any of the dogs stayed in the circle while the elephant approached as long as they did, much less stayed while it picked up a banana from 5′ away. And then having to jump off that 50′ tower! I don’t know if I could have done it myself much less asked my dog to!

Well, ’till next week…let’s all pray that Galaxy’s shoulder injury is minor and that she can continue on. Not just because of the competition, but because I hate to see any dog in pain.

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Image via Wikipedia

Well, you can tell by the way I wield my fork,
I’m a dieting lady; no time to talk.
Low carb bread there is no harm
I’ve been gaining weight
Since I was born.
And now its all right. its ok.
And you may look the other way.
We can try to understand
The effect Lipovox has on man.

Whether you’re a brother or whether you’re a mother,
You’re stayin alive, stayin alive.
Feel the records breakin’ and the fat cells shakin’,
And we’re stayin alive, stayin alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin alive, stayin alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin alive.

Well now, I look low and I look high,
And if I can’t lose any, I may try.
Ephedra or Slim Fast they’re better than booze.
I’m a dietin’ man but I just can’t lose.
You know its all right. its ok.
I’ll live to see another day.
We can try to understand
What effect Hoodia has on man.

Whether you’re a brother or whether you’re a mother,
You’re stayin alive, stayin alive.
Well the scales are breakin’ and the fat is shakin’,
And we’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive.

Diet goin’ nowhere. somebody help me.
Somebody help me, yeah.
Diet goin’ nowhere. somebody help me.
Somebody help me, yeah. stayin’ alive.

Well, you can tell by the way I weild my fork,
Im a dieting lady: no time to talk.
No carb bread there is no harm
I’ve been gaining weight
Since I was born.
And now its all right. its ok.
And you may look the other way.
We can try to understand
What effect Lipo suction has on man.

Whether you’re a brother or whether you’re a mother,
You’re stayin alive, stayin alive.
When the scales are breakin’ and the fat’s a-shakin’,
And we’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive.

Diet goin’ nowhere. somebody help me.
Somebody help me, yeah.
Diet goin nowhere. somebody help me.
Somebody help me, yeah. stayin’ alive.

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Ken sent me an email from work the other day telling me about a painting class his boss is taking at the Hobby Lobby store in Spartanburg. He wanted to know if I was interested in taking it, too.

It’s been a long time since I painted anything (even the walls!), but I was piqued by this suggestion and so went to the website to sign up for the class. It was $50 and included all your supplies, so I felt that was pretty reasonable. We were to learn to paint a lighthouse seascape scene which wasn’t my first choice of paintings to do, but was OK.

My instructor was this very nice lady named Betsy and there were 3 other people in the class with me. All of us had different painting backgrounds and two had taken previous classes with Betsy. She’s teaching the Bob Ross method of oil painting. I will confess to you as I confessed to her that I’ve never heard of Bob Ross. I will be doing some research on him, though.

Our tools were rather unusual (I thought). We had a 2″ brush, a 1″ brush which reminded me more of what you paint walls with than what you paint a painting with and then we had more of what I think of as artists’ brushes — a narrow, but long brush that I associate with kids watercolor books and a fan brush (looks just like it sounds) and a funny shaped knife.

We started with a blank white canvas to which we covered completely in white paint using that 2″ brush. When we were finished, we wiped it off onto a paper towel, then dipped it into some blue paint that we had semi-mixed with some white. This was to be our sky. You don’t thoroughly mix the colors as you want some streakiness to provide depth and texture.

Since our light source was supposed to be coming from the center, we wanted the corners darker and get progressivley lighter towards the middle where we were going to paint some clouds.

I learned that I suck at clouds….

I wanted stormy clouds as I was in a mood but they just didn’t want to work the way I wanted them to. Oh well, I need to get on with other things! We have to put in the water, beach and lighthouse.

Now to add the finer details of wavelets, grass and tweak some more on those darned clouds!

Well, the clouds are a little better. It’s a good think this lighthouse is SUPPOSED to look like it’s old and about to fall down, because mine certainly does! And while the water color looks stormy enough, the waves don’t exactly reflect a storm at this point. However, for a first time at painting with oil, I’m not totally disheartened. I will more than likely take another class or two from her depending on what she’s offering to paint.

On the way home, I had to stop and photograph the sky as I had a lot of clouds to see in it. I’ll have to practice painting clouds so I’m not so totally inept the next time I paint a landscape.

When we finished our paintings we cleaned our brushes in the brush cleaner (it didn’t smell like turpentine which is what I would have thought you would clean them with) and thankfully there was a tiny sink with one of those tall bar faucets where I could wash my hands, arms and face.

I am not a neat painter, either it seems!

ê¿ê¹`

I’ll confess that I wasn’t quite sure what to do for today’s doodle theme of “body“. I drew a body, but it’s a bit alien and a bit 70’s === well, you can see for yourself

Don’t know what was on my mind today!

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