(You hear that, Jason, I am going to irritate the hell out of you until you draw me a spider!)

Ahem. I have managed to get a few sketches out though, and while I don’t think they’re that good, they’re at least getting me into the drawing mindset. And the comic mindset as well. There’s some big motivation happening on The Family Menagerie front. It’s coming back. When? Not sure. But it’s coming. If Ash has anything to say about it. Which I’m sure she does. Though it might all be taking a back seat once we start D&D’ing next week. Oh right. Did you not know I was a nerd?

You must be new.

Where was I? ART. Have some.

Sometimes we like to chase stars. And sometimes we like to eat them. They taste like sugar. No, really. Oh but I did mention sketches. Have some of those too. Because I like to draw things like hands, flying space Stegosauruses, shy moose, and Jackalopes in hats. I’m eclectic. Did you not know that?

Seriously, are you new?

& Because you can’t leave without a Totoro

It’s been a Miyazaki kind of month and Studio Ghibli makes my heart happy. And because Ash and I are nerds and like to collect things like giant stuffed monsters and talking cats. If you haven’t ever seen a Studio Ghibli film, preferably Miyazaki, do yourself a favor and go out and rent one. Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Kiki’s Delivery Service… so many. Just go google them and pick one. They’re all amazing. My Neighbor Totoro is a favorite in this house. Can you tell?

Now your heart can be happy too.

To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter… to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring – these are some of the rewards of the simple life. ~John Burroughs

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities. ~Theodore Geisel

“If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth.” ~Chief Seattle

One year ago today, our Brody was whisked away from us. A neighbor left the door open and Brody, our beautiful little golden pup, took off out the door and was hit by a truck. A truck that didn’t even stop to see if he was okay. I still have nightmares about it, seeing it all happen over and over again. It’s been a year and certainly doesn’t feel like it.

We miss you so much Brody. You were the happiest dog in the world, our Dalai-Lama of dogs.

Morgan Niels-Jeske
“The Valentine Baby”
January 1, 2008 – February 5, 2010
Adopted into our family February 14, 2008

She no longer has the burden of an old body, but I’m going to miss her so much. Here’s an excerpt from the journal entry I wrote about her on Valentine’s Day of 2008. The best Valentine’s Day ever.

In my hands was a tiny, beautiful baby girl rat. Seriously, all I did was stare at her for the longest time. I couldn’t formulate any thoughts and I hardly dared hope that she was mine, so I kept asking stupid questions like “Where’d she come from?” and “What is she doing here?” I know I kind of made Ash nervous that I didn’t like her, but I was just in shock. And then when it finally started to dawn on me that this little girl was mine, I began to tear up and almost started crying. She’s so beautiful. She’s mostly white with a dark gray hood with a white line like a scar down her face to her nose and a dark gray spot on her back. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.

We love you, Morgan.

This is the ultimate Christmas present. I tweeted about it a couple of times a few months ago when I was looking for a cheap drawing table I could possibly get myself for Christmas. This was anything but cheap, but it was my dream table, and it was love at first sight and I kept opening the Futura Craft Station Amazon page up and reading Ash the specs out loud; “It’s 38″ by 24″ – it’s big!” “It’s got a pretty glass top!” “OH MY GOD YOU CAN MAKE IT A LIGHTTABLE!” I couldn’t get it out of my head. I showed it to my co-worker at work who found that they carried it at an art store in town (though when we went to check it out later, they were only selling it online), and while I knew there was no way in hell that I’d be able to afford it, I knew it was THE ONE.

Well, I flew to Wisconsin for Christmas to spend with the Jeske/Jeninga household and then flew back to Austin five days later and spent a nice Sunday-Christmas night with Ash. I had spoiled her rotten with the complete Xena: Warrior Princess box set, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Wii Game and Game Guide, and the special edition Legend of Zelda Nintendo DS (w/ Triforce). She got me a cool sweatshirt, home spa kit, seasons five and six of Charmed, the Twig the Fairy Calendar, and a really awesome rock tumbler, but then announced that her big present was that she had set up my office for me.

Maybe that sounds silly, but it was really exciting to me. My office has been in shambles —

WHOA. HOLD THE PHONE! I totally forgot the VERY BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER*!

You all remember our foster kitten Mika? Well she found a home on CHRISTMAS EVE. We ran into a friend a few weeks back after dropping Mika off at an adoption event and it turned out that she knew someone who was looking for a cat exactly like her! Last week, she got a hold of Ash and within days, everything was set up and they took Mika home on Christmas Eve as a present. How awesome is that?! We’ve been getting updates and she’s apparently taken over the house and put the dogs in their place. I’m so happy – she’s so sweet, she totally deserves it.

Now back to my story.

— because I hadn’t been able to fix it up since Mika had been in there. So Ash had decided to take it upon herself to fix it up for me. I was really excited to see it and to have my space back. Ash had even “wrapped” the door and put a bow on it. It was adorable. Anyway, she went in first and then called me in. I opened the door all ready to be happy and see my clean room, and while that’s exactly what I got, I also got

THIS AMAZING TABLE!

Apparently she got my mom and dad, her mom, dad, step-dad, and sister to all pitch in with her to buy me this table. I saw it, my mouth dropped open, and I burst into tears. Much to my embarrassment, she took a video and has been showing everyone and their mother. Thanks.

Isn’t it beautiful? I’m going to take more pictures of it later, I just wanted to share now. The thing is super sturdy, even bigger than I was expecting, and everything that it promised (I CAN MAKE IT INTO A FREAKING LIGHT TABLE!).

Seriously. BEST CHRISTMAS EVER.

*My awesome new table is a very close second.

This is where I live. It’s this nice little state in the SOUTH called TEXAS.

This? This is what is NOT supposed to happen.

Could someone please make this stop? Like now. I’d like to be able to drive home without being hit by a Texan driver that has never seen snow or ice in his life. People here are already pre-panicking and it hasn’t even stuck on the ground.

In conclusion. This is Texas. Snow does not belong here. Please make it stop.

KThnx.

I’m going to try and post some videos I took later tonight, but for now, have a picture (from the website – my pictures are all dark since they were taken with my camera):

You will be astounded and humbled by these beautiful giants that have come to life. I felt like I was living in James Gurney’s Dinotopia. My favorite part? The moment the Brachiosaurus walked out. My mouth dropped open, my heart felt like it was too big for my chest, and tears welled in my eyes. A 40 foot dinosaur stood above my head and blinked at me. Tonight, I had a dream come true.

CUTE KITTEN!

This is Mika, just one of the many cats we trapped this year with the Central Texas Feline Rescue. Every Tuesday night, Ash and I spend the evening with a bunch of traps, some tuna fish, and our quick wits in an attempt to catch feral/abandoned cats to get them spayed/neutered and rabies-tested. Our goal this year was 300 – we hit 304. While Ash and I have only been doing this for several months (since we moved down here), we’re incredibly proud of ourselves for helping the cat community of Austin and the surrounding towns.

Mika here was a cat we caught last week. Last night we caught her again… twice. She was hungry enough that she didn’t even care how many times she got caught in that trap. Because of that, the volunteers took her in and our fearless leader Elizabeth is going to get her the rest of her shots and then we’ll be taking her in for a short time until we can find a more permanent home (be that a longer-term foster home or a forever home) for her. She’s beautiful and small and we couldn’t leave her out there in the cold so home she comes. We’ll see how she does.

Working with these cats is hard. They have hard lives and many times their stories are heartbreaking. The last few weeks, we’ve been trapping a colony of cats that came from a 14-cat household. The owners moved and abandoned all 14 cats to the streets, and now the owner of the park they currently call home is threatening to come in and kill them all. We spent the better part of last night canvasing that particular neighborhood, handing out literature on TNR and our group, and letting people know exactly what was going on. I was so wonderfully surprised by the reaction we got from people. More than one person praised what we were doing, thanked us for our time, and blessed us with hope in their eyes.

There is hope in the world. For Mika, there is hope tonight. She’s off the streets. Someday, we’ll get them all. There is hope.