Caturday Art: Pumpkins and Sunshine

Remember how last Saturday I bombarded you guys with a lengthy, long-winded post? Well, I'm doing it again this week! So many exciting and wordy things to share with you all!

First up is of course our primary contribution to the Caturday Art blog hop, hosted by Athena.

Our art for today is actually going to be Day 1 of what I hope will be 31 consecutive days of Halloween art. Thanks to our good friends over at 15andmeowing, we were made aware of a fun Halloween Challenge going on throughout all of October. This challenge is being hosted by Jennifer Nichole Wells (JNW), who has created a calendar with a word prompt for each day of October. On that day, we are challenged to post something - whether it be a photo, art, a poem, or even a quote - relating to that word. So, I've decided to try and create a drawings each day in October, using JNW's daily Halloween prompts. Of course, I intend on having my Halloween art star furry critters.

The prompt for today is pumpkin. Being a huge fan of Snoopy and friends, I have seen It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown many, many times. Given my love for Snoopy, and adding to it today's prompt, I came up with this:

Did anyone notice that Snoopy has a stand-in in this drawing, though? Well, in case you're wondering, that's my pup Astrid in the great pumpkin patch itself. At least, that's what I envision up there in my head.


Now, next up is a fun and happy award for which our good friends over at The Cat on My Head nominated us. It's the Sunshine Blogger Award, which is meant to shed light on those fellow bloggers whose positivity and creativity you admire. Thank you so much, Kitties Blue and mom, for nominating us for the Sunshine Blogger Award!

There are some rules to follow with this award, and these rules are:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and add a link to their blog. (See above. But also, thank you again to the kitties and mom over at The Cat on My Head!)
2. Answer the 11 questions sent by the person who nominated you.
3. Nominate 11 other bloggers, adding their links and asking them 11 new questions.
4. Notify the bloggers you have nominated.

Our friends over at The Cat on My Head came up with some great questions. They are below, along with our answers written in italicized purple.

1. Who is your favorite author?
J.R.R. Tolkien. The man created not only an entire fantasy world, but also created details such as an entire language that he just sort of nonchalantly threw into that world. He's sort of my hero.

2. Why did you start blogging?
I think I primarily started blogging because of my sweet angel Rosie. Back when I started blogging, she was still with me on this earth. She was 20 years old, kicking renal disease in its rear end, and just loving life. Everyone who met her or found out about her always seemed so amazed by her and her spunky geriatric attitude, and I think that really spurred me to share her with the world.

Of course, when I started my blog a little over 2 years ago, I also had my pup Astrid, my special boy Evan, and very newly rescued Thimble, all to co-star on the blog as well.

3. Beach or mountains for vacation?
Mountains. Believe it or not and please don't hurt me, but I am not a huge fan of beaches. Mountains, though, I love.

4. What is your favorite indulgence?
Sweets. Anything sweet is my Achilles' heel. Chocolate, cookies, brownies, ice cream, candy, you name it. Even sweet fruits, like grapes and watermelon, will go right down my gullet.

5. If you had an unlimited amount of money, what would you do with it?
I would love to donate large amounts of funds to animal shelters and rescues, both local and in other areas. I have some favorite shelters and rescues that I would love to donate large chunks of money to regularly. I don't know how strange of a dream this is, but I'd also love to construct at least one large mansion of a house built heavily around the needs and health and happiness of animals. Lots of open space, safe and secure outdoor areas and patios, giant windows, all that jazz. I would love to have such a place for the purpose of being able to foster animals in need of a place to stay, especially those at shelters and rescues that are low on space of their own. (I would probably end up with roughly a gazillion foster fails, but so be it.) 

Of course I'd also love to donate extra to other charities dear to me, as well as pay off my house, my parents' house, help out family and friends in need, spoil rotten my own furbabies as well as all the others in my life, etc., etc.

6. If you could live any place in the world, where would it be?
My home. Indeed, places like the mountains or areas of Ireland and Italy would be gorgeous to live. But, I am happy with my familiar surroundings, and would ultimately rather be close to my family. So, I'd stay right where I am.

7. What is your favorite form of exercise?
I actually enjoy cardio exercise. I love to do dance routines designed for cardio workout (don't get any wrong ideas here - I am far from a pro dancer). I also like using my exercise bike, which allows me to read or even work on my blog while I pedal away. And bicycling outdoors in nice weather is also a favorite of mine.

8. What is the most unusual job you've ever had?
My first job after graduating college was working at the large animal clinic of the university I had attended. I temporarily worked as an animal caretaker there. While I greatly enjoyed working with the horses, as well as the cows and other animals, there were aspects of this job that were, to put it mildly, quite an experience. This is in large part because this job not only entailed feeding and otherwise caring for the animal patients, but also dealing with those that, sadly, didn't survive. I have worked in a similar position at a small animal clinic as well, and I'm sorry to sound dark and morbid, but let me tell you, handling the body of a 10 lb cat is so much simpler than handling that of a 1,500 lb horse. There were forklifts and pulleys and all sorts of machinery and manhandling required, not to mention the cleanup afterwards. As I said, this job was certainly an experience.

9. What was your first job?
I started dog-walking and pet-sitting for neighbors when I was 11 years old, and I began baby-sitting not long after that. I did both of those through the end of grade school and then all the way through high school and college.

10. Do you believe in ghosts?
No, I don't believe in ghosts. Angels, though, I do believe they exist.

11. Where do you get your news: newspaper, TV, computer?
Computer. I am far from tech savvy, but I do get most of my news from a computer.


For the next part of this award, we came up with 11 questions of our own:

1. How many animals have you had in your lifetime thus far?
2. Do you have a favorite blog topic, blog hop, or blogging day?
3. What is your favorite book?
4. If you had to change your first name, what new name would you choose?
5. Are you an early bird or a night owl?
6. What is your favorite holiday?
7. What is your dream job?
8. How many siblings do you have?
9. What is your favorite candy?
10. What is your absolute least favorite food?
11. What do you call it: pop or soda? (Or something else altogether?)


Next up is nominating 11 other bloggers. All of the blogs we read in this blogging community give us inspiration. We know so many bloggers deserving of this award, as all of you are so positive and creative in your own ways. That's what makes this community so great!

Below is our list of the 11 bloggers we are nominating for this particular award. That being said, as I always say, if you are listed here, please do not feel any obligation to complete this challenge. I know and completely understand that not everyone has the time or desire to complete posts like this. I myself found this award to be great fun. But, again, please do not feel pressured to complete this if you do not wish to. (On the other hand, if you want to join in on the fun but don't see your name listed below, please feel free to join in anyway. I certainly won't stop you!)

1. Melissa's Mochas, Mysteries, and Meows
2. Zoolatry
3. 15andmeowing
4. Marg's Animals
5. Animal Shelter Volunteer Life
6. Lucy's Lounge
7. Cat Chat with Caren and Cody
8. Dakota's Den (If you choose to participate, feel free to use the same answers, Cody and Dakota. I just had to include you both!)
9. Stunning Keisha
10. The Island Cats
11. Chat Aux Sphynx

So, that concludes this hefty post. We'll be back tomorrow with some Sunday selfies, from whichever furbaby or furbabies decide to cooperate. And, we'll have our creation for Day 2 of JNW's Halloween Challenge.

Happy Caturday to all!

***

Our Tip of the Day:

Although many of us would love to share our lives with as many furbabies as possible, please always be honest with yourself regarding how many cats, dogs, or other critters you can realistically have in your life. This requires that you consider the amount of space you have at your home, as well as finances. It is of course important to ensure that each furbaby is comfortable, happy, and healthy, so please take that into significant consideration when determining the number of furbabies you can handle. Don't forget, too, that some cities have laws limiting the number of animals you can legally keep in your home. And, please also consider all of this in terms of your family, friends, and neighbors as well. If you know someone you believe is hoarding animals in any way, please take action to help those animals, as well as the hoarder. Signs of an animals hoarder will have more animals than can comfortably live in the home, and so you'll often find that such animals are unclean, undernourished, and overall failing to thrive. Other red flags include urine, feces, or other such unsanitary debris throughout the house, and sometimes far worse and severe signs of neglect. If you find yourself concerned that you know an animal hoarder, please do what you can to obtain help not only for the animals involved, but for the hoarder as well.