My new boots. That is not real fur! Unfortunately, they do have some leather on them. Ideally, I would like to get away from buying leather. Baby steps...

The Sanctuary is absolutely beautiful in the fall. All the leaves are changing colors, the deer are starting to migrate down from the mountains, and the air has a crisp clean feel to it. It has been far too long since I have felt the first sting of cool morning air or smelled fireplaces heating up houses. These photos were taken during the Art Retreat by one of the attendees. I don't have any good photos of all the yellow and orange leaves because I am usually driving when I see them! The turkeys like to hang out in the horse pasture by the old barn. That barn was part of the movie set to "one little indian" an old disney movie. We left the barn up for the horses and because it looks really cool. The turkeys must know we only serve vegetarian food here at the sanctuary because there are ALOT of turkeys around. The photo with the Yurts (pronounced URTS or ERTS) is the area we call Little Lebanon. The Yurts house the cats and the dog shelters are in the background. The Yurts were used as animal hospitals during the Katrina rescue. Enjoy!

My Parents return from their Cruise


Brian and Mary set out on a seven day cruise with their buddies Jack and Jolynn.
They had a great time. As you can see they worked on their tan, went to shows, dined on fabulous food and visited the beaches. They are planning to visit us in Utah in the middle of November. Daron, Rodeo, Zeena and I are anxiously awaiting their arrival!!!

Sepi my favorite Moluccan Cockatoo







Yep, That's Sepi alright! The group settled into sketching Friday morning at Feathered Friends. No one was sketching Sepi so he yelled "Pretty Bird" "Hello" "I'm a pretty bird" along with a few screams. I got the hint (ha ha) and went over to his cage. "Sepi would it be okay if I sketched you?" Quiet and coy was his only response. As if he was saying "Who ME?" His caregiver Al brought him out and set him on a rock in front of me. So for about 30 minutes I sketched and more and more participants gathered round and more and more of us encouraged him to dance and sing and sure enough he did. Amazingly enough it took alot of coaxing. (If we all turned our backs and walked away he would of responded much quicker!) Anyhow, a girl in the class has a photo of me showing Sepi the sketch I did of him and he actually turned his head to the side (his eyes are on the side of his head) and looked at it, moved closer and touched it with his beak. I went ahead and let him grab the corner of the book knowing full well that these birds rip apart phone books for fun! He took two gentle nibbles on the paper and moved on. The photos show various stages of Sepi fluffing his feathers, bobbing his head up and down sideways and spreading his wings.

ART FOR THE ANIMALS WORKSHOP

Well, I have spent the past week in an Art Workshop at Best Friends. It was wonderful. We sketched cats the first day, dogs the second, horses/pigs the third, bunnies the fourth and birds the fifth day. The afternoons were spent at one of the artists house/studio. Wow, I now have 4 new artist friends here in Kanab. Really good artist. I discovered I can sketch cats, bunnies, horses pretty good. Dogs are an entirely different story. Not so good at dogs or birds but I am working on it! It is probably that I like them the best and really want to capture their essence. I experienced two things I haven't done before - print making and ceramics. Very cool.

Monday and Tuesday were overcast and cold - winter jacket weather. Wednesday - Friday were t-shirt and shorts weather!

This is EGG-actly what I am talking about!!!!

How cool is it to have fresh eggs. Daron gets them from a lady on the reservation. YUMMY. Of course, the first thing I said when I opened them is I want to paint a room that green color...

Fall Party on our New Old Table



Our Girls WhINE Night was crashed by Daron and Bill. I guess girl talk is exciting after all. Although by the look on their faces they don't look too thrilled! Marissa and Gabriella made it and "Ella" as we call her was very very good. Our friends Laura, Renee, and Kathi didn't let the "boys" bother them. ha ha.


The most exciting part of the night was using my new old table. I have been wanting an old beat up dining room table with "history" for about 8 years. They are hard to find. Actually, let me rephrase that "They are hard to find at a cheap price." Anyhow, I was talking to the "dog whisperer" who has been here 20 years and who just moved into his new house on the property. A few weeks later he asked if I was still in the market for a table. He had a wooden table in his old trailer that he was going to throw out. It was from an old western movie set. It has a stamp "Fox Film Studios" underneath and a small metal tag on its side. YES I WANTED IT. Whoo hoo. So, you can see the table in the photo. I need to clean it up a bit but I like the worn look. Oh, he also said that the gum underneath the table was there before he got it. He left it because you never know whos it might be. Just think he said "The actors were sitting around and the director yelled "Action" and John Wayne, Paul Newman, or Clint Eastwood had to quickly stick his gum under the table. Yes, I am convinced it is one of those three :)

Best Friends Makes the CBS Evening News!!!!

This week, viewers are sending Steve to welcome 300 refugees to America — all from the recent conflict in Lebanon, all four-legged. How'd they get here and who's taking them? Steve will find out.

Watch Friday's CBS Evening News with Katie Couric to see Steve's report.