Friday End

Another Friday has come and gone. I do seem to pack them to the busting point. Today was a good day though...I found time to sit in the grass and sip a mango smoothie. Mia rolling around next to me.

I'm not quite sure who enjoys Fridays more. Her or me. : ) She loves it when I am home and by now has me quite well trained. Sitting at the computer and trying to type is accompanied by whines, yips, yelps and finally nips to the elbow. When I try to sculpt, she is at the back slider, scratching on the glass and barking. She has a one track mission - Go outside and play..with me! If those actions still do not get my attention she then pulls out the trump card and torments Jasper...knowing that his yowls of protest will always bring me running. Yes...I would say that I am quite well trained by now. : / Despite the countless trips around the back yard, cat rescuing, and one unsalvagable roll of shredded toilet paper, I was able to make progress on my sculpture today. : )

I am moving out of the skeletal stage and into more of the pose. I continued to work on the rib cage and then moved into the legs, blocking in one side on the butt. I know that my backbone is not quite there yet but I think that as I starting to add some of my connecting core muscles I will see the adjustments I need. I also added the clavicles and started to get a sense of the traps.

Tomorrow is scheduled to be another yard day with Todd, but I plan on finding at least an hour or two to finish the other side of the butt and maybe define the shoulders.

Mia had a 2pm appointment to meet with a new Vet. I am trying to find one that is close, good and experienced with bulldogs. Success! The place was immaculate, the doctor very nice and knowledgeable and best of all, less than a mile away! The only disappointing thing was that he couldn't tell for certain whether or not she was in heat. I was going to spay Mia before her first heat but think I might have missed my chance and that she is already in or entering the heat cycle. I learned that female French Bulldogs often tend to develop breast tumors later on in life but if you spay before the first heat then the chances of tumor development is 0%. Pretty good. But now..if I have already missed the first heat..I am wondering if I should consider not spaying her and perhaps breeding her next year. She has beautiful conformation, coloring and temperament...I guess I will think about it for another week. It might be way more trouble that I want to get myself into.

I am posting some picts of my sculpting progress today, Jessie tormenting Mia from her perch on my studio bookshelves and Mia wondering why I am always take pictures of her....and hoping that she will get a treat for sitting so nicely. : )