Spanky's the MAN!

Between Barrett's excelent insulation job, a great woodstove, and a couple of fat ponies, we keep our house very warm! So warm, that it borders on unbearibly hot upstairs when it is time for bed! On more than one occassion, we have opened up a window and it was no more than 15 degrees outside! Peaches is an increadible animal and can pull awfully big logs; but this post is more about Spanky, who, as you will see from the pictures, can also pull some awfully big logs, and a lot of them! Barrett and Spanky pulled these out of the woods one afternoon, and we have really enjoyed the heat (as it has not been above 30* for a few weeks with spells no more than 15*)

Spanky has a very handsome head, So does Barrett.

I told you that our house was big! The tall, narrow left side is insulated, heated, and the part that we live in, the right side is like a shop/garage/storage room.

Look at the pile of wood!

Awww, we love Spanky! That is his new collar we purchased from the Amish--it was used, but in good condition and we got it for a steal!

Weasel has also turned out to be very handsome!

Shhh! I'm hunting wabbits!

I had a birthday recently, and my husband who is an expert and fun birthday ideas had a couple of real zingers this year. (Last year we were camped out on a beach in SE Alaska and he bought me jewlery, a dress, flip-flops, and a back-pack frame that would make traveling on foot easier-- all at a church rummage sale--YEAH!)
This year, he planned a suprise party of 30 people and a bar-b-que, found a beautiful ivory neclace (who knows where!) made me a holster (that is BEAUTIFUL!) and got permission from a fellow down the road for me to catch one of the many feral rabbit that live in his yard. If I caught it, I got to keep it! He had started off with less than 4 a year ago and released them into his yard. Now he has 25 to 30 running loose! (There's a lesson to all of us!)

I am serious in this picture. Standing in front of the vehicle "rabbit", I am ready to go rummage through what you see behind me in hopes to catch a REAL rabbit!

I believe that I have spotted one in that pile of...metal thingies and using some trickery....whoops! Well, missed that one...

Success at last! After about an hour, the owner decided to help out too, and between the 3 of us, we wore out this little beauty and caught her behind a barrel mounted on a metal frame. He had never caught one of his own rabbits and was happy to hold one for a bit! Having been born and raised in something of a large vehicle repair garage area, she had bits of tar stuck in her fur and we called her the "Tar-baby" for a bit until we thought of "Beatrix" (you know, Beatrix Potter), which fits her very well. She is unusually tame for a feral rabbit and is just about the cutest and prettiest little critter you've ever seen! Ask our collie, "Weasel", who has fallen completely inlove with her from the start! (you can see Weasel in the first picture) Ursa isn't so sure.

So, I had a blast for my birthday and now I have a lovely bunny for a pet and we met one of our neighbors! Now I just need to make him a batch of bread!

(Please note my husband's fine job at "henna-ing" my hair!)

A Toad and Beaver Adventure

The men-folk often go for a drive in the hot-rod.

Today, it is Mr. and Mrs. Toad out for a lovely drive.

Nice back-country road on a fine sunny day.

But, what is this? A tree has fallen right across there path. And what is worse: WEASELS!

Armed with a club and a gun, the weasels close in!

Suddenly, out of the bushes, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver leap forth and tackle the villans!

Mr. Toad takes charge of the pistol.

And as the Mrs. ties up the rabble, Mr. Beaver does what beavers do best and chews through the tree in mere moments!

The Beavers tote the weasels out of the road (my aren't they industrious!)

After being secured to the tree, the four friends carry on to more adventures!

Aren't friends a wonderful thing?

No arms and legs???

What do you call a little boy with no arms or legs who floats?

Bob

What do you call a little girl with no arms or legs that makes change?
Penny

What do you call a little boy with no arms or legs that you wipe your feet on?
Matt

What do you call a tiny stuffed animal with no arms or legs?

STINKING CUTE!

I have now developed some new patterns: Hedge hogs, Skunks or squirrels, and Toads or Frogs!

They are not yet available in my store, partially because I wanted another opinion on the tiny babies not having any limbs. I think they are REALLY cute! ...but I'm not sure who else will.

I am sorry that the pictures are not a little better. I took the hedgehog/skunk ones as the daylight was fading and only minutes before I boxed them up and shipped them to Utah for Christmas presents. They are still the only ones in existence.

The toad has on a driver's cap and a scarf and is driving some kind of crazy old car. It is supposed to be Toad from the Wind in the Willows and he is going to my Father-in-law for his birthday!

Sometimes I think I should ONLY sell the critters themselves...I am not sure that I am a very good pattern maker...and I really don't know how to explain what I did with sometimes to make them. It all seems so obvious to me, but perhaps not so much to other folks.

So, please, PLEASE, if anyone has any thoughts on extra small babies without arms and legs, or on how badly you want to just buy the critters or anything else....tell me!

Generous Donors

I just thought you all would like to see the generous donors of the horse hair that I use to make my little stuffed horses with! I don't even trim the hair off, I just collect it out of the brushes, and straighten it out. Peaches, the halflinger, "donates" the most. So, if anyone was wondering why I mostly just have white hair...this is why. Apparently, Spanky (white), Peaches (tan/white), and Breeze (red), are taking it easy while Grendel (grey/spots) is acting as the look-out.

Here is peaches, modeling her masses and MASSES of lovely blonde hair. She is such a malibu!

Badgers? Badgers? We don't need no stinking Badgers!

Alright! Finally, the badger patterns are done and available in my etsy shop! At some point, I will begin making families of the different critters and making the animals, themselves, available. I would also make someone a family or a single animal right now for $10 per animal or 4 for $35. Once I made them, I would then place them on etsy, and you could buy it! If anyone is interested, please convo me (username: beaverrebellion) or e-mail me

(beaverrebellion@yahoo.com) and just ask!

Any animal with babies, has them crawling all over itself at all times!

This family of badgers got given to my niece Ivy for her 3rd birthday. I tied little silver ribbons around the babies' waists and one around the (mother's? father's?) neck. Ivy seemed to like them, and the badgers soon found themselves driving around in a little purple mini-van.

The badger pattern is now in my shop and ready to be purchased for Christmas Badgers!

New Items in shop!

Alright...I now have the long-awaited weasel in my shop! And I am also selling little stuffed ponies. I could possibly sell the pattern, once again, I made it all up myself...but it is pretty tricky and the hardest part there is no real way to explain in instructions except "now you just put it together, okay?" Honestly, it's a tricky one! So, I am making ponies to sell that have real horse hair for their mane and tail (donated by my own real horses) and I am also doing horses, I just haven't gotten the pictures yet, and if those work out pretty well, I will also make up a draft horse pattern! Whew!

The Badger pattern is also already done and on my computer ready to ship, I just have to make one more badger and take pictures and they will also be in my shop!

I think I have a really good pattern for a CUTE hedgehog, but I have to make it and make sure it works first.

And I am working on an owl pattern...but it is proving to be difficult to get just the right look AND be a simple pattern that other people can do!

Here are the weasels holding a family home evening with their new-found cannon!

Barrett found me this AWESOME wooden cannon at a flea market and paid top-dollar so that he could support the Beaver Rebellion! Now, that is a real fan! My husband is a true supporter and isn't even horrified by....well...everything! It is the COOLEST cannon and even has a floral pattern carved into it...I'm not sure why, it's a cannon--but it is GREAT! The weasels love it most of all, of course, but I need to make those draft horses to pull it because it is pretty big!

I also purchased a little covered wagon at that same flea market that it is right size for my critter! You'll just have to wait for pictures of it--I just couldn't hold back the cannon pictures, though!

Go to my shop and check it out! And, if you have purchased anything already, don't forget to leave feedback on the site and don't forget to contact me directly and leave me feedback about how I can make my products better! Thank-you!