We have a few horses, a yak, a couple of dogs, some fish in
the ponds, lots of chickens, Ancona ducks, some pigeons, and
some cats. Our cats are all rescued cats. At the moment, the
head count is 20. They are all spayed and neutered, of course.
And they do all have names (we were asked about that once).
They even have their very own Pet-Paws! Some of my chickens
do too. We practice "coyote curfew" with our cats.
At dusk, when the coyotes start to howl, we call our kitties
in and lock their cat-door for the night. In the morning, their
cat-door is unlocked and they are free to come and go as they
please. You can read the stories about our cats here: www.starsunmoon.com
I have always followed our dreams. When I was 8 years old I
announced to my Mother and Father that I was going to ride horseback
across the United States (I also told them that I was going
to rope a wild zebra in Africa, but that hasn't happened yet).
Thirteen years later, I left New Hampshire on my horse and rode
for 3-1/2 years through 23 states to Washington. You can read
about my horseback journey here: www.starsunmoon.com
I do my
best and make use of the entrepreneurial spririt within me.
I follow my dreams and I follow my heart. And I am happy.
I also
sell Egyptian Walking Onions: www.egyptianwalkingonion.com
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Why
do we make Pet-Paws?
I
went to Washington State University to become a veterinarian.
While in college I indulged in sculpture classes in between my
heavy load of science classes. Going to sculpture class was a
joy. I loved working the clay with my hands and sculpting the
fine details in wax. It took my mind away from all that memory
cramming that goes with synthetic learning. To witness an idea
in my mind manifest itself through my own hands into a crude clay
form and then into a finely detailed wax form, and ultimately
into a heavy, permanent bronze sculpture, completely changed me.
You could say it was a paradigm shift. I went through a sort of
metamorphosis. It was ok that I never made it into vet school.
I thought that was my key to living a life with animals and helping
animals, but I was already living with animals and helping them.
After I got my BS degree in Zoology I was done with school and
I went on to get jobs (one was even based on my degree!). But
I never stopped thinking about sculpting and that molten metal
pouring like water into my mold. I knew I would be building my
own backyard foundry someday, there was no question about it.
I thought about the things I would make and turn into bronze.
Over
the years we have shared our lives with many special
cats
and dogs, and many of them have passed. I was always drawn to
their paws. Zuzu, my beautiful Huskey/Wolf always slapped her
paw into my hand when I asked her to "give me skin."
I have always held my cats' paws and kissed them (some cats of
course didn't feel the same as I did about this). I thought how
great it would be to have their paws permanently in bronze. I
went about getting paw impressions from all the cats and dogs,
and even some of the cows, chickens, and pigeons. There was a
slight learning curve as to what made the best impression material
and just how do you go about getting a paw impression from a cat.
It was actually pretty easy (mush easier than giving a pill to
a cat), and the cats actually enjoyed it because they got to have
their favorite treats. The dogs didn't really care one way or
another, they were just happy that I was holding their paw. I
poured wax into all the impressions and wound up with little wax
"sculptures" of all the paws. I still didn't have a
foundry, but I had the paws!
Our first
foundry was a waste oil burner that we built ourselves. It was
unpredictable, dirty, and hard to get fired up. But we did get
bronze to melt in it and we poured our first Pet-Paws. I was elated!
I carried my little kitty-cat Pet-Paws around with me everywhere.
It was sad to make the Pet-Paws from the cats that had passed
on, but I was so glad to have them. I could hold their little
paws in my hand once again. It doesn't bring them back, but it's
something physical and permanent that was made from them that
I will have always. Every so often I will get a new impression
from one of our cats or dogs (or chickens) and make another Pet-Paw,
maybe this time it will be in brass, or aluminum. I love having
Pet-Paws from all my animals so much. If it brings me so much
joy, then I thought that other people would love to have them
made from their pets as well. So I created this website.
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