Fun Happenings at the Ranch

Thanks to everyone who sent well wishes for Moxie, our little Valentine of a foster dog. This weekend, she went to stay with a family that hopes that they'll be able to adopt her. They're trying to see how she transitions with their two dogs but we have fingers crossed that it will work out. And yes, I cried like a goon when she left. In fact, the entire time that the foster was filling out the seven pages of the adoption application, I was a wreck with tears rolling down my face. I imagine that the foster was ready to go running out of my house. Talk about awkward! Yes, I get attached fast.

We got some fun news this week when we found out that a photo that the Mister and I did got chosen as an honorable mention in a contest on the NPR show "Studio 360". The theme of the contest was "Are We Alone in The Universe?" and I knew that I had just the photo in my archives to submit.



That's me and my mannequin boy Jack wearing tinfoil hats and staring into the landing lights of an actual flying saucer. Okay, not really - we're staring into the flood lights on the side of my house but still...spooky.

I'm a big fan of NPR and "Studio 360" so I was super giddy when I found out that we'd been chosen as a favorite.  Not since Honey Boo Boo recently liked a photo that I posted on her Facebook page have I been so thrilled. (Some of the other Boo Boos liked it too but of course, I was gunning for approval from the main Boo Boo!) Somehow, the NPR approval seems much classier though.

Here is what Michele Siegel from NPR said about our photo:

"This one immediately reminded me of a Gregory Crewdson photo. (Crewdson shoots painstakingly art-directed scenes that look like stills from a magic realist movie.) With the faint shadowy trees in the background and a harsh spooky glow from above, it's tempting to write the image off as too Close Encounters-influenced. But take a closer look at the figures. The child is actually a child-sized mannequin with a creepy and ecstatically happy clown face. The pair might be looking up to the glowing night sky at a sign of extraterrestrial life, but the non-human mannequin also reminds the viewer that here on earth there's often something other-worldly going on too."

It made me laugh that Michele said that Jack has "a creepy and ecstatically happy clown face". That's my boy! He inherited his "face made for radio" from his Mom. I love any comparison to Gregory Crewdson's work as both the Mister and I are huge fans.

 I am constantly hatching ideas for photo shoots and then enlisting the Mister to be my photographer. We've done so many funny ones with Jack. The flying saucer photo shoot was one of my favorites ever because we live really close to our next door neighbor and I couldn't help but wonder what he'd think if he looked out of his window and saw the Mister and me with a screaming mannequin boy and tinfoil hats, staring up into the flood lights in the middle of the night.

Here is one of my favorite outtakes:

We figure that it will only be a matter of time before Hollywood comes calling..

But we'll be prepared! We're getting Jack's face ready for all of those close-ups and I am studying the great novels so that I'll be ready to write movie scripts. I'm sure that Hollywood will ask me to do so.  It will only make sense for it to happen that way. 
Until next time, x's and o's, Eartha