other folks interests besides dogs...

I'm a raging thespian...[]...my SO and & I are in rehearsal right now for a community theatre production of The Crucible, and I'm a Theatre Ed. major.

I also like organizing calendars...I know, it's weird...only calendars, I can't really organize anything else.

I like school. Wish I could be in it forever...part of the reason I'm a Theatre Ed major. []

I also read. Right now I'm reading "How to Build a Skydeck" by David Bradley. I know it sounds like a Home Depot manual, but it's actually a sci-fi story.

And now...I'm off to pick up some Schmee photos at Walgreens!

I do counted cross stitch and embroidery mostly.

I started playing guitar in October of 1974. I taught myself how to play and how to read music. Later, in high school, I took a class in music theory just to have an easy class. I've never had a chance to play for money but I have "jammed" with others. Two New Year Eve's ago, at a party, a local blues saxophonist of some reknown  and I came up with stuff on the spot, never having met before. We came up with the only version I know of of Lynrd Skynrd's "Freebird" with a sax playing the solos. Poor boy just about wore himself out. I started seriously working on my voice in 1987. I am a tenor with a bit of an edge into castrati. I've done everything from opera to rock opera to hard rock and heavy metal. I taught myself how to play classical guitar by transcribing manuscripts from the 18th and 19th century into tab form, finding the easiest way for me to play. My favorites were Corelli and Damas-Tarrega.

Ooh I have far, far, FAR too many hobbies.  Don't have time for them all [:-]

Besides dogs I like:

-RATS - I've got 3 pet rats and love them to pieces...I'm as obsessive about rat care/loving/wonderfulness as I am with dogs.  I consider them equal in wonderfulness as pets.

-Art - I love drawing and photography, and do both continuiously, sometimes to the point of obsession.  I draw continuously during all my college classes, and am always working on pet portraits at home - a business I've been in since I was in 8th grade.  I only draw animals though, unless I'm forced to draw something else.  I have no real desire to draw anything else []   I take photos of my pets obsessively and am dying to get a more serious camera (digital SLR) to get the quality of shots I want to get.

-Dead animals.  Yeah, you read that right []  I collect anything dead and one can often spot me lurking on the side of a road, sheepishly trying to drag some poor deceased creature from the pavement without being seen.  I tan furs, I clean skulls, collect skeletons, and at some point will get started in taxidermy when I get all the supplies/find the time.  Most people cannot fathom how I can adore animals and keep so many pets and yet adorne my walls with the furs of so many unfortunate animals who met their demise at the wheels of a car...and sometimes it's not even worth explaining to people that I do it because I love them...a lot of people just can't understand it.  To me, collecting an animal's remains is not an insult because I do it with the utmost respect.  I do it because I think they are beautiful and there's nothing more amazing to me than relishing in their details...the ticked fur of a coyote, the small river-like creases barely visible across the top of a young fox's skull...  Pure art of nature.  I do believe, however, that to kill an animal simply for material purposes is quite wrong and a waste of life.  I am not against the killing of animals for a need, to eat for example, because that is nature's way. But IF one must kill to survive, one must do it with the utmost respect because these animals' lives are no less than our own.  Collecting roadkill, for me, is simply putting to use that which would simply go to waste anyway cooking on the pavement.  And to me, collecting and cherishing forever a part of an animal is a lot less degrading than letting it lie there in the road, being hit again and again by each car that passes.  I have a large collection today of skulls and pelts, most of which I have cleaned myself and preserved myself.

-Reading - I love reading...always have.  Haven't had the time lately, which is depressing as ever...  I just started the last Potter last night and am almost halfway done with it though (mostly because my internet was down ALL DAY today *gasp*).

-Warhammer - Yeah, I admit it, I'm a total geek sometimes []  Warhammer is a game that consists of collecting an army of miniatures and waging war against another person's army.  I like it because 1) I get to collect and paint hundreds of little models which plays into the artistic aspect of my mind, and 2) the particular miniatures I collect are models of rat-men named Skaven...and well...I just love rats []

-Biking - I love biking... and try to do it frequently but I don't always have the time.  I love biking trails though...

-Music - Large fan of many different kinds...try to listen to it whenever I can, mostly when I'm drawing/on the computer.

-Collecting...things - I collect...a lot.  From dead animals to glass animals to anything dog or rat related to dog-related books...I'm a regular ol' packrat [:-]

And I have a lot of other stuff I like to do...but those are the big things.  Unfortunately, the majority of them are absurdly expensive.  Between taking care of the dogs and rats (neither are cheap in the slightest), buying art supplies, taxidermy supplies and chemicals, books, and Warhammer models and paints (ridiculously expensive)...combined with not having a full-time job other than my pet portraiting...  bleh.

Combined with the fact that I'm a college student...I never have time to do anything []

*Horseback riding competitively - specifically dressage and hunter/jumper. I've been doing this for...about eleven years now and when I tried to take a break from college, I nearly had a meltdown.

*Working at the shelter - I obviously have a passion for animal welfare but my job takes over alot of my life. More than it should, most likely, but I like to feel like I've made a difference.

*Photography - I don't have the money for nice equipment but I do like taking photos of animals/nature in particular and I do photos of the shelter dogs.

*Writing - not often, but when the mood strikes me, I can really go to town. I do plan on writing a book based on my experiences as an animal shelter worker, with all of the stories and interesting situations that I find myself in on a regular basis.

*Running - well, I used to enjoy running before I tore my ACL. Now I enjoy a long walk or slow jog on a nice cool night.

*I do love reading a good book - even something instructional, like "Control Unleashed" or "The Other End of the Leash". I think it is more the allure of sitting down for awhile and relaxing rather than running around like I do for the rest of the day.

I *love* photography.

I really enjoy gardening, though it is a new hobby.

I love to read, though, admittedly, I haven't been doing enough of it.

I am a student, and may be for much of my life. Currently studying multicultural education at the graduate level.

I also really love crafting. I make candleholders (they are my specialty and quite pretty, I must say), but I also enjoy making envelopes, neckalces, gift wrapping, etc.

ETA: I also have an internet addiction that cuts into most of those hobbies!

yeah, i'm into crafting as well. one of my favorite things is making jewelery. i make earrings, necklaces and bracelets, but my specialty is earrings. my friends know as birthday gifts or christmas gifts, they are bound to get a new pair of earrings.
 
i also like sewing stuff. i've made some stuff for the dogs (mostly because they don't care to wear the experimental stuff i make). i recently found this AWESOME market that sells anything from fabrics, nylons, beads, metal loops, clamps ect, so i am actually thinking of going there and trying to find some stuff to make some nice leashes and collars for the dogs...

just a follow up...
 
i've been known to do these sorts of things:
 
 
 
 

For me reading is like breathing - I can't get through a day without it.
 
I also love movies as long as it isn't a movie made from a book I've read because I will probably hate it.
I love being on the water - canoing, kayaking, swimming or just sitting on the dock and spitting cherry pits into the water.
I adore "having coffee" with friends and have practised endurance in this field.
Road trips and camping are a favourite way to spend a vacation.
 
I'm not very crafty but I do enjoy some scrapbooking.

i love camping & backpacking - plan to get our new dogs going on some longer ones (high sierra) next year once the new pup's into adulthood

i love camping & backpacking - plan to get our new dogs going on some longer ones (high sierra) next year once the new pup's into adulthood

 
what part of the Sierra's?  I have a couple recommendations if you haven't been to them before.   

southern sierras
 
been all over that stretch of terrain from yosemite southward.
howzabout you?

southern sierras

been all over that stretch of terrain from yosemite southward.
howzabout you?

 
We have done a decent amount of camping in the eastern Sierra#%92s around Mt. Whitney, lone pine and Independence.  There are some incredible campgrounds in those areas with stellar day hikes to the most gorgeous “glacier blue” string of lakes.  We have thought often about packing in to a couple of these areas, but our timing just was never right to do so. SOME DAY though we plan to! []

I love reading, mysteries and psychological thrillers mostly, cooking, baking and a lot of gardening.
 
The things that take up a lot of my time, though, are my volunteer jobs.  I'm a volunteer English tutor and have 3 students right now - 2 are adult literacy and 1 is ESL (English as a second language).  Since I also really love horses, I volunteer with a group that gives horseback riding lessons to kids with mental, physical or emotional disabilities.  I get to walk and groom the horses and meet some really amazing kids, most of whom are transformed when they're on horseback.

yep - nice areas

this one's up out of independance - i always get these 2 lakes mixed up - it is sunrise at either gilbert or flower lake:




i often find myself way up in the high contry tho...