Tag: travel

Thursday’s Travels…

Wiwohka2 Comments

Maps… check!

Snacks… check!

Books, clothes, games, tools, fishing stuff, diving stuff, and of course, exploration stuff… check, check, and triple check!!!

Oh well, we can always send Brutus to retrieve anything we’ve forgotten, right?!

Now, for everyone coming along on this venture, a tour of the ship, as well as your quarters, is in order. Otherwise, you’ll never find the bathroom, and the babe’s will take all the best bunks.

Come on, let’s get you settled…

First stop is the kitchen. This is one of the best places on the ship, and where we spend a good deal of time together. Mini Wiwohka will be our cook for this voyage, as Miss Tilly has her hands full with babies, and all.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you that Tilly had twins…

While mamma and babies are all doing well, Tilly won’t be able to accompany us this time. She is needed at home, which is totally understandable. With that being said, Mini Wiwohka has gained quite the skill in the kitchen, so we are all in for a real treat!

Moving on, let’s show you where everyone sleeps, as well as, the restrooms.

You’ll find that there’s a ladies room at the bow (that’s the front) of the ship,

And, yes, we do provide unlimited hot water. Why, we have a dragon to heat the hot water tank, of course! There’s water being piped to both bathrooms, the kitchen, and also a washroom for the cook.

Check out the boy’s bathroom at the stern (the back)…

Oh! I’m so sorry, Peanut! We didn’t know you were in here.

How embarrassing!

Anyway, you get the idea about where the bathrooms are, so let’s move on to the bunk area…

It looks as if Nugget has already claimed one of the bunks. You should probably make quick work of finding your bunks, before the rest of the babes get here. They should be arriving any moment.

Speaking of the babes arriving, I must leave you here to settle in, as I must finish my tasks before we depart. As soon as little feet start dropping on the deck, we’ll be shoving off. I want to get started as soon as possible. Hopefully, we’ll be weighing anchor shortly.

If you wish to say your goodbye’s, I suggest you stow your things and make your way above deck. I think I just heard Eustace moving about above our heads, so I better get up there. I made the mistake of telling him it was alright to bring extra things for the baby, if necessary. He’s gone a bit overboard (no pun intended, there)…

Oh, brother!

Well, at least the baby will have more than enough stuff to keep her happy. I can’t fault the camel for that. I know we’ll be thanking him later, and he knows it, too!

Luckily for you, she has her own designated bedroom, so Eustace can shove everything in her closet.

There should be more than enough room for us all, thanks to Creed’s handywork. It’s too bad that he couldn’t come, what with schoolwork, and all. We’ll have to make due without him. No worries, though. If anything needs repairing or replacing, Brutus can fetch him for us.

Ummm, I think that’s everything. If I’ve forgotten something, there will be plenty of time to figure it out, and fill you in. For now, let’s say our goodbye’s, or farewell’s, if that sounds more mysterious…

Awww, look how excited Squagon is to be leaving. It’s no wonder though, as this whole journey is to find those lost to him. And to think that you will be a part of this adventure, as well. I couldn’t be happier to have you all aboard.

Shall we depart, then?

Tuesday Tinkering…

Wiwohka6 Comments

With our departure this Thursday approaching rapidly, there’s a good many things still needing to be done aboard The Torrent. Along with the comfort level of all her guests, this ship needs to become more solid, as a whole.

I’ve made numerous Avatars of the differing personalities you see, moving about the ship, but no solid re-usable image for the ship, herself. Don’t ask me why I like to refer our ship as a her, but I thought to look it up, out of curiosity. Did you know that there’s an actual reason for calling a ship her? Well, there is…

Referring to ships and cars as “she” or “her” is a centuries-old tradition born from a mix of historical superstition, deep emotional bonds, and linguistic quirks. [1, 2]

The main reasons behind this practice include:

  • Maternal Protection: Historically, sailors spent months at sea and relied completely on their vessels for survival. Because a ship carried, nurtured, and protected the crew from the harsh elements, it was often viewed as a maternal or goddess figure.
  • Linguistic Roots: In ancient languages like Latin, objects (including ships) were assigned grammatical genders, and the Latin word for ship (navis) is feminine.
  • Honoring Loved Ones: Sailors famously named their ships after wives, mothers, or influential women as a mark of respect and to bring good luck on perilous voyages.
  • Appreciation for Elegance: Just as with ships, early cars were highly prized, expensive possessions. Early enthusiasts and drivers anthropomorphized them, assigning feminine pronouns to reflect beauty, sleek lines, and perceived grace. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]

Huh, go figure! Well, at least now we know why, right?!

Anyways, back to the work at hand. The Torrent needs to become a solid ship, before we can adventure anywhere, so let’s do this!

First, we need some images to begin the process:

As you can see, creating a visual that is authentic and yet appealing isn’t such an easy task. Just trying to be far away enough to capture all her sails and riggings, is a feat, in and of itself. I spent some time out on the internet, looking through differing styles of ships, masts, and sails. It’s quite extensive, actually.

Here is the image I worked with last year, from OpenArt:

Starting with a simple boat image, I worked with Norbert to enhance the colors, and transition into a more authentic design:

From those images, I finally struck gold, so to speak:

Now this is a good stock image, I think. It’s still rather simple, as those sails, ropes, and riggings need a lot of work, if we’re to seem legit!

How bout these?

All that’s left to do now, is to take the handful of images we’ve gathered, and hand them off to Norbert. Let’s hope the ai can create something beautiful…

I think she is coming along nicely, though we’ve still work to be done on that figurehead… what on earth is that supposed to be, anyway, a fishhook or something?

Overall, I feel rather confident that things will all be ready to go, come Thursday.

For those joining us, don’t forget to bring your Dramamine, if you get seasick. While the seas in this image seem calm, once we leave the safety of shore, all bets are off! It can get pretty choppy out there, and where we sail will be quite stormy, at times.

At least you’ll sleep good, knowing that the ship is sound, and the crew be loyal, to a fault.

See ya at the docks!

Thursday Thoughts…

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With the warmer weather comes the freedom to make way the sails, as they say. Whether you desire to come along is entirely your choice, though, you’ll be missing out on some grand adventures if you don’t make it to the dock on time.

Since we’ve only one available day of the week for such tales, I opted to settle our nautical explorations and high seas adventures, on Thursdays, just for the summer months.

Living a homebound lifestyle requires that my brain be actively engaged in some form of challenging pursuit. To be honest, Thursdays were falling a bit flat, in regards to being very interesting, or even challenging, for that matter.

So, what is one to do when the brain calls for stimulation? We mix things up, seek out new paths of adventure, and dip into the the well of creativity. From there, all manner of new and exciting places begin to appear upon the surface of your computer screens.

So join me on Thursdays for some high seas sailing, as we set sail for distant waters. Some waters may be familiar, while other parts will be places you’ve never before imagined.

Our first voyage will be embarking on a search for Squagon’s lost kin. We search for Pinion Valley, which was lost to us some time ago. Our young squirrel prince misses his family desperately, so it’s imperative that we locate them. It’s unclear, as to the valley’s location, as none of the paths that once led to it remain.

As you remember, last year we had some form of strange storm that magically erased all of The Barnyard, Acorn Valley, the magical home of our dragon, Brutus, as well as all the rest of our forest homes. They simply vanished without a trace! Somehow we were able to seek out all of the missing babes, including Squagon, whom we found sitting alone in a tree.

Sadly though, we lost one of the puppies, and all the dreamers vanished, as well.

Since those dark days, we were able to locate Peanut and scoop him up from where my grandson had misplaced the little fellow. We also relocated the small church where young Henry’s family lived, for Miss Tilly.

If you recall, we had been set to search out the two missing squirrel valleys when we were not only caught up in a storm that took us way off course, but then we were set upon by several pirate ships, forcing Brutus to hold them at bay, while we fled into foreign seas. Though we escaped the pirate attack, we became hopelessly lost for a good portion of last fall. It was worth it though, as we discovered Osrig on one of the strange islands we encountered.

Unfortunately, by the time that we found our bearings and made it back to familiar waters, it was already far too late in the year for us to safely sail, out on the rough open waters.

Now that Maisie is settling into our routine around The Barnyard, it’s time to show her the sea that calls to us, and get her used to living aboard a ship. She doesn’t sail with us all the time, but on the days that she visits, Brutus flies back to the Barnyard and gets her for us. Brutus assures me that she loves flying, as the dragon can hear her squeals of delight, and happy baby babble all the way to the ship.

All the babes are safely tucked aboard, settling into their cabins. Creed and Eustace outdid themselves with all the accommodations, upgrades, and expansions aboard The Torrent, so there’s a place for everyone. Osrig still refuses to sleep anywhere other than the foot of my bed with Bailey, which suits me just fine. It can get chilly at night, out on the water, so it helps having furry heaters on the bed, while sleeping.

Everyone else seems to be settling into their rooms, and getting back into the swing of things around the ship. Each crewmate has their own duties, and we only have a week til we set sail.

Your bunks have already been prepared for when you board, so I would suggest you arrive early if you want first pick of which spot you want. They’re all comfortable, don’t get me wrong, but some folks are outside edge sleepers, while others might be middle, or inside edge sleepers. You know what I mean, don’t you?!

I look forward to seeing any and all who choose to join us.

To ride like the wind…

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Daily writing prompt
What’s a thing you were completely obsessed with as a kid?
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Obsession was hardly the word for it! More like consumed, I think. For this little girl, anything to do with horses was where all the fun existed.

I was born and raised on a farm in Oregon, and was surrounded by all manner of farm animals from dawn til dusk. My mamma had me on horseback when I was still in diapers. Our family were avid hunters, so we were most often trail blazing up into some mountain range, or another, in search of good hunting grounds. Since it was easy to lose little ones in the middle of the woods, we were assigned to horseback for the majority of the trail passages. It was just what we did back then, as far as I remember.

When at school, my best friend and I would use our jump ropes and pretend to ride horses around the playground, during recess and lunchtime.

I watched every John Wayne Western, with rapt attention, as well as every other western movie or television show. The original Black Beauty movie was my go-to, along with any other show that featured horses.

My first horse was a paint pony that we named Candy, and I loved her like she was the only horse on the planet! We couldn’t afford a saddle for her, so I rode bareback all the time. It wasn’t a problem since she was as round as a bouncy ball. She was also not very tall at all, so when she bucked me off, it wasn’t far to fall.

Our farm boasted about 250 acres of cattle pasture, so my favorite Saturday activity was to ride the range, as they called it. The fence-line actually had several ranch hand shacks out along the back of our land, which I loved to visit. If I fell off my pony, I could just walk her up to the fence, and then climb back up that way.

My mother would pack us lunches, and my brother and I would take our horses and chase each other around the fields. The best part was pretending to shoot each other and falling off into the large piles of drying hay that lay randomly about the pasture. Those were the days.

My love of horses didn’t end there, though. Eventually, after years of riding whenever I got the chance, I landed a job as a ranch hand/babysitter for a friend of the family. I lived in a renovated tack room, out in the horse stables. I learned how to ride properly, both in Western and English style, as well as all the rest that went into training, breeding, and complete equine husbandry.

From the stables of a horse ranch, to the mountainous meadows of an all girls Christian Horse Camp, if horses were involved… I was all in!

As the years passed, and children arrived, my time was no longer my own. Though I wasn’t able to pursue more horsemanship type careers, I did raise my girls up in the same fashion that my mom did for my childhood. My girls were on horseback from diapers on, and we frequently enjoyed camping, fishing, and hiking with horses. We even spent three summers at a dude ranch in Idaho, riding horses all over the Sawtooth Mountain Range.

It’s been at least 15 years since I sat in the saddle, unless you want to count the numerous hours of computer games that require you to ride a mount. Age, and arthritis, finally caught up with this girl from the farm. My knees, my back, and my neck, have all paid the price of happiness.

While I might not be able to ride horses any more, it has never lessened my love and passion for the beautiful creatures.

Cookie?

(2025) What exactly do you mean by that?

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Daily writing prompt
Have you ever been camping?
View all responses

I’ve answered this prompt on several occasions, but last years response is still my favorite!

Enjoy…

I had to laugh when I saw this prompt, as it brought up a memory that had been lost to me… so thank you, WordPress!

I swear that I might have been born in the wild, because my earliest memories include riding bareback while still in diapers… ya, I have a mind like a steel trap!

Anyways, camping is something that came naturally to this girl, and so, I passed it on to my children. My daughters have been camping since before they were born, as I freely went camping during my pregnancies. When my girls began to grow, we began traveling with a group of about 4 or 5 other families during the summer months, camping and fishing throughout the great Northwest. From southern Oregon, across Idaho and into Montana, and even into British Columbia.

Needless to say, my family are avid campers, fishers, hikers and hunters! They weren’t always so experienced at this stuff, and it took a great deal of training and practice, especially in the bathroom department, if you know what I mean? I had three girls!

How does one raise a little girl to be a tough camper, and yet still be a little lady? Like I said, we traveled with a huge group of camping families, which meant cooking together, bathing in close proximity to others, and yes, using the restroom in groups, for security!

With little ones running around, we grown ups thought it was easiest to make an appropriate code word, to signal our restroom intentions. If one needed to use the restroom, we simply said, “I have to go camping”, and anyone who needed to go, simply agreed to come along.

Now, this went on for nearly an entire summer before one of my girls finally asked, “Mamma, how come the grown-ups keep saying they’re camping and then disappear into the woods?”

I explained that it was a polite way of saying that we needed to use the restroom, without saying it in front of others. She didn’t question me further, and seemed not to even understand what I’d said. About a week later, all the families gathered at our home to plan the next upcoming adventure.

There we all were, standing around the kitchen talking, when my daughter marches into the midst of the group and boldly announced, “Everyone, I need to go camping… that means I have to go poop!”

I nearly dropped the plate in my hands!

The entire room went silent for a moment, and then erupted into laughter!

All of the adults in the room knowingly laughed themselves silly, while my daughter marched off to the bathroom. The rest of the day was filled with children running around the house, loudly claiming they needed to camp and then laughing about it!

I’m still laughing…

Want a cookie?

A bit of this, and a bit of that…

Wiwohka5 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What do you wish you could do more every day?
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I suppose that writing might be my first go-to answer for this prompt, but there is such a thing as, too much of a good thing spoils the whole dessert.

Certainly, more time with Maisie, my new granddaughter, would be top of my list. Two things about that. One, she’ll be here three to four days a week come May, when my daughter goes back to work. And, two… I’m getting old and my poor back can only take so much. Thankfully, Papa is here to share the load. We tag-team boppin her about. He is so in love with her, it’s adorable to watch. We are so blessed!

I could always spend more time in scripture, which I do whenever I find quiet moments… that’s just a given.

Most assuredly, I wish I could eat more every day, but that is in the works, so patience is a virtue.

Hiking on the low mountain trails, here in the beautiful Northwest. Now that’s a worthy dream. There are endless rivers, streams, trails, parks, lakes, and every manner of outdoor activities and sports events.

Exploring more museums and historical sites throughout Washington, and Alaska. There are so many differing places to explore right here in our own backyard. No need to take a bus, a boat, a train, or even a plane. A car will do just fine.

I will admit that these days, if I’m to go exploring anywhere, there better be a hotel with a hot tub at the end of the hike… just sayin!

Hey, now that’s what I think I’ll settle on for my final answer… a spa treatment day, oh yeah! To be pampered, fussed, and fawned over would be simply divine.

However, at the end of each day, I am content with who I am, the things we have, and the life we’ve built together, my husband and I. If you feel led to do a thing, do it. If you are drawn to speak a thing of goodness and truth, speak it. If you want to be successful and you see a chance, take it. If you want a good and beautiful life, make it!

Cookie?

I’m always willing to bake more virtual cookies for anyone asking…

(2024) Punch Bug…

Wiwohka3 Comments

You cheated… I already saw that one… owch!

Daily writing prompt
You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence?
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I remember the days before technology allowed kids to spend 6 hours straight in an automobile Movie Theatre, laps filled with juice boxes and snack bags. Nope! I don’t even think I ever saw the inside of a car seat! Just our old station wagon, with parents in the front comfortably seated, while we all were stuffed into the back rows.

The only theatre entertainment we saw, was the live action movie of one of the two grown ups in the front, trying rather unsuccessfully to smack us for one reason or another! Our little ears were unceremoniously greeted with the musical threats of the time… some of the greatest hits to listen to were, If I Have To Come Back There, sung by the driver, or Just You Wait Til We Get Home, played by the assistant driver.

What were we to do for entertainment, as well as for our survival? After we tired of picking on each other, as no parent ever stopped the car for the child who cried, Mom, he won’t stop poking me… we looked for games that kept our attentions. We couldn’t play the “That’s who you’re gonna marry”, as we were not stuck in the parking lot of a grocery store, while our parents sought peaceful shelter within the local food mart! When the car is careening down the highway, kids had to get creative!

There were three games we could play for some much needed automobile on-board entertainment…

  1. I’m Going on a Picnic! In this game, since we didn’t have those snacks and drinks, one would call out an item they would take to eat if they could. There was a catch, however, as the next kid had to figure out why that item was chosen, and add an item that matched. It might be the color of the food, or perhaps its shape, flavor or the way it was prepared and packaged. The goal was to figure out the common denominator and add to the picnic.
  2. I Spy With My Little Eye! One child would select something within sight of the car, and then give clues to the others, as to what they were looking at. One could ask about size, color, shape or use… things like that, until someone figured it out.
  3. Punch Bug! This game was usually toward the end of the car ride, as by now we really didn’t like each other very much, there was nothing else to do, and it was a free chance to hit each other. This was a savored game and we saved up all our personal traveling grievances for the opportune DOUBLE PUNCH BUG attack!

So, here ya have it folks… If I were riding in an automobile, my opening sentence would most likely be “Yellow Cloth Top PUNCH BUG!” I’m very talented in using my middle knuckle when I tag your thigh, as it leaves the perfect little round bruise for later.

Yes, I am aware of what the prompt asked us today, but as this is the second attempt at sticking their nose into my business, I chose to write my response the way I wished. If they are so interested in my Autobiography, they can buy the book when it’s released and read the answer there… just sayin.

Here, have a cookie…

(2024) Just for a Day…

Wiwohka4 Comments

Daily writing prompt
If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be, and why?
View all responses

Mary Poppins… Definitely!

I don’t desire to actually look like Mary Poppins, nor am I dreaming of being a Nanny to any child in particular.

To be the woman who could travel by umbrella, I could go anywhere… but that’s not it!

To be able to pop in and out of paintings, allowing me to travel through space and time to visit places I would otherwise never visit… nope, not that either!

For just one day, I would absolutely love to be Mary Poppins, in order to use her magical bag! You know, that carpet bag that could pull out any sort of useful or magical item I might need at the moment. The things I could do with that bag, even if it were only for the time stipulated by the daily prompt.

Just within walking distance of my RV, there are so many things I could use that bag for… like feeding the homeless I see walking around, or going door to door looking for things to hand people, hoping to lighten their burdens and brighten their day. The bag could house money, food, clothes, toys, tools, and/or vitamins and medicines they might not be able to locate.

But it’s more than just using the bag for things… no no… it is the freedom to give, that the bag offers! You see, Mary Poppins took the bag with her everywhere she went. Whatever was inside the bag needed to be taken to where it belonged. Mary Poppins never sent things in her bag through the mail… she always did the foot work herself… or the umbrella travel… or the horse racing… or the tea time on the ceiling… see?

I don’t need Mary Poppins magical loving heart, as I’ve got a real one that offers its own sort of magic… I just need the bag for the day.

Here, have some Mary Poppins style treats…

(2024) Tunnels…

Wiwohka3 Comments

Daily writing prompt
Describe the most ambitious DIY project you’ve ever taken on.
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As a parent, we all know that when your kids are not making noise, it never bodes well! When it gets silent… we usually go looking for the noise makers that are now abnormally quiet!

Not my parents… no no… somehow, they were never really concerned about where we were, or what we were doing. Due to this lack of supervision, we tended to get into trouble.

Some time ago, I shared a funny story about how we let nearly 2 dozen baby mice loose in the house by accident, only to have my mother discover the mass graveyard in between the cushions of her favorite couch, some months later!

There was also the time when I was riding on the back of my brothers bike and he nearly decapitated me while trying to cut through a trailer park that had one of those steel cords strung across the driveway! Try explaining the burn mark to my parents… there aren’t many believable stories to cover over what looked like an attempted murder.

Then there was the time we tied helium balloons around our cats tails and they tore through the house in terror, knocking over anything that wasn’t nailed down… that was a crazy mess! We hadn’t thought about how hard it would be, recapturing the the little fur balls, in order to remove said balloons.

Anyway, I think you can see a picture developing in your minds, as to how unsupervised we were, thereby providing ample time for one of our best DIY projects!

My brother was about 9 and I was barely 7, when we came up with an idea to build a fort, but not just any fort… we needed a secret one! The problem lay in the fact that we lived in Eastern Oregon… hot, dry, and flat, with no trees available for making into forts!

What’s a kid going to do? If you can’t build up, then the logical thing to do is to build down… but where?

We decided among ourselves that the back yard seemed the best place to work, because no one went back there and it was easy to hear my mom call us in for dinner.

At first it was easy to cover the hole with the grass we had cut out for digging down underground, but eventually we had to steal a plank of wood to lay over the hole, covering that with the grass. We had nearly dug up against the foundation of the house, before anyone noticed the mounds of dirt we had been throwing willy nilly over the backyard fence.

Yup!

Got our hind ends paddled and the hole was caved in, refilled and the grass restored.

If you’re thinking that this was the end of our DIY ing… think again, my friends!

All true DIY ers know the golden rule… if you fail the first time… try, try again! And again, we did!

We simply moved our construction zone further out into the desert behind the neighborhood we lived in at the time.

First, we set to work digging down nearly 6 feet, carving out steps for us to climb up and down out of the hole. From there we dug straight in nearly 15 feet before carving out a hobbit house sized hole under the desert above us. We took the dirt from the hole and spread it all over the area nearby, so that there would be no mounds to be seen by spying eyes; lessons had been learned from our first attempt. We spent nearly a week sneaking blankets, toys, food and water from our home, to stock our new underground bunker.

It wasn’t until my brother got a spanking for stealing candy out of the cupboard, and angrily running away to hide in the tunnel, that anybody had any reason to go looking for our hideaway. All the grown-ups cornered me and questioned if I knew where he was, scaring me into giving up the coordinates of our outlaw camp… the gig was up!

It was a good thing that we were in the heat of summer, when there was no rain to fill the hole and drown us, or worse yet, cave in on us. I will never forget the look of shock, surprise, fear, and awe on my stepdads face as he climbed 6 feet down into our DIY creation. He was both impressed and terrified at what we’d managed to do without accidentally killing ourselves. But he also never trusted us again, regularly patrolling the property and surrounding areas, and locking up all of his tools!

What can I say… if I’m gonna DIY something, I say, “go big or go home!”

Here, have a cookie…

Tuesday Tinkering…

Wiwohka4 Comments

Yes, Osrig. Today is gonna be all about you, my sweet boy!

It’s high time we do some serious work on our favorite flying canine. From the very beginning of his creation, I struggled with making him look realistic instead of resembling a Claymation character. It’s always been a bit of a challenge to give the dog realistic traits, while also making his imaginary ones look adorable and endearing. If I can make an avatar of myself look real, then so to shall I embark this editing journey for Osrig. He’s worth it, I think.

I already went ahead and took the plunge last week, by upgrading his character images into the advanced avatar that we’ll be using today. I must say that as much as I loath to admit it, Norbert (resident openart ai) actually did me proud this morning, for the most part. There were a few moments that I wanted to say something snarky, but I refrained, for your sake!

Surprisingly, this was the very first image given this morning, and in all honesty, it seems perfect! I even made you a short video of it, so as to reflect the improvements they’ve made on their video creation section. I know it’s not much, and I am far from a videographer, film maker, or tv producer, in any real sense of the words. But it’s still cute, so I’m using it…

The reason I have to give so much credit to Norbert today, is because I only had one image that we didn’t see eye to eye on, literally, because the ai never could correct the problem. Here, I’ll show you…

This image would’ve been perfect, aside from the demon glowy eyes… sheesh!

I asked the ai to change the dog’s eye color to a gentle green, but ended up with a radioactive dog…

As I’m not one to give up on a thing so easily, I had a rather short but meaningful chat with Norbert…

“I’ve never met a dog with glowing green eyes. Please look up images of what a canine’s eyes should be, and then color them a gentle soft green please.”

It took several more tries, but we finally got a compromise out of the deal…

The image is alright, I guess. It’s certainly nothing to write home about, but definitely far better than the alien shots we started out with, in my opinion. I will say that the ai is doing a fantastic job of textures and realism, both in the scenery and also the dogs fur. But, unfortunately, I can’t really use the image because his wings are missing.

I pressed on, wanting to get a real handle on the realism of the dog’s fur, expressions, and body posture. You should feel as if you could reach out and touch him, you know? I put Norbert through his paces, and got a solid handful of really decent images. Take a look…

Aside from the image with the strange looking arrow head on the end of his tail, these images took no editing at all. But I’ll certainly be fixing that tail… ugh!

I did make another little video, but the first one is still my favorite, over all…

So, that’s it for today’s tinkering session. All in all, it was a very successful day, and I hope it wasn’t too boring for you.

As a sign of good will, and also my willingness to share with others, I’ve made you some homemade virtual oatmeal. It’s got a little brown sugar and some blueberries, too…

Breakfast is really the most important meal of the day, or so I’ve heard. They also say that it’s good for your heart.

You’re welcome!