Annoying Pets (Pests?)

King Johnny does this funny thing: I'm crouched down, squatting to find something on the ground or using the only clear surface in the shop (yep, the floor), he comes over and forces his head under my arm. He then proceeds, one paw at a time, to stand on my supporting leg-to get as close to me as possible. I've never had such an affectionate dog. Hopefully, he'll never try and bite me as we seem to be head to head a lot.

He is one of the worst distractions in the studio: If I'm doing that artist thing of staring at a piece, he'll be at a right angle to the artwork, staring up at me. Truly disconcerting. I wish I could tell you that I'm able to ignore him-tain't so. He's what I remember some little kid calling his pooch: pesky pal.

Emptying the last of the Verona house at a fever pitch. I've been selling stuff on Ebay and using the towns Bulk Garbage Day to its fullest advantage. The same guys who were taking scrap metal from the basement said that they wanted the furniture and that's a load off my mind-just to drag the stuff out of the house was getting tiresome. There's still a lot of stuff coming out of the basement, but I can now see most of the walls of the house-believe me-that's quite an accomplishment.

Distracted by so many things these days, my sleeping patterns have been messed up and I'm getting a bit more acquainted with Old Man Insomnia. Sucks, but at least I feel as though the causes are transparent-lists of stuff to do and more lists of stuff to do. I'm surprised that I can actually function in the studio, but have to say that much of my time there has been more mechanical than exploratory. That's ok for now-much like the insomnia, I'm treating it as a temporary condition.

Made a lamp for the light show that Chris Giffin and I will curate out at the Zeek gallery, but I'm not 100% happy about the thing. It's one of those pieces that you know you could modify-you know it needs something, but time (and probably my compromised attention span) has not allowed for it.