Welcome to my first post

I have finally decided to start a blog, and hope you will stop by often to enjoy what I have to say. This is my chance to hone my writing skills, and I hope your chance to learn from and enjoy my stories. Here are some subjects you will hear about in the coming weeks:

• My artwork: Pet portraits, which encompasses paintings, drawings, logos, t-shirt designs, and trophy packages for dog shows. I also paint subjects other than pets from time to time, and will share those with you here.

• Pet sitting and pet care: I may start a separate blog for my pet sitting business, but here I will concentrate on the fun side, not the business side of caring for pets.

• My writing: Although I have been a writer throughout my career, only recently have I returned to focusing on this aspect in a big way. Watch for my first book, Your Happy Healthy Pet: Basset Hound, which will be published by Howell Books in November, 2008. More about that later!

• My pets: Bonnie, a sheltie, is the little cutie you see at the top of this page. She came from a puppy mill in Texas, and I adopted her from Southland Sheltie Rescue almost four years ago with Lily, her littermate, or maybe her mom. A blog is a good excuse to write about my own animals and my experiences with them. And there have been a LOT of them over the years. More about that later too.

• The bigger picture: There is more going on in the world of animals than just my little universe, and occasionally I will address a topic with an editorial opinion that i hope will get you thinking, and taking action on behalf of our animal friends.

I'm looking forward to your comments!