Author: Kris Baker

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A New Shirt!


I got a new shirt!  The problem is that it has been so hot here, that I don’t need, or want, to wear a shirt…or anything else for that matter.  The temperatures have been over a hundred degrees and that makes my fur all hot and soggy.  It is a very yucky feeling!  Because of the heat, we haven’t gone out much.  Mr. Guy and The Lady have been busy getting things organized at home before they both start school in a week or two.  Hopefully we will have another adventure or two before they go back to school.  I will miss having them home with me all day, but I know they need to work.  That is how they earn money to buy me new shirts!

I really like this shirt.  I know that there is good in the world.  I meet good people all the time.  They are nice to me and make me happy.  I hope that I can make people smile and be happy too!

Hopefully it will cool off a little bit and I can get out and continue working on my 100 People Project.      Right now, though, I will be happy at home with Mr. Guy and The Lady.

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Digging

Today was a busy day for all of us. Since we came back from North Carolina, we have not done too many things.  The most exciting thing was going to see Avenue Q where I got to meet Nicky! 

Even though we haven’t gone places, The Lady and Mr. Guy seem to have been working on something though I was not too sure what it was. They have been talking to a lot of different people. Today I finally found out what is going on. Before I was adopted, they put a lot of time into remodeling the inside of our house. I did not realize how much they had done and how many changes they made. Apparently it was a completely different place.

Now they are ready to do work on the outside. When we had some serious plumbing work done earlier in the summer, the yard was all torn up. There is almost no grass left in the front yard. That is what got The Lady and Mr. Guy moving on remodeling the outside too. 

They talked to a man called a Landscape Architect. That is another thing I did not understand. But The Lady and Mr. Guy are teachers and they do not mind explaining things to this blue and orange furry monster. A Landscape Architect makes a plan for the whole yard. He figures out where all the plants and trees will go, what kind of grass to plant, and even builds sidewalks all to make the yard really pretty. The Landscape Architect that they called used to be a teacher. He and Mr. Guy worked at the same school a long time ago, but it took them awhile to recognize each other. 

Tomorrow someone is coming to clean up the yard. There are some trees that Mr. Guy says need to go away. Also we are getting a sprinkler system. I did not know what that is, but Mr. Guy told me it is a way to get water to the lawn without him having to run around with hoses and these little twirly things that spit water. That sounds like a good idea to me.

Even though there are people coming to work on the tress, there were things we needed to do before they come. We have some flowers called irises. They needed to be taken out of the ground because The Lady and Mr. Guy hope to save them to be replanted somewhere in the new yard. I saw them this year and they are very pretty. I am glad they are going to try to save them.

I got to help!.  Since I knew that I was going to be outside digging in the dirt, I put on my Dirt Shirt that Ms. Michele gave to me on one of our visits to Delaware.  That way I would not look dirty even if I was!

The first thing that we had to decide was which of the irises that we were going to dig up and save.  

There were lots of them and Mr. Guy said that there would not be room for all of them in the new yard.  We had to dig up only the irises that we wanted to keep,

Then they had to be trimmed, but I was not allowed to use the scissors so The Lady did most of that part. Finally they had to go in a box.



The box will go into a cool place until it is time to put them back into the ground. The last thing we had to do was throw away the parts that were cut off. 


While we were working the delivery man came! He had a Dirt Shirt on too!  At least it was brown like mine.  I don’t know why he needs a dirt shirt when he drives around in a truck all day. I was really excited because I like it when packages come to our house. Sometimes I even get surprises!   He gave us three boxes!  

One was for Mr. Guy. He got new shoes. One was for The Big Sister. She got shoes too. Boy these folks get lots of shoes!  I wonder why I never get new shoes. The last box was for The Lady. I thought she must have gotten new shoes too.  But nope; she didn’t.

The Lady let me open the box. 

Hmm…it was filled with funny plastic pillows.  


I tried to look grateful for the present, but these pillows seemed like they would be hot and sticky and make my fur all soggy.  

We usually have soft cloth pillows.  The Lady told me to keep looking in the box, that these were not pillows and they were not the surprise.  When I looked again, I saw our basket from Ms. Susan, the basket lady in North Carolina! I had forgotten that she was making us a basket! So this was a surprise for me. 


Ms. Susan was one of my 100 people project. I think today’s package surprised Mr. Guy and The Lady, too. They did not expect it to come so soon after we got home. 

So, we got all of our yard work done today and tomorrow I can stay inside where it is nice and cool and watch the professional tree guys cut down some of our trees and remove some bushes.  Maybe I will find a snack that I can put in our new basket!
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I Met A Star!

Tonight I got to go to the theater.  This time yesterday I had no idea what that meant, but now I do!  The Lady explained to me that we were going to her school to watch a musical.  I thought that you are supposed to listen to music, not watch it.  Then I realized that The Lady said musical.  She explained that a musical is when there are people called actors that are on a big thing called a stage and they tell a story through words and songs.  People, and little blue and orange furry monsters, sit in chairs and listen and watch.



Mr. Guy and The Lady took me to this particular show because it has puppets and monsters just like me in it.  It was called Avenue Q and was performed by the Brookhaven College Theater Department. 


The Lady teaches at Brookhaven College, but she teaches music, not theater.

There were lots of things in Avenue Q that I did not understand – things like finding your purpose, and wanting someone to date, and schadenfreude, and porn, but that was OK.   I did understand the parts about the two boys who love each other, those about monsters being teased and having their fur pulled, and the part about a special school for monsters.  Well, I sort of understand that last part.  I know about monsters and since I have spent so much time lately with teachers, I am beginning to understand what schools are all about.  I think that I might like to go to a Monstersori school like the one that Kate Monster started in Avenue Q.

Like I said, I went to this musical especially to see the puppets.  They were just like me!  It made me think that some day when I am a bigger monster that maybe I could be in a musical too.  Of course, I will first have to learn how to sing.  I don’t think that I want to be like Trekki Monster, though.  The characters in the show called him a pervert.  I asked Mr. Guy what that meant and he said that it was not a good thing.  I want to be a good monster.

While I was watching the show, I thought that it would be exciting to get to meet one of the puppets in person.  The Lady asked the director of Avenue Q if that might be possible.  She said “yes” and even said that I could have my picture taken with one of them!  I was one excited monster!

At the end of the show, I waited for the actor people to come out to the lobby where we were.  They have a special place called backstage where the audience people can’t go so we had to wait for them in the place where we were allowed to be.


And then it happened!  Nicky said that I could have my picture taken with him!  And not only that, I could have it taken on the stage!  


In the story, Nicky loves Rob, but it takes almost the whole show for Rob to realize that he loves Nicky.  By the end of the story, Rod and Nicky are both happy!  I think it is neat that Nicky and I both have blue fur!  He doesn’t have orange horns like me, but he does have an orange nose.  I think that those things make us a lot a like.

Nicky has a person to hold him and take care of him like Mr. Guy does me.  His name is Mr. Tony.


Mr. Tony is a friend of Mr. Guy and The Lady.

Even though there were lots of things in Avenue Q that I did not understand, I had a great time tonight.  It was fun to see monsters sing and dance on the stage.  I feel honored to have met my first star.  And, it is fascinating to think about the idea of one day being an actor just like Nicky.
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Monster Travels!

 

This is Ms. Megan.  She took care of us while we were at the cabin in Asheville.  I especially like her because she gave The Lady and Mr. Guy laundry soap to wash my shirts (and some of theirs too) so that I would be a clean monster as we travelled home.  I really liked staying at the cabins; there were all kinds of things for little blue and orange furry monsters to do.  Mr. Guy and The Lady seemed very happy there too.

Getting home to Dallas was another story…

We had to check out of our cabin at noon and our airplane did not leave until evening.  We decided to play a few games before we left. 


 The Lady has always liked to play skee ball.  She thought that I might like it too so she showed me how to play.  I liked the orange balls and the game was fun too.  After I practiced a few times, I asked Mr. Guy to play a game with me.


He did pretty well.  Then it was my turn.

I had some beginner’s luck.


I learned about being a good sport.  Even though my number was higher than Mr. Guy’s, he still played well and we both had fun.  And fun is what it is all about!  Next time, Mr. Guy’s number might be bigger than mine.  And that will be OK.  It is just a game.

We both played hard so we needed a little rest before our big travel day.


I sure like cuddling with Mr. Guy.  I’m glad that he did not get mad because my skee ball numbers were bigger than his.  Winning a game is not nearly as important as having someone to nap with in a hammock!  

After our rest, The Lady took one more picture of us before we left the cabins for good.


I hope we get to come back here again!

All of the game playing and picture taking made me hungry.  The Lady said that there was a place in North Carolina that she liked to go when she was in school here.  She told Mr. Guy that it was not the healthiest food, but it would bring back some silly memories for her so he said, “Let’s go.”  So, we went to Hardees for lunch.  The Lady said that she really liked their sausage biscuits, but it was lunchtime when we went so she could not get one.  she said that they also had pretty good hamburgers.

When we walked in the door, I saw this sign.


This was puzzling to a furry monster.  North Carolina is not the southwest. Texas is the southwest.  I like tacos, but I wasn’t so sure about these tacos.  Mr. Guy said you have to be careful about Mexican food when you are not really in the southwest.  We ordered hamburgers.  I decided that I could wait until I get back to Texas to eat tacos.


Even though it was early, after lunch we decided to head to the airport.  That was OK.  I like to sit in airports and watch the people, especially when they stop and talk to me.  We got to the airport and then the real adventure began…

Our first flight from Asheville to Charlotte was delayed by three hours.  That meant we would miss our next flight from Charlotte to Dallas.  Uh oh!  After a lot of pushing buttons on the computer, the airlines lady said that they would just call a driver to take us by van to Charlotte so that we would be there in time to leave for Dallas.  We sat and waited to see if anyone else needed to ride in the van with us.


Then the airplane lady said that they were wrong.  The plane to Charlotte was leaving only one hour late so now we could fly on it rather than ride in the van so she gave us a new ticket.  I felt bad for the van man who came and was waiting there to help people and then we didn’t need him.  Mr. Guy and I told him thank you for his willingness to help us.

After we got our new tickets, we went through the weird place where they make Mr. Guy put me in a bucket and go through the scary tunnel all by myself.  I don’t like that!  They take pictures of me, but they are not like the one’s that The Lady takes.  These pictures make me look black and white instead of blue and orange.  The Lady said that they are looking at my insides.  I don’t know why they are doing that!  I am always so happy when Mr. Guy picks me up at the other end of the tunnel!  Ms. Linda told me that there is light at the end of the tunnel.  So far, she is right!  But the airplane lady was wrong…now our plane was leaving another hour late!  I don’t know how to tell time, but that is not my job.  I think people who make airplane schedules should know how clocks and hours and schedules work!

They told us that we would still get to Charlotte in time to get to the plane home to Dallas.  Our plane left even later because it ran into some birds and they got tangled in the engines.  I did not want to hear anymore about that.  It sounded very yucky to me!  We finally got to Charlotte.  All of the people on the plane with us had to hurry to get to other planes.  We got to ride on one of the funny airport cars.  I didn’t know that they would take us for a ride.  Usually they just honk and nearly run us over!  Even with riding through the airport, we didn’t make it in time to catch our plane.  

Now we had to spend a night in a hotel.  I thought that would be fun, but The Lady said that it would not be because we did not have any PJ’s or clean clothes for the next day.  Uh oh!  Fortunately I had been a neat monster and hadn’t spilled anything on my shirt.  

We finally got to a hotel and went to sleep.  It was very late and I was very tired!  

Ms. Linda read on Facebook that we were going to be in Charlotte all day so she came and got us and we all went to lunch together.  That was fun and I was a happy monster that I got to see her again!  After lunch, she took us back to the airport.  We had a lot of time to sit and watch the people.


Mr. Guy helped me play games on his phone.


We played together so that we didn’t have to worry about each other’s numbers.


Then we watched more people.


And finally it was time to get on the plane and fly home.  I slept in Mr. Guy’s lap the whole way home. 

 I liked Asheville a lot, but I am a little tired of airports.  I have had a great adventure and met lots of really nice people on this trip!  But, I have to say, it is nice to be home in my very own monster bed!
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My 100 People Project – #16


Yesterday The Lady and Mr. Guy met one of The Lady’s picture taking friends, Ms. Sherry.  She is part of Capture Your 365, just like Ms. Peggy and Ms. Michele.  There sure are a lot of these people with cameras all over the place!  Ms. Sherry had to drive three hours just to see us.  That was very nice of her.  We all walked around Biltmore Village for a little while and then we had lunch at a Mexican restaurant  I guess Mr. Guy and The Lady have been away from Texas for too long and had to have some “home cooking.”

Ms. Sherry and The Lady talked about camera stuff and taking pictures.  They were saying things like aperture and zoom and f-stop and ISO and cropping and white balance.  I had no idea what they were talking about!  It is a good thing that I am a handsome little monster, more suited for in front of the camera than behind it!  Ms. Sherry was nice enough to be in front of the camera with me!  Thank you!

Oh, and by the way, she is another one of those teacher people.  Is everyone either a teacher person or a picture taker or both???

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The Blue Ridge Parkway

I did not get anything written yesterday because we had a big day and I was tired when we got back to our cabin. Now that I am nice and rested,  I want to tell you about my adventure yesterday. The Lady’s friend, Mr. Rusty came to visit. They went to college together at East Carolina University. Blue and orange furry monsters don’t go to school, so I was not sure what college really meant. The Lady said when humans are growing they go to school to learn stuff. I know The Lady and Mr. Guy both still go to school but now they teach school instead of learn stuff. So do Ms. Linda and Ms. Linda’s Guy! Mr. Rusty is a school librarian so he works in a school too!  He takes care of all the books and teaches the children to love those books! Wow, I guess I don’t need to go to school. I have all these teacher people around me to help me learn about all kinds of new things! 

Mr. Rusty said he would take us for a ride to see part of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I didn’t know what that was, but since it was called the “Blue” Ridge Parkway, I was sure that I would like it.. He told me that it is a very long road that goes through North Carolina and into another state called Virginia. We were only going to see a little of it. Mr. Rusty promised me that I  would see real mountains! They are the Blue Ridge Mountains. That seemed like a good name to me. I had already seen some mountains from far away, but Mr. Rusty said we would go up into the mountains and maybe I would get to stand on a mountain!

We left in the morning after breakfast. Mr. Rusty drove. He has lived in North Carolina his whole life, so that seemed like a good idea since he probably knew where he was going. We went a little way from our cabin and then got on the parkway. At first there were lots of trees. I have never seen so many trees in one place! Mr. Rusty said as we went further, there would be places along the way where we could look at the mountains as well as the trees.

We drove a little more and then stopped.  Then I saw them! Great big mountains.  


Wow!  I was confused about one thing though.  There were signs everywhere that talked about how many feet the mountains had.  


Mountains have feet??  The Lady explained that these were not feet to walk on, but were a way to tell how tall the mountains are.  She told me that we could figure out how many feet tall I am too, but we need something to measure me.  That will have to wait until we get home to Dallas.

Anyway, the further we went, the more feet the mountains grew.  It is a good thing that they don’t need socks and shoes for all of their feet!  



The mountain with the most number of feet was Mt. Mitchell. It has 6684 feet and is the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi River.  We drove as far as we could…


…and then we walked the rest of the way to the very top.  Mr. Rusty and The Lady went all the way to the very top.  Mr. Guy stopped and said he could not make it that far. The Lady and Mr. Rusty took me to the top and took pictures.   Since Mr. Rusty is my new friend,  I figured the picture of us at the summit would be a good picture of him for my project.  


They were headed back down when Mr. Guy suddenly appeared.  

I also had my picture taken with Mr. Guy because, well, I always have my picture taken with Mr. Guy.  


He always carries me and holds me tight.  He makes me feel safe.




After all the walking, we were very hungry.  On the way down the mountain, we stopped at a place for lunch! The folks there were really nice. Greg took our order and brought us our food.  He had a great smile and seemed like such a happy person.  It makes me happy to see happy people.  He wanted to know all about me.  I then asked him if he would have his picture taken with me and become part of my 100 People Project.  He was excited about that!  


The Lady took my picture with him and then his friend Emily came over too.  She also wanted to be in the picture.  


She has a pretty smile too.  Greg and Emily look like they have fun working together and feeding all of the hungry people. So, I added two people to my project at lunch!

After we ate, Mr. Guy took me outside for a different look at the mountains, but all I saw was clouds.  We were sitting in the clouds!!


I also got another new shirt, one from Mt. Mitchell! YAY!!!  I was a very happy blue and orange furry monster.

After lunch we drove some more and saw some more mountains, but they didn’t have as many feet.  





We were headed to Linville Falls.   This is a place where water falls out of the rocks.  We had to hike to the place to see this falling water.  Mr. Guy went part of the way and then he waited while Mr. Rusty and The Lady went to the top of the falls.  It was kind of scary being up so high.  I found out that Mr. Rusty and The Lady were kind of scared up there too!    The Lady carried me and tried to take a picture of me and the falls.  It didn’t work so well.  I was smiling, but she was nervous.


We were all getting tired by the time we left the falls.  We took a different road, a faster one back to our cabin.  Mr. Rusty grilled some steaks for dinner and The Lady made some vegetables.  And then we all went to bed.  Well, I went to bed; I don’t really know what all of the grown-ups did.  I did get to sleep in my new shirt!


That’s all!
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Friends, Roomies, and Crafts(wo)men

So what have I learned lately?  Vacations are fun!  I have been new places, seen new things, and met new people.  All of this has been very exciting for a little blue and orange furry monster!

After our day of painting on Saturday, we had a “cabin day” on Sunday.  We stayed at home and slept a little later, had a relaxed breakfast on the deck, read, colored, played games, went for a walk, and just enjoyed the mountain air.  I thought that I might be a bored little monster, but nope; it was a very peaceful and refreshing day.

Yesterday, The Lady’s college roommate and her husband came to spend the night with us.  The Lady and Ms. Linda have been friends for 36 years.  That is more years than I have monster toes and fingers so it must be a very, very long time!  They had lots to talk about.  Mr. Guy and Ms. Linda’s Guy teach the same stuff to middle school monsters kids, so they had a lot to talk about too.  Ms. Linda had told The Lady that she was excited to meet me.  That made me smile.   The Lady has some really nice friends!

Last night,  Ms. Linda’s Guy went down to the pond to throw a string in the water.  He said that there were critters in the water and that they would bite his string and then he would use the stick that the string was attached to to pull them out of the water.

Ms. Linda’s Guy tried to teach me how to play with the stick and string, but I was not very good at it, so we all just sat and watched while he kept throwing the string in the pond.  I never saw any critters bite it.  That seemed to be okay with him.  We all enjoyed our evening down by the pond.

This morning there was lots of rain and thunder.  We were going to go for a long ride to see the mountains, but plans were changed because of the stormy weather.   We went to the Folk Art Center instead.  I saw lots of things that people made with their hands – furniture, quilts, musical instruments, jewelry, toys, clothing, pottery, all kinds of stuff.  The artists there were very talented.

I met two of the artists, Susan and Debbie.  Debbie makes serigraphs and linoprints.  Her works are very pretty.  Debbie let me hold one of the brushes that she uses for her work.  She also agreed to be part of my 100 People Project.

The Lady and Mr. Guy bought two if her prints.  This one is my favorite because it has lots of blue!

If you would like to see more of Debbie’s beautiful works of art, visit her website.

I also got to talk to Susan.  Susan is a basket weaver.  She had a very cool backpack basket that would have been perfect for Mr. Guy to carry this blue and orange furry monster around, but Mr. Guy and The Lady would not buy it for me.  That made me a little sad, but then I decided that I like it when people carry me in their arms.  Ms. Linda carried me a lot today.  Anyway, Mr. Guy and The Lady decided that they would buy a different basket, but when they went back to get it, it was gone.  Someone else bought it.  The Lady was disappointed, but Susan said that she would make one special for The Lady.  and maybe it could even have some blue in it.  It is very nice of Susan to make a special basket for us.  Once she is done, she will mail it to us in Texas.  A package in the mail!  I like to get packages in the mail.  I promise that I will show you our basket when it gets to Texas.

Susan also had her picture taken with me!

Ms. Linda’s Guy drove us today along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  That was nice of him.  It gave Mr. Guy and The Lady a chance to just look out the windows.  We stopped along the way.  I had to have a picture with Ms. Linda and her Guy.  They may be old friends of The Lady, but they are new friends of me.

I have been a little confused about how to number the people in my project when there are two people in one photo.  The Lady and I have talked about this.  She told me that when people get married, there is something said like “two shall become one.”  It sounds strange to me, but that is what The Lady said and I trust her.  So, I decided that Ms. Linda and her Guy are just one number.  All of this is so confusing for a little monster!  The Lady told me that I just have to trust the process.  I don’t really know what that means, but I said “OK” just to make her feel good.

It was a busy day for me in front of the camera.  Thank you to all of my new friends for helping me with my 100 People Project!

Oh, and Mr. Guy, Ms. Linda, and The Lady worked hard to find me an Asheville T-shirt today while we were out.  It is hard to find orange shirts here so I am getting some new colors.

I am looking forward to more adventures in the next couple of days!

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Blueper B and The Paint Bug

Most days in the life of my family are about me seeing or learning something new, but today, it was about Mr. Guy trying something new.  It was fun for me to watch him try something he had never done before.  He has done lots of lots of things in his life, but he has never painted a picture before.

The Lady likes to do all kinds of creative things.  She plays and writes music; she knits; she writes; and of course, she takes pictures.  The Mr. Guy hasn’t ever found anything creative that he likes to do.  He says that he is not a creative person.  The Lady and I have tried to tell him that everybody is a creative person; he just has to find his means of expression.  I was surprised when Mr. Guy and The Lady said that we were going to go paint today.  Of all the creative things that Mr. Guy might have chosen to explore, painting is not the one that I thought that he would have chosen.  What do I know?  I’m just a little blue and orange furry monster.

After lunch, off we went to a place called the Bier Garden.  Mixing beer and painting didn’t sound like a good thing to me, but again, what do I know?  Mr. Guy said that the beer might help to get his creative juices flowing.

A nice girl named Abbi was the teacher for the class.  I don’t think she knew what she was getting into having Mr. Guy in her class.  She gave Mr. Guy and The Lady some paint and an empty piece of white board.

She said it was called a canvas and was made especially for artists to paint on.  Mr. Guy kind of stared at it like he was really scared.

I told him it would be OK.  He was a grown up and he could paint a pretty picture if he tried and if he didn’t drink too much beer.  (I have never had beer because I am too little, but The Lady says that if you have too much that it can make you feel funny and maybe say or do silly things.)

Before they started, Mr. Guy kept looking at his phone.

 I think maybe he was going to call 911 to come rescue him.  I did not get to paint a picture.  That was OK.  I didn’t want to get paint in my fur.  But, I did get to do something new today too.  The Lady let me use her camera to take pictures of them painting.  Unfortunately, I only took pictures of Mr. Guy because without photos, no one would ever believe that he painted.

Finally they got started working on their paintings.  Mr. Guy seemed to relax a little.  He did a great job painting the background of his picture.  Then it came time to paint a background layer of trees.  Mr. Guy didn’t like that part too much.  He kept saying that what he was painting did not look like trees.  The Lady told him that they were not really supposed to look like trees; they were just kind of texture in the background.  They would give his painting depth.  That was the wrong thing to say because Mr. Guy says that he can’t see depth in pictures.  He still had 911 ready to push on his phone, but he didn’t.  He kept painting…and drinking his beer.

He finished both.  The Lady and I were proud of him for finishing his painting.  He didn’t cry or say any bad words.  This was thanks to his teacher, Abbi.  She did a great job of talking everyone through how to paint a pretty picture.  Abbi was kind, cheerful, and patient.  She is very good at her job!  She is The Paint Bug. 

She does classes like the one we went to today at different places, but not in Texas so if Mr. Guy wants to keep painting, he will have to find a new teacher. Abi also paints custom “critter portraits,” paintings of people’s furry monsters pets.  Maybe Mr. Guy would like her to paint a picture of me; I am not a pet, but I am a critter. 🙂  You can see all the cool stuff that Abbi does by visiting her website: www.paint-bug.com.

The coolest thing that Abbi did, though, was to have her picture taken with me!  I am posting it here, but her friend also took one of us and posted it on her website!  That is exciting!  Abbi is 9 of 100 in my project

I am happy that we all got to try something new today.  I think that I may have played with too many of the buttons on The Lady’s camera.   I hope that she will teach me how to take some pretty photos rather than blurry ones.  Oh well…

Oh, and one more thing…

My friend Stobbsie from Scotland asked to see a picture of my new T-shirt from the Biltmore; you know, the pink one.  Here I am proudly wearing pink!

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The Biltmore Part 2 and People #6-#8 of My 100 People Project

Today was a very interesting day. The Lady and Mr. Guy helped me put on my special fancy clothes, at least that’s what they called them. Mr. Guy helped with a funny shirt that had these pointy things that he called a collar.    I thought collars were something that you used to decorate a dog.And then came the vest. The Lady tied a blue and orange bow tie and put that around my neck too. I wasn’t sure that I was going to be able to breathe, but Mr. Guy said that he used to wear a bow tie to work and he was still here and breathing so he thought that I would be just fine.  We were going somewhere special. I thought it might have to do with The Lady and Mr. Guy’s  anniversary. I knew it was today. But I was a little surprised because we were supposed to be going to get my new shirt, too. Why did I need my fancy clothes when I knew that I was going to get a new comfortable shirt?

We went to McDonald’s for breakfast. This was the big surprise. Mr. Guy had read that this MacDonald’s was special. It was made to look like the Biltmore. All of the people who work there were supposed to be all dressed up, just like they were at the Biltmore.  Mr. Guy thought that if I went in all dressed up too, we could get some fun pictures.  But, no one was dressed up! All of the workers had on comfy shirts, like I wished that I did.  The MacDonald’s was really nice. There was even a piano that played itself. 

We have a piano at home that The Lady plays. This piano did not seem to be much fun since it did not need a person to play it.  Music is for people and blue and orange furry monsters to enjoy making and hearing.

I think Mr. Guy was disappointed.  We just ate breakfast and left.  

The Lady said that I looked dapper in my fancy clothes.  I think that means something nice.

We went back to the Biltmore. I didn’t think there could be more to see there. We spent all day yesterday looking. and there was more!  A lot more!  There are big gardens full of flowers, and shrubs, and bees, and butterflies. The Lady wanted to take pictures of the flowers. While she did that, Mr. Guy and I watched people. We just relaxed.  I think a lot of people watched us, too.


I did like looking at a few of the blue and orange flowers.

When The Lady had all her pictures taken, we went into a shop they have at the Conservatory.  (There is another one of those big words!). I thought this would be when I got my shirt!  As we were going in two people asked about me. They had never seen  a blue and orange furry monster! We found out they are from Texas, just like us, but they live in Houston, not Dallas. Their names are Marcus and Tami. They agreed to take a picture with me.  

My 100 People Project is moving right along because of all the nice people that I am meeting.

But, I still did not have my new shirt.  I was trying not to be a grouchy monster.  It was Mr. Guy and the Lady’s anniversary and I was fairly sure that they did not want to spend it with a grouchy monster.  We then went up to another part of Biltmore. I just cannot believe how big this place is. Here we saw some stuff about farming. Mr. Guy told me farming is how people grow their food. We sat on a thing called a tractor. Mr. Guy said it is used to help prepare the land to grow food. 

Then we went into a shop there.  It was called the Mercantile.  It was in there that I finally got my new shirt. I was a little surprised though; it is not blue or orange, it is pink. I was not sure about the pink. I was not sure I would match my fur; and I was not sure that it fit my personality.  I thought pink was a color for girls, not blue and orange boy monsters.  I had to think hard, because this was the only shirt in my size anywhere in this great big place.  I either got a pink shirt, or no shirt.. I tried it on and decided that it was ok.  I don’t want all of my shirts to be pink, but this one will work.

What made it even more OK was that the lady who sold us my shirt was from Dallas! Her name is Norma. She and her husband moved to North Carolina to be near their son. But she knew all the places we go in Texas! It was fun to meet another person from Texas.  The Lady asked Norma  if she wanted to have her picture taken! Norma was excited and said “yes!”  She even got her friend into the picture too. His name is Doc and he is the blacksmith at the Biltmore. I learned a blacksmith makes things with metal.  

We took our picture. I gave them my cards thanking them for being people #7 and #8. Doc gave me his card, too!

After all of that, I was a hot and tired monster.  We stopped and Cedric’s Tavern for lunch.  Cedric is the name of a great big dog called a Saint Bernard that George Vanderbilt had.  There is a statue of the dog in front of the tavern.  I did notice that Cedric was not wearing a pointy collar thing.  Dog collars look more comfortable than fancy monster collars!

After lunch, we stopped for more quick picture in the sunflowers.  They were great big, like everything else here.  

We didn’t stay there long because it was so hot.  We then went back to our cabin and this monster had a long cool nap in my comfy new shirt.

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Blueper B at the Biltmore Estate and 3-5 of My 100 People Project

Today was our first whole day in Asheville.  We all slept a little late.  I guess we were tired from traveling yesterday.  Mr. Guy and The Lady planned for us all to go to the Biltmore Estate.  It is a great big place and we had to park and walk a little way!  



As we walked from the parking lot, well I didn’t walk, Mr. Guy told me all about this place. A long time ago, a man named Vanderbilt made a lot of money. He wanted a big house, like a palace. So he had this house built. He took the last part of his name and attached the word “more”. Maybe because he “built more house” than anyone. Mr. Guy said Biltmore is the largest house in the whole country. 


When I saw the house for the first time, it looked like a whole city to me!  I have never seen a house that big.  A little blue and orange furry monster could get lost in the place.  It was pretty, but also a little scary.


The reason it looks like a whole city is because there are lots of rooms and shops and restaurants in that building.  When Mr. Guy told me that there were shops, I got excited because I might get a new shirt.  The Lady and Mr. Guy said that we could go look for a shirt before we did anything else.  Yay!  We went into a shop that had lots of shirts for big monsters and people, but the worker said that they didn’t have any small enough for me.  That made me sad.  The Lady said that we could go look in another shop, a toy shop.  Surely a toy shop will have a little shirt for me because toys are for little people.  Nope.  They didn’t have one either.  I was now one really sad little monster.  But, I did have to smile when I saw some of my “family” at the toy shop.


When I saw them, I decided that it was silly for me to be sad.  True, I did not find a new shirt, but I have Mr. Guy and The Lady to take me places and love me, these guys just hung out in the toy shop all day.  I remember what that felt like.  Not good.  So, I became a happy monster again.

It was then time for us to go inside this great big house.  I was still not so sure about it, especially with things like this on the outside!


We talked and became friends.

The Lady had to put her camera away because they do not allow people to take pictures in this place. Oh well..we walked all around, up and down stairs from the basement to the third floor.  I’m glad Mr. Guy was carrying me, because now I know I would have gotten lost.  The rooms were big.  The ceilings were tall, the windows were huge, and the furniture was big.  I felt as tiny as ant in there.  This house was obviously not meant as a home for little blue and orange furry monsters, but it was kind of fun to look around.

Because the people didn’t let us take our own pictures inside, they had a picture taking person of their own who took our picture.  I thought that was very nice of them.  The Lady told me that we would have to buy their picture.  That didn’t seem right.  Th Lady always takes my picture and most of the time she makes me look handsome.  Why couldn’t she take my picture?  Mr. Guy tried to explain something to me about captive audience and consumerism.  I didn’t understand.  All I know is that they gave us a card and told us we could look at our picture at the end.

I liked the picture that they took because The Lady was in it with Mr. Guy and Me.  She is never in the pictures because she always takes them.  I told Mr. Guy that I wanted this picture of the three of us, so he bought it.  Tomorrow we will get it into my blog. 

There were two girls who took his money.  They were very friendly and asked all about me.  Because they were so nice, I asked if they wanted to be part of my Hundred People Project.  They said yes!  I guess because Mr. Guy bought their picture they thought it would be fun to be in our picture.


I am happy that people are helping me with my Hundred People Project.  I just want to show the world that there are nice people everywhere!

We ate lunch at a restaurant here.  It was yummy!  Ribs, pulled pork, chicken, collard greens, polenta, cole slaw, and pickles.  We were all too full to have dessert, so after lunch we went to the confectionery.  The Lady told me that “confectionery” is just a fancy name for candy shop.  The houses and the words are big here!  I have never seen so much candy!


We each got a little treat to have when we got home.  The lady who worked at the confectionery (I like saying that word!) was friendly too.  We talked to her for a long time and found out that she had lived in Texas!  She told us that she bought her wedding dress in Dallas, where we live.  The world is not such a big place after all.  I’m not sure that I can say the same thing about this house, though.  Her name was Amy and she was more than happy to have a picture taken with me!


Look at her smile!  She made me laugh really hard.  I sure like meeting all of these nice people!

Oh, and I finally got to see the mountains.  I like them because they are blue like me.


Mr. Guy said that if we see that at sunrise or sunset they might look blue and orange, even more like me!

I had a good day.  I hope that you did too!  Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses…or in a pinch, the petunias!  Speaking of stops we made another stop on the way back. There was one more shop, (there are lots of shops here). A nice lady in there helped find a shirt for me at another shop! They are keeping it for us until tomorrow.


Tomorrow we are going back to the Biltmore to see the gardens, where they have roses, petunias, and lots more flowers.  And, we will get my new shirt! So watch for Part 2 of my trip to the Biltmore tomorrow!

Until then…