Midnight Deadline

Today is the last day for everyone to get submissions to me for the contest to draw Haiku Ewe for a week. The deadline is midnight tonight. I'll announce the winner on Monday.

Thank you to the folks who have sent in drawings! It means a lot to both Haiku Ewe and me that you took the time to do that. I will be available to the winner night and day ... well, maybe just day. But I'll be available! And I will help you as much as I can. Though you may not want me to as my drawing is still kind of funky.

Thank you to everyone and good luck and good show!

grace

cows can be so rude and they've been a real problem for haiku ewe lately. one of them was complaining about frequent romantic advances from the bull. to haiku ewe! she is in love with the bull and desperately wants him to notice her!

thoughtless, insensitive, rude, arrogant ... i could go on and on. those cows ain't right in the head.

she handled herself with class though. she smiled and nodded and tried to change the subject a couple of times. finally she excused herself politely. way to go haiku ewe!

she said later that all she wanted to do was grab that cow's bell and stuff it down her throat.

sometimes it's a-ok to rhyme

Poor besotted Ewe!
How can a bull’s love be true
when he has cows too?
--ejcapulet


we love it!

Mambo

sprained hand update: the palm of my hand is still a creepy shade of green. but i think green is the color of a bruise that is on its way out. still pretty painful and stiff but swelling is down (thank u advil) and i'm seeing new progress every day.

but really i want to compliment haiku ewe on her mambo today. she has done a great job with her crooning all week long. way to go, haiku ewe! if the bull doesn't notice u after all this then he is blind.

and i think it is pretty big of me to compliment u when u have been devoid of compassion for me with my wound. yes. i said it. devoid of compassion. i was filled with sympathy for u during ur cow tipping infirmary stay. i even brought u some purple flowers as a special snack.

Still Sprained

Haiku Ewe is impatient for my hand to heal as am I. Unfortunately, we just aren't there yet. The good news is that i'm getting faster and faster at typing with only my left hand.

Naps

Some people can nap until the cows come home. Oops. Sorry. Haiku Ewe isn't a huge fan of cows and doesn't like cow references.

Anyway, I am not a napper. Naps stress me out. Am I the only person in the world who feels that way? When I lie down, I start thinking of all the stuff I should be getting done and then I get stressed out and my heart starts pounding and I realize I would have been better off had I jut kept running around getting stuff done.

My heart is actually pounding right now because I stillll have not gone to the post office to mail that stupid thing. Grr! I have to get that done today! Wow. Evidently, even the mere mention of naps stresses me out.

Fire!

I love bonfires. I love the smell and the excitement of being so close to a big ole fire. It feels a little dangerous while actually being totally safe. Unless you are covered in fleece. Is fleece flammable?

Speaking of the word "flammable," I mizpellld it on the strip today. BlueRaven noticed. Which makes me crazy. I double check (dictionary.com!) every word three times before I post it. Except "flammable" evidently. Yar!! I'm going to leave it for now. But soon, very soon, I expect I will break down and replace it with the corrected version.

- - - -
Ok. I googled and all I could find was information about the use of sheep to help prevent wildfires. Not a bad idea. I didn't find any info about whether or not their fleece in flammable. But why take a chance, right?

So, it's a good thing Haiku Ewe played it safe today. Well done, young sheep.

In ewe words:
"Sheep can help the world
One fire at a time munch munch
Fire prone brush tastes gooood"

Now.

It's a glorious California day and Haiku Ewe has found a little pond. Maybe it's just a puddle. I'm not sure. It's new to us anyway. I digress. Haiku Ewe found a pond and has been staring at her reflection.

The pond and the kind feedback we have been receiving from a few fans over the past couple of days led us to think about the ego. It's interesting how when we first see our beautiful face reflected or first read the flattering words, we feel ten feet tall. All suddenly becomes right with the world. The grass is greener, the sky is bluer, the cows are even a little less obnoxious. But then the good feeling fades and we begin to want more praise.

It's like a drug in two ways. First, it's addictive and we find ourselves always chasing after more. Second, paranoia sets in. Every time Haiku Ewe starts to say something she hesitates for a moment wondering if her statement will be "good enough."

So it becomes a vicious circle: wanting more praise, receiving it and becoming more paranoid and in need of more praise. Today Haiku Ewe and I are going to focus on the now.

We are going to become fully aware of the moment in which we currently find ourselves. Haiku Ewe won't let her thoughts wander to the delicious purple flowers in the back field and I won't let my thoughts wander to the trip I need to make to the post office to mail that stupid thing that should have gone out days and days ago and I wonder if there will be a line and will it be hot because it's always hot there. Oops.

The Love!!!

Haiku Ewe and I are both aware that self love and true joy are supposed to come from places that are not dependent on people. However, we haven't learned how to do that and so we are dancing around and giggling because of the following post on the gocomics site:

Haiku purple ewe
We love you so much that we
Write love poems too.
--Shikamoo MB

We love you too, Shikamoo MB!!!

How could we POSSIBLY have a bad day now? We can't!

To be truly loved
To be appreciated
Tis bliss for my soul

Ok, Haiku Ewe was a little over drama there. Yes you were and you know it. She's giving me this look like I just asked for some ketchup to put on my cruller. Whatever.

Bulls. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

Today our dear sheep is in a tree. I have no idea how she managed to shimmy up there with hooves. Nor do I know how she'll get down. Does she? Oh boy.

Today, Haiku Ewe seems to be fully in love and also ready to move on . . . from the farm . . . but . . . she's a sheep. Where would she go?

Also, I hope she doesn't see my blog, but I don't see how a romance between a sheep and a bull could possibly work. Then, when I look a little closer at how arrogant and self absorbed this bull is, it makes me want to take Haiku Ewe by the shoulders and shake her. Why do women so often have such bad taste in men.

It seems to me that if a man thinks you have good taste simply because you are attracted to him, then you've fallen for a jerk. That should be your first clue to run away as fast as you can. I don't tell her what I think though. When I've tried in the past, she has looked at me with daggers in her eyes and then bleated in this weird way that I don't ever want to hear again. It was like a cross between a dying three legged cat and a can opener.

Fortuantely, she is in a good mood though. Perhaps that is the point. When we find ourselves in a good mood, we should cling to it and savor it. For soon a cow will sashay by and our bull will grow distracted and that good mood will shatter into a million pieces of heartache . . . like when you are taking a vitamin that is large and you gulp too much water and it feels like you are having a heart attack. Does that ever happen to anyone else or just me?

The Bull

It appears Haiku Ewe has a little crush on the bull. It's odd how women chose their men. He seems to me to be a giant flaky flirt, but to each their own. He also seems to be head over heals in love with himself. But, again, to each their own.

Haiku Ewe seems really distracted today. She keeps looking over at the bull and I think she even tried to talk to him once or twice already. Maybe the reason she hates cows so much is because they get all of the attention from the bull. I dread the day she learns what the bull is on the farm to do with the cows.

Hairless Humans

I think today is quite lovely but Haiku Ewe is already complaining. She claims I could never understand her heat issues unless I had fleece like "normal people." This was followed by a rant about how humans and hairless cats are freaks of nature and "nobody wants to look at that." Thanks.

Humans feel just fine
Those of us with fleece are HOT!

I am sweltering
Eighty degrees without fleece


P.S. I hope wndrwrthg checks this blog because I want this person to know I Haiku Ewe and I think their haikus are great. It's so fun to see them each and every day!

Today vs. April 14

As a birthday present to myself, I posted a week of sheering story line strips April 13-17. Except I didn't. Somehow I messed up. Why FTP confuses me so I will never understand. Anyway, the strip that posted today posted on April 14 before I realized I hadn't changed everything around. I fixed it and people can see a strip they haven't seen before by going to April 14.

Is this interesting to anyone? Because I am so bored. What a boring blog post. I told you yesterday I lead a quiet life.

Perhaps I should end this bloodbath of boredom now. I'll try to be more interesting tomorrow.

P.S. I live in downtown Los Angeles. I just looked out my window to see to people repelling off the side of a building to wash its windows. It looks so third world to me. Ironically, they are washing the windows of a very expensive and exclusive town club. Odd.

Straight Talk: Big Al, the gal

If I may be frank and detached regarding today's comic ... may I? This was a day when I was playing with words. "Tyrannosaurus" has 5 syllables and I found that exciting (I lead a quiet life). So, I built a bizarre haiku around it. I thought about not posting it because it's so odd, but then I decided why not. In addition, it was fun to play with Haiku Ewe herself in coming up with an illustration for the haiku.

The comic has bounced around a lot as far as subject matter goes. Things will begin to settle down in that area toward the end of May when week-long themes will reveal a deeper level of Haiku Ewe's personality. In June, these story lines will start to bleed into each other and the larger story arc will begin to emerge.

Sometimes . . . err . . . OFTEN, comic strips focus in on a story line and then drag it out and pound it into the ground until you feel like you want to take a pistol to someone's head . . . namely the creator's. However, I've found that avoiding story lines keeps the reader's relationship with Haiku Ewe superficial and is therefore distancing.

The comic is still new and it feels like a dog circling his spot a few times before he lies down. Hopefully fans will be patient or even curious as Haiku Ewe's personality reveals itself and as the grand story arc of the strip begins to crystalize.

I don't think it would have worked as well if I'd immediately jumped into the deep end of a story line without first slowly introducing readers to our little ewe. Also, it's taken time for people to sniff this comic's butt . . . if I may perpetuate the dog metaphor. The daily haiku is a different approach to a comic strip and people have had to get comfortable with it.

Actually, I thought it would take a lot longer for people to get on board (dog metaphor over), but the majority of the comments and fan mail I've gotten (yes! after only 2 months the strip is getting fan mail!!) have been in haiku. That is so. dang. awesome.

Hopefully this will be the first and last straight-talk-from-the-cartoonist blog post I will do. But I'm unpredictable, so one never can tell.

Thanks for sticking it out and reading the whole thing.
- Big Al (the gal)

P.S. From Haiku Ewe: "Sometimes our Big Al / Obsesses about small stuff / So just smile and nod"

Rude

New cow adjusting
No "hello" no "my name is"
She seems abrasive