New Feeders...and a Rodeo?

So my parents are in town, but that didn't stop me from making a couple of new things...

Mad For Plaid Skate Pet Feeder

 http://www.etsy.com/listing/68420851/mad-for-plaid-skate-pet-feeder

She's a Brick House Skate Pet Feeder

http://www.etsy.com/listing/68415385/shes-a-brick-house-skate-pet-feeder

Surf's Up Wall Hanger

http://www.etsy.com/listing/68422700/surfs-up-skate-deck-wall-hanger-one-hook

After the creating was done; however, I deemed it necessary to take the rents out on the town and show them something a little different...ENTER THE RODEO.  

My friend, Mark, from work is an excellent bullfighter.  Every weekend he's always somewhere protecting cowboys all that is bull.  

This particular weekend was a little different though.  The Hangin Tree Ranch needed volunteer riders, so Mark sounded the call for all cowboys at work...Enter Deitrich.

Now I'm not sure if bull riding was something on Deitrich's bucket list or if he accidentally said "cowboy up" before his brain could register what he was getting into (I'm thinking mouth spoke before brain registered) either way we weren't going to miss this bad bear for the world, oh and we were going to make sure to video tape it.  

So there you have it...in three seconds it was all over.  What's better is he paid $40 to do it, wore chaps, annnnd the boots with da spurs YEE HAW!  Thank goodness for Mark is all I have to say.

Goodbye weekend:(

It's 830pm on a Monday night and I am bidding adieu to a long work filled weekend (my day job gave us Monday off, yay!)  A lot has been happening since I last wrote...so with my feet up and Tank on my left squeaking his new Kong ball, let me recap...

Friday:  Leave work, make feeders...this is a never ending battle!  Got some new stuff posted for my site and pics sent off to some stores for drop shipping...The day was beautiful so I later snuck off to the beach.

Saturday:  More feeders (do you see a pattern here?)  In the afternoon I went out to DoubleWide Surf Shop and got my newest Skate It Forward applicant, J.P., signed up as well as interest from other skaters.  I'll write more on his project on my new Skate It Forward blog, courtesy of my lovely baby sister, Lynn.  I think it's a great one though!  Got Doggy Go Greens feeders packed and ready to go on my way home, and then off I sped to a pig picking in Beaulaville...If you have never been you should try it, North Carolinians make them some deeeeeelishouusss barbeque.  Afterwards I was able to make it to my favorite pub to listen to some great blue grass music.

Sunday:  More feeders cut, I just bought a new hole cut saw for my drill press, so the skateboards cut like butter right now, it's great.  I'm trying to gear up for the Azalea Festival in Wilmington, NC next weekend, so the more feeders the better.  This will be my first festival that I've done, so I'm curious to see how they will fare.  Cross your fingers...

Monday:  More homework (I go to school at night), moved my office to my new spare bedroom, and yep, you guessed it, cut more feeders.  I was able to get out and buy some beautiful annuals for my garden, finally got them planted tonight.

So now I'm done (for now), there is a siren going off in the distance and Tank, my youngest lab, is howling at it.  I'll keep you posted about the Azalea Festival with DoubleWide...It's gonna be ridiculous!

Skate Dog Studios presents: Skate It Forward

It's Sunday night, the boys are piled on the couch with me and I think it's about time I talk about my newest adventure...Skate It Forward.

Skate It Forward is a project I'm working on to highlight skateboarding and its riders in a positive way by helping out the community through paying it forward (Skate It Forward).  The way it works is simple, if a person is under 18 years old and comes up with a plan to help your community in some way either through volunteering, cleaning up the environment, donating, anything they think would be a worth while project and keeps their grades up in school, I will provide that person free decks to ride.  When the decks are broken in, I'll take them back, exchange it for a new one, and make the old deck into a recycled feeder...pretty easy right?

Below are some images of my first Skate It Forward recycled feeder

This GIRL skateboard was skated by a youth from Ogden, NC who is Skating it Forward by helping keep the area around the Skate Barn, an indoor skate park in Hampstead, NC clean (www.skatebarn.com)  He makes sure to keep his grades up in school and takes time out on the weekends to pick up trash around one of his favorite places to skate, keeping it nice for everyone else who skates there.

In the weeks to come, I'll be highlighting more riders and what they are doing to help the community, pretty exciting stuff!

If you or anyone else you know is interested in becoming part of Skate It Forward, either through skating, donating boards, or just helping me make Skate It Forward bigger and better, please don't hesitate to call (910) 376-2619 or email me @ info@skatedogstudios.com...a big thanks ahead of time:)

Abraham's Oasis

I've been been getting a lot of requests for pics from out here lately and it dawned on me that I haven't really written about what I do for fun after work.  Yes folks, I do have fun out here...I'm pretty sure I can make anyplace or situation fun, I'm a Grogan, that's what we do.

Anyway, we decided that it was time to visit Abraham's Oasis.  Legend has it that the Oasis is where Abraham and his family drank from during their 700 mile trip from the land of Ur.  Surrounded by a lush palm grove, the Oasis's waters are filled with minnows, turtles, frogs, and birds.  It's almost surreal to stumble upon it because it's flourishing greenery is in stark contrast to the miles and miles of dirt and debris that border it.

Palm Grove by the Oasis

And that is your history lesson for today, back to our adventure - introducing Sam and Chris:

The man, the myth: Sam Peters

Sam is my friend from work in North Carolina, but he works on another project.  If any of you follow my Facebook pics, you'll have seen photos of Sam and the infamous camel spider, right before he squashed the crap out of it.  Sorry spider lovers out there, Meg + camel spiders = dead camel spiders, that's just the way I roll. 

Back to Sam...Sam enjoys drinking black and tans at the Irish pub in Swansboro, wing night at the rotorhead chowhall, and dome houses, not necessarily in that order.  Sam is always down for an adventure.

The notorious Chris Jones

Chris Jones is my buddy that normally works on the west coast, but out here we are one team one fight.  I like to yell his name out like the rap songs featuring Mike Jones.  "Chriiiiiiis Jooooones" I yell, it makes me giggle everytime.  Chris enjoys fishing in the Wadi, spending time with his family, and pancake eating contests.

Back to the adventure to the Oasis...At the Oasis I made the most amazing discovery.  Fish, turtles, and frogs, much like humans, love White Chedder Cheez-It's.  I am not really sure why I was surprised by this, Cheez-It's are fantastically delicious it's no shocker that wildlife would come to the same conclusion that humans do.  Below are some pics of us feeding the animals, don't worry they didn't bite.

Sam feeding the fish

I'm feeding the fish

and Chris is feeding the fish

No blog would be complete without photos of the happy customers, so I'll leave you with photos of the fish, turtles, and frogs.  Tune in next week to find out more about how my coworkers thought it would be funny to sell me to the Ugandan gate guards for 100 heads of cattle.

I'm now on Twitter!

Well it happened...I took the plunge and joined Twitter!  You can check it out at www.twitter.com/skatedogstudios.  I'm still feeling my way around it, but so far so good.  I'm making new twitter friends and tweeting away!

I also thought it would help my business by hiring a marketing consultant.  Being in Iraq trying to start a business back home is hard enough, so I looked to the expertise of Leslie May of Pawsible Marketing http://www.marketingmypetbusiness.com/ She's been fantastic!  With the help of Skype we've set it up to have monthly meetings on the phone.  I'm looking forward to some out-of-the-box thinking and expanding on my social networking skills.

New feeders

Hello everyone,

It's been a little while, but I'm back with two new feeders.  Check them out and let me know what you think!

I'm not going to lie, this first one has to be my favorite, guns and grenades classic.  I almost kept it, but it was too cool not to sell.

These feeders can be purchased, along with others at http://www.skatedogstudios.etsy.com/ for more of a selection check out http://www.skatedogstudios.com/