There's too much fantastic art. It's overwhelming.

I love all of you and want to support all of you with commissions.

And I'm not talking about just the really good artists that abound around here, I'm talking about all of you!

<3

I spend too much money when I log onto FA, that I don't really have to spend. Unfortunately the most effective solution for me is to just not log on.

There was a surprised squawk. Isa's brown eyes had nearly doubled in size. "T-tana?" He swallowed, looking over at his feline roomie.

Two dark brows rose as Tana wandered over to take a look at her imported claw foot bath tub. A single word escaped her lips, and it really was the only word for the situation. "Huh."

Sitting in the off white porcelain basin was a big ass bull snake. In his usual bad attitude the snake hissed and made a big show of being grumpy.

"I thought that was an urban legend," Isa fussed.

"Me too. How the hell did he fit up the drain?" Tana stared into the tub and the ill tempered guest.

"Maybe they're like cats?" Isa teased a little, his good humor returning. "Fit through whatever strikes their fancy?"

Tana frowned. "I don't really want him in the house. And that's my damn bath tub." She huffed with the last statement.

"Think a couple gallons of water would get rid of him?" Isa tried, hopeful.

Tana sighed. "Probably not. Someone's gonna have to grab him." Her eyes flicked up to Isa. "Ro-sham-bo?"

"Oh hell no cow lady! You moved us out here. The snake is your problem!" There was a nervous laugh as Isa stepped away from the tub and their unwanted guest.

Tana sighed again. Fine.

Leaning over the tub, the snake started making even more of an aggressive fuss. "Oh stop it," Tana grumbled before swiftly pinning his head to the bottom of the tub. The bull snake tossed the rest of his coils around before Tana manged to grab those.

Snake in hands she straightened. Isa backed away. "I thought you had snakes in the Philippians?" She chuckled, resisting the temptation to lunge the snake at him.

"Well yeh. But this one is so mean!"

"He really is," she chuckled more at Isa's discomfort.

Their unwanted guest was deposited carefully off the side of the porch, back where he belonged.

The bath tub was promptly plugged.

____


"Hey Isa?" Tana called in through the screen door.

"Yeh?" He called back.

"Could you be a dear and find me my hair chopsticks?"

"Yeh sure." There was the sound of rummaging. Tana so rarely did things with her hair, all the more stereotypically feminine items had vanished into bottoms of drawers.

Isa poked his head out the door, dark brown hair fluffy and messed up. "Her-" He started then paused, eyes landing on the porch. "Tana? Tana that's a scorpion isn't it!?"

"Yep." She frowned. "Am I a bad person if I toss it off the cliff?"

The pup swallowed. "Nope."

Tana held her hand out for the chop sticks.

Once in hand she used them to carefully pick the scorpion up by the tail. He wasn't cooperative, writhing to and fro. Tana swiftly walked across the baked ground to the edge of their property.

"Adios dude." She told him before tossing the venomous critter off the sandstone cliff.

____

"Isa?"

"Yeh?"

"Are those goats?" Tana calmly asked him about the obvious. She was slumped in the saddle, tired after a long day. Louie was clearly tired as well. His chestnut coat was dark with sweaty patches and the red desert dirt almost covered up his white legs.

"Um... yes?" Isa looked up at Tana, guilt all over the pup's face. He was pulling on a rope looped around the neck of a goat. Said goat wasn't moving. The only distance they had made was as far as Isa had managed to drag the intruder.

"You.... didn't buy goats, did you?" She asked, skeptical.

"No. They.... just kinda showed up." He grunted, tugging more at the goat.

"You, uh, didn't /let/ that one into the horse corral, did you?" Underneath her, Louie started shifting towards the water, which was in the center of the swarm of goats that remained outside the corral. Tana didn't correct him, merely letting her trusty steed make his way among the smaller critters. As they sort of moved out of the way, the bells around their necks jangled.

"I don't know how he got in!! And I can't get it out! Its going after the mule's feed." He grumped and tugged again at the roped goat. It's cloven hooves slid about half an inch on the baked earth.

It was a testament to how tired Tana was. Only once they were in the swarm of goats did she notice the two mangy herd dogs mixed in. Louie nosed a goat out of the way and stuck his head awkwardly through the fence enough to get his whiskered muzzle into the clean, fresh water. He slurped down. Even through the saddle Tana could feel the muscle contractions as he drank.

Tana sighed. "Untack Louie and I'll get the goat out?"

Isa instantly dropped the rope. "Deal."

Done with the drink, Tana guided her mount back out of the goat swarm. "Rub the sweat marks as best you can with a sponge." She requested, dismounting the tired Quarter Horse. Isa nodded as he passed Tana. He went to the horse and she into the corral after the troublesome goat.

She, upon closer inspection given the nipples, didn't seem perturbed by the approaching human. Not that Tana was exactly human. Tired and rather done with all the shit for the day, Tana simply scooped the critter up into her arms. It brayed in protest and squirmed. However she made it to the edge of the fence before the thing squirmed out of her grip, dropped onto the outside of the corral.

Off from the shaded section of the corral, the four mules watched the scene. Shade was more appealing then strange goats.

Goat removed, she limped on tender feet back over to Louie and Isa. He had gotten the saddle off and put up in the trailer's tack section. Under the saddle blanket and cinch was nothing but dark sweat. While Isa did his best with a sponge she picked all four hooves. Louie fidgeted, ready to be done and join the mules for dinner.

As they worked, the goats milled around the property.

"Too bad they don't have ID tags, like dogs are supposed to." Isa chuckled.

"I don't want to encourage em, but think we should at least feed the dogs?" Tana asked, eyes scanning over the intruders.

"We should be hospitable hosts," Isa smiled, ever the little home maker. Leaving Louie to Tana, he went off into the one room cabin. As Tana let Louie go to reunite with the mules and shove his face into the slow feeder bin, Isa reappared. In each hand was a silver bowl of dog food. It took little encouraging to get their guests to eat.

"What about the goats?" He asked her, hopeful.

Tana scowled. "I don't really want to encourage the bastards to stay."

"But they'll eat the few plants we actually have." Isa pointed out.

Tana sighed again. "Fine. Feed em the scrappy stuff that fell off the bales. I'm gonna call Earl at the feed store and see if he knows if anyone lost their goats." Leaving Isa to see to their unwanted guests, she headed in to find dinner and the phone.

*`*`*
As it turned out, the goats belonged to a Native woman a few canyons over. She had died in her sleep. The body had been found a week later when a friend went to visit her.

"Isa?" Tana sighed over her morning tea, looking out over the milling goats.

"Yeh?"

"What in the hell do you do with goats, anyway? What are they even for??"

He paused, looking at the goats as well. "I have no idea."

Bear with as I try to explain this to people who do not know me.

Long story short, I got diagnosed at 25 with ADD. It took so damn long because I'm female, and its the inattentive type, not the hyper active type. (I'm now 26.)

Another long story short, I picked up a book about women with ADD the other day and am actually managing to read it.

There was a line in it that really struck me. Something about shopping/errands being like going into battle. Such damn simple tasks that everyone else seems to do alright. But for me, it really is like I've gone to battle and return exhausted and beaten.

I am a writer. Mostly roleplay, because its more engaging when you find the right partner.

I have many characters who live in my head.

Upon entering the furry fandom, I didn't have a sona. I asked my various characters (most of whom can turn into animals) if they would let me use them for a suit.

Most notably I got a middle finger from Tana.

Isa, however, in his usual easy going, accepting, supportive manner, said, sure!

Isa is a canine shifter. Either human or full on feral malamute.

Now, back to shopping. After sitting bored in the car while other people ran their various errands at other stores, I daydreamed about suiting, and Isa's personality.

When I went into the store, I did it from Isa's perspective.

In short, while it was still a battle, it sucked so much less when viewing the world with a wagging tail and chill demeanor.

As of writing this, I've only accomplished that feat once.

When I read the errands are like going into battle thing, Isa chirped up. He struck his best mighty pose and dawned armor and told me he would be my battle dog.

I died from the adorable.

The poor boy doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body. The whole mighty warrior thing doesn't really work for him. It was deeply sweet of him to offer.

I believe I will take him up on the offer. We can go into battle together.