Gary's Third Pottery Blog

When the going gets tough, dragons gonna get going....

Gary's third pottery blog

WRITE TO ME! garyrith@yahoo.com Come see me! Open studio HERE! November 25-26 (11-4 each day); Aurora Art and Design, daily until 12/24; Cooperstown Art Assoc. daily until 12/24; Ellis Hollow Community Fair, 12/10; December 10, Little Red Wagon at the Space at Greenstar. All material on this blog unless stated otherwise is copyright Gary Edward Rith 2016

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

they PAY ME for this sh!t....

I should be paying THEM.  Let me explain.

The thing with being a professional potter is that through word of mouth year after year customers come back and introduce their friends to you....it has a lot of momentum, this informal advertising system.  Like the snowball rolling down the hill.

The same thing happens when you are a PROFESSIONAL dog walker.  And cat sitter.
I got into this because people routinely asked me to care for their pets because artists never have any plans, right?  Just hanging around the house all day eating cookies and looking for things to do.  Like come over to your house and clean their cat box for them.

 It was getting ridiculous!  The last straw was the two weeks I cared for somebody's pets...receiving neither a SIX PACK of beer or even A THANK YOU. Nothing.  I was chatting with my vet about this, saying "I am not going to say no anymore, but I am gonna say 'I do a good job, I am reliable, I never go on vacations, I know how to lock your door, I don't steal your silver, I do whatever you want me to do (even feed the fish!) BUT IT IS GONNA COST YOU', like, cash, check, paypal"

The vet set me up with my first dog sitting gig...now I have 4 regular jobs.  It is easy to work on my pots before and after and around those gigs...and now I have finished hospice training Penny my therapy beagle and I go to the senior center AND hospice on Mondays...but what is NOT easy is seeing friends, which is furiously frustrating, you know?  You wonder what is gonna drop out if you are taking care of your own house, a full-time potter and part-time pet sitter...it is the friends.  Forget ever seeing them!

ANYWAY, Yogi the golden doodle sweetie lives near us.  I am VERY glad that a) they are so close and b) we have a fenced yard and c)  Penny and Yogi get along well because d) they loooooove to romp together in our yard, now that the weather is nice.  So I can let the dogs play here then we can walk down the street too.  Both dogs get pretty dang tired after all that...
AND I GET PAID FOR THIS? :)
I do.

(BTW, many of you will have read in the post a day or 2 ago that I entered a competition at Cooperstown Art Association, hundreds of artworks, who would be accepted??? Yesterday I got notice:  I was accepted!  Now they move onto the prize phase...and I am a candidate for a prize......fingers crossed!)



11 comments:

Momma Fargo said...

Love that big fluffy doodle. He is cute and happy. You will win a prize, Gary, because you are a brilliant artist and magnificent potter. Good luck!

smartcat said...

Penny and Yogi are simply adorable together!

Congratulations on getting into the show; toes crossed for further success!

Barbara Rogers said...

You take marvelous pictures too...don't forget that talent you have!

~ Sil in Corea said...

You live a great life, Gary! Creative and busy, something going on all the time. {{{{{Hugs from Asia}}}}}

Shortstuff said...

Such cute pix of the kids romping. What fun.

Congrats on getting in. As if we thought you wouldn't. BAH!

Claudia from Idiot's Kitchen said...

Yogi!!!! Congratulations on getting into the show!

Michèle Hastings said...

A reliable pet sitter is invaluable! I am sure you are the best. We are very lucky to have a neighbor that also has a cat. We trade pet care with each other. It makes it much easier to go away knowing my Sophie is well cared for.

JB said...

Yogi is adorable. Love the photos of the romp, such fun!

Hilary said...

Oh congrats.. that's exciting.. good luck!

Yogi is just adorable.. and of course Penny is a doll.

Anonymous said...

Fingers crossed on the contest!
I'm glad you've got a system to get paid for your work. Favors for free don't pay bills!

auntjone said...

Next time someone asks you to care for a pet say "Sure I'd be glad to! My fee is X." They'll either say "OK!" or "Piss off!". You win either way.

That fluffball of a doodle is adorable!

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I am a full-time studio potter, sculptor, and dog walker, married to superhawt Missus Tastycake.