Custom My Little Pony: Cloudburst

This is my first completed My Little Pony custom. She's flawed, but I'm proud of her. I've named her Cloudburst. She used to be a G3 Starsong.

Compare the finished product with the original plan:

Cloudburst features a double-thick tail in four shades of purple with three blue braids (I had to widen the tail hole in order to get the darn thing through). Her mane is three rows thick instead of two, with the middle row cut longer than the outer rows. She has a subtle gradient on her lower legs and muzzle, along with zebra stripes on her legs, face, and the back of her neck. She has swirly white clouds on her forehooves and her "brand mark" is two clouds with rain falling from them. The eyes were repainted also.

All paint was done by hand with acrylics and sealed with a matte sealant for durability. Nonetheless, I have to recommend Cloudburst for display only. I'm willing to sell her; e-mail summerdog.studio AT gmail DOT com if interested.





I also just recently discovered that I'm NOT the only male in the world who makes custom ponies. I've always believed in being myself no matter what others may think about it... but still, it's something of a relief to know I'm not alone.

Friday Dogs: Elderly goldendoodle

From the archives, taken sometime this past summer:


This is a ridiculously sweet elderly goldendoodle (golden retriever/standard poodle), owned by a ridiculously sweet elderly lady, whom I've had the pleasure of meeting several times. Unfortunately, I never learned either of their names. Whoops.

Military presence

Evan, Rufus, and I went to Denver for Thanksgiving, and just got back last night. I'd gnaw my own leg off before subjecting a dog to riding in the cargo hold of a plane, so we drove. It's a 14-hour drive from there to Minneapolis. Rufus slept most of the way.


After sleeping in late this morning, I took Rufio out for his morning potty. The apartment complex we live in abuts the playground of an elementary school, and I won't lie to you — I felt a moment of panic when the first thing I saw was a military helicopter, blades still spinning, out on the playground, with a few soldiers in camo jumping out of it and an ambulance parked nearby. The elementary students were standing in rows and bunches closer to the school building.

By the time I got back with the camera, everyone had gone inside. (YES, I have access to a working camera again!)


One of my neighbors said it was for "DARE Day."

When I was in DARE way back in 4th or 5th grade, they had police officers come lecture us about drugs. I had no idea that the military had gotten involved. If I had known, I would've protested.

I want to be clear: I'm NOT anti-military. I am, however, very much against military presence in schools, regardless of whether they're actively recruiting. Because it can easily be argued that the military is ALWAYS recruiting. And when kids age 10 and under are involved, it just gets way too creepy for me.


Besides, it costs an obscene amount of money to fly a helicopter. That seems like a pretty excessive expenditure for an anti-drug program that's been proven not to work.