Dave's Digitals

That picture is looking awesome Dave! Lots of good values and depth. I do think it's a bit too detailed or noisy but it is beautifully rendered!
I'm also sorry about the news regarding your puppies. I hope they get better soon!

Hey everyone. I just wanted to stop in and say hey, after stepping away for a bit.

The past couple months have been pretty rough to say the least, and I'm just hoping it gets better here soon. The wife and I have had something like 8 deaths in our family in the past 2 1/2 months, which includes my Mom's passing just a few days ago. She was hospitalized a couple weeks ago after not feeling well, and it turns out she had Aspirated Pneumonia. She was only home for about a month after getting out of 4 months of rehabilitation from her major stroke she suffered back in November. But at least she got to spend some time there after it happened, and she was actually doing pretty good until the Pneumonia set in.

I still may not be around for just a little while, being I'm helping my sister & brother start dealing with everything, and to be honest, I haven't done much of anything lately. ... But I have been peaking in from time to time here, just haven't been saying much...

Take care all

Oh Dave so sorry to hear. I was wondering where you had been and hoped it wasn't the worst case scenario, but it was. Well definitely take all the time you need to get things taken care of and to grieve. My prayers are with you and your family.

Sorry to hear your family is having such a rough time Dave. But when it gets better we'll all be here waiting for you. *hugs*

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family, Dave. Good luck and best wishes, you will be missed but we will rejoice in your return

Sorry to hear what you're going thru Dave. My condolences are with you and your family. We're be sure to give you a warm welcome when you come back!

Thank you all kindly, it's much appreciated. - I'm hoping it won't be too long before something gets me back into doing some art. I'll be sure to post when I do.

Thanks again.

Any vacation coming up? so you can work less and er... work more on drawing Hope to see you back to painting soon!

No, we don't actually get vacation time so to speak. We simply save up our leave year long and just take off when we want. (which can be quite a lot since they now cap us to have no more than 360 hrs of Annual at the end of each fiscal year. And most of us incorporate it with all the paid holidays we get, which is 13) You can have more saved up during the year, but anything over 360 come June 30th gets flipped over to sick leave. (Which is no longer payed out when you retire as it used to be, so many people make sure to use it before then)

For instance, every 2 weeks I earn 8 hrs of Annual Leave & 4.5 hrs. of Sick. Then just use it as I want. I usually take off anywhere from 6 to 10 weeks in the last few months of each year just to keep it in check. But with everything that's been going on since last November with my Mom's passing, all the funerals, & doctor appointments for both the wife and my dogs, I've eaten into more leave than I have in a very long time. To which I only have about 170 hrs presently.

Speaking of that, unfortunately I just had to take off again today to take my pup Shelby back to the surgeon. I've been having her checked out periodically with my vet here over the past few months, since she is still limping from her ACL surgery that took place back in November. And I knew this should have stopped by now. ... Well, turns out something has definitely gone wrong, and either the surgery just didn't take for whatever reason or she somehow tore it loose? Either way, she is now scheduled to go back through all of it again this coming Friday. Back in a cast for 6 weeks, and leash walked for the 4 months following it. ... I just feel so bad for her, she's such a good pup. She hasn't been able to free run or play since before last November, and looks like we might be in early 2016 before she gets the chance to.

aw poor little puppy!

Regarding vacation, we can also choose to have it whenever we want. Only we do have the right to have two weeks in a row during june-august and our employer has to accept that. I get 6 weeks* a year (sick leave we get whenever we're sick, if we're not sick we're not getting any extra free days), so I try to take 4 in the summertime and save some time for the christmas holiday.

*Since last year when I turned 40. Before that it was 5 weeks. I'm not sure why you deserve longer holidays after 40 but at least it's one good thing that comes with age