New Tigers from Luxembears

Bali is the lastest tiger by Luxembears. He stands 12" tall and measures 25.5" from nose to rump with his tail adding and additional 10". Bali got his name after the extinct species of tiger from the Indonesian island of Bali.
Bali started out completely white, entirely hand sewn from alpaca and German mohair. All of his coloring and markings are freehand airbrushed.

Bali is fully jointed with hard board discs in all four limbs and neck and has wrapped wire in his tail and back legs.



Bali's nose is needle felted to a firm finish and airbrushed. Available on ebay.

The two photos below were taken by Glenn Sanderson Photography in Green Bay WI, in November 2008.

These tigers are sewn by hand from alpaca and started out entirely white. They are airbrushed from head to toe to tail. For more information contact Judi at luxembears@gmail.com

Indy is the newest edition at Luxembears. She is also the smallest.

Swimming With Dolphins

Hello.  I want to share with you our marvelous experience of an up close and personal dolphin swim and encounter.  On July 26th our family visited Discovery Cove in Orlando Florida the day before embarking onto the Disney Cruise Ship "Wonder".  What a wonderful way to start of  our exciting vacation.

Discovery Cove is like a magical serene island surrounded by the sites, sounds, and smells of of a tropical paradise

Our Dolphin's name was Roxie.  Jordan , Rachel and I participated in the Dolphin Swim as Joey was not quite old enough.  He is 5 and you need to be 6 to have contact with the dolphins.  We did a Dolphin Encounter in the Bahamas for our off-shore excursion on the Disney Cruise which Joey was able to have a dolphin hug.  The photos are adorable.  See them farther down in this post.

We started our venture into 75 degree water at 8:30 in the morning to experience our first dolphin connection. A dolphins skin is smooth and soft and rubbery-feeling. They are truly amazing beings.  Then we all took turns giving Roxie a hug and a kiss and posed for photos.

Dolphin under human care can live into their 40's.  In the wild they can live into their 20's.

After our hugs and kisses, Jordan Rachel and I swam out into deeper water for an individual dolphin swim back to shore.

We held on with one hand on Roxie's dorsal and the other on her pectoral fin. You could feel the amazing strength of her muscular body.   It was truly amazing. While the three of us were in the water with our dolphin, Mark and Joey sat on some big rocks on the shore and observed and took a few photos of their own.

Then it was their turn to join in the fun and unique experiences this wonderful place had to offer.

Off to the sting ray lagoon for some close encounters with cowhead stingrays.

This lagoon was filled with beautiful stingrays to touch and swim with all day long.  Jordan and rachel snorkled for hours.

Joey had fun chasing fish and digging in the warm soft white sand.

Next to the sting ray encounter lagoon was another, even larger lagoon filled with all kinds of fish and different species of sting rays.

Leopard and Southern Atlantic to name a few.  In this lagoon there was no touching allowed...only viewing and swimming with these  sea creatures.

 Mark even gave it a try.

At Discovery Cove there was also a lazy river, a lagoon with water fall, a hands-on bird sanctuary, all the food we could eat(included)  a wonderful steel drum band which added to the 'island' feel, and various exotic animals.

It was a wonderful day which gave us memories for a life time.

Now I can't forget Joey's photos of his special moments with a dolphin named "Andy". I saved the best photo for last. This next photo is my favorite.  We met Andy at The Dolphin Encounter on Tuesday July 29th in the Bahamas.  When we arrived Joey said, "Mom, I am not going to touch the dolphin".   But this is what happened:

And the dolphin hug ended up being Joey's favorite part of the dolphin encounter.

Mark also got in on the fun.  He too had a dolphin kiss and hug....infact we all did plus, we each hs a special dolphin dance with Andy. This is only the beginning of our memory-filled family vacation.  Between Discovery Cove, two trips to Seaworld and the Disney Cruise to the Bahamas...all in 6 days we have over 1,000 photos!  Ah...the beauty of digital cameras (if these were taken with 24 exposure film that would be 41.6 rolls!)  I'll have the Disney pictures a bit later....I still need to finish unpacking!

New Addition to the Family

Meet Jolene. She's a four-month old Club lamb and belongs to Rachel...which is appropriate since the name Rachel means "lamb".

Jolene is a sweet little girl who is one of triplets. Her two brothers will be show sheep and although Jolene has the genetics she does not measure up for a show animal....but is definitely a winner in our hearts.

For the very first time I totally understand the rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb"....especially the part , "....and every where that Mary went the lamb was sure to go." Jolene follows Rachel every where.

She reminds me of a puppy. If Rachel runs, Jolene will be right at her heels. She even follows Jordan, Joey , and me.......but I think she views Rachel as the leader of the flock.

Rachel plays hide-and-seek with Jolene. She hides behind a large tree in our front yard and calls "Jolene!". Jolene perks up her ears and looks around, "baa-aa-aa-aa-" -ing back at Rachel. Then Rachel calls again, and again Jolene baa-aa-aa-aas back. When Rachel shows herself Jolene runs full speed towards Rachel, I guess she's happy to find her "shepherd" again.

She is a wonder pet. Ever so sweet and gentle. And maybe, I'll be able to use her wool for some of my needle felted features on my bears.

Lamb kisses.
She may not be a show sheep...but don't tell her that. She stands as if she is.

Rachel had a little lamb whose fleece was (almost) white as snow,
and everywhere that Rachel went Jolene was sure to go.

Welcome

Hello and welcome to my blog. Above is a photo of our family farm Teemar Holsteins in Luxemburg Wisconsin. Our farm in more than a century old and has seen several renovations over the years. A fire took down the main milking barn in 1991 and new buildings have been added. Our family photo will be updated this summer but for now, pictured left to right: Rachel, Jordan, Judi, Joey, and Mark. We'll have lots to post as we are one busy family always on the go.

BEARS AND BOVINES Life on a dairy farm as a bear artist

Hello and welcome to " BEARS AND BOVINES"! I am Judi Paul of Luxembears and I will be reporting live for the next four days from Luxembears Headquarters which is also Teemar Holsteins Dairy Farm. I will be showing you life on the farm with bears.


Today we will have a short tour of the farm, while during the next three days, teddy will meet the herd, milk a cow, and see what farmers do for fun.

Above is an aerial view of our home base which includes our milking barn, free stall barn, machine shed, milk house, OUR house and Luxembears Headquarters Workshop.



Our farm is located in Northeast Wisconsin, Luxemburg to be exact (can you guess where I got my bear business name?).




Please meet the Paul family from left to right: Rachel, Jordan, Judi, Joey, and Mark.



We own and farm 330 acres...growing wheat, corn, oats, soybeans, and alfalpha. We milk 74 cows twice a day and have another 70 replacement heifers and a handful of bulls.



A adult dairy cow will consume a 100 pounds of feed daily.



Professional cattle photography is an important part of promoting and representing the genetics of the herd. It is quite a big undertaking and requires an entire crew: The cow is washed, clipped, and perfectly groomed and trained to lead on a halter (or we experience a wild west rodeo if a cow is not trained). Someone is needed to hold the halter...not as easy as it looks. One upward movement of the cows head will throw me...so I leave that to Mark. Then we need someone working the tail. A piece of fishing line is tied to the end of the cows tail. As the photographer gets ready to take a photo he calls out "Front" or "Back" and the tail man must move the tail accordingly.



There also needs to be two men to position the feet. And of course, often times the cow will shift her weight and then she will need to be repositioned. It can take hours just to get one good shot. The guy at the halter will need to pull her forward or push slightly to get the cow to shift her weight. The photographer calls out "Weight front" or "Weight back." This can turn into a circus.

The cows udder needs to be perfectly visible, to properly represent the quality of the animal.

Then, we need a "clean up" guy who is constantly on standby with bucket, scooper, and towels to wipe the cows..eh-hem, bum-bum incase she 'goes'. She needs to be perfectly clean.

Notice how the cows all are standing with their front feet slightly elevated. All professional cattle are photographed this way. This not only raises up her front end but gives her a nice top line.

NOW...the MOST FUN part of watching this whole very involved process is the "screeching monkey". As the entire photo set is silent, one brave and clownish person, with no fears of appearing like an idiot, volunteers to hide in nearby bushes, and make screeching monkey sounds. The goal is to get that "perky-ears forward-look". If those sounds don't work, then he will baaaaaa like a baby calf or goat. I have even heard owl sounds used....what ever it takes. This perks the cows interest (as they are very curious) and her ears cup in a forward, perky position and the photographer snaps the shot. One sound NEVER used is a barking dog. Since dogs are natural enemies to cows, this can rile up the animal and then there is no good shot. This whole screeching monkey business is absolutely entertaining to witness!!! It can take several ...and I do mean several, attempts to get just the right shot. It is also an ALL DAY event on the farm.

Photographing bears is a piece of cake next to picturing cattle.

The result? Beautiful photos used to represent the animals on the farm for breeding, embryo sales, and bull stud contracts.



The picture above and below are two advertisements we ran in a Holstein magazine. The titles are both a play on words. All the text includes the cows record information and classification scores.



My husband never told me he was including me in these ads. It was a total surprise.  In case you're wondering, the photo in this ad of Mark and me is of our wedding day. We are performing a Ballroom number and have just completed a shoulder lift. What you're looking at is called a "flying Angel".


Okay, here's me(above)....in unlikely farmers garb posing for a professional cattle portrait. This was my husband's idea



And here I am again(above). This is NOT a professional cow photo. See the difference?

One of the most impressive structures on the farm are the five silos. The largest is 84 feet tall and 20 feet in diameter. Sherwood, Kota, and Tako( Bears I created) all wanted to climb to the top but settled for this tree instead. Phew! It would be exhausting trying to climb up a silo to get them back down.



You really need to stand next to one of these giant "food containers" to really appreciate their size.

Look closely at the base of the blue Harvestor silo and you will see....Mark (the main man of the farm), my son Joey, and Sherwood.

The silos mainly contain corn silage, and haylage (pickled alfalpha). I'll tell you more about a cow's diet on day three when we milk some cows.

A farmers day starts very early every day, seven days a week at 5:30 am and ends around 8 or 9 pm....sometimes longer depending how smoothly things run. If there is a cow calving, or a sick animal...or (my favorite ) equipment problems, then a farmers day can go long hours into the night.

All bears at Luxembears are born inside this house....right on the other side of the bay window seen here.


This is my most recent creation Apollo. He's 26" tall and an original design. To see more of me bears go to www.luxembears.com


Here's Rachel with a young heifer.



Our farm is more than a century old and has gone through many changes over the years. My husband, Mark has lived and worked here all his life, and took over the farm completely in 1994. I grew up in the city so it was a big life change for me in 1996 when we married and bought the farm from Mark's parents.


Well, now you have had a brief introduction to the farm. Tomorrow we will meet the herd and show more bear/farm photos, so stay tuned!