Ever Seen the Furry Godmother?

I have. And oh, do I have a treat for you. Please don’t spoil my surprise by clicking away before reading more and please don’t tell me that you’ve already visited the blog that Angela Goza (aka: The Furry Godmother) creates and maintains. I’d like to be the one that introduces you to this pets blog.

I strongly recommend, after reading this review of course, that you check out what The Furry Godmother has to say! I promise that unless you are a completely humorless dolt, you will sit back in your chair at some point while reading her tales and laugh till your belly hurts over the antics that seemingly take place daily at “Hudarosa.” Angela crafts her anecdotes in a way that makes me feel that we could be sitting out by her pool with the ice rattling in the glasses, just like old friends. Maybe it comes from the kinship of maintaining a house to be at the beck and call of our animal friends, but I swear after reading her blog posts I felt as if I had known Angela. . . er, the Furry Godmother. . . all my life.

So let the fairy tale begin. . .

Once upon a time, in cottage in a forest in a faraway place (otherwise known as Memphis, Tennessee) there lived a Furry Godmother (otherwise known as Angela) and her husband, Hud. Her magical kingdom, affectionately donned “Hudarosa,” which is perhaps a whimsical blend of Hud and Ponderosa (did I just give away my age?) . . .

Let me introduce you to the rest of the clan that resides in the cottage in the forest in the magical kingdom of Hudarosa. First, there’s Aida Velveeta, otherwise known as “the Big Cheese.” She is the resident cat amidst the kingdom’s four dogs, Zoe, Carmen, Simone, and the token male of the group, Zali. Add one bird and several dwarf hamsters and you’ve got yourself a cottage full of fun.

TFG (the Furry Godmother, of course, you really didn’t think I was going to type that out every time I referenced her, did you) has been posting about her pets, and her life, on her TypePad blog since the middle of last summer and already has a fairly extensive and entertaining archive listing. She does a great job of introducing each of her animal friends, and their personalities, without actually giving a biography of the individual animals. You’ve just gotta read to get to know them.

As a matter of fact, TFG invited me over to her place quite a while ago and this review has taken on many forms. Each time I started to review her blog I got caught up reading the latest antics. It nearly happened again tonight when I saw Gung How Fat Choy! Admit it, you just said that out loud, didn’t you?! If you didn’t you really need to… go ahead, I’ll wait – Gung How Fat Choy!

So on to TFG’s four-footed ones. Zoe is her 83-lb. bundle of pure energy (a Lab); Carmen is the ever-talkative and deathly-afraid-of-water (including all forms of rain) Border Collie. Simone is a Papillon and is the baby of the group and, incidentally, celebrated her first birthday with cupcakes on the terrace. Ah, life on the Hudarosa. . .

And, speaking of cake, Zali, who is also a Papillon, is definitely the epicurean of the group. He absolutely adores cake and would probably like be credited for Josephine’s saying of “Let them eat cake.” Well, being that he is French, the saying would probably go more like “Leeet zhem eeet de cake!” He’s also a polite and lovely traveling companion which is why he tours the country in a custom caravan (aka backpack). Simone, not so much. She’s no Zali Lama.

Are you starting to see just how enchanting The Furry Godmother’s tales can be? And it’s not just the pets of the palace, I mean cottage. The Furry Godmother is known to include many creatures of the wild in her blog as well, and is often visited by squirrels and possums. Check out playing possum to learn how to get a baby opossum safely out of a jam. One of my favorites, this post begins when Hud takes the rolling trash bin out to do a bit of gardening only to discover there’s a baby possum hidden inside. He consults TFG and they call a local nature center for additional advice. They suggested they give him some water and dog food and then let him out at night. (The possum, not Hud – just to be clear on that fact).

The squirrels that visit the freeway (the flat board on top of the fence around her yard) regularly have a different tale, though. Apparently, those squirrels are either, as TFG puts it, “the stupidest squirrels in the Metro area,” “the slowest squirrels in Shelby County,” or “the most daring squirrels on this side of the Mississippi” for they frequently visit and touch the transformer beside Hudarosa, creating nasty power outages. Maybe the squirrels just like to taunt Zoe, Carmen, Simone and Zali and if so, this is perhaps nothing short of cosmic justice. Karma.

You’d think that Angela would be happy and complete, and have all her time tied up in her role as Furry Godmother, but guess what?!?! I have another treat for you – just for hanging in there and reading on.

You see, Angela is not just a talented writer with a houseful of inspiration at her fingertips. No, as if having one awesome talent wasn’t enough, the creative gods just had to shine on her again. Do I sound jealous? Believe me, I am – because she she uses her main site, CanIKeepIt.com to place adoptees in loving homes. Hopefully, as she points out, if you sniff out something that you like, then it will follow you home to a life of love and she will have made another successful placement. Now, if you think I am talking about animal adoption at this point, that would be a pretty good guess. But I’m not.

Nope! I am talking about the wonderfully bright and ever-so-expressive paintings of animals that Angela has created. She offers a wide range of artwork from ceramics to prints, all with an eye for animals. Her range varies from chickens, frogs, and mice to cats, dogs and rabbits. You could look around at some of the happy adoptions on the homepage, which is pretty dandy unless you’re like me and would like to have “Monkey-Do” hanging in your house instead of Julie’s.

If you’re going to sniff around, I’d recommend her retail store where you’ll find 306 whimsical products from the Furry Godmother herself. I’m particularly fond of “Saturday Night Retriever” and “Hunka, Hunka Burnin’ Dove.”

So that’s the story of The Furry Godmother, talented teller of tales and fabulously fun artist. Be sure to hop on over for a visit now and be sure to say hi to everyone at Hudarosa for me. Oh, and I have a sneaking suspicion that they’ll all live happily ever after of course.

• The Furry Godmother’s Blog
• Angela Goza – The ARTIST