original meerkat adoption certificate and logo

For my birthday, my man surprised me quite elaborately with a sneaky secret trip to Fellow Earthlings' Wildlife Center during our trip to E3. Under the guise of meeting more of his family in the middle of the California desert, he lured me into a car with our friends for this trek. Blindfolded for the last 15 minutes of the trip (I know why Stevie Wonder does that head bob thing now...) so I wouldn't see the signs for the reserve, we arrived and I was introduced to the first time to Pam Wallberg. Not having a clue where I was or what was going on, she introduces me to the family chicken. ...yes, I said chicken. This chicken used to be a fighting cock that was rescued and became a family member of Pam and her husband. The fun thing about this chicken is he thinks he's human. He doesn't want to have anything to do with any other chickens, female or otherwise, and spends his days following the humans, toted like a pile of schoolbooks in their arms and occasionally taking the family hors– er, dog, for laps around the meerkat enclosures.

Not that this has anything to do with the meerkats themselves, but that's just to give you background at how phenomenally genuinely cool this place is. Somewhere after the chicken and dog I was clued in on where I was when I walked towards these little barking sounds and saw meerkats in some enclosures that looked like giant versions of hamster habitats, complete with a tunnel over a brook and the cutest little wooden houses. ;}

The wonderful point of this place is it is a meerkat sanctuary; Pam rescues meerkats that are sick, injured, or zooless and rehabilites them, giving them permanent homes. Visitors are allowed to visit this reserve and go into the enclosures (supervised by Pam, of course) and sit with and feed the meerkats. Let me tell you if this wasn't the coolest day I've ever had. The four of us (me, my man and two of our friends) got the treat of our life as we visited with Pam and her meerkats for quite some time. There was even a lovely picnic table with snacks and drinks and the grounds of this place is beyond beautiful. The compound itself is remarkably on an oasis in the middle of the California desert. The wonderful wooden cabin and the manicured pond and landscaping has features even the most expensive bed and breakfasts would envy.

Needless to say, I was quite smitten.

Pam (bless her heart) is an incredibly warm and intelligent woman who, before meeting all of us had completely researched me and my website. She and I had tons of fun talking shop and I got to learn all about her projects and her past honors (she's famous, guys: National Geographic, Discovery Channel, Disney patterned Timon after one of her meerkats, and all SORTS of huge things) and she wanted me to take a look at her certificates and wares visitors begged her to provide. I've always loved meerkats. And I've been looking for a way to give back due to all the cool things I've been blessed to enjoy in my life. So it occurred to me, more than anything else I could do, Pam could use some art. So I gave her some. Consider it charity work.

Firstly, it was most necessary to redo the adoption certificate (those meerkats shown are pictures from our own visit). Now, it is a severe no-no to think you can actually have a meerkat for a pet. If you try to, it'll probably die of stress of lonliness. They are family creatures and unless you have the license and the kind of facilities Pam has, that meerkat will not last long. Not to mention, digging is their reason d'etre. Think of this as more of a sponsorship donation program. Kinda like adopt-a-whale.

While I was at it, I noticed their logo had to be upgraded to match. The original logo looked so clinical, it resembled a veterinary hospital rather than eluding to the fact you can actually visit this place. So overall, the new look was trying to incorporate an exotic flair that brought a little of the African safari to California. I wanted something that would have the sheer coolness of Indiana Jones meets the Kalahari. So that's what I did. ;} And there will be more projects. Not only do I finally have an outlet for my love of aged materials and meerkats, but there's a lot of great things to be done from posters to t-shirts and...

...well. ;} Enjoy the pics. I'll keep you updated.