Weekly Quote

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.---C. S. Lewis

About Me

Hello.  My name is Donna Gunn.  I reside in Upland, California with my family on a city farm.  I am in the second half-century of my life and am a self-employed hydrogeologist.  As a hydrogeologist I work with water purveyors on groundwater mangement issues and in the construction of water production wells.  When I am between jobs I spend my time on my two passions--handmaking and critters. 

The ranking of my passions changes from time-to-time.  Right now I am all about making.  My favorite media are wire, metal and beads; and fabric.  With the wire metal and beads I make southwest/tribal/ethnic/nature inspired jewelry and with the fiber I make southwest/tribal/ethnic/nature inspired wearable art.

You can see my jewelry and fabric art at Donna Gunn Metalsmith, my etsy shop.

I am lucky to have a half-acre city farm (this may not seem like much land to many of you but when most people live on lots of 4000 sq. ft. or less, it is) at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains in Upland, California that allows me to indulge in my second passion--critters.  My critters include chickens, four dogs, four cats and two horses.  I'm thinking about adding a milk goat but am still doing my research.

The chickens are to provide us with eggs, in the summer they do their job too well and we are inundated with eggs.  There is nothing like a homegrown egg, they are just eggier than store bought.

The dogs are my companions, keeping me company in my dungeon office/studio.  My dog is a young German shepherd named Jazzy.  My daughter brought her home at five weeks (yes, I know that is too young) and we immediately bonded.  I never considered having a German shepherd before but now I don't think I will be without one. 

Jazzy, she is a longcoat GSD.

My husband's dog is a thirteen year old Shar Pei mix named Xena who merely tolerates me.

The family dog is Tank a large black lab, he couldn't/wouldn't choose a favortie person; he just loves all of us. And we are fostering a Whippet mix—Orion, whose mom dearly loves him but is unable to have him at her house.

The cats are well cats; they allow us to feed them and provide them with shelter.

And last but not least are the horses.  I had horses as a teenager but left them behind when I went to college.  When I quit my "real" job and went into consulting my daughter convinced my husband and me to allow her to have a horse and somehow I ended up with one too.  We both took riding lessons and I got interested in training horses.  We have two horses Max, a running quarterhorse (that means he is a quarterhorse-throughbred cross, a race horse), and Breezy a quarterhorse-foxtrotter cross.

Max is the big sorrel (chestnut) and Breezy is the pinto.

You can email me at dgunn43 at aol.com.