There was a downside to our new relationship, though. Since I work a full-time job, Mitchell found himself lonely just hanging around all day. It was high time he had a friend. My husband had his eye on an alligator head at a local antique store, but sadly it had already been sold. However, the powers of the interwebs are remarkable and I soon found not just a head, but an entire alligator for a bargain price (due to bad stitchery, stuffing leakage, and a missing (but completely unnecessary) hand). Frank Engator entered our life and I found myself getting high off the big score . . .

Scout has not been consulted, of course but, in Su’s eyes, stuffing her would be a gesture of love. “I’d rather have her in my apartment than have her incinerated,” she says. Besides, in her view, people benefit from being more relaxed about corpses. For instance, instead of being placed in a coffin for her wake, Miriam Burbank, a New Orleans woman who died this year, was sitting up at a table with a beer and a cigarette. “It would be great,” Su says, when the sad day arrives, for her boyfriend to arrange something similar. Crap Taxidermy makes the promise of an entertaining and comedic read concerning distasteful and terribly positioned taxidermist “art”. The author starts off by explaining that taxidermy can come in two speeds: well done, and crap – you can guess which the book focuses on. Regardless of the author’s note that the book does not mean to be disrespectful, but rather shine a humorous light on the strange and unique works. The author includes quite a few photos: all of which are high-definition and full color.

FOLLOW US

For those of you keeping score – and God knows I am – Crappy Taxidermy boasts itself as “the Internet’s oldest and largest image gallery of crappy and awesome taxidermy since 2009.” a few of these examples aren't in the book itself, but they are on the blog, and they are pretty damn creepy, so worth including. Why? “Because I have no life,” she says, and in that respect at least she has plenty of company. Visit her apartment today and you’ll see a two-headed rabbit, a squirrel holding a gun, a fox that is itself wearing a fox stole and, yes, a mounted deer head. (“That one’s actually pretty normal.”)

Along the way we’ve adopted more friends into our little menagerie. Adorable pals like Pauly Shore: It sounds crazy to reject a book deal, but since this blog came out in 2009, I’ve been approached by many different publishing houses and literary agents who wanted to turn the Crappy Taxidermy blog into a book. There are lots of reasons I declined those opportunities, but the biggest one was timing; as much as I enjoy working on this blog, free time is an incredibly rare resource for young people who live and work in NYC. :P Su explained that “blogging isn’t a zero sum game, and everyone wins when you spread the love for this particular type of taxidermy. I just like making people laugh.” I brought Mitchell home and we became instant BFFs. We continued our chats and got to know each other on a deeper level. Friends and family found our relationship to be a bit strange, but it was only because they couldn’t appreciate what it was like for me to FINALLY have a fellow book lover in the house. Of course, Mitchell’s idea of a “comedy” isn’t quite the same as mine . . . The reason for the name change, Su explained, is that her book is actually being published by a British publishing house, and that British people don’t use the word “crappy.”

META

He loves taxidermy and Sheffield Wednesday Football Club. Beyond that, we know very little about the man behind the account. Soon, people started catching on to his feed, especially in the last week. Which should help him keep it updated with new images going forward.

Should I tell you that I am one of the rabid followers of all things relating to The Bloggess and on one fateful day while perusing my local thrift shop my life was changed forever? and here is a list of books on the topic that i either own already or really want to own already, that you can read while you are waiting for this book to come out in september: A relaxed toad enjoying a smoke and a brew. A cat with eerily flexible front legs. A smiling lion with receding gums. Whether you choose to laugh or cringe at these spectacularly bad attempts at taxidermy, you won't be able to tear your eyes away from the curiosities inside. This volume brings together the very best of the worst (along with a DIY Stuff Your Own Mouse lesson by an Insect Preparator from the American Museum of Natural History), showcasing the most perverse yet imaginative anatomical reconstructions of the animal kingdom you'll ever see. Five years later, I’m so excited to report that I finally said yes to a publisher this February. After months of nonstop hard work, Crappy Taxidermy is finally going to live up to its full potential and become a book, thanks to the efforts and talents of the amazing people at Octopus Publishing Group, Ten Speed Press, Inkwell Management, and the photographers, artists and taxidermists who contributed to the project. PLUS! at the end of this book, there is also a helpful section that teaches you how to do your own taxidermy on a mouse, including a SUPER helpful section called "when accidents happen."i requested this late last night on netgalley, in great delight and "must read this! fever, and then completely forgot about it until i went on there today for a totally different reason. such a great "oh, yeah!" surprise when i got home. This book confirmed my belief that there is nothing in the world quite like taxidermy. I might be a candidate for an appearance on “My Strange Addiction”, but it’s cheaper than heroin and releases tons of good endorphins. Be it bad, good, or bizarre, taxidermied critters are definitely a conversation starter when people step in to your house for the first time and realize your simple reading room is truly a “Where’s Waldo” of dead things.

Bad taxidermy on the Web is actually nothing new. For example, about five years ago a woman in New York name Kat Su started a Tumblr blog called Crappy Taxidermy.