Baby T-Rex: My Real 'Buddy Davis Original'

The previous entry just got too long, so this is kind of a continuation. :) One of the pros to working in the big walk-in closet is that I get to admire my Baby T-Rex.



Buddy Davis (dinosaur sculptor, singer and speaker for Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum) is a personal friend. Actually, it's not even really fair to refer to him and his wife as "friends." They're like family. We live about forty-five minutes apart, and we get together as often as their work schedule allows. They are just great.

Well, Buddy is like any artist. He's had bits and pieces of old projects that got rejected for one reason or another. About seven or eight years ago, I think, Elizabeth and I were poking around in the loft of his barn, and we came across a model of a baby T-Rex. The poor thing was covered in dust and really needed a paint job and some TLC. I went right down and asked Buddy why the poor little thing was all alone in the corner. He made some disparaging remarks about the poor baby's appearance and mentioned taking an axe to it. What!? That cute baby T-Rex? That darling baby T-Rex? An axe! No way. At least, not if I could talk him out of it.

It took about six months of bugging, whining and making a general pest of myself. All it needed was a paint job. And it would look so nice with a brown color scheme, right? Right! Buddy and I had a fun time over this. I would check on the little thing every now and then. But the day came when Buddy said "no more checking." Yahoo!! Baby T-Rex was getting fixed. Of course, I made sure that he hadn't been sent to burn pile or the guillotine. Nope. Buddy promised that Baby T-Rex was going to be saved from an awful fate --- but no other questions allowed until he said.

A couple months went by. I dropped hints about Baby's paint job. It would look so beautiful in brown. Baby just didn't want to end up being a green dinosaur. Buddy just laughed and changed the subject. Okay, so I was anything but subtle. :)

Then, Christmas rolls around. We're invited down to Buddy and Kay's house for the afternoon, and guess what was hiding behind the couch?! A shining Baby T-Rex (who had gotten a complete face lift --- which was actually more of a "head lift") that was a brown dinosaur. Three cheers for Buddy!! I was thrilled. I mean, a cute baby that had been saved from the loft. And it's my very own one-of-kind Buddy Davis dinosaur! Wow!

We didn't have a truck at that time, so Buddy and Kay had to bring him to our house a week or two later. The cats don't get along with Baby, though. And I don't want the cats to climb on Baby. They might mess up that gorgeous brown skin of his, you know, so he's in the big walk-in closet. I've never taken a picture of him (and this one isn't the best), but here's one to show him off. What a face. Thank you, Buddy! More later.