It all began on my paternal grandparent's farm in Alabama.My Papaw and Great Granny had a strawberry patch, apple trees, plum trees, cherry trees, muscadine vines, chickens and cows. They just had a little bit of everything a big family needs.

After my mother died when I was five, my four siblings and I moved up to stay with our grandparents for a few months. It was my chore to gather the eggs form the chicken coop every morning. I noticed this bull kept coming up to the gate when I would come down. Soon, I began to feed strawberries and grass to Big Red. I was the only kid that Big Red didn't chase in the pasture. I always called him a cow, even though he was most definitely a bull. We soon became fast friends. I considered him my pet!

One day Big Red wasn't in the pasture. I ran up to the house yelling, "Big Red's Gone!!!" I was told he had gone on to greener pastures. Being a literal child-I went looking for greener pastures...Two weeks later we were having Sunday lunch after church, and my older brother said,"Ummm, Big Red sure does taste good." We were eating my "pet"!!!

Obviously, this had a profound affect on me. I wanted to stop eating meat then and there! My dad and step-mother wouldn't let me; they felt that you needed to eat meat to survive. I stopped eating red meat after I moved out, and I gave up the rest a couple of years later. Although being a vegetarian is important to me, I feel that it is not my right to push my views on others.

In college, I shared this sad story with some friends. Designing my own cow print clothing in honor of my pet and all animals began the conversation. We decided that I needed a title and thus The Cow Goddess™ was born.

It wasn't long before I created my first cow art car, Betsy I. This was a Oldsmobile station wagon that I hand peeled the "wood paneling" off and painted. The interior was all red and the long term goal was to have the inner-workings of a cow made from a variety of materials.I had even added a tail! In 1996, Las Colinas had a big concert and I was invited to my first art car event. There is one very goofy picture of my standing on top of my car.

Unfortunately, Betsy wasn't a cow long due to a drunk driver demolishing her. On NYE 1997, I had been designated driver all night. Then I got hit by a drunk driver on the way to my then-boyfriend's house. The driver even hit me on my bumper sticker that said "Arrive Alive-Don't Drink And Drive".

Out of that tragedy came Betsy II-The Concept of Cows™. She is my current art car and only mode of transportation. The car underneath all 20,000 Legos™ is a 1992 LeBaron convertible. The hood has a moo-saic of a cow out of 9,000 Lego™ bricks! There are 8,000 on the sides and 500 on the dash. On the truck, there is a scene of cows crossing the yellow brick road to freedom. The scene is made of a metal truck, Legos™ and plastic cows. At Christmas time, I cover her with blinking lights to make her more festive! Check out the Betsy II™ section for pics.

As The Cow Goddess ™ I have made many appearances over the years. My favorite has been to go to the Lighthouse For The Blind in Houston.There are links for streaming videos of some of these appearances on my links page.