Hello Blogging friends from me and my dog

Where have you been I hear you ask? (humour me!) We missed you (as we say in Scotland – Aye Right! – where two positives make a negative)

Well I’ve been busy with work (boring) and life but it seems to be slightly slowing down now (work, not life), maybe it’s the lead up to Christmas but I’m expecting to be extremely busy come the New Year, so thought I’d throw up a post (or two) in December incase I can’t get online much next year.  That just shows you how messed up my brain is at the moment. I wrote the post, then checked it over for spelling mistakes and noticed that I wrote December but we’re actually still in November!

I even tried (and failed) to do the Facebook challenge that’s going around just now – 7 days in your life, black and white photographs, no people, no explanations. I decided to take all the photographs with my phone to speed up processing time, but again, FAIL.

The photographs I did take though seemed to all be following a theme of….. my dog, or as my human children call him, my favourite child! Anyway in the interests of writing a blog for the sake of it, here are my black and white photographs of my dog’s life (and mine).

High Five Dawg! He was sleeping (snoring) when I snuck up on him to photograph his paw. Oh mighty paw, with claws like a lions, how many times have you scratched me down my face when I happen to put my head too close and you decide to give me a paw?

I read somewhere that sleeping Airedales resemble a train wreck. It looks like someone picked them up and threw them against the wall (couch) and they fell asleep where they landed. The stinker woke up when he heard me approaching and moved though. I still love this shot as you can see him thinking “Party! Is it time for a party? Woohooo, just give me two minutes to untangle myself and I’ll be right there!” Cutie pie.

Then when I’m not working and being the dog’s servant I’m actually walking him. Our (my) favourite place to walk is at a local state park, especially now that all the leaves have fallen and it makes for a crunchy (smelly) (for him, not me) walk. Autumn trails.

Head pat and ear scratches. For the dog. Not me. I don’t mind the head pats, but I’m not very particular about ear scratches. Thanks all the same. A friend said to me recently that I should love him with everything I have so when he is gone I can feel good about what I had. Well I do. And I appreciate every minute I have with him, even when he pesters the life out of me (or scratches my face). There’s nothing nicer than snuggles from an 80lb lap dog. ❤

Photobombing dawg

Outside this afternoon trying to photograph my beautiful Azaleas and dawg decides to sneak into the shot.

Pouncing pooch

One minute he’s quite happily chasing bees on the grass…

 

I’m invisible!

Next he’s sneaking ninja-like into the shot…

 

Do you think she saw me?

Then he tries to act like he’s not there…

 

This is my best side. Does my nose look big in this?

Finally he strikes his perfect pose.

At least he’s not pulling the heads off them or digging them up. I do have a 3 foot hole in the grass though. I think he’s trying to dig to Australia (or wherever the opposite of the USA is. Is it China?)  Good job he’s cute. He just looks at me with his big brown eyes and gets away with mischief. Stinker!

WPC: Security or my fabulous guard dog

Dawg takes his position as my personal guard dog very seriously. If he’s not sleeping outside my bedroom door he’s underneath my feet at the computer desk when I’m working. He’s my furry shadow. Of course if it was up to him he’d sleep IN the bedroom with me, or even ON the bed, but I’m not into pets in the bedroom. Under the computer desk has it’s own hazards as well – he’s likely to be run over with a wheel from the chair or, more likely, put my feet to sleep as he forces all feelings out of my toes by lying on my feet.

Whatcha doing? I help? Whereya going? I come?

His favourite ‘on-guard’ position is upside down with all four feet in the air. I’m almost certain any burglars who managed to get in our house would be caught because they’d trip over him! Once he’s sleeping and snoring (yes, he snores) only the words “Walkies” or “Cheese” can awaken him. Don’t let his sweet angelic sleeping face fool you though, he’s like a ninja when someone dares to walk past our house, and God forbid anyone who actually comes to the door and rings the doorbell! If anyone wants a sound recording of what a ferocious guard dog who will eat you if you enter his domain sounds like then drop me a line. Of course once you’re actually inside the house he’s more likely to knock you to the ground and slabber all over you. He’s a 76lb lap dog who loves nothing better than to try and fit on my lap, especially when I’m reading, which is very inconvenient! From his early morning squirrel patrol to his (barking) conversations with all the neighbouring dogs he likes to make sure the world is secure enough for his humans.

Squirrel patrol reporting for duty. Backyard all safe and secure Ma’am!

Someone once asked me back in Scotland if I wasn’t afraid to walk the dog through the woods on my own? My answer was “Look at my dog. Do you really think anyone will try to grab me with this right beside me?” I was talking about my last dog obviously, but he was also an Airedale. I feel the same here in the USA, Airedales are very protective of their humans. No, I feel very safe and secure with my dog guarding me, whether it’s outside walking or whenever I’m alone in the house.

What hole in my bed? No of course I don’t eat fabric! What do you mean this is my 3rd bed in a year? Darned mice!!

Security

Merry Christmas

He thinks he’s getting a ball. He’s not. It’s a big lump of coal! Do you notice the distinct lack of presents under the tree? That’s because he eats them all. Also the decorations start halfway up the tree. He eats them too. Pooping tinsel is not Christmassey at all you silly dawg.

Anyway dawg and I would like to wish all in Blogland a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for the New Year.

Mosquitoes 39 : Alba 0

That was on my last counting of bites last night. It’s probably more than that now. I know I should be grateful that my lovely Scottish blood is so appealing to American bitey-bugs, but to be honest I was equally attractive to Scottish Midgies and I just want them to stop! The itching is driving me daft. Although I might have a solution quite soon – I was at a friends house on Saturday night and I’d only been out on her deck for less than 2 minutes and I was getting eaten alive. I asked her if she had any bug-spray and she handed me a bottle of Avon Skin-so-soft. Wow! That was me bug-free for the rest of the night! Now not that I’m endorsing any product, but YOU GOTTA TRY THIS STUFF. I’ve ordered hunners of bottles off the internet (2 actually) and am patiently waiting for them so I can enjoy the lovely warm evenings outside again.

I don’t have a photograph of a mosquito to post but I did get a few good shots of a Praying Mantis the other day there.

Not a mosquito

Now up till last week I though Praying Mantises were just another innocent bug, going about their daily lifes doing bug-related things like eating plants and maybe even smaller bugs. Little did I know they are really horrific serial killers who actually STAB and KILL hummingbirds!!! I would post a link to the pictures and video but it was horrific and I really don’t want to watch it again 😦 If you’re at all into horror films then by all means go Google it. I’m not. I still haven’t gotten over Nightmare on Elm Street 30 years later.

Eat a hummingbird? Never!

I love summer and wish it could last longer, but on MY conditions. The weather has to stay in the high 70s, low 80s and all the bitey-bugs and humidity have to be gone. My dog loves it getting cooler again though. We can once again walk him and he isn’t collapsing in a heap by the time he gets home. Last Sunday was a beautiful morning at the lake and he got off the lead for a short time. This next photograph is the picture of happiness.

Chasing dragonflies at the lake. Happy dog.

Oh to be as happy as a puppy that’s allowed to chase dragonflies and swim in the lake. We could all take lessons on living in the moment from dogs.

Happy last days of summer everyone.

Thank you!

Thanks, Merci, Ta, Cheers me-dears, or in my adopted country’s language “Thank y’all” This is my American accent incase you didn’t quite pick that up (all my attempts at accents sound vaguely like Klingon)

What am I thanking you for? Well I now have 100 followers on this silly little blog of mine!

Woohoo!!!

I’m overwhelmed that so many people like my blog enough to want to follow me, although I’m pretty sure some of them clicked follow by accident, but hey, I’ll take what I can get!

When I started blogging it was because I wanted more out of photography than I could get from Flickr. Flickr is great, and I still use it a lot, but I’m becoming more fond of blogging now because I’m not restricted to posting my best photographs and I can yap more on here. Sometimes a phone snapshot is enough to illustrate what I’m blabbing on about. Take this shot of my dog for instance.

Dawg, always ready to party!

Taken on my phone and not Flickr-worthy but certainly blog-worthy because it makes me smile. This is him celebrating my birthday btw. He’s such a party-animal (no pun intended).

Anyway thank you again, each and every one of you who takes the time to read the nonsense that comes out of my head and to look at my photographs. I love y’all *sniff*

 

Everyone’s a critic!

My 110 year old piano moved all the way from Scotland to the USA

Apparently I’m famous on Twitter. Which is pretty cool because I don’t even have a Twitter account! But my daughter does and unbeknown to me she regularly tweets about things I do…..

Take the other day for example. She went ahead and tweeted “Just lay down in my bed for a nap when ALBA decides now would be a good time to practise her C Major scales on the piano. Now it’s Yankee Doodle and now it’s Row, row, row your boat. Alba hasn’t played piano in 30 years. What’s going on? Life sucks.”

WELL….. of course she then came downstairs to see what the heck I was doing and offer advice (her first year at college was as a music major in piano) and that’s when she told me about the Twitter fame. I appropriately rolled my eyes and told her that

a) I got the piano tuned 2 weeks ago and have been practising EVERY day since. It just so happens she hadn’t been in the house whilst said practicising has been going on.

b) The choice of toones was because I am re-learning from scratch and had dug out her old piano books from when she was 6/7 years old. She just hasn’t heard me play the Disney songs yet…

c) I didn’t even KNOW I was playing a C Major scale – I was just warming up my fingers.

d) You’re 21 years old – YOU DON’T NEED A NAP! GET A JOB!!!

Love me some Disney!

Anyway I’m continuing to practise every day (mostly when she’s at college) but yesterday as I was happily tinkling away on the ivories I looked around for Dawg as he’s always at my feet and follows me from room to room and I couldn’t find him anywhere. Seems he too had had enough of my playing and had taken himself off to his cage in the corner of the room. He didn’t quite have his paws over his ears, but I’m pretty sure he was wondering how to stop the noise. Huh, everyone’s a critic!

What’s that face for – don’t you like my playing piano?

Things my dog has eaten: Chapter 197

Damn Dawg! Yesterday he ate my daughter’s spare glasses….

A couple of weeks ago he ate my iPhone….

Then there was the time he ate the TV Plonker (remote control for non-plonker people!)

A library book (which cost me $32 to replace!!! I didn’t even like the book – it was a book club one!!!!!)

Plus of course various dog-toys over the year….

Even the indestructible ones….

Not to mention all the dozens of socks, tissues, paper towels, paper, a tea-towel, blankets, dog-beds, towels. And don’t forget all the food he steals when counter-surfing (only when no-one is looking of course, he’s not daft!)….

Why do we keep him you ask? Well, he is smart, loveable, cuddly and the cutest dog ever. Plus of course he loves me unconditionally. What more could I ask? Well, how about not stealing stuff when I’m not around……

Photo 101: Glass

“Hello from the Other Side… I must have barked a thousand times….”

Can’t take credit for that I’m afraid. I saw it on t’internet a while back and thought it was funny.

If you zoom in you’ll see all of Dawg’s Nose Art

Thought long and hard about today’s assignment, and if I hadn’t already taken some photographs of the old factory windows and uploaded them last week I would have done that. But in the end I faffed about nearly all day and ended up shooting the dog out the patio windows. Mission accomplished.

Photo 101: Movement

What could I do for movement? Well how about my big daft dog! That will be easy thought I. I’ll get my daughter roped in to throw the ball/frisbee/stick at me and I’ll shoot him running towards me…. How wrong could I be!! Umpteen photos later (and a pretty good workout for the dog) I finally manged to capture some ‘action’ shots of him, but dang dog just wouldn’t co-operate! Anyway here’s a few shots of him running around the backyard.