Oh Bother (Project 365: 31/365)

Buddy's favorite activity...loafing on the couch.

Guess I should have done Dog Project 365, eh? Ah well, it's been a busy week. Busy weeks = lots of pup photos.  And I've made it through January with the project thus far so one month down, 11 to go! If you can handle a lot more future dog photos I just may be able to get through this. Once spring and summer arrive I'll have a lot more interesting subjects such as bugs, flowers and landscapes.  Hang in there with me!  ;)

I Can't Feel My Nose! (Project 365: 30/365)

Lois Lane loves the snow!  She always goes in nose first and jumps around like a little rabbit.  It's quite cold today.  We ended up with about 3 inches of snow, so nothing too treacherous.

And Then There Were Four (Project 365: 28/365)

I stopped by the cemetery on my way home from work today because there were about 100 geese around the pond.  They all high-tailed it to the water as soon as they saw me approaching - I must take food next time!  These four captured my interest as they were swimming towards the other bank in the light of the setting sun.

In more weather news, we're expecting snow still tomorrow, but we don't know how much.  We've heard anywhere from half an inch to six and a half inches.  How's that for a spread?  At this point it all depends on how the system moves through.  Guess we'll find out tomorrow!  We're all prepared with the generator and kerosene heater should we lose power again.  This time last year we were living in a 40 degree house with no power for five days.  You can see posts about that here, here and here.  I hope it doesn't happen again, but at least if it does we're a little more prepared for it.

I'm also hoping the snow isn't too bad.  We've volunteered to help transport a Great Pyrenees named Zeus on one leg of a long trip to get him to the rescue organization he needs to be at in order to get adopted into a new and loving home.  I'm sure Saturday's photo will be of Zeus - but you already knew that.

Birthday Dinner (Project 365 - 27/365)

Mmmm my favorite!  Pizza!  What better way to spend a birthday during the week than an evening in with hubby, in PJs, having a yummy and sinful dinner while loafing on the couch all evening!  One can never go wrong with bacon and roasted red peppers!

We were supposed to be spending the weekend at Lake Cumberland in a fantastic cabin on the lake, however looming weather has made us think twice. That area of Kentucky is expecting up to a foot of snow and with the back road we have to drive to get to the cabin it seems a bit treacherous of a trip.  Particularly when the lady in the rental office tells us that when it snows the road doesn't get cleared and it's easy to slip off the side, thus plummeting into the lake below. No thank you!  So we're rescheduling for sometime next month.  Instead we'll have a few friends out over the weekend and celebrate birthdays twice!

Beheaded (Project 365: 26/365)

Last weekend one of the kings got broken. Before I glued him back together I wanted to do something with his beheading.  After Jason and I set up about 70 different shots at different angles and setups, this one appealed to me most, though still not exactly what I wanted.  Playing again with my little Vivitar SF-3000 with some gels.

I ended up working from home today.  We only got about a 1/2" of snow, but the roads were horribly slick this morning.  I actually attempted to get to work, and would have been fine in my truck, but the main road outside of my neighborhood was gridlocked for at least two hours.  I figured I was better off remoting in from home and saving myself a potential wreck and two hours wasted sitting in traffic.  I actually got more than usual done work-wise due to no interruptions.  Too bad they don't let us do that more often!

Lois Lane Poses (Project 365: 25/365)

Lois Lane was my test model on the new SF-3000 slave flash that finally arrived in the mail today.  I only had about 10 minutes to mess with it, but for the $15 it cost me, I think it's gonna come in really handy, especially photographing fast, little, black dogs!  (Told you Lois Lane was next!)

Clean & Organized (Project 365: 24/365)

My home work station:

Intel Quad-Core i7 running Ubuntu (Linux
23" Samsung SyncMaster 2343 Primary Monitor
22" Samsung SyncMaster 2243 Second Monitor
20" Samsung SyncMaster 205BW Third Monitor

I couldn't stand it any longer and had to clean and organize my desk this morning.  Now it's much better and less cluttered.  Afterall,  'a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind'.

Whispering Sweet Nothings (Project 365: 23/365)

This is my old man, Hardy.  He turned 16 on Christmas Day.  Buddy was nuzzling on his ear and wouldn't leave him alone for me to get a shot of just Hardy, so here is Buddy's large snout.  Hardy is more gray than black now, can't hear worth a darn and due to having vestibular disease ( loss of ability to orient himself and becomes somewhat tipsy ) he doesn't see all that well either, but he's still feisty and enjoying life!

I warned you that you'd see lots of my pooches during this project!  ;)  Lois Lane is next...

Raindrop Bokeh (Project 365: 22/365)

I think I found the only green plant left in the backyard today.  It had all these teeny-tiny water drops all over the place, making one nice, clear drop and making beautiful bokeh with the drops in the background.  Though I keep seeing a fish shape in the clear one.

And ahhh, it's Friday!  What better way to spend it with friends.  Have a few peeps coming out tonight to hang out and chit-chat.  The house is clean-ish. It's impossible to keep clean floors when it's snowed or rained every day for the last two weeks, particularly when four dogs rule the house, so it's as good as it's gonna get.

Portia is in town tomorrow to visit her grandmother for the weekend, so she'll be popping in for a visit.  It's only been two weeks, but it feels like forever since I've seen her. It was a nice surprise to hear she'd be coming to visit!

Wishing all a great weekend!

Content (Project 365: 21/365)

Blue is still on cage rest for the next several weeks, but once I get home from work he yipes in his cage.  So the last couple days we've been letting him out to lay on his bed by my desk.  Since he isn't allowed to run or jump we have to keep him on leash. While I'm working I stick the end of the leash under the leg of my chair.  He's content...and quiet, so it works.  He's doing better.  He still has a limp and is wobbly on his feet at times, but the medicine seems to be helping and he's avoiding surgery thus far.  Fingers crossed he avoids it all together.

Compost (Project 365: 20/365)

Yup, coffee grounds and freezer burned corn on the cob!  A couple of the many things that go into the compost bowl to be dumped in the compost pile that we will use next year for our flower beds and garden.  Looks yummy, eh?

Fog in the 'Ville (Project 365: 19/365)

Today was one of the foggiest days I've seen in a long time here in Louisville.  This was taken just before noon today and it stayed this foggy most of the day and finally burned most of the way off around 5:00.  My lunchtime commute looked like this all through town with very low visibility.  It's cold and damp, but it was very pretty!

Posted (Project 365: 18/365)

I don't think much fishing will be done in this pond anytime soon!

If you're not reading this via RSS I'm sure you've noticed a change in color scheme. I changed the template from a light color scheme to a black scheme to better display my photos.  After trying many, many different themes I kept coming back to this one because I like the layout, the versatility and the ability to have my rotating images in the top banner.  So I hacked around a bit and made it look how I wanted it to.  I'd appreciate any feedback, any issues or problems you may find, etc.  There are a few small things I will be tweaking, but probably nothing too drastic.  I've also added the polls back on the right side if you enjoy poll type stuff.  Happy Monday!

Everyone Should Have a Monkey (Project 365: 17/365)

Today we went to Scott & Jennifer's baby shower at "The Sweet Tooth", a cute little coffee shop on Frankfort Avenue.  Jen and Scott have a baby boy due next month.  I think the monkey was Scott's favorite gift.  Rather than going back in the bag it sat on his lap or on the table while the rest of the gifts were opened.  And, as the title suggests, he said "Everyone should have a monkey!".

Nativity in an Egg (Project 365: 16/365)

My boss went to Guatemala over the Christmas holidays and brought each of her employees back a hand crafted nativity scene.  The top sits over the nativity so it can be shown or not.  I think it's cute!

Wash, Rinse, Repeat (Project 365: 15/365)

While I was out running errands this afternoon I decided to stop and get my truck washed.  Because of last weeks snow, it's filthy with road salt and I keep getting it all over my coat and clothes.  I generally don't like paying to have my truck washed, but couldn't stand it anymore.  This, of course, is a photo of the spinning shammy as it went across my windshield.

Fishin' Hole (Project 365: 14/365)

When I looked outside and saw this perfectly melted round circle in the middle of the pond I knew exactly what my project photo needed to be!  Most of the snow has melted, but the pond is still pretty solid, though I didn't dare step onto it just in case.  Jason assisted me and rigged up Monkey's fishing rod for me.

Blue went in for his recheck today and the vet said she was "cautiously optimistic" that he would not need surgery on his back.  But he's in for another four weeks of cage rest and then goes for another recheck after that.  He's also been put on some other maintenance meds to help strengthen his back and hopefully keep this from happening again.  At least he's already a fairly lazy dog so the cage treatment really doesn't seem to bother him much.

Purple Sunset (Project 365: 13/365)

The sunset tonight was purple creating a lovely natural gradient behind the trees.  Finally got up to the 40's today and melted off some of the snow.  It almost felt like spring compared to how it has been around here.  But, alas, I'm told it is still a long nine and a half weeks until spring time.

Big Worm (Project 365: 12/365)

Big Worm landed himself on our doorstep about 9 years ago. He was skin and bones, full of fleas and, you guessed it, full of worms. He's all healthy and neutered and stuff now, but rarely allows photos. He's an outdoor cat and we built him a heated cat box that sits on the front porch. The box is made out of a thick Styrofoam fish cooler with the lid screwed on and a hole cut in the side just big enough for Worm to crawl through. We then cut some laminate floor padding in strips to hang over the door to keep the drafts out, threw in a heated blanket and a fleece cover. He uses it all the time in the winter.

Silhouette a la Poe (Project 365: 11/365)

This is Poe, my red betta fish.  He was chilling in his bowl and my monitor behind him was giving a great back light for a silhouette.  Poe is my office bud.

Sam (Project 365: 10/365)

This is Sam, one of my mother-in-law's two cats.  We were visiting today and Sam and his roomie Sylvester were all cuddled up together in their heated box.  His ear folds over because had a blood vessel burst in his ear and it filled with blood, which eventually healed.  The ear flop is called a clover ear - thanks Matthew! (This can also happen when they have a bad case of ear mites.)   You can't tell his size well from the photo, but he is one, huge, fluffy kitteh!

The weekend was busy, but good.  We got to spend a lot of time with Portia.  She's headed back home now and we won't see her again until sometime next month due to the next 3 weekends being booked up by her plans and ours.  Blue is improving.  He's still on cage rest and probably will be for a while.  He goes back to the vet on Thursday.

Happy Birthday, Portia (Project 365: 9/365)

Portia was home for the weekend for her birthday and we took her and three of her friends bowling at King Pin.  Once again, I won the first game and tied Jason for the second.  Muahahah!  Though Portia's boyfriend (playing on a different team) was the overall winner - he kicked bootie!  We played a couple of games, had some pizza and then headed back home to hang out for the evening.

Charlie and Christina brought Scrappy over and him and Lois Lane are like two peas in a pod!  They are so cute together!  Now we just have to work with Buddy and Molly for some doggie harmony.

Strummin' (Project 365: 8/365)

Portia is playing guitar in her music class so she's learning some of the ropes from Jason.  Now she even has her own guitar!  She seems to be settling in well at her new school, even if she's only been there 2 days before they had 2 snow days.  Her 17th birthday is Wednesday so she's home for the weekend to celebrate with us.

There is no change in Blue today.  We'll be evaluating him again in the morning before calling the vet to give a status update and see what's next.  Stay tuned...

Portrait of a Pyr (Project 365: 7/365)

Buddy was out playing in the snow today and I snagged this profile shot of him.  I had a texture that I knew would go perfectly to make a portrait and it turned out just as I'd hoped.  I love my Giant Dawg!  And boy does he love the snow.

In other news, Blue is getting worse. :( He went back to the vet today and they determined that it is not a pulled muscle, but a spine problem.  We're not sure if it stems from his previous back injury or if it's something else.  The vet put him on a steroid medication and we're praying that helps.  If not, surgery is the only option and I don't know that we should (or could) put him through another major back surgery.  He'll be 9 next month and had a 6 week recovery of the previous surgery and even then he's never been quite the same, not near as active.  So we just hope that the medication and cage rest work for him.  *fingers crossed*

Jail House Blue (Project 365: 6/365)

Poor B. Dog. He messed up his back again and is on vet ordered cage rest for 10 days. He is none too happy about this outcome. But it sure beats the 6 weeks of cage rest he required when he ruptured a disk.  We're not really sure how he did it, but I believe it came about after a good round of rough housing with Buddy the Giant Dawg.  Then the next morning he jumped off the bed, yelped and started walking funny and all hunched over so it was off to the vet for a diagnosis of a severely pulled muscle.  Poor guy.  All in time for our first snow too.  We're supposed to be getting 3 - 5" tonight - so much for Blue's playtime in the snow.  However tomorrow's photo may be quite festive and seasonably snowy!

Cold Morning Moonlight (Project 365: 5/365)

This morning as I was starting my truck to warm it up for my trek into work, the moon peeked out from behind the clouds and illuminated the branches of the neighbors tree in a great silhouette.  It was 13 degrees and a few flurries were falling.  So far it's been a very cold year, about 20 degrees below Kentucky's normal average.

Rear View Mirror (Project 365: 4/365)

I bought this in the Bob Evan's store section of the restaurant one morning when we dropped in for breakfast.  I thought I'd like it hanging from my truck rear view mirror. Sitting in my truck after lunch today I found my idea for today's photo.  Besides, it was way too cold to shoot anything outside with dress clothes on!  What hangs from your rear view mirror?

Cheese Pizza Face (Project 365: 3/365)

Tonight we threw a surprise 30th birthday party for my friend and neighbor, Amy, over at Tom & Wendy's house (my other neighbors).  They had pizza and all kinds of goodies.  I snagged cutie Audrey with her cheese pizza face.  The party was a hit - Amy didn't have a clue!

Hair of the Dog (Project 365: 2/365)

Today was Furminator day for Buddy. Giant, hairy dogs, Furminators and winter time static do not go well together, thus I got a smaller pile of hair off of him than usual. Giant Dawg loves to be brushed, but Giant Dawg doesn't dig static.  (As a heads up, you can expect to see quite a few dog shots during this project.  ;) )

Project 365: 1/365

And Project 365 begins!  Today we took Portia & Celeste out to lunch and bowling before they both head back home tomorrow.  Still recovering from last night's New Year's Eve party, but bowling helped to get me moving.  It's been a while since I've bowled for real (as opposed to Wii bowling).  I won both games - score!

Happy New Year! I hope 2010 is awesome for everyone!