These are the beautiful little monsters we’ve been fostering over the past two months… God knows I love them to pieces but can’t wait for my sanity to return. We’re down to 2… the deaf babies, of course. They aren’t so bad. They sleep like a rock and have tons of fun playing together. Luckily we have experience with deaf dogs (Buckley) so they aren’t hard at all. Love these babies… and they are SUPER photogenic. My gosh!
My parents gave us a lovely wooden bench to sit on our back porch. It has a nifty little area that opens up and allows you to put junk and whatnots inside. We generally use it to keep our shoes in, but its most prominent occupant is an array of dog toys… and Thor knows it. So, every day, we let him outside to do his biz, and next thing I know, he’s sitting on the box, barking at us to open it for him and get out a tennis ball or frisbee and play. I’ve never met a dog more obsessed with toys.
Anyway, today he decided to stick his whole upper body in the box and Ryan just so happened to help his back end in the box too. So, there he sat. In his little toybox, staring at me like, “where did all the toys go?”
Pretty boy…
Thor in a Box
My pretty red boy
These photos were taken with my Canon 6D and 50mm f/1.2L lens in mid to late evening light. Adjusted in Lightroom.
As some of you already know, I live in a town named Dublin, which is located in the middle Georgia area. It was named by (you guessed it!) Irish settlers who thought the land reminded them of home. (I wish…) Dublin is about halfway between Atlanta and Savannah, which made it useful in trade of agricultural, textile, and other trading. It was also chosen as the site for a Naval Hospital, built in 1945 to convalesce those suffering from Rheumatic Fever. It is now the Carl Vinson VA hospital, which is where I work. I love my job, and Dublin is a nice enough town of roughly 16,000 people.
Anyway, I ramble… The town is named DUBLIN, after Dublin, Ireland… and of course, Saint Patrick’s Day is kind of a big deal around here. The town hosts a parade and other family activities. It’s a lot less boozier than Savannah, but kid-friendly, and makes things interesting for the locals. I’m not Irish at all (or at least that I know of… I’m Scottish, English, Cuban, Spanish, and Italian, actually… I describe myself as 25% Hispanic and 75% Generic White Girl) BUT I enjoy any kind of holiday and an excuse to act sillier than usual.
The Humane Society got in on the action, hosting a “St. PAWtrick’s Day” Dog Costume contest. And of course, since I am the volunteer photographer for the shelter, I was asked to come on down and shoot the event. It was going in the paper, website, and Facebook page, so, off I go with my camera in tow.
It was pretty cute… Here are a few of my favorites:
One of the best parts of my weekend is that one of those days, my puppies get their weekly bath. In general, dogs tend to smell unpleasant after a week of running around outside, playing rough, and not getting their bottoms cleaned. Think about it… you would too, if you didn’t bathe but every 7 days.
I decided to document the event in photos. (Ryan said I was mean to just stand there and take pictures.) Personally, I think dog bath pictures are pretty fun.
Duncan
Buckley
Thor
Bonus 🙂
Buckley B&W
Canon 6D and 50mm f/1.2L
When I first moved to Savannah, my Dad did me a solid and offered to buy me some furniture so I wouldn’t have to sit indian style on my apartment floor while I ate my shrimp-flavored Ramen noodles. He took me to Rooms to Go and let me pick out a couch, a matching chair, and a set of tables. Because I was such a wonderful kid and made his heart swell with pride for starting pharmacy school, he even let me get a matching shag rug to go with the set. It was the best rug.
That living room set endured a hell of a lot.
One Sunday night, while I was diligently studying for Biochemistry, I left Baron (my miniature American Eskimo) unattended on the floor playing with his toys. He had been to the bathroom and was playing peacefully until bedtime… or so I thought. Suddenly, a horrendous smell crept through my olfactory, past my blood brain barrier. It was so offensive it cauterized my nostril hairs and resulted in a Niagra-esque cascade of tears. In search of the source of the odor, I scanned the room until my eyes fixated on my sweet little puppy. When our gaze met, he immediately interpreted this as an invitation to run batcrap crazy around the room. Before I could form the “N” in “NNNNOOOOOOOO!!!” he blazed past me, running circles, all over the rug, all over the couch, all over me, creating an all-encompassing vortex of sh*t and stink.
What I soon discovered was that Baron had produced the foulest of all poops on the rug (my beautiful rug), then proceeded to run circles through it more efficiently than any NASCAR driver I know… thus distributing it evenly all over the room. My fluffy white dog was now a gradient of doo-doo brown from his tip toes to his ears, and a feeling of helplessness overwhelmed me. I wept.
At this time, I concluded that there were 2 things that had to happen… Clean the dog. Clean the living room. Not in that order. Well, maybe in that order.
I grabbed the dog and threw him in the bathroom and slammed the door (as if he understood). I paced. I grabbed the cleaning supplies and emptied a bottle of Arm and Hammer on the carpet/rug/couch/chair. I called my Mom.
I’m sure she thought I was dying.
Me: *sobbing* “MOM OH MY GOD THERE IS CRAP EVERYWHERE AND BARON IS COVERED IN IT AND I AM COVERED IN IT AND THE RUG…. THE RUUUUGGGGGG. *incoherent babbling* IT’S ALL COVERED IN IT EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE AND I HAVE A TEST TOMORROW AT 8:00AM AND I AM GOING TO FAIL!!!”
Mom: “Okay. Baron. Number 2. Test. Gotcha. I’m on my way.”
And just like that, my Mother came to my rescue… all the way to Savannah. Mom of the freaking year.
I managed to wipe away my tears and wrangle Baron into the bathtub. I am pretty sure it was the worst bath of his life (and certain it was the worst bath of MY life). I uncapped the pet shampoo and covered him with the entire bottle. He was not happy, but neither was I. Unmerciful, yes. Cruel, no.
And I didn’t make an A on that Biochemistry test… or even a B that time… but I learned valuable lesson even more important than purine and pyrimidine synthesis…
Tears won’t wash away crap… but 16 ounces of “Perfect Coat: White Pearl”, 2 bottles of “Arm and Hammer Pet Stain and Odor Removal”, a roll of paper towels, and a phone call to Mama can sanitize even the most unfortunate “shituations”.
FYI… My arms aren’t that hairy… (that’s my Dad giving Baron a bath in the sink).
Baron now lives with my parents… NO, not because he made number 2 on my rug. I still love Baron very much. After my Dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009 and underwent a radical prostatectomy, he was forced into retirement. You could tell it was really weighing on him. When I visited home, he seemed to thoroughly enjoy the company of my dog, Baron. When I moved home for advanced rotations, my Dad became very attached to him, so when I left home again (this time permanently), I let Baron stay. While it was heartbreaking to give away my sweet little bundle of fluff, I knew it was a sacrifice that would be worth it for my Dad. Those two are inseparable and spend every minute together. I’ve never seen either of them happier… and by the way, my Dad has been completely cancer free for over 4 years now. 🙂
Today, I decided to arm myself with a pocket full of Pupcorn and take the “big guys” out today to catch some pictures before the rain. The clouds were nice and it wasn’t so stinkin’ hot outside. Humid, though. The lens fogged up the second I walked out. Nothing a good wipe and some palm heat won’t fix. Buckley got left inside this time because he was in the middle of napping, and when that occurs you appreciate the serenity and leave him be.
Thor:
(Thor will do anything for Pupcorn. Ask him if he “wants a nom nom” and you get a nice head tilt, too.)
Duncan:
(This picture was ridiculously hard to take. Duncan is terrified of my camera for some reason. Plus the neighbor’s dog was barking and he was far more interested in what he had to say than Mommy harassing him to smile.)
All pictures taken with Canon 6D in overcast weather with the 24-70mm f/2.8L II
Since the weather has been unpleasant (i.e. Tropical Storm Andrea, now 95 degrees) I haven’t gotten to play much with my fancy new 24-70 outside. It is literally like a sauna out there. I took these pictures around 7:00-8:00PM this evening and the moment I walked outside my lens fogged up. *Grrr*
In between lens wipes and swatting away the billions of germ carrying gnats, I was able to catch a few shots of the boys. Did I mention I loved this lens? It is ridiculously sharp for a zoom lens and the colors are fantastic. Even with the dark rapidly approaching, this lens delivered images more beautiful than any of my previous lenses. And on the light hungry 6D? *Swoon*
One of the main questions I kept coming across in reviews of this lens: “Is it worth it?” I won’t lie, it really hurt my feelings to buy a lens this pricey, but I am starting to see that it is, in fact, worth it. For months I have longingly been staring at this lens on Amazon, waiting patiently for the price to drop. It hasn’t, I became impatient, and I finally made the decision to just jump right in after my 60D kit sold. They have a 30 day return policy, right?
The day it arrived the weather was total crap and I was having serious buyers remorse. Now, however, I’ve decided I am ditching my other zoom and adding it to my bag permanently. The build quality of this lens is absolutely amazing — if someone ever attempted to steal it, you could just whack them upside the head with it and next thing they know they’ll be sitting in front of Saint Peter (or Elvis) having to explain what they’d just done. It is fast, sharp, intuitive, quiet. I like the extra full stop with the f/2.8, which is where the 24-105mm f/4L IS falls short for me. I’m happy to give up the 70-105 zoom range for the full stop of f/2.8. It’d only be perfect if it had IS. With that being said, we all know there’s no such thing as perfect… but this is close.
I love this picture. It was just how I saw it… except BETTER because there is no drool in my lap! Thor says “PLEASE! Throw the ball. Throw the ball. Throw the ball.”
Dirty slobbery Thor at dusk even looks beautiful through this eye
Trying out the zoom on Duncan since he won’t come near my camera. He’s so lovely. And I can practically SMELL the grass in this picture it is so crisp and sharp! *Sigh*
This was right after he pooped in the yard and ran through it. And also right after he got thrown in the sink and covered in dish detergent because the dog shampoo was two rooms away. It was either dish detergent or poopy feet all over my tile floor. #JoysOfDogOwnership
Clean Paws and a Happy Face:
Positively Peachy 