Scratcher of heads, rubber of bellies
If Boo was a human he’d be thought of as a holy man, a prophet, a mystic. I sometimes call him the Professor because he’s both curious and intelligent, but there’s more to it than that. There are many times I feel he’s not just observing the universe but trying to understand it. What things he sits and ponders in his heart.
We need more of you in this world, little Boo.
Sam takes refuge under the Christmas tree. I left it up until late in January this year, it was a sign of hope when I needed one. Part of me always wants to leave it up all year, but if I didn’t do it for Emma who would have loved nothing more, it doesn’t seem right to do it now. I couldn’t help but think of her as I took the tree down, especially since I kept finding Trixie under the tree as I dismantled different sections. No one will ever love it like Em did, but Trixie’s devotion at the end did make me smile.
I knew it was asking a bit much of my camera to meter a black dog in white snow, especially since I’d be changing how large Ellie would appear in the picture, so I set the exposure mode to manual and set the exposure itself when I left the house. I frequently shoot in manual mode so there was nothing unusual in that. Unfortunately I forgot to check if the exposure was still valid a few minutes later when we arrived at Irving Park. Looking through the optical viewfinder of my SLR everything looked fine as you don’t see how the image will be exposed, but the open scene was slightly brighter than at my house and these images ended up a bit overexposed. Not tragically so, and the hot exposure did help preserve detail in Ellie’s dark fur, but my mistake would have been obvious with the electronic viewfinder of a mirrorless camera.
I need cameras that make mistakes obvious, because even after all these years I make them frequently. The more excited I am by a picture, the more likely I am to mess it up. I am far better at this than I used to be but there’s a part of me that will never learn. Sometimes it doesn’t matter but in cases like this, I’ll never get a second chance.
I almost bought into Sony’s full frame line a year and a half ago but chickened out at the last minute due to the high cost and lack of reviews, and to this day I can’t tell you if it was the right decision or not. Sony has updated their smaller sensor camera and I’m leaning in that direction, although there are a couple of other options I’m considering. There’s much to love about my Canon and I’ll still be using it for my telephoto work and I took a bunch of pictures with it on this snowy day, but I found myself fighting the camera off and on throughout the day as I walked around the neighborhood. It doesn’t help that it’s bigger and heavier than I want in a walk-around camera.
One thing I am cognizant of is that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, and I have to be aware of what I’m giving up in order to gain something else. The Canon has great weather sealing (although the lens I was using had none) and it is a speedy little thing, and the Sigma 17-50mm 2.8 lens I bought to hold me over back when I couldn’t decide on the full frame Sony has proven to be a charming little lens despite its shortcomings. Even without weather sealing, since it didn’t cost me much to purchase it and I’ve gotten a lot of use out of it I didn’t think twice about shooting in the snow all morning, I did my best to keep it wiped clear of water drops and it did just fine. Sadly nothing like it is available in the options I’m considering, although those options are more portable.
And goodness have we come a long way since I first got started in digital photography, something I’m aware of whenever I edit old pictures. I’ll always remember this day with my pup and I’m as thankful for these pictures of Ellie as she is for the treats she got for posing for them. The off-leash dog park we visit is just up the hill to the right, I took her leash off for the pictures.
Don’t move Sam, he can’t see you if you don’t move! Wait, does that apply to Detective Chief Inspectors? No worries, DCI Morse humbles the guilty and sets the innocent free! So you are in the clear, right Sam?
Sammy?
Samwise?
I’ve never seen a sea otter so imagine my surprise to find one sleeping on our guest bed.
Although only four years old, the vet says Boo has the teeth of an elderly cat and he had to get a couple of teeth pulled on Thursday. As you’d expect he was in a great deal of pain so we kept him in isolation in the guest bedroom for a few days while he was getting painkillers, both to give him some quiet time in a house full of pets and to keep him from running and jumping until he was off the painkillers.
My wife stayed with him that night but he was making such a ruckus through the night from some combination of pain and hunger and frustration at being cooped up that none of us got much sleep. After finally falling asleep I got woken up not much later by our dog Ellie, so I put on my warm clothes and took her downstairs so she could go outside and go to the bathroom. At which point she looked at me with an expression of “I don’t have to go outside, I just wanted to spend some time with you!” “A lovely thought, pup,” I grumbled as I stumbled upstairs, “but save it for the morning!”
We got freezing rain overnight and with the sidewalks coated in ice and the trains off schedule, I decided to take a vacation day and Boo and I curled up and slept off the morning. Friday night was another rough one so Saturday morning we were back to the two of us sleeping it off while the other pets all went to the vet for routine checkups. They had to get shots and were pretty subdued when they came home, so I let them all come in and join us, this is a shot of Trixie, Boo, and Sam (from left to right) curled up on my legs. Ellie was sleeping on the floor, the guest bed is on the frame and she can’t jump up onto it at her age (we keep our bed on the floor so she can still get into it with a little effort).
Boo recovered nicely and was given free run of the house on Sunday after some trial periods on Saturday, although he reminded me of when we adopted him, he’d go exploring the main house and then come back to the guest bedroom for some quiet time. Sunday night we all slept peacefully, that’s Boo in my lap below.
Let’s take a break from the winter pictures and enjoy Sam and Trixie taking a catnap in the high heat of summer.
When we got an unusually heavy snowfall earlier in the month, I wanted a picture of the Door of Hope church in the snow. The church sits at the edge of Irving Park and Ellie and I used to pass it as we walked around the path that circles the park, but these days after a quick visit to the dog park she wants to head out into the neighborhood instead of going further into the park.
I had thoughts of making her go up to the church as the snow continued to fall, it isn’t much farther than the dog park, but I just couldn’t do it. This theme continued as we walked, on the one hand I knew this was a historic storm and it was not something I’d have the chance to photograph again, but on the other hand this was also going to be my only chance to enjoy this much snow with the pup, and I chose the pup. I did take pictures on our walk, some of her and some of the neighborhood, but only on streets she chose to go down. An hour and a half later I dropped off an exhausted Ellie at the house and went back out alone for more pictures. The snow was still falling as I reached the Door of Hope and took this picture.
A few days later I bribed Ellie with treats to get her up to the church on our morning walk, now bathed in the morning light, every inch of snow trampled underfoot by families enjoying the unusual snow. I had thoughts about making her sit in front of the little utility building from the previous post, it’s just a little further up the path to the left of this picture, but she wanted to go and I couldn’t say no.
The snow was still coming down as a tired but happy Ellie waited to go inside after a long walk through the deep snow. Despite my best intentions I didn’t take too many pictures over the hour and a half we walked as it often felt like it would intrude on the fun we were having. So after getting her settled inside I went back outside for more pictures.
After an unusually heavy snowfall hit Portland one night, Ellie and I were working our way back home on our morning walk when I noticed a massive snowman in front of one of the houses, the kind you see in the movies but never here since we rarely get much snow, so I wanted a quick picture. Ellie was starting to tire after our long and joyful walk through the tall snow so I left her on what I presumed was the sidewalk and told her to stay and walked a few feet over and got my picture of the snowman.
I had to laugh when I turned around and saw the saddest dog in the world, all alone in this desolate landscape, looking for someone to love. Her droopy jowls when she sits still make her look so sad, but I knew the mental calculation she was making. She gets a treat if she sits still when we’re near a street and I give her the stay command, and she gets a treat if she sits still while I take a picture, so what she really wanted to know was, “Am I getting one treat or two?”
She got two.
You do make me laugh, pup, you do make me laugh.
Boolie 