Dog Blog

I should just start a new blog and dedicate it to inane random photos of all the pets of the family...then again, I can't keep up on this blog by itself.

Garrette Park in West Jefferson

Stumbled across this park in West Jeff yesterday after being sent to shoot a house. This park was hidden off the main road, but it looked pretty awesome. I had to stop and snap a few photos.

New Lens Time

So I bought a new lens for my camera today! It's not some super-fancy lens, but one that I hope will give me a few better pictures in certain situations. The main thing being it allows me to let significantly more light into the camera while not reducing my shutter speed to minuscule levels.

Here is a "Before and After" comparison. The old lens, (above), allowed this shot at an aperture of 5.6 and a shutter speed of 1/6 of a second. To try and put it simply, (given I fully understand all of this), the greater the aperture means the more it is closed. An aperture that can open wider allows more light into the camera thus allowing quicker shutter speeds. The faster your shutter is able to move, the better the chance of catching that action-shot without it looking like a giant blur of crap.

Here is the same, (roughly), shot with the new lens. I'm not expert so I'm sure I could have gotton a better comparison, however I was trying to achive roughly identical shots with both lenses. My old lens could go to a minimum aperture of 3.4. This new lens can achieve an aperture of 1.8. A nice heafty jump that allows my camera to recieve more light. This picture was taken at the full 1.8 aperture and a shutter speed of, (wait for it...), 1/60! At such a wide aperture you also get a shallower depth-of-field as well.
To make these comparisons alittle truer, I should have taken these shots at both lens limits, in this case being their widest apertures at the same shutter speeds...I think. Either way you get the idea and the fun test will be at ADB's next show!

Ugh.

Came outside today to find this. Our neighbor informed us to the possible culprit, a semi truck on our street from: http://www.e-zmovers.com/.

The cable company was called and I told them it was their fault because they did not hang the wire high enough. My theory is the minor bit of ice buildup from last night caused the wire to droop more than normal, making it susceptable to the above.

Another option, this moving company came down our street with a "semi" according to our neighbor. Semi trucks are not allowed on our street, (so I've been told), so I am contacting them to see what they say. The presence of a tall semi where it shouldn't be could be the main reason for this...maybe.

We'll see how this goes. I have learned one thing, there can be a price to having certain wires tucked under your siding. Sure it looks much much nicer...until a fat truck rips it out of your house. At least he didn't rip the cable jack out of the wall of my house...

holy crap! two posts in one day! (sorry for the lack of updates...I am so letting my public down.)

Doggy Zen

Ying Yang Dogs, Dog Yang, Ying Dogs, whatever you'd like. This is what you get when your dogs lose themselves in oversized chews.
It's a good thing Titus ate this whole bone in under 24 hours. He didn't have the runs at all...and it was super fun fantastic!

Levi, on the other hand, paces himself in such a way that he'll eat a chunk right away. Then, he will strategically place the remaining piece wherever you plan to take your next step...EVERY next step. He'll then never finish eating the remaining piece...ever.

And Megan snapped this photo of Titus sneaking a nap on the couch. Soooo dogs aren't allowed on the couch without explicit permission...jerk.

The Great Escape... (or maybe just the Mediocre escape)

The escape artist.
The diversion.The escape route.

The promised land.

The victim. (my unfinished bowl of cereal).

Today not long after I woke up, Titus decided he was going to take an unsanctioned trip of the neighborhood. Here is how it went down...

I let the boys out, (one at a time to keep down on dreaded "Dirt Paws"), and it was Titus' turn. While he was doing his thing I went back to my computer for a couple minutes to finish my bowl of cereal. After a couple minutes I decided to check on him, let him in, whatev. I went to the back kitchen window and saw him apparently doing some romping around, playing, whathaveyou, and figured I'd let him stay out and play some more. Well, while watching him out the back kitchen window, Levi comes up to me and pushes his face into my side. It diverted my attention from Titus who was currently investigating the area around the damaged gate on the east side of the yard. In the 2 seconds I looked down to when I looked back up, Titus had vanished... The game was afoot.

I concluded he jumped through the hole in the fence left when a large branch damaged it in the past wind storm. It hadn't been fixed yet because it didn't seem to be a problem...yea. After running around the neighborhood for about 10 minutes, then driving around a for a few minutes I found dorkface in a neighbor's backyard across our street. Not the best way to start your morning, but at least he's back home...dorkface.

I almost feel I was plotted against as Levi diverted my attention at just the perfect time for me to NOT see Titus jump through the hole in the fence...but then I realized dogs don't plot...because they're dogs.

Look at the well-behaved puppies. Surprisingly these moments aren't TOO rare, but maybe not frequent enough just yet.

Levi always cracks me up when he curls up in such a tiny ball. For a 60+ lbs. dog, he can curl up and look half that size. When he does this, the power of the cuteness is almost overpowering.

And I had to include this picture because I think it's funny. Megan falls asleep to about 90% of the stuff that's on tv, but this time it was alittle bit funnier than normal.

So here is our tree! Thanks to Joel and Amy for providing the "tree" part. It's the first normal size tree I've had in quite a long time actually. We decided to go the "colorful" route for this year, and it turned out pretty nice I think.

You know how sometimes in a picture you catch the "truth" about something. Maybe you see something for what it really is, or something that wasn't there before? Oooh...scary...
Well, I think that happened here, and it happened in the form of Levi not having a head. What does it really mean?? Ooooh... Does it mean, my dog is a ghost?! He's like the headless horseman! Or maybe it just means he's alittle lite in the "brain" area...
I kid, I kid. He's a smart dog...most of the time...

Rockin' out with Chili Dogs

Megan rocks out on the drums playing Rock Band 2. It's been too long since my last post, but wutcha gunna doo. Not a ton of new news to report, other than being slightly sick yesterday. It was nice staying home all day on the couch. I did remember, however, how much I hate watching movies on cable. Stupid commercials every 10 minutes.
The first snow of the year through my kitchen window. After this picture my camera battery died.
Of course what recent post would be complete without pictures of the two dorks. We finally got them to play tug of war...with a toy actually designed for such. Titus has the advantage...not sure about weight, but definitely in strength. So Levi went to taking the "low" road...
...by laying on the ground. Of course Titus just ended up dragging him which was pretty hilarious. Even though I've been alittle sick lately that didn't stop me from whipping up a batch o' chili.
Oh yea...eat that!

Dogs, Dogs, and Dog n' Cat

The kids, sort-of allowing me to snap a couple pictures. The cute-factor is overpowering...

Titus' first meeting with Brutus. Brutus' expression pretty accurately shows us his opinion, but overall he handled it well. After all, it's not everyday the big kid's shadow doesn't cover everyone up anymore.

A meeting only dogs fully understand...we think.

Aside from a slight blur, a pretty good representation of Titus' demeanor. He had his first vet visit today, and it went pretty well. Dr. Brush thinks he could be a Belgian Trevurn and Belgian Shepherd mix, but German Shepherd and Collie were mentioned here and there as well. Either way, everyone thought he was quite the looker. His attention, however, almost never ceases to fall on anything other than this...

...it's to the point of an obsession. We figure he's never been around cats, but holy cow does he find a ton of interest in them. If he's in his cage and hears Izzy meow, he starts whining....even if he was previously asleep. I locked him out of this room so Izzy could relax, and he started whining. He doesn't do much other than stare at the cats, maybe give some chase here and there. In this picture he stuck his nose alittle close. That raised paw of Izzy's just gave him a warning bat. We were secluding Titus to the downstairs so the cats could relax upstairs. Dr. Brush said just let them go and once Titus gets a good swipe on the nose, his fascination will quickly dissappear. sounds like fun!

Rockin' Out with our New Dog's Out

Well, maybe not new "Dogs" but new "Dog." Meet Titus...at least that's the name were trying to stick with although we've been known to yell "No Titan!" several times in the 1st day we've owned him. You can't see it in this picture, but Levi is undoubtedly showing Titus a toothful.
We decided to adopt Titus, (formerly Champion), after we, (heavy on the Megan side :)), thought Levi needed a pal. Hopefully Titus can fill that role. He's roughly 1 and a half yrs. old. and was listed as a German Shepard Collie mix, although we're thinking he's some sort of Belgian Shepard mix.
They seem to be getting along pretty well and Levi is warming up to him so far. Levi has been attempting to assert his dominance in the house and although being smaller, he seems to be doing a good job. Of course, I've noticed that Titus seems to have a submissive personality so this has been working out...so far. Titus also seems to have an extreme interest in the cats...to the point of obsessing over them. If he sees a cat, (usually Izzy), in a certain part of the house he continually goes to that spot, (whether she's there or not), looking for her. We're working hard to break him of this, and Izzy has unwillingly been nominated the guinea pig to help expose Titus to cats more as he's obviously never been around any small animals. In other news:
My Brother-in-law's band, A Dying Breath, had their first show last night at the Newport. I recorded the event and took some pictures with a few coming out pretty decent. Out of the 3-4 bands I saw while there, (there was a total of maybe 8 or 9), Dave's band was by far the best. The music style is pretty heavy, unlike alot of bands where all it seems to be is the same song over and over with mostly unintelligible throaty screaming, their band was certainly not that. Each song had a unique sound and had a nice mix of heavy and lighter parts. I'm no music critic, but they rocked.
You'd be surprised how difficult it is to get good pictures in such low light. I probably snapped about 300 pictures, with only a handful coming out pretty nice. I'm pretty sure that's just the nature of shooting in those conditions, but I'm not quite an expert with my camera yet...
It was an awesome show, and I would have liked to stay all night, but since I wasn't sure what to expect when I got home to the new beast I decided I needed to get back home to the dog/horses. Seriously, when they play/wrestle around, the house shakes...

My house suddenly seems so much smaller now...