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sleepy
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Adventures in Setterdom
Life with the Gordon Girls
Miss Kidder and Princess Zelda welcome you to the world of Gordon Setters. We mainly play in agility, but one day we will return to tracking and hunting. Woo-woo!
MISS KIDDER
PRINCESS ZELDA
Forever in my Heart:
LADY LOGAN
(1997-2011)
MADAME RUDY
(1993-2007)
MISS KIDDER
PRINCESS ZELDA
Forever in my Heart:
LADY LOGAN
(1997-2011)
MADAME RUDY
(1993-2007)
16 May 2012 @ 10:15 pm
I'm taking another photography class from Linn-Benton Community College, this time on Travel Photography. The photo shoot for the class was the Corvallis Farmer's Market, but it was scheduled up against the Fleet Feet Team Tournament Trial so I went down to Brownsville to take the photos for the assignment. Usually I just drive through the town on the way to the August WAG trial, but this time they were having a fundraiser for the Historical Museum, "Carriage Me Back." I just walked around rather than riding the horse-drawn wagon.
Moyer House, 1881
There were an interesting assortment of people in Brownsville that day and I concentrated on taking photos of people since I don't usually want people in most of my travel shots. Birds, sea lions, seals, Gordon Setters: sure. People: not so much. But I took advantage of the assignment sheet to ask people if I could take their photos. I wouldn't normally do that.
And a bird!
All of the photos are in the Brownsville gallery.
I have the final class tomorrow night to get some feedback on my photos and see what others saw in Corvallis. I'm glad I took the class since I have some upcoming travels on my schedule! Road trip!
Moyer House, 1881
There were an interesting assortment of people in Brownsville that day and I concentrated on taking photos of people since I don't usually want people in most of my travel shots. Birds, sea lions, seals, Gordon Setters: sure. People: not so much. But I took advantage of the assignment sheet to ask people if I could take their photos. I wouldn't normally do that.
And a bird!
All of the photos are in the Brownsville gallery.
I have the final class tomorrow night to get some feedback on my photos and see what others saw in Corvallis. I'm glad I took the class since I have some upcoming travels on my schedule! Road trip!
Current Mood: Busy, busy, busy
06 May 2012 @ 10:45 am
At least NPR was upfront yesterday in debunking the hype around last night's "Super" moon, which was closer and brighter than last month's Super Moon. But about the same as last year's Super Moon. This moon was nice but not that unusual. It must have been a slow news cycle for the networks. But I did use the opportunity to play with my camera a bit.
I'm taking another photography class at the community college. This time it is "Travel Photography." We had the first class on Thursday and the nugget was that I figured out how to change the Exposure Compensation in an easier manner. In fact, I can do it easily in the dark now, which is good because it was dark outside when I went to take moon photos.
I'm going out today to take the photos for the photo shoot assignment since the scheduled time is up against the Fleet Feet trial next weekend. I hope to be using the tips I learn from the class very soon on a real travel adventure.
I'm taking another photography class at the community college. This time it is "Travel Photography." We had the first class on Thursday and the nugget was that I figured out how to change the Exposure Compensation in an easier manner. In fact, I can do it easily in the dark now, which is good because it was dark outside when I went to take moon photos.
I'm going out today to take the photos for the photo shoot assignment since the scheduled time is up against the Fleet Feet trial next weekend. I hope to be using the tips I learn from the class very soon on a real travel adventure.
Current Mood: 
Making plans
Making plans02 May 2012 @ 07:30 pm
When in doubt, wear red. ~Bill Blass
I took Kidder into see Dr. Beth yesterday for a thyroid check and to discuss switching Kidder from ProIn to DES to control her incontinence at night. Happily, Dr. Beth had just been to a conference where this had been discussed and she was totally up-to-date and in-the-know. Sadly, Dr. Beth told me she was moving away to be closer to family. Damn -- I hate breaking in new vets and Dr. Beth had always been so willing to do research for me and listen to me.
I also suggested a complete blood panel since Kidder is almost 10 years old and it will give us a nice baseline. I also had Dr. Beth take a look at the weird skin-tab growth on Kidder's chest. The growth has been there for at least 5-6 years and is very slow growing. And it is right on the point of her chest so we've never taken it off due to its location right where Kidder would put pressure on it every time she lied down. But Dr. Beth thought she could easily take it off using some local blocks and the laser so I decided to have it done. I'm always a bit worried that sometime it would get scratched or cut or go wild as growths are sometimes wont to do. Kidder is so good that she wouldn't need to be sedated at all for the procedure.
I left Kidder there for the afternoon and came home. Zelda came tearing into the house looking for Kidder -- it was sort of sweet. Then she checked the yard, followed me around for a while and finally settled down to keep an eye on me to make sure I didn't disappear, too.
When I picked Kidder up, she had that weird "vet office" smell that Zelda had to check out. The sniffing got a bit animated, there was one sharp word spoken and Kidder started dripping blood on the carpet. So she is now wearing the old T-shirt from my freshman dorm house at Iowa State. I chose this shirt because it was red to match the blood. (I checked the 3" incision today and it is beautiful and clean and dry and I'm not sure where yesterday's blood came from.)
I think Kidder looks darn good in the red shirt. Yogi, the black lab that lives next door and is my backup intruder-alert system, is not so sure. In general he does not bark at the Gordon Girls when they run about. But a Gordon in clothing definitely receives much barking even after I tell him that it is OK. Maybe he is jealous.
I'm happy that the Gordon Girls will wear clothing without fuss since they leave wounds alone and therefore heal quickly. We don't need to break out the dreaded cone often and the shirt is simply belted up with scotch tape. Easy and fashionable.
I found this old photo of Rudy wearing my old baseball jersey that the orchestra members wore during my high school production of "Damn Yankees." I never throw anything away. And Rudy never met a toy that should be allowed to keep its stuffing. 
Current Mood: 
Fine
Fine02 May 2012 @ 05:00 pm
This photo caught my eye today.
It is from June of 2008. Logan probably shared the bumper with Kidder. Probably.
Logan was such a good girl. Kidder's a good girl, too.
It is from June of 2008. Logan probably shared the bumper with Kidder. Probably.
Logan was such a good girl. Kidder's a good girl, too.
Current Mood: 
nostalgic
nostalgic25 April 2012 @ 08:00 pm
It's raining again to interrupt the almost constant mowing that I've been doing lately. I realized I never finished up the photos from our last trip to the beach, so I'm doing it now.
First, a brief reprise of the major themes of the day. The beginning was glorious as the Gordon Girls and I took a long walk on the beach at South Beach and discovered that it turned quite rocky as we went further south. There were even some critters punctuating the rocks.
After the walk with the Gordon Girls, the day progressed to the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area. I explored the Yaquina Head Lighthouse and saw thousands of beach birds including hordes of common murres and a pair of peregrine falcons. As the finale, here are the photos of the outstanding area itself.
Yaquina Head is a mile-longer finger of rock that sticks into the Pacific Ocean. These photos are looking northward toward the beach.
And this is the view looking south, toward Newport.
On the south side of the Head is a small cobble beach. This beach has no sand, just beautifully rounded black basalt cobbles that ping with each rushing wave. The sound was really special and a bit mesmerizing.
This is Quarry Cove which had been a tide pool area until it filled with sand. But now the seals like to hang out there. I think seals are pretty cool. And comically blubbery when they try to move around on land.
And some interesting coastal flora.
It had been a lovely day at the beach. And it was a nice reprise to revisit the beach on this rainy evening. All of the photos are in the Yaquina Head ONA gallery.
First, a brief reprise of the major themes of the day. The beginning was glorious as the Gordon Girls and I took a long walk on the beach at South Beach and discovered that it turned quite rocky as we went further south. There were even some critters punctuating the rocks.
After the walk with the Gordon Girls, the day progressed to the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area. I explored the Yaquina Head Lighthouse and saw thousands of beach birds including hordes of common murres and a pair of peregrine falcons. As the finale, here are the photos of the outstanding area itself.
Yaquina Head is a mile-longer finger of rock that sticks into the Pacific Ocean. These photos are looking northward toward the beach.
And this is the view looking south, toward Newport.
On the south side of the Head is a small cobble beach. This beach has no sand, just beautifully rounded black basalt cobbles that ping with each rushing wave. The sound was really special and a bit mesmerizing.
This is Quarry Cove which had been a tide pool area until it filled with sand. But now the seals like to hang out there. I think seals are pretty cool. And comically blubbery when they try to move around on land.
And some interesting coastal flora.
It had been a lovely day at the beach. And it was a nice reprise to revisit the beach on this rainy evening. All of the photos are in the Yaquina Head ONA gallery.
Current Mood: contemplative
contemplative23 April 2012 @ 10:00 pm
April IS the cruelest month... especially if you are a tennis ball, carelessly left in the rapidly growing grass by the evil Kidder. There has been an inordinate amount of tennis ball carnage this spring. Vibrant tennis balls that are in the prime of their fuzzy lives are everywhere it seems -- but they are no match for the lawn mower. Horrendous injuries and death are everywhere in this season that is usually associated with rebirth and new life.
Tall grass is the worst place for a tennis ball to hide.
This is what happens
Or this
Or tennis balls become road kill
The maimed victims are further tormented by the Gordon Girls
Behold the power of the tennis ball
Happy Gordon Girls!
This was my first chance to play with PicMonkey, the replacement for Picnik. I think it will be fun. All the photos are in the Tennis Ball Carnage gallery.
Tall grass is the worst place for a tennis ball to hide.
This is what happens
Or this
Or tennis balls become road kill
The maimed victims are further tormented by the Gordon Girls
Behold the power of the tennis ball
Happy Gordon Girls!
This was my first chance to play with PicMonkey, the replacement for Picnik. I think it will be fun. All the photos are in the Tennis Ball Carnage gallery.
Current Mood: 
bouncy
bouncy22 April 2012 @ 08:00 pm
I dusted off the old measuring wheel today when I judged for the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club. They have their own agility program for titles and predominately follow AKC rules with a few exceptions. It was fun and the very small group had a good time. I had always thought that a Cavalier could be my "old-lady" agility dog, but after watching many of them barely trot around the ring I have my doubts.
As for judging, I really like the trial-day activities but the course design, review, revision, and map making process sure takes up a lot of time. For today, I had to design 12 courses (2 trials, Standard and JWW, 3 levels). That is a lot of courses. Plus, the Cash Arena is smaller than AKC allows and that makes the design process more challenging. Oh well, it was nice to get to design some courses to help nice people have fun with their dogs.
Dwight and Paula were nice enough to let me come up with my trailer yesterday evening so that I wouldn't have to get up in the middle of the night to drive up this morning. The Gordon Girls love to romp around in their big field. Plus I got to meet Paula's new sheltie puppy: Gilly or Golly or Golly G or some other name to be determined. He is a very handsome lad with a striking head who overcame his fear of steps as Paula and I sat on the sidewalk at the bottom and softly cheered him on. It is so fun to watch puppies experiment and learn. It reminded me of the first time Rudy saw a set of stairs when we lived in Arizona. She was probably 6 months old. She would alternate taking one step and then leaping about four, or freezing in mid-staircase. She was funny going both up and down. I remember laughing so hard that it was hard to catch my breath.
The weather this weekend was beautiful, to the point of being hot this afternoon. The drive home was easy and pretty. And the girls and I enjoyed a romp in our field when we got home. Well, they romped while I had a beer and read my email. I wish summer could be here to stay but I know that it won't happen yet.
As for judging, I really like the trial-day activities but the course design, review, revision, and map making process sure takes up a lot of time. For today, I had to design 12 courses (2 trials, Standard and JWW, 3 levels). That is a lot of courses. Plus, the Cash Arena is smaller than AKC allows and that makes the design process more challenging. Oh well, it was nice to get to design some courses to help nice people have fun with their dogs.
Dwight and Paula were nice enough to let me come up with my trailer yesterday evening so that I wouldn't have to get up in the middle of the night to drive up this morning. The Gordon Girls love to romp around in their big field. Plus I got to meet Paula's new sheltie puppy: Gilly or Golly or Golly G or some other name to be determined. He is a very handsome lad with a striking head who overcame his fear of steps as Paula and I sat on the sidewalk at the bottom and softly cheered him on. It is so fun to watch puppies experiment and learn. It reminded me of the first time Rudy saw a set of stairs when we lived in Arizona. She was probably 6 months old. She would alternate taking one step and then leaping about four, or freezing in mid-staircase. She was funny going both up and down. I remember laughing so hard that it was hard to catch my breath.
The weather this weekend was beautiful, to the point of being hot this afternoon. The drive home was easy and pretty. And the girls and I enjoyed a romp in our field when we got home. Well, they romped while I had a beer and read my email. I wish summer could be here to stay but I know that it won't happen yet.
21 April 2012 @ 09:15 am
The Gordon Setter Club of America (GSCA) gives out annual awards and Zelda is the Master Agility Excellent Dog for 2011!
The GSCA awards are given based on the scores and times that went into the respective AKC agility titles at each level. In 2009, Zelda was tied for 3rd place in Novice Agility and earned second place in Open Agility. In 2010, she was the Excellent Dog of the Year. Now in 2011, Zelda is the Master Agility Excellent Dog of the Year. She was actually the only Gordon that finished an MX in 2011, but I would have put her times up against any Gordon.
I selected this photo for inclusion in the GSCA newsletter since it looked so nice in black and white. Joe Camp took it last year at the Fleet Feet DAM trial.
This is Zelda's paragraph for the Gordon Setter News.
Zelda and I are becoming a well-oiled team for agility. She is my fourth agility Gordon and her zippiness and enthusiasm for the game is amazing and increases every day. It is simply thrilling to run with her. At trials, I need to find somebody to watch her while I run Kidder or else the Princess barks and swears like a sailor to express her frustration that she is not sharing the fun. She also tries to rip up crates and ex-pen mats during these impressive tantrums. This bad behavior only happens while she can hear me running with Kidder but it certainly demonstrates her desire to be doing agility. Zelda is very close to earning her Agility Dog Championship (ADCH) from USDAA although progress toward her MACH has slowed since we have been spending many weekends running and running and running on the Oregon beaches. I like to view these romps as crosstraining; the Gordon Girls view them as nirvana.
The GSCA awards are given based on the scores and times that went into the respective AKC agility titles at each level. In 2009, Zelda was tied for 3rd place in Novice Agility and earned second place in Open Agility. In 2010, she was the Excellent Dog of the Year. Now in 2011, Zelda is the Master Agility Excellent Dog of the Year. She was actually the only Gordon that finished an MX in 2011, but I would have put her times up against any Gordon.
I selected this photo for inclusion in the GSCA newsletter since it looked so nice in black and white. Joe Camp took it last year at the Fleet Feet DAM trial.
Timbaray It'z Princess Zelda
MX MXJ NAP OJP MXF OFP MAD SAM SM RM GM AJ CL2 CL3-S CL3-H CL3-F NAC NJC WV-O TG-O CGC
MX MXJ NAP OJP MXF OFP MAD SAM SM RM GM AJ CL2 CL3-S CL3-H CL3-F NAC NJC WV-O TG-O CGC
This is Zelda's paragraph for the Gordon Setter News.
Zelda and I are becoming a well-oiled team for agility. She is my fourth agility Gordon and her zippiness and enthusiasm for the game is amazing and increases every day. It is simply thrilling to run with her. At trials, I need to find somebody to watch her while I run Kidder or else the Princess barks and swears like a sailor to express her frustration that she is not sharing the fun. She also tries to rip up crates and ex-pen mats during these impressive tantrums. This bad behavior only happens while she can hear me running with Kidder but it certainly demonstrates her desire to be doing agility. Zelda is very close to earning her Agility Dog Championship (ADCH) from USDAA although progress toward her MACH has slowed since we have been spending many weekends running and running and running on the Oregon beaches. I like to view these romps as crosstraining; the Gordon Girls view them as nirvana.
Current Mood: 
Proud
Proud20 April 2012 @ 09:45 pm
One of my photography DVDs had a segment on taking art photos on a glass tabletop and using the flash off the camera to light some fruit from below. I can't use my flash off of the camera although I may buy a remote cable to experiment. So I bought a big picture frame from Goodwill for $4.99, removed the smudged charcoal portrait of a woman, cleaned the glass and gave it a try with a light below. The light was too bright so I bounced it off some poster board and got OK results. Then I went back to using my little light box that I had purchased at an HP auction about two years ago. (Plus I used the 4x screw-on macro lens for some of the shots.)
So here are my kiwi art attempts. I have more fruit available...
So here are my kiwi art attempts. I have more fruit available...
Current Mood: 
artistic
artistic