Photography Practice

I know I need to work on my photography so I've been taking random pics and experimenting with shutter speeds, f-stops (aperture), white balance, composition, and angles. It seems like I'm having the most trouble with lighting. I don't yet have a tripod so that could be part of it too. But, none the less, here are a few fun ones.

Can you guess what this next picture was originally?

It was actually my coffee cup.The reflection of my hands on the camera in the liquid caught my fancy. Photoshop has some neat filters.



Bruno LOVES warmth. In the summer you can mostly find him pressed up against the sliding glass door or sprawled out on the floor in front of it with the sun beating down on him. In the winter, if you can't find him, he's probably in the dark bathroom curled up in a ball or with his nose pressed under the vanity to catch as much heat out of the vent as possible. The other likely winter locale is the family room with his furry body as close to the space heater as possible. He spends hours curled up in his blanket by the heater. Silly Bruno.

I'm a Part Time PI

Like all good parents, as the owner of a doberman, I'm also a part time detective. Or in my case a PI - Pet Investigator. I know the guilty look well. The spine curves up, and the foot strides lose forward progression as each paw comes up higher, as if tip-toeing toward you when called to come. The head goes down, the eyebrows peel back, and the eyes peer up at you with slight trepidation - The body language of submission with a healthy drop of fear. This happened yesterday after Brett told me that Bruno had been sucking on the wrong blanket earlier. I said "You did what? You know you aren't supposed to do that." And Bruno comes slinking around the corner, body morphed into said guilty look. This once happened when I had zucchini bread cooling in the kitchen. I called out "Bruno!" and got no response when he normally comes running. Yup, I found him up on the counter about to take a bite out of my freshly baked bread. Said guilty look ensued.
     When we first got Bruno we were reading all about the breed and came across a story of an owner whose work sponges kept disappearing. He asked everyone in his family if they might have taken them and his family responded that no, they had not. He then had his suspicions about his dog being the culprit. A few times when he hadn't seen his dog in a while, he went down to the room where the sponges were stored, but he always found the doberman relaxing non-suspiciously in the room nearby as  if he'd been in there for a while. One day the man's spidey sense went on high alert and he rushed down into the "sponge room" to find his dog en route to the "non-suspicious" spot with bits of sponge all around and inside his mouth. The doberman had been eating them! That doberman was good, not even the guilty look after perpetrating the crime!
     Early this morning at 0430, I woke up to Brett saying "Bruno?" and then heard 3 paw clicks on the hardwood floor before he was back in bed, curled up like he'd been there all night. Part time detective that I am, I scoured the house for poos, I mean clues, and other wet spots. No, he doesn't normally go in the house, but you never know right? I even got down on all fours to check the new carpet for possible spots, but didn't find a thing. What was Bruno doing?
     So now I'm wondering, is this a regular thing? Does Bruno get up every night and wander around? Maybe he does all the stuff he's not allowed to do during the day: lift the lid of the garbage can, sniff the kitchen for crumbs, lay on the furniture, side chew his blanky, use my clothes as his bed? I did find a suspiciously Bruno shaped indent in my bathrobe in the closet, could be a coincidence. Perhaps I should have felt his blanky for moisture like a parent checks their kid's tooth brush? I did close the closet door, the 2nd bedroom door where his toys were and partially closed our bedroom door so he would have to skim by it to get out again.
   Did you know they have cameras you can strap to your pet's collar to see what they do all day? No, I'm not going to do that, but I do think that would be neat for an outside cat on the prowl. Who knows where those cats go everyday.

Nature Walk

Bored? Come on a nature walk with Bruno and me! I found a new trail/park complete with a paved trail, animal fact plaques, mile markers, and even doggy poop bags!

Come along!

Bruno loves a walk

See?

Well let's get going, there's lots of trail yet to see.

The fall colors are starting to come through.

Fork in the road, which way should we go?

Let's take a closer look shall we?

Enter at own risk? That sounds enticing. Hmm, no fires- no prob, no smoking -no worries, no fireworks-bummer. Oh right, which direction to take? Canyon View or Oak Forest. With a camera -definitely Canyon View.

I think I've seen the craft store remake of these.

While I was getting pretty shots of the stream; Bruno decided to wash his feet and pee on things.

Good Potty Brun.

                              Ooh, aah, pretty.

  So all this time I thought we were on a nice loop. Nope, an abrupt halt and we had to turn around.

To the right of the above picture, Bruno and I turn and see this:

Nice backyard. Goodness, so was the house too big or the yard too small and awkward? Probably a little bit of both. Is this my promised Canyon View?? What a rip off.

Ok, does this scare anyone else? What's in there?

Eek

Moving on...walking  faster.

 Pretty right? Kinda...it's all behind a chain link fence.

Thanks for joining us. Now go outside and enjoy your own fall colors!

P.S. Sign me up to live here please:

Rainy Day Fun

Too funny. Bruno has been sniffing and sticking his big nose into odd things again.

"Really? You are going to make me blibe here so you can take a picture?"

Resigned to the fact that mom needs a picture.

I made rolls for sandwiches. The plan is roast beef au jus with green peppers, onions, and then toasted with provolone cheese melted over the top.

 Just to make you jealous I posted some pics of the bread part. Too bad I can't transmit the smell of bread baking through the blog page.

I wish you could smell my house with these baking, it's heavenly.

Can you see my pj clad legs?

Yeah there is a bite out of the piece in the back, I couldn't help myself

Mmm

You wish you could take a bite out of the warm (soft on the inside slightly crisp on the outside) heavenly roll too.

Just for fun

Dreams

I have been having the weirdest, wackiest, most vivid dreams consecutively every night for a little over a week. I couldn't tell you what each one was about but it all started with a dream involving me being chased  and running through random houses with a small dog. 'Round and 'round inside the houses I would go looking for a fast way in and out, and then on to the next. I have no idea why this was, who the dog was, or who was chasing me. Then all the sudden, Bruno was there and they were going to take him away from me because I had been breaking into houses. I started crying and Bruno started crying and Bruno's face contorted into a human's facial expression of a pout and cry.

Sort of like this, kinda...poor Brun.

Last night I had a dream that we were at my brother in law Greg's (make believe) bachelor pad before he and Keli got married.
In the dream, I decided that the furniture was not arranged in the most satisfactory way and started moving everything around. Ended up that the dining room table was moved to the previous living room and the couches were now in the room next to it and...I moved everything. Time jumped forward, and before you know it, we were having a raucous party, college style (apparently wholesome if you've every searched "college party" for your blog in google), and there were a lot of people there.

Then those people disappeared and we were fixing up the house, HGTV style, before the Greg got back from...maybe the honeymoon?... uh wherever he went.


Meantime we somehow sucked the vacuum plug/cord into the vacuum hose and couldn't get the vacuum to shut off and let the cord out, riddle me that.

So I looked up "Dreams" in google and got hit on a website about dream meanings. Here's the synopsis on Chase Dreams;

Chase dreams stem from feelings of anxiety in your waking life. Anxiety huh?  "In such dreams, the scenario often features you being pursued by an attacker, an animal, a monster or an unknown figure, who wants to hurt or possibly kill you. Consequently, you run, you hide or you try to outwit your pursuer. Your actions in the dream parallel how you would respond to pressure and cope with fears, stress or various situations in your waking life. Instead of confronting the situation, your dream indicates that you have a tendency to run away and avoid the issue. Ask yourself who is chasing you, so that you can gain a better understanding and insight on the source of your fears and anxieties." Dun dun dun 
"The pursuer or attacker who is chasing you in your dream may also represent an aspect of yourself. Your own feelings of anger, jealousy, fear, and possibly love, can manifest itself as the threatening figure. Or the shadowy figure can symbolize the rejected characteristics of your Self. You may be projecting these feelings onto the unknown chaser. Next time you have a dream of being chased, turn around and confront your pursuer. Ask them why they are chasing you. What are you trying to run from?" I'll try to remember to turn around and ask next time...
"Consider the distance or gap between you and your pursuer. This indicates your closeness to the issue. If the pursuer is gaining on you, then it suggests that the problem is not going to go away. The problem will surround you, until you confront and address it. However, if you are able to widen the gap between your pursuer, then you are able to successfully distance yourself from the problem. In essence, the problem is fading away." Well I don't know where the pursuer ended up so does that mean it went away? 

Huh anyway, what category would you classify the second dream as?  
A furniture moving, partying, fixing dream? Any ideas?

That Silly Dog

Lately Bruno and I have a routine in the mornings that includes me getting a cup of coffee, him getting his chew toy, and us going outside to enjoy the sun with our accouterments. Some mornings I initiate the custom and other mornings he grabs his chew toy in his mouth and appears in front of me to beg to go outside.This morning I initiated and, after getting my cup percolated (he he), told him to get his chew toy. Bruno ran down the hall once and then back to his original position near the sliding glass door to stare at me.

"What?" I said.

"Woof" Bruno barked loudly.

"What??" I said.

"Woof" he barked forcefully like, "I need help".

"What Brun?"

Bruno looked down at the floor and then barked, "Woof" slightly desperately.

"Oh," realization dawning, "Did you drop it down the vent again?"

"Woof" he barked more desperately.

"That's your fault bud, I'm not going to go unscrew the vent in the family room to get it out."

Again, he looks down at the floor vent and then back at me with a loud please?? "WOOF, WOOF!!??"

"Fine, I'll check," and walked over to the vent and stuck my hand in. Voila, it was sitting inside close to the entrance. "You're lucky, you and your chew toy..." shaking my head and brushing the dust off the toy. I opened the door and Bruno sat and barked as he is required to do to go outside. I threw the toy down into the yard and he energetically ran down the stairs to retrieve it. That silly dog.

Anamnesis - the recollection or remembrance of the past; reminiscence.

I just cleaned the floors yesterday. I walked into the room this morning and saw this.

Does this picture remind you of anything from  your childhood?

Maybe this?

 

he he

"I didn't do anything, I'm just laying here."

"Those aren't my prints"

Of course they aren't Bruno : )

Lazy Sunday Morning

      Bruno and I went outside this morning to enjoy the warm sun and some kona coffee (just me coffee-wise, Bruno hates coffee). He sniffed around in the grass for a minute and then went and laid down on the hot concrete. I  sat on the front stoop enjoying the day and took a sip of my hot delicious coffee, when I looked over at Bruno and immediately started laughing. He cracks me up.

I told him to "blibe," which means to stay, and ran inside to grab the camera.

This is what made me crack up every time I called his name and he looked at me:

 (Can't ruin the surprise- keep scrolling)

Right in the middle of his two nostrils, just stuck!
Now that does that look like a mean scary Dobermann??
Ha see the little strand of grass sticking up in the picture below?

 

Bruno's Band-Aid and the Blue Monster

     The other night I came home and Bruno was being funny and standing directly behind me pressed up against my legs. I was petting him from behind when I looked down and saw a huge gash on one of his hind legs! Okay, it wasn't that big. He had been playing outside and in the garage earlier and we wondered if he had ran into something while being his fun loving rambunctious self. Brett tried putting neosporin on it and gauze around it to keep it clean; but the gauze didn't stay in place and he licked the neosporin off. So today I cleaned it out with rubbing alcohol, neosporined it, and put a band-aid.
Voila:

Does he look pleased? he he












Last week we went to Wally World and picked him up this new efficient contraption:

He is scared of it!


     Bruno is thirsty, so very slowly and warily he approaches the blue monster. He starts slurping at the furthest possible edge of the bowl; he is ready to run at a moments notice. "Glug, glug, glug" goes the blue monster, RUN!!!

   But Bruno is still thirsty! So yet again, he very slowly and warily approaches...

    This happened this morning so I decided to tell him "good boy" and pretended to slurp some water myself. Then I stood by the bowl as he drank. He was slurping faster than I have ever seen him slurp before, and for quite a while too. He must have been pretty thirsty!