Filed under: animals, dogs, life, pets | Tags: animals, dogs, life, pets, photography
and so cody bear and pickles have found themselves house sitting! they’re keeping their friend hannah company while her dad is out of town.
fun for pickles who has been playing with all hannah’s lovely toys, and relaxing for cody bear who is recoving from an asskicking surgery.
we end up going home for meals, as, between the two of them, there are a great amount of pill bottles involved.
hannah enjoys watching pickle play with her toys, but she’s a little older so she doesn’t join in with the romping.
tomorrow we go home. house cleaning and a photo shoot for me. relaxing and getting snuggled for them. you know….much of the same for them.
moving on to the serious news…we find out sometime after tuesday if cody bear’s tumor was cancer. i’m nervous, i won’t lie. but i will be surprised if it is bad, i mean….this is the healthiest the bear has ever been. it will be quite unfair if, after years of trying to get his health in order and achieving, we find he has cancer. that just won’t be fair. no other way to say it.
aside: the house we’re staying has a couch! we don’t have a couch. and i’m sitting on it. so posh!
my feet are on the coffee table and the baby loves are laying beneath my legs. i’ll wake them up soon…when i’ve had my fill of cable tv. oh livin’ the high life at hannah’s.
Filed under: animals, dogs, life | Tags: animals, dogs, life, pets, photography
why are cody bear and pickles smiling?
i don’t know, really. they’ve had a rough year. perhaps they’re smiling because 2012 is going to be a healthy and happy dog year? sorry i’ve been absent so long. pickles struggled with health all year. we’re still trying to get her feeling better. she is puzzle.
but through it all she keeps smiling and wagging.
as does the bear….who is having a tumor removed next week. the 20th. so please keep him in your thoughts that day.
now….in other news. another reason i’ve been busy: my photography business is off the hook. how did this happen? i just had my first show last month and it was a great success. i’ll get some pics and details up next.
i’m back to blogging. thank god.
Filed under: animals, dogs, food, insects, life | Tags: animals, border collies, dogs, food, insects, life, mutts, photography
so life has been happening. lots and lots of life. good and bad; mostly good.
but i’m back. i will say…there has been alot of eating, visits to the vet and frantic life happening in the last few months.
the best breakfast ever was discovered:
hash browns on green chili sauce with a chili relleno breakfast burrito. (i could only eat half)
insects are still being found:
and while cody bear had a bit of roughness in the past year, he’s back and better than ever:
ever playful, ever loving.
and his faithful sidekick is still doing great and making us all happy:
what a sweet baby pickles!
Filed under: gardening, life, nature, photography, travel | Tags: gardening, japanese garden, life, photography, portland, travel, vacation
so i haven’t blogged in a while. i was on vacation in portland. when i got home i SHOULD have popped some pictures up right away, but i have to admit….i was sort of bummed. i loved portland. my hosts were so much fun and we squeezed so many great things in. when i got home i was bored. bored and cranky and contemplative. “why the hell am i living here?” i’ve been talking about moving for years. oh yeah: i have no money to move. so i’m stuck here.
now, that i got THAT out of the way i will say that i’m much cheerier this week. it’s been a great three day weekend and i have spent some time setting some goals, which i will share later. but for now i will show you some photos of one of my favorite places in portland, the japanese garden!
definitely worth the admission, which i think was 5 dollars. i’m pretty certain if i lived in that town i would go all the time. once we got away from the group with the loud toddlers it was so quiet and peaceful and ….healing.
i wish this was my back yard! but moss just doesn’t like it here.
Filed under: beer, friends, life | Tags: beer, friends, life, photography, pool, random
dear friends, please remember, you can’t startle easily if you go out drinking with goodbear. that’s your warning.
why?
because at any minute, while you’re casually lifting your glass to take a sip of beer, she might hiss, “don’t move” while she reaches for her bag.
…and pulls out a camera and makes you hold your glass up to the pretty lights.
oooh. ahhhh.
yes, i did go out for beers on a work night. and yes, i am freakin exhausted today.
but it was worth it. it was fun, plus i needed to be reminded about how much i suck at pool. like every other american female my pool skills increase with each beer. the number of balls sank per game is directly proportional to the amount of beers you’ve drank. also, there is an exponential element.
first beer = you still suck
second beer = most of your efforts are still humiliating, but maybe 2 or 3 shots will elicit a charitable high five from opponents.
third beer = you’re infallible. at least….that’s what you remember.
fourth beer = you still act like you CAN’T BELIEVE you made that shot, but in your tipsy head you’re thinking….”i’m a phenom!”
for the record, i only had 3 guinness last night, so i never hit “phenom” status. also, i know i wasn’t infallible.
anyway, fun times.
now get back to work!
Filed under: bees, hiking, insects, nature, photography | Tags: animals, bees, damselflies, hiking, insects, nature, photography, toads, wildlife
sunday afternoon the sky started getting moody and i started feeling desperate. “i need more bug photos for my upcoming show.”
braving the elements, (rain and thunder….not too frightening) i headed east to my favorite dragonfly hotbed.
first of all, it must be said, my new hiking boots are totally comfy and i’m so glad i didn’t let anyone talk me into returning them.
and yes, my feet ARE totally adorable when they’re…in shoes. moving on….
’twas a brilliant day. the light was diffused with clouds and the roll of thunder kept going on and on and on. (like a moody blues tune, only you actually like that it’s not stopping)
big surprise of the day? tiny toadkins. these little toads were hopping all over when i climbed down to the pond bed. and also, these little toadkins are why i smelled like dead fish for a wee bit.
but, how cute? they were worth it.
you’re wondering,….”how tiny IS that tiny toad?” well, he’s about the size of watch battery. maybe smaller. maybe the size of a micro sd card?
now, regarding the upper body strength….
damselflies.
they have some staggering upper body strength. …no?
sadly, the last visitor reminds me about how i’ve lost my bee friends.
agapostemon.
i miss my agapostemons.
eh. nice critters out there.
afterwards i hopped back in the honda. listened to van morrison, ray lamontagne, and…what?…mazzy star. ’twas a good day.
Filed under: animals, insects, life, nature, photography | Tags: animals, beers, cicada, insects, life, meteor shower, nature, photography
thursdays are good nights to sneak beers into a movie, grab a burrito afterwards, then head out of town to find a dark patch to view a meteor shower. don’t you think thursdays are good for that?
fridays are good for catching up on work before the weekend, then sneaking out to take photos of cicada leave offs. their sheddings are stuck to our building and trees.
these cicadas will not shut up. it only bothers me on the really hot days.
every now and then a thrasher will catch one and fly around with it in it’s beak. they sound REALLY pissed off when that happens. the birds love it and seem to fly laps around the property.
tomorrow is saturday. saturdays are good days to sleep in late, cuddling with dogs and do whatever….
Filed under: animals, beetles, insects, nature, photography, wildlife | Tags: animals, beetles, insects, long horned cactus beetles mating, nature, photography, wildlife
so, yeah, i like photographing insects. you all know that. but those who know me very well know i like …um….catching them in the act!
and it just turns out that my yard is a hot bed for insect sex.
you can’t turn around without seeing long horned cactus beetles hooking up. they make rabbits look like prudes.
in this photo, the one on the bottom is EATING during copulation! (oh no she dih-unt!? oh yes she did!) aren’t you guys glad i didn’t use a macro lens???? can’t you just HEAR john mayer singing his creepy song “your body is a wonderland?” (ew….i just grossed myself out. creepy guy. creepy song.)
here you have a lonely beetle.
don’t worry little one…stick around long enough, someone is bound to find you.
for more photos i have taken of insects in flagrante, visit here and here.
Filed under: animals, beetles, insects, nature | Tags: animals, insects, nature, palo verde beetle, photography, wildlife
and so goodbear came back from a very exciting movie and was feeling a bit like a femme super hero.
first order of business upon my return? let the dogs out. let the dogs in. glance at wall by door as letting dogs in…and BOOM!
WTF????
look at her! she’s HUGE!
and she’s trying to get into my bedroom window! back off beetle chic!
she’s gone now. i used my crazy super powers and my magical canon flash to intimidate her and make her fly away in an outrage!
Filed under: animals, border collies, dogs, love, pets, photography | Tags: animals, border collies, dogs, love, paws, pets, photography
oh the drama!!!
“what is it NOW, goodbear?!” you ask, exasperated.
well, turns out the running lifestyle has taken its toll on our dainty border collie friend, pickles. after intervals for almost 3 miles, she was spent and looks like she has worn her toenails too short. (picky may have to jog in booties or get nail protection) her quicks are exposed and way too tender.
she is really milking it, too. i sure hope that’s all that is wrong. i mean, she has learned her acting skills from the “poor me” master, cody bear.
oh, the pleading stare!
cody bear and i have been overly-babying her. he’s actually quite concerned. (and the anthropomorphic side of me assumes he may even be a little relieved it wasn’t him having to go to the vet this time.)
here’s to her up and running on 4 paws again!
hop….hop….
isn’t she just freakin’ cute!!!
i can’t handle it!
