March 31, 2011

Guest Photographer Michael E Garcia

Mike discovered this Big Bird today at the Island. There were two but the second one flew away before he could get a picture. I have a picture I took from a distance that I will post later.
Mike caught this photo of my kids and me. I am looking for the turkey in the trees across the channel. I like it. Mike named the photo "Can You Ask for Anything More"?  I think he pegged it.  Thanks Mike.


Beautiful Patches

What a beautiful girl.  I posted a picture of Patches a week ago or so without having her name. Patches is an English Spaniel. She walks with her friend Nona, and I have been seeing them most days lately. I hope to get more pictures of her, since she is such a beautiful girl and I have not captured that here.

March 27, 2011

Bookends

Daisy and Chocolate.  It would have been ideal of course if Daisy were looking at me, but c’est la vie.

March 26, 2011

Successful Clean Up Day for Norm's Island!

Early Bird Gets The uh, uh, uh . . .
I arrived at Norm's at 9am, and Rick with his dogs Maggie and Marne were already diligently at work cleaning up the winters accumulation of doggy doo. (poop).  The day was highly successful with over 40 ID tags being pinned to volunteers.  I see Rick does not have one on. That makes at least 41.
Marcia Clausing brought two garbage cans and placed them along the trail in both directions so there no longer is the excuse that there is no place to put the poop after you pick it up.  Please dog people, let's be responsible dog owners and pick up after our friends so Norms can continue to be the wonderful place it is for all users. 
It was just so great to see so many people pitching in to clean up our favorite walking place. It warmed the heart and stimulated the mind. 
I took a lot of pictures today, so they will be slowly added today and tomorrow.

Understandable Contemplation
It seems that Shelley and Mike are contemplating the enormity of the undertaking.

I Found One. Hey, this is Fun
Marcia our Hero for organizing this great event, enjoys her dog doody with her husband Harry, who probably would rather be in his shop working on the Impala or the Coronet, but here he is helping Marcia, and he looks to be having fun. Thanks guys. You will notice my Chocolate and Blanca in almost every picture. They have learned to stay the direction I am pointing the camera.
"Hey, I found something much more interesting over here."  This beautiful boy is Marcia's Teak.

Help Out, Use the Scooper
Doing their part, and then some, we have Karlee Royal, and left is CJ's mom. Sorry I did not get her name.
 Or a shovel. Bella, Bandit, John, and Scout scour the south side for poop.  Hey! where's the rest of Bandit?

Tucker Is More Than Ready To Help
Tell me what to do people, I am all ready to help

New Friends
Blanca met a new friend today, Daisy.  They seemed to really like each other, and were a great match size wise and seemingly temperment wise.  They played great. Fun to watch.
Blanca likes Daisy, then I like Daisy. Would like a photo of her clean. Beautiful girl.
While Blanca and Daisy were running about I was also keeping an eye on this regal boy, Teak. He is a beautiful alert boy.  I wonder what kind of a breed he is. Great picture, if I must say so myself.

This is Tipsy, who we met just as we were about to leave for the day. Two years old with lots of energy and a great look.  She is lucky to have found her friend Diane.
A wet Tipsy. I wish I had a watermellon no no, I mean a picture with Choco or Blanca so Tipsy's size would be apparent. She is small. Bigger than a Chihuahua, smaller than a Spaniel. Nice dog. Nice to see you Diane.

March 23, 2011

Big Beautiful Spring Snow

This morning Norm's Island was the most beautiful place in the world.  It was absolutely breathtaking. My kids found it to be quite exhilarating. Is this not the best dog picture I have ever taken, I keep asking myself. So much happiness, I need to send it to the Dali Lama. 

Come On Over 

Diego
Diego with a big stick. Diego and Chocolate have a common interest, sticks, which of course is not always good.  But it works out. Diego is one beautiful boy.

Fergus
 Hi Fergus.  All this before we even get across the bridge, and there is more to come.

Some of The Human "Island Regulars"

Mike and Diego.  Sorry about that tripod leg Mike.


Kelley, who is at the Island everyday in her role as K9 Playtime. Somedays she is with just her own dogs.
Kelley and her Troup? her Pack?  The boy with the green ball is going tomorrow for knee surgery. Kelley had I think five dogs today, I caught only two.  Sorry the picture is so narrow Kelley, I think they allow only so many square units, so the height counts. Square pictures are bigger.

John with Bandit, Bella, and Scout.
That is Bandit in the foreground.  He is very friendly to me, always stands up to see what I am doing.  I have been trying to get a picture of Scout and Bella for a long time, but Scout is old and needs to keep moving, so I never get a chance. John is the one in the red cap, the red cap that made me take the picture. Thanks John.  John has three dogs. The others are Kelley's. Someday I will get a picture of the Dalmatians on a good green or amber field.  It is coming.
 But in the meantime, whoa, look what I found. Bella is focused on Blanca. 

Penny
Penny walks at Norms everyday, everyday, with her friends Cathy and Ms Mel. This is my best photo of her yet. She is very shy, and looks at me very suspiciously, which does not make for a good photo. She has good attention here. Penny is a beautiful girl, a Rhodesian Ridgeback, who was very lucky to find her friend Cathy. Penny was painfully shy when Cathy first got her. 

And Finally, The Setting
  Busy Day Today ;-)

March 22, 2011

Spring!!??

Ha! Blanca is soaking wet.  It was snowing very hard when we were at the Island this morning, but it felt very warm. It was very pleasant., but we still only stayed for a little over an hour.  When we got to the parking lot ours was the only car there.  No sense to get out of the rain!  We enjoyed it.

Multitudes of Dogs

We met this beautiful dog walking down the path.  Unfortunately we did not get either breed or name, though he is obviously a spaniel of some sort.  Very nice dog.  In the background we have Millie, Chocolate and Lily.  We had a nice dog convention going for awhile.
I am a bit behind in my posting.  We had a very photogenic weekend, so many pictures that I am having a hard time with editing.  I will get them up maybe today, since it is snowing.

Buddy 

 Another Happy boy. This is Buddy. Another buddy. Buddies everywhere, but it is true. I call my Chocolate buddy too. This little guy is six months old, and he was pretty happy to play with Choco-Blanca.  He will grow to be a perfect size, I would say.

Lucky 

 Lucky.  She is a beautiful girl and I have been trying for a long time to get a picture of her.  I am for now going to have to settle for this.  She is shy, and looks away when I point the camera at her, which is common with many dogs.  The big eye. But, this is a great profile shot.  I will keep trying, as I think Lucky is beautiful.

Goofball
Goofy is the coolest dog. He is a Cocker Spaniel.  He is a bundle of erratic energy. He walks quite regularly at Norm's with his friend Debbie.  He is a joy to watch play, even if he does not get along with Blanca so especially well.  I think he wiggles too much for her.
"Whatta ya mean it's too big?"
Here Goof is defending his new best friend the Schnauzer from the evil Big White Thing. Unfortunately we did not get the Schnauzer's name.

Hank
Love this picture. I know I use the word beautiful too often, but Hank is it. He walks the Island with his friend Bill (I did not write that down, so hope it is correct) He is a gorgeous red Golden Retriever. Great personality.
 "Why exactly is it that I am having to sit here, Mr.?"
"Free, alright"


And of Course, Niña Blanca

March 18, 2011

Leading the Way for Spring Repairs

Trail Maintenance.  Thank You. The trails were getting muddy in a few spots, reinforcements greatly appreciated. Again thank to all the volunteers that keep Norm's such a wonderful place to be.
I need names here, I was occupied with keeping Blanca away from this machine.  She has no fear of such things, nor any understanding of tires. So I had my hands full.  Choco keeps his distance usually. Plus the machine was noisy, and I am hard of hearing, some.

March 14, 2011

Seven Feet Up

I simply Love chase photos. Obviously, no?  Seven feet up. Please do not point out that only five feet are visible. When my dogs start to play I have been learning to position myself so I can catch them when they need to jump over an obstacle, crest a hill, jump off a cliff (small).  I have been trying to pan shots of them running, but they seldom go in a straight line for long.
 We met Jax walking along the canal.  He is one years old, and a real beauty.  A black dog and harsh sunlight, but we could not resist this pose.  Good photo. Thanks Jax.
Following the gang.  My girl always like to follow the dogs we meet, follow them till I cannot see her anymore and I get worried.  But so far she always comes back.  He nickname is "curious girl" and it is appropriate.  I am constantly thrilled at how well all the dogs at Norm's Island get along. "What else did you expect"? asks Chocolate. "Dogs are cool" You are right my buddy.
 A bit of Norm's Island Joy captured here. Yeah, I tweaked it a bit. To bring out her hair. Art, ya know. Her hair barely holds detail, and when pushed it gets weird, like in this image. The low resolution does not help, not a bit. Too much sharpening makes it strange, but the energy is what I wanted from it.  She is really muddy, that is what the gray splotches are.  I Love You Blanca. Does it show? Jeez!

March 12, 2011

No Ice! No Ice!

What You Freakin Out About Human?  Look, No Ice! 
For weeks I have been struggling to keep the dogs off the ice, I had no desire to shimmy out on it on my belly to rescue a dog in the water, so today when Blanca disappeared over the edge I ran fast to try to get her back, and this is what I found.
Chocolate got into the act too seeming to say to me " look, I found some over here"
I like these pictures, but it simply was a bad light day, but ohhh so nice out there at Norm's despite the harsh light. I was thinking about Blanca's pink eyes alot today. Dogs with pink eyelids have issues with them burning.

The Appraisal

Today we met this beautiful, boy? I do believe his name is Peyton. He is a Labradoodle.  He was walking with his brother who looks for all the world like a very nice attractive black Labrador. Unfortunately, no good pictures. This is a good photo, but in general, the light was not good because I was there right in the middle of the day and there was not a cloud in the sky.  Which of course made for an absolutely gorgeous day.  My dog kids and I love being at Norm's Island.  The kids played chase with Peyton and his brother Bella very vigorously

March 10, 2011

Cara Blanca

I like this. Regular followers of this weblog will know that, of course he does. My Blanca Face. Today definitely felt like the first day of spring. It was warm, and the sun came out around noon.  I kept Blanca out a little to long in the sun I felt, I worry about her getting burnt on her eyelids.  It also is hard on her eyes because she has to squint when it is sunny.  Her pupils do not work. They move a little, but mostly they are fixed at one aperture. She likes heavily overcast days best.
Dog Happiness Convention. Notice that Niña is always in these group shots, Chocolate is usually by my side. 
 I turn around and here is Chocolate behind me. 
 Blanca on White.  I like this, pink nose and toes.