September 29, 2012

Cloudy Fall Day

Bunch of friends gather for a day of stick at our very favorite place.  Finnegan, Neeky, Chocolate, and in front our new friend Snickers. They are waiting for Snicker's peep Dean to throw the stick.  Neeky keeps an eye on Chocolate.
The Island has been absolutely gorgeous the last weeks,  though it is very dusty and dry because of the lack of rain.

Neeky and Finn are great friends.  The Little Big Man is not even slightly intimidated by difference in size, but he does not like to be ganged up on, which does happen because he is a popular fella.

Snickers is pretty comfortable with this group of dogs, and has even begun to play stick with them, though she still prefers her own game.

Karen, Neeky's peep, is in charge of the stick now.  I love the focus here.

Beautiful girl Neeky.  She is a Border Collie Mix, mixed with something big I do believe, maybe several things.  Nice dog.

Cameo of the girl. I like this.

 Ha! I do not believe this is directed at me, I think most likely Finnegan is on my lap or next to me.  Great Photo. 

Everybody got worn out this day, that is the object, no?





September 2, 2012

Dog Show at Barnes & Noble
I have been pretty negligent with this blog, my apologies to my legions of fans.  But, today I announce my show at Barnes & Noble Booksellers on 24th Street here in Billings Mt.

We are having a Meet and Greet with me, the photographer, on Friday September 7 from 6 pm until 8 pm.  I hope that everyone comes. It would be great.


June 11, 2012

Glorious Light

Best Picture of Chocolate ever.  The light today was fantastic. Glorious. Light clouds, kept the hard shadows away. We had a very nice morning walking with our friends Missy, Laura and Karen. I was able to get some good photographs of all the dogs.

This is Neicky, she walks everyday with her friend Karen. She is a beautiful Border Collie mix. High energy. Great tail, no?

Laura's friend Beau.  Not confident of the mix, but he is a beautiful boy. Possibly Flat Coat Retriever.  He is also a High Energy boy.

Of course, my favorite, my Princess Nina Blanca. It was great light to get some details in her fur, which often is difficult.
The water has receded several feet and the Island can be walked full circumference.  I am hoping we have seen our flooding for this year.  Probably not, but we can hope.

May 21, 2012

Glorious Spring


Our Gang, Finnigan, Chocolate and Nina Blanca.  The Island is absolutely, Glorious. That is the only word for it.  It is green, the air is fresh, the birds are happy and singing away.  The bugs have not arrived yet, some ticks, but not many.  It feels so good.  I went late today, and by the time I took this picture the kids were already hot.  Must start going earlier.  Note to self.


It is green.  In a couple of weeks the grass will be over knee deep, then it will turn brown.  But for now it is lush.  The kids love running through this soft, short grass. It is growing in soft sandy soil, so it must feel wonderful on padded paws.


The slough is wide fast and muddy.  After a few warm days the water is coming down fast. Today was the highest it has been.  I hope it does not flood, the island is just too beautiful right now.  Finny is checking it out.  They, especially Finn, still finds a place to get their feet wet.  They seem to know to stay away from the fast moving areas.  I am not letting Chocolate swim after sticks though, I would have to fish him out way down stream.  For a few days I was throwing the stick upstream and then he would come out just below me, but it is too fast now. He still looks to me to throw sticks though.

April 29, 2012

Rimrock Rover Ramble 2012

Off they go! The 10th annual Rimrock Humane Societies Rover Ramble was a great success, despite the chill in the air and the high winds.  Dedicated folks. 
The photo show the beginning of the Ramble for the 3 mile, the serious, folks.  The 3 mile winner was the man in black, who it looks like took the lead from the beginning and held it.
It looked to me like everyone had a great time.


The "with dog" winner.  I love this, notice that she is carrying a poop bag, she stopped while running to pick up after her dog.  This is great.

March 15, 2012

White Dog and White Dog

For several weeks people at Norm's have been saying to me "we saw Blanca walking with someone else".  No way.  Finally last week the mystery was solved.  We met Kiva.  It is easy to understand how people thought it was Blanca.  They look amazingly alike.  Kiva has a little more color, mostly grey, she has a black nose, and her eye rims are not as pink as Blancas. Kiva has more hair, and it is curly.  But what is more amazing than that they look so similar is that they move and act so much the same.  Even I and Kiva's peep must take a second look to see who is who. Amazing.  We are so happy that we finally were able to meet Kiva.

I tried, I really tried, but this is the best I could get of them standing next to each other.  It does give an idea of their similarity.  Kiva can hear, at least in one ear, so she moves her ears more.  Blanca keeps her ears back all the time, they never move.  I have more pictures to post, but I am quiting for now.  Come back, I will try to do it tomorrow.

March 9, 2012

Boys Having Fun Fun Fun

Simon and Finnegan.  Simon walks with his peep Pat, and has been our friend for a long time.  This day he met Finnegan for the first time and it was interaction time from the get go.  Their energies were well matched.




They played like this the whole time we were walking around the Island, a good hour and a half. We probably had some really pooped pups that day.  It was a joy to watch.

February 1, 2012

January 31, 2012

Best Friends

We started out taking Little Big Man, Finny, with us just on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Then we added Wednesday, then Saturday.  Finally we decided we really liked The Little Man and we would stop off and get him every morning.  He predictably is looking out the window as we drive up to the house.  It took a while, but Chocolate finally accepted LBM and they have become great buddies.  Choco even defends Finn from bigger dogs, though Finnegan needs no protection, the reason we call him LBM.

 Little Big Man.  Finny and I get along really swell.  He comes when I call, and he has been doing a really good job of not jumping when I yell for him to not do so.  It is complicated keeping him from jumping, because the little man likes to dance, Linda has taught him, so he has gotten used to being on his back legs. He is quite the dancer. I need to get a video up of him.
Finnegan's mom was a Sheltie, his dad was a Schnauzer. He has energy in abundance.

 Blanca liked Finnigan the first time they met.  They are great buddies, and keep us entertained for hours with their shenanigans. The love to wrestle and play the mouthing game.

January 28, 2012

Ranger, Mr. Energy . . .

Ranger walks everyday at the Island with his peep friend Robert.  Everyday, unlike wimpy me that stays away on the really cold days.  Ranger is a Labradoodle, and is the best looking one I have seen.  He is a perfect size, just a little bigger than Choco-Blanca, with great color.  He is very much Mr. High Energy.  He is even too much for Finny.  Ranger plays well with Brisbane.

 Makes one wonder if he can see where he is going.  Finny has the same problem, and he has been known to run into trees.

Ranger with his buddy Brisbane.  They are a good match.  Brisbane has the energy and the body mass to keep up with Ranger. Go guys.

Ranger is one good looking dog.  He is big on sticks.

Luke on a Cloudy Day - Much Better


Luke is a beautiful boy.  We have been seeing him quite often and as he gets used to our group he has been learning to join in.  At first he was hesitant.  After all, we are a bunch of dogs, and a very tight knit group.  We often see Luke when we are with Brisbane, and they get along famously.

I love Luke's coloring.  Great ears.  He is very compact, and energetic.  He and Finny should be great playmates, but so far they are tentative.

Luke photographs much better on an overcast day, like this day.  Choco and Blanca were playing their circle chase game, and Luke is watching.  We posted a photo of Luke a couple days ago, but it was from a sunny day, and not as good.

January 20, 2012

Lucas

We have been seeing Luke at the Island regularly as of late.  A beautiful Blue Healer, with a nice way about him. He walks with his friend Amber.

I will put more photos of Luke up.  What I need right now are snow picture, but I am not going out there, no way.  Tomorrow.  Tomorrow it is supposed to be warmer and overcast, sounds good for photographs to me.  Luke would photograph better if it were overcast. He is naturally a very high contrast dog, hahaha.

January 11, 2012

Walter

We met Walter yesterday.  He is a very nice fella, friendly and outgoing.  He was walking the Island on only the second day with his new Peep, who had found him listed on Craigs list. Amazing that someone could let this beautiful boy go.  Walter is two years old, and it looks like he has a very good new home. Welcome to Billings and the Island Walter.  Hope to see you often.  I apologize for Blanca's behaviour, she does not like to share me, you just got too close.

Guest Photographer Michael E. Garcia

We have another owl on the Island.  The same one?  Whoooo knows.  He/she has taken up residence a little further west than the owl we had last year. Owls do not build their own nests, but use nests built by other birds. We have not seen any nesting so far. It is a Great Horned Owl.
This photograph is by our friend and Island regular Michael E. Garcia.
Great photo Mike, Thanks.

December 30, 2011

Our Friend, Brisbane

Here he comes. Blanca, Chocolate, Finny and I, walk with Brisbane and his peoples Steve and Bronwyn quite often, sometimes several times a week. I seldom am able to get very good pictures of Bris because, well, he is a fast moving ball of fur.  But today I worked on it and got some good ones.

Bris is a big boy, weighing I think 65 pounds. Chocolate is 54. He must be part Clydesdale, like Choco. Look at those big feet.

Good looking boy. I would like to get Brisbane with Chocolate for a group portrait, but they ignore each other. Or worse.

One of Brisbanes favorite activities is guarding the edge of the river or the ditch so that whoever, especially Finny, is down by the water cannot get back up. Ha! On Guard!

Oh, poor little innocent Finny.  Don't be fooled, these two energetic boys are the greatest of friends.


Is Finn trying to get Bisbane's Christmas scarf?  Finn can be seen returning the the biting favor quite often. Finny is an instigator. Well, so is Brisbane. Quite the pair. They have a great time together. Fun to watch.

Clicking on any of these photos will open them bigger in a new, very nice viewer that Google has provided us with.

December 26, 2011

Wow!

Wow! We were playing at what the regulars are calling "New Dog Beach" and I hear a rushing sound, look up and directly over my head is this bald eagle.  He circled once then headed west, but he stayed about long enough for me to get this great photo.  I was zoomed out to 200mm, and he takes up about a third of the frame, 200 being pretty short for bird photography, so he was pretty close. Wow!

December 25, 2011

Christmas Day

Happy Holidays Everyone.  Finnegan is on guard to fend off any grinches and grumps, as you can see.  Stand alert Little Big Man.

 Great photograph of my girl Nina Blanca . . . Go girl . . .

 because here comes our boy Chocolate . . .

I also photograph people, on rare occasion;

We tried for more dogs in the picture, but they said "No Way, it is a people picture."  This is Steve, hey! where's Bronwyn? Steve and Bronwyn's family.  They are favorite dog walking friends for my kids and I, the reason they made it onto the weblog. Finny loves Brisbane, their tricolour Aussie. Steve is on the left and Bronwyn is hiding in the back on the left.  I do believe it is Bronwyn's sister second from right, and I know that is Katie in the middle, purple vest.
I barely got this photo exposure wise, it took some serious photoshop manipulation to get this to be workable. But there it is. I vastly overexposed. Bad timing. Should have used flash.