Merry Christmas!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Christmas Morning

The Day After

Dog Blog Post #2447

For some reason, Henry's the star of everything today.

Photography Assignment

As always, click on any image to read the challenge(s).

Henry's Whiskers

Editor's Note:

Getting my planner (and resolutions) set up for the New Year. 

I'm arranging things a bit differently in 2018 to try and get a better shooting/post-processing/rest-of-my-life balance, which hopefully will result in more pictures showing up here - not hard to do, I know.

My goal is to get post-processing time down from what it was (~90 minutes a night!) but Good Camera usage up (it has been practically zero, of late) so... we'll see.

Fingers crossed.


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© 2017 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Still Here!

Yes, we're still here.

Just enjoying a bit of a break.

Still uploading to Flickr - usually on Sunday, plus sporadically during the week.

Still taking a picture a day of the boys.

Deck the Howls?

Sleepy Mr. Zachary

You know it's getting cold when Henry puts his coat on

Dog Blog Post #2446

Mostly we were busy working on the backyard. Then switched to the front yard. Now we're (trying to) turn out attention to the inside.

Somewhere in there Hubby and I managed to catch a pair of colds. Each.

Oh yeah, and Football.

(football... football... football...)

The Raiders, despite their best efforts, still aren't out of it.

The Niners?

Well, there's always next year.

Looking forward to the Holidays and getting back into the rhythms of taking nightly pictures with the GOOD camera. I just need to figure out how to not spend so much time processing.

Bitey-Paw?

Goofy Golden! (Zachary)

.Goofy Golden (again - still Zachary)

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© 2017 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Where Does The Time Go?

A few recent shots...

Cookie Monster?

Which one is Adam?

Golden Donut!

Dog Blog Post #2445

Photography Assignment

The Ghost of Zachary

The (much happier) Ghost of Henry!

I will get back to regular schedule again. I promise!

As always, click on the image and you can see a description.

And if you are looking for the "missing days" - you can check out my stream in flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bztraining


Niners are now 0-7 (sigh)


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© 2017 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Reflection

"Zzzzz"

The boys on the sofa - each a...

Daily Dog Challenge 2146. "Reflection

... of the other.

Dog Blog Post #2446

Saturday

"Zzzzzz"

Daily Dog Challenge 2145. "A Pair"

... of pooped puppies, after spending the day at the Day Spa.

Zachary clearly drew the better lot today.

Autotagging: The boys are NOT going to be impressed.

Friday

"Zzzzzz"

A hat...

Daily Dog Challenge 2144. "On Top"

... of Henry, who is on top of the sofa.


(Yes, I promise those three pictures were taken on different days!)

Thursday

Weather has been lovely... the yard has been calling...

Light and Shadow... and Henry

Daily Dog Challenge 2143. "Atmospheric"

Henry, looking up from grazing on a tufty patch of "lawn".

Our suburban backyard has taken quite a beating over the past few years due to drought, water restrictions, and a prolific Privet in the neighbor's yard, which scattered seeds by the hundreds on our side of the fence before the neighbor got wise and ripped it out.

Privets must be impervious to drought and water restrictions, as we ended up with a veritable forest of sapling volunteers, ranging from a few inches to 12' tall - some covered in ripening berries of their own!

(My discouraged neglect might have played a small part in it... perhaps... just a bit...)

Don't believe me? The rock wall on the left side of the picture was completely hidden and you would never have known that there was a patio behind it.

Hubby's new JawSaw, my long-handled pruner, and a couple months spent filling our two 96 gallon green waste bins one week at time (lather, rinse, repeat... repeat... repeat) and we are down to the last few stragglers.

I'm standing in what I only semi-jokingly call my "Spooky Forest" - created by an overgrown (understatement) hedge of Xylosma on the left, now 15' tall trees spreading just as wide.

Below a happy, healthy, leafy canopy is a twisty, gnarly, spiderweb infested mess of drooping dead twigs and small branches.

And under that is me, taking this picture.

But never fear - my trusty pruner is here, and snip by snip, bin by bin, I will bring these monsters to heel.

FWIW: I created a Flickr group to track my progress: www.flickr.com/groups/3515053@N24/ and some of the most recent pictures show the underside of the Xylosma, including a panorama. :)

Wednesday

Henry (thinking) : "Earplugs?"

Poor Henry, looks like his fortune cookie was right: "The one who snores will always fall asleep first."

Daily Dog Challenge 2142. "Fortune Cookie Day"



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© 2017 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Merry Christmas

(click)

Oh, come on... you're not even trying.

Henry: "Pfthththththth"

Not helping.

Henry: "Are we done yet?"

No.

Henry: "How about now?"

No!

Henry: "Now?"

No!!!

Henry: "Seems like we should be done."
Zachary: "I think we should make a run for it."

I give up.

Dog Blog Post #2445

Honestly... I wasn't TRYING for a series of goofy Christmas pictures, it just turned out that way.

Kids - this is why your parents have gray hairs.

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - September 11, 2017 - "Noise Maker"

Daily Dog Challenge 2140. "Enough"

The boys have had Enough of Christmas Antlers, Jingle Collars, and Santa Hats.

Today

(tick tock tick tock)

Our Daily Challenge - September 12, 2017 - "Watching"

Daily Dog Challenge 2141. "Small"

Those Cookies were NOT going to get away.

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© 2017 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

It Begins...

Football Season, that is...

Raider Nation

Dog Blog Post #2444

Henry's lucky Raider bandana was apparently the The Magic Touch to bring victory to his team today - A Good Idea for future games, at least until the Raiders abandon us for Las Vegas.

(sigh)

Alas, it seems the Niners are (once again) beyond help.

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - September 10, 2017 - "The Magic Touch"

Daily Dog Challenge 2139. "A Good Idea"

No fun watching the 49ers these days

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© 2017 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Keeping Cool

Henry: "Zzzzz"

Dog Blog Post #2443

Taken by the light of a headlamp.

Thankfully, this wasn't due to loss of power. Rather, I was reading by headlamp (worn by a handy stuffed animal beside me) to keep the heat load down inside the house (no overhead lights) - and reduce the electricity draw on the grid - as we sizzled through our third day of triple digit heat.

Because nobody wants to lose power when it's 110F outside.

Thankfully, PG&E keep the power on (and the A/C humming) so we could coast comfortably through a quiet (albeit rather dark) afternoon.

The curtains were tightly closed and the porch shade was down. As an added layer of protection I slipped my photography backboards behind the blinds in the front window. Even though the windows were already protected by the shade on the outside, and the blinds on the inside, the living room temp still dropped 2F after I did that.

Today was supposed to be the hottest of the weekend, with tomorrow promising to be a few degrees cooler (still 100+) before falling back into normal "It's too darn hot" range.

By midweek the forecast is for highs 30-40 degrees cooler than today, and that's perfectly fine with me.

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - September 2, 2017 - "The Calm AFTER the Storm"

Daily Dog Challenge 2131. "Chill"

Truth in Advertising: No, it wasn't quite THAT dark in the house at 3pm. Although Henry and the sofa are as basically as shot, the background (kitchen) might have had The Mask of Photoshop applied to it. :)

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© 2017 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

High Finance

Paying the Bills

Dog Blog Post #2442

Calculating how much is left after paying the bills.

Henry looks worried.

Cookies don't grow on trees, you know.

Photography Assignment

Daily Dog Challenge 2130. "Over"

Leaning over the bills.

Our Daily Challenge - September 1, 2017 - "On The First"

... of every month. (sigh)

Aside: While shooting with the iPhone these past two months certainly gave me more free time in the evening (no "studio" setup/breakdown, no messing with props, and minimal effort devoted to post-processing) - it feels good to be driving my Nikon again.

The boys went back to work with enthusiasm, no doubt excited about the return of higher Modeling Fees.

I did have a lot more time to devote to yard work (and it sure needs it) but my iPhone will never replace my Nikon in my heart. :)

FWIW: The switch was due to Son's computer-intensive project - now completed (successfully!) - leaving me little post-processing time. Since the yard was in desperate need of attention, I decided to just set the Nikon aside for the duration.

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© 2017 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

From Above

Henry - from above

Dog Blog Post #2441

I wanted a bitey-face shot, but the boys had other plans.

Apparently, it is (once again) too hot for frivolity.

(Taken with my iPhone held as high as I could but still see what I'm doing.)

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - August 31, 2017 - "Seen From Above"

Daily Dog Challenge 2129. "Mix It Up"

Fun with Photoshop. This is the Comic filter applied to one layer, blended back with the original layer using Multiply.

Bits of Zachary

A front paw, an ear (on the left) and his neck (on the right).

If he were human, you'd say he was sleeping on his arm.



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© 2017 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Super Sniffer

Henry: (sniff sniff sniff)

Dog Blog Post #2440

A dog's sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 times as acute as ours.

From www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/dogs-sense-of-smell.html:

"Let's suppose they're just 10,000 times better," says James Walker, former director of the Sensory Research Institute at Florida State University... "If you make the analogy to vision, what you and I can see at a third of a mile, a dog could see more than 3,000 miles away and still see as well."

That means if I'm standing in San Francisco, I could read the highway signs in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Wow.

It's a good article, informative without being too technical, and it has several other analogies that will make your head spin.

FWIW: I read elsewhere that Golden Retrievers are in the top 10 of dog breeds for sense of smell.

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - August 30, 2017 - "Anatomy"

Daily Dog Challenge 2128. "Texture"

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© 2017 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Back Online

Now where were we?

Hmm...

Let's just start from here and move forward, shall we?

Henry: "Zzzzzz"

Dog Blog Post #2439

Anyone seen Henry?

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - August 29, 2017 - "Blue"

Daily Dog Challenge 2127. "More or Less"


Editor's Note: Son's computer intensive project has concluded - successfully, I might add - so things should settle back down to normal around here.

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© 2017 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

A Rose is a Rose?

The boys were not amused

Henry - Tug!

Henry and Towel

Momma's Helper?

At least I won't have to mop the floor.

Parallel Parking

Serial Parking

Dog Blog Post #2438

Photography Assignment

Click on images to see the challenge and/or read the description :)

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© 2017 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Bitey-Face

Another week come and gone.

Pictures taken.

Weather has been lovely (for August) and so I've been working in the yard.

Computer time? Ha! Guess again.

"Roar!"

"Ahhhh!"

(wiggle wiggle wiggle)

Dog Blog Post #2437

And here's a few more...

Post walk... "Zzzzz"

It's hard work being Henry

Lazy play

Zachary: "Are you awake?"

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© 2017 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Last Week...

Yes, I'm still being out-voted on computer time.

Here's a random sampling from last week...

The boys new tug toy - hand braided fleece.

Henry - such a big baby

Bitey-Face!

Tower of Cookies

Dog Blog Post #2436

No, there's nothing wrong with the Nikon. It just seems a waste to trot out all the gear when I don't have much computer time to process.

So I'm spending my time doing late spring cleaning - or early fall cleaning - depending on how you look at it.

Photography Assignment

Click on any picture to get whisked away to Flickr, where you can read the description for the day's challenges.


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© 2017 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved