Fun in the sun

After three days of grey skies and wet weather it was with delight that I awoke to blue skies once more. Once all the chores were out of the way I had a little time to play with my camera. This time I had the 50mm lens fitted on the front so I decided to leave it there and see how I managed. Its a lovely little lens but I find it rather restricting in that I can't always get far enough away from my subject. I really found that to be the case today too - I could not go any further away from where I had set up my backdrop or I would have been in the swimming pool!
I grabbed a handful of little dog biscuits and a sheet of firm plastic board - the sort used for real estate signs - and allowed one dog at a time into the pool yard. For food, my dogs will do almost anything!
First off the blocks was Byron and I managed to get a few good shots of him - but because of the restriction on distance I could not get any further away and head shots were my only option - and even then I was only just far enough away!

On a bright day, perhaps white was not the best colour to have as a backdrop! However it is nice to be able to get a couple of shots with nothing distracting behind the dogs. Byron is now eleven and half years old. He is a "designer dog", an Irish Poodle which is a cross between an Irish Water Spaniel and a Standard Poodle. We get his wool cut every three months. It is about a week since he had his last session at the poodle parlour so his coat is like that of the astrakhan sheep, soft and curly.
Now here is Samson.

Samson is a Curly Coat Retriever and he always looks this sad! He is as black as the Ace of Spades - but picture two makes him look rather blue! Oops! When we bought Samson from the Council pound (six years ago) we were told that he was two years younger than Byron but now he is looking a bit older than his woolly mate! The Curly Coat Retriever is one of the oldest breeds of dog, apparently the breed was used in England by the Game Keepers who looked after the grounds and pheasants for the Lord of the Manor.     
Before I close for today I am going to include two more pictures, this time from my garden. There are a few things in flower - there always are! But these are quite spectacular at the moment. The Calliandra pompoms are a favourite with the Little Wattle Birds. I hear them and see them a lot but they never let me get close enough to take a photo - they zip behind the tree to feed out of range!

I love this small tree because it seems to have these colourful flowers on it for many months, there are always new ones opening up. That little raspberry shaped bud is one of the emerging flowers.

Lastly the Poinsettia that stands beside my mailbox. This is a double one and the flowers would be 30cm across - or more. They are only just wide open, they and all their smaller cousins are brightening our gardens at the moment.
There is a round bush that is smothered in tiny little white star shaped flowers that is a type of Hibiscus that we know as the snow-ball bush and it is just making itself noticed! They seem to be in everyone's gardens - even gardens where there are only lawns and shrubs!
Click on any of the pictures if you wish to see them larger!
AJ

My "super dogs"

Yesterday I showcased a couple of unusual dogs but today I am showing off my own two handsome companions. After spotting a new rose in my garden and grabbing the camera to keep a record of it (It is a lovely orange color) I was confronted by my two hounds who thought I had found something they could eat! Since they had made the effort to come outside into the sunlight I encouraged them to sit so that I could take their portraits!
I still have my 50mm lens on the Nikon D90 and am really enjoying using it. So with this lens I took these two photos

f/6.3   1/125  ISO 200 50mm

f/6.3  1/50 ISO200 50mm

Fortunately for me, I shoot in RAW, which means I can change the exposure if I need to - and I did need to. Aiming the camera at a dark animal - especially black Samson - to focus, the camera interpreted the speed needed incorrectly and my shot was very over exposed. in fact both these pictures were over exposed. Reducing the exposure in ACR I found that none of the detail had been lost.

I replaced the brick background behind Byron with one of my textures. It was a little bit fiddly around his curly locks but I like the way the background sets him off - the colour of the bricks that were behind him didn't suit his colouring! (I know! I cheat!)

AJ

new breeds of dogs - to me

At the Pet Expo that I visited only yesterday I took a couple of pictures that I must share with you - of dogs that I found rather unusual. I had heard of the Chinese Crested Dog but I had never seen one except in cartoons so when I spotted one being pampered and admired in one of the little tents I asked if I could take a photo or two. Most of the body is covered with very short and quite soft hair so that it looks hairless. There are tufts of longer hair on the tail and on the feet and top of the head - so the poor thing looks quite comical. I like this shot because it conveys the character of the animal.

f/7.1  1/250  ISO 200    50mm

The green is a neck scarf advertising a local veterinary group that has been tied around its naked neck. The swish of long hair on its top knot and ears stuck out at right angles make me smile. I am quite happy that I do not have one!

My next dog is one that I could happily own, I thought him so beautiful.

f/8  1/400  ISO 400  50mm

I assumed that this dog was an albino but the owner assured me that his dog was not albino but was a white Swiss Shepherd and that there were approximately 5000 of them in Australia alone.  But this is one gorgeous dog - and during the day at the Expo I saw one other being led around, so maybe there is a club either here on the Gold Coast or in Brisbane.

Finally a really beautiful dog that is easily recognised. A golden retriever - a lovely pale colour! I want one!

f/8 1/800 ISO 400 50mm

AJ

Video of my dogs

I have just taken a few seconds of video of my "family"! Introducing my two boys checking out the swimming pool. It is the middle of July and this is supposed to be winter. The temperature is 21 outside and jumpers are not needed today!

Home again

Its good to be home! First thing the warm holiday clothes were thrown into the washing machine while we enjoyed our Sunday cooked breakfast - we had missed out on having it on Sunday as that was the morning of our flight. As usual, as soon as the egg was lifted from the pan and onto the plate the phone rang! Life has got back to normal!

The dogs are delighted to have us home, they have been well looked after by a friend who lived in the house while we were away. Each time we have left our dogs in kennels we have come home to expensive vet bills - they seem to pick up eye problems and Kennel Cough from these kennels. Even though we have had the dogs injected against Kennel Cough there seem to be different strains of it that our poor dogs seem to get. So with Joy looking after our big woolly dogs we have no worries at all when we go away.

My son Paul and family came around at lunch time to welcome us back and the children imediately went to the cupboard and dug out the beads and nylon thread to do their favourite threading task at Granny's place. A sudden squeal had us all rushing in to the sunroom and horror of horrors young Chantelle had done it again. She had pushed a bead into her nose. Oh no. Paul tried in vain to retrieve it but it had been pushed right back - too far for him to fish it out. So that was the end of their visit. They are now at the hospital and waiting for someone to help - on a public holiday they will be waiting for quite a while I think. You hear of children pushing things into their noses - but wouldn't you think that when it had been done once and there are memories of all the proding and probing by strangers that the child would never do it again? Its only a few weeks since the last time. Kids! The beads have been packed away and hidden from sight and so high up that a ladder would be needed to retrieve them. Granny needs a lie down now!

To calm myself down I grabbed a pair of snips and went into the garden and quietly pruned some of the buds off the Chrysanthemums. Colin grabbed the pole, brush and suction hose and he cleaned the swimming pool.

A few years ago a friend gave me three mauve Chrysanthemums and gave me lots of instructions on how to make them have only one flower so that they would be large flowers. I now have hundreds of mauve Chrysanths and I often leave it too late to clean off the side shoots. I had worked on them before I left for New Zealand and they are almost open so today I tidied them up even more. It does make a difference to the size of the flowers but if I did it sooner and more often I would have even larger blooms! Its a pity they smell so awful, they are attractive flowers.

I shall ring the family and find out if the bead has been removed - they were boasting that nothing dramatic had happened while we were away - they should have said nothing! I feel dreadful for providing the weapon!

AJ

doggy haircut

Lucky Byron had a visit to the poodle parlour where he could catch up with all the other shaggy dogs in the neighbourhood a couple of days ago.
When I walk Byron past dogs in the street he just has to reach out and see if he knows them but when I take him for a haircut you would think he was unaware of the other dogs. It is really strange - he loves the girls who do the clipping and he loves the fuss they make of him and he loves the treats they give him afterwards but he could not really care less about the other dogs no matter how large or small!
So our super woolly boy is now slim and sleek and able to sneak through the long grass without touching it!
We took him (and Samson) to the park - and as you can see from the photos, the fellows responsible for the upkeep had been a little slack! Great conditions for paralysis ticks!
Throughout the park are jumps and ramps and poles for playing with the dogs - and they love it when I run with them and make them jump over things. The jumps are only knee height and the run is not as fast as it could be (my tiny grandkids could beat me!) but the dogs have fun and I get a bit of exercise too!
Did I tell you that Byron has celebrated his tenth birthday? He is a senior citizen now!
AJ

Samson the strong

Beautiful black Samson has been a member of our family for only a couple of years but in that time we have really changed his personality and Byron has found a good friend. From his initial behaviour we deduced that Samson had been neglected - a big dog shut in a small back yard with no company and nothing to do.

Now he has a whole acre of land to stretch his legs and run but what does he do? He lies in his hammock and sleeps all day! The dog bed is just outside the door and when ever anyone comes out, he is head up and eager eyes, and should you talk to him; well! He is on his feet and pressing close against you before you can say "Jack Robinson"!

We reckon he is the perfect security dog. He is black so no one would see him at night, he is silent so no one would know he was there but he would hear any one who came into the garage and he would be there and for sure he would trip them up!

This afternoon Colin and I went down through the yard to go and pick a few mangoes from the trees that lean over the creek at the bottom of the block. Neither Samson nor Byron needed any encouragement to join us - they were right there leading the way. Samson is a lizard chaser and we are rather fond of the big lizards that live in that part of the property so we had to call him back as he raced down to the water.

He was easily distracted by our call and raced back to join us as we made our way rather slower than he had, down to the mango trees.

Colin managed to persuade both Byron and Samson to pose for me with one of the pine cones from the Bunya pine. Byron is a little closer to the camera so looks to be larger but both dogs are identical in size however while Byron is a "designer dog", Samson is a Curly Coat Retriever which is a pure breed. It is also a very old breed of dog. The English Game Keepers of the landed gentry would have a curly coat retriever as their working dog.

The Curly Coat retriever has short hair over the face to the top of the head. The coat is hair and unlike Byron, moults. There is black hair all over the garage floor and we have to sweep it up every day. Poor old Byron is getting really woolly and I shall ring up tomorrow and book him in for a clip. He will then look more like a greyhound!

So now you have met the most important young members of our household. We worry about them when we go away any where and complain that it costs as much to have them looked after as it does for us to have our holiday - but we wouldn't have it any other way! They are always so pleased to have us home. Dogs are very forgiving!

AJ