twentyfourfeet

Macros, macros, macros

Mon, 4 Aug 2008 08:29:49 -0400

I've become obsessed with macros. Exhibit A:

Hair cuts, hot spots, spontaneous family reunions, agility....

Fri, 1 Aug 2008 20:43:21 -0400

I know, I've neglected the blog again. We're going to work backwards this time, OK? OK.

Tuesday I got a haircut. "Michelle" removed 2+ inches despite me having to ask three times ("are you SURE you want it that short?"), and then removed probably a third more of my hair by layering. Layers means less hair means less washing, drying, and brushing! This is why I go to "Michelle".

A groomer named Jacob - I don't know him but I'm sure he is wonderful - sent me a pair of his thinning shears so I could experiment with Coke. I did a hack job on his hears and then cleaned that up nice. I cut back the feathering on his front legs, belly, and pants and then cleaned that up with the thinning shears. I trimmed and thinned his tail. After much coaxing I rolled Coke on his back and hacked away at his nether regions. Finished off the job getting the hair between his toes (you have to pull it all up and then cut it off the top of the foot). The whole process took three days. Coke is my Dawg but dang, I'm never getting a dog with a coat like this again!

Before and Afters...

And still on the subject of Coke....two Sundays ago I went to lunch at Grandpa Van't Hof's. When I came home I found a big wound on Coke's shoulder, like someone had ripped out a fist full of hair. No blood or punctures, so not a bite, just a lot of oozing and a pretty gnarly smell. After yet another vet visit, it's "just" a "hot spot", some kind of skin infection that occurs often in such heavy coated dogs. I suppose that's a better diagnosis than what I thought - a sebaceous cyst (known to burst and smell). The vet shaved the area and instantly the wound dried and the smell left. We also came home with bottles of Prednisone and Kephlex but I haven't been giving him either since there were no complications or infection. For a few days we had Coke wear a sock so he couldn't scratch the wound open. It's entirely healed now, there's just a white patch of skin.

Initial discovery (very weepy, very smelly)

Post-shave (pre aforementioned hair cut!)

Nice scab

New skin

Last week the Reids (sans Valerie) were in town for family vacay and we all rendezvoused at the Alphenaar's.

(best picture of Mom, evah)

Aaaaand last but not least, since this IS technically a dog blog, here are some shots of Kenya and I on our Jumpers run at our first agility trial. We won Standard 2, Fullhouse, and Jumpers and placed second in Standard 1. Kenya earned two new titles, CL1-R and CL1-F. Photos credit Julie Richards-Mostosky.

The booty - smelled funky so naturally Kenya rolled in it

Big Update Part Two...

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:42:40 -0400

More random updates...

Pretty pictures, Calvin College

My boss got a new Sunpak flash for his FZ30 and he sold me his old flash and bounce for my camera. I've always avoided using my camera's native flash so it will take some time to figure out the external flash. I shot a few pics of Posh with it pointed at the ceiling.

Beach pics from the past two Sundays. Last Sunday we watched a giant ship come in; this Sunday we dealt with 30mph winds and the sand involved.

There was a little bit of sand on Katie's towel!

Big Update Part One....

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:31:10 -0400

Haven't posted in a while, lots of random news and pics to share....

First, assuming the bitch is pregnant and a male is born, I'm getting a puppy out of V Quellie vom Kirschental SchHI KKL1 AD BH by V1 Markus vom Status Quo SchHIII KKL1.

Kira

Markus (photo credit Julie Richards-Mostosky)

Next, this morning Kenya passed the ATTS Temperament Test at Falconhurst Police K9 Corps in Saginaw, MI under Sergeant AJ Slaughter III. The TT is a series of stations designed to test the dog's reaction to friendly people, aggressive people, loud noises, gun fire, strange objects, and walking on strange footing. We were the only team that doesn't belong to the club and I was the only girl handler, but the guys were all very nice despite their big, aggressive dogs and hard-knock attitudes. Kenya passed with flying colors and now has a TT title.

Monday night was Coke's second birthday. Phil got off work so we could all go to agility together. With him cheauffering us, I was able to get some pics of the dogs in the car. Kenya loves the car and is always all smiles. Since it was Coke's birthday we let him keep his head out the window.

Phil helped tape the classes Monday night so I could make a promo video for Liz' club. If you watch you will see clips of Coke and Kenya. Kenya is very slow in the vid because it was so hot and humid, we were all dying!

Pawsitive Canine Training Center - Agility Promo from Lies Rosema on Vimeo

4th of July pics

More to come...

Sem Pond

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:10:27 -0400

I've loved frogs since I was old enough to catch them. This morning I met w/ my boss and we talked about photography. Afterwards I saw a broken robin's egg on the path and decided to go out and take a picture of it. Feeling rather reflective and introspective, that led me over to the Sem pond, where I found two female green frogs sunning. Our pond is a man-made thing, I've never seen a frog there before, and I still don't understand why one would want to be there....

The egg

Where I went for a morning mental health break

Wet rock, mmm, I wish I was that rock...

Frog A (I love my 12x optical zoom!)

Sighting of Frog B

Frog A turns around to tan the other side

Frog B climbs out of the pond and is a good sport about letting me stick my giant camera in her face

A flower

The Seminary chapel at the other (stinky) end of the pond. I went down there looking for a turtle and great blue Heron but found only duck poo. Also, apparently I picked up a smudge on my lens along the way.

On my way back to my office, I happened upon a freshly watered patch of lilies. Those that know me know I'm obsessed with water drops, I have this obsession with finding the *perfect* one. Today's light was a little harsh and I did not have the right attachment for the camera. So far, this one is still in the lead.

The egg again. Good thing the chick was already free!

I also like "old looking" stuff. This thing is behind a glass window in the wall of the staircase going down to my office (hence the glare).

The next morning I decided to go back and see if frog friends were still hanging around. They were a bit tricky to find, and by tricky I mean I was tip-toeing along the Sem pond's waterfall ledge with a $600 piece of equipment in my hand.

Stunning lily

Did a little bark texture macro series

Jean Cauvin

New nephew, Taylor's birthday, etceterea! etcetera! etcetera!

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:43:49 -0400

My new nephew, Sir Charles Watson the Valiant, aka "Charlie". Nine week Basset hound.

Taylor's birthday at Tre Cugini

"Hey Meliss, your boob touched my elbow"

lol

Taylor's house has a sweet tub

Complementary dessert

Melissa's dessert

Such good dessert, such crappy lighting

The Boys

Agility graduation

Rally graduation

The moon!

UKC Premier

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:33:27 -0400

The UKC Premier is the greatest dog show on earth! I was planning to go Sunday, but went Saturday instead because the forecast looked better.

I got there in time for the final GSD classes and watched Kenya's son Lance.

Juniors

GSD breed winner

Next was the protection dog demo at the dog sport tent.

Ultimate Air Dogs

This little guy was slated for euthanasia twice, was rescued, is now battling cancer and chemo treatments, but he doesn't care because he can FLY!

Best in Show winner, White Shepherd

"Dear Prudence"

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:01:26 -0400

I've lost the lens hood for my camera so these sunny pics are suffering.

Tuesday at the softball fields....

Wednesday, Laura and Prudence joined us. Prudence is a Rottweiler with a tail. No, I do not think she is too small, I think she's the correct size for a proper sport Rottweiler. Coke's $70 groom job went from soft, shiny, and fresh smelling to matted, dusty, and covered in slobber and gravel in about 30 seconds.

*crickets chirp*

.....wellp, see you ladies later...

*crickets chirp*

Miscellany

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:40:57 -0400

For those that care, Kenya passed the CGC/TDI (Therapy Dogs International) evaluation last week Saturday at Premier K9 in Grand Ledge. I am proud that we not only passed, but passed at a facility we have never been to before, with people we have never met. She did so well the evaluator asked us to do the "neutral dog" test. The woman holding Kenya for the three minute leave said she was the best yet (this woman is training her shepherd to be her service dog).

Then Sunday night, Coke decided he wasn't getting enough attention. While I was walking Kenya after dark, he ate an entire box of Interceptor. Interceptor is a pill that kills heartworms and other parasites. Each dog gets one pill once a month. Each box contains six pills. Upon realizing what Coke had done, we loaded him in the car and sped off to D&W. I bought a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and started pouring it down his throat in the parking lot. Thanks to Phil's fast corners, Coke threw up twice in the car. The barf yielded several pieces of Interceptor packaging and his entire dinner, eaten 5 hours before he ingested the pills. I called the e-vet and was told that considering his size, he would be OK and the drug would be out of his system in 24 hours. Better safe than sorry....yeah that's what I kept repeating as I was scraping dog barf off the inside of my car.

I know you didn't click on my link to read about dog barf, so....

This is when my dog obsession began. Uncle Steve's Rottweiler, Ajax (RIP)

I've always been a sucker for strays

Some pretty

After printing and entering several of my rain drop photos in the church art show, I took this photo. Too late!

Spider and web...look real close

Kenya's first agility trial is next month

Last week it was so humid, this clump of Coke's undercoat was immediately covered in dew

Kenya's "crop circle". This started showing up a few months ago and is now a dark circle on her left hip.

Kenya's new boyfriend, Justin (Malagolds), ran into a glass door and scraped his nose.

A rainbow in Lowell

Macro practice

Spit bug!

Farm life

Mon, 2 Jun 2008 10:30:24 -0400

Make 'N It Easy Ranch, Hopkins, MI