Posts from the ‘Pets’ category

Inversion’s end

A weather disturbance is forecast for tonight. If all goes as forecast, it will end the inversion, scrub the valley air and the freezing fog will be gone.

Bear and I went to the wild fowl area to walk in the fog and sunshine before things change.

I like the road through the Ponderosa Pines.

To the right of the road, the trees and frost and fog…mysterious, close, beautiful.

At the end of the road, the lowered level of the lake – dry lake bed – if Bear could run he would have a grand time. Still…plenty to smell and explore and look at.

Returning to the Jeep, I took a last look and a deep breath of the cold, moist air.

And we headed for home.

As the inversion breaks, the sky at my house clouded up. But inside, sleeping boys – they are my sunshine.

Freezing fog along the road home

Enjoying freezing fog is a guilty pleasure of mine. It can make the roads slick with black ice. But I love a little of it – it has made for some of my favorite photos and whether it is with or without sun, there is something about the air when it is filled with freezing fog.

I left home this morning, with Bear in the Jeep, to run some quick errands in Bigfork and take the boy for a walk somewhere. The sky was blue, clear and sunny at my house.

As we descended through the treed section, I caught glimpses of fog over the valley.

Freezing fog.

The fog was low, the sun was high and above the fog, the sky was icy blue.

Sunshine at the right angle flashed thousands of miniature rainbows in the tiny prisms of fog and snow crystals. I had no success catching them with the camera and they seemed almost surreal in peripheral vision, disappearing as I turned my head to find them.

Headed home, the fog thinned as the road ascended from the valley floor.

At home…

…it was still sunny and bright. Bob, Bear, the herbs (the parsley is in the other window enjoying its own sunny spot!) and I enjoyed.

Sleeping arrangements

I have wanted to get rid of the too big bed I have for some time. It is too big for the room and too high for Bear to be jumping up on, even when he is 100%.

I wanted to duplicate what I have in the motorhome which is a platform with mattress and foam topper. I sleep wonderfully on that.

I saw a sale on a plain platform bed and bought it without much thought. I put my too big set in the Mountain Trader but I didn’t have much hope…the size is not a popular size, but I thought I’d try and I put off worrying what and how I’d get rid of the set if it didn’t sell.

It sold by noon the day the paper came out to the 2nd caller and I’ve had no other calls. The buyers were not so concerned with size as they were with wanting the exact style: a BeautyRest Classic. Bottom line – we all got what we wanted. They picked up everything on Sunday and helped me bring in the motorhome mattress which I’m going to use on the platform until I buy another for the house.

The platform had not arrived yet so the mattress has been on the floor. It is no different for sleeping than on the platform but getting out of it is more of a challenge.

Monday, I received word that the platform had arrived and would be delivered today…so only 2 nights “on the floor”. I took down the gate to the bedroom when the big bed left and thought maybe Bear would join Bob and I but he did not.

This morning, though, he went in the bedroom and got on the bed. He tried to see out the window and then circled on the bed a number of times and looked again. It appeared that he couldn’t figure out what happened to the rest of the bed and why it was low and all was just a bit confusing.

He stayed for only a short while…it just was not right.

Bob didn’t care one way or another and stuck to his cat house/my light box.

The new bed…which is entirely covered by the comforters.

I like it!

Happy New Year…bah humbug!

I know it looks like Bear maybe “tied one on” for New Year’s…but what kept us up was not our own partying, but New Year’s Eve fireworks. Fireworks are legal in Montana for New Year’s Eve and this year was worse than most with everyone getting an early start and ramping up until things finally quieted down about 1:00 a.m. Bleah.

Bear has not been bothered by fireworks or thunder or gunshots before last night but these seemed to have a high pitched whistle and maybe hurt his ears. About 9:30, he moved from his chairs to a spot right in front of the bedroom gate. At 10:00 he rattled the gate. Bear has NEVER touched the gates. I let him in the bedroom and lifted him up on the bed. He settled but had his ears back for a bit before finally putting his head down and relaxing. I kept a DVD playing for some cover noise until all was quiet outside.

We finally all settled and didn’t wake until Bob’s insulin alarm reminder on my phone went off at 7:00 a.m.

So, we survived the night but it looks to be a catch-up napping kind of day for Mr. Bear…

Bob slept fine but he has the munchies, although that is nothing to do with New Year’s…he ALWAYS has the munchies :) !

My eye opener was an eggnog.

Recipe adapted from Neo-Homesteading’s Raw Eggnog recipe.

1 cup milk
1/2 cup cashew cream
1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Maple syrup to taste

Whiz all in the blender and grate fresh nutmeg on top. This made a mug and a half. I would probably halve the milk and cream and use 1 whole egg for a more normal single serving. While it is a hefty amount of calories, it packs a huge nutritional punch. I have been using cashew cream in place of heavy whipping cream in everything that calls for heavy cream. (See Cooking with Cashews for cashew cream making)

Below is the nutritional info for 1 Tablespoon of each…kind of interesting! (Dbl click the image to read easily)

Heavy Cream

Cashew Cream

http://nutritiondata.self.com/ is the tool I used for calculating the above.

Pet photography: aka the incredibly lucky shot

So…the Merry Christmas photo of Bear, Bob and I…I was pretty happy with it! We were all looking at the camera. Bear and I were smiling. Bob did not look like he was swearing. The only photoshopping done was a bit of noise reduction courtesy of a great PS plug-in (Imagenomic) AND, I PS’d my missing left canine tooth – my tooth was removed and a titanium implant is in place but replacement of the tooth took a back seat to Bear’s leg surgery…still, I DO have my vanity so I added a tooth :) !!

As I told several I emailed an early release of the photo…there were about 100 other photos, i.e the outtakes. As noted above, I DO have my vanity so the best/worst of them have been deleted, but there are still a few to tell the story with.

My Canon Rebel xSi, my first DSLR, had a very nice timing function built in. It allowed up to 10 photos to be taken after either a 2 or 10 second delay. I had a LOT of fun with that and caught the “story” of trying to get photos of Karl and I as well as Karl, Bob and I.

My current camera, a Canon 60D has only a 10 second delay or 2 second delay…phooey! Several months ago, I bought a wireless remote that allows me to trip the shutter from up to 100 feet away. AND it allows for the motor to be set to continuous.

I have had the gadget for months but didn’t really start playing with it until the week before Christmas as time started getting short to get a CHRISTMAS FAMILY PORTRAIT !!!

If you have pets and if you have ever tried taking a photo with your pet and especially if you’ve tried taking a photo with your pet and no one else manning the camera…it is entertaining to say the least.

On the morning of December 23rd, Bear was on his bed and I set the camera on the tripod, hooked up the wireless thing and tried to get a photo of the two of us. I thought I’d photoshop a nice head shot of Bob in somehow…although they are now fine together, getting a cat to cooperate for a photo…well, I have NOT mastered that at all, at all!

The photo session of Bear and I did not go well either. Part of the trick is getting the pet(s) to look at the camera when their main person, the supposed “head of the pack”, is sitting right next to or between.

So…FAIL.

As Bear and I took our late morning walk, I got to thinking that I would get a nice head shot of each of us and Photoshop them onto ornaments or something…not extremely original but it would be fun and relatively easy to do.

I entered the house after our walk, with visions of Photoshop fun dancing in my head…when what to my wondering eyes should appear ???

BUT, Bob on Bear’s bed…by the pillow.

Unfortunately, my camera was in the camera bag. Unfortunately, because Bob had a look on his face that said: “Holy shit – they’re back early!!” (please pardon Bob’s language)

Then, he shifted and I could see him thinking that the best thing was to brazen it out.

“So…I lived here first, DOG!”

I didn’t get the best shot here…I could see where it was going. Bob does a great “To the moon, Alice!”** and I didn’t want Bear dancing backwards off the bed so I said something to distract them and missed the shot where Bob lifts his paw in preparation for a punch…

Ok…kind of cute and an option, but Bob looks annoyed and Bear looks uncomfortable.

Better, but they are a bit far apart and Bear looks a bit worried.

I try to enter.

I like the angle on me…Bear is blocking some of my heft, but neither he nor Bob is looking at the camera.

I continue clicking the remote and subliminally trying to get them to look in the direction of the camera.

Bear moves…

I continue clicking and doing my head thing to hopefully get a good angle on me…that’s the important thing…a good photo of ME!

I clicked and clicked and emoted and pointed and hoped.

When we all got tired of that, I downloaded all of the photos (100+) and started looking through them.

There was one…I say ONE! photo where we were all looking AT the camera. AND…Bear and I were smiling. AND…Bob did not look like he was swearing.

SUCCESS. Merry Christmas and all that: the incredibly lucky shot.

**”To the moon, Alice” is from “The Honeymooners” tv show starring Jackie Gleason circa a long time ago!

A cozy Friday

This is how Friday started.

Beautiful!

It looks like more snow that it was. There was still grass showing. This morning there was.

It snowed off and on all day and late afternoon it felt like I was in a snow globe. So, now, at 7:00 p.m. there is in the neighborhood of 3 inches at my house. But I spoke to a friend who lives maybe 5 miles away and she has 8 plus inches!

But inside, it has been cozy…

Not a surprise :) !!

At the other end of the house…

I missed the photo of Bob on the red fleece. Getting back with the camera, he was already headed down the steps…

The stairway to nowhere is part of the shuffle of stuff to make the sunroom office into the Beardog recuperative suite.

But if there is fleece, Bob will go there!

I rest my case. (nearby food helps also!)

The day was gray and snowy outside. It felt like Christmas. I had a good and productive workday. Bear slept a lot but we also had several outings that went well and he sat up and barked when UPS arrived.

Soup’s on for supper. It has stopped snowing outside.

A cozy Friday.