Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Portraits of a Day . . . .


As usual, I can't see half my photos as I type, but I know they're there.  

A typical morning of blogging for me----when several photos are involved---means waiting until the photos are uploaded, posting to the clipboard, usually cussing cuz something's gone wrong, going downstairs to open my laptop to see which photos showed up, fixing the photo display on my laptop, coming back upstairs where I can't see all the pictures on my desktop computer and writing.

Later, when I finally publish, if something's amiss with the photos, my friend Helen will see the problem on her computer, send me an email, and I can make the change.

I know there are easier ways to do these things.  I just haven't learned them, which is typical of most things I do.

That said, I'm hoping readers will bear with me and the glitches. 

Yesterday was another day of great images, with dogs on the job, horses grazing in the pasture and dogs on another job involving a squirrel.

John Walkington and his son Trevor did come after all because the rain stopped for a while.  So, their mission yesterday was to set metal poles in concrete for the dog run.  

I learned throughout the day that their work here at the Lovestead had added benefits:  free dog sitting. 

I could have gone to Spokane or Canada for the day without a care in the world because four Border Collies saw that John and Trevor needed assistance.  

So, they showed up on time---without hard hats or equipment---but with energy, focus and desire to help in any way possible.

A lot of supervising happened out south of the house yesterday.

I asked Trevor a couple of times if he'd like me to pen them up so he could do his work.

"No, they're okay," he said.  "Is it okay to play with them with the hose?"

Trevor learned quickly how much those dogs love hoses with nozzles and spraying water.  He had to use the hose frequently throughout the day with his cement mixer.

That activity required extra supervision and a little "bark, bark" guidance.  I think Kea and Todd are the big talkers among the group of construction assistants.

Anyway, it would be an understatement to say that Todd, Brooke, Kiwi and Kea were in "dog heaven" yesterday.  

No one has yet told them that the construction project is their own dog run.  I'm hoping they view the large run as Heaven.

Little Foster had to watch from a distance.  He was kinda in the "apprentice" stage, so observation and whining cuz he couldn't join his friends monopolized his role.

John and Trevor accomplished their mission, and they'll return tomorrow to put up the actual fence around the run.  I'm sure more photos of dogs at work will follow.

Later, after dinner and a day of on-and-off rain, we enjoyed a pleasant early evening.  The horses grazing in the pasture looked pretty enough that I changed camera lenses and took a few pasture portraitures. 

"Nice butt!"  

I remember once when I was teaching high school when Eddie Lundquist, then a senior, walked past me in the hallway and uttered, "Nice butt."

"What did you say?" I asked.

"Nice butt," he repeated.

I didn't know whether to slug him, hug him or run to the principal and tell on him.  

None of the above.  I've just remembered to this day that brief interlude cuz nobody else has ever characterized my over-sized posterior as a "nice butt."  

But Lily has a "nice butt."  Appaloosa folks like to see rear ends that look like Lily's---fully stacked and filled with spots. 

So, it all depends on the perspective, I guess, on who thinks who has a nice rear end.

I managed to catch Lefty in a pose that doesn't show all the patches of missing hair from his skin problem.  He is a pretty guy when he has all his hair.

And, as I headed back to the house, the squirrel, which had been dining earlier on sunflower seeds from the bird feeder, attracted Kea and Kiwi's attention on its return to the poplar trees.

The dogs took a second out from their squirrel watch to provide a nice pose for their portrait.

Always fun having a camera around here, and often the stories that go with the photos are fun too.

Enjoy, and have a nice Wednesday.

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