A shameless blog of pet photos

I don't mean to brag... well... maybe I do... but I have the cutest pets ever! I am having fun experimenting with Lori's camera and our little point and shoot and snagged some lovely photos of the animals... at least the ones that hang out with people during the day. Bangs and the NNK are missing from these shots because they antisocially stay upstairs pretty much all the time.

Enjoy!

This is Tag's "I'm so cute, I know you want to take me outside right now" face

Captain Jack is such beautiful shade of orange that B/W seems an odd choice, but doesn't he look so elegant here?

Posing for his photo

This is Tag's "I'm so cute, don't you want to play with me right now?" face

Lori brought a penguin blanket over. Tag is in love. Note the super awesome octopillow behind Gill

This is Tag's "stop dancing and stop taking photos of me" face

"I'm so vicious!"

Seriously, Tag's in love with this blanket.

It's been chilly here. Who can blame him?

In other news, the novel is coming along very well. Yay! I mean, the word count is definitely rising. We'll see if the content ever actually congeals into something substantial :) But, I'm having fun with it, which is, I suppose, the point.

How it's going on day 4

This is day 4 of "NaNoWriMo"... I've done my thousand words a day for the past 3 days (technically should be doing more, but I decided to shoot for 30,000 words instead of 50,000... and perhaps I'll surprise myself).

Nanowrimo Breakfast of Champions: Black tea with cream and Entenmann's donuts

Today for breakfast we're having tea, donuts and procrastination... plenty of procrastination if you want to share.  I've dragged Tag's bed into the kitchen and given him a bully stick to chew on,

Tag is ready to write

set the pandora station to Chopin, brewed my second cup of tea for the morning, and written 100 words so far... I have miles to go... at least it's raining outside, so I won't be tempted to go out and run about in the beautiful fall weather... and I made Noah take the car this morning, so I effectively marooned myself for the day. Sigh...

A portrait of the author hard at work

So now, with breakfast devoured and much time wasted, I really will get to work... really... right this instant... see? I'm working...

Tag has a new friend

Sunrise this morning at Huntington State Park

I've been walking a lot in Huntington State Park recently. It's a great way to get exercise for me and for Tag. The first time I went to the park, I met Renee. She has an 11 month old black lab named Tilly who thinks Tag is the bee's knees. They play very well together. Renee generously offered to adopt me since we're new to the area. Who can say no to that? So now we meet and walk a couple times a week and the dogs romp together.

One morning, while discussing all we have yet to teach our dogs, Renee suggested we have a session with a professional dog trainer she knows. Tag and I went over earlier this week and met Bruce, who helped us work on a program for "recall". Teaching Tag "COME" consistently with distractions (i.e. cats running by, people on the trail, other interesting dogs, chipmunks... etc.) is the one thing I haven't really felt able to get a grip on... so Bruce gave us some tips (50' lead, use my best authoritative voice, work on it inside and outside, always praise when coming to you, etc...). Tag is getting lots of treats now, as we learn to master this skill. I don't think he minds.

Tilly!

One of these days I'll get a photo of Renee, too. For now, there's Tilly the Lovely Lab.

I'm getting a camera of my own soon. The goal is to have it before we leave for Venice and Paris in December. I may become even MORE obnoxious about posting photos and photos of life here after that, as I practice how to use my new toy.

A picture says so much that I could never convey to you about how beautiful it is here and how different from California.

Fall photos round 2

A few reasons why I need to get my own SLR and a good zoom lens. I'm loving this camera! Thanks, Lori, for letting me borrow it!

Some fall photos

Intrepid water dog

Tag chasing shells in the sound. Photo credit: Lori Marois

Lori and Tag

The fall leaves continue to change

Three potential Jack-o-lanterns and a pumpkin pie

A peaceful view of the backyard

Weather Vane

A walk and a 'possum!

Yesterday Noah and I spent too long in the yellow canoe and missed our chance to forage with Steve Brill! He was at Holbrook Farm (our new favorite place to buy produce) talking about edible plants in the typical northeastern landscape. To make up for it, I took Noah to Barnes & Noble and he bought a book on edible plants, which he was then DYING to use.

So today, we went over to Saugatuck Falls Natural Area for a walk with the cutest collie ever, Tag, and Noah brought his book. I borrowed Lori's camera to have a little photo fun.

Beginning of the trail

A man and his dog

Gratuitous pup shot. Ain't he gorgeous?

Sweet Goldenrod

N busily identifying edible plants w/his trusty field guide

Noah identified the goldenrod and some red clover, nothing too edible, though you can make some anise tasting tea from the goldenrod apparently. He's not ready to live off the land yet. I have some more plant identifying to do, too, which will probably require an edit of this post at some point, but here are some more photos for you to enjoy, while I'm looking up their names.

Mountain Winterberry

We chanced upon this lovely cormorant spying for fish in the watershed area.

Cormorant

While walking along, I noticed Tag stopped just ahead of me, his head cocked at a noise he could hear in the tall grass. I assumed it was a bee buzzing around his head that had intrigued him... then Noah asked if I could hear a cat growling. I listened a moment and then discovered this little guy snoring away in the grass just off the trail! Tag had found an opossum!

Snoring 'possum!

We met one other mom and her little girl walking their gigantic Golden Retriever on the trail. He and Tag took turns slobbering on each other for a few minutes and we headed for home. A nice short walk in the woods.

Headed home