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Feb. 8th, 2010 12:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
summer_jackelooohkay, I give up. I'm too juiced up from the day to sleep yet, it's spring, I have a ton of energy. I rode 4 hours after having done a set of three 3-hour rides in the past week and followed it today with a 12+ mile hike. I'm apparently now fit enough that this isn't any kind of problem; it felt great and I could totally do it again tomorrow if I didn't have to work. Strong and quieter of sorrow than I've felt in a while. I'm healing.
So here are today's photos that I was going to post later, a few decent shots of a gorgeous place and some just really dumb pictures of my dogs. Once they're up maybe I can convince my body that it's time to get some sleep.
Fungus! I love them very much, but other than the three basic distinctions in kind and their basic biology, don't know much about them. But I loooove the slimy bright yellow ones. If it's bright yellow in nature, I will probably squee like a little girl over it, and it gets extra bonus points if there is slime. Slimy lemon yellow mushroom = win. I should, however, have adjusted the aperture of the camera; I know a lot of these are overexposed, or something.
The function of Coba is to be a little dog who will, literally, follow me over mountains and into the stony mouth of the Pacific while at the same time providing me with the most luxurious, frilly, impossibly fluffy ideal stuffed animal in the world to wake up cuddling with. A living plushie who has feelings, that's Coba. Oh, and I expect him to be a show dog and compete in obedience, too. And all this in a sensitive little 27 pound package.
He's brilliant at it, although he's a little quirky. So am I, though.
Of course these were posed. I know how ridiculous they are, but how could I resist?
Hey, Coba's ear set doesn't totally suck for once. Not too bad from that angle...now if I can only convince him to do it on command. He's going to lose on ears in the ring, but he is such a nice dog in all other particulars I'm still going to see what happens. They do set a little better after the very conservative clip I did on them yesterday. His ears, alas, are a corrective grooming case, and I need to learn how to do it as well as I can.
And then there's this dork. Oh, adolescent collies.
...wait. Could it be? A splendid blue merle?
No, just a flash. He's still the dog equivalent of 15 1/2, and is no more graceful and elegant than anyone is at that age. Still, you can begin to see signs of hope. And COAT. Bliss Like Chaos s fun to groom and getting more so.
Rogue is happy. Awww. Rogue is, alas, also becoming old. I knew when she followed me over the mountain last summer that that would be her last long multi-day hike, but I don't know if I quite believed myself. She made it happily then; she could not do so now. She still has a lot of fun in her yet, don't get me wrong, but doggie aspirin helps her enjoy the longer walks, her gaits have changed with the onset of mild arthritis, and she can't jump in the truck anymore without my help. Today's may be one of the last really good hikes she and Jez and I ever take, and it was an excellently fun one for all of us, and that's more important than I can say.
sky stone silly collie.
See look, his earset is actually pretty good, it's just that the wind blows it back a lot, like in all the other pictures. I may not have glued them enough in puppyhood, but at least the set is really good even if they tend to fly. I may have to weight at least one of them slightly before any show. (This is done by brushing in powder; you don't do anything unpleasant to the dog, don't worry). That's a gray area, but most collie people do it and most collies need it, so.
Clouds + location of his spots really make his muzzle plane look more f---ed up than it actually is, but oh dog. I laugh at the adolescent gawp that is you. His skull planes are still changing around, although in more subtle ways than when he was a baby. Check out actual backskull now! I think he has most of his height, and he's wonderfully tall.
My glorious show dogs, wrestling in the mud while Rogue eggs them on. That's also parfait shelt kicking Bliss' three-times-bigger butt.
2 puppies at once: GREAT idea if you don't mind bringing up 2 puppies at once. These collie-things are angels, though, by pup standards.
Bliss and Rogue follow the shining path down the mountain.
I mentioned that I like fungus, yes? THIS may be the best fungus ever. It's an ascomycete (dry, shelf fungus of wood) but beyond that, again, I have no clue. I should learn, because I'm really coming to love this species. I've seen them on decaying bay laurel a couple times before, and here on a live and apparently healthy tree. They are uncommon, but the fruiting body seems to live a long time; the one on my daily walk is about 5 years old now. They're all cool. This one is the coolest.
cloooooseup of fungus. She looks like a nudibranch or an orchid or something.
That trail started going downhill in a direction I didn't like, so I climbed up around the ridge to catch the trail on the other side. You always see interesting things, doing that. (fungus!!!! Also, the previous entry's photo and experience enter the set here). Then you have a steep hill giving you a neat angle on the dogs. That's what Coba's ears usually look like, btw.
Happy housefoxes
you LOOK like a teenager, Bliss. Here a glimmering of majesty...
...oops, collie moved!
I live in one of the most beautiful places I think I could imagine living. Jez likes it too. They love the long walks as much as I do, which is part of why I need dogs.
group shot. I put Jez in a down-stay, and then the other four arranged themselves around her. It gave a much more authentic image of who they are than any posed shot. Jez, btw, is still wearing her leash in this deserted place because she found something awful to roll in and I didn't want to touch the snap until it had at least dried. ^%$$! filthy dogs.
awwwwwwwwwwwww. It's Jez in the frame that cracks me up, though.
Getting tired of these yet?
There are more.
awww, happy ladies.
There were the most lovely ravens. They came very close...these were not taken with a zoom lens...and started doing wonderful acrobatic displays. Ravens pay attention when you show up with a bunch of dogs; having co-evolved with wolves, they are hoping you'll kill something.
she's dropping upsie-down. It was clearly a display behavior of some kind, or maybe just play, because the day was so nice and hey, wolves, maybe they'll kill us something.
pair
drop!
Bliss gets wolfsniffings. I love the Jez/Bliss dynamic a lot. She will lower herself to playing with him sometimes and is getting more relaxed with that as he grows. She's strict but not unreasonable with him, and really enjoys his company. We really know who's in charge, though. Also note the mane on the collie...
aww handsome
how could I not post this?
HI! Have some snout! Oh no, there was never any Borzoi at any point in my ancestry ever at all. I am a Rugged Sheepherding Collie of the British Isles.
Did I say I think this might eventually have a chance of ever becoming a show dog? Snerk.
It's really ok, though.
Love the puppies a whole awful lot.
Jez contentment.
Elegant collie sighted!
oops, wait, my bad, wrong call.
long walk
When Jez gets way behind and I call her, she'll still come running. She doesn't run much otherwise, anymore.
dorky animals in bad light
First wild iris of spring. These are probably my favorite flowers, but I also favor wild roses and the yellow violets. How can you not? See above re garish yellow and how I love all things of same.
sundown
So here are today's photos that I was going to post later, a few decent shots of a gorgeous place and some just really dumb pictures of my dogs. Once they're up maybe I can convince my body that it's time to get some sleep.
Fungus! I love them very much, but other than the three basic distinctions in kind and their basic biology, don't know much about them. But I loooove the slimy bright yellow ones. If it's bright yellow in nature, I will probably squee like a little girl over it, and it gets extra bonus points if there is slime. Slimy lemon yellow mushroom = win. I should, however, have adjusted the aperture of the camera; I know a lot of these are overexposed, or something.
The function of Coba is to be a little dog who will, literally, follow me over mountains and into the stony mouth of the Pacific while at the same time providing me with the most luxurious, frilly, impossibly fluffy ideal stuffed animal in the world to wake up cuddling with. A living plushie who has feelings, that's Coba. Oh, and I expect him to be a show dog and compete in obedience, too. And all this in a sensitive little 27 pound package.
He's brilliant at it, although he's a little quirky. So am I, though.
Of course these were posed. I know how ridiculous they are, but how could I resist?
Hey, Coba's ear set doesn't totally suck for once. Not too bad from that angle...now if I can only convince him to do it on command. He's going to lose on ears in the ring, but he is such a nice dog in all other particulars I'm still going to see what happens. They do set a little better after the very conservative clip I did on them yesterday. His ears, alas, are a corrective grooming case, and I need to learn how to do it as well as I can.
And then there's this dork. Oh, adolescent collies.
...wait. Could it be? A splendid blue merle?
No, just a flash. He's still the dog equivalent of 15 1/2, and is no more graceful and elegant than anyone is at that age. Still, you can begin to see signs of hope. And COAT. Bliss Like Chaos s fun to groom and getting more so.
Rogue is happy. Awww. Rogue is, alas, also becoming old. I knew when she followed me over the mountain last summer that that would be her last long multi-day hike, but I don't know if I quite believed myself. She made it happily then; she could not do so now. She still has a lot of fun in her yet, don't get me wrong, but doggie aspirin helps her enjoy the longer walks, her gaits have changed with the onset of mild arthritis, and she can't jump in the truck anymore without my help. Today's may be one of the last really good hikes she and Jez and I ever take, and it was an excellently fun one for all of us, and that's more important than I can say.
sky stone silly collie.
See look, his earset is actually pretty good, it's just that the wind blows it back a lot, like in all the other pictures. I may not have glued them enough in puppyhood, but at least the set is really good even if they tend to fly. I may have to weight at least one of them slightly before any show. (This is done by brushing in powder; you don't do anything unpleasant to the dog, don't worry). That's a gray area, but most collie people do it and most collies need it, so.
Clouds + location of his spots really make his muzzle plane look more f---ed up than it actually is, but oh dog. I laugh at the adolescent gawp that is you. His skull planes are still changing around, although in more subtle ways than when he was a baby. Check out actual backskull now! I think he has most of his height, and he's wonderfully tall.
My glorious show dogs, wrestling in the mud while Rogue eggs them on. That's also parfait shelt kicking Bliss' three-times-bigger butt.
2 puppies at once: GREAT idea if you don't mind bringing up 2 puppies at once. These collie-things are angels, though, by pup standards.
Bliss and Rogue follow the shining path down the mountain.
I mentioned that I like fungus, yes? THIS may be the best fungus ever. It's an ascomycete (dry, shelf fungus of wood) but beyond that, again, I have no clue. I should learn, because I'm really coming to love this species. I've seen them on decaying bay laurel a couple times before, and here on a live and apparently healthy tree. They are uncommon, but the fruiting body seems to live a long time; the one on my daily walk is about 5 years old now. They're all cool. This one is the coolest.
cloooooseup of fungus. She looks like a nudibranch or an orchid or something.
That trail started going downhill in a direction I didn't like, so I climbed up around the ridge to catch the trail on the other side. You always see interesting things, doing that. (fungus!!!! Also, the previous entry's photo and experience enter the set here). Then you have a steep hill giving you a neat angle on the dogs. That's what Coba's ears usually look like, btw.
Happy housefoxes
you LOOK like a teenager, Bliss. Here a glimmering of majesty...
...oops, collie moved!
I live in one of the most beautiful places I think I could imagine living. Jez likes it too. They love the long walks as much as I do, which is part of why I need dogs.
group shot. I put Jez in a down-stay, and then the other four arranged themselves around her. It gave a much more authentic image of who they are than any posed shot. Jez, btw, is still wearing her leash in this deserted place because she found something awful to roll in and I didn't want to touch the snap until it had at least dried. ^%$$! filthy dogs.
awwwwwwwwwwwww. It's Jez in the frame that cracks me up, though.
Getting tired of these yet?
There are more.
awww, happy ladies.
There were the most lovely ravens. They came very close...these were not taken with a zoom lens...and started doing wonderful acrobatic displays. Ravens pay attention when you show up with a bunch of dogs; having co-evolved with wolves, they are hoping you'll kill something.
she's dropping upsie-down. It was clearly a display behavior of some kind, or maybe just play, because the day was so nice and hey, wolves, maybe they'll kill us something.
pair
drop!
Bliss gets wolfsniffings. I love the Jez/Bliss dynamic a lot. She will lower herself to playing with him sometimes and is getting more relaxed with that as he grows. She's strict but not unreasonable with him, and really enjoys his company. We really know who's in charge, though. Also note the mane on the collie...
aww handsome
how could I not post this?
HI! Have some snout! Oh no, there was never any Borzoi at any point in my ancestry ever at all. I am a Rugged Sheepherding Collie of the British Isles.
Did I say I think this might eventually have a chance of ever becoming a show dog? Snerk.
It's really ok, though.
Love the puppies a whole awful lot.
Jez contentment.
Elegant collie sighted!
oops, wait, my bad, wrong call.
long walk
When Jez gets way behind and I call her, she'll still come running. She doesn't run much otherwise, anymore.
dorky animals in bad light
First wild iris of spring. These are probably my favorite flowers, but I also favor wild roses and the yellow violets. How can you not? See above re garish yellow and how I love all things of same.
sundown
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 08:10 am (UTC)Great eye/skill + drop-dead gorgeous woofs = Tear-jerking beauty.
You look fantastic, by the way.
Also: RAVENS.
Also, also: I want to live where you live.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 06:33 pm (UTC)Those ravens were the best! I was at this beautiful spot on top of a bluff, and the thermals were doing really good things for birds. I also saw a black-shouldered kite and what was probably a red-shouldered hawk, though I couldn't make a definitive ID. Both hunting. (love those kites. There is absolutely nothing else that bird could possibly be). The ravens, like I said, flew really close, and then decided to give a show, doing all of these spins and dives...like, hey, there's this perfect wind, not so hard as to make us have to really pay attention to how we're flying but enough to give us something to really play with. Let's show off.
It's a good place to live. There's a lot of handy wilderness near Seattle (isn't that where you are?) too, isn't there?
no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 08:38 pm (UTC)Incidentally, I'm in Ontario, Canada. ;)
Lots of wilderness here too, if you travel far enough north. Sadly, I'm about 8 hours south of anything as pretty as you've taken photos of.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 08:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 06:20 pm (UTC)When I was in the city, I found a lot of parks, overgrown streams, hawks that hung out by the train tracks, etc etc etc. It was hard on me, though. Without a very specific goal and a set time, I have a hard time being in cities. Luckily, the East Bay (where I lived while I was in school) has a surprising amount of wildland still.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 09:35 am (UTC)That's an orchid? Looks like an iris?
no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 06:18 pm (UTC)The wild iris are SO beautiful. I look forward to them every year.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 10:58 pm (UTC)They are very beautiful!
no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 01:21 pm (UTC)<3 puppies (and wolves, and Queen Sheltie). And ravens. And wild irises. And... your photography, really.
(No, I didn't run for forty minutes, collapse in a heap, and bliss out. Nope. Not me.)
no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 06:36 pm (UTC)Glad you liked the post. :) Also YAY for running-bliss! Best way to raise a puppy, really.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 01:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 06:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 04:18 pm (UTC)Loving the pics of the dogs. Please feel encouraged to run as many as you like! The pics of your old husky bring a tear to my eyes. Much love here for old huskies.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 06:43 pm (UTC)On the other paw, no less than two of my friends unrelatedly told me that they'd *almost* bought me mushroom ID books this year but decided not to at the last minute because they like me better alive. ;)
I love your dogpics, too. Jez is a wonderful old husky/wolf...they're so sweet and amazing in their age. I hope I have Jez for a long time still. I don't know that I would want to raise another pup right exactly now, but I sure appreciate Jez as she is, to say nothing of her help in bringing up these boingy young collies.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 10:08 pm (UTC)You should get a book, but also attend a mycology meeting: you don't have to be a regular (spare time issue), but talking to them first hand you can learn a LOT. For instance, how to test for toxicity and what toxic mushrooms are in your area. I won't endorse this test, though I have used it myself: touch a bit of the questionable mushroom to the tip of your tongue: if you get -any- reaction after a few minutes (tingly or numb), don't eat it! "When in doubt, throw it out."
Here's a great site for some info on the bad ones:
http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/mushrooms/mushroom/poisonous.htm
The nasty mushroom to be particularly aware of is the well-known "Death Cap" / amanita-types. These really are nasty (besides the poison aspect) because at a casual glance some do resemble the very edible straw mushroom.
If you stick to morels and chantrelles, you're pretty safe (they're very distinctive and non-poisonous and delicious). False morels are somewhat bad, but fairly easy to distinguish from real morel mushrooms: detached, skirt-like cap and where true morels have pits and ridges, false morels are bulgy (like, the opposite of pits-- brain-like). You'd -love- the yellow chantrelle for the obvious reason of color, but also because they are -delicious-!
If a local club likes you, you might even get a tip on where to find the beloved American matsutake! (Or at least get a few from someone who found a trove!).
I love that Jez and Bliss play! To me, huskies age the best of all the dogs. They're so poofy and sedate!
no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 10:52 pm (UTC)Love the dogs even the ultra dorky pict are good.
And jez I loves her, she is wolf and I adore wolves.
I love Northern Ca when the rolling hills are green, course I love them gold also... damm I need to figure out how to get my Husband to move there.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-09 12:37 am (UTC)Jez is a wonderful wolf. :)
no subject
Date: 2010-02-09 02:06 am (UTC)I also made this for you:
Too cute to resist!
no subject
Date: 2010-02-09 03:46 am (UTC)'Tis also good to hear about the healing. That makes me happy.