Category Archives: Life With Dog

Unwind

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After a stressful day it’s always nice to unwind. We all have our own ways of relaxing, be it gardening, painting, or simply relaxing with friends. In our house, we head to the park. Being a dog mom (and yes, I can’t believe I’m calling myself that either), I’m always on the look out for a nice park to take a nice “sniff-n-stroll”. A couple days ago, we visited a new park and I happened to have my camera with me. The girls were patient enough to be my models, and gave me a few pointers on how to fully unwind from a busy day of cat chasing, rawhide chewing, and staring out the window.

Annie1. Keep a watchful eye on your surroundings.

drink2.  Stay hydrated.

annie13. Enjoy nature.

Ears4. Ponder…

goldie25. Again, keep an eye on your surroundings. Or evil cats that might be lurking near by.

Rest6. Finally, take time to sit in the grass,  and enjoy doing nothing.

 

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Plans to take over the world

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Funny how we make plans, plans that include so many awesome things…but it’s so much easier to sit on the couch and pretend you never made those plans. I don’t really know where that thought was taking me, just that my plans don’t seem to be working out.  No big plans, I don’t intend on taking over the world or anything (and then suddenly I had the urge to youtube the Pinky and  Brain theme song. In all it’s awesome early 90’s glory. You’re welcome!)…like I was saying no plans to take over the world, just small things like, throw out the food that is proving Darwinism true, or any host of other household chores that may or may not be evolving into new life forms.

Making plans is the easy part, following through with those plans, now that’s when it gets tricky. Maybe I’ll just sit here on the couch a little longer and contemplate my plans some more…contemplating is the first step to follow through isn’t it?

 

contemplatinggoldie

 

 

Boring little life

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I can count on one hand how many times I’ve blogged in 2014. Actually, it wouldn’t even take a whole hand to count the whole two times I’ve shared something over here on my bloggy home. Honestly, there really hasn’t been a whole lot of exciting stuff to share lately, just boring life stuff; dishes, dog walks, and work. I’m pretty sure there were a few marathon Netflix sessions in there too, but mainly chores and work. It sounds depressing, but really it’s not. I love my little life, and I’m glad things are quiet. There have been times in my life when I craved this sort of quietness, and I’m thankful to be living a quiet life now.

In January I finally broke down and got a smart phone. I’d been resistant to the trend for so many years, but the convenience of always having internet at my fingertips was what won me over.  There’s nothing like being able to sneak on Pinterest when ever I want. But what really won me over, was the ability to have a fairly decent camera within reach all the time. A camera phone will never replace a good camera, at least for me it won’t, but it sure is nice to be able to flip this bad boy out of my back pocket whenever I want to capture those boring moments. So, here are a few shots I caught of my boring quiet, dusty little life….

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The dogs go their separate ways on a walk. This makes it difficult when walking them solo…

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A quiet morning, sick in bed. But all is well, I have company.

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Impatient puppies while I take pictures of the morning mountain…

2014-03-27_16.32.23[1]Behind those clouds are the Sandias

20140308_101259[1]Waiting on burgers…impatiently waiting on burgers.

I have so many more pictures…but I won’t bore you with them. It just felt like it was time to jump into the blogging game again, since I’ve only posted twice in 2014! Really, I can’t believe I’ve only posted twice this year, it just seems wrong. Maybe this pointless post will wet my blogging palate again, and I can get back to documenting all those boring little moments of life.

Also, I’m on instagram! You can follow me @ yellowdogblackdog. I’m still learning how it works, and haven’t really posted much on there either. Apparently, I’ve seen the need to become an audience member of this newfangled thing called the in-ter-net.

 

Shoot Happy: Siesta

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So, I blogged for 7 days straight last week, didn’t think that could happen, but low and behold it did.  Let’s see if we can keep up with the schedule this week. Although, so far, I’m not doing so well, it’s currently as I write this post, it 11:40 on Sunday night, So, I’ve already missed the first day of this 7 day week.  You see, I’m sneaky and like to schedule these posts to publish the morning after I’ve written them, so technically this post will be Monday’s post, which would be the second day of the week, since I’m using 7 day weeks that start on Sunday. Confused yet, me too, I think I need to lie down.

Oh, and by the way, this post is part of a 31 day series I’m taking part in. I’ve vowed to shoot ,or at least post some photos, I’ve shot using my nifty 50mm lens  over the month of October. You can start reading the series here.

I had planned on writing a long detailed post, but when I sat down to write it, it just didn’t sing to me, ya know what i mean? The whole weekend has kind of been like that, big plans to do lots of stuff. But then…netflix. Or in the case of this weekend…naptime.  Bubba, the dogs and I just sort of slept our weekend away. Nothing got done, aside from the dishes, laundry, and the floors, because come on, I live with dogs, you can’t just skip a swiftering  or swiffering, whatever the verb tense would be to swifter.  But ya know what, I wouldn’t change it, sometimes a quiet weekend is the best kind of weekend. There’s nothing like curling up in your favorite napping spot and taking a little siesta.

anniechair

Or throwing icy stares at the unfortunate soul who had the nerve to wake you from your blissful slumber.

Love you too Annie-Dog!

Shoot Happy: Bokeh

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The month of October brings so many happy things, pumpkin lattes at Starbucks, fall sunsets ( there’s something about the warmer lighting that’s so magical), and if you live in New Mexico that first whiff of roasted green chili is a sure sign that fall has arrived. But over the past couple of years, October also means participating in a 31 days series hosted by the Nester, click on over to her site to see what all the other 1200 bloggers  also joining in on the joy (or misery) of blogging for 31 days straight about one topic are up to. (Whew, that was a run-on sentence!)

This year, I’ll be talking about shooting happy with the 50mm. Although, I’m starting to question my topic, it’s only the 3rd day into the series and I’m already struggling with blog topics, in fact I’m getting a little bored with it. I may have to resort to posting random shots without any caption, or maybe tweaking the topic a little. Wonder if that’s against the rules of this little bloggy project. I could always change my mind half way through and do 15.5 days of indecisiveness.

But for today, I’ll stick to my chosen topic, and blabber on about how nifty the fifty has proven to be. Today we’ll be talking about bokeh, pronounced BOH-KAY (like the bunch of flowers that hubby brings home when he’s trying to suck up after purchasing more 80’s video games) , meaning the part of a photo that has been purposely blurred to bring focus to a certain area of the shot. According to wiki: Bokeh is the blur,or the aesthetic quality of the blur,in out-of-focus areas of an image.

Here are a couple examples of bokeh I shot while enjoying that warm fall light shining into my living room.

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Notice, how my models ear is in focus while the area around the ear is slightly blurred. And in the photo below, the other model has a very focused nose (better for sniffing out rawhides), but the background is blurred.

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I should also add, that the use of bokeh is perfect at blurring out a messy background (i.e. the mess that is my living room).

sortamessyroom

Shoot Happy: Why so Nifty Fifty

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As mentioned previously,the month of October will be about shooting happy with the nifty fifty. Over the next month, I’ve made a pledge to myself to shoot more with my trusty 50mm lens. To use more of my vintage manual lenses, and to find joy in simple photography, ya know without all the bells and whistles and new fangled toys. With a few tips and tricks thrown into the mix, and you might see a few projects I’ve completed that will be shot with my sweet fifty. It’s also a chance for me to participate in the Nester’s 31 Days of Change Series, click on over to her site to find out more.

Now, you might be wondering what makes the fifty so nifty, where do I even start? How about with one?

1. Value. The 50mm is relatively inexpensive compared to a lens with more moving parts. You can typically pick up a Canon 50mm EF f1.8 for about $100 brand new. Here’s one I found on Amazon. Now, that’s something to talk about.

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2. Natural Angles. This lens is perfect for those situations when you want an angle that is close to what you see with your own eye. Meaning that, the shot you get will look similar to what you see when your looking at your subject without a lens.

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3. Low Light No Problem. When shooting in a low light situation, the 50mm is perfect because you can have a wider aperture to let more light in without sacrificing the quality of your shot. Plus, when there is plenty of light you can get a pretty glow-y effect.

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There’s so much more to make the fifty so nifty, but those are the top three that keep me shooting happy.

No Place Like Home

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It’s been far too long since I last posted, my how I’ve missed you bloggie world. There’s no good reason to go this long without a post, just life happens. Work days are long, but evenings are short, there’s always a myriad of chores to do on the weekend, and now I’ve caught a killer cold. I fear my family and friends may think I’m dead as I haven’t been active on social media and really haven’t been bothered to pick up the phone in several days.  Just so all of my loved ones know, I’m alive and sort of well, aside from a runny nose and a nagging cough that could easily clear the cold and flu aisle at any drug store. Yeah, and I’m a bit of drama queen. But that’s nothing new.

This post really doesn’t have a point, I’m not even going to attempt to get caught up on the goings on around my casa. There’s been some projects done, but photos haven’t really been taken, and others have just sort of been started but not completed, ya know, in true April fashion. I think I have DIY ADD, I start a project, then get bored with it and move on to the next one before completing the first. That breaks so many DIYer rules, because then you end up with a house that is always in some sort of dishevelment. Then again, I live with a husband who leaves his shoes and coordinating socks under the coffee table every night and two large very spoiled shedding dogs, so dishevelment is bound to happen no matter what I do. What’s the point in having a home, if we can’t really live in our homes right? Just plan on buying Swifters in bulk.

Anywho, Netflix  is calling my name, and someone is patiently waiting for a cuddle as a reward for keeping the couch warm.

love

Dog Days of Summer: Wiped Out

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You ever feel like you need to be 40 different places at once, but there’s only one of you and you can only be at one place at once? Yeah, that’s how things have been around here lately. Between workie things and housie things, there just hasn’t been enough April to go around. So, when the work is done and I’ve chased all the other rats in this rat race, you’ll find me on the couch with my feet up getting acquainted with my most recent Netflix obsession, vintage Doctor Who. ( I can’t get enough of the 4th Doctor)

 

sleepingWiped Out

Dog Days of Summer: Drink

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Over the past few summers we’ve been having to replace sprinklers on a regular basis. The reason, some type of pest was chewing on the sprinklers and rendering them useless, but which pest was responsible?  The other day, while spending some time out in our barren yard, it all became clear…

drink1Drink

Obviously I missed a training opportunity and instead of telling her to stop (Goldie-dog was only getting her drink on, and not her chew) I took her picture. (I’ve never said my dogs were well behaved and perfectly trained. Afterall, there is a reason they both answer to the nickname Bratface.) But it was hot and the water straight from the hose was cool, who was I to deny her the pleasure of something cool to drink on a hot day? Even if she is a pest.

Dog Days of Summer: Sunset

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In the southwest we get some pretty dramatic sunsets. Maybe it’s the wide open spaces that make them so spectacular, or maybe I’m just a little biased being a southwesterner for most of my life, I tend to think we have the best of everything. Except water, we don’t really have the best of water, because there isn’t much of that here. But we’ve got some great sand, so if you want some ocean front property in Arizona I could hook ya up (name that George Strait tune). But I’ve grown to appreciate the different-ness (yes, it’s a word because I’m using it!) of each sunset every evening. A new evening brings with it a new painting in the sky to gaze upon. And I’m not the only one to enjoy a good setting of the sun.

sunsetSunset

Annie-dog seems to have inherited my sense of wonder when it comes to the end of the day sun. Can dogs inherit behaviors from their owners? Maybe, let’s just hope it doesn’t work the other way around. If you see me driving down the road with my head out the window you’ll know why.