Dogs on Ice

Shep playing with a 5 month old puppy he adores and another pup.




The Three Musketeers!
Two of the first dogs he played with in the park.



And finally, the satisfying sound of ice cracking!

A new favorite toy

Shep has gotten his burgling mouth on one of these whirlwheel toys more than once in the park, and when he does, all "drop it", etc. training is out the door. I could have a steak in my hand (I haven't actually tried steak but I have had a variety of treats including chicken) and he's not letting go.

Despite his almost pit-like grip, I can usually pull a solid toy out of his mouth if I try hard enough, but not this little evil thing that others keep bringing to off leash. Nope, this one has those convenient holes so he can really get his teeth in there and hold on.

Usually if he gets that excited over a toy in the park, I just buy one for home and it quickly looses value in the park and he can get back to playing chase or hoping folks will scratch his sweet spot. I finally found one in a store yesterday and got him the large one. He was thrilled. He played with it for maybe 4 or 5 hours, with a couple of breaks when I took it from him. He of course made quick work of ripping out the squeaker and ripping most of the middle ball section out of that side. I gave it back to him today and he actually held onto it with his paws when he took a nap and wakes up every now an then and runs around with it.

He loves it. He's had several similar toys, but this one makes him happier than any of the others and here at home he's happily bringing it to me and dropping it, which means he might not be so obsessed with whirlsheel's belonging to other dogs in the park.

I definitely recommend this toy.

Stuff to buy!

A fellow dog owner in the park told me about a woot-like site that is mostly outdoor clothes and gear as opposed to Woot's true miscellaneous offerings . Steep and Cheap offers one item at a time until it runs out or until a pre-determined time is up. Good prices and good work distraction!

Bookmark it and wish you already had this stuff in this cold weather.

Tilt shift photos

Tilt shift pictures are meant take real scenes and make them look like tiny models. It's pretty cool, imo. Now, there's a website that lets your feed your photos in and get them out as titlshifts. Not all pics really work for tiltshift, but the effect is neat when you have the right shot.

A scenery shot tends to do better; having lots of depth and something going on at all depths tends to be better imo.

This photo is one I took during a labor day weekend in New Hampshire, maybe 2007. It's Craig and our friend Burns hiking down Mount Washington.

Wow

This is just cool. A group raised funds to put up atheist messages (like a religious message) on buses in the UK. It seems like like an awareness campaign: just because I don't believe in a god doesn't imply that that I am evil.

I like the one in this article, a quote from Katharine Hepburn shown above.