Marty February 27th, 2007
My wife put this one up. I think it’s adorable - but it’s my dog, so what do I know?
Miles and I were going through Blair’s hope chest earlier. He made off with one of Blairs baby shoes. When I went to go get it back, I found both of them, like this, in Blair’s room. Looks like we both miss him.
« See about waiting on Flickr »
Marty January 16th, 2007
This is Jazz, our new super-kitten. She’s always pulling new stunts, like flying out the door when we try to let the dogs in, or climbing up into the drop ceiling or tormenting our older cat, Miko. Her latest penchant seems to involve torturing the fish. After trying from the top for a week or so, it seems that Jazz has found a new way to look at the fish - either that, or she really wants some sushi. Or as my wife put it on her Flickr account:
“After several months of trying to figure out why that bala shark had been (apparently) trying to commit suicide, I think I may have figured it out.”
She’s an odd one, that Jazz.
Marty December 13th, 2006
Jazz had a hard day Monday - an early appointment to get spayed, followed by about 10 hours of recovery before the anesthesia wore off enough for her to go home. Yesterday, still recovering from her spaying, she found the napping in mom’s lap was by far the best medicine.
Marty October 11th, 2006
A lot of things going on in my life and the world at large. Some are only ripples in a global sense, but tsunami in personal terms. Others are globally-explicit rogue waves that could dissipate harmlessly or end up crashing against our shores. And then there are the waves being generated nationally from the inside by the derelicts running the wave pool in Washington. Ebbing and waning, low and high tides across the board. Continue Reading »
Marty September 4th, 2006
Oakley enjoyed soaking in the sun, body surfing, sand, frisbee in the surf. You know - the stuff that everyone enjoys at the beach. He was simply in his element when we took him to swim, play and surf.
Now if we could just get this bacterial infection he got somewhere along the way under control…
Marty September 6th, 2005
Dichotomy
I’m not sure how to feel about my vacation last week. In some ways, it seemed so wrong to be having a good time in N. Topsail Beach while the suffering was going on down in the south. To be honest, many of us were torn between watching the news and seeing what was happening, and salvaging our own much-needed vacation by pushing that away - it would become all too real once we returned to the ‘Real World’. Continue Reading »
Marty June 28th, 2005
Thanks to Van, who kindly invited me and the mutts over to go swimming in the lakes near his house. After a small introduction period that involved some pulling, barking and growling, the three golden retrievers seemed to get along pretty well. After a beer and a survey of the yard, we headed to the pond to let the dogs take a dip.
Problem - my dogs aren’t exactly Mark Spitz and Ian Thorpe with fur and fangs. Oakley seemed to get used to it after a bit and enjoyed the swimming part (although he seemed to enjoy the rolling around in the dirt afterward part more. Miles started strong, leaping after his tennis ball into the deep water. But I think that it startled him, and he wasn’t so keen on the water/swimming thing after that and had to rely on Yogi (Van’s huge golden) to retrieve the tennis ball for him.
Still, they seemed to enjoy it - as well as the baths they got later in their pool. I’ll have photos as soon as I have time to put them up. Thanks Van for having all of us over - it was great to finally meet your family.
Almost Daily Links »
Marty April 9th, 2005
Part 2 of the birding vacation has come and gone. Instead of Cape May, we went to Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (Forsythe NWR) in Brigantine, NJ. It was closer and we could see a lot of migrating waterfowl.
Well, the initial view was less than encouraging. Walking paths are limited - most of the park is along an 8-mile road that you either have to drive or bike through (although I guess you could walk, if you chose. It made it a LOT harder to really get a good view of things since you had to stop, get out, find it again IF it didn’t get scared off and then check it out. Not my idea of fun.
But my biggest frustration was my horrendous photography throughout BOTH days of the trip. I don’t know if I was in a mental fog or if I was just being a bad photographer, but despite me using Kodak UC-100 Professional film, my pictures came out looking like crap. Either they were too bright or my DOF was off. And the photo processing was horrid as well, which didn’t help much. If you want to see the pictures, check out my Flickr site. I’m too embarrassed to show them here.
The good side of the two day trip was that I added 7 new species to my life list:
The Gadwall was pretty cool, as was the American Oystercatcher. But I think that the Short-eared Owl was probably the coolest thing we saw.
On a non-geek note, we took the dogs with us and while they thought we were nuts for wasting perfectly good daylight and muddy water looking at stupid birds, they seemed to enjoy the day. Well, at least Oakley did - Miles definitely looked more on the “Can I go home now” side of things. All in all, other than my crappy photos, it was a fun 2 days.
Other musings »
Marty February 10th, 2005
Whomever thought it was a good idea to get a second puppy to help occupy the first puppy should be punished severely (and you know who you are). The two dogs are a terror to be around - and I only deal with them part-time. They constantly wrestle inside and outside, they are great at finding trouble and now they have decided that there is something deep under the ground that they really want to show the light of day.
It might be that we are just tired, but I’m wondering if we might have to kill one of them to get a good day of work in/night of relaxation. Of course, I’m sure that the wife would laugh at MY complaints - she deals with them day in/day out.
Marty February 1st, 2005
I had a good weekend of photography. New snowfall and a lot of birds coming very close to the house gave me some great opportunities. Here are some of the best:
I also got some good shots of our two puppies (yes, we’re just a little off).
