2/52 -- Brave, Brave Sir Simon!

Apologies to Monty Python... ;)




When danger reared its ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled.

Yes, brave Sir Simon turned about
And gallantly he chickened out.

Bravely taking to his feet
He beat a very brave retreat,

Bravest of the brave, Sir Simon!

( Besides, he totally better have beat feet, the pack was hot on his heels after he bowled everyone over into the snow like a maniac.)

Working like a .... well, you know. ;)

Oh man... retail on top of everything else, and thus the radio silence, but... I'm going to make this update as uh, covering as possible. :)

1) My hard drive finally got taken out by power outage number 16 and counting this year. Sigh. Seriously. Can't make it up. +I have a new computer, and was able to save most everything. Still sorting out some of my art programs, cripes, I hate losing software. :/ I really wish there was a magic computer button simply to move everything over instead of how long it actually takes.

2) My Cardi Claus box got here wonderfully, with delicious jam, horse treats, dog treats, and dog and cat toys that promptly run off with. I have photos on my camera, but they'll have to wait for a little later date as I catch up. I do want to say thank you, thank you so much to Amy and the wonderful Raglan Cardigans over at the
Crazy Cardiness blog. :) Thank you guys so much. It couldn't have come on a better, more needed day. Simon loves the Frisbee UFO, and Sophie promptly ran off with the mice before I could get them off the cardboard -- both of which keep ending up in my bed. Plus, thank you to the wonderful Janet Simple Things -- who on top of having a whole lot of puppies, put together the Holiday Exchange. :)

3) Man, I've waffled over making this part of the post. My female Pembroke Piper was diagnosed with lymphoma just a few weeks before Christmas. Unfortunately, she's not in the category of good response to chemo, and... it had already spread pretty badly. She's still with us, but I'm not going to say it hasn't been tough -- she totally has decided housebreaking is not high on her list. To the point where everyone else goes outside and she uh, runs for the other end of the house to pee on the rug. Awesome, Piper. That takes talent! ;) I'm up for a run of no animal issues for a little bit though...

Retail was good though -- had a good season! :D That's always a nice thing to have happen after the holidays! Good to breathe a sigh of relief and watch people shopping this year! :D

41/52 42/52 (AKA: There's a sucker born every moment! )

41/52 "All the better to see you with, my dear!"



The challenge last week was a tribute shot. There was one done by a woman in my Flickr group that I loved -- it was of her adorable dog in a rain jacket.

Now, hahah, you'd think it would be easy to find a rain-coat in the Pacific Northwest, but darnit, I'm sold out at the shop! So, okay, we had to go for a parka. A red fur lined parka. Of course, I can't get Simon to look soft and pensive sometimes to save my life when he thinks something's hilarious. This he found quite funny, and of course he was laughing and then I was laughing. Not a good combo. ;) So, hey, you roll with it. *grin*

So, to her dog's sweet, adorable Red Riding hood we have Simon the Wolf in uh, Grandma's Winter Wear. Apparently he raided the back of the closet for his hood.

"But Granny, what big blue eyes you have!"
"All the better to beg for a cookie, my dear.."
"But Granny, what a big nose you have!"
"All the better to snuffle loudly in your ear and wake you up in the morning, my dear..."
"But Granny, my what short legs you have!"
"All the better to trip you in the kitchen carrying those muffins, my dear!"

Little Red Riding Hood probably is still laughing because the Wolf needs to hire better stand ins on his day off -- but that's okay, the Corgi probably ate the entire basket of goodies and was content.

Since we still had the coat, I had to go take a few more photos. This one cracks me up, he looks like a person who's off to sell fishsticks or go crabbing or something. ;)



Now for this week's shot... okay, it's not technically a grand shot, but oh man, it's so, so Simon.

42/52 "Stray Kitty..."




Huh... well, there is a little bag of bones calico kitten now ensconced in my spare room as of Friday night.

My neighbor found her in the back of a non-running truck on their property -- the poor little kitten was screaming and screaming. It saw them and ran towards them, yowling. The poor neighbor's daughter (who is not a pet person) was like "You pick it up mom! It might have rabies!"

So, of course, the baffled neighbor brought her to us and said, "I think her mommy lost her..."

Sadly no, dumped, starving, very, very desperate for love and food kitten. So, of course, we being the cat suckers we are took her in. She is not afraid of dogs, not one bit.

Simon took a bit to realize that she was actually a tiny cat. At first all he would do is poke his nose in the room and the most hilarious thing was how huge his eyes got. Kitten had NO fear and was like, "Hi!" and ran up to see him and Caleb staring into the room; quickly Caleb got all excited with the "Hey, look, Simon, it's a KITTY!" smile and pushed in to visit with her, wagging himself practically in half.

So, then the next thing that happens is that Simon goes into "Man, my brother's too friendly (note, stupid) for his own good better save him from himself!" mode and jumps in front of his brother! Our intrepid hero gives the "yipyipyip" noise as he turns around and shoves Caleb down the hall away from the kitten into the other bedroom, and won't let Caleb come out. Poor Caleb's just got the blink-blink expression on, and Simon's all stiff legged and ready to leap out to sacrifice himself for his dope of a brother.

I'm dying laughing, and Simon gives me the "It's NOT funny" glower, and then adds on a "fine, you stay in there, and wait until it becomes an alien chestburster, mom," for good measure.

It's okay though -- he finally realized it was a cat! He just didn't know cats came in concentrated form, like orange juice. Once he figured out the cat just wanted to love all over him, he was so excited, and poking her all over the floor, tail going a mile a moment with a big smile on his face. ;)

I just love this shot -- like I said above, it may not be a beautiful technical shot, and a little cluttered... but Simon is saying hey, little cat, no worries no more. It's pretty cushy here! :D

40/52 - Point and Shoot... (and a thank you)

Okay, I just have to shake my head. Week forty... and my dog is now on Auto-pose.

Seriously. This shot really sums this up. We went to the park, since it's been pouring all week, I had a tiny window to work in and I wanted to go find some fall leaves for him to play in.

I let him loose to run and he zipped once around in a big circle, and then went straight for the bench. He then promptly proceeded to walk up and down it a few times before he decided to strike a pose on his own accord until I put the camera down on the rocks.

It was a lovely pose, though. It's always funny all the things I see in his merle patterns -- see the chess knight on his haunch? Rather fitting! ;)



Of course the Zoolander himself (hahaha, several of you will understand that joke) had to get in on the posing. "Blue Steel, Caleb! Blue Steel!"



Hey, look - my leaves! (and a disgustingly slimy mushroom he perfumed himself with after.)

Ps: Thank you for all the comments on the old Merp. He's still hanging in, doing okay. I'm shocked... but really, he's a tough old bird, so to speak.



I know, I know. He's not an attractive cat in the slightest. The happy-purr drool isn't helping, but this is the best photo I could take of the old fellow. I like to think of him as ruggedly handsome. ;)

39/52 -Worship the Dog ;)

I think Simon was recalling the days back when dogs were worshipped.

Sadly, when he got home all my cats laughed at him for his grave misunderstanding of history....

(And of course, just a few more shots. Wow, Caleb's uh, looking more like a dog every day...)

Playing catch up...

Let's see... went to Vegas for Superzoo, the pet trade show. Long week -- some nice stuff there. I really only came home this time with several nice pet beds, some T-Shirts, and some very cute shampoo that has this neat 'pet freshening spray' on the bottom, and VERY nice shampoo on the top. Wouldn't use it for a show, it really softens the dog's coats, but Simon is now wafting the masculine smell of Coconut Lime. Ahhh. It's like a Cardi air freshener. ;)

So, here are my week photos...

37/52 "Luggage Inspector" (I left treats in the bag unpacking. Hahah, guess who found them!)



38/52 "Mmmmmuffins!"


Got home, have been working like a maniac. Well, got into work, turned around to let Caleb through the door and... my back went "no." So, this time went directly into the doctor and now am on muscle relaxers (still.) I will say the stim treatment though worked awesomely well, and this time it's only been a little over a week and a half and I'm nearly back to normal.

Found out that my little Arab is officially a "pasture pet" only. His knee is getting so arthritic that he's locking up a lot even loose in his pasture, and he's pitched on the ground a few times when he's got up a head of steam. Well, on a high note, he's photogenic and cute! He'll have to model and earn his living. ;) Sadly, he is nowhere as good as Simon.

Of course... getting ready for the Richland show, and I come home and my 19 year old arthritic cat's leg is swollen up like a little peg. Great. I had an appointment with my regular mobile vet (who I love. Matt and I had a mock fight and he said that if we divorce, he's taking custody of the vet. I told him no way) but he can't make it until Thursday. So I run him down to a new vet and the guy is great. He looks at it, takes fluid, tells me that the cat has cancer and without taking off his leg the cat has days to live. I pay the deposit, and take Merp home. I admit, I adopted this cat back in January... and I absolutely adore him. He's just the sweetest old cat, with everyone, including the dogs. Either that, or like some grandpas, he just doesn't care.

So, I spend a sleepless night, and decide that morning that he can't go in. He looks horrible, he's barely walking, etc... there's no way this cat can survive on three legs, none. Sigh. I call my regular vet out for Thursday... and we're all set to put him to sleep.

Well, get up this morning, his leg is way less swollen, and he's bopping around the house. Enough that he goes to get a drink of water in the other room, he lies in the sunshine and bakes himself. My mobile vet comes and we watch him happily purring and headbutting us for a while...

I've had to euthanize many of my crew over the years. You really do know when they are done; there's just something about them at that point where you realize they're ready to go. Merp decided today wasn't his day, and well... now we're sending away a test for a second opinion on the leg.

Unfortunately, my other cat walks in with his eye swollen shut last night, and he's ulcerated his eye again. Sheesh. Drops in the eye six times a day. Well, now that the cat's not in danger of dying this weekend at least, and the other one can be medicated, still preparing for Richland. Find out that a friend's dog that I've been hoping for a puppy from didn't take -- so bummed, but I'm sure not as disappointed as they are. Been looking for a pup since this spring... well, I guess that's someone's way of telling me the right one hasn't shown up! ;)

So... yeah. What does Caleb do? Cut his paw on a freshly cut branch of my Vine Maple running around after Simon in the yard... and is limping like gangbusters. It's not a bad, bad cut, but between his front toes, and bad enough for me to realize there is NO way we're going to Richland. Oh well, I'll live vicariously through everyone else, I guess, and hear how things went!

Sigh. Lovely.

Oh well! Pets happen, right? Everything's for a reason. Besides, today I can walk into the back room and the old cat purrs at me, That alone makes it all better!

34, 35, and dogs and cats living together...

Well, it was an interesting last week. I bought a new desk for my home office. Then I cleaned out said home office this week with much help from Simon. Threw out a ton of stuff, yay, declutter!

Promptly had the laptop decide when I rebooted it last Sunday afternoon that I no longer needed photoshop or half my programs, and uh... it ate all the photos from that week, argh... then I couldn't find my disks. Anywhere. Yep, they got tossed out in the last great back room purge.

That said... I got a huge laugh out of this shot, because I darn well wasn't going to miss a week in the project when I hadn't missed a one yet! I spent the last few hours sitting here cursing bad, bad words, and pulling my hair out. So, then I managed to rig up Open Canvas to at least do a bit of photo editing, thank goodness. At least I could crop!

My workstation is a bit Simoncentric isn't it?

But hey, fast forward to this Sunday and the computer issues have somewhat been resolved, and thank goodness, my program now works once again! I think I saw little heralds with trumpets -- you don't know how much you use Photoshop until you don't have it, and then when you go look at what it costs new again, you have a nervous breakdown and swear to get it fixed somehow!

But yep, all fixed. This was this weeks shot -- Simon supervising the folks at the barn putting in the new fences. He did not like them approaching the horses and found this perch to watch them at on Thursday morning, right before I managed to convince him we should just go and take a walk, the horses would be fine. ;)

Caleb of course, never has any intention of looking very workmanlike. Instead, he happily plays with Dusty...

"Rar." "Rar!"

"Dude, what did you eat...? Ugh! No thanks, no kiss I!"

32/52, 33/52 and a question...

32/52 "95 in the Shade."

Oh man, it was miserable here, whooch. Seattle is not meant to get to 95. It's against all nature. ;) So, new pool, since the dogs punched a hole in the old one, haha. Simon likes it because he can dive for his Wubba.


33/52 "Ferry Ride.."

Had to go across the water Friday for a trade show, so I dragged the dogs along with me. :) Simon and I went upstairs to shoot a few shots. As you can see, he's totally not paying attention to me hahah, he heard some people behind us stop and go "Oh! Look at the CUTE dog!" "What an adorable dog!" "EEE, I want to pet that dog!"

Yeah, he's totally not paying attention to me and hamming it up for those ladies. And their wonderful bag of potato chips. The little rotter knows instantly the "cute dog" tone and he is all ready to sit in someone else's lap and lick their face.



Running! Short little legs go!



(Also, I have to say, the fact that Simon's markings look like a map of the Americas crack me up. When he puts on a bit of weight, I go, "uh oh, buddy, your continents are drifting! Time to go jog more!")

Also, maybe someone can help me. Someone out there had a gorgeous grooming table with a Cardigan on it, and for the life of me, I can't remember who that was or if they made custom tables for folks. I actually not only wanted it for a grooming table, but for a temporary display table at work when we hold specials on products. Yep, I'm a multipurpose person, heh.

31/52 "Loungewear."

Simon and his dad watch football every single night together on the sofa. (Yep, we have NFL network here, mwahah. It's a routine they have, and it cracks me up.)

I loved that Simon's eyes and his dad's shorts were the same color, and wanted to sort of play with that a bit.

I've not done selective color before - usually my shots are straight out of the camera with minimal editing. This was sort of fun!

30/52 "Where there's a will..."

I was cleaning out the garage and found Gabriel's old Jolly Ball that I'd put away after he passed. I'd forgotten all about it. Well, I figured I'd take it to the barn and give it to my mare to play with.

Simon was helping, and his eyes got huge when he saw that ball, haha.

Simon: "Want!"

Me: "Si, you can't fetch that. That ball is bigger than your legs, dude."

Simon: "Want want want bark bark bark bark bark want! Gimme gimme gimme am I annoying you yet? Want!"

Me: "...okay, gah, fine, here. You can have it."

He was right, he could fetch it. Apparently, once again, I am not smarter than Simon. ;) I guess it wasn't meant to go up to the barn after all.

28/52 "Eagle Harbor", and assorted sunset photos...

28/52 "Eagle Harbor Marina"

I hadn't been down in downtown for a while, but we went for breakfast one weekend. Now, you know you've been doing dog photos too long when you look out on a gorgeous morning, see a rock wall, and go "Wow, I need to take a photo of Simon there!"

So, we happily went back during the week, and he obliged. ;)

Of course, Caleb wanted in on the action as well... goofball grin!


So, then we took some photos at night from our local marina, which is just a quick walk around the corner from the house... I decided I wanted to try a bit of evening photography, and the boys were happy to go for a walk.

I really like this shot of Caleb. He rarely sits still long enough to get shots of how pretty his head is when he's not being silly. I love, love, love his expression -- he's got such a gorgeous face and ears.




Of course, then it was time to wind down a bit and just enjoy the evening. Simon's still posing, though... and Caleb - well, he saw a blinky light on the ocean, and happily watched that for a while.

25/52, 26/52, 27/52 , and hey, don't steal Simon!

So busy lately, and there's been some internet issues. Like, let's drop the connection every five minutes issues, ugh. Yay, I can post!

25/52 "Garrison Duty"

Simon at Fort Worden State Park. This park is where an Officer and A Gentleman was filmed.



26/52 "After the Parade..."
Simon at the Fourth of July parade here on the Island.



27/52 "Tour Guide Break"

Man, it was 97 degrees here last week. And for those of you who live here, you know what I mean when I say it was miserable. We Seattle folks are totally beside ourselves when it gets that hot, we wander around like sparkly vampires and hiss at the flaming ball in the sky.

So, my sister in law was out and we had a great time, but the last day she was here we decided to scoot by the little town of Port Gamble. It was hot, and we had ice cream, and of course, Simon had to go pose for me against this cool walkway and fence. I have to say the tourist in the background is what makes it for me-- she was a bit confused as to what me and the short dude were doing. ;)



Now for the funny -- well, not so funny part of my week. So, the other day I get up to a bunch of messages that said, "Hey, congrats on Simon making the Daily Puppy!" :D

Now, I have never HEARD of the Daily Puppy, so I am utterly confused.

Long story short, I didn't submit him. Someone else... er, "borrowed" my pictures off of my DA site. I had a feeling because the shot of Dusty and Simon isn't on too many places at all, it was more of a personal snapshot because technically, it's not the greatest, it's just cute. <3 I think it's in scraps there or dug in my flickr site somewhere.)

I went there and realized, wow, um, not only had they "borrowed" photos but that they'd changed Caleb's name to "Charlie," and had them as THEIR dogs with bios, and fake birthdates and everything! XD (Poor Caleb. Now we can really tease him about going to Candy Mountain. Inside joke. If you don't know it, go look up "Charlie the Unicorn" on You Tube (but beware, it's a bit er, not kid safe for language!)

I was totally baffled, but I wrote a very nice letter to the Daily Puppy explaining that they were my dogs, and I was very flattered that he was chosen and that I didn't mind sharing the photos at all, but that it wasn't me who submitted Simon, and I'd like my dog back. ;) I do embed my stats with the Nikon, including my name, etc, so yes, those were my shots, haha.

They totally emailed me back quickly, apologized, and fixed everything for me. I didn't mind, now that I was able to write his real biography and explain that he's my dog. I now have control of the submission process, and the person on there with the photos is actually me.

I couldn't believe it though - this person was giving out private messages and accepting thanks as if they were their dogs and photos! I honestly feel like there's something really creepy about someone taking your dogs and saying that they're theirs. How odd, honestly.... really, I'm baffled. It's sort of hilarious in a way though, Simon's a victim of identity theft! ;)

I will say next time they do this, I'm setting Caleb on them. He's been practicing his RAR face. ;)

22/52 "Dubious"

Simon and I don't like wasps. The wasps want to move in on the back deck. Both of us have decided that the prudent thing to do was uh, scram to the other deck, and finish our snack over there. ;)

Unfortunately, they've uh, also taken over the old grill on the other deck. Then again, it's better than the time they built a nest in my car's gas cap. I got to the station, went to fill it up, and literally slammed it shut, had the gas line back on the pump, and was in the front seat of my car hyperventilating before the wasps even knew what had just happened. What was even more hilarious, I had to call a friend who was an exterminator who gave me a hard time about the "wasp" in the gas cap.

... needless to say, he opened the car up, leapt back, and the next thing I saw was him putting on a full bee suit and pulling out the wand o' death to kill them. Yeah, I told him it was a NEST. *grin*

Pawspective... (22/52)

Simon and I did a quick shoot down on our dock, and this shot was the one that I used for this week's photo. He didn't feel like sitting and posing that day for me, and finally I just let him do what he wanted... he was right, it was a better shot. I think I might just give up and hand him the camera.



Meanwhile, then on Friday Caleb and I were at Yakima. This was the first time that I handled him myself both days. My back is a little sore but not bad, thank goodness... and we did okay. Meaning ol' one eye me did not drop Caleb on his head on the table, and Caleb wasn't a whirling dervish of happiness. ;) Baby steps. Nothing for us this weekend, but that's okay -- I'm happy with him just focusing and listening and actually thinking bait might be tasty for once.

However, the drive there is so beautiful. Sadly, it was pouring on the way home; I'd been dying to get a shot of Caleb against the sagebrush and sky... but I'll settle for this one. He was so tired after the show that he was half asleep as I set him up there, and he still looks a little rumply from the rain earlier and being wet in the ring and then squished between the seat of Dayl's van, haha.

Man, he is really growing up all of a sudden. I still think 'goofball puppy. Now he's er... well, still a goofball. ;)

20/52 - 21/52, and a pretty houseguest! ;)

I know, I know, I'm so backlogged on journals right now. I'm also backlogged on riding my horses, ugh. My back is still having issues -- thank goodness for Dayl a) let us all crash at her house for the show, and who showed Caleb for me last weekend and got another point on him! (Hooray!) :/ I couldn't even pick him up on the table, and he's a skinny little dude! I took a ton of photos while I was there of puppies, puppies, and more puppies. It's addicting!

20/52 -- "Free Range!" Ahhh, for the days when Cardis roamed the earth in giant packs of slavering doom, taking down the mighty dinosaurs! ;)

21/52 "Counterbalance"

(See, that's what that tongue is used for! I knew it!)

Corgis on a Porch! It's like Snakes on a Plane, except if you trip and fall when you step out the door they simply devour you, starting at the ankles. (I'm feeling guilty since the Pems have gotten no journal time lately - see, there's Riley's fuzzy bum, right there!)

Our houseguest for a few weeks is the beautiful Bella, belonging to Yolanda, over on the Dune Blog. :) She's just visiting and going to the store and meeting and greeting a ton of new people and dogs. :) She's been a joy to have over -- talk about a perfect, polite lady who fits right in with the crew.

(Cue Jaws Theme, here...) Isn't she beautiful? :) I just like taking photos of her, she's a pretty model!
I probably shouldn't tell her mom that she's totally asleep on the sofa, squished between Simon and Caleb and snoring away. That's not very ladylike to admit, but I'm sure Simon will take the blame for it. He's a gentleman. ;)

16/52 - "Recess!"

Simon has found one more thing he thinks is awesome -- the slide.

I climbed up the stairs and over the bridge and to the top! Ta da!


And then... I realized holy moly, I can go down FAST! Wheeeee! :D This is fun!


I admit, Simon's just awesome for photography. I'm spoiled. He's so easy to set on anything, he'll try anything, he likes strange places and strange things to climb on. Caleb on the other hand... well, at least he sat still with Simon giving him the hint about nice poses. ;)



I get back from taking photos of Caleb and feel like I've worked out for two hours trying to get him to sit still for half a second. Then again, I always tend to feel that way when he gets distracted. Okay, he's easily distracted. He totally has no attention span and no food motivation, but at least he's always ready to play with other dogs in a friendly way. He's never met a dog he didn't like. A lot of them don't like him, but hey, it's all good! There's more fish in the sea to play with! :D

So our goal is to knuckle down and go to a handling class starting next week. I have my mare in training and need to go over and take a lesson tomorrow, but after that, I am bound and determined to find something to crank his attention around and back onto me or a handler.

I'm guessing it's not going to be as easy as getting Simon to pose. ;) Actually, I think it would be easier to teach Simon how to play a waltz on the piano.

15/52 "Hide and Peek"

No cheating, Simon. You finish counting to a hundred, buddy. ;)

Share the ball, bro?

We had a guest over for a bit; Dayl's pretty tomboy girl Candy. She was just visiting to hang out and get some social experiences, since my work's pretty good for that. Simon was sort of smitten with her for the first day or so -- and then she took all of his toys and that sort of blew the whole deal for him. He stopped being smarmy and just wanted his toys back.
Caleb in the pasture...

Caleb, Simon and Candy -- we found a use for the arena besides riding the horses, haha! Run Candy, Ruuuuuuunnnnn!