fun stuff | Change Is Hard

Katie here.

I told mama she couldn’t hoard our blog all to herself cause I had stuff to talk about and I know my loyal subjects get impatient if they aren’t kept up to date on my life. As a princess I have certain responsibilities to all of you and I won’t allow mama to get in the way!

Ahem.

So anyway, remember when I told you that mama and I had retired from competition? We were living the life of leisure, lounging around eating bon bons and camping, and going for long walks on the beach. Life was good.

Relaxing in retirement.

And then the days got shorter and colder and mama said that I needed something to do since we wouldn’t be going on so many adventures! No more adventures mama? What are you talking about?

But you know what? It turned out just fine because she signed me up for school two times a week! As you all know I love school. People think it’s because I like to be challenged, but really it’s because I like the treats, and all the attention, and being called beautiful and stuff.

Don’t tell mama, I don’t want her to be disillusioned.

I’m going to nosework classes on Thursdays and rally classes on Tuesdays. It’s a blast. I especially like nosework. I mean, you’d think maybe a dog dreamed this game up. You just go into the ring, sniff a few boxes and stuff, tell your person when you find the scent and get a ton of treats! Really! You sniff a box, get a treat!

I absolutely love this game!

I pull mama into the ring at breakneck speed (OK, I usually zoom past the first 14 boxes, but I’m working on being more methodical) and run around like a crazy dog until my head swings around and I focus on one particular box and then I stare at my mama real intently until she figures out I’m trying to tell her “THIS IS IT MAMA!!!” and if I’m right…I get treats!

Hanging out in my crate. Boring.

So last weekend I went to my first nosework trial. Mama signed me up for two attempts. The first run was perfect, it took me all of 12 seconds to find the right box. Even mama was surprised! But the second run I was overconfident and told mama that two different boxes were the one, when in fact they were not. I was just anxious to get those treats you know, and mama fell for it. She says she learned a lot by that mistake, so it’s OK that we didn’t qualify on that leg. She says we’ll go back and learn some more.

And this weekend she and I went to a rally trial, the first one we’ve gone to in 4 years. We are competing in ‘excellent’ now, the top level, because I already got my title for ‘novice’ and ‘advanced.’ Mama was pretty nervous because most of the responsibility is on her.

She has to read the signs.

I could read them for her, but what would be the fun in that? Mostly I just sit when she says sit and down when she says down and think about following along with her in between. Unless I see something more interesting. Like a jump for example.

She signed us up for two runs this time too, she said she drove too far for us to only do this once, so I had to hang around for a few hours but that turned out to be OK because we met a new friend. This is Jade, she’s really friendly and really smart. Her mom is nice too.

Meet Jade!

Anyway, the first run I was a bit ditzy and wandered around a bunch and I think mama messed up on one sign, but we ended up with 90 out of 100 points and got 5th place, and mama just wanted to qualify so she was happy.

And our second run went even better. OK, not right at the beginning because I watched mama put my leash over to the left on a chair and after the judge lady said “Forward!” and we started out I decided to go over there and sniff out the situation. Cause why would mama put my leash over there? But mama called me back. Twice. And finally after an eternity (per mama) I got back in line and heeled my way around the course with her. We got a score of 98 and 2nd place, only 1 point behind our new friend Jade who got 1st place!

See my beautiful ribbon?

Jade and I each got a new toy!! We were all very excited.

So now I’m pretty worn out and need my princess nap, but I decided to stay up and tell you about my latest adventures instead. I know you’ll sleep better tonight knowing all is well in Katie’s world.

Mama’s going to sleep pretty good too. But don’t worry, I’ll be getting her up early tomorrow just like every day. I’m dependable like that.

Katie signing off for now. Hugs and kisses to all of you.

Mine mine mine!

December 4, 2016
by dawnkinster 9 Comments

WordPress Photo Challenge: Relax

Zzzzzzzzz…

Relax.

Wordless Wednesday

November 30, 2016 by dawnkinster 16 Comments

November 24, 2016
by dawnkinster 13 Comments

Happy Thanksgiving!

Katie here. I’d like to take this opportunity while my mama is away to thank all of you for reading my blog. Well, it’s actually her blog, but I know for sure that your favorite posts are mine!

She and I have loved meeting so many of you in person, and we hope to meet even more of you someday soon! In the meantime I hope you have a wonderful day and a fantastic weekend with family and friends.

Thank you everybody!!

Mama will be home soon. I’m pretty sure she won’t be mad that I hijacked her blog cause I did it just to say thank you to all our readers!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

And how can she ever be mad at me? I’m just so darn cute!

Anyway…Mama and I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

Hope she brings me some turkey!

November 23, 2016
by dawnkinster 7 Comments

3 quote challenge – Day 3

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.” — Rabindranath Tagore

The sky over Katie’s park.

For me there’s nothing more spectacular to photograph than the sky. Sure there are beautiful oceans and spectacular mountains, gorgeous open farmers’ fields and the intense fall color of the deep woods.

And of course there’s Katie.

Good morning mama!

But always, always there is the sky turning colors beyond description morning and evening, huge, always changing. Accenting a beautiful tree with a puffy cloud, hanging low, heavy with stars above the ocean, outshining the sun with brilliant hues.

Sunset over Lake Michigan.

Sometimes I think I’d like to live in a little house in the middle of a big woods. And then, as I’m walking the dog under the dark, starry sky, I know that I’ll always want to live in a place where I can see the sky in all it’s immense splendor.

I’ve been challenged by Carol over at Wandering of an Elusive Mind to post a quote each day for three days. This is the last post of that challenge but I’m finding I sort of like finding quotes to add to photos. So don’t be surprised if you see more going forward.

Change isn’t always hard.

A foggy morning greets the sun.

November 22, 2016
by dawnkinster 17 Comments

3 Quote Challenge: Day 2

“In every change, in every falling leaf there is some pain, some beauty. And that’s the way new leaves grow. – – Amit Ray

My favorite tree.

I was challenged by Carol over at Wanderings of an Elusive Mind to post quotes for three days. If you’d like to play along we’d love to have you!

I have a young ginko tree in my backyard. Every year the leaves turn a wonderful yellow color and hang on long after most of the maple trees have released their leaves to the wind.

Golden ginko

And every fall I wake up one morning and find all the leaves huddled like a life ring of gold around the base of the tree. After a hard frost all the leaves drop at once.

It must be an amazing site, to see all that gold come fluttering down at once. It would be magical.

This year I kept track of the weather, determined to see my tree shed it’s summer clothes.

Darn!

But I missed it again. I guess it’s shy and only disrobes in the dark. Next year I’m going to have to camp out and keep watch all night, become a tree paparazzi.

If I capture the image I’ll share it with you. Next year for sure.

Mama makes me sit in these leaves every year.

November 14, 2016
by dawnkinster 17 Comments

Stalking the super moon

Sunday’s moon.

Let’s just call this a good lesson in what not to do while trying to get that perfect shot of a huge moon rising up from the pumpkin patch. Oh wait. That’s a different story.

The super moon sort of snuck up on me, even though we’d been told about it daily for at least a week. Suddenly it was Sunday and I hadn’t looked up any instructions on how to shoot a great image. I figured I’d wing it, using things I’d learned about shooting stars.

Moving up into Sunday’s sky

Right. Never wing something that only occurs every 18 years. Especially when you’re already 60. I never did get it right, though, while messing with white balance I did get a gray image that was pretty sharp.

Different white balance on Sunday night.

So Sunday night I went home and read some articles online. I put the manual settings into the camera prior to heading out into the dark. I had good intentions.

A little cloudy Monday evening.

Monday evening the moon came up more than 45 minutes later than Sunday night. Plus the library was open, so there were lots of parking lot lights to contend with. AND the moon came up much further to the north on Monday.

So far to the north that at first we thought it had been obscured by clouds, and we packed stuff up and headed to the car. During the walk down the hill I glanced over my shoulder and saw it, right above the library!

Super moon over library.

I tried a lot of different shutter speeds and found out that the faster it moved the sharper the image when it was just the moon.

Golden orange moon Monday night.

The clouds shifted, moved over the moon, then moved again setting it free. The moon grew more golden, though it still came out orange in my camera.

It was a dark and cloudy night.

I tried and tried to get a true color, trying all the white balance options, but though I got one shot that was more black and grey, otherwise they were just shades of orange. Eventually the moon was high and my fingers were cold, so I gave up and went home. Some of the images are nice, but none of them are what I actually saw.

Clouds move in.

So more lessons must be learned, more studying needs to be done. And I need another clear night with a beautiful moon so that I can try it again.

I can’t say the evenings were total failures — after all I got to spend two nights under a beautiful super moon.

Really, I can’t complain.

Goodnight moon.

November 14, 2016
by dawnkinster 16 Comments

Finding color in all the right places

Katie here. So it’s mid-November, the leaves are pretty much gone from the trees and it’s getting cold. I like the cold unless it’s rain. I don’t appreciate my mama making me walk through cold rain to do my business, but I like snow. I don’t know why mama doesn’t. She’s silly, my mama.

Hey mama! Wait up!

Anyway.

We don’t have snow here yet, but I’m having fun anyway. This weekend my mama took me to meet my friend Deuce and his mom Karen and we got to walk in beautiful Bloomer Park!

My friend Deuce and me.

Even though most of the leaves were gone, we still found a ton of color. The down side is that the moms made us pose next to every single leaf. I swear. Every. Single. Leaf.