I Like Pigeons Because Nobody Else Does

Things like this make me profoundly sad. This is Fritz, a 13 year old standard dachshund at the Humane League. Owner turn-in.

I finally got a picture of Violet. Not a great shot, but at least something to prove that we really did get a German shepherd and I’m not making that up to deter potential thieves. She enjoys having her picture taken as much as I do. Here she is watching the squirrels gluttonize the bird feeders on the new bed I made her:

The sutures were removed yesterday and her foot is doing well.

I had my first real photo shoot this week and it went well. This is Chelsea, a 16 year old beagle dachshund mix:

On the edge of New London is the Philbrick-Cricenti Bog, a place that ranks very high on my list of most-awesome-natural-fun-things-to-see.

Bogs are found mostly in the Northern hemisphere and are widely distributed. A bog is a type of acidic wetland that forms from precipitation or groundwater and accumulates layers of peat (partially decayed plant matter). There is very little, if any, decay in bogs and some of them are very deep. Parts of this particular bog are at least 25 feet deep and bogs throughout the world have preserved ancient people and animals that became ensnared and were unable to escape. It’s the same thing as pickling only on a grander scale.

Bogs aren’t exactly friendly places. Make a wrong step off the walkway and you’ll sink. There are deer and horses buried somewhere in the above photograph. The acid conditions allow only a handful of plant species to grow, some of them really weird like venus flytraps, sundews and pitcher plants. This bog is loaded with pitcher plants:

That looks like solid ground, but it’s not. Step on it, and your foot sinks into a sponge. Stand there long enough and you’ll slowly sink and turn into a human pickle.

Here’s one with an insect:

A few months ago I posted an article about pitcher plants that explained how an entire ecosystem is contained inside. The plant itself doesn’t digest the insect, but leaves the work to the thousands of organisms that it hosts in its pitcher and then uses the liberated byproducts as nutrients.

Other bog plants are some of my favorites. Cranberries grow in bogs and so do these delicious blueberries that were everywhere:

I took this in the adjacent woods:

I’d move there in a minute and I’m not kidding. There are miles and miles and miles of unbroken forest full of moose, bear, mink (we saw a dead one on the road) beaver, deer, birds and reptiles. And the biggest draw of all, few people and none of their strip malls full of vapid junk stores or sprawling housing developments.

Gene went to undergraduate college at Dartmouth in Hanover so we usually stop in town to walk around campus and have lunch. I am not the kind of person who gets off on touring college campuses but this place and the towns nearby are like something out of a storybook. It was established in 1769 and the buildings are beautiful, especially the library. I love New England, but I guess I should probably visit in January or February to break the spell it has one me. I’ve only been there in the summer and it’s lovely but, according to Gene, the winters are beyond brutal. But to have a house on a lake where one can watch moose browse and hear loons singing? I think I could deal with the winter just fine.

We stayed at a place called The Inn on Pleasant Lake just outside New London:

and hiked up Mt Kearsarge (the peak on the right)

There was a small pond on the property loaded with bullfrogs that were nice enough to pose for pictures:

I finished the hand work on this skirt while en route to New Hampshire this week:

I saw a skirt exactly like that on Anthropologie last year only it was made from wool boucle and cost nearly $100, if I remember correctly. Seriously, people, who in their right mind would pay that much for a pencil skirt that is essentially just that – a pencil. Even if you can’t sew, it would be worth it to learn just to make skirts because they’re the easiest thing to construct. I was totally in love with it, but I’ll be damned if I’m paying that much for something I could make. And it was probably made in China anyway.

I saw this linen last year at R&J Fabrics on Broadway in NYC. Twenty five bucks a yard is a bit expensive, but this linen is exquisite and I figured I could squeeze a skirt out of one yard. Even though that price is enough to give someone sticker shock, think about how nice it is to have custom made skirt for $26 (the pattern was $0.99). I am so glad I learned to sew!

We’re off to New London, a small town in New Hampshire tomorrow for a few days. We’re staying at an inn on one of the many lakes in the area with close access to Franconia Notch, one of the most beautiful places in the world. I am desperate to see a moose, so wish me luck.

The pet photo endeavor is going well. I now have 5 shoots booked, one for next weekend  if it’s not too hot. The star of the show is a 16 year old beagle mix named Chelsea and I am so excited to see her given that my favorite dog ever is of the same fine breeding:

Violet’s foot surgery is scheduled for Friday and our vet is confident she’ll be fine. He has to remove another toe and all the loose bone pieces. They’re useless and only serve as a source of infection and irritation. I am sick with worry that she’ll end up with hideous and persistent osteomyelitis, but she should be ok.

The Cowbelly pet photo/business workshop is only two weeks away and I am thrilled to no end that I’m actually attending. I really need this kind of guidance to be able to pull this off. Business has never been my strong suit, but if I’m going to run my own gig, it has to be. And quick. I’ve not done much marketing at all except set up the website, word of mouth and credit on the Humane League website, but after the workshop I’m going full steam ahead in spreading the word…assuming I know what the hell I’m doing at that point! I was able to attract 5 customers with little work, so I am really looking forward to seeing what happens when I start marketing. I’m registered to participate in the Humane League’s annual Tailwagger’s Trot as a vendor so come out to Buchanan Park on October 10th and support all the animals that find themselves at the shelter.

Little Buddy is immortalized on a stamp

Need a new friend? These guys do…

This is a pathetic photo for a pet photographer, but this dog hates the camera:

She actually gets up and moves, digustedly, to another location when I point my camera at her. This is her usual spot behind my chair when I’m working on the computer.

I am convinced she had another life other than her time on the farm. Her behavior on a leash is exemplary and she got excited a few days ago when I put on my sneakers to go for a walk. She does a lot of talking which, I’m told, is typical for German shepherds. She has a wide variety of sounds that include whining, yowling, hooting and some other things I can’t even describe.

She’s really latched on to me and follows me wherever I go. We’re completely smitten with her the prospect of her foot not healing or being a continual problem just twists my guts. She’s on two different antibiotics for a few weeks to try and clear up the infection in her foot. If all goes as plans, she’ll have surgery about two weeks from now.

Bad news – Violet needs surgery. Again. I took her to the vet today for her first exam and our vet noticed pus coming from a tiny spot on her foot near where the toe was amputated. They took an x-ray and found this:

That detached toe and all those little broken pieces are going to have to come out. They’re probably causing her a great degree of discomfort which is why she keeps licking it. She should have full use of the foot – if not more use – after the surgery. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to have bone pieces moving around in one’s foot.

Otherwise she’s doing well. Sinbad and Little Buddy are hardly bothered by her presence and she mostly leaves them alone.

It took Herculean effort to not post anything about this until now, because it’s been in discussion since before I was hospitalized. We are going to adopt a German Shepherd named Violet. Here she is:

I’ve always done all the dog procurement and Gene has been insisting that he choose the next dog. For some reason he had his mind set on a German Shepherd. I have to come clean and admit I was not thrilled with the prospect of all that hair and living with such a big dog, but I guess I should concede given the fact that I’ve chosen every dog we’ve ever had, almost always against his will. Fair is fair.

Last month I was asked to photograph a German shepherd living in the Humane League’s vet clinic. I walked in and was greeted by a curious, but aloof female missing a toe on her right foot. She used to live on a farm until her right front foot was crushed by a horse and the owner refused to seek veterinary treatment. The foot became so infected that the neighbor’s turned the owner in to the authorities. Humane League cruelty officers had cause to seize the dog and she’s been living at the HLLC ever since recovering from extensive surgery and a toe amputation. She’d be perfect for us! I thought. Calm, not too big, and we could certainly use another female in the house! I started to get excited.

Even though she’s on the small side by German shepherd standards, my primary concern about bringing such a big dog into the house were Little Buddy and Sinbad. One bite from a dog that size could kill them both. We took them to meet Violet on Thursday and it was almost a let-down. All three sniffed each other for a few seconds and then it was over. They immediately turned tail and continued to solicit attention from us or simply lay down and ignore each other. I was hoping for at least a little reaction because Sinbad could really use some canine leadership. Nothing.

The veterinarian told me she’s one of the nicest – and definitely the most calm – German shepherd he’s ever known. Perfect for first-time-big-dog-owners. I’m going to pick her up around noon today, so more photos in the coming days. I’ve heard from longtime GS owners that having one of these dogs is like another human being in the house. They’re highly intelligent and they have the ability to understand human communication like few other breeds. I can’t say the same about LB and Sinbad!

This is a juvenile Carolina wren that was released into Bird Refuge’s backyard this week:

Most birds are taken elsewhere for release but these guys do well around the property. The habitat is good for them and they eventually disperse.

Little Buddy is doing rather well, considering he has lymphoma. We never expected him to last this long, but he still enjoys most things. He’s lost quite a bit of muscle and has a pendulous abdomen, both indicative of long term steroid use, but the fact that he’s shaped like a termite doesn’t seem to bother him in the least.

It amazes me that so many really nice dogs end up here week after week after week: