Category Archives: Pets

Happy Thanksgiving

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Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

What are you thankful for?
I’m thankful to be alive and relatively healthy. There’s so much to see and do in this big  wide world.

I’m thankful for my furry friends…Rocky and Smokey.

They keep me company and cheer me up when I’m down. They are loyal and give me unconditional love. Sound like a dog? They are about as dog-like as  cats can be. Rocky follows me, comes when called and plays fetch.Smokey will flop over for a belly run any chance he gets and wants to be wherever I am.

I’m thankful for the family…even if we don’t see each other a lot. I know they “have my back”. And since some of them live in the country I’ll have a place to move if  the “Doomsday Preppers” are right. 🙂

I’m thankful I have a job. So many people are out of work. I joke about retiring but somehow I think I have few good years left.

I’m thankful I have a roof over my head. I’m not homeless even if I came close when the real estate market tanked. But thanks to the  new rules and mortgage modifications that resulted, I still have my home.

I’m thankful that I am still on a spiritual journey. It keeps me from becoming close minded and intolerant. There is truth in every religion as well as mystery. No one has all the answers in this life.

I’m thankful for the friends and acquaintances that I meet along my path. Some for a short time, some travel the path with me for a longer time. They are a network of friendship and support, constantly changing yet always there.

I am thankful for the beauty I see around me every day and the hobby that allows me to see it with new eyes.

I’m thankful for so much more as well but what is it that you’re thankful for?

Rocky Holiday Photo..Take 2

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We’ve only been “clicker” training for 2 days so I wasn’t even going to bother trying to get the picture of my “vision” but When I turned my back there he was…right in the middle of the picture set up I was working on.

Ok he was ready and willing. I decided to try again.

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We’re getting closer  but we’re not quite there yet.

A Pet Photo Shoot

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I have a vision. I know what I want on my personal Christmas card this year. I can see it in my mind. It includes one or both of my cats. I can be flexible. But working with animals can be tricky even the most cooperative ones.

Step one: Get the set ready.

Step 2: Set up camera and pre focus.

Step 3: Call the Cat.  That was the easy part. Rocky came running, jumped into the set and slid taking the drape and set with him.

Step 4: Set the set back up.

Step 5: Catch a cat…don’t call it. Once again Rocky was more willing. He thinks he’s a little kitty rock star and that everyone should worship him.

Step 6. Try to communicate what you want him to do.

Step 7: Use cat toys, treats, funny noises to try to get your animal actor to perform.

Step 8. Pick up to try again another day Rocky let me know when he was done. Tail in the air he walked away like a true Prima Donna. I found him curled up asleep on my bed. I guess I wore him out.

It wasn’t a total loss. I managed to get a couple of nice pictures so I could create this combo that I call “Twins”,  but it’s not what I want for the card.

I am not giving up. I’ll be trying again next time I have an hour or so to fuss around. Maybe  a bit of turkey will hold his attention.

Just a Day in The Life

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Not much to share. I missed my Monday post because I haven’t done anything newsworthy lately. Monday I had a busy day.

I started the day with a photo shoot for Christmas Cards at my friend Nancy’s house. We hung the stockings on the mantle and moved the love seat in front of it. Then we squeezed everyone, including the dog, into the love seat. It took more time to set up than take the pictures…kind of like cooking that Thanksgiving meal..hours of cooking for 30 minutes of eating! LOL. But I got to try out my new studio light set and it made all the difference in the world..no shadows..no motion blur from the puppy.

Then it was pack up and head to my next shoot. This one was a location shoot but at the last minute it canceled so I met the family for a consultation instead. Probably a good thing because it took longer to get to work than I expected and if we’d actually done that shoot I might have been late.

Finished the day off by working overtime 3pm – 8pm. So as you can see, not much to talk about and not much time to write even if I did have something to say.

I’m not going to give away the picture that the family chose for their cards but I will share one picture of  Dawn. I love her eyes in this picture.

By the way, that’s not “dirt” on her face…it’s one of those temporary tattoos of a dog. 🙂

Prepping for Thanksgiving

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My sister gave me a challenge last week. She said she wished I had a turkey for a Thanksgiving card.

Well I do have a turkey picture but I decided I wanted to be a bit more ambitious. I decided I wanted to have a picture of a Thanksgiving table all decked out with food and candles and wine glasses.

I have a table. That’s the easy part. I have wine glasses and nice china. So now I need the food. The biggest  food item is, of course , the centerpiece of the meal, the turkey.

Now since I plan to eat the props I want to be sure the turkey comes out nice and golden brown and doesn’t just look good, but also tastes good. I usually cook a mean turkey..nice and brown and very moist…perfect…except the last 2 turkey’s I cooked didn’t cook evenly. I think my old oven is nearing the end of its days.

I wanted to get the best price I could so I went to Walmart and bought a frozen turkey. Usually I buy fresh but this isn’t really Thanksgiving Dinner..it’s just a “fake” one. 🙂 So frozen will do. I had a gift card too.  Gift cards are like shopping with someone else’s money so I become more free with my $$$.

Next to the frozen turkeys was an electric Turkey roaster. If I hadn’t had the gift card I wouldn’t have even considered it but now I thought..could this solve my old oven problem?

Into the cart it went.

At home I unpacked it, wiped it down as instructed and marveled at how big this thing was.

Mr. Turkey was in the bottom of the refrigerator defrosting. 3 1/2 days later the turkey was thawed and it was time to try out this new gadget.

The turkey was a small one. 13.5 lbs. and the chart said to allow 15 minutes per pound. That works out to 3.87 hours so in goes the turkey and I settled down to wait. Smells good!

Too bad you can’t scratch and sniff.

Times up. I lifted the lid and there was a beautiful golden brown bird except it’s drumsticks were sagging away from the body and when I lifted the bird the wings fell off!

Boy this turkey is definitely cooked! As I transferred the main body to the serving platter the whole thing collapsed. If anything this turkey is overcooked. It certainly isn’t ready to be a centerpiece of a holiday table picture. But is it edible?

I whipped out a knife and sliced a tiny piece just to see…ohhhh soooo good. It was moist inspite of being over cooked…and tender. The bottom of the roaster was filled with drippings. Lots of gravy to be made there.

So looks like I will have to try again to get that centerpiece Turkey for the picture . I might not get to it in time for this year’s Thanksgiving. After all, how much turkey can one person and 2 cats eat? At least there’s always next year.

For now I’m enjoying my early Thanksgiving feast with a squashed but tasty turkey centerpiece.

You can order greeting cards at www.dustyroadsphotos.etsy.com and www.dustyroadsphotos.zenfolio.com.