Vacation will make you do that...

Yes, I have been rather lax on my posting these past couple of weeks. But I was on vacation for one of them, which I think is a good excuse, and well, it takes a while for me to get out of vacation mode during the first week back.

We spent the week on Eels Lake, just North of Apsley and South of Bancroft. I'm certain that we picked the only good week that summer has had to offer so far. So we had hot weather, lots of swimming and surprisingly little bugs. Though, the fishing left something to be desired.


We even missed a tornado that ravaged part of Milton's downtown core. The storm moved quickly across Southern Ontario, with tornado's active in certain areas, and warnings in others. We prepared ourselves, somewhat hard to do when your living in a wooden box for the week - where do you go when there's no basement and you're in the middle of the woods, but luckily we only got a nasty storm. Check out some of the images from the Weather Network:

Tornado
Damage
Trees Down
More Damage

Jumping from the swim raft

The dogs, and us, got to enjoy the water on an almost daily basis, and Brandy, my Jack Labrador Retriever, is loath to leave the water for any reason, preferring to spend hours fetching objects from the lake for us to toss back in again. Even objects that we haven't tossed, such as a random leaf meandering on the lakes surface, was enough to make her insane about getting it out of the water. And if you haven't heard a dog scream, go swimming without my little one and you'll be surprised at the noises that can come out of this little creature.

The Dig

It was also fantastic to see the dogs actually being dogs, living in the great outdoors for the week. You could tell that they enjoyed themselves, especially Brandy, who got to utilize her instincts by digging us a rather large hole. On the hunt for something unknown, which we had to kibosh since it wasn't our property. She was intent on finding what ever it was in the ground, and I was surprised at how quickly the hole expanded. The little dog excavated earth very well, going as far as pulling roots out of the way and any other object that was in her path. It was great to see her do something very instinctual like that, and after the stoppage, she seemed very proud of her handy-work. Not too worry, I filled the whole back in nicely, so we'll never know what she was after, but I think the fun was in the dig itself.

The hole

Unfortunately, now that I am back, I have to return to work mode (and I'm not talking about the portraits or my business - I enjoy those). Fortunately, I have come up with some new ideas for the business which I will reveal in a later post. As well, I have been working on a landscape of Burns Creek Conservation Area, which will also be revealed in a later post. For now, some more photos from our vacation take top priority on this blog so enjoy!

Eels Lake Sunset off the dock

My Jack Labrador Retriever enjoying the water

Little Retriever with good form

The double stick retrieve

Lot of large wild mushrooms on the property

Happy Birthday Brandy!!!

A tiny little baby Brandy

Today my little dog turns 7! I can not believe how much time flies. It seems like only yesterday, on a cool, sunny October morning in 2002, that we picked up the tiny little biting and humping bundle of energy.

I can honestly say that it was the best $350 we've ever spent, hands down. She was a challenge in the beginning, but once we found out that this little bugger loved to learn (puppy class being our first indication), things turned around, and in a heart-beat she became "the perfect" dog.

Through the years she has been my greatest teacher in regards to training dogs (or dogs training people, however you'd like to interpret that), and has been a willing, flash hating subject in all my photography and artistic adventures.

She's been everywhere with me, and is a testament to her breed. We dubbed her the "Love Dog" (with the "Love Boat" theme attached to it) because a day has never gone by without someone making a positive comment or smiling at her while we were out and about. From the old, to the thugged out youth (the term "sweet dog" has been used on occasion), they all fell in love. She is a people lover, and will go out of her way to meet and greet, which adds to her appeal.

Independent, stubborn, tenacious - yes these all describe her, she is a JRT you know, however, she is also sensitive, loving, comical and a willing worker. Surprisingly she does like to please, but on her terms, nothing like a golden retriever or a border collie though. She is awesome at agility when she wants to be, or more like when I don't throw her off, and she has quite a few titles to her name so far. And, with a little help from me, she even went and got her rally novice title, something that I never thought possible because it involves obedience - not her strong point, kind of like math is not mine.

Photo by Gabrielle Deans

Over all, she is a fantastic sport partner, a great teacher and a wonderful best friend. There will never be another Brandy - she really is one of a kind and I'm greatful for every moment that we spend together.

Happy Birthday Brandy, and here's to many, many, many more years of fun and friendship!!

Photo by Gabrielle Deans

Photo by Gabrielle Deans

Random Cartoons

Wieners dog anyone? They are delicious!

A Chinese Crested of course.

Just some results of my imagination a few years ago.

What a Storm!

The pictures aren't fantastic - I'm not exactly a whizz at night-time photography, but wow, you get the gist from these shots. This storm rolled in rather quickly and remained, with constant lightening and thunder, for a good hour and a half.

All the neighbours streamed outside for the initial show before the rain hit. Amazing to watch the ominous clouds roll in, as severe thunderstorm warnings, hail and high wind threats spew across the airwaves.

No tooth? No ball.

Yes, I said it, and put my foot down. She knows, no ball, no bones, no toys. She doesn't like it, but she knows.

A loose tooth was discovered. I knew something was wrong in her mouth, the little pink tongue constantly flipping in and out like a snake tasting the air around her, but wasn't sure what the "wrong" thing was. I originally thought that maybe she bit her little pink tongue, but saw no evidence. So I searched her molars during our weekly teeth cleaning routine (she isn't a fan of the routine, but it's for her own good). Nothing.

I did it again the next week and found the offending item, and I'm really not sure how I could have missed it during the first search mission. A broken tooth, snapped in half, flopping around in her little mouth - her second one (though the first was many years previous). I'm not positive how it happened, but I have a feeling that the "head-caught-in-the-door-while-trying-desperately-to-search-and-destroy-the-vacuum", may have exacerbated the problem.

So this past Friday, she went in for the removal. A removal that went very similar to my impacted wisdom tooth extraction ... I was told a lot of digging, and I could tell from the pain afterwards that they must have dug right through my jaw bone into my neck looking for the roots. So, I felt her pain, but she did well, much better than I did with my removal, came out with one stitch and is on soft foods until tomorrow.

She is anticipating the re-introduction of her toys. Well, she didn't tell me in so many words, and actually that's me once again using anthropomorphization on the little dog, but I can tell that she's waiting with baited breath for the stitch to dissolve and the ball to be firmly planted in her little jaws. I can see it in her eyes. Only two more days...