happy birthday to maggie

well it's 3 am and i can't sleep.  may as well update my blog, right?

2 weeks ago was mag's 10 year birthday.  mom and dad sang happy birthday to her and we've been talking about it ever since. this week she goes to the vet for her spring check-up, which i'm sure will be just fine.  she's healthy as an ox.  well, if she'd quit eating grass, anyway... that's the only thing that makes her sick.  why do dogs and cats do that, anyway? eat grass and puke?  lacy does it too (except it is one of my plants she eats and then pukes up...)

so yesterday at mom's for lunch, kendal was kissing on maggie so i tried to catch him doing it.  she kept kissing him back which he thinks is funny.  the lighting is bad and i was trying not to use the flash 100% (my camera has flash compensation, which means i can turn down the flash - i was trying NOT to give her the crazy green eyes).  i didn't actually catch the actual kiss, but i tried.  holly won't get close to her when she kisses, which is probably a good thing since she still gives open mouth kisses.  :)

next is outside play time - mags got some of the fresh-baked rolls mom had just pulled out of the oven.  she was "dancing" and you can see kendal dancing with her.  he held his hands up like her and would spin around. he didn't get a treat though.  his tricks were for free.  hahaha..

anyway, once we started eating lunch (which we did outside), maggie assumed her normal position beneath the kid's chairs.  she knows them too well... 

Guest Blogger - Where's Honey???

Introducing my friend, "T".  This TRUE story about her and her fiance, "M", who do a lot of sailing in Eastern NC.  They have a Chihuahua named "Honey" who always goes with them.   -Analee

Our "vacation" turned into a nightmare.  On the second night out, the engine quit right in the worst possible spot in the Neuse River so we bobbed up and down all night long.  We got towed in to Oriental the next day and it took all day for "M" and a friend of his who lives there to make repairs.  We had planned to head to Wilmington but that day messed us up so we went to Cape Lookout.  But as soon as we got there, we had a new problem.  The engine was overheating so we couldn't use it anymore.  So the rest of our trip was under full sail (which "M" loves, but it makes for a lot of heeling over.....which makes me feel a little on the sick side).  Then the kicker........the dog went overboard.  

We had been under high seas (which she doesn't like) coming in from Lookout but we had returned to calm water and just after we went under the highrise bridge in Beaufort, we realized Honey was not onboard.  She couldn't have been gone more than two minutes before we realized she was missing.  She didn't have her life jacket on because she had been down below with me and she has never offered to jump in the 4 years she has been on the boat.  With no engine, we were limited on how far we could look but we turned around and used the sails and anchored right in the middle of the channel thinking she would eventually drift or swim towards us since the wind and tides were pushing our way.  But we looked for over an hour and there was just no sign of her anywhere.  

I called the coast guard but they don't rescue animals so I gave them our contact information just in case someone found her and called.  I called the local shelters and authorities as well.  So we cried and sailed all day and into the night and figured she had drowned even though we know she is a strong swimmer.  I was upset because we had left the area but with no engine and needing the winds to get us home he said we had no choice.  What an awful feeling and day that turned out to be.  

BUT........later that night, the coast guard called and said someone had rescued her from the water and she was with a lady who is involved with animal rescue and fostering pets.  The guy who found her said she had swam against the tide and wind and was in the 60 ft. deep turn basin between Morehead City and Beaufort struggling to stay above water.   At that point, we couldn't sail back to Morehead with the winds pushing us away and towards home and we knew they were going to shift 48 hours later and it would take us that long to sail home with no engine.  The foster home kept her for 3 days until we could get ourselves home and rent a car to go get her.    We wanted thank him but we just weren't in a position to offer any money other than their expenses incurred.  But we were so grateful for their help.  It's like the guy was just in the right place at the right time on the right day. 

Some vacation huh?   But at least it ended well and we have Honey back.  You can believe she will have her life jacket and ID tags on anytime she is on the boat from now on.    We finally got the overheating problem fixed last weekend and went out for the day.  I figured she'd be scared but it was as if nothing had ever happened!

before and after

i had a friend ask me if i could touch up some of her pet pictures - she was having trouble with eye reflection for both a dog and a cat. 
i gave it my best shot - just so you know, "red eye" correction doesn't work for pets.  their eyes reflect green.  it was not as easy as i thought and actually became an art project to correct.

so, here are my before and afters... (remember, these are her pictures, not mine...)

the first one: by the way, i love a brindle colored dog.  he looks like the rock "gneiss".  if he was mine, his name would be gneiss.  his or her. whatever.  gneiss would be the name.  :)

that was the first one i did. not only were his pupils green, but his acual cornea was red (blood shot?).  the end result was pupils that were a little too black, but it was hard to get it otherwise.  eh, it was my first try.  i was learning.

so, here is #2.

what a gneiss dog, isn't he cute with that underbite?  this one was a little better.  i was more "experienced" i guess.  haha.


this last one was the doozie.  cats pupils aren't round, they are more oval/elongated.  i learned a lot about changing the shape of my "brush" in photoshop.  oh, and of coarse i know more and more about layers...

i thought the cat turned out ok.  his/her eyes are black, but i looked up other pictures of cats online and their eyes are black like that too.

if you've ever had that problem,  i guess the only things you can do to avoid that is to #1 not use a flash (at all) or #2 use a directional flash (so that you aren't flashing directly into their eyes).  you'd have to have a (d)SLR with an auxiliary flash for this option.  remember, you'll never get reflections (red eye, green eye) using natural light (no flash)!!!  natural is always the best option.  if it is darker out, use a tripod and slow down that shutter!

maggie update

to the one who wants to know, she's doing fine.  she lives with my sister. we see her often, like 2 to 3 times a week - its the best way for me to have a dog.  not in my house.  not peeing on my floor.  but, she still gets to share licks with nathaniel and the kids. 

(and don't worry, this "not peeing on my floor" thing wasn't impartial towards dogs, we haven't any cats in the house anymore either. seems that pregnancy hormones increased my normal cleanliness OCD thus took a toll on them ALL living inside this past spring.)

anyway, she's the only dog kendal isn't afraid of. he chases her around everywhere.  and holly always seems to poke her butthole.  (not sure why, but that is like a target point i guess.)  she is GREAT with the kids.  very tolerant.  and, so long as she doesn't roll around on dead bugs, she is even pleasant to be around (odor wise).  she still begs a log (but i suppose she is a dog?) but these days, she found the sweet spot (beneath the high-chairs).  thus, her diet is now enriched with chicken nuggets, peas, and bananas and/or oranges a few days a week!

at her new home, she is most intolerant of other dogs (i've always thought she has no idea she is canine), and she has several other human friends. like a 10-year old neighbor/girl that my sister often sees when she is walking her around the neighborhood.  she gets walked several times a day - long walks - so long that sometimes, i hear, she has to be carried UP the stairs when they are done! 

so, she lives a good life.  gets to ride in the car, gets walked, gets "treats" (under the high-chairs)... no worries!  she's still healthy and happy as can be!

caging the unchained

i know it is horrible to see a dog chained to a big old oak tree in the backyard with no grass because it has been "weathered" away by the pacing dog. and i saw on tv the other day that durham county (or maybe just the city of durham) passed an ordinance making it illegal to have a dog chained. i also realize that research shows that dogs that are chained are more likely to bite, etc. etc. etc. and i understand that. but what i don't understand is how this: is any better (i.e. less cruel) than this: i see that those kennels at least have dog houses in them, although it is not covered nor do the dogs have the luxury of shade. so i found a better shot of a kennel (no dog in it)... this one costs about $150, which i bet all the folks with tethered dogs are buying now. how is a 4 by 8 by 8 foot dog run better than a 20' chain around a tree? hum... lets do some calculations about "room" for the dog to move around: 4 by 8 = 32 square feet dog run < 3.14 x 10^2 = 314 square feet chain accessible area. i know that ideally, the folks that have tethered dogs will fence their whole back yard. and if that would happen, i think it'd be great. but what i think will REALLY happen (cause it is expensive to fence in your back yard), is that people will buy dog runs too small for their dog because the small ones cost less than the big ones. at the breeder/kennel where we got luna, all 10 of the dogs were in individual (correctly sized kennels) and let me assure you that was no method for keeping those dogs non-agressive. luna's father was a mean old dog, and he let me know it by jumping at and lunging on the cage sides... snarling in the mean time. fortunately her mother was much more docile. luna definately got her mother's personality. anyway, i'm just saying... i wonder how much better a run is than a chain? owning a dog takes responsibility... the responsibility to exercise, feed, water, and care for the animal. and the people that keep their dogs on a chain with no water or food or dog house are still just as likely to keep their dog in a small kennel with no water or no food or shade. how does passing a non-tethering rule make people take responsibility for their dogs? what battle has REALLY been won?