Come take a walk with me and my dog

This is "The Butte"

The left over plug of an ancient volcano

and the namesake of my town

This picture was taken at Christmas time, with a distinct lack of snow

and yet, we ended up with more snow this year than we've had in years

Anyhow, the picture is just to lay the groundwork and give some perspective

Most days I take my dog for a walk, sometimes through the bush, sometimes on the paths along the road.  Today was a bush day to the old cemetary ,a favourite place to sit and reflect.

I usually stop there because after that it's mostly uphill

Today I decided to keep going and after much huffing and puffing, found myself at the end of the path and the beginning of the rock climb up the Butte

I must add, this is not a place I thought I'd ever make it to again

It's one heck of a steep climb,

the kind where you take five or six steps, then have to stop and turn around to catch your breath.

My cousin Dagmar (who seems to have temporarily disappeared from the blogosphere)

could tell you a great story about being on this path with a bear below her and the rock above,

and having to climb up and stay on top until she figured the bear was gone.

And how if her dad ever found out, he'd never let her come to Canada again!

I didn't climb up the rock itself because Monty would not be impressed about being left behind.

Anyhow, we made it safely up and down

On the way back home Monty remembered a spot where he once caught a mouse a few years ago

every time we pass it he checks it out, to make sure there's no more there.

Over a fence

While Monty trustingly

waited for me to lift the bottom so he could crawl underneath

Along the path to the marker where we turn off along our own property

25 steps back to retrieve the leash that fell out of my pocket along the way

Along the home stretch

And break through the bush to the back of our home

Thanks for your company!!

PS....these were all taken with my cellphone....the wonder of it all!

In the closet

If an unknown were hiding in my closet when I was home alone

What would they see?

The thought occurred to me as I was telling my dog that I came into the kitchen to make a second cup of coffee but that I forgot the cup in my office and that he's such a good dog for helping me remember it.

Like who cares??  Does he care?? 

He hears bla bla bla bla bla ba good dog bla bla bla bla office.

And remembers he left his bone on his bed

And heads to his bed in my office.

If there were a person in my closet

He would hear me talk to my dog and think I was not alone in the house.

Or he'd know I was alone in the house but think I had gone stir crazy.

Neither would be true.

If there were a person in my closet

He would see me do the Jack Sparrow walk down the hall,

trying not to let my overfull mug spill.

If there were a person in my closet

He would see me dance like no one was watching

and sing crazy, made up lyrics.

If there were a person in my closet

He would see me leave the bathroom door open

and prance around topless if it was just too darn hot in the house.

Speaking of nudity, if there were a person in my closet
He may even see me leap out of bed and run outside to close the car windows
 in my birthday suit and slip-on Crocs

If I heard it raining on the roof
He might even see me slip onto the gravel on my bare butt,
because Crocs are not made for prancing naked in the rain.

(Thank God I'm a Country Girl, John Denver)

If there were a person in my closet

He would hear me call myself a dumbass

countless times over

and would hear me laugh like a loon over my own dumbassness.

And hear me ask myself why others say I'm so smart.

If there were a person in my closet

He would see me soothe myself by rocking back and forth on my bed and cry for my mommy

If I had such bad menstrual cramps that I just couldn't take it anymore.

If there were a person in my closet and the phone rang,

He'd see me go look at the call display, and let the machine answer it more often than not

Because I'm really not a people person and have phonophobia

(Unexplicable fear of the telephone). 

If there were a person in my closet

He'd know me better than I know myself.

Maybe I should go clean out my closets!

(top photo courtesy of Michael Jackson's LP cover of In the Closet)

Well I'll be galdurned

This is my camera

I've only had my camera for...um.. since 2006?

As far as electronics go one could argue that it's ready for the museum.

It's been fairly good to me but I know it's capable of more than I know how to do.

I like taking pictures, but I just have not been able to understand about apertures and fstops and isos and the hundreds of other numbers

There's one thing that has given me no end of trouble though.

That is closeups of flowers and the like.

Sometimes i get lucky, most of the time it just refuses to focus the way I want

No matter how many many different things I tried.

I was going through some camera hints in my scrapbooking magazines

and they all said one thing in common:

Know your Manual!

I do not know my manual

I have read it front and back

The English part anyways.

I might as well have read some parts in the French or Spanish sections though

They said

"Play with your camera"

I took it to the park,

got some nice pics

Although I didn't see much difference in the settings when I previewed them

I wanted to catch different images of water

In particular, water droplets

Although as I look at them on my computer, there is a difference.

Not sure why these happen every time I try the faster shutter speed, or what I think is the faster shutter speed:

Anyways, I thought I'd give it another read

and saw something I missed before

Something about the difference between AF, AE and AE/AF

It looked like just the thing

This is how the very first pictures turned out:

Even Monty was impressed (you can see one of the flowers I was trying to get in the background at his chest level)