Anti-typical Dog-and-a-Pickup-Truck Picture?

I was shopping at a Trader Joe's in Bellingham Washington and noticed the oddest looking truck (an old military looking Mercedes flatbed truck ) with the most striking husky dogs sitting in the back.  I didn't realize how big these dogs were, especially their heads!  They were so passive and very friendly with everyone that stopped by to pet them, which was everyone who passed by!  It was difficult to get a clean shot of the truck and the dogs without people surrounding them. In fact, when the owner got back to his truck, he had a crowd of people (actually, all women) wanting to talk to him about the dogs. I was trying to talk with him, but about his truck!!  Oh well.  If he had to choose between a group of women or one guy, I know what his choice would have been anyway.  These pictures show the inherent weakness of an iPhone camera (super grainy and fuzzy in low light) but at least I had a camera on me.  Thank goodness for my iPhone.  Thank you Steve Jobs.

Professional Dog Walker

I barely got this shot off with my iphone. It's not quick on the draw for shooting such impromptu moments, thus the picture is a bit blurry. Is it me, or should he have more plastic bags? I think I counted 9 dogs...... there is actually a professional dog walk walker's association. Check it out here.

Friendly Dogs

The little guy may look a little snobby, but was actually really friendly. I think he was just staring down someone who just called him Tinkerbell......

Yoshi Swims

Sorry for the slow-down in posts. I was sick a few weeks ago, and then my wife got sick. Then 2 weeks ago my wife's beloved cat Koko had to be put to sleep. Perhaps one day I will post the whole story and some pictures of the whole ordeal, but it was quite sad and tragic. Let's just say the vet messed up and basically forced our hand to put the cat to sleep.... not too impressed, especially of how it affected my wife.

As soon as the cat passed away, the turtle started having some issues with shell rot. My wife frantically did everything to make it better, including another visit to the vet ( a different one that specializes in reptiles ). I thought I'd take some pictures of Yoshi as he swims happy in his 55 gallon tank...... I'm not a big pet person, but it is pretty cool to own a turtle. Minus the cat, we still have a turtle, birds, and a dog..... man alive!!

My posts will soon be more regular as I'm off to Japan again for most of November. I'll try to post daily....... thanks for visiting!! Comments are appreciated!!

Day 14: Yoshi Attacks!!

I took a picture a few days ago of Yoshi resting on her log, like a stump. It was such a busy day, I just ended up making that my pic of the day. I wish I could go back and put another picture.... but I know I can't. Today, I didn't get home from work until past 8pm, and didn't get a chance to get any sweet shots, so I knew I had to hunt down a pic inside the home. So I sat in front of Yoshi's 55 gallon tank and started shooting, and shooting, and shooting. I finally got this shot. I'm shooting iso 400, and still shooting a slow 1/15 of a second, while Yoshi moves back and forth and left and right and up and down....... I'm pretty happy with what I got though. I shot it at F 2.o, so the depth of field is a bit shallow and not very forgiving.......

Side point: I wonder why Yoshi moves both her arms up and over her front with her claws out like that? Is she attacking? Double-sideways high 5's? Whatever it is, I think turtles would look more vicious if they opened their mouth while in attack mode. But since they always have a dopey, closed mouth and half closed-eye look, it's hard to take them too seriously....

Day 11: Yoshi the Turtle

As my previous pic mentioned, my wife loves pets. This was a rescue turtle my wife adopted from my little sister. We renamed him Yoshi, although we're pretty sure it's a girl, as her nails are not long or sharp enough to be a male red eared slider turtle. I took a picture of him just as I was leaving the house. I knew today would be a really limited day to take pictures. I think I only really took two shots today, including this one. Not a great shot of Yoshi. Before I took it, she had her arms and legs and head stretched out, but as soon as I approached, she shrunk back into her shell like a turtle....... but this is my shot of the day.... too tired to run around the house and try and get a better shot. I've got work tomorrow, so I should have more opportunity to get something more interesting than a turtle in a tank.......

Day 4: Koko is not my friend!!

I don't hate animals, nor do I hate pets, but I don't like it when wildlife invades my private home space, invited or not. Unfortunately, my wife loves pets, so we 3 birds, a turtle, and a cat. Koko is 13 years old this year, and basically, she's a home cat. She spends most of her time indoors. I caught her hanging out under my wife's piano, so i grabbed my camera and took a low angle shot. In fact, you can see my reflection in the piano to Koko's left......