A Smidge Of Food Porn

I don't spend a whole lot of time in the frozen food aisle. Pretty much because I don't eat a lot of frozen food. There are 2 frozen items I get at Trader Joe's.

Brown rice and ziti, if you're keeping track.

I usually grab those and go. I decided last trip to poke around a bit more.

It was much to my surprise and delight to find that they sell aebleskivers at Trader Joe's!

Why did no one tell me?!?

A surprising number of Californians have had them thanks to the little town of Solvang

I grew up with them thanks to my Danish father.

A little sprinkle of sugar and some strawberries that can only be described as ridiculously good and I'm set breakfast-lunch-dinner until they are gone.

However annoying I find Rachel Ray, it has to be said...

Yummo!

Why Are They So Interesting?

Lots of stalkers at the park this weekend.

Bella was a little concerned about her chubby little friend. Nice little dog. Her concern was the noises it was making. I mean, the squishy-faced dogs can make weird noises when they are of a healthy weight. Obese ones can make really weird noises.

What the…?

Is the Snausage still behind me?

(Isn’t it funny how the Pug looks damn-near the same whether in focus or not? Haha!)

Miss Kate was totally unperturbed by her noisy little friend

All small dogs that stand behind Kate are referred to as “speed bumps.”

Large ones, “brick walls.”

Which is why I have no photos of Kate with the Shepherd. The dog respected Bella’s polite request to leave her alone. I love these shots. Well, photographically not great, just telling. Note that Bella's head is turned toward the dog, acknowledging it. However, she is physically leaning away and her eyes are averted. This got the message across.

I ain't buying what you're selling.

Kate’s? No so much. There was much “come here, lie down, and leave that dog alone before it kicks your ass!” She has zero tolerance for dogs over 40 lbs pestering her. I understand her frustration, but her means of communicating that frustration can be interpreted as “hey, why don’t you kick my ass?!” Not good for anyone.

And there was this cute little schnauzer who was captivated by Bella.

He was following her like a little kid with a crush. Really wanting a moment of her time. I had a cute photo of it….sort of…..you can see his shadow and ears…

Damn it Kate!

Moments Of Boredom

There are those times when I stop to fuss with the camera. Lighting changed. Lens change. What have you.

I always take a few shots of one of the dogs to see where I’m at settings-wise. It’s usually Kate because Bella is too close.

Her face in these always cracks me up. So ho-hum. No posing, no waiting for the ball to be thrown. Just the nothingness in the lull in the action.

She looks like she’s behind the guy at the store with 15 items in the 12 or under line.


Of course, she would never speak up.

No, no.

Kate would go the passive-aggressing route.

Lots of stink eye


And loud deep sighs


Damn, he’s getting stamps, too?! Ugh.

OMG, Is That The Sun?!

Not completely sunny, but we’ll take it!

We finally got a little break in the weather. Seems like it’s been raining for about 4 months. Maybe only 2 weeks, but who’s counting? The rain doesn’t dampen (no pun intended) our normal ball chasing routine, but it certainly does dampen the camera activity. We got to go to our favorite Secret Dog Park today. Camera included.

Much happiness ensued.


Smiley bitches!


Maybe a bit too smiley? Smiley leaning toward cray-cray?


Man, so nice to be outside without an umbrella or a ridiculous amount of layers on


Belly even stayed smiley with a Kate up her ass


She spent a lot of time watching a guy play catch with his daughter. You could see the wheels turning.


She totally couldn’t understand why someone would be throwing something without a dog to bring it back.


She thought they needed her assistance.

Weren’t doing it right.

She’s a love…


But she can be a bit judgmental

:-)

Best Lure Coursing Face Ever

That's Kate in a Setter Suit

HAHA!

And just 'cause I *heart* her....

Best regular ol' kinda face ever

Move Along, Nothin' To See Here

Almost quite literally nothing to see.

I promised myself after my last ridiculously long photography/blogging break that I would make an effort to fit it in since it is something I actually enjoy.

You may have noticed that I failed miserably.

I suppose having too much work is better than the alternative, but dayum! Lots of work at work. Lots of side job work, which means I get to stare at a computer at home as well as at work.

Mama needs a break! :-)

Bella has been doing well.

That is to say no more teeth have fallen out of her face.


The vet suggested that we do a baseline old-lady work-up on her when we were there for the tooth. Everything came back great – solidly mid-normal ranges on everything. Well, everything except her creatinine level. High-normal at 1.6. It was suggested to me that I put her on a low protein food. You know, that prescription diet for kidneys that you can only buy at the vet that has NO MEAT IN IT AT ALL? All grain with some pork fat thrown in to get the dogs to eat it. That bag of corn that costs $75.00?

Seriously? WTF?

OK, if your dog is in serious end-term kidney failure, go ahead and go low protein. Why would you put a very active, very healthy dog who has no symptoms at all and is still actually in the normal range on this food?! If this is to be a true baseline, shouldn’t we make no changes at all and re-test in 4-6 months to see where we are at? What if high-normal is just normal for her?

Argh!

The old-lady bit came up because she turned 8 at the end of last month. Flaked on that, too. Sorry, Belly. No party, no post, no nothing. You can have a cake when you’re 10.


On top of work, work, work, we have been trailing, trailing, trailing.

Mid Feb to Mid April is just non-stop. Fun, but no free weekends, either.

Bella has been pretty normal. I seem to be ironing out my weave weirdness and she is responding by actually doing them. Funny how that works.

Kate has been great. Last weekend she had her first-ever full day. 5 runs in CPE. Handled it like a champ. All Q’s!

Her head has swollen so much that she no longer fits in frame


I still have a hard time trusting her. I really have to regularly remind myself to run her like I do at home. No baby-sitting, no waiting, keep moving. And forchristsake, don’t fuck up her weaves like you did with Bella.

Just a game, just a game.

No game. Serious agility face


You know how it can be hard to transition to trailing? More tense environment for you and the dog, no food, no toys, etc? I have come to the conclusion that the transition is not that hard on the dogs. I think those things are more crutches for us than they are for them - the privacy, the treats, the toys.

You know that whole 'sing like no one is listening, dance like no one is watching' thing?

We need an agility one...

Run like you have liver in your pocket and a tug in your belt loop!