Category Archives: McKinley

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Lucy, Australopithecus Afarensis

11.16.2009 –

I have sequestered myself in my dad’s mountain cabin with the stated reason of working on my thesis proposal and the secret reason of meeting his new puppy, Lucy (aptly named for Australopithecus afarensis).  She’s a Sheepadoodle (Old English Sheepdog + Standard Poodle = Sheep-a-doodle, apparently).  She smells awfully good, and is that floppy kind of puppy that will let you hold her any way you want, including upside down on her back or over your shoulder, sack-of-potatoes style.  Roux hasn’t been bowled over by the cuteness the way I have and does anything in her power to escape Lucy’s adoring affections.  She is not above hiding and seems to think–despite evidence to the contrary–that she can’t be seen from this secret spot on the stairs in between the house plants:

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Little Lucy:

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Back to client posting when I arrive back in civilization later this week…

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Road Tripping

08.18.2009 –

Ok, so the posting while I was on the road trip thing?  Didn’t happen.  I forgot my memory card reader, which meant I couldn’t have posted any photos, so it seemed logical to just wait and post everything after the fact.  I never did make it to the ocean (next time), but did do some exploring in Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska and New Mexico.  Roux was a lovely little traveler and took the long hours in the car and evenings in random motels exceptionally well.  Kinley, not so much.  I soon learned to expect her to devour something every time I left her in the car.  By the end of the trip Kinley’s lists of conquests included, among other things: one egg salad sandwich, one beef jerky wrapper, an entire bag of dog treats, half a bag of dog food and, most notably, half of the road atlas.  I suppose instead of succumbing to frustration regarding that particular detail I should consider myself lucky that she managed to leave almost every state I actually needed intact, with the exception of Nebraska, and even then she left me the relevant quarter of the state.  States I will not be driving to anytime soon include North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio and much of the Eastern seaboard.

For now, to tide you over, here’s a peaceful shot of the plains in South Dakota:

sdakota

More photos of the trip to follow soon, as well as lots of client shoots.

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Saturday

05.31.2009 –

This was my last weekend at home before The Big Trip.  Number one on my list was spending quality time with Alex + the dogs.  Saturday we went to the mountains to do a little skiing.  I know, it’s June.  Which means that most of us are thinking about flip flops and grilling on the deck.  Not Alex.  I swear, he would ski 365 days a year if he could iron out a few details (like, say, income).  I’m sure some of you also find it odd that there is even snow to be had, which is a reasonable assumption, because there really isn’t much.  But there is enough.

The dogs L-O-V-E-D it.  We are dogsitting Jemma, Kinley’s sister, so the chaos factor was at least one third higher than normal.  Having three dogs around makes me feel like I am cohabiting with a legitimate dog pack.  It may only be one additional dog, but it means that we are now outnumbered by canines.  I kind of like it.

The view from Berthoud Pass:

berthoud-199The definite downside to backcountry skiing is that there is no lift to take you swiftly to the top.  As a result you spend 99.9% of your time hiking your ass up the hill, and .1% of your time actually skiing down.

Alex + dogs on the way up:

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I love Roux’s exuberant little hop in this one:

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Kinley + Roux stand guard while Alex works on building a ski jump:

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Our friend, Eric, spending some quality time with Jemma.  For Eric, quality time involves balancing a pine cone on her head, which I think is a perfectly acceptable way to bond with a dog.

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Alex’s obsession with skiing rivals my obsession with photographing dogs, that’s how serious it is.  Every time he drags himself out of bed at 3am on a Sunday morning to catch the good snow I feel confident that I’ve chosen a better pastime.  But I have to say, this is pretty bad ass.  I tell ya what, that guy can ski.

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After a few hours of keeping up with people on skis in belly-deep snow the dogs were tuckered out.  Jemma makes it clear that she prefers to be wrapped up in something warm and cozy.  Heaven forbid the towel should fall off of her; if that happens, she looks forlorn  until we realize she’s suffering and wrap her back up.

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And Kinley was too tired even to play with a brand new tennis ball.

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Yeah, it was a good day.

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Ian Dunbar at Ted

05.22.2009 –

I’m a little slammed with stuff right now, so I’m going to take this opportunity to post a video I’ve been meaning to post for a couple months.

For obvious reasons I’m extremely interested in canine behavior and training and am constantly amazed by how much there is to learn about and from our four legged friends.  This Ted talk (if you haven’t spent time checking out the other talks on Ted, next time you have some spare time do a little exploring; you’ll find some amazing stuff) by Ian Dunbar hits the nail on the head regarding so many major points here.

I really believe every one of us–even those of us who spend a huge majority of our time campaigning for and spending time with dogs–should take a few minutes every day to think about how their behavior is affecting our dogs, and what our dogs are really trying to say.  Their language is pretty amazing.  Even more amazing, perhaps, is their endless patience with trying to learn ours.

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At Sunrise

05.21.2009 –

As most of you already know, I’m finishing up my first year of graduate school in a program called Digital Media studies.  I went into it because I have a penchant for design, but the deeper I get into the program, the more I love it for reasons almost entirely unrelated to design (although that’s part of it, too).  Basically it provides you a base level knowledge of interactive technologies and allows you to pursue any interest using those technologies.  Finals are coming up for the quarter and I am working on an interactive installation that is based entirely on canine/human interactions.  It’s beyond cool to be studying canine behavior for school.  Anyhow, as a part of this installation I’ve been collecting dog video at sunrise.  Getting up at 5am is so sucky right at first, and I know that’s sort of a dip in my vocabulary, but there is no better word.  It’s just plain sucky.  But once you get up there and are greeted with a sight like this, it is so worth it.

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Lauren and Waldo are in town this week, so I dragged them up for the sunrise photo/video session.  Waldo and Kinley are completely infatuated with each other.  Just three months apart, they are both play-obsessed puppies and have been wearing each other into the ground most every day.  Every now and again Roux will participate, mostly to remind everyone that she is El Jefe.

kindandwald

morning-sunrise-ii-093Happy dogs make me happy.

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