Learning.

That's one of the things I like about photography. It's a learning process. I took the things I've learned in the past year, and took this picture at Moraine Lake.



I took this picture while I had the dog, who was trying to run away, tied to my belt. I needed to do about five more things to make this picture perfect, but I am happy with how it turned out. I do plan to go back again when the lake is fuller and do it properly, with the right light. But just in case I don't make it back this year, I can live with the shot until next year.

Here is another with my rotten kids in the shot:



They were much more interested in building rock towers than soaking in the gorgeous scenery. Boys.

We went branding again.

But this time Jake got really stick and had to stay home with his Dad. So Danny and I went by ourselves. I think Danny was lost without having his older brother to shadow, so he was miserable. I didn't take as many pictures as I normally do, but I did get a few.

The picture a couple posts down, of the pumpjack in the sunset was taken on the way there. Driving in the car. Don't tell on me. It is Saskatchewan, it's a pretty straight and flat road.

Here's my uncle, all vintaged out in photoshop:


Here it is in color:


Here is a horse that I fell in love with. Beautiful animal. I have a love/scared thing with horses. I love them so much, I love to ride them, but I am terrified of them. I've been bucked off a few horses in my day, and it left a lasting mental impression. But then I look at a horse like this one, and I just want to pet them and ride them and be scared. I'm weird like that.





Here are my cousins, hard at work. These girls are pretty much the opposite of me when it comes to horses. Well semi-opposite. There's no fear here.





Here's my uncle again, it's not hard to tell who is running this show, is it?



And finally, Danny with his Jacob substitute for the weekend. He loved this little guy.



And that is that. I'll be back with the mountains. From one extreme to the next, eh?

And now he is six.

I don't know why this birthday seems like such a big one. Six. 1/3 of the way to 18. I asked him if he is going to be too big to hug and kiss me now, and he says "I'll never be too big to hug and kiss you Mom, even when I am a teenager". I love this kid so much it feels like someone is squeezing my heart when I think about it too much. He is an awesome, awesome kid. Here he is, growing up:















Every night I thank my lucky stars that he is my son. He is wise beyond his years, empathetic, and caring. He always knows the right thing to say at the right time. His intelligence astounds me, as does his athletic ability. My only athletic ability is to fall right on my ass, so it continually amazes me that something that come from me is such a natural athlete. He hasn't met a sport he doesn't like. From curling to golf to hockey, he is all about it. Thank you Jacob, for teaching me so much these past six years, I only hope that I have been half the mom to you, as the son you've been to me. I love you buddy.

Buh Bye Wrinkled Balls!!

Here's some new shots, so as to get the rotten apples off the top of the blog. I'm too tired for my regular witty commentary (*cough*) so it's just pictures tonight.

Drunken birds.

At least that is what I'm going to tell myself. These birds were eating rotten apples from my neighbours tree. They are called cedar waxwings, and are Jake's very favorite bird in all the land. So I grabbed my camera and snuck into the back yard to take some pictures for him.



I'd take a picture, then sneak a step or two closer, then take another picture. Normally these birds are pretty skittish, but they weren't all taking off. One or two would fly away, but such is the nature of birds. I heard a thump occasionally, but I thought it was a rotten apple falling off the tree. Until I saw one of the birds crash into my neighbours full length window.



Then my neighbour came outside to see what was going on, so I hid my camera and snuck into the house. I'm hoping I didn't contribute to the kamikaze bird mission, and I really didn't want him to think I was. Then my Mom told my that the birds were probably all kooky from the fermented apples. I felt a little better, so here's hoping the kamikazes woke up with a hangover and a bit of a head ache.

A Whole Month

Wow, I feel neglectful. I wanted to use this blog mainly for pictures, and I figured I've probably posted enough of the new puppy and of Daniel screaming. And it's been too cold for pictures of anything else. I did get out and try, and as soon as I left the city limits, it was foggy. The fog had worked well before, but not this time. So I took a shot of the sunrise and then over processed it to death. But I kind of liked how it turned out.



Then I headed back into the big city, and went to the bird sanctuary. It was a little better there, but still cold. It's amazing the difference a few months will make. The ducks don't seem to mind, they were swimming in an open spot on the ice.



Then I saw a goose, sitting on a tree stump. I've never seen a goose "perched" before, so I got a shot. It was kind of blah as it was, so I converted it to black and white, which gave it some oomph.



And a hawk circling the river. I don't know if these guys are winter residents or not, but this is the first one I've seen all year.



Another thing I haven't seen out there is deer. Strange, because you'd think that they would be easier to see with all the bare branches and snow, but they aren't.

We got another 6-8 inches of snow over the weekend, so winter is still hanging on here. But soon the baby ducks will be out, the leaves will come back, and it will warm up. I've got plans to go back here



now that I have figured out my camera a little more, so stay tuned for that. I also did a little networking this weekend, and it looks like there is a possibilty for a couple of photo shoots this spring/summer, so we shall see.

Drizzama

We gots it. Let's see, a compilation of some of the crap that has happened in the last two months.

A car that was supposed to be sold in October is returned to us, with a blown head gasket and a door that was wrenched nearly off.
My darling husband gets not one, but two speeding tickets in the mail.
We get a letter in the mail that a vehicle that is registered to us has been impounded to the tune of at least $400.
Our garage gets crashed into by a car driven by the neighbors thirteen year old son. Both doors, the pillar that separates them, and both vehicles inside.
I wash my husband's blackberry.
Juno spends a day throwing up, and requires a trip to the vet.

So yeah, that has been my life in 2009. I am knocking on every piece of wood within reach that the world is not longer angry with us. I am pretty darn thankful that no one was hurt during the garage fiasco.

I am so ready for spring this year it is not even funny. It seems like this winter has been the coldest one in a long time. I can't wait to see some flowers and green grass, and take some freakin' pictures of something besides the kids and the puppy.

Speaking of the puppy, she is doing awesome. Aside from the sick day. I would say she is 99% housetrained, we've had one accident in the last week and a half. She goes into her super spazz mode and tries to do laps on the hardwood. It is hilarious. She is a lot of work, especially since she tries to eat everything she finds, but I am so glad that we got her.

I succame.

I couldn't resist the puppy fever any longer. So last Saturday, we went and picked up our baby girl.



I know that puppies are a ton of work. I literally spent two months reading every morsel of information on puppies I could find. I learned about almost every breed of dog, trying to find the right one for our family. We aren't really little dog people, so I had my heart set on a boxer when I first started dreaming of puppies. After riding the research train, I realized that two hours of exercise a day was more than I could give. So we nixed the boxer, and finally settled on a much smaller breed, (but not too too small) the boston terrier.

Of course, she's pretty small right now. When we brought her home she weighed about 5 pounds, or just less than half of what our cat weighs.

Speaking of the cat, that whole situation has gone a lot better than I thought it would. My cat is an asshole. To the point where if we have people over that the cat doesn't know, we have to put him behind closed doors. There is no doubt in my mind that he would attack someone that he didn't know, if they were foolish enough not to heed his hissing and growling warnings and try to pet him. So understandably I was a little worried about bringing our puppy home. There has been several barks, a few chases, and one hiss in a week and a half. I'd call that a success.

The house training has been going pretty well. I'd say we are averaging just under one accident a day, but she is figuring this out too. She's a kennel sleeper, and does really well in there. She sleeps all night long, whining for maybe 30 seconds before she settles in, and then whining for maybe 30 seconds once during the night.



She loves to play fetch. She leaps from the hardwood on to the tile as if there is a canyon between them. Her little ears flop as she runs, and it is so cute. She has been trying to fetch little people, so we've had to make sure that they are safely tucked into their drawers.


Really, I think that we lucked out. She is a pretty darn good puppy, as far as puppies go. Here's hoping she just gets better and better.

I need to pay more attention.

Every morning, Jake gets himself dressed and ready for school. It took us a lot of work to get him to be morning self sufficient. If you saw his reaction to us asking him to get dressed, you'd think we soaked his clothes in acid.

So now that he dresses himself with little to no complaining, I interfere as little as possible. Apparently to the point of not paying any attention at all. This morning, Jake put his jeans on backwards. I didn't notice. When I went to pick Jake up from school, his pants were still on backwards. I didn't notice. In my defense, he wears a longish winter jacket that covers where the pockets are on his jeans.

My kid wore backwards pants all day today, and I had no clue, until he was at home again. I quizzed him up on it, and he said no one said anything about it all day. I find that hard to believe. I am sure his teacher thinks I am certifiable, if she didn't already.

He will not speak to strangers.

Daniel does not talk to people that he doesn't know. Heck, he doesn't even talk to people he is aquainted with. You would never know that right now, as he plays and commentates every single move he makes. He is the king of questions. I just know that one day, it'll be a question from Danny that sends me plummeting over the edge. I'll be in a rubber room somewhere, going "Why? But why? How come?"

Jake, on the other hand, will talk to anyone, anywhere, anytime, and about anything. He is one of those kids that you have to worry about what might come out of his mouth. Like the time he told the Jehovah's Witnesses at the door that I was just in the bathroom poopin'. Real nice. Now that he is in kindergarten, I find myself wondering what he is filling his teacher's heads with.

In other news, I've got some terrible puppy fever. I want a puppy so bad that it hurts. I am still researching and soul searching to make sure that we are ready to take the plunge, but man. I really want a puppy.

And lastly, it is still freakin' winter. For at least three more months. BLECH!

Birthday Suits

It was Danny's third birthday at the end of December. For Christmas, the boys recieved these cute suits. I figured it would be a good idea for the boys to wear them to Danny's birthday party.

Danny is a very particular boy. He won't just wear anything, and has some clothes in his closet that he refuses to wear at all. So I thought that if there was any chance of him wearing the suit, he had to be acclimatized to it. So the day of his party, I hung his suit in the living room so he check it out.

It seems like whether or not he will wear something is inversly proportional to how badly I want him to wear it. I hyped up the suit. I told him it was a special birthday suit. I forced Jake to wear his, so Danny could see his big brother wearing it. Another thing about Danny is that he doesn't like attention. He hates to be told that he is cute. I think the wheels were turning, and he realized that wearing this special birthday suit was probably going to ensure some "Awwww....you are SO cute!" are going to come his way.

Danny didn't want to wear the suit. I finally coerced him into it, only by promising him that once we got to the party, he could change his clothes. He spent some time admiring himself in front of the mirror.

He agreed to some pictures. They were more cooperative than usual, but my keeper to tosser ratio was still very low. I did manage to get a few though. We finished up the picture taking at headed off to the party.

We get there, and Danny's grandma wants to take a picture of him in his suit. The shit hits the fan in Danny land. She manages to snap a picture of Danny in his suit sporting a very miserable face before he crumples to the floor in tears. We went and changed.

Why am I blessed with such head strong children?