Dog Number Two

I should mention that when I bring my camera downstairs in the morning one of my dogs goes absolutely nuts, dancing and whining as if I have a steak in my hands. There may be hot dogs or other dog treats used in these photos, and they may spend a lot of time staring up at me trying to convince me they're cute enough for a treat. My sister's dog Deuce.Dog Deuce Snowy

Snowy Dog

Finally some snow that stuck around. Christmas is over, so my rush of working is waning. My family that was visiting has all gone home, and I just got my house back to clean. Time for a new year to begin and for me to get out and photograph something other then the dogs.

Back from Break

I took a little break for my birthday and to tidy up the house and yard. All the tomato plants in the yard are out as blight finally took hold. The soaker hoses have been pulled, and I emptied all the water barrels yesterday. I re potted all my African violets and ended up with 10 extra plants. I have to try a third time for cuttings of most of the coleus, but a few have prospered. I re potted plenty of outside plants as well, and figured out what would spend the winter where. I've shuffled a few reptiles around, and started buying more fish for my one fish tank. I'm building up the groups again of the single fish I have left, some are 5 or 6 years old now.

Rolo

One of my cousin's dogs was accommodating over the weekend. Even with the slight blow out on the bottom I'm very happy with this picture. The dog was black, and the background wasn't that well lit, but my new camera handled it. The direct sun wasn't helping that much.

Happy Kitty

The windows are open, it's nice and warm, and someone is in the sun. All that makes for a happy cat.

Snowy Dog Print

Thursday and Friday we finally got some snow here in Southern MA.

Pushy Helper

This is my view of my design buddy, Max. If I just turn my head halfway I see a giant out of focus cockatiel. Then she chews on my eyeglass frames trying to get attention.

Non-Productive Design Help

Invariably if I'm working at the computer I get serenaded by shrieks if Max thinks I'm ignoring her. So out she comes, and then proceeds to wander all about the desk, trying to eat any paper and sometimes the desk itself. I've found it's hard to use a tablet with a cockatiel attached to the pen. Since her other hobbies include eating my shirt collar and seeing which wires taste best I seem to spend quite a bit of time chasing her around my desk. At least she's cute.

Getting Bigger

My kenyan sand boa is just hitting 12" long. I just dug around but didn't find any great size comparison pics for this guy. I either took pics of him sitting on a hand or on a bland white background. He doesn't like being out in the open and starts panicking if he can't feel structure around his body. That would be why even after 2 years I'm still hand feeding him. I can't put him in a separate container to feed as he ignores the food in favor of trying to escape. In his cage he can drag the food into his sand which I don't want him eating. He loves burrowing so i don't want to put him on a packed substrate, so wrapping him around my fingers and steering him toward food is the current way. At least he is a very calm snake and takes handling quite well.

Rainbow Dog

I've been reworking my window shades and cleaning my bedroom. I found my sun catcher crystals, and now there are tiny rainbows all over my bedroom all morning. I also partially dismantled my desk and reworked it. I'm still not completely happy but the goofy monitor stand part is gone.

Content Kitty

My silly cat's nose is quite close to healing finally, so I expect her to bash it on something any day now.

Deuce

My sister's dog in the snow.

Toka Snow

She looks so serious because I had hot dogs in my pockets. Frankly, I'm lucky she isn't drooling.

Sand Boa equals Pet Rock

last week I scrubbed critter cages and did some shuffling. The Kenyan sand boa got some new sand and some slightly shuffled rocks. I liken this snake to owning a pet rock. Any time I look into the cage I might spot a tiny little bump in the sand barely 1/4" long. That would be his nose. He stays buried 95% of the time. I even have to dig him out to feed him. He's only a foot long and about 2/3rd adult size if he is a male. Females might hit two feet. He's clumsy and nervous out of his cage and makes me wonder how his kin survive in the wild. He's totally a snake to get if you want a snake who stays small is laid back and survives well in captivity. He's not a snake to get if you want an active showy pet. He does do a perfect rock impression however.

Kitty

A few days ago the mini-blind in my bedroom fell for the last time. Every few weeks it falls out of its hangers because I pull it up once a day and drop it down at night. The far hanger slowly works open and then bang it pummels my plants. This time it broke up a plant I've been waiting years to get to bloom again. I may have dented the wall when i threw the blind. Now it's in a messy pile under my bureau and I'm not re hanging it. I'm playing with alternatives, but for now just hang fabric over the existing curtain rod and pull it off during the day. This has made my bedroom nice and bright in the morning, and the sun worshiping cat quite content.

Sleeping Snake

While it's hard to tell this is a sleeping corn snake. Char is quite happy with his new larger cage and uses the entire space. I still need to seal the edges and drill some holes to attach his branches to the sides and back so he can really climb. He no longer looks too big for his cage.

I re homed a rescue ball python a few weeks ago and her new owners were amazed by Char's size. They'd seen the baby corn snakes at the store and found it hard to believe my 4 1/2 foot pet was the same species. As I always told people back when I worked at a pet store. Always consider the adult size of your pet. Corn Snakes get up to 6 feet long. They average 12"-14" in a pet store as babies. If you don't want a potentially 6 foot long snake, pick a different species.

Cat Bed

I'm on a little reorganization kick. My goal is removing clutter and adding space to my house. Getting things into drawers or cabinets so I don't have to dust is an extra goal. I moved my bed and finally have space in my bedroom for my bed, two dog beds and a cat bed without tripping all over them. The cat bed is actually stuck inside my nightstand. The nightstand had two drawers but the bottom one was useless (read full of junk), so I removed it and the drawer slide and put the cat bed in there. She seems quite happy about the arrangement. When spring rolls around I'm going to take it outside and alter it with both a paint job and some structural changes to the top (glue on cork). Next up is reworking my desk so I actually have a work surface, storage and my computer will be a bit better protected from dust, dirt and dog hair.

I lied

I did go outside, but didn't bring a camera. That leaves you with more reptile pictures. Here's my bitey crested gecko who recently got downgraded to a 10 gallon tank due to space constraints in the room. On a positive note, I just passed 40,000 words.

NaNoWriMo Word Count:

40026 / 50000
(80.05%)

Crested Gecko

She set herself up so nicely. Too bad I didn't have the better flash on hand. The in camera flash sets off pre-flashes which get crested gecko eyes down to slits.

NaNoWriMo Word Count:

32044 / 50000
(64.09%)

It's a Dog Week

I'm busy writing, so here's my mother's dog, who is no where near as old as this picture makes her look. She's the youngest of the bunch. I won't post my sister's dog, the few of her in focus came out looking a little evil, sorry Deuce.

NaNoWriMo Word Count:

30034 / 50000
(60.07%)