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This or That

Random Travel Image

I used to think it would be cool to have a job that requires travel.  Not travel every now and then like I do, but travel a few times a month.

It always looked sort of glamorous to me, seeing the well-traveled professional people scurrying through the airport with their smart little wheeled bag. Notice I said BAG singular. Seasoned professionals never drag more than one bag along.

They always looked so on-the-ball. So focused.

Things are rarely as they appear. That’s one of those lessons you learn as you make your way through life.

I didn’t travel far very often when I was younger. I think I was sixteen before I even flew anywhere.

One of my girlfriends moved from Baltimore to a city near Seattle, Washington. She’d fly back occasionally for visits. I accompanied her and her grandfather to the airport a couple of times when she left to fly back. I remember watching the folks working on the tarmac — baggage handlers, plane pushers, guys with flashlights waving planes in, etc. — and thinking  those would be great jobs. I never considered the fact that they have to be outside in all kinds of weather. And the noise. Yikes.

My family didn’t have money for fancy vacations when I was growing up, but we did a lot of camping. Not roughing-it camping in the wilderness with tents and stuff. Camping in a travel trailer, usually surrounded by family. Which was cool. We got to spend time with and know some of our family members way more than others. We usually went to Pennsylvania (with Dad’s family) or West Virginia (with Mom’s family). Occasionally we went to different places, like Cherrystone, Virginia. Once, when I was nine, we even went and camped at Walt Disney World.

It make not have been exotic travel, but it was fun. I have lots of fond camping memories from my childhood. Something else I remember are the many people around us (not just one or two) who thought we traveled A LOT. Many of these people had never been out of the state of Maryland. Some had barely left the city of Baltimore.

Can you imagine? Mobility is definitely something we take for granted. I know I do. I mean, if I want to go somewhere, I go.

Speaking of going… Hubby and I go to the WV place most weekends. Not every weekend, but often. Especially if we’ve got something going on (like the kitchen remodel thing). Our three dogs LOVE the WV place. They love being able to run around and play and chase critters. K especially loves the mice.

One would think word would spread through the mouse community that a killer was afoot. I’ve lost count of how many rodents she and her faithful sidekick, Belle, have killed.

Mice in the Block Pile

It’s not just mice. It’s all rodents. Squirrels, voles, and moles are fair game, too.

Something is Under There

There’s something living under this log at the end of our driveway. Even Meg stops to check periodically. But these two? They stop to check every single time.

Tree Cavity Search

I thought for sure K was going to get her head stuck in that tree cavity. She didn’t, fortunately. They didn’t find anything in there either.

Rodent Alert

This is a pretty common sight. K is obsessed. Belle is a follower. Until K came along, she never acted all that interested in rodents. Except for that big groundhog. But that’s a whole ‘nother story.

You can’t understand the degree of K’s obsession until you see and hear her in action. She’s our vocal dog, remember. This video is the perfect example of the hunters in action. You can thank K for the soundtrack.

Doesn’t she sound pathetic?

Imagine what K would do if she saw this…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C48BTtAVsK0

Yes, it’s a bit stupid, but it’s one of my favorite commercials.

Are any of your dogs or cats this obsessed with chasing critters?

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Drama at the DBOC

Having three dogs really is like having three kids. Especially when it comes to sharing stuff like Mama, beds, toys, etc.

There’s one bed in particular that Meg really loves. The other two like it, too, but Meg LOVES it. Sometimes I think the other two just want to use it so Meg, aka the grumpy old lady, can’t have it.

Seeing the goofy positions they all end up in periodically cracks me up. That’s one of the reasons I always have a camera in my office, which is where the dog bed of choice (DBOC) is located.

Hopefully, you’ll find this equally entertaining.

If you don’t have time for the whole thing, fast forward to the 2:00 mark to see the goofy young ones do something that is really quite unique.

There’s music, but whether it’ll play for you remains to be seen. You may need to click on the video to watch it on the YouTube site.

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Let it Snow

Folks who follow my photography will have seen some of these shots, but I couldn’t resist posting them and a few others here. (It was early, so the lighting isn’t great.)

As with kids, it makes me happy just watching my dogs play. They absolutely LOVE the snow.

Meg making snow angels.
K and Belle doing their usual wrastlin' thing.

This “wrastlin’ thing” I mention? This is not an outdoors-only sport. These two nuts do this indoors quite often. My boss heard them recently and said it sounded like they were trying to kill each other. It sort of looks like that, too, right? That’s how they play. And they love it.

Speaking of loving it… catching snowballs is one of Meg’s favorite pasttimes. Throwing them too her and capturing this shot was not an easy feat. There was a little luck involved. Okay, maybe a lot of luck.

Meg enjoying her favorite snow activity... catching snowballs!

After a bit, I just stood back and watched them chase each other around the yard.

All three of them chasing each other with the old girl in the lead!
Run, Meg, run!
They were snarling, growling, and barking the whole way.
Meg was getting annoyed. The younguns get a bit too wound up sometimes.
Here she was hollering, "Calm down you idiots!"
They just ignored her, wrastling circles around her while she continued to bark.

Here’s a video from last year that shows them “talking” to each other. You might want to make sure your volume isn’t too high.

At the very last minute, I decided to include my all-time favorite snow dog video.

Do your dogs like the snow as much as mine do?

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Ephemera

This weekend, for the most part, was uneventful. We went to the WV place, but it was cold all weekend. The dogs and I did go outside, but everything is brown. So I didn’t have much to photograph.

I did take a few pics, which I’ll share later. But first, I wanted to explain my title. In case you were wondering.

You were wondering, right? Did that awesome image at least pique your interest?

That image is directly related to my title.

It is just one of many, many FREE clipart images shared by The Graphics Fairy, aka Karen, a woman who collects vintage paper and uses it to create interesting clipart. She then shares it for free with the big ole blog world. Cool, eh?

Some of it is a bit too flowery for me. And some of it is quite strange. Like that sledding picture. But that’s what makes it interesting, right?

There’s a Search Page on her site to help you find stuff. If you go to that page, click on the word that describes the category of interest, not the little thumbnail.

“Ephemera” is one of her image categories.

I first heard that word when I discovered the company, Ephemera, Inc. My guess is you’ve probably seen some of their products at least once. They sell buttons, refrigerator magnets, mouse pads, you name it, with funny slogans on them.

That mouse pad image on the right is only one of their many products.

I guess I should warn you that their merchandise isn’t exactly PC.

But it’s fun. At least, I think it’s fun. And this is my space so I’m allowed to say so, right?

Can you tell I’m sort of grasping for material here?

Oh wait, I do have something new to talk about.

Can you guess what this is? It’s quite colorful, isn’t it?

Colorful Mystery Object

I could be mean and NOT tell you. I could just wait and see how many people leave comments guessing. But I’ll just be nice and show you…

"Thanks, Mama."

I FINALLY got around to making K a new bed for the WV place. The first one I made, over a year ago, is too skinny. This one is actually a bit too square. I didn’t put a whole lot of thought into its design.

Meg hogging the bed.

All of the dogs seem to like it, so I must have done something right.

Before I stop for the day, I will offer a bit of a cliffhanger. I took this next picture yesterday right before we left the WV place.

What's happening?

It’s the beginning stage of Hubby’s latest project. That Hubby of mine can really be a busy little bee. More to follow on that one. One of these days…

Don't Forget Your Free Graphics
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Cold January Weekend

Our first visit to the WV place in 2011 has been a cold one. Thank goodness for reliable electricity and propane gas delivery. Not to mention the heating system, designed and implemented by Hubby, that really works. I don’t think it got out of the 20s yesterday.

Friday night into Saturday morning we got a couple inches of snow, too. Which is always a plus for me.

Other than that, it’s been a relatively uneventful weekend. The girls are happy as can be, of course. This is their favorite place in the whole world. That excitement is a little less than thrilling when they insist on dragging me out of bed at 6:00 AM. But that left me plenty of time to wake up, don sufficient outerwear, and get out to enjoy a pretty sunrise in the woods.

We’re not on top of a mountain or anything so we don’t get to see the classic sunrise/sunsets over the horizon, but I still enjoy seeing the colors paint the sky.

Pretty, isn’t it?

If you’re wondering where K was, she was back at the house. We’re starting to think she’s part cat. I have never seen a dog so obsessed with catching rodents.

That’s where K spent a good, solid four hours on Saturday. She never did catch anything, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.

These next two shots are from a bit later in the day.

Even with just an inch or two of snow, it’s still a pretty Winter scene. And yes, it was as cold as it looks.

Our little house in Winter. Not bad for a DIY house, is it? If you don’t know the story behind the building of the WV place, click on that link image in the left sidebar that says “The House We Built Ourselves.”

Hubby’s outside strapping the motorcycles into the trailer. We’re taking them back to Maryland. 🙂

More on the why behind that one later…