Sketchbook profile

For Member Mondays, I composed this dog biography.

Joe Coelho grew up in a dog-crazy family on a farm in California, where his mother was a poodle breeder and all-breed groomer.  Stacey Nicholas grew up in an animal-loving family in rural Indiana, with a variety of mixed breed dogs in the house.

Joe and Stacey had hunting dogs for some years, including a Britany mix, a Golden Retriever and a Standard Poodle. One day, after the last of these had died and we had been dogless for several months, Stacey found a lost Miniature Schnauzer.  The owners reclaimed it, but we were smitten with the breed, and soon obtained a puppy from a “rescue”.  Gretchen is a typical mini: high energy, lots of prey drive, and very affectionate.  A couple of years later Stacey became aware of a black Giant Schnauzer in need of rehoming.  100-lb Big Guy joined us and soon became our soulpet. More years went by and we started thinking that we needed a Standard Schnauzer to complete the trifecta. About that time, Big Guy died of lymphoma and left us heartbroken.  Shammy Johnson connected us with Liz and we all went down to Columbia.  Liz showed us a pair of nearly 1-year-old females, and we took them both (Shammy got a Picard, but that’s her story to tell).  

The standards were full of energy and spent many hours running and playing in the  back yard.  We called them the Sisters of Chaos.  Indigo (Sketchbook Wheel of Fortune CGCA CGCU TKN) is the black sister, and as adorable as they come.  She has the friendliest temperament of all our dogs and doesn’t know a stranger.  She passed the canine good citizen tests (CGC,  CGCA and CGCU)  and is registered with Therapy Dogs International.  She makes a monthly visit to our local nursing home, and sometimes serves as a model for Joe’s presentations.  Last year, while Joe was giving a talk on dog anatomy, a student walked in and said, “Oh, my God, that is the cutest dog I’ve ever seen in my life!”  Don’t let her sweet disposition fool you, however.  She is known to give love bites, especially in the morning when trying to get Joe out of bed.  If she is really enamored with a new person, she will sneak up and bite them on the rear.  Hence, one of her nicknames is “Butt Biter.”  She is also a stone cold killer. Blessed with a strong prey drive, she has vanquished a number of mice and moles, as well as putting the finishing bite on a few squirrels. She does well in barn hunt practice, but we haven’t made it to a competition yet. She is smart, but resistant to obeying commands. In spite of this stubbornness, she has passed the Novice Tricks test. Among all our dogs, Indigo tolerates wearing clothing the best, and she and Joe have won best costume at the kennel club Halloween party two years running.

Isabel (Sketchbook Who Wants 2B a Millionaire CGCU NAJ TKP) is the pepper/salt sister.  Just watching her run, we could tell she was physically gifted. Her solution to nearly any problem is to jump.  High.  The first time our physicist friend saw her, he said, “What a powerfully built dog!”  We started training her for agility, which led to our joining the Quincy Kennel Club. We added a tricks class to her schedule and found that Isabel is not only smart, but very biddable.  She will do just about anything we ask of her.  She progressed through the AKC trick titles to Advanced Trick Performer and we are working on the Elite title.  She has given 17 public performances to date. Her routine includes lots of jumping tricks, but also scenting and floor work such as leg weaves. Yes, she performs while wearing a red cape! She knows so many tricks that we can’t squeeze them all into a performance.  Isabel has titles in three different areas, which collectively qualify her as an AKC Achiever Dog. Fun fact: Joe’s greying goatee sufficiently resembles Isabel’s beard that they once won an owner/dog look-alike contest.

Joe and Stacey live on a farmlet in Lewis County, Missouri.  Like Liz, they have chickens.  Their current pack features one Miniature Schnauzer (Gretchen), three Standard Schnauzers (Isabel, Indigo and Luna), and two Giant Schnauzers (Miss Kitty and Delta). Through the good people on the Sketchbook team we began volunteering with Boxer/Schnauzer Rescue of the Ozarks a few years ago.  We have fostered about 20 dogs, including the recently adopted 3-legged wonder, Miles (a mini). Stacey is Coordinator of Community Outreach Initiatives at Douglass Community Services.  Joe is a Professor of Biology at Quincy University.

Rather than upload a ton of photos to FB, here’s a link to a variety of images of Isabel and Indigo: https://photos.app.goo.gl/p46d2aaMGxGwqiiS6

Canton Camera Club Kayaks the Salt River

Canton Camera Club Kayaks the Salt River

Five members of the Canton Camera Club recently took to their kayaks, hoping to capture some fall colors along the Salt River.  Though the lack of rain slowed their progress and muted the colors somewhat, they still enjoyed a fun-filled outing.

Members enjoying the trip included Club President Bob Benton, Jamie Bowles, Joe Coelho, and Jim & Marcia Lewellen.  Jim grew up in the area, knew its history and lore, and that made the trip special as he regaled the group with stories of a plane crash, water skiing in corn fields during floods and Indian paintings on the cliffs.  They put their kayaks in the stream at the Spillway Recreation Area, just below the Clarence Cannon Dam which forms Mark Twain Reservoir.  The flow on the Salt depends on how much water the Army Corps of Engineers is letting out of the dam.  This day the flow was low, which would make for almost no current.   The lack of current resulted in halving the speed of travel as compared to two months ago when the water was up considerably.  The upside was that exposed banks and gravel bars provided a break for legs, backs and rear ends.  It was a sunny, cool day, but the wind was against them almost all the time.  

Fishermen in bass boats were patrolling the shores, as it appeared a bass tournament was underway.  Fishing was poor, as none of the bass fisherman were seen to catch any.  Coelho tried his hand at fishing and caught only a small white bass.

Birds seen included Bald eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Great Blue Heron, Common Coot, American Robin, Cedar Waxwing, Northern Flicker, Downy Woodpecker, Red-headed Woodpecker, several Pileated Woodpeckers, and many migrating Turkey Vultures. 

Jim knew that some Indian pictographs were located up on the bluffs, but the stream had changed over the years, making it difficult to determine the exact spot where the paintings were located.  He stopped at the site where he believed them to be.  Coelho made the steep hike up and along the cliffs, but found no obvious paintings.  

The stream was very scenic, having very few signs of human use. Otherwise, it was heavily tree-covered, and beautiful.  There are a few cabins on the banks and bluffs.  The fall colors were not the most vibrant, perhaps because of the dry fall.  However, plenty of scenic photos were taken and the group had an excellent time.  They completed the 7 mile stretch in 5 hours, and enjoyed a hearty dinner at the Rustic Oak afterward.  Information about the club can be found at CantonCameraClub.info.