Easter gave us a 4-day weekend. Racin came over and we spent some time on photography and getting my old boat out of mothballs. The weather was nice and the dogs stayed outside a lot. Savannah came over for Easter lunch and brought her German Shepherd puppy Max. Isabel played with him very nicely after a brief re-acquaintance period.
We'd been having problems with the oven. It would not turn off unless we unplugged it, so Stacey took the Easter food down to the at-that-time vacant Jamison apartment to cook. She needed the stovetop at home so I plugged in the range before Racin and I went out for a photo expedition. She called as we were returning. Apparently, the oven had turned on as soon as I'd plugged it in, filling the house with smoke. We ventilated the house and unplugged it again. Replacing the circuit board later fixed it.
We had a nice weekend camping at Wakonda State Park for our anniversary. We got into the upper campground this time, which has big camp sites right on the water. The fishing wasn't that great, but all the dogs got swimming lessons. The Sisters of Chaos did very well, swimming out into the shallows for treats. Gretchen did her usual act of attacking the lake, and Miss Kitty refused to get in. All but Kitty also got kayak rides, which they apparently enjoyed.
I went fishing out at Lowell's mostly to collect enough fish to stock my future pond. The bite was red hot, with the crappie and bluegill hitting hard on plastic grubs. I called Racin to come out and join us. We put about 20 bluegills and 10 bass in my pond, while Lowell kept the crappie for a future fish fry. We returned two days later and the bite was still good. We were using live bait, and some of the bluegills were deeply hooked and had to be filleted. Lowell feeds the fish in this pond, mostly for the catfish, but the bluegills also benefit, and have grown quite large.
I went morel hunting three or four times out at Lowell's, and visited the spots that had produced really well in the past. I came up empty every time, except for one false morel that I left right there. I want to train one of the dogs to hunt mushrooms, but I needed a mushroom to train her with. Fortunately, one of my students obtained several and gave me one. Lessons have commenced. I've never trained a dog to scent before, so this should be an adventure. Too bad I have to wait a year to try her out. I have been training Isabel to jump for awhile. I had Racin shoot some photos as I had her jumping outside. She sure is nimble.
We had a Dog Day at QU, with area law enforcement agencies bringing their K9 units to demonstrate drug sniffing, article search, and bitework. I love that word: bitework. The guy in the bite suit was a big dude, but the dogs still got to him, even through the suit. He had bruises and broken skin on his upper arm. It was a fun event. I learned a lot and got some good photographs.
I've had a glorious time in Vertebrate Field Biology. We've seen a lot of species this semester, and there's been a surprise 'bonus bird' at almost every location. We've seen more warblers than probably any previous class, including the Northern Parula, a life bird for me. I took a couple of my students to do stream team. It was warm, but we found a lot of bugs in the stream. It was a good afternoon out.
In other news: Savannah and Josh have gotten a second dog, another German Shepherd Puppy. There are only two weeks left in the semester.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Saturday, April 4, 2015
March 2015
My buddy Chuck once said something like, "Whenever I get a chance to load up on sweet water, I take it." I should have remembered that on Thursday of Spring Break. We went out to Wakonda State Park. The water at the camp sites was still turned off for the winter, so I took the Minnie Winnie back to the ranger station to fill up. Upon my return (and hooking everything back up), Stacey started dinner. The water came out of the faucet orange with rust. We must have been the first to use the water spigot this year. I went back in the morning to see if it was perhaps running clear (after 30 gallons that were now in the RV), but it was still rusty. I dumped the water and we went home. At least it was a successful experiment in taking all the dogs camping for one night. I flushed the system with clean water from home. Lesson learned!
With the addition of dogs to our pack, especially the very active Sisters of Chaos, the back yard has taken a beating. The changing of the seasons and the action of many dog feet have created massive bare spaces, which become mud when it rains. Any grass seeds I plant would also be trampled, hence, I fenced the back yard temporarily in half. I'm keeping them off of the north side, which I have cleared and seeded. Once it recovers, I'll switch them and try to get the south side recovered as well. We call this strategy rotational trampling. They still have plenty of room to run, and I've gotten some good photos of them frolicking.
Racin and I took a day out of our spring break to go out and shoot clays. Lowell graciously provided the venue. I hadn't done this in many years. My shotgun technique was rusty, but I climbed up my learning curve quickly. Racin got to work out his 12 gauge. We also did a short bike ride around Canton, which was a nice, gentle break-in to our legs for the season.
I've been taking my class around to different places. South Park has provided the best photography of birds. At one point there were over 50 mallards there, plus some bonus ducks like a pair of canvasbacks. Winter has broken, and we are enjoying the sight of more migrant birds coming through.
One up side to the time change is that sometimes I leave for work before sunrise, and I can take a few minutes to photograph it. The River and the waterfowl can make for some interesting results. I had some success with this last year, and got a couple of more good ones recently.
The apricot wine that Savannah and I started last fall was finally ready, so I bottled it one day. It turned out to be fairly tasty.
I gave two talks this month, one for the Gardener's Palette, a new venue for me. My talk was well received (Landscaping for birds), and I learned a lot from other talks. The other was for POLIS, the educational series for seniors, where I talked about wildlife a Costa Rica. It was very light, mostly showing photos of animals.
We went to Indiana to celebrate Stacey's Mom's birthday. I won't give away her age, but it was a significant multiple of 10. We took the RV, pulling the Lil Egg. Savannah and the 4 dogs came along. The drive out was not too difficult. We parked the RV in Krystal's spacious yard, and had water and electricity hooked up shortly. The night turned out really cold, and the water hose froze. The expanding ice broke the nice water filter that I had gotten from our friend Aaron when he sold his 5th wheel. I had a 5-gallon water carrier that I used to partly fill the tank. Later we found out Krystal's well water has a lot of iron in it, making it undrinkable and blocking the aerators with iron filings. So it was another adventure in water problems.
I stayed with the dogs while the ladies got haircuts and manicures. I hung out with the dogs in the RV, reading and playing charango. We went out to dinner at a nice place in Brownsburg, Boulder Creek. I sat next to Jule, the exchange student from Germany, who was interesting to talk to. I shot the sunrise on Sunday morning, and we went to have breakfast with Stacey's Dad and stepmom. The dogs got to run in their back yard, which they thoroughly enjoyed, having been kept on leads or in the RV for the previous 2 days. The drive back was painful, as it was windy the whole way, and rainy part of the way.
We were also disappointed to learn that a mining company has just built a huge apparatus directly across the lake from the campground. It's ugly and will almost certainly be noisy when in operation. What a sad turn of events for an otherwise lovely park.
With the addition of dogs to our pack, especially the very active Sisters of Chaos, the back yard has taken a beating. The changing of the seasons and the action of many dog feet have created massive bare spaces, which become mud when it rains. Any grass seeds I plant would also be trampled, hence, I fenced the back yard temporarily in half. I'm keeping them off of the north side, which I have cleared and seeded. Once it recovers, I'll switch them and try to get the south side recovered as well. We call this strategy rotational trampling. They still have plenty of room to run, and I've gotten some good photos of them frolicking.
Racin and I took a day out of our spring break to go out and shoot clays. Lowell graciously provided the venue. I hadn't done this in many years. My shotgun technique was rusty, but I climbed up my learning curve quickly. Racin got to work out his 12 gauge. We also did a short bike ride around Canton, which was a nice, gentle break-in to our legs for the season.
I've been taking my class around to different places. South Park has provided the best photography of birds. At one point there were over 50 mallards there, plus some bonus ducks like a pair of canvasbacks. Winter has broken, and we are enjoying the sight of more migrant birds coming through.
One up side to the time change is that sometimes I leave for work before sunrise, and I can take a few minutes to photograph it. The River and the waterfowl can make for some interesting results. I had some success with this last year, and got a couple of more good ones recently.
The apricot wine that Savannah and I started last fall was finally ready, so I bottled it one day. It turned out to be fairly tasty.
I gave two talks this month, one for the Gardener's Palette, a new venue for me. My talk was well received (Landscaping for birds), and I learned a lot from other talks. The other was for POLIS, the educational series for seniors, where I talked about wildlife a Costa Rica. It was very light, mostly showing photos of animals.
We went to Indiana to celebrate Stacey's Mom's birthday. I won't give away her age, but it was a significant multiple of 10. We took the RV, pulling the Lil Egg. Savannah and the 4 dogs came along. The drive out was not too difficult. We parked the RV in Krystal's spacious yard, and had water and electricity hooked up shortly. The night turned out really cold, and the water hose froze. The expanding ice broke the nice water filter that I had gotten from our friend Aaron when he sold his 5th wheel. I had a 5-gallon water carrier that I used to partly fill the tank. Later we found out Krystal's well water has a lot of iron in it, making it undrinkable and blocking the aerators with iron filings. So it was another adventure in water problems.
I stayed with the dogs while the ladies got haircuts and manicures. I hung out with the dogs in the RV, reading and playing charango. We went out to dinner at a nice place in Brownsburg, Boulder Creek. I sat next to Jule, the exchange student from Germany, who was interesting to talk to. I shot the sunrise on Sunday morning, and we went to have breakfast with Stacey's Dad and stepmom. The dogs got to run in their back yard, which they thoroughly enjoyed, having been kept on leads or in the RV for the previous 2 days. The drive back was painful, as it was windy the whole way, and rainy part of the way.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
February 2015 -- hard winter
Winter returned with a vengeance after a mild period. We ended up burning all of our wood for the year. If not for the time we were in England, when the house was running on gas, we would have run out too soon. I scooped out all the bark and dirt from the old dog kennel where we keep our firewood and put actual dogs in it, at least for a few hours, one day.
With the cold weather the birds have been hitting our feeders hard. I figured out that some of them would come to the feeder even if I were standing nearby. So I stood out there and photographed birds close-up, and with no intervening window glass. The results are nice and crisp. One day while driving into work there was an enormous flock of snow geese landing in the fields near West Quincy. I pulled over and took some photos. There must have been hundreds of thousands. I also learned where the Trumpeter swans hang out, and got some shots of them flying in.
Having these dogs is like living with a cast of cartoon characters. They're always cracking us up with their antics. They are also, without exception, quite affectionate. We love them to bits. Still, they come with challenges. Every one has been to the vet in the past month. First, Kitty. She was peeing pink, which I diagnosed as a urinary tract infection. They gave her antibiotics, which made her vomit and poop constantly, poor thing. She threw up at 1 a.m. on a Sunday, and I found some large, active nematodes in her partially digested food. So everybody got dewormed and heartworm tested. They also took her off the antibiotics. The sisters were spayed, and Isabel had her hernia repaired while they were at it--all on their first birthday. Gretchen had her teeth cleaned and an epulus removed. They're all good now, but it has been trying.
It's been the automobile shuffle here, as I bought a 2014 Ford C-max hybrid. I enjoy its high-tech features. I kept the Lil Egg to be towed by the RV when we're camping. Meanwhile, Savannah bought a used Jeep Liberty so I sold the Taurus she has been driving for the past several years. So I had no net change in number of vehicles.
With the cold weather the birds have been hitting our feeders hard. I figured out that some of them would come to the feeder even if I were standing nearby. So I stood out there and photographed birds close-up, and with no intervening window glass. The results are nice and crisp. One day while driving into work there was an enormous flock of snow geese landing in the fields near West Quincy. I pulled over and took some photos. There must have been hundreds of thousands. I also learned where the Trumpeter swans hang out, and got some shots of them flying in.
Having these dogs is like living with a cast of cartoon characters. They're always cracking us up with their antics. They are also, without exception, quite affectionate. We love them to bits. Still, they come with challenges. Every one has been to the vet in the past month. First, Kitty. She was peeing pink, which I diagnosed as a urinary tract infection. They gave her antibiotics, which made her vomit and poop constantly, poor thing. She threw up at 1 a.m. on a Sunday, and I found some large, active nematodes in her partially digested food. So everybody got dewormed and heartworm tested. They also took her off the antibiotics. The sisters were spayed, and Isabel had her hernia repaired while they were at it--all on their first birthday. Gretchen had her teeth cleaned and an epulus removed. They're all good now, but it has been trying.
It's been the automobile shuffle here, as I bought a 2014 Ford C-max hybrid. I enjoy its high-tech features. I kept the Lil Egg to be towed by the RV when we're camping. Meanwhile, Savannah bought a used Jeep Liberty so I sold the Taurus she has been driving for the past several years. So I had no net change in number of vehicles.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
January 2015 -- London and Scotland
The day finally arrived for our trip to London. Though I was to be a faculty chaperone on this one, I had bought a spot for Stacey for our anniversary last year. I keep saying that it counts for at least two anniversary gifts. So we loaded up the Lil Egg on New Year's Day and the radio quit before we got out of the driveway. We listened to my phone's music the whole way. We found our group of students at the airport in Chicago, checked in, and after the usual waiting about, flew away across the Atlantic. I tried to sleep a bit, but I also watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. A little boy behind me was kicking my seat the whole way.
We met Megan Boccardi, History prof. and group leader of the trip, at Heathrow airport, and we all took a train into London. We checked into the hotel and took the tube downtown. We saw some of the sights there, like Big Ben and The Eye. The students took lots of pictures. That night we went back for a turn in The Eye, which is a giant Ferris wheel. Each car is a big enclosed bubble, so that the weather is not a factor. It gives you a good view of the city, which is pretty at night.
Saturday is market day at Portobello Road, so that's where we went. I don't think I bought anything, but Stacey picked up a few gifts. It's just neat to see everything. It rained most of the time.
The next day we took a guided walking tour of the downtown sights. It was supposed to be two hours, but ended up being four. So we got our money's worth, but it was quite a walk. Stacey's pedometer recorded over 19000 steps. We learned a lot and saw a lot, including things I had not seen/learned last year, like Florence Nightingale's Museum. We had lunch at a quaint pub, where I had Shepherd's Pie and the first of many ales. That night we went to Picadilly Circus, which is kind of like Times Square. There are some cool stores and the big screens on the buildings are bright and colorful.
Monday we went to the Tower of London. This time I got to see the store of arms. They had lots of cool suits of armor, even for horses, and Henry VIII's armor from the fat period of his career. There were some huge swords too. I know they're just ceremonial, but they had to be the inspiration for the insanely long ones used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. We got a boat ride up and down the Thames that day to get us back and forth. We toured the Tower Bridge at night, which was neat. The new transparent floor section on top is kind of scary, as it's a long way down. I enjoyed seeing the old engine room, which they used to raise and lower the center section.
Tuesday morning we toured Churchill's War Rooms. They're interesting, but I'd seen them last year. I got out a little early, so I quickly walked around the path in Regent's Park and photographed every bird I saw. We had the afternoon to ourselves, and Stacey and I chose to go to the Zoo. We took the tube to the correct station, but could not find the right bus to take us around the park to the Zoo entrance. We walked instead, which would have been OK if it had not been raining. Again. The great thing was that there was no one else at the zoo! No lines or hassles. It is quite a nice zoo, and I saw some things that were new to me.
Wednesday was our bus trip to Stonehenge. A lot had changed since last year. They had put up some huts that would have been typical of the period, and a fake stone on a cart that you could try to push. We stopped at Avebury, which has an even larger stone circle than Stonehenge, though the stones are unfinished. It's so big that there are several buildings within the circle, including a pub. Within the pub is a well, into which it is thought one of the previous owners had thrown his wife. We stopped by Oxford for a brief tour. Stacey and I ate at the Brown Cafe, but after looking around the place I realized it was owned by some Portuguese guys. They were a little surprised when I said, "Muito obrigado" on the way out. Oxford University was old, traditional, cold and damp. Our University President went there. I can't imagine a place more different from UC Riverside, where I attended.
Thursday morning we went to St. Paul's Cathedral and the Millenium Bridge. We stopped at Twinings to stock up on tea, and had lunch at the Old Bank of England (now a pub). Our afternoon was free. Stacey and I went to the Natural History Museum. It was really impressive, containing things you just don't see everywhere, like collections from Darwin and Wallace, and one of the few Archaopteryx fossils. The fossils in general were awesome. They had a whole wall of Plesiosaurs, and some of the American megafauna, like a ground sloth. The taxidermic mounts of the extinct birds is always a bit depressing.
Friday morning we left early for Kings Cross Station, met our guide and caught the train to Scotland. Stacey and I actually glimpsed of Hadrian's Wall on the way. When we got to Edinburgh we got on a bus for a short tour of the city. Our guide Robin played the bagpipes at Holyrood House. We went to our lodging, which was a Bed & Breakfast that was not exactly in the center of town.
Saturday was our bus tour of Scotland. There had been a fairly serious storm, with high winds, and it had knocked out the electricity to the castle that we were supposed to tour. Consequently, we spent all day on the bus, with short stops at various places. Of course, we had an hour to burn in a small town on the shores of Loch Ness, but there was very little to see or do there. We went down to take our photo by the Loch and it was blowing sleet harder than I've ever seen. My eyes were burning from the tiny balls of ice pinging off my face. We saw the Three Sisters mountains as well as Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain. We caught a glimpse of the castle used by the French taunters in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I kind of fell in love with all the sheep. They look so pastoral on the green hillsides. I saw about three life birds, including the Crested Tit, Chaffinch, and Hooded Crow.
Sunday morning Stacey and I walked all the way to Edinburgh Castle to take the tour. Again, it was raining, and hardly anyone was there. The big cannon, Mons Meg, was one of my favorite sights, and it was cool to see the Stone of Destiny, just as I remembered it from that episode of The Highlander. We got back on the train and returned to London.
We got up early Monday morning and took the express to Heathrow. Two little girls were sitting behind me on the plane. They kicked my seat all the way back to the USA. I watched a few movies, but couldn't get much sleep. We were late getting in, so we ended up having to drive in Chicago rush hour traffic. In the dark. After being up for 16 hours. Eventually, we found our way out of the city. Some of the students were unable to catch the Amtrak, and we gave one a ride back to Keokuk, which was on the way home anyway. We got in late after being up about 24 hours. We were sure happy to see our puppies again.
We met Megan Boccardi, History prof. and group leader of the trip, at Heathrow airport, and we all took a train into London. We checked into the hotel and took the tube downtown. We saw some of the sights there, like Big Ben and The Eye. The students took lots of pictures. That night we went back for a turn in The Eye, which is a giant Ferris wheel. Each car is a big enclosed bubble, so that the weather is not a factor. It gives you a good view of the city, which is pretty at night.
Saturday is market day at Portobello Road, so that's where we went. I don't think I bought anything, but Stacey picked up a few gifts. It's just neat to see everything. It rained most of the time.
The next day we took a guided walking tour of the downtown sights. It was supposed to be two hours, but ended up being four. So we got our money's worth, but it was quite a walk. Stacey's pedometer recorded over 19000 steps. We learned a lot and saw a lot, including things I had not seen/learned last year, like Florence Nightingale's Museum. We had lunch at a quaint pub, where I had Shepherd's Pie and the first of many ales. That night we went to Picadilly Circus, which is kind of like Times Square. There are some cool stores and the big screens on the buildings are bright and colorful.
Monday we went to the Tower of London. This time I got to see the store of arms. They had lots of cool suits of armor, even for horses, and Henry VIII's armor from the fat period of his career. There were some huge swords too. I know they're just ceremonial, but they had to be the inspiration for the insanely long ones used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. We got a boat ride up and down the Thames that day to get us back and forth. We toured the Tower Bridge at night, which was neat. The new transparent floor section on top is kind of scary, as it's a long way down. I enjoyed seeing the old engine room, which they used to raise and lower the center section.
Tuesday morning we toured Churchill's War Rooms. They're interesting, but I'd seen them last year. I got out a little early, so I quickly walked around the path in Regent's Park and photographed every bird I saw. We had the afternoon to ourselves, and Stacey and I chose to go to the Zoo. We took the tube to the correct station, but could not find the right bus to take us around the park to the Zoo entrance. We walked instead, which would have been OK if it had not been raining. Again. The great thing was that there was no one else at the zoo! No lines or hassles. It is quite a nice zoo, and I saw some things that were new to me.
Wednesday was our bus trip to Stonehenge. A lot had changed since last year. They had put up some huts that would have been typical of the period, and a fake stone on a cart that you could try to push. We stopped at Avebury, which has an even larger stone circle than Stonehenge, though the stones are unfinished. It's so big that there are several buildings within the circle, including a pub. Within the pub is a well, into which it is thought one of the previous owners had thrown his wife. We stopped by Oxford for a brief tour. Stacey and I ate at the Brown Cafe, but after looking around the place I realized it was owned by some Portuguese guys. They were a little surprised when I said, "Muito obrigado" on the way out. Oxford University was old, traditional, cold and damp. Our University President went there. I can't imagine a place more different from UC Riverside, where I attended.
Thursday morning we went to St. Paul's Cathedral and the Millenium Bridge. We stopped at Twinings to stock up on tea, and had lunch at the Old Bank of England (now a pub). Our afternoon was free. Stacey and I went to the Natural History Museum. It was really impressive, containing things you just don't see everywhere, like collections from Darwin and Wallace, and one of the few Archaopteryx fossils. The fossils in general were awesome. They had a whole wall of Plesiosaurs, and some of the American megafauna, like a ground sloth. The taxidermic mounts of the extinct birds is always a bit depressing.
Friday morning we left early for Kings Cross Station, met our guide and caught the train to Scotland. Stacey and I actually glimpsed of Hadrian's Wall on the way. When we got to Edinburgh we got on a bus for a short tour of the city. Our guide Robin played the bagpipes at Holyrood House. We went to our lodging, which was a Bed & Breakfast that was not exactly in the center of town.
Saturday was our bus tour of Scotland. There had been a fairly serious storm, with high winds, and it had knocked out the electricity to the castle that we were supposed to tour. Consequently, we spent all day on the bus, with short stops at various places. Of course, we had an hour to burn in a small town on the shores of Loch Ness, but there was very little to see or do there. We went down to take our photo by the Loch and it was blowing sleet harder than I've ever seen. My eyes were burning from the tiny balls of ice pinging off my face. We saw the Three Sisters mountains as well as Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain. We caught a glimpse of the castle used by the French taunters in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I kind of fell in love with all the sheep. They look so pastoral on the green hillsides. I saw about three life birds, including the Crested Tit, Chaffinch, and Hooded Crow.
Sunday morning Stacey and I walked all the way to Edinburgh Castle to take the tour. Again, it was raining, and hardly anyone was there. The big cannon, Mons Meg, was one of my favorite sights, and it was cool to see the Stone of Destiny, just as I remembered it from that episode of The Highlander. We got back on the train and returned to London.
We got up early Monday morning and took the express to Heathrow. Two little girls were sitting behind me on the plane. They kicked my seat all the way back to the USA. I watched a few movies, but couldn't get much sleep. We were late getting in, so we ended up having to drive in Chicago rush hour traffic. In the dark. After being up for 16 hours. Eventually, we found our way out of the city. Some of the students were unable to catch the Amtrak, and we gave one a ride back to Keokuk, which was on the way home anyway. We got in late after being up about 24 hours. We were sure happy to see our puppies again.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
December 2014 -- Year's End
What a turbulent year it's been. December was a hard month to end it on. December 5 was the day we picked to say Goodbye to Big Guy. At that point, he was becoming emaciated. His tumors were getting quite large, and a couple of them appeared to be rupturing through the surface of his skin. We took him to the vet and had him gently put to sleep. I grieved that dog harder than I thought possible.
Most people don't know that we had been looking for another schnauzer even before Big Guy got sick. We put feelers out through our groomer/breeder/shelter friends. The first to bear fruit pointed us to a breeder in Centralia who had some standards. Details were sketchy at the time, but we drove down on a Saturday to check them out. She had a couple of 10-month-old sisters that were not destined for the show ring. One was black, the other pepper-and-salt. They were quite affectionate, and we couldn't decide on which one we wanted. So we took both. I should mention that the kennel we got them from is nationally known and highly regarded in the show circuit, having been to been to Westminster: Sketchbook Standard Schnauzers.
We named the black one Indigo and the other Isabel. They are playful, athletic and damned smart. Both learned to sit in about 3 days. They are already crate trained and we are working hard on house training. We call them the Sisters of Chaos, but we exaggerate. They're pretty mellow for adolescent puppies. They've only destroyedtwo three pairs of Stacey's flip flops. Indigo is a friend to everyone, and has very pretty eyes. Isabel is shy around strangers but full of mischief at home. While both have cropped ears, one of Isabel's fell down, which gives her a comical look. We're trying to break them of chasing the cat and barking at things from the window. We love them to bits.
Another of our feelers turned up a giant schnauzer in Indiana. We took a weekend to drive out and visit family in Crawfordsville and spent the night with Stacey's brother and sister-in-law in Indianapolis.. We drove down the next day to take a look at the giant. Kitty is a champion in her own right (Ch Fanta C's Gunsmoke's Leading Lady), 6 years old and a retired breeder. She licked our faces and seemed very well behaved. Though we had expected to pick her up in January (if, indeed, we wanted her and were allowed to have her), but decided to just take her home then. Prior to that day, I had only seen two giant schnauzers during my whole life, and one was Big Guy. Fanta C Giant Schnauzers had several magnificent adults in outdoor kennels and three puppies inside. The pups were so adorable; all they wanted to do was lick your face.
Kitty has the cropped ears of a show dog. She is already crate-and house-trained. She walks on a lead perfectly and is generally cooperative. She doesn't get up on furniture, nor bark much at all. She rides in the back seat of my truck and just lays down, never barking. We are working on sit and a few other commands. She is playful and becoming integrated into the pack. As the weather got cold recently, she climbed into the little fish pond and broke through the ice with all four feet, which then were covered in nasty mud. So she got her first bath at home. I am still learning her personality, but she appears to be very sweet and loyal. She satisfies some inner need we have for a big dog.
We still have the white miniature schnauzer Gretchen, of course. So if you're keeping score, we now have four schnauzers in various sizes and flavors. It's kind of crazy in our house right now, as we all adjust to a new routine. I grew up in a house full of dogs, so 4 is not in the "crazy dog people" range for me. Our plan is to make them well trained and well behaved so that the house is as orderly as it can reasonably be. It's a process we are working. We thank Shammy Johnson for connecting us to the standards and Carol Bridgeman for connecting us to Kitty.
I just finished reading the James Herriot (All Creatures Great and Small) compilation of dog stories. It was fascinating. One of the things he recommended is that, upon the loss of a dog, one should get a new one right away. The new one does not replace the lost one (for, like Big Guy, each is unique), but I think the new one keeps you so busy that you don't have so much time to think about the old one.
I have had few opportunities for photography this month except for the dogs. You'll find some decent shots in the online album below.
Most people don't know that we had been looking for another schnauzer even before Big Guy got sick. We put feelers out through our groomer/breeder/shelter friends. The first to bear fruit pointed us to a breeder in Centralia who had some standards. Details were sketchy at the time, but we drove down on a Saturday to check them out. She had a couple of 10-month-old sisters that were not destined for the show ring. One was black, the other pepper-and-salt. They were quite affectionate, and we couldn't decide on which one we wanted. So we took both. I should mention that the kennel we got them from is nationally known and highly regarded in the show circuit, having been to been to Westminster: Sketchbook Standard Schnauzers.
Isabel and Indigo
We named the black one Indigo and the other Isabel. They are playful, athletic and damned smart. Both learned to sit in about 3 days. They are already crate trained and we are working hard on house training. We call them the Sisters of Chaos, but we exaggerate. They're pretty mellow for adolescent puppies. They've only destroyed
Another of our feelers turned up a giant schnauzer in Indiana. We took a weekend to drive out and visit family in Crawfordsville and spent the night with Stacey's brother and sister-in-law in Indianapolis.. We drove down the next day to take a look at the giant. Kitty is a champion in her own right (Ch Fanta C's Gunsmoke's Leading Lady), 6 years old and a retired breeder. She licked our faces and seemed very well behaved. Though we had expected to pick her up in January (if, indeed, we wanted her and were allowed to have her), but decided to just take her home then. Prior to that day, I had only seen two giant schnauzers during my whole life, and one was Big Guy. Fanta C Giant Schnauzers had several magnificent adults in outdoor kennels and three puppies inside. The pups were so adorable; all they wanted to do was lick your face.
Kitty has the cropped ears of a show dog. She is already crate-and house-trained. She walks on a lead perfectly and is generally cooperative. She doesn't get up on furniture, nor bark much at all. She rides in the back seat of my truck and just lays down, never barking. We are working on sit and a few other commands. She is playful and becoming integrated into the pack. As the weather got cold recently, she climbed into the little fish pond and broke through the ice with all four feet, which then were covered in nasty mud. So she got her first bath at home. I am still learning her personality, but she appears to be very sweet and loyal. She satisfies some inner need we have for a big dog.
Miss Kitty at Christmas
We still have the white miniature schnauzer Gretchen, of course. So if you're keeping score, we now have four schnauzers in various sizes and flavors. It's kind of crazy in our house right now, as we all adjust to a new routine. I grew up in a house full of dogs, so 4 is not in the "crazy dog people" range for me. Our plan is to make them well trained and well behaved so that the house is as orderly as it can reasonably be. It's a process we are working. We thank Shammy Johnson for connecting us to the standards and Carol Bridgeman for connecting us to Kitty.
I just finished reading the James Herriot (All Creatures Great and Small) compilation of dog stories. It was fascinating. One of the things he recommended is that, upon the loss of a dog, one should get a new one right away. The new one does not replace the lost one (for, like Big Guy, each is unique), but I think the new one keeps you so busy that you don't have so much time to think about the old one.
I have had few opportunities for photography this month except for the dogs. You'll find some decent shots in the online album below.
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Memories of Big Guy
I want to document here various aspects of Big Guy's personality before I forget them. This is a fairly personal narrative, written for my own memoirs, so feel free to bail out of it at any point.
He never gave dog kisses. He would sometimes lick his nose after sniffing you, so if you got close enough he might accidentally lick your face. He did have a penchant for licking Savannah's legs. We don't know why.
Big Guy did not like water. Perhaps because he fell into a frozen pond when young, he would not enter water of his own volition. I never saw him swim.
He always liked drinking the rainwater in our rainbuckets best. You had to dry his beard after he had a drink, like wringing out a mop.
Every night he would roll on the living room floor and growl. This was his invitation to wrestle. He liked wrestling and would only return the level of aggression he was given. He seldom bit, but could nip with his incisors for a painful but harmless pinching effect. If he got a hold of my watch or other inanimate object, he knew that wasn't flesh, and he'd bite it hard. He tore holes in two of my T shirts while jumping for toys. He could hurt you on accident though. One time I bent over to pick something up in the back yard and I hadn't seen him running up. His head hit me in the temple and I saw stars. He liked tug-of-war best. He would fetch some toys, but not retrieve them all the way back. He had a few favorites, like the tractor dog and the double-donger, which was like a stick.
He liked to run. He would chase Gretchen, or be chased, around the back yard, making circles around a tree, the pond, or the wood furnace. He would really zoom around the softball field when we took him there, then usually take a poop in center field (we always bagged it).
He always had a problem with him licking his feet. Only at the end, when prednisone completely suppressed this behavior, did we know with certainty that it was allergies. I assume the same was true of his somewhat runny eyes.
He was always right around 100 lb. We never let him get fat. Had great lines, an elegant gait and looked beautiful running. We got compliments on him everywhere we went. We took him to the Autumn Folk Life Festival and could hardly get anywhere because of people stopping us to talk about Big Guy. He was a truly beautiful dog.
He would sleep in our bed with us for 20 minutes or so almost every night, and sometimes in the morning. Eventually, he'd get down to sleep on the floor or in his personal toddler bed. On the other hand, he often did like to cuddle, and would get in your lap if you let him. If you could get him to lie next to you with his head on your chest, it was glorious. He enjoyed attention, though could not really express affection directly. He always got excited when we came home, but was too busy jumping around to come close and get hugs.
He would let you know when he wanted to go outside by barking and pawing you. If I were working at the kitchen table in the morning, he'd do this about every 5 minutes. Drove me crazy. He also pawed at the door to get back in the house. If you were asleep, he might paw your face, or just sniff you and hit you with the big exhale at the end. He made very entertaining noises at times, like deep moans and growls. He would sigh at night when he went to bed. He often had dreams and could be heard growling, whining or suckling while his legs twitched. He had a deep chest and you could feel his heart beat through his ribs.
The only trick he knew when we got him was to put his paws on your shoulders. We taught him to sit and to stand from the sit to get a treat. He wasn't a natural sitter and seldom did it spontaneously. He was learning to jump through a hoop at the end of his life. He could jump high and far. He often would vault over the rainbuckets when we let him out, and easily jumped the rabbit fence into and out of the prairie. I never taught him to draft a wagon or to pull me on a skateboard or skis. He just took to that naturally. He also followed hand signals, which was very useful, and, again, untaught. He loved doing all these things, as well as going for walks or runs. He was so good at reading body language, he could figure out what we were doing (such as running) by how I was getting dressed. He would figure out when you were going to bed and jump into your spot just before you got there.
He never wanted to be kenneled up in the laundry room during the day, so he would go "hide" in the basement on the couch just before it was time for me to go to work.
He was so tame and submissive, I could do almost anything to him. I could push him around in the bed to reposition him. I could pick him up completely off the ground. The only thing I could not do was to cut his toenails. He couldn't stand that. The most aggressive we ever saw him was when he got a hold of a steak bone. He would not give it up, and from the loud growling sounds he was making, I was not inclined to take it from him. He showed his dominance over Savannah and Racin--by humping them. Gretchen could dominate him, but he didn't seem to care much. He would seldom meet the eyes of a human, even when trying to get their attention. I saw him get nose to nose with an injured bird. He just sniffed it. Later, Gretchen killed it. He always chased squirrels but never caught one. I always wondered what he would have done if he had. He sometimes chased our cat, but never hurt him.
Once we visited a dog park and another dog got aggressive and bit him on the ear. He didn't seem to notice. His pain threshold was so high, he never seemed to show pain. The huge needle used to microchip him didn't even make him flinch. He ran into one of the columns on the back porch, damaging his kidneys, but didn't slow down.
He didn't like the vacuum cleaner, but I think he learned that from Gretchen. He didn't like the schnauzer statue that now lives on our front porch, and he really hated the cow puppet, which could incite them both to feats of jumping and biting.
He was a notorious counter surfer, and was extremely clever in taking food that did not belong to him. He used his size to advantage, and could take anything off the table, from inside the sink, or on the kitchen counter. For example, if the doorbell rang while we were eating dinner, he'd eat our food while we went to greet the visitors. The fire pager was the worst. We'd have to suddenly get up and leave at any time, including meal time. I don't know if I can remember all of the things he ate: part of the uncooked Thanksgiving turkey, most of a ham, pizza, an entire loaf of banana bread, a raw steak right out of the shopping bag (the $6.50 price tag remained), chocolate cake, prime rib bones, two dozen cookies (at once). He must have had an iron gut, as he never got diarrhea from any of these. He really liked butter. One time Stacey walked by and waved a stick of butter in his face and he bit it. She used it anyway, tooth marks and all.
When eating his bowl of kibble, he'd usually lie down next to it for awhile before consuming, presumably to give his stomach juices time to start flowing. He usually ate some in the morning then finished it off at bed time.
He was deceptively fast. He had good coordination and could catch toys in midair. Back when we had the futon in the basement we let him use both that and the couch. When he was playing he could bounce off of one and onto the other, the full width of the TV room without touching the floor. He wasn't allowed on the new couch, so no more bouncing.
He had a way of making himself look adorable, particularly when he figured out we would finish dinner. He'd come up to your side, hold his ears up a bit and wag his tail.
Otherwise, he was not very expressive externally. He lacked the docked ears that make Gretchen's every emotion plain as day. It made him look stupid and perhaps boring. It was only after maybe a year that I understood his depth. He was actually pretty clever, and you had to really watch him to understand his emotions and moods.
He had a nasty habit of grazing plants in the back yard. That would usually make him foam at the mouth, and occasionally throw up the leaves. He used to jump the rabbit fence to get into the prairie and sample my plants.
He loved to take rides in the car and was great at camping. He had his own couch in the RV and traveled well. He was perfectly housebroken, and never had accidents in the house. He hardly ever threw up either, fortunately.
He barked like mad when anyone came to the door, but he never bit them. That's the perfect guard dog. I never worried about anyone breaking into the house while he was there because his bark was loud, deep and forceful.
He's the only dog I've ever known who would watch other dogs on TV. If it was a particularly stimulating scene, he'd bark at them. A couple of times he had his paws up on the entertainment center and I thought he might try to go through the screen. He did the same for wolves and bears.
Let us tally the damages. He broke a piece of glass out of the old entertainment center (with his head), but we never replaced it. We did replace the screen on Stacey's laptop, which he broke by knocking it over. He has scratched up the baseboard in our bedroom where he sleeps, but I have a replacement for that. He broke out of the house one day by plunging through the screen in the bathroom window. I fixed that, but then one day we left it open accidentally, and he went through the screen again. He decided he could still get out the window by chewing through it, the damage of which we have not yet fixed. He tore a muscle in Stacey's shoulder while going after a squirrel. Not sure what the cost was of her surgery to repair it, but the orthopedic surgeon called him the most expensive free dog he'd ever seen. So we put up a fence in the back yard to keep him in without having to use leads. I think that was $1400. In only two years, three trees have fallen on it, requiring additional repairs. He would jump up against the laundry room wall when we got home, and had nearly worn a hole through the drywall, as well as scratching up all the door moldings. I did a minor remodel and covered the drywall with fiberglass reinforced panels.
In many ways, he was a high-maintenance dog. But I have no regrets. It was worth every cent for the four years we had with him.
Here's a playlist of videos I've made of him so far:
Big Guy: Adventures with a Giant Schnauzer
And here's an album of various stills.
FlickR Album
He never gave dog kisses. He would sometimes lick his nose after sniffing you, so if you got close enough he might accidentally lick your face. He did have a penchant for licking Savannah's legs. We don't know why.
Big Guy did not like water. Perhaps because he fell into a frozen pond when young, he would not enter water of his own volition. I never saw him swim.
He always liked drinking the rainwater in our rainbuckets best. You had to dry his beard after he had a drink, like wringing out a mop.
Every night he would roll on the living room floor and growl. This was his invitation to wrestle. He liked wrestling and would only return the level of aggression he was given. He seldom bit, but could nip with his incisors for a painful but harmless pinching effect. If he got a hold of my watch or other inanimate object, he knew that wasn't flesh, and he'd bite it hard. He tore holes in two of my T shirts while jumping for toys. He could hurt you on accident though. One time I bent over to pick something up in the back yard and I hadn't seen him running up. His head hit me in the temple and I saw stars. He liked tug-of-war best. He would fetch some toys, but not retrieve them all the way back. He had a few favorites, like the tractor dog and the double-donger, which was like a stick.
He liked to run. He would chase Gretchen, or be chased, around the back yard, making circles around a tree, the pond, or the wood furnace. He would really zoom around the softball field when we took him there, then usually take a poop in center field (we always bagged it).
He always had a problem with him licking his feet. Only at the end, when prednisone completely suppressed this behavior, did we know with certainty that it was allergies. I assume the same was true of his somewhat runny eyes.
He was always right around 100 lb. We never let him get fat. Had great lines, an elegant gait and looked beautiful running. We got compliments on him everywhere we went. We took him to the Autumn Folk Life Festival and could hardly get anywhere because of people stopping us to talk about Big Guy. He was a truly beautiful dog.
He would sleep in our bed with us for 20 minutes or so almost every night, and sometimes in the morning. Eventually, he'd get down to sleep on the floor or in his personal toddler bed. On the other hand, he often did like to cuddle, and would get in your lap if you let him. If you could get him to lie next to you with his head on your chest, it was glorious. He enjoyed attention, though could not really express affection directly. He always got excited when we came home, but was too busy jumping around to come close and get hugs.
He would let you know when he wanted to go outside by barking and pawing you. If I were working at the kitchen table in the morning, he'd do this about every 5 minutes. Drove me crazy. He also pawed at the door to get back in the house. If you were asleep, he might paw your face, or just sniff you and hit you with the big exhale at the end. He made very entertaining noises at times, like deep moans and growls. He would sigh at night when he went to bed. He often had dreams and could be heard growling, whining or suckling while his legs twitched. He had a deep chest and you could feel his heart beat through his ribs.
The only trick he knew when we got him was to put his paws on your shoulders. We taught him to sit and to stand from the sit to get a treat. He wasn't a natural sitter and seldom did it spontaneously. He was learning to jump through a hoop at the end of his life. He could jump high and far. He often would vault over the rainbuckets when we let him out, and easily jumped the rabbit fence into and out of the prairie. I never taught him to draft a wagon or to pull me on a skateboard or skis. He just took to that naturally. He also followed hand signals, which was very useful, and, again, untaught. He loved doing all these things, as well as going for walks or runs. He was so good at reading body language, he could figure out what we were doing (such as running) by how I was getting dressed. He would figure out when you were going to bed and jump into your spot just before you got there.
He never wanted to be kenneled up in the laundry room during the day, so he would go "hide" in the basement on the couch just before it was time for me to go to work.
He was so tame and submissive, I could do almost anything to him. I could push him around in the bed to reposition him. I could pick him up completely off the ground. The only thing I could not do was to cut his toenails. He couldn't stand that. The most aggressive we ever saw him was when he got a hold of a steak bone. He would not give it up, and from the loud growling sounds he was making, I was not inclined to take it from him. He showed his dominance over Savannah and Racin--by humping them. Gretchen could dominate him, but he didn't seem to care much. He would seldom meet the eyes of a human, even when trying to get their attention. I saw him get nose to nose with an injured bird. He just sniffed it. Later, Gretchen killed it. He always chased squirrels but never caught one. I always wondered what he would have done if he had. He sometimes chased our cat, but never hurt him.
Once we visited a dog park and another dog got aggressive and bit him on the ear. He didn't seem to notice. His pain threshold was so high, he never seemed to show pain. The huge needle used to microchip him didn't even make him flinch. He ran into one of the columns on the back porch, damaging his kidneys, but didn't slow down.
He didn't like the vacuum cleaner, but I think he learned that from Gretchen. He didn't like the schnauzer statue that now lives on our front porch, and he really hated the cow puppet, which could incite them both to feats of jumping and biting.
He was a notorious counter surfer, and was extremely clever in taking food that did not belong to him. He used his size to advantage, and could take anything off the table, from inside the sink, or on the kitchen counter. For example, if the doorbell rang while we were eating dinner, he'd eat our food while we went to greet the visitors. The fire pager was the worst. We'd have to suddenly get up and leave at any time, including meal time. I don't know if I can remember all of the things he ate: part of the uncooked Thanksgiving turkey, most of a ham, pizza, an entire loaf of banana bread, a raw steak right out of the shopping bag (the $6.50 price tag remained), chocolate cake, prime rib bones, two dozen cookies (at once). He must have had an iron gut, as he never got diarrhea from any of these. He really liked butter. One time Stacey walked by and waved a stick of butter in his face and he bit it. She used it anyway, tooth marks and all.
When eating his bowl of kibble, he'd usually lie down next to it for awhile before consuming, presumably to give his stomach juices time to start flowing. He usually ate some in the morning then finished it off at bed time.
He was deceptively fast. He had good coordination and could catch toys in midair. Back when we had the futon in the basement we let him use both that and the couch. When he was playing he could bounce off of one and onto the other, the full width of the TV room without touching the floor. He wasn't allowed on the new couch, so no more bouncing.
He had a way of making himself look adorable, particularly when he figured out we would finish dinner. He'd come up to your side, hold his ears up a bit and wag his tail.
Otherwise, he was not very expressive externally. He lacked the docked ears that make Gretchen's every emotion plain as day. It made him look stupid and perhaps boring. It was only after maybe a year that I understood his depth. He was actually pretty clever, and you had to really watch him to understand his emotions and moods.
He had a nasty habit of grazing plants in the back yard. That would usually make him foam at the mouth, and occasionally throw up the leaves. He used to jump the rabbit fence to get into the prairie and sample my plants.
He loved to take rides in the car and was great at camping. He had his own couch in the RV and traveled well. He was perfectly housebroken, and never had accidents in the house. He hardly ever threw up either, fortunately.
He barked like mad when anyone came to the door, but he never bit them. That's the perfect guard dog. I never worried about anyone breaking into the house while he was there because his bark was loud, deep and forceful.
He's the only dog I've ever known who would watch other dogs on TV. If it was a particularly stimulating scene, he'd bark at them. A couple of times he had his paws up on the entertainment center and I thought he might try to go through the screen. He did the same for wolves and bears.
Let us tally the damages. He broke a piece of glass out of the old entertainment center (with his head), but we never replaced it. We did replace the screen on Stacey's laptop, which he broke by knocking it over. He has scratched up the baseboard in our bedroom where he sleeps, but I have a replacement for that. He broke out of the house one day by plunging through the screen in the bathroom window. I fixed that, but then one day we left it open accidentally, and he went through the screen again. He decided he could still get out the window by chewing through it, the damage of which we have not yet fixed. He tore a muscle in Stacey's shoulder while going after a squirrel. Not sure what the cost was of her surgery to repair it, but the orthopedic surgeon called him the most expensive free dog he'd ever seen. So we put up a fence in the back yard to keep him in without having to use leads. I think that was $1400. In only two years, three trees have fallen on it, requiring additional repairs. He would jump up against the laundry room wall when we got home, and had nearly worn a hole through the drywall, as well as scratching up all the door moldings. I did a minor remodel and covered the drywall with fiberglass reinforced panels.
In many ways, he was a high-maintenance dog. But I have no regrets. It was worth every cent for the four years we had with him.
Here's a playlist of videos I've made of him so far:
Big Guy: Adventures with a Giant Schnauzer
And here's an album of various stills.
FlickR Album
Monday, December 1, 2014
November 2014 -- The Shocking News
Winter came on with a sudden ferocity, plunging us from 70 F to below freezing within a week. By now, we've already seen rain, sleet, snow, and freezing rain. Wait, that was all in one DAY. I had to start the wood furnace up much earlier than usual. At least I am somewhat prepared to run out of wood early--Lowell and I cut some trees down, limbed them out, and dragged them out of the woods last summer. It should be a short affair to log them out and haul them home as needed.
Last month Big Guy cut his toe running around the back yard. We took him to the vet and had it glued back together and while he was there they gave him his vaccinations. Shortly thereafter he developed a large swelling on his neck. I suspected a vaccination reaction; the vet prescribed antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. When all the pills ran out the swelling was reduced, but still there, and other bumps had sprung up in various places on his body. I took him back to the vet on Friday, November 21st, his 7th birthday. They took needle biopsies of his bumps. The diagnosis was lymphoma, a type of cancer for which there is no cure. We chose the option of trying to extend his life by treating him with high doses of prednisone. We spent the weekend mostly grieving. We had to go to Quincy so we stopped at Burger King and bought him a double cheeseburger. He's been eating really well--lots of canned food, people food and treats.
One side effect of the prednisone is that he drinks and pees a lot. We have to let him out almost every hour, even at night. He seemed to be responding to the medication, at least at first, in that his neck lymph nodes shrunk a bit and he had more energy. Since then, he is more lethargic, the bumps grow and multiply while his muscles waste away. Words fail me when I try to express what this dog means to me. If you are a regular reader of this blog then you know what adventures we've had, such as camping, skateboarding, and skiing. Those activities don't convey what a playful, loving and gentle spirit he has, and how that has enriched our lives for the past four years. The terminal diagnosis is hard. He's still here, and we can see and hug him, but he won't be here long. In a short time, we'll have some difficult steps to take.
Insect activity has ground to a halt, though we did sample the North Campus pond for aquatic species and the soil/leaf litter for tiny invertebrates. I got some photos of some strange things, though good shots of the little springtails eluded me. I have taken lots of images of the pets, fortunately, mostly with my phone.
Last month Big Guy cut his toe running around the back yard. We took him to the vet and had it glued back together and while he was there they gave him his vaccinations. Shortly thereafter he developed a large swelling on his neck. I suspected a vaccination reaction; the vet prescribed antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. When all the pills ran out the swelling was reduced, but still there, and other bumps had sprung up in various places on his body. I took him back to the vet on Friday, November 21st, his 7th birthday. They took needle biopsies of his bumps. The diagnosis was lymphoma, a type of cancer for which there is no cure. We chose the option of trying to extend his life by treating him with high doses of prednisone. We spent the weekend mostly grieving. We had to go to Quincy so we stopped at Burger King and bought him a double cheeseburger. He's been eating really well--lots of canned food, people food and treats.
One side effect of the prednisone is that he drinks and pees a lot. We have to let him out almost every hour, even at night. He seemed to be responding to the medication, at least at first, in that his neck lymph nodes shrunk a bit and he had more energy. Since then, he is more lethargic, the bumps grow and multiply while his muscles waste away. Words fail me when I try to express what this dog means to me. If you are a regular reader of this blog then you know what adventures we've had, such as camping, skateboarding, and skiing. Those activities don't convey what a playful, loving and gentle spirit he has, and how that has enriched our lives for the past four years. The terminal diagnosis is hard. He's still here, and we can see and hug him, but he won't be here long. In a short time, we'll have some difficult steps to take.
Insect activity has ground to a halt, though we did sample the North Campus pond for aquatic species and the soil/leaf litter for tiny invertebrates. I got some photos of some strange things, though good shots of the little springtails eluded me. I have taken lots of images of the pets, fortunately, mostly with my phone.
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