{this moment}
a Friday ritual.
a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.
a simple, ordinary, moment. a moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soulemama.
Friday, August 10, 2012
{this moment}
{this moment}
a Friday ritual.
a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.
a simple, ordinary, moment. a moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soulemama.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Four Dog Week
Far too often I allow my lack of pictures to prevent me from posting on Darby's Daily. My camera is a pain in the butt to grab and get going, and by the time I do, the dogs have noticed and decided to stop whatever cute thing they were doing to stare at me expectantly.
So, no, there are no recent pictures in this blog post. Which is a shame because watching what I've been watching this afternoon deserves documentation. I hope you can be happy with a story.
Our friends Mike and Amber needed someone to watch their dogs this weekend. Christian, figuring a dose of four dogs at one time might deter me from wanting any more, offered forus me to watch them.
We've watched Hank before. He's a lankly yellow lab mix with enough nervous energy to power several household appliances. Hank is super skinny and somewhat shy until he gets the lay of the land. Hank would melt into you if he could. Literally melt into your leg in the way that most people love about labs and goldens, but in the way I have come to hate after experiencing the perfect balance of cat-like traits and dog-like traits that corgis are. Hank is tall. So tall that he towers over the entire gang of pups. Especially his brother Harley... who is a mini dachshund.
Harley is tiny. He is a black and brown medium coated weiner. He can be sweet, but mostly he just runs around like a complete maniac. Holding him in your arms is like holding onto a violently vibrating football... with hair. Harley and Hank make an interesting pair, with the one hardly coming up to the others knees, and both acting as foils to my corgis on either end of the spectrum.
Harley thinks he is a ladies man. He spent several minutes following Bonnie's butt around with his nose. Something that I have to say is a bit unsettling to watch when it goes on for much longer than a second or two. I was just waiting for Bonnie to wheel around and beat the living $h!T out of him... but it never happened. In fact she didn't give much notice to any of them. She just went about her business as usual, sniffing things, laying down, getting up, coming over for a pet. A single lady in a room full of neutered boys. I guess she knows where she stands.
Apparently Harley also has an interest in Bailey's nether regions. Bailey sat there, ears back, with a rather disgusted and worried expression on his face while Harley got in close for a sniff. Poor Bailey, oscillating back and forth between worried, curious, jealous, and offended. He wasn't sure what to make of the newcomers. At first he was excited, then he decided he should be jealous because mom's attention was diverted. So then he started barking and sitting up on his butt to get my attention (which worked -- because I can't resist him when he does that).
So there I was. Four oddball dog personalities milling around on my deck, trying to work out whatever social hierarchy there was as politely as possible. Sort of like teenagers at a garage party with no food and bad music. There were no incidents but you could sense the tension. It is funny how dogs often mirror stereotypical human personalities. Bonnie, the confident girl with good hair and dance moves. Harley, that short guy who thought he had way more going on than he did. Harley, the good looking jock who got tongue tied around girls. And Bailey, the somewhat preppy nerd who was just a bit too feminine.
We have the boys until Friday morning. Who knows what will happen between now and then. :)
So, no, there are no recent pictures in this blog post. Which is a shame because watching what I've been watching this afternoon deserves documentation. I hope you can be happy with a story.
Our friends Mike and Amber needed someone to watch their dogs this weekend. Christian, figuring a dose of four dogs at one time might deter me from wanting any more, offered for
We've watched Hank before. He's a lankly yellow lab mix with enough nervous energy to power several household appliances. Hank is super skinny and somewhat shy until he gets the lay of the land. Hank would melt into you if he could. Literally melt into your leg in the way that most people love about labs and goldens, but in the way I have come to hate after experiencing the perfect balance of cat-like traits and dog-like traits that corgis are. Hank is tall. So tall that he towers over the entire gang of pups. Especially his brother Harley... who is a mini dachshund.
Harley thinks he is a ladies man. He spent several minutes following Bonnie's butt around with his nose. Something that I have to say is a bit unsettling to watch when it goes on for much longer than a second or two. I was just waiting for Bonnie to wheel around and beat the living $h!T out of him... but it never happened. In fact she didn't give much notice to any of them. She just went about her business as usual, sniffing things, laying down, getting up, coming over for a pet. A single lady in a room full of neutered boys. I guess she knows where she stands.
Apparently Harley also has an interest in Bailey's nether regions. Bailey sat there, ears back, with a rather disgusted and worried expression on his face while Harley got in close for a sniff. Poor Bailey, oscillating back and forth between worried, curious, jealous, and offended. He wasn't sure what to make of the newcomers. At first he was excited, then he decided he should be jealous because mom's attention was diverted. So then he started barking and sitting up on his butt to get my attention (which worked -- because I can't resist him when he does that).
So there I was. Four oddball dog personalities milling around on my deck, trying to work out whatever social hierarchy there was as politely as possible. Sort of like teenagers at a garage party with no food and bad music. There were no incidents but you could sense the tension. It is funny how dogs often mirror stereotypical human personalities. Bonnie, the confident girl with good hair and dance moves. Harley, that short guy who thought he had way more going on than he did. Harley, the good looking jock who got tongue tied around girls. And Bailey, the somewhat preppy nerd who was just a bit too feminine.
We have the boys until Friday morning. Who knows what will happen between now and then. :)
Monday, August 6, 2012
Shades of Gray
No, not THOSE Shades of Gray!
The other day, I listened to an interesting radio show discussing color and how we "see" it -- or not. Perhaps you didn't know that specialized cells in our eyes, called "cones", are responsible for our ability to see color. We have about 6 million of these cones in each of our retinas. Most humans (and primates) have three types of cones -- ones that allow us to see the blue, red and green range of colors in the color spectrum. Scientists have found (don't ask me how!) that some sea creatures (I've forgotten which and am too lazy to look it up) have many, many more of these photoreceptor cells and their rainbow is way more extravagantly colored than ours.
If a person is "color blind," he or she (but usually a he) is missing one or more of these types of cones. The most common form of color blindness in humans is red/green, meaning the person sees red or green as shades of gray (or possibly some limited shades of red or green.)
Many people think dogs can't see colors at all -- that they are truly color "blind." But, it turns out they can see colors, but because their eyes lack red cones, the same part of the color spectrum that we see as a "rainbow" they see very differently. According to research done by a scientist from UC Santa Barbara, "Instead of seeing the rainbow as violet, blue, blue-green, green, yellow, orange and red, dogs would see it as dark blue, light blue, gray, light yellow, darker yellow (sort of brown), and very dark gray. In other words, dogs see the colors of the world as basically yellow, blue and gray. They see the colors green, yellow and orange as yellowish, and they see violet and blue as blue. Blue-green is seen as a gray." If you go to this site (source of the previous quote) you can see what the color spectrum looks like to people and dogs. Go ahead; I'll wait.
Hi, again. That was interesting, wasn't it?
If you read to the end of the article, you noticed that the author mentioned how odd it is that so many dog toys (including the ever-popular stuffable "Kong") are RED -- a color that dogs can't "see."
Maybe color is the reason Darby and Pumpkin are loving their new BLUE Wubba and YELLOW football toys so darned much -- they aren't just shades of gray!
The other day, I listened to an interesting radio show discussing color and how we "see" it -- or not. Perhaps you didn't know that specialized cells in our eyes, called "cones", are responsible for our ability to see color. We have about 6 million of these cones in each of our retinas. Most humans (and primates) have three types of cones -- ones that allow us to see the blue, red and green range of colors in the color spectrum. Scientists have found (don't ask me how!) that some sea creatures (I've forgotten which and am too lazy to look it up) have many, many more of these photoreceptor cells and their rainbow is way more extravagantly colored than ours.
If a person is "color blind," he or she (but usually a he) is missing one or more of these types of cones. The most common form of color blindness in humans is red/green, meaning the person sees red or green as shades of gray (or possibly some limited shades of red or green.)
Many people think dogs can't see colors at all -- that they are truly color "blind." But, it turns out they can see colors, but because their eyes lack red cones, the same part of the color spectrum that we see as a "rainbow" they see very differently. According to research done by a scientist from UC Santa Barbara, "Instead of seeing the rainbow as violet, blue, blue-green, green, yellow, orange and red, dogs would see it as dark blue, light blue, gray, light yellow, darker yellow (sort of brown), and very dark gray. In other words, dogs see the colors of the world as basically yellow, blue and gray. They see the colors green, yellow and orange as yellowish, and they see violet and blue as blue. Blue-green is seen as a gray." If you go to this site (source of the previous quote) you can see what the color spectrum looks like to people and dogs. Go ahead; I'll wait.
Hi, again. That was interesting, wasn't it?
If you read to the end of the article, you noticed that the author mentioned how odd it is that so many dog toys (including the ever-popular stuffable "Kong") are RED -- a color that dogs can't "see."
Maybe color is the reason Darby and Pumpkin are loving their new BLUE Wubba and YELLOW football toys so darned much -- they aren't just shades of gray!
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