A Sad Day…

Monday December 21, 2009.  Why?  Well we had to put our loyal dog down.  She was suffering.  She had served our family well for over 13 years.  I found two pictures of her so far.  When I find more I’ll make more scrapbook pages to go with this one that I did up in dedication to her.

The print on this page may be to small for you to read so here is what it says:

She was our watch dog.  She loved watching over the place and warning us of anything that was close by.  She was born April 15, 1996.

We got her when she was about  six weeks old.  We Got her from the Park County Fair from the Kawano’s.  We paid about $50 for her.  The kids picked her out because of the one dark spot over her eye that looked like a patch.

As a Australian Border Collie she had natural instincs that we loved.  Here is a collection of online descriptions for this breed that fits her personality:  Australian border collie shepherds are intelligent active dogs.  It is an intelligent working dog, possessing strong herding and guarding instincts. They have a strong instinctive desire to work closely and intensely with a human handler.  Loyal companions, these dogs are the happiest when having an ability to work all day.

When she was a young pup my cousin was over visiting.  Anyhow his kids and our kids were out jumping on the trampoline.  A snake (bullsnake) came into the yard and started hissing at the kids.  This young pup kept those kids from going up to the snake by growling and barking at the kids.  If they started to go forward she’d growl at them.  I remember being amazed that a young dog would sense danger and also protect the kids from it.

There is only one time that she didn’t stand guard. Again she was a young pup.  There was a mountain lion out back.  She made a run to the house with her tail between her legs…leaving me behind.

I had to nurse her back to health a couple of times.  When she was quite young she got Parvovirus.  I was able to nurse her back to health and save her life.  Another time she had flees so I put a flee collar on.  Bad mistake, she went “crazy”.  It caused her to act real odd and she was attacking weird things.  Then the fall of 2008 she again got very sick.  So I nursed her back to health.

A while ago…I noticed that her neck was larger than normal.  The vet suggested that it could be cancer and we needed to watch it.  Well since about August I noticed that Snip was loosing weight, that she was moving like an old person, and she just seemed weaker.  Recently she would look at me for a long time with those eyes it seemed to say she needed love.  Then she started to throw-up and it had dried blood and blood clots in it.  She became so weak we had to carry her.  So we decided that it would be best to have her put down so she didn’t need to suffer anymore.  She’s been to good to our family.  She was put down on Monday December 21, 2009.  We will certainly miss her presence!

She was in kidney failure and full of what we guess was cancer.

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Kindness-The Spirit of Christmas

Our family has been recipiants of kindness over the last several months.  In each case it has been humbling….and teaches one lessons.  In recent days we’ve had some big ones come by friends and people I work for.  It has made me examine my own heart.  This kindness makes me appreciate the good people we seem surrounded by.  I certainly desire to have that trait too and shall continue to work on it for the rest of my life.  Anyhow this has been on my mind which inspired me to create this page to share with you.

Billings again

Today was the day to go fetch Steve from the Billings airport.  Once again I left my camera at home.  A BAD thing to do because that’s when one will always find those perfect picture moments.

How does one describe in words what a picture can convey?  Well for me pictures can say things far better than I can in words.  Never was gifted at that, but I’ll attempt here in this post.  By the time you’re done reading, if you do, you’ll probably wish I did have the camera too.

Sure enough, I saw quite a few perfect pictures.  One was of the river valley outside of Belfry.  The fog coated all the bushes, trees, etc….next to the river with all its white glory.  Then the river had steam rising up in the cold air.  There were quite a few places that would have composed a GREAT picture.  Alas no camera…so I guess I’ll have to keep the image in my mind till it’s replaced.

Then there was an area that had at least two dozen black ravens all together.  They were feasting on a road kill.  It was quite the site because I don’t think I’ve ever saw more than three together in one area.  Made me appreciate my own method of eating in the comfort of a warm home.  Then I saw numerous hawks perched here and there.

Coming home, I thought I saw a wolf.  So we pulled over to view it.  Of course it knew that wasn’t normal, so it immediately ran off.  We watched it run across the field from a distance and tried to figure out if it was indeed a wolf, maybe a coyote or fox.  Regardless, that would have been fun to try capturing.

When seeing animals while traveling like this, it’s hard to capture those pictures, because by the time you stop, pull out your equipment, etc…the animal is long gone.  So I try to console myself by saying I wouldn’t have been able to get it anyway, but then that is the fun and challenge in trying.

In the end the trip to Billings this week may have been well worth the time, even if I didn’t capture those pictures, because their are some positive possibilities on the horizon for Steve.  Now, that would be the most perfect picture!  Yet I’m not sure if words or pictures can capture the deep feelings involved in that moment when it indeed becomes real.   Just hoping those possibilities don’t die as the others have.

What a Family

Yep, this is one great family!  They know how to have fun with each other.  I love seeing that and capturing it through the camera lens.  These photographs capture that fun.  I’ve known Peggy for a long time and she is one of the most devoted mothers I know.  These pictures were taken the day after Thanksgiving and I’m now just getting them posted.

Billings Trip

With only one working vehicle I ended up taking Steve up to the Billings airport yesterday.  (It was a bit scary because the car doesn’t do well on bad roads.)  A company bought him tickets to come meet with them about a project.  Hopefully this will net him a nice contract job or a job.  We’ll soon find out.

Anyhow it was very cold out.  When I got up that morning (4:30AM) our thermometer said it was seventeen degrees below zero.  It was cold.  As a photographer I normally take my camera everywhere except not on this trip.  There were two reasons why:  1) I just didn’t want it sitting in out in the cold as I shopped.  2) There wasn’t going to really be room for it in a safe place.

Yet I did regret not taking the camera because as we came down off the heights from the airport it was an awesome site to behold.  That cold air was heavy and so dense.  Then there were the warm puffs of air rising from all the various buildings and then the sun trying to peak through all those layers.

Then it would have been nice to have the camera to take a picture of someone stealing a coat from Kolh’s.  I tried getting the plate numbers of the red pickup but it was too small and hard to read.  If I had the camera I could zero in on that spot and maybe read it.  It’s sad that people steals.

I was able to get a few things I needed for Ryan’s wedding yet there is more to go.   It was nice spending the day with my daughter Amber.  It might have been fun getting pictures of her shopping.  I think she enjoyed it.

Well that is the photographer minded person for you where so much of the thinking revolves around picture moments to preserve.

A Brave Family

It’s Christmas season!  The orders are coming in and so I’ve gotten a behind on posting to the blog.  In fact I need to post some of the pictures I’ve taken recently…sometime.

For now I’m going to show the most recent family pictures.  I have to say they were Brave.  Why?  Well because it was cold out.  The wind came up which made it feel colder.  So we ended up taking the pictures inside a barn.

I love these kids…they are so cute and got personalities that match it.  They did great considering all the circumstances of the session.  The parents are awesome too.  They showed alot of patience with the kids and of course me.  hee hee.

Today’s Tradition on Thanksgiving Day

I have learned to appreciate the work that goes into preparing those meals especially when many family members gather together. It certainly helps when many hands help prepare the food. In recent years we’ve added something before eating the meal. We say the prayer of thanksgiving and then one by one we go around the table and try naming a thing we are thankful for that someone else hasn’t used. It starts to get a bit tricky if there is a large group.

Enjoy the people you are spending the day with.  May you find things to be grateful for.

Things I’m Thankful For This Year

This year I’m grateful that we have been able to pay our bills in spite of hubby being laid off for nearly 9 months and really no savings to rely on. Yes, we’ve had to cut way back and do without things.

I’m grateful to have been able to find work, have the health I’ve had to do the work I’ve done, and strength to do all the roles I’ve taken on. (maybe not like I’ve planned).

Thankful of unselfish children who has taken the changes with admirable strength of character.  Thankful for the kindness of people around us.

I’m thankful most of all for a higher power that has taught me to be humble, trust, have faith and patience.

Thankful for…

Yes, in many ways it can seem cliche but oh how far it is from that!  I am truly grateful to have a good devoted, kind, loving husband. I feel so blessed to have the good children I do. Each holds a very special spot in my heart.

I love my daughter in law and my soon to be daughter in law. I feel so blessed to have the parents I do. I have always felt of their love towards me. They have taught me so many things like honesty, kindness, to work hard, to enjoy life, to laugh, etc.

Then to have the in laws I have. They are wonderful. I only hope that I can be an in law like they have been to me. They have always praised me, my parenting skills, etc…they always lifted me. I’m grateful that we live where we do, surrounded by such good people.

Thankful for Childhood Memories

As a kid I always looked forward to the day for many reasons. One is that I got off of school (which I must admit I liked), that I got to spend time with my favorite cousins and play, eating all this wonderful food including all the yummy pies.

Some years we would travel to NM to visit my mothers family there.  I loved that too. It was always fun to go to my Grandparent’s place. In fact I have alot of memories from those trips.  It would include traveling in the middle of bad storms in WY, CO, UT, and NM.

Then one year my parents took us to Disney land during the Thanksgiving break. What fond memories to have.