Goodbye Sweet Rosie

I took the above photo this past weekend, two days before her death, because I thought she looked cute in her "Everyone Loves A Redhead" t-shirt.

Rosie: July 1999 - October 2008

Monday night, when I got home from work, I found that one of our poodles, Rosie was very sick.

I won't go into detail, but will just say that in a matter of a few hours, she went from normal to dying as I held her for her final breath.

We are all stunned and heartbroken still.


Rosie was a true lap dog. She loved nothing more than being in one of our's lap.

In December of 1999, Lovely Wife found an add for her on the internet. A person in Dothan, Alabama had a red poodle for sale.

I had just sold some camera equipment and bought an acoustic guitar for playing at church, and with the money left, we went to Dothan and bought Rosie.


So when she wanted to be held, I would sweet talk her with the story of how Mama found her on the internet, and we took a trip to Dothan, Alabama to get her.

She was four months old when we got her, and had been in a crate so much that she had no idea how to play like other dogs. She never did learn to like and want to play with squeaky toys and balls like our other dogs do. But if we got on the floor to play with the dogs, she would sometimes get worked up and play tug-o-war with a toy.

But most of the time, as we tried to play with the dogs, she'd come and get right up against you just wanting to be petted instead of playing. So we'd have to love on her with one hand and tug or throw toys with the other and the other dogs.

This hurt is still way too raw to write much right now; her sudden sickness and death has us all still in shock.

The reality is that, when you have a pet, you will most likely outlive them. But nine years is not that old for a miniature poodle. She should have had at least five or six more years and her passing has left a gaping hole in my heart.

I love you Rosie. I always will. And I'll always remember you, to my own dying day. From now on, one of my great desires will be to see you again someday in heaven.

I'll sit and hold you as long as you want, and I'll have little bites of cheese to feed you, I promise.

I miss you so much.

Poor Leonardo

I know; I'm pathetic.

Lots of work, and I've just completely lost it on the blogs. It's hard to get back into the groove.

So…

Now that I decided to write something, what should it be?

McCain vs Obama? Obama scares me a lot, and McCain scares me somewhat less than Obama. I think McCain is going to win in a squeaker, but then it will be the 2000 election all over again with the law suits to have the judiciary decide the election. (Gore had a 10 point lead at this point in 2000 and then lost, Obama's only a few points ahead, which I think will disappear on election day.) I don't feel like writing about that, it's too depressing.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Nah. I hate rap music and I refuse to talk about rap "stars."

Britney Spears? She's looking better these days, and even was quoted as saying she didn't know where here head was last year when she went through her bald phase, and attacked people with umbrellas. So I'll leave her alone too.

I already poked Lindsay Lohan in the eye with a sharp stick a few weeks ago, so not that.

But this week, some really big news happened.

Remember Leonardo DiCaprio? He used to be an actor? Was in that Titanic movie?

After the success of Titanic, it was believed that Mr. DiCaprio could do no wrong.

But this weekend, he had a new movie open at theatres, and his movie was beaten by a movie about a Chihuahua called "Beverly Hills Chihuahua."

Now, new movies always have their best week on opening weekend, and although Mr. DiCaprio's "Body of Lies" was in a distant third place on it's opening, and theoretically, best, weekend, "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" was number one at the box office for a second weekend.

Man. That's GOTTA hurt. Beaten by a pretend talking chihuahua.

Picture Post, Sunday, September 28, 2007

I love it when the skies here are showing off with deep, rich colors, but softer, pastel skies like in this photo make my spirit soar for some reason. The wild colors are impressive, but the gentle, pastel ones tend to move me. That big mountain of a cloud back there is pretty cool too.

One thing that I miss with digital cameras is "the look" of Kodachrome slides. I've shot many thousands of Kodachrome and Ektachrome slides over the years. As much as I love digital photography, I sometimes see a scene that I've photographed and wish it were in Kodachrome. I played with this one a while in Photoshop Elements and was able to come pretty close to the contrasty, slightly magenta look of Kodachrome. It's a subtle thing, but when I finished, I thought "that's exactly what I wanted."

This heron was on a side thingamajig to the pier and when I went to photography him, he jumped up to fly away. Or so I thought. He actually landed on the rail of the pier itself, much closer to me than he was before. Since he was so obviously feeling like having his picture taken, I obliged him. This must be his good side.

Nothin' special. I just liked the texture of the barnacles there and the reflection on the gently moving blue-green water.

This turned out to be almost like an abstract or impressionist painting, but it's simply the water swirling around a big piece of coquina in the water.

Have a great Sunday, folks.

I've still been really busy at work. Health issues demand that I go to bed early just to be able to deal with the increased hours and stress, so I haven't had time left to visit y'all. Never fear, I'll get around to see you soon.

Picture Post, Sunday September 21, 2008

Yesterday evening, right before sunset, Lovely Wife and I went to a local park to enjoy the views of the Indian River Lagoon.

As the sun went down, the sunlight lit and colored the upper portion of this cloud above this sailboat. Beautiful. Scenes like this can really lower your blood pressure as you soak in the beauty and the warm sea breeze.

Toward the west, there were various types of clouds at different levels in the sky. I love it when that happens. They contrasted nicely with one another and add a nice touch to an already pretty scene.

The sunset was reflecting in the water and the water lapped at the rocks at my feet. A nice peaceful place, but there were a lot of people at the park fishing.

This was the scene in front of our car as we pulled into a parking place. I just got out and walked around the front of the car. An amazing water scene one step from our car's front bumper. The drooping pine needles in the trees there are in Australian pine trees. They were planted all over the coasts of Florida several generations ago, and I love the trees. They have a lazy look and feel about them that really fits in Florida. Sadly, they are now considered politically incorrect by today's standards, and when one dies, they are never replaced with another. They are only replaced with officially approved native Florida plants. Literally hundreds of the trees were blown down in hurricanes Jeanne and Francis in 2004, and were not replaced. I love them, but then I have never ever been politically correct in any way. I miss the long rows of Australian pines that used to line the roadways in certain areas here. I really appreciate the ones that are left.

This photo was taken a month or so ago in the ginormous Ron Jon Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach. This was a really old longboard they had on display. I made a B&W version of this image that is on my photography blog today.

Have a great Sunday, folks.

Lindsay Lohan Gets All, Like, Political, You Know?

I know that like me, all y'all have been waiting with baited breath on what Hollywood's deep thinkers think of Republican Vice Presidential Candidate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

We've already heard from Matt Damon, and boy did he lower the boom on Mrs. Palin. I'm sure she's quaking in her Gore-Tex ™ boots after Matt revealed just how much he disliked her. I mean, seriously, he played a mathematical genius in a movie, right? So the actor's opinion must be much more rationally thought out than say, a Louisiana public school product like myself.

I even heard that Margaret Cho said something bad about Governor Palin, but I didn't bother to find out what it was, because, Margaret Cho is pretty much the least funny commedian I've ever tried to listen to. But since she's a "Hollywood Liberal" I guess her sheer famousness must make her opinion much more truthful than all you red-necks and bigots in flyover country, right?

But now, the brainiac herself, Lindsay Lohan (that's pronounced LOW-en, NOT LOW-HAN, you idiots!) has weighed in. And boy, was it worth the wait.

Now this bad actress and even worse singer has furiously rubbed both of her brain cells together, and the slowly gathering heat therefrom produced these timeless pearls of wisdom:

"I really cannot bite my tongue anymore when it comes to Sarah Palin." (OOO, this is gonna be deep!)

"I couldn't be more supportive of a woman in office, but let's face it, it comes down to the person, and their beliefs, male or female." (She's winding up, folks, watch out!)

"I would have liked to have remained impartial, however I am afraid that the 'lipstick on a pig' comments will overshadow the issues and the fact that I believe BARACK OBAMA is the best choice for president." (See that? She says she's worried that the "lipstick on a pig" comments will overshadow the fact that she believes Barack Obama is the best choice for president, among other things.)

"I find it quite interesting that a woman who now is running to be second in command of the United States, only 4 years ago had aspirations to be a television anchor, which is probably all she is qualified to be."

"Is it a sin to be gay?"

"Should it be a sin to be straight? Or to use birth control? Or to have sex before marriage? Or even to have a child out of wedlock?"

"Is our country so divided that the Republicans' best hope is a narrow minded, media obsessed homophobe?"

I told y'all it was going to be deep.

She's not only a deep thinker, but now that she's a newly minted lesbian, she learned a new word: homophobe.

All that, from the girl voted most likely to have slept with every male in California, and who now, in an amazing display of effortless switch-hitting, has started in on bedding the women of California (starting with a Canadian, 'cause they're, like, exotic and all).

Man, Sarah Palin must really be hurtin'. Matt Damon, Margaret Cho, and think-tank giant Lindsay Lohan (Remember, that's pronounced LOW-en, NOT LOW-HAN) have all vented their massive intellects through their idiotic mouths, and the consensus is this, Obama good, Palin bad.

Lindsay Lohan has single handedly justified the creation of MySpace.

Now I'm going to have to sit down an rethink this whole election thing.

Lindsay is such a good MySpace writer that she needs to quit trying to act and sing and become a jer jurr jrr , newspaper reporter.

Eating Veggies Shrinks the Brain

If eating vegetables shrinks the brain, I wonder if, conversely, not eating your vegetables makes your brain bigger.

I come from a family that, when they do occasionally eat vegetables, they are "simmered to aych-ee-double-hockey-sticks." And a half a cup of bacon grease cooking in there to give 'em some flavor.

I have to actually think, "I NEED to eat some vegetables." That is, unless we have some fresh, home grown 'maters around the house. I love me some 'maters.

But I read this story and wondered, if, my not eating much vegetables is the reason I have such a massive cranium.

Could be.

Ped Egg

Have y'all seen them Ped Egg things on TV?

It looks like a little egg-shaped cheese grater, but you're supposed to use it on the callouses on your feet. (With 138 MicroFiles!)

Then they open it up and show them emptying the gratings into the garbage on the TV commercial.

Number One Daughter bought herself one.

Now, if you're eating pizza at our house, and we run out of parmesian cheese, we can tap into Number One Daughter's Ped Egg scrapings and fix your pizza right up.

Cause the grated callouses in the Ped Egg look just like parmesian cheese.

Yeah. I'm sick. But that's the way my mind works sometimes.