Portrait of a Dog

This is Shelby or rather, ShellBEE in your best hillbilly voice.

We first saw Shelby at a shelter after losing our beloved Buddy, a toy Rat Terrier, who was smarter than some people I've encountered ;-)

Her name was actually Sheba, but since there are Ford Mustangs in the driveway, a more suitable name was needed. Sheba became Shelby and she didn't seem to mind the change one bit, especially when she's called and there's a treat to be had.

When she's happy, really happy, she smiles...She has smile wrinkles that appear on her face, as seen in the photo above. She's happiest when her best friend (my daughter) gives her lots of attention.

Unfortunately, Shelby sheds fur. Not just a little bit, either. I can sweep around the house and I swear there's enough fur in the dust pan to make another dog! Yikes!

What quirky traits do your pets have? And, is there a story behind their name?
Share your stories by leaving me comments.

Photo Not Needed

Not all experiences are captured with photographs or video recordings...which is ok, because that's life as we know it to be - it's always moving forward. It doesn't stop and pose or have room for re-takes. We capture memories in our minds and hearts....

Last night, on my way to visit my parents, I accidentally hit a turtle that was attempting to cross road. Now, the car didn't crush it, but it was still in the middle of a busy 2 lane road. I really felt sorry for the slow-moving animal because it was in a 55 MPH zone. There's no way a turtle on land can move that fast, unless it's in the vehicle.

Oddly enough, as we were leaving their house, my daughter noticed that the dogs had "found" a turtle. We saved this one from nosey wet noses and snappy sharp teeth by placing the turtle in a box while we pondered just what to do with him..or her.

This turtle was not injured, but it was hiding in its protective shell, keeping all its limbs intact.
Watching him in the box, we waited for him to "come out of his shell"...literally!

We had to decide quickly what to do with him, since it was getting dark and I didn't want to be stuck with a turtle for the rest of the night. My daughter suggested that we release the turtle at the river or the local park.

With the turtle still hiding in its shell, in the box, we decided to drive down to the park.
It was dark when we arrived. I lifted the turtle out of the box and carried it to a place where he could either slide into the water or walk away from it.

We set the turtle down and watched and waited. It wasn't long before the water began beckoning him and we saw the turtle make a move toward the water. Another minute or so and the turtle took off into the water without making a noise. Since it was dark, he disappeared quickly from our view.

We talked about the turtle on the way home. We felt that it was in a better environment to forage for food and find other turtles. We thought of the other turtle that wasn't so lucky and how this one shouldn't encounter a road since it had so much more room to roam in and out of the water.

It was quiet but happy celebration that took place without one single photo....but the memory of that night will be something that we'll talk about for years to come.

Birthday Surprise

For my husband's surprise birthday party last year, he had the idea that I bought him a car.

In all reality, I had found a 2000 Mustang GT Johnny Lightning car to match his car.... Only problem was, it was painted green. So, I had it painted to match his car, with the addition of stripes!

On the day of the party, I had to 'lure' him away from the house so that our parents could set up the decorations. So, we went to a few stores to run some 'errands'. At the last store, he decided to wait in the car while I ran in to pick up a few items. While I was still in the store, he found the original packaging for the toy car in the console of MY car on the day of the party!

He didn't realize then that it was for him, but he tells me that he knew something was up, because EVERYONE kept calling me every 10 minutes to ask where we were.

Once at the house, the entire family was waiting to surprise him. He found his new car on top of his birthday cake.

He now tells me it's the 'greatest thing, ever!' hahaha.... He can be so sarcastic.

Independence Day 2009

For the 4th of July, we had sparklers and a few other fireworks on hand. (Click on the image for a larger view)
Of course, I had my camera with me set to the continuous shooting mode.

Of the 20+ photos taken, I couldn't choose just one photo, so this collage displays some of my favorites.

We had lots of fun, especially with the sparklers. Those are perfect to photograph, since they last longer and they can be moved easily with a wave of the hand, as demonstrated by my husband.

The other cool thing is if you can keep still or even better, use a tripod (which I did not) motion can be captured with a long shutter speed. That's my husband in the photo with the smoke, lighting and then quickly moving away from one of the fireworks.

After the fireworks were complete, we fired up the grill and had burgers and hot dogs...naturally!

Double Take

My Mustang GT has undergone a transformation of sorts.

Brian insisted that we should put stripes on her to match his car.

Tri-County Collision agreed to do the stripes and used Brian's car to match the paint and scheme. They also were nice enough to let me go 'behind the scenes' to snap a photos of the Mustang while it was in progress. Thanks guys!

Driving the car home from Tri-County Collision was so fun!

We were both on the highway,

2 Mustang GTs, with inverted colors and people were staring and pointing at us.

Even though I was hesitant to put stripes on the car, I think it looks great!