Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

October is just a few days away, bringing about the beginning of my favorite time of year. The cooler nights. The leaves changing from green to orange, red, or yellow. The slowing down of life in general. I'm good with slowing down. Sunny, though, isn't a fan of the slow life movement. Since Friday Sunny has been on restricted activity due to the muscle strain. He did really well Saturday, mostly just hanging out on my lap all day. I'm pretty sure the pain was enough then that he simply didn't have it in him to be his usual puppy self. Yesterday he wanted to be a little more active, but I curtailed all play. We spent the day in the back yard just sitting in the grass or in the house, binge watching a Brit Box show. Today he tried to convince me all day that he was perfectly fine. To keep him somewhat low-key, I spent a lot of time on the floor, working on his down stay, which lasts all of two seconds.  While he's still slightly limping, it's only noticeable beca...

A few months ago, I decided it's time to pursue my love of photography, specifically doing dog shoots. I had left Facebook for a variety of reasons, but in wanting to bring in clients, I knew I had to return and make a page just about dog photography. For better or worse, a Facebook page does reach a lot of people. So my new Facebook page is up and running: Bark & Soul Dog Photography.  Because I don't have a lot of friends on Facebook, with my decision to leave the platform and be gone for awhile, I found I wasn't getting the reach I really need. Enter my best friend, who shared my page with her hundreds of friends, and just from her, I tallied up nearly 100 followers in a day. Since then, the followers have been few and far between. I'm now standing at 112, which isn't great by any means, but it's a start. Even with people becoming a follower, I have yet to secure a shoot. I've had inquiries into what I charge, then crickets. I've done a couple of ...

The vet called early this morning to check on Sunny. I hadn't even gotten out of bed yet since all three of the boys hadn't awakened at their usual time of six-ish, which is what I use as my alarm clock. We were all still snoozing when my phone rang. I was surprised to see it was nearly 7 am. He asked if there was any improvement. When we had gotten up around 4:30 to go outside, Sunny was noticeably limping, but he managed the steps and even jumped onto the couch, which is what he does when doesn't want to return to his crate. We agreed I'd watch him closely through the rest of the weekend and see where things are on Monday. So far today, Sunny has done a lot of sleeping, far more than he usually does. That tells me he's in pain and the rest is what he needs. He did spend several hours outside while I did yard work, mostly just laying on the back porch or in the garage, so he did have some activity today. Just very subdued activity. So subdued the downtime for me is...

Over a year and a half has passed since my last post. I went from being 59 to 61 (which has been just fine), I tried reconciling with my husband, (which did not work out) and I brought another pup into the pack (which has been . . . an experience). I'm still at my job, with this being year 27. I'm still gardening, reading, and playing with my camera. I've made some wonderful friends in this little village I call home, and I've made new friends all because of Sunny, the new addition to the pack. Sunny. Where to start? For several years I have been following those involved with search and rescue, especially canine search and rescue. Then, when I helped deliver a van full of goods to those in need following hurricane Helene, we stayed a night in a hotel on the way home, and a group of canine search and rescue handlers on their way to North Carolina were eating breakfast when we were. I eavesdropped a little, listening to them talk about their dogs and what they would be fa...