Canine Humor

 

 Remember those three dogs that belong to my friends David and Riley?  Well here is a photo of that little one, Alexis. Riley recently sent this one to me.  

He said on weekends when they are doing things around the house, they tend to be going up and down the stairs frequently and many times the dogs follow.  At one point, Alexis decided it wasn't worth it going up and down all the time.  She decided to stay at the top and just listen to see if anything happened to make it necessary for her to come down.  (The necessary things might be activity in the kitchen or the door bell ringing.) 

I thought it was an adorable and humorous photo. It's also a great follow-up to my staircase collage that I posted yesterday. 

The Furry Kids

 

I had dinner at my friends David and Riley's house this last weekend and of course I took the opportunity to take more photos of their three furry kids.

Here's Teddy giving me a small smile.

Here is Kasper intently watching the preparations going on in the kitchen.

And finally Alexis, who rules the roost so to speak.  She might be the smallest but she is surely the Alpha dog.  

They are so much fun to be around.  

Theme Day: Entertainment

 

The Western Spirit Museum of Scottsdale hosted a big opening recently after an addition was added to the museum.  I caught these shots of some of the entertainment taking place in front of the museum.  

First we have a singing cowboy and the fellow to the left was showing some rope tricks.  

Some true west entertainment for this City Daily Photo Bloggers theme day.  To see more entertainment from other bloggers, click here.

Majestic Animals

 

I heard that the Budweiser Clydesdales were going to be at the local Total Wine shop on Sunday so I decided I should be there to get some photos.  What I didn't expect to see was a horse inside the store.  Because of this horrible heat wave we've been having here, it was simply too hot to line up the horses outside for two hours.  So they brought one horse at a time inside the store to be admired by one and all.

I didn't stay to watch them switch the horses but I did drive around to the back of the store to see the huge, air-conditioned truck waiting to transport them to different locations.  I do wonder where this group lives most of the time.

The Singing Dog

 

On Sunday afternoon, I attended a wonderful concert put on by the Arizona Bach Festival.  It took place at All Saints' Episcopal Church in north Phoenix.  While I was waiting for my friends to arrive, I noticed this family sitting in the parking lot area with their dog.  They had a recording playing of some lovely baroque music and their dog was singing along with music.  It was the perfect pre-concert entertainment. 

I think that dog might have been an opera singer in a previous life!

Theme Day: Double

 

On Friday it suddenly dawned on me that I needed a theme photo for today's post and I didn't even know what the theme was.  So I had to do some quick work to find the theme and then I scrolled through the photo files to find an appropriate photo.  This one popped out sooner than I expected.  Two almost identical horses at work pulling a wagon.  This will work for the February 1st theme of "Double"!

To see more "double" photos, click here.

Theme Day: Photo of the Year

 

My photo of the year was a tough choice this year. As I scanned my 2025 posts, I found so many photos that I loved.  I narrowed it down to two photos.  

This one is a portrait of Alexis, one of the three dogs that belong to my friends David and Riley. I posted it in July.  It was sheer luck that Alexis posed so perfectly and long enough for me to grab this shot.  

This second one I took at the Phoenix Art Museum.  I posted it last May. I had just recently taken that class on iPhone photography and I was practicing the use of the "portrait" mode. There was a colorful painting on the wall a few feet behind this Buddha statue and the portrait mode blurred that painting into a perfect backdrop.  

There are still a few of us City Daily Photo bloggers out there.  If you would like to check out their Photos of the Year, click here.

Happy New Year to All!!

A Dazzle of Zebras

 

Back in November, a fellow blogger did a post about collective nouns, the names used for groups of people, animals and objects.  I learned from that post that the collective noun for a group of zebras is a "Dazzle".  I loved the idea of calling a group of zebras a "dazzle" so when I came across this photo taken 10 years ago, I just had to post it.  Dazzle is a great name for a group of these creatures because they are rather dazzling, don't you think?

This photo was taken at a wild animal park called "Out of Africa" located about 90 miles north of Phoenix at Camp Verde Arizona.

Whiskers!

 

My friend Glenda was babysitting her neighbor's dog Pepper last week and when I stopped by her house I couldn't resist a photo or two.  

This photo gave me a chuckle with all those whiskers flying about.  

Did you know that the word Schnauzer comes from the German word for "snout" or "whiskered snout".  

Pepper is displaying his whiskered snout for all of us to see.

Sublime Observations

 

One evening when I was walking to dinner near my hotel in London, some movement up high on this building caught my eye.

I wondered what I was seeing hanging from that open window.  I zoomed in and saw that a bird feeder was hanging from the window and two lovely, green parakeets were feasting on those seeds.

That same evening when I was near the restaurant, I spotted this cute fellow observing what was happening below him from a balcony.  

A few seconds later, he spotted me so I said "hello".  He didn't reply but I did see some tail wagging happening.  

Cute things like this make me smile.  

An Unexpected Walk in the Garden

My weather app said it was going to be about 82 degrees first thing Sunday morning and cloudy.  I decided to see if I could do a 6:00 AM walk on Sunday.  It turned out to be quite pleasant.  Without that giant fireball pouring its bright and radiant heat all over everything, I could enjoy being outdoors.  And, only a few other members decided to do the same thing, so it was wonderfully peaceful too.

It was a good morning for wildlife.  I saw this very cute little rabbit scouring the ground for bits to eat.  

The quail families were all out and about.  Here's papa with two of his young ones.

And, here's momma with another young one in the background.  They were out foraging with the family in tow.  

This white-winged dove must have gotten up even earlier than I did.  He decided to take a little nap while perched on a prickly pear cactus.  

It was nice to get a walk in during the month of July.  That is a rare opportunity indeed.  

 

Canine Portraits

 

I had dinner at my friend's David and Riley's new house last Saturday and I made another discovery with my new iPhone.  That new "portrait" mode allows you to take a photo from a much further distance than you would for normal shot.  That makes getting photos of the world's most reluctant subjects much easier.  

Dogs are notoriously camera shy so if you can get the shot from further away before they realize they are the subject, magic happens.

This is Alexis.  She's the alpha dog of this little trio.  She's the smallest but there is no denying, she's the boss.

This is Teddy.  He's such a happy dog. He's a bit of a slow learner but with that cute face, who cares. 

This is Casper. He's the biggest dog in the group but he's perfectly happy to let Alexis rule the roost.  He's such a sweet boy!

All of these dogs were rescue dogs.  They each have different stories and backgrounds but they all are happy pups who have adapted quickly to each other and their new home.  They are both loving and loved!

Odd Collection and a Little Humor

 

It's time for me to unload a few of the extra shots that have accumulated in my files recently.  

Above is a Great Blue Heron who is looking a bit scruffy.  He was busy grooming himself which he obviously needed.

To the left is an old International truck that was hiding among the trees that day I went to the plant nursery. It's an intimidating looking vehicle.

About 3 weeks ago, there was a little excitement at my complex.  We had a gas leak.  There were five big fire trucks, two smaller fire trucks and a whole load of firemen asking us to leave our apartments.  The whole thing lasted about an hour and the leak was coming from one of the gas grills in the courtyard. There is no gas going into the apartments so no worries there.

My friends David and Riley just moved into a new house.  This photo was taken before they moved when they were measuring things.  Their dogs were enjoying those tall windows that are low enough to the floor for the little ones to look out.  

This last one is a little "political" humor that someone sent me. That's one way to show your disdain for a certain billionaire with a tarnished image.

BIG Dogs!

 

I was at Scottsdale Fashion Square last weekend and noticed that one of the mall seating areas was full of people with their dogs.  However these two stood out among all the others.

The two gorgeous Great Danes were curious about all the attention they were getting.  Every now and then, a smaller dog would walk up for a closer look but they quickly retreated.  Not that these two giants did anything to scare the dogs, I think their sheer size was an intimidating factor.

I wanted a picture of one of the small dogs nose to nose with the big ones but those encounters were so quick, I couldn't capture it.

I did however, crop this one photo where it looks a bit like I might have found a two-headed dog!  It was a fun encounter.  Great Danes might look intimidating but they are truly gentle giants.

Wildlife Visitors

 

I was at my friends Julie and Dave's house last weekend and while I was there two unexpected visitors showed up.  Julie had mentioned a week ago that there were signs that javelinas had been roaming the mountainside where she lives.  Here's the proof.

She has called a wildlife expert to trap them and take them to a refuge where they can live a better life away from the hazards of city life.  

Julie snapped these photos while we stayed quiet so we wouldn't scare them off.

More Garden Observations

 

The desert spiny lizard in the top photo was a paparazzi favorite at the garden last Wednesday.  There was a crowd of 7 or 8 photographers pointing a variety of fancy lenses his way.  This fellow was loving the attention.  He was still posing there when I finally walked away.

At another location, these brilliant pomegranate blooms were looking especially attractive in full sun.  

 This prickly pear cactus was sporting an abundance of fruit. I snapped this photo using the telephoto on my camera.

Then I thought I'd try using that "portrait" mode on my iPhone that I learned about in the class I took a few weeks ago.  They give two different perspectives but I like them both.  

Hiding Among the Reeds

 

When I was at the Desert Botanical Garden last Wednesday evening, I took a walk along the longest trail in the park waiting for it to get dark.  At the little pond I stopped to see If I could see any activity and I found this fellow hiding among the reeds and cattails.  He looked so dark in the twilight that I almost missed him.

I think he saw me and decided to sit very still until I moved on. 

Another Furry Encounter

 

I met another furry little friend last weekend.  I was having lunch with a friend at a local pub when this fluffy little fellow arrived with its two humans at the next table.  

This little sweetie was so well behaved, sitting patiently under the table and occasionally glancing my way.  I caught this photo during one of those glances.  This little fellow looks like snowball with eyes.  

Furry Friends 2025

 

The Shemer Art Center hosted its annual Furry Friends event yesterday and I stopped by to have a look.  That's where I saw this very handsome Australian Shepherd dog.

He and his owner were putting on quite a show.  That is one very smart dog.

While I was at The Shemer, I visited the latest art show.  I'll have some more photos to show you next week.

Furry Friends

 

I featured Pepper two years ago on my blog. He's a neighbor of my friend Glenda and he has a sort of ritual of visiting Glenda for a little while every day.  He was at her house recently when I stopped by and he looked so cute with a colorful ribbon/flower tied to his collar.  I could resist another photo of that cute face.

Okay, so I couldn't resist two photos of that cute face.  

Pepper is a true sweetie.