Chuck's Photoshoot

I knew the day before Thanksgiving that I wanted to take my camera to dinner, but I also knew that I didn't really want to deal with the constant adjusting to try and expose decent shots in low light. This led me to dig out my external flash that I bought last year. I played around with it a lot when I first got it, but I never really took it anywhere with me to use in real situations. I hadn't been able to really feel comfortable with it and so it went by the wayside for a while.

Until last Wednesday, when I decided I wanted to finally use it for realsies. So I dug it out, dusted it off, and ran downstairs to bother the dog. He pretty much hates when I come at him with the camera, and this day was no different, but I sat in the doorway of the guest room while Chuck paced around wondering why I wouldn't let him out or play with him.

These shots were taken at the foot of the bed with natural light coming in from the windows at the head of the bed, leaving it pretty shadowy at the foot of the bed. It was the perfect spot to see if I could get my flash to fill in where the shadows were heavy. These photos are my result with only a little little fill light added in Lightroom where his face was still a little dark (aside from the obvious post processing), which is always a challenge while photographing my mostly black dog.

In the end, I'm really happy with these and it feels really good to be playing with my camera again. I need to make a point of it more often. 

I Need a Drink: How My Dog Ruined a Good News Day

In my last post, I told you about how Chuck forced himself out of a second story window for who-knows-what reason. In this post, I'm going to tell you about how he did it again just a few days later. Meaning, today.

I came home from my HSG today after having picked up lunch and an iced latte. I wasn't really worried when I came in the front door and Chuck wasn't there to greet me; if I come home at a not-so-usual time, he won't always make a big deal about my arrival. I set down the mail and took my lunch upstairs. I peeked into the guest room, expecting to find him on the bed in his goofy cone. He wasn't there. What was there was the screen, all torn up and laying on the bed with the window wide open.

This [expletive deleted] dog did it again! Except this time, he pulled the screen into the room, and somehow squeezed through the bed posts while wearing his cone. I walked outside and saw our friend and neighbor Tim walking his li'l guy Seamus.

Chuck [expletive deleted] did it again! He jumped out of the window and he's gone!

"Uh... what? Oh man." (Sorry for coming at you with that like a freight train, Tim.)

Tim walked the near by parks with Seamy while I called Jamie and went in the opposite direction. Jamie called Animal Control, put a Lost Dog post on our community's lost and found message board and headed home from work while I walked down the trail that Jamie often walks Chuck on. I circled both schools nearby (since Chuck would not hesitate to go play with all the kids at recess) then headed back toward home through some neighborhoods.

Jamie found me in one neighborhood and picked me up. We headed around the park and the middle school and up through our old neighborhood, and then stopped at the elementary school by our house to see if Chuck had shown up there. (He hadn't.)

While we were there, our friend Jarrod called me and asked how I was doing, if we found the dog, and suggested I call the local Humane Society to give them a heads up in case someone turns him in there. He hopped in the car with his buddy and drove around to help us look for Chuck. (I owe him a thousand beers and thank yous for being calm and clear-headed when Jamie and I were stressing out and also for the hug and getting me away from my bitch of a neighbor who was talking to me like I was an idiot.)

Jamie dropped me off at home so I could eat some of my lunch. I hadn't eaten all day so that and all of the walking and stressing and crying made me feel ready to collapse or barf. (I did neither.) I ate a few bites, made a couple calls then headed out to walk the neighborhood and check the bushes in the case that Chuck had been injured and was hiding in a bush or something. That was when I met up with Jarrod and the bitchy neighbor, then Jamie pulled up. We chatted then split up again.

I walked to the nearby park where Jamie met up with me. We were going to walk the neighborhoods, but decided to walk back to the car and drive some more when I got a phone call. It was a neighbor down the street. She had Chuck!

She found Chuck in a bush all caught up in his bandana and the piece of fabric that tied his cone on, so she helped him get those off and put him in her garage and gave him water. She luckily thought to check the message boards, which is where she found my number. Of course, I pick him up and he's like "Oh, hey Mom!" like no big deal.

I gave him a pat down and he wasn't sensitive anywhere, and the cut on his knee hadn't reopened, so I'm going to just keep an eye out for the things that the vet told me to watch the last time he went out the window instead of going back for more x-rays right away.

Right now, I really just want to either have a drink or take a nap. Maybe both.

Oh, and hey, my HSG was all good. These tubes are clear! I might elaborate on that in another post. Maybe.

When Dogs (Try to) Fly

Yesterday, around 3:30pm, I get a call from a number I don't recognize. I let it go to voicemail. Half a minute later, I listen to the message.

Hi Sam, this is Jennifer Lastname-- actually, you don't know me. I'm your neighbor. Your dog-- your black dog fell out of the window. He seems okay, we're just hanging out in my garage.

The rest was just details as to which condo she was in. Anyway, I'm flipping out on the inside because I deduced that he had fallen from the second story window. I called her back, her tone was that there was nothing major wrong with him so I was a little more at ease.

The window from which Chuck jumped. Jamie was quick to fix the screen. He's a self-proclaimed screening pro, now.

I left work and headed home, grabbed his leash, then walked out through the garage to head to pick him up. (Her garage is opposite mine and one-over.) When she answers, I see Chuck gently pushing the door to her garage open to come see me. He runs out to me and is all "Hey, what's up Mom!". Seriously, dog? She showed me that the only thing she found on him was a cut on his knee.

She explained to me that she was out back talking to another neighbor when they heard him fall. She didn't specify, but because I know him, I assume that Chuck just got up and ran straight to them to find out if they saw that cool stunt he just did.

Chuck loves looking out windows, especially when they're open and he can smell everything. The downstairs windows we always make sure to keep closed when we're not around because we wouldn't put it past him to bust through the screen to run after a bunny. Chuck loves hanging out on the bed in the guest room because we leave those windows open when it's nice. The headboard of the guest bed is pushed up to those two windows up there. It's the metal kind with bars, so we always assumed it was safe to leave the windows open. (We also assumed our dog was smart enough to NOT jump out of a second story window.)

It had to have been a stunt. See, the bars on the guest bed are fairly narrow. He would have had to really work to squeeze through them. Also, the screen was completely busted through, not just pushed out of the window as a whole. He had to have been working on that screen as well. I just don't get it.

Coned and back behind bars. (The garage in the background is where he hung out til I picked him up.)

When I got Chuck home, I called the vet.

So, funny story: my dog just jumped out of a second-story window. Can I bring him in to get checked out?

"OH MY GOD, is he okay!?"

The vet gave him a manual body check and assessed the gash on his knee. He said everything seemed fine, but it'd be best to take some x-rays just to confirm and also to make sure he didn't have any internal damage. I agreed to the x-rays and the staple for his cut. Afterward, the vet showed me the x-rays.

"He must be made of steel." he said. 

He had absolutely no broken bones and no sign of organ damage. (We did, however, find out that he has arthritis in his knee.)

Apparently, he was a champ about getting his staples.

$342 later, we still have our crazy dog, which is nothing when I consider that we could have been spending thousands on surgeries, or even worse, he could have died. Thank you, Chuck, for being so resilient, but can you maybe, I don't know, NOT jump out of windows?

 

 

Wordless-ish Wednesday

Some old Instagrammies of my puppa from last summer.

Chuck loves wearing and layering scarves, soccer balls, women in skirts, looking out windows, un-making the guest bed, hiding treats instead of eating them and sitting on the arm rest of the couch. He tolerates not being able to chase bunnies, his Cousin Harvey and hugs from Mom. He doesn't like beer, thunder and not being involved when we have guests.

In participation with Wordless{ish} Wednesday at The Paper Mama