Dog of the Day: Jax the Great Pyrenees Anatolian Shepherd Mix

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Adam Lang

Jax wasn’t feeling it. I’m not sure what it was, and I’m not sure what he was feeling, but he definitely wasn’t feeling it. No excuses, either: he’s only 6! Still practically a puppy.

(Incidentally: a Great Pyrenees Anatolian shepherd mix? And apparently a rescue, and not an intentional cross? How does something like that even happen? What are the chances that a Great Pyrenees and an Anatolian shepherd would just happen to run across one another?)

Edit: Oh man, I can’t believe I didn’t even look. It turns out we’ve seen Jax before!

White Great Pyrenees Anatolian Shepherd Mix Sprawled Out On The Ground, Totally Relaxed

I would give a lot to be able to relax that much, even just for one night a week.

White Great Pyrenees Anatolian Shepherd Mix Sprawled Out On The Ground, Totally Relaxed

He opened his eyes and looked at me, but didn’t seem at all inclined to expend any effort at actually greeting me. Hmf.

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Sunday Switchup: A Foggy View

Posted on June 21, 2015 by Adam Lang

A few weekends ago, I had the pleasure of dogsitting a gorgeous white shepherd (more or less a white German shepherd, but apparently they’re their own breed now). She’s an older dog, and her kidneys, though still working fine, aren’t what they once were. So I ended up having to stay with her until 10 PM, and then get up and get back to her by 6 AM. Which wouldn’t be so bad, except the busses between where she lives and where I live don’t start up until well after 6.

Actually, I lie, because it wasn’t ‘so bad’ anyway. It’s gorgeous getting up at 5 once in a while, especially on a weekend when nobody else is about. It was a lovely 40-minute walk to her house through the deserted streets, and I was treated to a dozen gorgeous views, only one of which I thought to take a picture of. This is one of San Francisco’s famous stairways: looking south on Lyon Street from Broadway. There would be a nice view of the bay and probably the Golden Gate as well, if it weren’t for the fog.

Lyon Street Stairs, San Francisco

Yes, I was going down them… but I had to get up the other side of the hill first.

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Caturday Supplement: North Beach Kitties

Posted on June 20, 2015 by Adam Lang

I haven’t been seeing much of Autumn lately: she’s pretty much working full time on her Pup Scouts job during the day, and spending her nights dogsitting, both for direct clients and through DogVacay. I managed to ambush her last weekend and drag her off for dinner not far from the place she was currently dog-sitting. After dinner, she said, “Oh, I have to show you something,” and led me down a couple of streets and around a corner and there was this little adorable tableau.

Two Cats Sleeping In A Window, One In A Hammock

If I ever get pets I am going to make up a window like this that they can sleep in. So cute!

Cat Sleeping In A Hammock Lined With Corrugated Cardboard

That is… a cardboard-box-lined hammock. I cannot imagine a more cat-attractive sleeping arrangement.

It reassures me that cats still have furrier ears than I do.

It reassures me that cats still have furrier ears than I do.

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Dog of the Day: Frankie the French Bulldog Puppy

Posted on June 19, 2015 by Adam Lang

Frankie (“Frankie the Frenchie!”) is 13 weeks old in this picture.

Sorry for the rather sparse post today, and the lack yesterday. I’ve had a rough couple of days sleep-wise, and badly need to catch up.

Black And White French Bulldog Puppy Trying On A New Harness And Leash

Baby’s first harness! They were buying it big, but Frankie is wiggly enough that that may not be a good idea… I’m pretty sure she can just wiggle out of that.

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Dog of the Day: Max the Border Collie Australian Shepherd Mix

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Adam Lang

Confession time: I love all the dogs of San Francisco, but I do have some favorites. Max (4 years old, and border collie/Australian shepherd is an educated guess) is one of them. I could give you a dozen reasons — happy disposition, big smile, ridiculous airplane ears, gorgeous coloration, NOSE FRECKLES! — but the fact is, Max and I totally hit it off the first time we met. I saw him, and he looked over at me and wasn’t quite sure what to make of me. So I leaned down and jumped around and tried to get him to chase me and generally acted like a lunatic (or a dog who wanted to play) and his eyes just lit up.

And now I run into him every few days in the park I jog through on my way to work. And every time he sees me coming he runs over, leans against my leg, and makes the most ridiculous happy whining and whimpering sounds and wags his tail and wiggles his body and just generally acts like he can’t contain his happiness. His mom says he doesn’t do that for any of the other dog park regulars, just me.

If there’s a better way to start the day, I sure haven’t found it.

Smiling Tricolor Border Collie Australian Shepherd Mix With Funny Ears That Stick Out To The Side And Nose Freckles Sitting On Bricks

Max is a very well-mannered dog. Despite how excited he gets, he’s never once tried to jump up on me.

Smiling Tricolor Border Collie Australian Shepherd Mix With Funny Ears That Stick Out To The Side And Nose Freckles Sitting On Bricks

Look at that grin. It makes me smile just looking at him.

Tricolor Border Collie Australian Shepherd Mix With Funny Ears That Stick Out To The Side And Nose Freckles Looking Plaintive As He Is Petted By The Photographer

And then there’s his soulful expression. Every time I see it I think, “Hey, I could call in sick today and just play with Max…”

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Sky Supplement: The Trees of Monterey

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Adam Lang

Looks like we have one more day of bonus ‘Monterey vacation’ content left. And it’s great, as long as you like watching trees grow!

White Dead Tree Against Blue Sky Stippled With Clouds

I know nothing about trees. But that’s a pretty dead tree. And also a pretty, dead tree.

Tree With Funky Bunched Leaves Against Grey Sea And Sky

And I’d be willing to bet that this is alive, although I’m not sure it’s a tree.

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Dog of the Day: Leal the Australian Shepherd

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Adam Lang

Leal is a gorgeous floofy twelve-year old Australian shepherd who looks and acts about three. May we all be so young for so long!

Incidentally, his name is, at least according to his human, a Teutonic word meaning ‘one who brings joy’. I choose to believe this, because it fits him so well.

Tricolor Blue Merle Australian Shepherd With A Ridiculously Fluffy Chest Sitting And Smiling

That’s the fluffiest chest I’ve seen since the last San Francisco Pride Parade!

Tricolor Blue Merle Australian Shepherd Leaning Against A Woman's Legs

And he’s a leaner, too.

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Sea Supplement: Smiling Harbor Seals from Monterey Bay

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Adam Lang

Another bonus post from my vacations of yesteryear: some pictures of adorable basking harbor seals from Monterey Bay. I can’t believe I didn’t post these silly sea-dogs before. I have no excuses. Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa.

Young Harbor Seal Basking On A Rock, Grinning, And Covering Her Mouth With Her Flipper

That face! (This is a young one, they get darker as they get older.)

Two Harbor Seals On A Rock In The Monterey Bay

I had a really really long lens. They could see me, but I was just a little moving dot over on the shore.

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Dog of the Day: Boxer Mix Puppy

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Adam Lang

Not sure about age or breed, except that he’s totally adorable and is still a puppy. Might be a boxer mix? Ran into him at the SPCA, less than a day before he was adopted.

Boxer Mix Puppy Scratching Himself On A Dog Bed

He sat down and stared deliberately at me and looked pathetic and itched. Like, “Look, I’ll even show you RIGHT where to scratch me…”

Boxer Mix Puppy Staring Off Into Space

Yes, there were two of them. So much cute, all in one place.

Puppy Sniffing Window

Our first through-the-window nose shot!

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Sunday Switchup: Sand

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Adam Lang

Patterns in the sand have always had a fascination for me, and I’ve taken hundreds of pictures of them. The first picture I ever developed — black and white, real film, real darkroom, real developer stains on my fingers — was a photo of ripples in silver-and-black sand, when I was twelve years old. It was gorgeous, and unfortunately lost in one of my many moves, sometime in my teenage years. I’ve been trying to take another one as nice since then, with rather incosnsitent results.

These in particular all came from a couple of trips I made to the Monterey/Carmel/Big Sur area. They might be worth clicking on: there’s a lot of detail there that you can’t see from the smaller images.

Black Wave-Marks On Grey Sand

It just depends on the sand and the lighting how marked wave-marks can get.

Grey Water-Marks On Light Grey Sand

There are rather a lot of different colors of sand around Monterey.

Wave Marks On Tan Sand

The patterns are often quite light, hard to see.

Long Dark-Amber Seaweed On A Wave-Marked Beach

Sometimes the seaweed makes interesting patterns too.

Seaweed That Looks Like Trees On A Beach

Looks like a tropical beach, doesn’t it? Until you realize those trees are only a few inches tall…

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