Cowterday Supplement: MORE COWBELL!

Autumn and I took a drive down some very… questionable dirt roads last month, on our way to and back from an event in a mountainous area out near Yosemite. How questionable were the roads? Well, let’s just say that when we were done, I spent five minutes peering under the car with a hand-light to make sure that I hadn’t poked any holes in my oil pan.

While we were driving, we ran across (but fortunately not into) a small herd of cows. And these cows were clanging like nobody’s business. Neither Autumn nor I had ever run into cows with actual cowbells before, not even while Autumn was in Ireland. But if you ‘pasture’ your cows in an utter wilderness on the side of a quite steep hill, I can see why it might be a really good idea. (Sorry for the shaky quality of the video… handheld, y’know. But at least you can hear the cowbells.)

Cows

They weren’t much interested in us as long as we didn’t get too close.

Cow

This one was further down the road. And was VERY freaked out by the car.

We slowed down to cow-speed, and spent around 100 feet trying to figure out how to get the cow to let us go around as she trotted along the road in front of us. Just when I thought she was going to keep out there for miles, she suddenly let us by and then ran off in the other direction.

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Dog of the Day: Ozzy the 4-Month-Old Husky Puppy

There’s a little cafe called ‘OZ Lounge’ that’s right on my way home from work, if I walk home. It has jazz, most evenings. What it doesn’t normally have is an adorable 9-month-old husky puppy lounging outside listening to the music. With his duck. Who happens to be named after (or at least the same as) the cafe!

I’m going to have to stop by there more often, if he’s going to be hanging out there!

Husky Puppy

Perfectly mellow pup, as long as nobody came between him and his duck.

Husky Puppy

I always think of huskies as grey/black and white. The tan/brown ones are so striking.

Husky Puppy

The markings really are amazingly intricate.

Husky Puppy

He really looks like he expects something from me.

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Dog of the Day: Mars the Airedale Terrier

Second Airedale we’ve had. (Here’s the first.) He’s a smaller one, but just as nifty.

Airedale Terrier

I am used to terriers being little. Airedales are even a little bit intimidating, knowing how destructive a 15-pound terrier can be.

Airedale Terrier

Airedale Terriers were originally bred to hunt otters. I’m not sure I can forgive them for that.

Airedale Terrier

The standard grooming for these guys always puzzled me. If I were a dog I’d want that fur on my muzzle cut, so I could see, you know, straight out in front of me?

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Dog of the Day: Dorothy the 11.5-Week-Old Bernese Mountain Dog Puppy

In celebration of Autumn’s triumphant return from the East Coast, here is a ridiculously adorable newcomer to the neighborhood that I ran into in our local java-cave, the Chameleon Cafe.

Bernese Mountain Dog Puppy

This pup needs more socialization stat! She was all timid! If they don’t watch out she’ll turn into the only Bernese Mountain Dog in all of history that conforms to the breed standard! (‘Standoffish’ my butt.)

Bernese Mountain Dog Puppy

Spotty dog lips. Soulful brown eyes. Maximum adorability achieved.

Bernese Mountain Dog Puppy

There’s a little smile.

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Dogs of SF Photo Contest: Cats

Edit 3: Wow. Well, that’s pretty cool. We have a tie for first, and second place is one point behind! Full results are at the bottom.

Edit 2: Man, the competition is really heating up! Two of the pics are neck in neck, with a third making rapid strides from behind! This is still anybody’s game, folks.

Edit: as with last week, remember that daily posts will appear below this one.

It’s cat contest time! I persuaded someone I respect as an animal cute-ologist to pick the submissions for me. These are the results. I would like to say that I am honestly sorry to those of you whose pictures did not get picked, or to those who submitted two pictures but only have one here; my correspondent said that this was a pretty tough choice for him, and it would have been murder for me. (Especially as I know two of the people who submitted entries.)

I would also like to note that people really like their cats. I had two people submit between ten and twenty pictures of their cats, despite the rules only saying two. I decided that it was only fair that I limit them to one entry each. (In theory, people who submitted two cat pictures could have ended up with two finalists in this round, though it didn’t work out that way with anyone in practice.) I admit, though, some of those pictures were pretty darn cute.

And I am still trying to get someone lined up to pick the top five of the dog photos for next week, because I really don’t want to have to do that myself. I wonder if I can find someone at Bay to Barkers next weekend (HINT HINT HINT go to Bay to Barkers next weekend) to do it?

So, here are the entrants, again in a quite random order. Please pick one, and again, if you feel like claiming yours in the comments, that’s fine, otherwise I’ll just keep them anonymous.

Kaylee the Dog and Elly the Cat Being Goofy

ENTRY 1: Kaylee the Dog and Elly the Cat Being Goofy

Violet the Schipperke/Pomeranian and Zoolander the Black Cat, Napping

ENTRY 2: Violet the Schipperke/Pomeranian and Zoolander the Black Cat, Napping

Drake the Cat (or Possibly Drake's Cat) Investigates a Camera

ENTRY 3: Drake the Cat (or Possibly Drake’s Cat) Investigates a Camera

Lucca the Cat Snoozes on a Laptop

ENTRY 4: Lucca the Cat Snoozes on a Laptop (Lucca may look vaguely familiar.)

Lady Jane the Cat Hatches Evil Plans From Under an End Table

ENTRY 5: Lady Jane the Cat Hatches Evil Plans From Under an End Table

Results:

  • Tied for first, Lady Jane (entry 5) and Lucca (entry 4) each at 29 votes.
  • Second place, Kaylee the Dog and Elly the Cat at 28 votes.
  • Third place, the cat who may or may not be known as Drake
  • Fourth place, Violet and Zoolander.

Awesome work, everyone!

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Dogs of SF Contest Winner, City Category

Of course the poll ended early again. Specifically, it appears to have ended at midnight GMT. I guess because my database is in GMT? But in any case, it hadn’t moved much lately (two votes in the last 24 hours), so I’m declaring polling closed. The final results:

  • Fifth place, with 1 vote, is ENTRY 2: The Golden Gate Bridge near sunset
  • Fourth place, with 6 votes, is ENTRY 5: Devo Surveys his Domain from Bernal Heights.
  • Third place, with 7 votes, is ENTRY 1: Violet in Front of Postcard Row.
  • Second place, with 33 votes, is ENTRY 3: Jasper Enjoying the Breeze on Baker Beach.
  • And the winner is, ENTRY 4: Lambeau on Bernal Heights at Sunset, with 42 votes!

Congratulations, and thank you to everyone who entered. You guys are awesome! Prizes will be sent out all at once, so please be patient, since we have two more weeks of voting for the other two categories. The next category, Cats, will be posted tomorrow!

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Caturday Supplement: Neighborhood Trio

Not sure if I posted some of Autumn’s pictures of these three before or not. I took a quick look and couldn’t find them. They live about a block and a half from us, in a little bitty pedestrian alley between two row houses. The road out in front is a cable-car road on a hefty hill, so nobody takes it at more than 15 mph, and the cats seem to do just fine. They get fed by the people in this apartment building, and are quite tame. I hadn’t found them before this, although Autumn mentioned them several times. But now I know where they are, so I can go get some feline fuzz therapy every once in a while.

Three Black and White Cats

The eyes on the solid black one. Gorgeous.

Three Black and White Kitties

Should be pretty easy to guess where the people who feed them live.

Black and White Cat Stretching

Streeeeeetch! Also, cat-butt.

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Dog of the Day: Lhasa Apso Jailbird

Aww… wonder what he was caught doing?

Lhasa Apso

Was getting in my car when this pup popped up in the window about 20 feet away and let me know, in no uncertain terms, that this was his house and that visitors were not welcome! BarkbarkBARK!

Lhasa Apso

He totally cracks me up.

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Dog of the Day: Havelino the 9-Week-Old Pembroke Welsh Corgi Puppy!

There have been quite a few people, including some quite famous photographers, extolling the virtues of the iPhone as a camera. Why? Because you always have your iPhone with you. And a camera is no good if you don’t have it with you.

Well, I always always always have my compact camera with me: it’s a permanent resident in my left-side trouser pocket, along with my keys and change. Except yesterday. Yesterday I couldn’t find the damn thing, and rather than spend any real time searching, I figured I had plenty of pictures, and that I was highly unlikely to run into anything that I just HAD to take pictures of, especially since I was planning on going straight to work and then just coming straight home.

And I get to work, and what do I see standing pretty much right outside my workplace than a 9-week-old corgi puppy. To say that I squealed like an eight-year-old girl would be, strictly speaking, inaccurate, because I probably squealed like two eight-year-old girls. And pulled out the iPhone. Thank goodness I hadn’t forgotten that too! I also solicited a few pictures from Havalino’s dad. It’s probably pretty obvious which here are which.

By the way, ‘Havelino’ is an alteration of ‘javalina’, which is another term for ‘peccary‘, a sort of pig-like animal that wanders Arizona, Texas, Mexico, and various parts of Central and South America. I’m not entirely sure I see the resemblance, although I admit they do have pretty short legs.

9-Week-Old Corgi Puppy

I don’t understand people at all. I mean, three people just walked right by this puppy as he was sitting there on the sidewalk. Could YOU walk by this puppy without petting him?

8-Week-Old Corgi Puppy

It’s probably a good thing I don’t have a corgi puppy. If one gave me that look, I’d be like, ‘okay, okay, I’ll call in sick again today and spend the day alternately petting you and chasing you around the house.’

8-Week-Old Corgi Puppy

The rest (including this one) were taken by his dad.

9-Week-Old Corgi Puppy

The pink spots on the nose.

9-Week-Old Corgi Puppy

I think someone is teaching himself how to make elephant noises! (Trust me. You want to watch that. All the way through.)

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No Dog Today

Sorry, guys. Just spent a few hours doing some volunteer (IT-related) work for a worthy cause, and I’m really tired.

But I have something special for tomorrow…

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