Serene Scenery Sunday - The Special Effects Edition

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  Zim here with this week's Serene Scenery Sunday post.  Today, I thought I'd share some special effects photos that Mom had done recently, using a combination of PhotoShop Elements 9 and some iPhone apps.  We find them really soothing; we hope you will, too!

This first one might just be my favorite:

"Why?" you might ask. Well, because usually after a bunch of that, Mom says something about "someone" needing to burn off some excess energy in a positive way, and we head out on a cool adventure! Pretty good deal, don't you think?

Here's a cool Kansas barn we saw on one of our outings:

Our skies aren't really that turquoise-y. That's some of that "lomo camera" stuff, if I recall correctly. Sure looks cool, though, doesn't it?

Here's another old barn, with different effects:

Dave liked the natural colors in that one a bit better.

Speaking of whom, here's a shot of the Deeve himself:

He was in his Zen Zone - right next to Mom!

Here is a shot of me from our trip to the Kansas Ocean the other day:

You saw the original pic yesterday, but I really liked this version, too!  A trip to the ocean always mellows me out!

Remember my trip to the Top of the World?  That's another of my favorite places!  Here's a view from up there:

Why do I expect to see John Wayne leading a Cavalry Troop across the hills?

Lastly, here's Mom's favorite shot of me from that adventure:

I always feel great after a trip to the Top of the World!

I hope you enjoyed the special effects version of Serene Scenery Sunday!  

Play bows,

Zim

Fun in the Sun!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats! It's me, Zim! Yesterday was a bright, sunny day, so Dave and I sent Mom a mind-meld message to take us somewhere FUN! Before we knew it, we were at the Kansas Ocean! (We're really good at the whole mind-meld thing!)

When we got to the transoceanic bridge, I looked down to check the water:

"Wowzers!  Talk about low tide!  Must be from the full moon."

It was amazing how much the water level had dropped.  I know the moon affects the tides, so I chalked it up to the full moon.  Oh ... there was some water left in the ocean - check it out:

It just was way low tide.

Can you see Mom's shadow in the lower right, holding up the iPhone?  It was so bright, she couldn't see what she was doing.  Dave and I decided to have a little fun with that.

Mom asked Dave to look at the camera and smile, so he went first; since Mom couldn't see anything, this is what Dave did:

Dave

Ha roo roo roo. Good one, Davy! Here's what I came up with:

Me.  Zim!

Dave started ha wooing at that, then Mom turned and snapped his pic again real fast:

"Ha woo!  Good one, Zim!"

Mom was fast and sneaky with that one; it's like she's taking cues from ... well ... one of us!  I covered for Dave as fast as I could:

"Hey!  Whatcha guys doing?"

Oh. Did I get in the way?  Gee.  Sorry.  Oh, and nice work with the shadows and all, Mom.

We walked along the shoreline a little more, then we let Mom take one semi-decent shot of us:

Well, OK, Dave is bleached out in full sun and my face is heavily shadowed ... but Dave's SHADOW looks really cool!  Ha roo roo roo!  What fun in the sun!

Thanks for coming along with us!

Play bows,

Zim

Photo (and Video) Finish Friday!!!

Woo, everypup and everycat!  It's me, Dave, here with Photo (and Video) Finish Friday!  How about we start with a couple pix of the full moon from last night?

Here it is, peeking out from our across the street neighbors' pine, shortly before 9 p.m.:

Here's the moon about half an hour later, as seen through the same neighbors' fruit trees:

Pretty, isn't it? It was so big and bright!!!

OK, so this morning, we went on our morning walk, had some breakfast, then went out on our neighborhood patrol. See how we look so relaxed in this shot?

Compare our posture in the photo above to our posture in this shot:

See how our ears are standing at attention now? Our body posture says, "ALERT! ALERT! ALERT!"

Are you wondering what it might be? I think you know that Zim and I are pretty calm, easy-going guys. I mean, all the neighborhood cats like us and all. And all the dogs. Well ... almost all the dogs. But there are these two dogs - both Cocker Spaniels - who are potty mouths! Every time we walk by their houses (they live next door to each other) they SWEAR at us! Really! Mom shot video of us and them today. You'll hear me squeak at them. I only do that when they swear at me! I just can't stand it!  Here you go, check it out:

(If that doesn't work, please click here.)

The brown guy is probably a Beagle - Basset mix and he's OK.  But those Cockers!  They make me squeal like a Wookie!

Does anyone speak Cocker here, by the way?  I know they're swearing at me - but I can't understand exactly what they're saying!

Have a great weekend, friends!

Luv,
Dave

Road Trip!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim!  Yesterday was warm and windy and we had some awesome clouds rolling across the Flint Hills.  Always fascinated with the weather, Mom thought we should go to a place where we could get an even better view than the one we have here at Ao4 Headquarters.  Yes, "we".   Mom's the self-described weather geek - I'm the one who's always up for a road trip!  Let's go!!!

Look at where we headed:

Mom took that out the sunroof! Can you tell where we were going? Check it out:

"Ahh!!!  Beautiful!"

That's right - to the Top of the World!

Can you tell how windy it was? I look like I was having a bad fur day, don't I? Ha roo, you should have seen Mom's hair! (ahem!)  ... or maybe not.  Do you like my camouflage job?

Anyway, check out the beautiful view!

Gorgeous, isn't it? And the clouds! Wowzers, they were so cool!

"Doesn't it look awesome?"

We walked a bit, taking in all the sights, sounds and smells.

I love it up there.

What a great place to go exploring!

Oh, and it took about more than 12 hours, but thanks to those clouds, we finally we had a cold front move in - we went from in the mid-60s to the 30s (yea!) and overnight we had a massive thunder-hail storm roll through! It was incredible.  For some reason, Mom wouldn't let me go out and take pix of it all.  Go figure!

Thanks for coming with us on our cool adventure!

Play bows,
Zim

Wordless Wednesday

Play bows,
Zim

Helping Out in the Evenings

Woo, everypup and everycat.  It's me, Dave.  I don't just help my mom in the Studio, you know!  Like Zim, I have duties that take me all over the place!  In the evenings, for example, one of my duties is to sit  on top of  beside my mom like this:

... and help her with anything that comes up.

The other evening, she had a little problem with a Solitaire-type game she was playing on the iPad, so I offered to take a look.

"Want me to have a go at it, Mom?"

I made a couple suggestions and then ...

"How did we do?"

What can I say.  I'm from Texas and I know cards.  Woo.

Luv,

Dave

Starting the Work Week

Woo, everypup and everycat.  It's me, Dave, Guide Dog for the Color Blind (GDFTCB).

I'm right here -

"Woo, everybody!"

I'm hard at work in the inner room of the Studio.  From the sounds of it, I'll be here a lot today lending a paw when needed.

"How about the front left one?"

Ha woo.  "The front left one."  Get it? I might really knuckle down and toss two paws' worth into the mix:

"How about these?"

Mom liked my double-barrelled help so much that she did some special effects work on that photo.  Check it out:

And yeah, I was paid with some snuggle time for that!

Anyway ... I need to get back to work for now!

Have a great Monday, everyone.  And remember to pace yourselves - the work week is just beginning!

Luv,

Dave, GDFTCB

Serene Scenery Sunday

Ha roo, pups and cool cats - it's me, Zim!  I thought we'd spend a little more time at Tuttle Creek Dam/Reservoir for this week's Serene Scenery Sunday.  How does that sound?  I always feel so relaxed after a trip to the water!  Let's go!

When Mom and I got there the other day, we did some looking around at first:

She always does a safety check and looks for eagles. I always look for stuff to get into interesting things to explore. For the record, we're pretty sure the eagle population knows Mom's car by sight and leave the AO as soon as they see her pull into the parking area ... but since we're trying to be serene here, let's skip over that.

We headed down the hill to get closer to the water:

The sky was just a picture postcard perfect blue that day!

We got a bit closer to the water and had a look around:

We didn't see any eagles (sorry, Mom) but I did see these guys:

If I'm not mistaken, they are American Coots. They were adults, but not what I would call "old" coots.   Ha roo roo roo! Moving right along ...

For those who have asked - I am a Siberian Husky, and as such I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in going into the water. Besides, you really can't get to it here - those big boulders prevent you from getting close to it.  And it's not safe to swim close to the dam.

Anyway, we walked down near the water for a bit, then headed back up the hill:

I sure had a relaxing, enjoyable time at the lake. It made me feel all ... well, like this:

Don't judge me too harshly for looking at the camera and smiling - I had such a wonderful adventure, I just couldn't help myself. Besides ... Mom brought treats with us.

Thanks to everyone for helping me decide which pose was best yesterday, by the way! The general consensus was that Pose 1 was the better, but both had ample votes!

Remember to keep it serene, friends!

Play bows,
Zim

Which One?

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim.  Mom and I went on a really fun drive to Tuttle Creek Dam/Lake/Reservoir/Ocean/whatever-it-is yesterday.  We had a great time once we got there, walking all over the place, sniffing everything and looking for eagles.  (You can probably guess which of us was engaged in which activity!)  Once we wrapped up our hike, I decided to sit on the stone bench I showed you on Sunday and just take in all the great sights, smells, and sounds.

"What a beautiful place!"

Isn't it beautiful? Mom walked behind me to get that shot. Then - she asked me to look at the camera and clicked off a couple frames. Now ... here's the question! Which pose do you like best? This one:

Pose #1

Or this one:

Pose 2

Seriously! I can't decide! Let me know!

Have a great Saturday!

Play bows,
Zim

Fun With Photos Friday

Woo, everypup and everycat.  It's me, Dave.  Mom downloaded a couple new photo apps onto our iPhone this week, so we thought we'd share some of her crazy concoctions with you today for Photo Finish Friday.  Or as I'm calling it this week, Fun With Photos Friday.  Ready to take a look?

Here's one of the first photos she did with and app called WordFoto:

Oh. She also touched up all of today's photos a bit with PhotoShop Elements 9.

After playing with pix of me and Zimmie for a while, she gave one of our sunsets a go:

Mom and I would like some fabric printed like that.  Wouldn't that be cool?

Here I am, as we were writing this post just now:

"Hi everybody!"

I like to dictate the blog from under Mom's feet at the desk. Woo. Oh? Wondering where Zim is?  He's in the living room; let's grab the iPhone and go see what he's doing:

Yep. Yoga stretches in the living room. No wonder he's so flexible; he's always working out!

The other app Mom downloaded is called Camera Awesome. The first shot she took with that was of Zim:

Again, she touched up a bit with PSE9.

Here's one of me from this morning; I was waiting for a cookie after I went outside and was a good boy (if you know what I mean).

I hope you like seeing our fun photos!  Have a great weekend, everyone!

Luv,

Dave

Walk With Us!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim!  Dave and I have been taking Mom on some really nice walks lately.  It's been very Spring-like here, and that seems to please her.  Us boys would be more excited about SNOW, mind you, but we'll take any walk, any time!  Anyway, we've been on a couple today already, but I'm sure we'll hit the sidewalk again this afternoon.  Who wants to come with us?

We'll do some of this:

Cool lomo camera effect of Dave and me on patrol

And some snoofing and leash macramé.  Here's a short clip of that:

(If that doesn't play, please click here.)  (It was a tad breezy when Mom filmed us - see our leashes getting tossed around?  Ah... Kansas!)

And you know what happens after a walk ... right?

Treat time!!!

We'll go right after lunch.  Who's game?!?

Play bows,

Zim