Engagement Pictures – Tobey and Lillian Edition

My fiancee’ and I recently had an engagement session with our photographer Britt Lakin of Britt Lakin Photography. Since the weimaraners are what brought us together (we met at Alum Creek Dog Park), we thought it would be a good idea to start the session with the dogs. In the end, it didn’t work out as well as we expected because both of our dogs refuse to listen but Britt still managed to get some great pictures. As a reminder, Tobey is the Gray and Lillian is the Blue.

Also, quick update on Tobey after his surgery to remove seven tumors (All non-cancerous!)… he had his final set of staples removed on Tuesday so he is now clear to go through metal detectors and is doing well overall.

The fam

This picture fully captures why the engagement
session was difficult with the weims

Tobey in all his glory

Lillian being awesome

As always, feel free to drop a note in the comments.

Internet Commentors are Awesome! Twins Edition

First let me say, I love the internet. I think we all do. What I don’t like is whenever someone expresses an opinion  there are instantly trolls who try to argue and insult. I just received the below comment on my rant about how Burt Blyleven is a horrible announcer (I’m currently watching the Twins game, but listening to the Baltimore announcers because I can’t handle the same catch phrases over and over again… I get it… people get circled). Anyway, the comment made me literally laugh out loud because I could do a better job than Burt. Coomer did a better job in the series in Boston. Tom Kelly does a better job any time he subs in. As I’m listening to this, the Baltimore announcers are more enjoyable than Burt. My point is still valid, that rejecting advanced statistics and railing against them shows how out of touch Blyleven is. I really don’t care if he’s replaced, because with the MLB package, I can always listen to the visitors feed, or on certain days, I can listen to Dan Gladden on the radio feed while watching the video feed.

Anyway, I thought the comment was hilarious.

If you want to rip into me for anything I’ve written without actually reading it (My entire point was without advanced statistics, Burt Blyleven never would have been elected to the hall of fame), feel free to drop a note in the comments.

Quick Sunday Update

It’s amazing how fast life is moving right now. With Tobey still recovering (he’s doing well, but did reopen one of the wounds, so he needed three new staples on Friday), lawncare, work being extremely busy, and my wedding fast approaching, there just doesn’t seem like there is enough time in the day.

In terms of the yard, this year, I’m trying something new with the yard. I’m cutting the grass at 4.5 inches. My thought is this will trap the moisture better, which should help regenerate the damage spots from the yard. Another added benefit is that it also hides the damage spots. The downside is that I’m mowing almost every other day. Pictures below.

If you have any yard tips or any other comments, please feel free to drop a note in the comments.

Photography and Some of My Favorite Pictures – Tobey and Lillian Edition – Part 2

Editors note: I had this post written and ready to post and somehow ended up deleting it. I apologize for the delay in posts.

This is part 4 of my ongoing series of some of my favorite photographs that I’ve taken. If you are new to the blog, the previous posts are: Favorite Pictures, Dog Edition, and Tobey and Lillian Part 1. I encourage you to check them out and let me know what you think. I tend to take a lot of pictures of the pups because of how much they mean to my finance’ and I (we met at the dog park so without the pups….). Anyway, without further reading, I present part 2 of my favorite Tobey and Lillian photographs.

The first picture was taken at Christmas in 2011. Everyone was getting ready to open presents. We gave Lillian hers first so she wouldn’t be running around or scared by all the commotion. She didn’t leave her bed until the bully stick was finished. I love the look of pure joy on her face as well as the vibrant color.

The next picture is of Tobey running at full speed. Nothing makes Tobey happier than running at full speed. When he comes back, you can see the pure joy on his face. My finance’ and I think he would be a horrible hunter in the wild because he gets so excited when he sees or starts chasing something that he starts yelping in a really excited high pitched sound. What I like most about this picture is that you can see the pure force and speed. Another cool difference between the two pups… when Tobey runs, he puts every ounce of energy and passion into it… when Lillian runs, she is graceful like a gazelle and is much faster than Tobey. The contrast is really cool to witness.

Tobey absolutely hates baths. I can’t stress that enough. Giving him a bath is a two person job. One to make sure he doesn’t make a run for it and another to clean him…. However, when my niece was visiting and bath time came… all of a sudden, he got really jealous of all the attention she was getting. The look on my niece’s face is absolutely priceless. I don’t think she knows what to make of this big gray monster. I like to think this was Tobey being protective as weimaraners are some of the most loyal dogs there are.

The next picture was taken in a field near the house. I call it ‘See No Evil.’ I’m not sure what they thought they had, but they were fascinated with whatever it was. I like the whimsical nature of this picture. There are a million captions that could be made but really captures the friendship between the two weims.

 

If you any comments on the pictures or want to drop a note, please feel free to use the comments section.  

Tobey Surgery & Update

Yesterday I took Tobey into the vet to have 7 tumors removed (all turned out non-cancerous) and to have his teeth properly cleaned and examined. The surgery for the tumors went well at first and all incisions were done without exterior stitches or staples. The tooth exam went a little worse. He had one tooth that was fractured and needed to be extracted so I had that done.

All-in-all, things went really well and were positive until he started waking up. He became obsessed with licking the wounds and banging around in the crate. In fact, he reopened three of the incisions to the point where the doctor ended up using staples to ensure the wound didn’t worsen and to stop the bleeding.

Tobey was really excited to see me and anxious to get home. This was the second time that he ever rode in the new car…. unfortunately for me, there was still a little bit of blood coming from the newly opened incisions and he ended up getting some blood on the seats. Thankfully, the seats are leather so I was able to clean it up, but I still managed to get flustered by the entire ordeal and have a decent amount of anxiety.

Since he was licking so much, I had to go to Petpeople to get him a soft-cone. The vet had provided a hard-cone, but it wasn’t working for him. He was literally bumping into everything. The sales person was wonderful and helped fit Tobey for the right size and make sure it was set up properly.

Today he’s been much better and I haven’t used the soft-cone at all. He also his energy back and is constantly wanting to go outside and play. It’ll still be 10-14 days before we can get the staples out and start running again. Pictures are below.

This is Tobey after reopening the wounds. You can see the shaved skin and some powder the doctor put on to help stop the bleeding.

This is the cone they sent Tobey home with. I didn’t realize that he had his paw stuck in it. Eventually, he laid down so I don’t think it was hurting him too much.

Tobey in his soft cone. The first picture reminds me of this. Poor guy didn’t know what to do.

We eventually got him to lay down in his bed and he started to relax.

 

Another picture of Tobey showing two of the incisions.

This last picture is the tee shirt I wore today as a sign of solidarity with my little guy. As I mentioned above, he is doing much better today and is back to barking at anything that moves and any dog that walks by.

If you have any comments about any of the pictures or want to wish Tobey a speedy recovery, feel free to drop a note in the comments section.