Post-Birthday

Hola cyberworld! I promised some photos, so I will post a few. But of course, if you are actually interested in looking at my pictures, you should take a look at my flickr page.

On Monday, I had a lovely first day of summer when I went out and about on my bicycle shooting some pictures, and then reading happily at the beach in the sunshine. For my birthday, Alex got me this fantastic new bike that I just love because it's really comfortable to ride. And it has a bell!!! And a basket!

Yesterday was actually my birthday! Twenty-five! Eep, that's like a real adult sort of age, huh? Even the car insurance companies think so! Apparently my brain is fully formed now....Funny that it feels exactly the same! We all know that I've been actually 85 since I was 17, so maybe that's why...

Anyway! Rambling alert! I had a very relaxing day yesterday - got my nails done, read at the beach some more, watched a movie, and had delicious Thai takeout with my honey while we watched So You Think You Can Dance! A perfectly delightful day.

I'm not sure how to narrate my "photography" posts....so without further ado, here are my four faves from Monday.

"The Clammer 1"

"The Clammer 2"



"The Clammer's Tools"

"The Clammer's Trail"

Fail!

I haven't been doing very well with writing so far have I? (I think that's how I start every single one of my hand-written journal entries - "It's been a long time since I last wrote....") I will try to do better. Although, I don't really have anyone to whom I should apologize yet, since I haven't exactly publicized this blog. I suppose I apologize to myself for being a slacker.

The yoga goal hasn't been going so well since my last post; I really want to kick it up a notch. Or ten, since my yoga practice as been basically nonexistent. BUT, I have been working with my dogs!



Cute, right? Yeah - it can be misleading! Some of you may know that Sookie (the white one on the left) has some pretty serious issues. I'm not really going to get into that now. The tips the trainer gave me are helping to a certain extent, but it's too soon to tell.

Gatsby (the black one) is also a total butthead; but he's a harmless butthead.

Anyway, I've been working with them on two obedience type "tricks" that I thought I could write about. Let me just remind you all that I am NOT a dog trainer, and I have no clue if what I am doing is really the right way to train a dog. That said, it seems to be working anyway.

The first one is "heel right" and "heel left." This is a fun one, because it's easy to practice every day while we are out on walks. Gatsby really loves it. He will do ANYTHING if there is food involved. (If there's no food involved, he figures that out pretty quickly and completely ignores me). But he seems to get particularly excited about this one, like it's a fun game. Sookie is crazy while out on walks, so sometimes she'll do it and sometimes she tells me to F off.

It's a simple trick. I tap my left or right hip and say "heel left!" (or heel right) and then use a treat to guide Gatsby's nose to turn around and sit facing forward at my side. Then we'll walk forward and then stop and sit. So far, it's going very well!

The other one I'm doing in the house is "Take a Bow." This one is a really cute trick, but a little bit hard to get the dogs to do. I'll try to post a video once we are successful. Again, Gatsby seems to REALLY enjoy learning it because it involves so many delicious pieces of cut-up chicken and he seems startlingly proud of himself when I praise him for doing it right. I read a little bit about how to do it online. Essentially, you take a treat and place it down between the dog's front paws and then move it toward the back paws to get them to bend, and perhaps keep an arm under the belly so they don't lie down all the way. Then take them back to standing and give lots of praise! (and click/treat).

One bit that I will add: I realized very quickly that I needed to start by teaching my dogs the command "stand up." We have them very well trained that if they want a treat, they have to be polite and sit at attention. So every time I showed them a treat, they automatically sat down, making it hard to work on the bow. So we started with just "stand up!" and click/treat for rising to all fours. That command also made it easier (especially for Gatsby) to keep him from lying down all the way. So he stretches back in the bow (click/treat) and then "stand up!" (click/treat). That way he knows the exact place to stop bending, and then to come back to all fours.

Ta-da!

So this isn't the most thrilling entry if you're not into dogs, but don't worry! The next post will be about photography! I went out and shot a few pictures yesterday around my 'hood. Once I'm done editing, I'll post a few here!

Until then, auf wiedersehen!

Entry, the first

I'm jumping onto the blog band wagon a bit late here, but alas...here I am. Jumping on. I figure it's something to do, and hopefully a way to get myself writing on a regular basis again. Maybe this way, when I start school in the Fall I won't sound like a total moron when I have to write papers and pretend to know what I'm talking about.

Hence, the "eclectic" title. I thought about what I might want to write about, and realized that one topic probably won't keep me entertained. So I figure I'll share thoughts on my three major goals for the summer: training the two wild beasts otherwise known as my dogs; doing yoga on a regular basis; and working on photography.

Today, I hit one goal! I went back to yoga class. I tried an "Anusara" yoga class at a new studio here in Salem (new to me, because we just moved here). The studio was nice, large, and seemed to be very popular! The teacher was described on the website as a "loving and knowledgeable kick in the pants." ....which just about sums it up. The class was a little competitive feeling for my taste, just getting back into it. But it was certainly a good workout. This class might be good for me once I build up my strength, because the instructor really doesn't accept "no I can't do it" - he tells you to take yourself seriously, and have faith. Sometimes I need a little bossing around...and it resulted in me doing a headstand today! So that was pretty cool. The only trouble is now I am SORE ALL OVER! We'll see if I go back to that particular class next week....

Namaste!