dog park

the other day, I took Dakota to the dog park for the first time.

we did not have a good experience. we are both traumatized.

When we first arrived, all the other little dogs were leaving.

After a few minutes, a dog and his owner showed up. He (the dog) ran over to greet us, and after sniffing Dakota's rear, proceeded to mark his territory on my leg. :/

Dakota, being protective of me, was not pleased. This dog did not make a good first impression on either of us.

A few minutes later, another dog and his owners arrived. Mr. Butters was his name and he was white, fluffy, and half the size of Dakota.

But even though he was much smaller than she, he liked her very much.

so much that he would not stop humping her. She did not appreciate his forwardness, and started yelping every time he came close to her. She was so scared of these two dogs, that she didn't want to leave my lap.

I asked if she was ready to leave, and thus was the end of our dog park experience.

We returned home violated and smelling of dog pee.

I don't think we will be returning anytime soon.

Paulina

Yesterday, the next door kitty came over to play. She's sweet.


and it was fun to shoot a new subject!

tis a new year!

I know its been a while since I've posted - been way busy, as usual.

But, its been so beautiful these past few days, I just need to share these photos with you. Yesterday, the doggies were needing some attention, so we went to the park aka the vacant lot next door that used to have a volleyball net.

Buddy and I laid under a tree and watched the squirrels..

and Daisy fetched the ball..

perfect day for some glamor shots!

Happy New Year!

water camera yay

ok. one water camera down, one to go. here are some selects:

I reaaalllly like kayaking in the early morn, when you don't have to dodge tubers.

Also, MaoBi and I went for a little walk today..

Once she got accustomed to the grass (her first time in grass!) she took off! running through it.. mom asked if it was her first time running... I guess it was.

remember

back when baby mao bi was a baby?

remember when I made this video of him eating in his red carrying case..

When I got him, I actually got two turtles, who fit into that red carrying case very comfortably..

back when he was the size of an yi yuan coin:

now, he's pretty much quadrupled in size: (same yi yuan coin, about the size of a quarter)

and won't even fit into that carrying case...

so crazy how much he can grow in a year and a half! and I think most of that growing was in the last 6 months... my mom always thinks he's starving.

He's got some weird stuff on his shell that the vet will soon take care of.. but for now, he very much enjoys his life of leisure. He swims and swims and sleeps on his basking rock, and climbs up on the filter and then dives off... he even swims backwards when he gets too excited about food. And he actually prefers to eat out of my hand rather than me drop his food in the tank.

Yesterday, I got him a girlfriend. a felt girlfriend with flowers.

He already had CJ as a companion, so now he has a lady friend too.

BC point.

So, Stephie wrote a while ago about her initiation into the infamous ball's club. and today, may 12, 2009, marks the day of my induction into the club known as BC.

those things on the stick are chicken hearts. notice the little arteries poking out... yes, my friends, five chickens had to die today (or in the recent past) to allow me the honor of entering the BC. and now we will have a moment of silence to honor the lives of those five great chickens.

yummmm

malaysian monkeys.

While in Malaysia, we had our share of encounters with these random monkeys.

first stop: Batu Caves.

Besides being one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside of India (we were 2 days away from one of the largest festivals ever…) Batu Caves is also home to a diversity of wildlife. I had almost forgotten about all of the warnings about monkeys I had read online until we got to the entrance of the cave and were greeted by a handful of crazed monkeys… wanting whatever food you had. Good thing I didn’t bring any… they were so aggressive.. sliding down the railings and hissing at you. Kathryn tried to touch one, but it hissed and bared its teeth at her.. so scary.. I watched as a gang of monkey bandits swarmed a woman carrying some flower garlands. The temple-goers constantly have to ward of the monkeys who try to steal the fruit left at the altars. Interestingly enough, the monkeys live at peace with the flock of hens and two cats that also inhabit the main cave.

There are 272 steps leading up to the main temple area, we learned later that for every step you take, one sin is forgiven…

Second stop: Firefly magical mystery tour.

I read online about this “INCREDIBLE” firefly tour. Apparently right outside of Kuala Lumpur is a river where thousands of fireflies congregate for no reason at all. We were advised to rent a taxi cab for 250 ringgit a day, but decided to just join a tour.. and I am so glad we did.
We were the only five on our tour, and our guide, Steven, was very informative on all subjects – the history of Malaysia, how to harvest the various plants of Malaysia, about the Hindu Temple we visited, etc. he talked non-stop for the entire 2-hour drive. Anyway, at one point he mumbled something about monkeys, but I thought he was joking. Until he pulled over to a street-side market to buy some beans “for the monkeys.” It was at this market that I spotted the most ginormous pile of durian I have ever seen..

Back to the monkeys… we are driving along, and we pull off of the highway onto this windy road and BAM monkeys everywhere. We are a little freaked out from our experience at Batu caves, but Steven assures us that these are Silver Leaf monkeys and they are docile. So we shove some green beans in our pocket, and set out to feed these strange animals. They are really eager to have our green beans, so sometimes they jump on you, or stick their hand in your pocket.. but no matter. Some of the locals gather around to play with them, and one of them has a rubber snake to wave at them just in case they get a little out of hand.

After feeding the monkeys, we went for our seafood dinner… we were a little wary after the random stop with the monkeys made this tour seem very similar to a trip we took in October which we deemed the original “Magical Mystery Tour” (more on that at a later date). We expected this ‘seafood dinner’ to be pretty gross, but we were pleasantly surprised to arrive at a Chinese restaurant on a river overlooking the sunset.. and the food was great and all you can eat!

The fireflies were a little disappointing – they mostly hung out in bushes on the bank. But it was nice to see a 5th generation family run business not yet commercialized. They had about a half-dozen little wooden rowboats and would take 4 people in each boat up and down the river. The fireflies weren’t really as advertised, but it was still very lovely, quiet, and you could watch both the fireflies and the stars twinkle. We all agreed this tour was more Magic than Mystery.

tight ride.

this dog was so cute, and he barely fit on that bike... i don't know how he manages to stay on! his big fluffy tail was almost dragging the ground.. sorry no picture of that.