Tag Archives: Ellie

Off Her Feet (Again)

Our dog Ellie lying on the hardwood floor

Achilles had his heels, Ellie her ankles. She’s off them again, doctor’s orders.

She wouldn’t put much weight on her right rear leg so she went to the vet and has been put on bed rest and painkillers. She had put on weight over the winter, more than we realized, so she’s also going on a diet for a while. Her final weight target is lower than before, in hopes of putting less stress on her ankles and joints.

I miss my goofball, can’t wait until she can come up and join me in my office again (she’s resting just outside it in this picture). She’s as good as they come.

The Eyes of Ellie

The eyes of our dog Ellie

We speak a different language, she and I, but her big brown eyes stare deeply into mine and ask what words cannot.

“Can I have a piece of your pizza?”

One Glum Chum

Our dog Ellie lying on the hardwood floor

I took this picture of Ellie the day after Scout died. Her cheerless disposition is not because she was mourning Scout’s passing, mind you, rather it’s the expression I usually get whenever I raise the camera to my face.

She was bored.

Ellie is happy-go-lucky to the core but I don’t have a lot of pictures that show it.

I love taking pictures of the pets but wish I took more. Certainly having one camera has been a limitation, especially since it is often set up for wildlife photography. But some of the shots I want to take are surprisingly demanding. Since I prefer not to use flash and the light levels are usually low, I like big sensors that work well in these conditions — I’d prefer even bigger than what I have now, but that gets expensive and very limited in options.

Fast lenses are nice, but image stabilization is a must. I want control over depth of field — for many of these shots I want more, not less — and image stabilization gives me more of that control without the cumbersome nature of a tripod.

My current camera, a traditional SLR, is pretty good with these things.

But I also want the camera to be completely silent and as unobtrusive as possible. And I want to shoot without holding the camera to my face, to keep the pets more engaged — and more natural — and articulating LCD screens are best.

The camera needs to be small so it’s readily at hand and easy to move about.

Fast autofocus is good, but accurate focus is better. Especially in low light, and with black fur. Close focus is also required for when the pets are on my lap.

Nothing out there does all of that, but there have been a number of interesting small cameras in the past year from the likes of Fuji and Sony and Olympus that are providing a quality alternative to the traditional SLR. I’ll stick with the SLR for wildlife shots, and maybe for everything else too, who knows.

Just casting my eyes about for now.

Black & White

Our dog Ellie in the snow

While the Northeast is currently blanketed by a blizzard, here in our slice of the Northwest the winter has been pretty mild. This picture of Ellie in the snow is from a few years ago, I had gone up to Ridgefield a few days after Christmas when we got a bit of unexpected snow. It was getting dark by the time I arrived home so I took a few quick pictures of Ellie and then, since she was clearly loving the snow, put the camera away and spent the next couple of hours with her hedgehogging in the snow, going for a walk, and playing in the park.

Respect for the Queen

A close-up view of our dog Ellie resting on a pillow

Part of my morning ritual after I made my breakfast was to give the pets a little something to eat. Sam and Emma got a bit of wet food, Scout got some freeze-dried salmon or chicken, and Ellie got a bone-shaped treat. They got fed in that order so that peace would prevail, Sam and Emma first so that Scout could eat without Sam stealing her food, with Ellie waiting patiently on the far side of the room for her treat after the cats had been fed.

Occasionally Scout wouldn’t eat a few small morsels of her food, perhaps there was something in the taste or texture she didn’t care for, so I’d motion for Ellie to come over and clean up. Ellie is zealous about food and normally would have bounded over at full speed, but to avoid spooking Scout she would slink in slowly and quietly and then lick up the remaining tidbits.

Sometimes I’d hope Scout would leave a little bit just so I could see Ellie sneak over, it always made me smile to see her approach so respectfully, she’s never done it with any of the other pets (or us). I don’t know why Ellie decided that Scout was worthy of such respect, but it was always touching to see.