Trying to take the holiday photo of dogs

 In the old days when I wanted to take a photo of Darwin and Keeper together, I could dress them in silly clothes, haul out the camera, tell them to sit several feet away from me, and they sat and waited for the photo followed by a treat. Not Alanis and Miro. I didn't even attempt a scarf or tee shirt, knowing Miro would immediately gnaw on whatever Alanis wore. This year I had an ambition to try something candid because Miro and Alanis will only sit together right in front of me. Alanis knew how to stand for exam in the show ring but did not know "sit for a treat" until I corrupted her two years ago.

We went outside and the first thing they did was --



chase behind a tree, growling and playing bitey-face.



Then Alanis had better things to look at than the camera.

And they both decided something needed immediate investigation.

I think we will go back to the sit-for-a-treat idea.

the most awful April Fool's Day ever

In which I lost five months of work (manuscript pages I don't even want to think about) and photos, including all the photos of my trip to Calgary to get Alanis, photos of my son, and all photos from my trip to Boston/Cambridge before picking up Miro in Ohio. Computer was acting up, possibly due to a storm the previous day. From 7:30 am to 5:30 pm, all I did was computer wrestling and taking the puppy out on a regular basis. No walk for Alanis, especially with sleet pouring down all day. In April! What an insult.

Under the "helpful" direction of tech support from HP, I made a backup disk before doing a computer restore. Only the backup disk didn't back up. It's like losing part of your life in a fire and having to be grateful that you didn't lose everything.