Point Reyes Pics

A couple of weekends ago, we took the family to the beach. It turned out to be a little cold, but it was beautiful all the same. I love taking a drive on the coast, we went up north to Jenner and then back south to Point Reyes, where we got out and ran around on the dog beach.

The next picture looks like it is in black and white, but I didn't edit the colors at all...it was just really grey outside. I like the split between the water and the rocks, it puts a lot of balance in the image.

Cyrus loves going for rides and having his ears blowing in the wind...

Shasta stepped in Cy's beach paw print, too cute! I gave Damon both dogs so I could take the picture and this little boy (maybe 3 or 4) walked past us and told his mom that he wanted to have two dogs. She quickly said "no!"

I love the sky's reflection on the beach, the lighting was just perfect. I love how small Damon and Shasta are in this picture.

Shasta was still scared of the ocean water, she didn't like the constant movement of the waves. And she kept on drinking the salt water, which she didn't like as well.

I love this picture of my boys and girl...

Kisses for Damon!

Long Time, No Post

It has been longer than usual for a post on the blog...sorry about that. I have been busy, and truthfully I haven't taken many pictures lately (which makes me sad.) One thing I have been doing alot of is reading, which is nice since not all the books are school related. When I was a child, I carried a book with me everywhere. In the bathtub, while eating dinner and walking through the grocery store with my mom. I read all the Anne of Green Gables books well before my appropriate reading level, I just could never get enough. I feel that my reading passion as a youngster helped to develop many educational skills and my imagination. I think that Damon is enjoying the reading habit, since now I read before going to bed, instead of watching tv. (Not that the tv interrupts his sleeping...he is just like my father, he can fall asleep anywhere in one minute flat.) Anyways, here are the latest reading contenders:

1- Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I say the author on Oprah a few months ago and decided to join the millions of other readers (aka: women) and travel through life with Elizabeth. It was a great book. I enjoyed her humor, whit and I felt like I experienced the same emotions that she was experiencing. This was the first non-school book that I have read in many years and it was a great one to pick to jump back in.

2- This is the cover of my real estate economics book (and no, you really cannot look inside, the picture is taken from Amazon.com). Considering the current housing market, this is a great book to be reading. I am learning alot and keeping up with the two chapters a week reading, note taking and quizzes. Our first paper is due at the end of March, which I have yet to begin. The paper should be interesting , I will be analyzing the economic/valuation principles in relation to residential properties. Aka: what common principles apply to the real estate market? I think I will focus on the principles of substitution (comparison shopping), contribution (improvements) and externalities (outside influences like neighborhood crime rates).

3- I just started Lipstick Jungle simply because it is written by the same author who wrote Sex and the City, one of my all-time favorite series. This one is pretty intriguing and it parallels well with the one episode on the tv series that I saw. (It is nice being able to picture the actresses as the main characters, it is always so hard for me to visualize what the characters look like when there aren't pictures of them!)
That's all for now...hope you enjoyed your library time with me. Any other book suggestions? Leave me a comment and I will add it to my "to read" pile! I will be posting pictures soon, tomorrow night is Tainted Love with Morgan and Meredith and this weekend Damon and I are taking the doggies to the snow.

Final Day at Blackpoint

Last weekend was the final day of pheasant hunting with Shasta for the 2007-2008 season. It was a beautiful day shared with our hunting machine, Damon and Loren, the proud grandpa. The kennel where we picked up Shasta was pleased to find out that she took over 100 pheasants this season. We are all looking forward of more action during future seasons. Here are my final photos of Blackpoint...I started with some scenery shots:

This was her first point of the day...look at that natural stance!

Even the sport setting on the fancy camera isn't fast enough to keep up with our 46 pound machine! The next pictures show how "on the move" she is from the moment her feet set foot on the ground until she jumps back into her crate for the ride to McDonalds.

I love this one of her entering the water...you can see her reflection perfectly.

There isn't anything cuter than a dog swimming with their little face above water.

Since we can tell when Shasta is on a bird, it gives me plenty of time to get great pictures of all the action, like this one of Damon mid-shot. (The next frames taken actually showed the shotgun shell making contact with the bird's feathers...I decided not to post that one- this one is a little more tame).

And because they are funny and make me smile, here are some more "movement" pictures. Our favorite is when she jumps and her ears stick straight up in the air. What an entertaining dog!

In the next one, she only has one paw is on the ground!

...and now she's airborne!

It took me a lot of shots to get this picture just right...the Morelli boys walking on the levee, shotguns in their outer hands and Shasta in the middle up ahead.

And of course, lots of sweet kisses and ear rubs for the little girl...

Shasta is very sad that pheasant season is over. She loves hunting, being outdoors and showing off for her dad. She loves the visits to McDonald's afterwards for two cheeseburgers (we do try to put some meat on her bones). She is NOT going to love what will be happening to her two weeks from now when we get her fixed. (We had to wait until after the hunting seasons). My heart is already breaking for when I pick her up at the vet on March 6th. Trust me, she will be getting plenty of McDonald's then!

San Diego Post #2

Last Saturday we took a nice drive down the coast into San Diego. I was dying to stop and take pictures of the scenery every minute. We finally pulled over in La Jolla and the view was well worth the wait. There are lots of pictures below, remember you can click on the image to enlarge it. Also, you will notice that there are not any pictures of me...there was not one single image of me from the entire trip...imagine that!

There was a rock in the tide path, which created a great spray with every wave.

The rest of the pictures were taken at Old Town San Diego, which held a lot of history and fun picture taking opportunities.

I already shared the heart engraved picture on the cactus, but isn't this one hillarious? I mean only someone from Texas would do this, huh?

There was a traditional Mexican dance presentation as well...very authentic indeed.

Until the next trip down south...