7" x 5" | Pencil on Paper

I only had two goals yesterday. First was to take some photos of butterflies and second was to do some pencil drawing; both were completed.

The female house sparrow you see was inspired by a photo I took in Washington DC April 2009. Somehow she seems to be an expression of how I have been feeling lately, but I won’t elaborate on that.

Butterflies are surprisingly difficult to get good photos of. Here are a few of then decent ones I caught. I wasn’t particularly happy with any of them, but that might be a sign that one of them should become a painting. Generally, my paintings are inspired by photos that are not particularly good. I almost never want to paint a great photo, because it is already in its ideal form.

I also discovered a vine down at the end of my driveway with some really neat flowers.

As always, I had to snap a few of the dog. Phoenix is really photogenic. Chewing on sticks in the backyard is still one of her favorite things to do.

And finally, I think this next one is my favorite photo of Phoenix ever. I particularly like it in sepia as seen:

It was fun all the same and I got a few other neat photos.

In case you are wondering, the answer is yes, the saturation and color has been boosted on this lot. It added some neat blues to the tree bark among other things : )

It’s been a little over a month since we got Phoenix from the Animal Protection Society of Durham. She’s doing pretty great. Put on some weight which she needed and seems content. We’ve been getting to know her personality a lot more as she has come out of her shell. She is still very sweet, gentle and obedient. Well, obedient in the house, if we’re outside where there are squirrels and other distractions it’s a lot harder to get her attention and I am not sure we have succeeded yet getting her to learn her name. Also, when she knows you’re not looking she will do a few sneaky things, like jump on to the wrong couch (she is only allowed on one). She can’t really get away with it because she leaves hair behind. So I’m thinking of leaving some uncomfortable things on the couches overnight so she won’t want to lie on them.

We walk her every day, even if it’s just around the block, although usually it’s a few miles in the woods. I think that helps if their energy is drained to be less mischievous. Not that we usually succeed because she comes back ready to play right away. Robert learned that it’s not good to play every single time she wants to. One night the other week he told her “no” to pulling on the rope and she barked at him in protest! I had to stop myself from thinking it was cute.

Pretty much the only thing that drains her energy all the way is another dog. Above is a photo of Phoenix after playing with Rebecca’s dog Ellie the other week. She came home, got a bath, and was out for the night. Whenever she’s done bathing I wrap her in a blanket because she seems cold and she just lies there until she is dry. Phoenix does loves to play with other dogs and it’s nice to really drain her now and then.

We are going to do obedience training within about a month. I know it is partly me that needs training. It’s taken some time to get it on the calendar because first she needed all her shots, then she needed to be spayed, and now she’s recovering and then I’ll be on vacation for a while. After that, I would like to find a good place.

Phoenix also loves to chew sticks, some of those photos are above. It’s weird, she will chew a bone now and then but she could sit and chew a stick for hours. The other kind of funny thing is her fascination with toads, she will pick them up in her mouth and put them down. This is not wonderful because I think the toads have mild poison and it makes her saliva foamy for about 15mns. She is fine but it’s kinda gross. We are in the process of going on walks where she is not allowed to walk ahead, so this is cutting down on the toad hunting. As a consolation prize I bought her a frog toy with rope arms. She pulled one off within 24hrs and has been pulling string off the others, so I’ve taken it away and tried to trade bones…but for some reason bones are not as fun as eating frog string. That, and as usual, eating grass is pretty tasty. Phoenix did decide to throw up some of the grass yesterday. I am glad for having hard floors, so it was no problem. Also, it’s nice that dogs will just throw up grass in the middle of the hard floor. Cats seem to seek out a soft surface to puke on.

That pretty much sums up the last month. It’s been a very good adjustment with very few problems. The ones we’ve had are either normal for a young and new dog or things we just need training to correct. Glad the spay is behind us, I was nervous about that surgery. But it went well. She regained normal energy in less than 48hrs.

On June 24th Robert and I adopted a dog from the Durham Animal Protection Society. We had been thinking and talking about it for some time. I’m always concerned about taking on a 10-12 year responsibility when I can’t see 10-12 years down the road. But I finally decided that if I always held decisions to that standard I would never be able to do anything. We both work from home and will be doing so for the foreseeable future. We get a bit lonely and we need more exercise. And Robert and I both like dogs. So it was the right decision at this time and that’s the best I can do.

I happen to know about the temperament of a lot of breeds, so I might be a little hasty in judging a dog by their breed. That and their common health problems. Due to the latter, I decided a mutt would be a great choice…they tend to be more healthy. However I still am concerned about some temperaments even in a mutt. So we walked through the kennels writing off every breed that concerns me due to likely high energy or aggression. I also am very careful about reading their energy. It’s hard with puppies, but adult dogs will give you a good idea of what they might be like with their body language and looks. I both have never had a dog of my own and have also had enough indirect experience with behavioral problems that it just wasn’t the right time to take on something like that.

There was a sweet little beagle/hound mix who I knew would be a bit hyper and a runner but I was willing to look at. She was gentle and small and no others intrigued me thus far. She couldn’t be viewed because she hadn’t had all her shots. There was also a sweet purebred Dachshund, but Robert isn’t interested in small dogs.

Eventually I decided to walk down the back side of the kennels after not really seeing a personality that interested me. As we walked down the back side we saw a smallish, somewhat shy and quiet reddish dog who I knew right away was both a female and had good energy. We went to look at her card which declared her a husky mix, 6 months and name “Unknown”. We decided to have a visit and walk with her. She was very gentle yet friendly. As we went out for our little walk, I watched her body language like a hawk. She didn’t react to other dogs barking her, which shows confidence. She didn’t pull on the walk but was curious. I didn’t know about the 6 months business because she looked almost fully grown to me and that would indicate that she was older than 6 months.

After this visit, we decided to sleep on it. The next day (Saturday), Robert and I went back for another visit. I found myself afraid that someone else had adopted her. There was a part of me that knew she needed to come home with us. The second visit showed her personality to be consistent. She seemed happy to see us and we even a bit playful when we took her outside. Robert said he liked her, but he wasn’t sure she was particularly smart, playful or affectionate. You can’t tell a lot from a pound visit, but my stomach told me that he was wrong and she would be all of those things. She was a stray, which is why her name was unknown, but I also had the feeling we wouldn’t have to worry about potty training her. When I get feelings about things, they are often right.

The night before this Saturday Robert and I talked about names, and after a couple hours the name Phoenix came up and we both immediately liked it. On our second visit to the pound Robert apparently asked her if her name was Phoenix when I was out of the room, and she made some gesture to indicate that it was. He told me this when I came back in and I figured I would give it a shot. She had her little paws on my knees and I asked her “Is your name Phoenix?” and she looked at me and pawed my arm in what seemed to be approval. She was definitely coming home. We put down our deposit and left knowing it would be 3-5 days before we could get her. This is good because it gave us time to prepare.

Phoenix came home on Wednesday the 24rd. We immediately took her to the vet, and also for a long walk later that afternoon. She seemed at home immediately. Over the next week she proved to be house trained, playful, very affectionate, obedient and extremely smart. She just gets things. She knows what she can chew and what she can’t, she knows what furniture she can be on and what she can’t. We set the rules right away and stuck to them, but she doesn’t push if she knows we don’t want something.

Additionally she is great with other people, polite and gentle with children and has a great time playing with other dogs. She does have a bit of a hard time with introductions to other dogs though. It’s intimidating (or something) for her to meet nose to nose and she will bark/growl a bit in that context. But, if she goes for a little walk with them, then she tends to love them. Not that she’s met tons of dogs, but that’s how it’s gone so far. Also, she doesn’t bark at other dogs in the distance…she really doesn’t react until they get really close. I think we just need to do some training to help her with introductions. But I’m not too worried as she is small and I don’t really want her meeting dogs I don’t know because I don’t trust other dogs without talking to the owner, unless it’s really obvious that they are docile.

As Robert says, we won the pound dog lottery. Phoenix couldn’t be more perfect if she tried. I liked her from the beginning, but was wary because I wasn’t sure what potential problems we might have. I only had my gut feeling in agreement with me…my brain on the other hand was worried. Despite that, within about 1-2 weeks I was in love. I am happier when she is around, she lightens the room when she is in it…and it’s been years since I got exercise every single day.

Oh, and one last thing. We have no idea what breed she is. It’s likely she has some husky in her. I suspect that she is at least a 3 way breed. There just isn’t a great guess. I’ve heard everything from whippet to basenji and I just don’t know. Neither her looks or temprament makes it obvious what she is. But I don’t care. She could be mixed with cat for all I care. It is kinda neat that she looks like a fox though, and she’s just about fully grown at 25lbs. Not too big and not too small. : )