Ruby sees some birds

Ruby sees some birds, originally uploaded by orangelica.

Rockyhill's Roc n Roll Ruby

sleeping & dreaming

sleeping & dreaming, originally uploaded by [[ c.e.n.s.o.r.e.d ]] .Loop. [[ c.e.n.s.o.r.e.d ]].

I don't know the story behind this photo, but this dog seems so peaceful on the blanket. Why the blanket is lying in what appears to be a parking lot has not been explained.

This big beautiful dog was at Tartan Days

she told me he is a therapy dog, originally uploaded by MBK (old skool).

His person told me that he's a therapy dog. She also told me his name but I forgot it already!

from the photo set
Missouri Tartan Days 2007 in St. Charles, Missouri

2007 St. Patrick's Fun Dog Show Outfit

2007 St. Patrick's Fun Dog Show Outfit, originally uploaded by DonnitaMae.

The photographer, DonnitaMae, says:

This is Miss Sarie's dress for this year's St. Patrick's Fun Dog Show. Last year she won for the best Irish Costume. That is the premo sought after category in the show! So this year we had to top last year's costume!

The dress material is a wool crepe gabardine. The bodice is lined in a green satin and the skirt is lined in the green sparkle material. I added a camisole that is lined with green fleece and has the green sparkle material on the outside. Her neckline and sleeves are trimmed in malibu boa. She is royalty for sure!

I resized the dress pattern and didn't consider the neckline. It caused the neck to be too big. So instead of starting over, I just made the camisole. It will add warmth for her when we go to the contest on March 3rd.

The 21st Annual St. Patrick’s Day Fun Dog Show was held on Saturday, March 3rd at Market Square in Old Town. Some of the competition categories have traditionally included: Dog with Best Irish Costume, Owner/Dog with the Most Similar Hair (natural only please!), Most Unusual Markings, Smallest Ears, Biggest Feet, Best Spots, Longest Nose, Most Unique/Disproportionate Appearance (Head to Body to Legs), Most Unusual Tail, and Most Mysterious Heritage. This event is held in conjunction with the Ballyshaner’s St. Patrick’s Day parade.

Happy St Patrick's Day

[The original photo is no longer available, but the photographer is still on Flickr. Here's a link to another photo of hers: Doggie Soul ]
green, originally uploaded by peggy..

"St. Patrick's Day is an enchanted time - a day to begin transforming winter's dreams into summer's magic."
~ Attributed to Adrienne Cook

Mystic Krewe of Barkus parades

Barkus 2007
Originally uploaded by annamarie504.

New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, St. Louis, Missouri, and other cities celebrate Mardi Gras with pet parades. Here are some sets of photos from the dog parade and other Mardi Gras festivities that Flickr users have uploaded:

from New Orleans, LA:

Barkus 2007 (New Orleans) by annamarie504 (Anna B)

Barkus (New Orleans) by Nola Tom (Tom Graham)

Krewe of Barkus '07 (New Orleans) by snujiins (Casey Laws)

Barkus 2007 (New Orleans) by boxchain ( alex cockroach, resident of the Bywater (upper 9th ward) neighborhood of New Orleans)

Riding with Krewe of King Arthur, Feb. 11, 2007 (New Orleans) by Maitri

Mardi Gras 2006 Parades & Antics (New Orleans) by Maitri

barkus (New Orleans) by Mamish

Barkus 2007 (New Orleans) by pinkmartini15

Baton Rouge, LA:

Krewe Of Mutts (Baton Rouge) by mfreyder

Krewe of Mutts (Baton Rouge) by CGH3

Soulard neighborhood, St. Louis, MO:

Mardi Gras 2007 (Soulard) by Herkie

Barkus Pet Parade (Soulard) by nutmeg021

The set canines (St. Louis) by danzeye has some of the Barkus parade

And my set of photos from this year's Soulard pet parade:

Soulard Pet Parade 2007 by MBK









The weather this year was nice, as opposed to last year's frigid temperatures. I only saw one dog shivering, and she seemed to be shivering from nervous excitement, not freezing cold.

Decorating Gustav for Christmas

Decorating Gustav for Christmas
Originally uploaded by Michael™.

Riley and Morgan's Christmas

love this one
Originally uploaded by goldenpaws.

I made this collage of Touille's photos...

touille collage
Originally uploaded by MBK.

... I made the Touille collage to be included in the multi-media display at the most recent celebration of the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi at Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis. The organizers invited folks to send them any photos of pets, deceased or still living, with their human companions or alone. I realized that I didn't have a really good photo of me with Touille where we both looked good. So I made the collage of photos showing Touille in different poses. The photos were shown on a good-sized screen, and they went through them all at least twice. Photos of zoo and jungle animals were interspersed with pictures of dogs, cats, penguins, and tree frogs. There was some recorded music playing, vaguely religious sounding. I'm not sure if the music had to do with animals, Saint Francis, or what, but it sounded kind of pretty.

In attendance at the blessing were many dogs, a few cats, an owl, and two horses (outside). This was the first year that I came alone. I missed having Touille with me, as I always miss her. But I liked seeing her photos up on the screen.

More from the 2006 Animal Blessing

From last year's Animal Blessing, Touille makes friends with a dachshund:



More from 2005

And here's a photo of Touille from a long-ago Blessing of the Animals at the cathedral:



More from the Animal Blessing sometime in the 1990s

Rest in peace, little Touille dog.

Touille's Mardi Gras costume

Touille's Mardi Gras costume
Originally uploaded by MBK.

I'm finding old photos of Touille now that she is gone. This one was from an old roll of film that I never even got developed until last week. It's got to be from the year 2000 or before.

Today I am trying to check out a lot of blogs participating in Blogathon [edited out link because it leads somewhere else now] but it's not easy. For some reason a lot of the blogs crash the browser on my admittedly antique computer. So then I have to reboot.

When I first posted about the blogathon on MB's Blogasm, there were almost 400 bloggers listed as being ready to participate. The blogathon started at 8 AM my local time, and I was especially trying to check out my friend SJ on her blog [edited out dead link] The Write Coast, because I am one of her sponsors. She is blogging for Puppies Behind Bars.

I saw SJ's first post and then... nothing. Though I have never met SJ in person, I feel that I know a lot about her through her various blogs and emails, and it seemed so unlike her to just quit after her first post. Finally I checked the Blogathon site's list of bloggers and luckily the link to her emergency blog had been added, so I was able to see [EDIT: now dead link] a wonderful post about Touille.

I'm proud of SJ for setting up an emergency blog and am so moved by the Touille post, and I've enjoyed her mix of haiku, rants, photos, and the "I AM" game.

It seems that several people had to drop out today, or just forgot this momentous day. I will not call their names here (I've visited some of their blogs and seen that they are not participating) but the total dollar amount of the pledges is still going UP, even though the number of bloggers has gone down from a high of I think 394 yesterday morning.

At this writing:
Number of blogs: 329  
Total pledges: 86,154.45

Besides SJ, here are a few of the other bloggers who are definitely keeping up with things [EDIT: in 2019 all of these blogs are gone so I've removed all the links]:

Pictures From My World, blogging for the World Wildlife Fund with nice photos of all kinds of animals.

Maldrobe Warfunctions, writing 48 sonnets in 24 hours for Doctors Without Borders.

Woolgathering - ramblings of a woman who really ought to know better, blogging for the RSPCA, with a few contests going and inviting us to share photos of pets.

How Animals Save Us Every Day, blogging live from (and for) the Glendale Humane Society with photos of cute doggies and kitties.

Waiting for the other shoe to drop..., blogging for Best Friends Animal Society, telling interesting little stories.

Rest In Peace, Touille

Touille's journey.
Touille departed this life on May 27, 2006. Here are some photos of Touille from the past year.




May 7, 2006 - walking on a nice sunny day




May 7, 2006 - strutting




January 14, 2006 - resting




June 28, 2005 - on the balcony




July 18, 2005 - looking back at me




February 5, 2006 - waiting at the top of the stairs




February 5, 2006 - sitting up to beg for food, a trick I never taught her




May 27, 2006 - Touille's last walk




May 27, 2006 - Touille only made it halfway up the stairs. I carried her the rest of the way up. I washed her face and carried her back to the car. We drove to the Humane Society office at 8 AM.




Driving to the Humane Society for the last time.




The last photo I took of Touille, still in the car. At the Humane Society, I held her and kissed her and told her she was a good dog.


More about Touille

Usciamo?

Usciamo? by RoBeRtO!!!.

More pictures of this cute dog can be found in the Jary photo album.

The photographer gave this picture the title "Usciamo?" I don't know the Italian language, but this dog is definitely waiting for something to happen, perhaps a walk or a nice dish of food.

(MB just looked up a translation on babel fish, and the Italian word means "we exit?")

- Touille, who can feel the expectation in the stance and the eyes of this little dog

UPDATE from MB:  In 2019, Babelfish still exists, but AltaVista does not.

Flickr Groups

[The link is broken for the original photo featured on this post.] 
There are thousands of photos in the Dogs! Dogs! Dogs! photo pool.
If you like looking at photographs of dogs, you could spend hours on Flickr.
Here are a few more Flickr photo groups dedicated to dogs:

• Dachshunds
• You Are A Dog People
• My Chihuahua is cuter than Your Chihuahua
• Puppy Love
• Dogs in the white stuff
• Your Dog Nose
• Dogs in Cars
• Dogs with an Attitude
• Who let the Dogs Out?

- Touille, a dog whose photographic likeness may be found in some of the aforementioned groups

easter song - Nutmeg sings "howlleluia"

easter song
Originally uploaded by bfelice.
Happy Easter and Happy Passover to everyone.

- Touille, who plans to spend the day in quiet contemplation and feasting

Old Dog

Old Dog
Originally uploaded by Lynn Morag.

"Even the dog enjoyed the party - though he was surprised that his garden was full of people!"

from the Scotland photo set. The photographer, Lynn Morag, includes this quotation on the photo set page:

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn."

- John Muir (1838 - 1914)

MB is enjoying the day scouring the Flickr website for photos related to Scotland and Scottish things, to be added to our blogs for Tartan Day. MB seems to be concentrating on the Highland Games photos this year, but she has found this bucolic scene to place on my blog.

- Touille, who also enjoys sitting in a sunny spot