Daisy seems skeptical in every photo, doesn’t she?

And Badger is just the opposite.

I tried to learn how to use the Canon yesterday, going through documentation and instructional videos. Upon reaching the section pertaining to quality I went out and shot in RAW format.

Which was fine.

Until it came time to look at the RAW images I’d transferred over to my computer… Only a slight hiccup… My PC pretended to not know what they were, as did all my photo-editing programs.

Fast forward to 20 different downloaded codecs later… and Windows finally saw them. Turns out since they’re Canon, they’re different from a regular RAW; they’re ‘camera RAW’, CR2. Whatever. The quality was phenomenal, but my Adobe software turned up its nose at them. Turns out… and you’re going to love this… turns out Adobe only updates codecs for its latest version of software… so if I wanted to be able to import them into the program for editing, I’d have to upgrade. Well, my software is so old it could vote, so that means no upgrade; full price.

Not happening.

I did download a test version of Lightroom 4 and that’s how I was able to edit the two images above. It’s pretty cool in that it has all the codecs for all formats built in… along with filters for individual cameras and lenses. Lightroom will cease to function after 30 days, so I’ll enjoy it and then switch to JPG…. unless I come up with 150. Like Daisy, I’m skeptical.

Oh, the quality of the images themselves are awesome with RAW. Notice I didn’t claim the same for anything I can directly influence… although gingerly moving some of the settings and shooting in full sun didn’t blow everything out. For once.

Eliot was wrong, April is not the cruelest month. Chaucer, however, was right on the money.

The little girls. There is some size difference.

Last year we had two sugar apples total and those were near the end of the season. We’ll have a bumper crop this year, though, because the tree is covered with little babies!

The plumeria is blooming. Yay.

Oh, c’mon. You knew it was inevitable…

Sitting and Thinking

While Chaos Reigns

Calm meets the Storm

I love this shot of Daisy.

Click to embiggen.

Daisy’s face from the above capture.

…and a gratuitous pineapple shot. The stalk is growing like a weed.

As a result of an effort to take more pictures, there are naturally more pictures. Doesn’t mean they’re good, just plentiful. Here are some of today’s, really only posted because Daisy is among ‘em. Her hair is growing back out so she looks a little wild and wooly.

It’s warm here and fat little Dachshunds tend to get hot quickly.

“Oh, bother!” Should have renamed her ‘Winnie’ after the Bear.

I really like these last two for some reason… a fact which I can’t even explain to myself.

To the birds who refused to return after I stepped outside: screw all y’all and the stick you rode in on.

It probably says something about us that we think Daisy’s mower obsession ‘cute’. She’s tearing it apart, bit by bit, thinking something nefarious hidden within.

Well, it helps fulfill her requirements for happiness.

All breeds have their special abilities and of course Dachshunds have an aptitude for hunting – not to mention killing. The time Zoe attacked a coral snake comes to mind; she just instinctively knew what to do… and did it.

Developed by Germans to scent and flush out prey, most notoriously badgers, they will go anywhere, do almost anything, contort their bodies into any shape possible, in order to accomplish their goal.

Dachshunds are special dogs; brave, tenacious, loyal and funny.

And alert.

…and protective.

Did I mention stubborn?

E. B. White:

“Being the owner of dachshunds, to me a book on dog discipline becomes a volume of inspired humor. Every sentence is a riot. Some day, if I ever get a chance, I shall write a book, or warning, on the character and temperament of the dachshund and why he can’t be trained and shouldn’t be. I would rather train a striped zebra to balance an Indian club than induce a dachshund to heed my slightest command. When I address Fred I never have to raise either my voice or my hopes. He even disobeys me when I instruct him in something he wants to do.”

I love Dachshunds.

Of course, not all dogs are interested in hunting.

Bree will rout the tree rats and give chase, but only because she recognizes them as a threat to home and family. Fortunately she sees no need to tear the mower apart, a fact for which I am grateful.

I love Collies as well and the disparity makes me laugh.

However, her goals may not coincide with theirs…

Just some Daisy.

Daisy Maisy Dixie Grace

Loooong Dog

Catching a scent

Me and my Shadow