the poodle moth

No prize for guessing why this moth has been named after a dog.

olympus camera pics of dogs

My new Olympus camera has an amusing feature. There's a certain setting that automatically takes a photo if it detects a dog's face. It's strange to hold the camera and hear the click as it automatically fires off.

It doesn't seem to be quite sure what exactly constitutes a dog face, though. Some were fine:








But some were not!









We figured the felted object might look a bit dog-like. But wine bottles and doorways?

However...I think the feature might be useful. I just have to figure out how.

photographing dogs

Penny stayed home last Monday when I went for an excursion with my photography class, but the teacher's dog had the privilege of going with us. And why not, given that he's such a lovely, well-behaved canine, willing to mooch around in a relaxed fashion?





We learned how to put our cameras down low near the surface of a pond or a puddle and get a symmetrical photo of and object. I tried this rock and was happy with the result.



And these reeds:



And Rocky himself was so photogenic.



So, when Penny and I went down to the river at Yarra Bend, I tried out my new technique as she swam for her toy.







Hmm... Looks like I'll either have to learn to take photos more quickly or I'll have to slow Penny down!

nightime adventures and the delicious smell of rotting rabbit meat

Why wasn't I suspicious when Penny came inside before I did, tonight?

We'd gone out to enjoy the chilly night air while she 'relieved' herself and I took my camera and tripod to see if I could get a picture of the possum that was in the tree last night.

While I was fiddling around, getting a stiff neck and trying to do long exposures on the camera in the dark, she went inside. How sweet, I thought, she's turning into a softie and can't take the cold. I finally gave up on clever exposures and took a couple of flash photos, thinking of Penny snug inside the house.





And then I returned to the kitchen...

And then I smelled a smell...

And then I recalled that Penny had been sniffing around the edge of the nasturtiums while I was playing wildlife photographer...

And finally I recalled that she had buried part of her meal of raw rabbit carcass - last Saturday.

The rabbit was in her stomach by the time I came inside, but the aroma was still available for anyone with a working nose.

poisonous plants and dogs

Penny was watching from inside the front door as I weeded the front garden this afternoon; she doesn't get out the front because we don't have a fence along the street. I was pulling out a plant that looked like choko and I wanted to make sure I wasn't discarding a useful plant, so I took a well-earned break and searched on the internet 'plant with milky sap looks like choko'.

I'm glad I did, because this plant definitely has to go. It is poisonous to animals and harmful to people. A Weed Fact Sheet from the New South Wales Government says,

It is suspected to be poisonous to cattle, poultry and dogs. The sap can cause skin irritation and severe allergic reactions in susceptible people.

I guess I'm not a susceptible person, because I've pulled out heaps of these plants, in our own garden and on weeding sessions in Darebin Parklands. Confession time - I'm really, really silly, because I sometimes garden without gloves.

After I read the scary stuff I washed the sticky gooey stuff off my arms and hands and donned gloves. The Fact Sheet says to dispose of the seed pods by bagging them and 'disposing of them safely', so I thought I shouldn't put the plant in the green waste bin. I put the whole thing in the rubbish bin.

Now, it may be a weed, but what's a weed after all, except a plant that we don't want to see growing where it does? I know Peter, the Ranger in Darebin Parklands, hates this particular weed and the Fact Sheet certainly shows what a pest it would be in our lovely bushland oasis.

It is also becoming more widespread in southern Victoria, particularly in and near Melbourne...
they reduce indigenous biodiversity. They do this by degrading the homes or habitat of indigenous plants and animals, thus
contributing to the extinction crisis both locally and globally.

BUT... it's so beautiful if you open the fruit.
I know I'm not the only one who thinks so, because I found a flickr member who took a picture of the beautiful seeds, one that captures the iridescence of the hairy tops, as I couldn't do.