Punishing pixels or enhancing them?

While going through the collection of slides that I had scanned a few years ago I ran across one of myself that I've always treasured. So now the hard part, do I post it as is or do I "enhance" it with the tools that are now available.

Here's the original (or at least as original as it gets from the scanning process). The originals are 35MM Kodachrome slides taken with an Argus C3 "Brick".

Original

Updated/enhanced version; rotated, blurred background, cropped and played with the exposure and saturation.

Enhanced (to much?)

Changing the topic to cycling, I finally got in, after 3 tries, to the Horribly Hilly Hundreds, so I'm working on getting training mile in for the next 7 weeks. This weekend it was a combination of hills and flats (with yoga in between). Plus a pretty good head wind coming out of the west, which meant (for a change) that I had a tail wind on the way home (that's rare).

Today's a recovery day. plus I'm getting some odd jobs done around the house, like a replacement ramp for our dachshund. It's a little over kill, with treated lumber 2 x 4's and rubber "tiled" surface, but that baby is going to last forever.


Safe riding all.

Undercover Dachshund

Spoiled dog? You be the judge.

Duncans recovery and the PTK

After yesterdays visit to the vet, Duncan is now free to move about the cabin. He still needs to limit his activities (no bounding or jumping) and his back muscles are very tight, so he's on a muscle relaxant. He's VERY happy about being out of the kennel and he may be up for some short walks if it would ever stop raining. We haven't had as much as some places, but it's sure putting a damper on the bike riding.

The bicycle club that I belong to is busy preparing for it's 16th annual Pedal The Kettle Tour. The club members staff a fully supported ride (SAG, rest stops, registration, and post ride meal) with 100, 66 and 33 mile options. It a kick ass ride through the Kettle Moraines of Waukesha and surrounding counties. Check the website for more details including online registration via Active.com. Funds raised by the event go towards supporting local charitable organizations.

Duncan is walking

Duncan is walking but he's still a little wobbly, so we're continuing the meds for a few more days (per the vets instructions) and keeping him on kennel rest, which he really hates now that he's more mobile.

Dachshunds are an interesting breed, in that although they are primarily a scent hound, they can and do participate in a sight hound sport called lure coursing, which we saw demonstration on Monday and the Wisconsin State Fair. Basically the lure is a plastic bag attached to a string, which is fed along a course of pulleys and driven by a 12-volt starter motor. We saw one experienced dachshund that was actually able to anticipate the path, cutting off the corner and catching the lure. The herding dogs were the best at this, but the course inside the coliseum was smaller than a standard outdoor course, so their speed was limited, but it was still very entertaining. Several dogs broke away from the sidelines, unplanned, to join in the fun.

Duncan on the road to recovery

Just a quick Duncan update. He's still under orders to stay in his kennel except for bio-breaks and food/water. So yesterday my daughter had Duncan in the backyard, keeping an eye on him while he took care of business, when suddenly a rabbit appeared and Duncan instinctively bolted after it. He's not up to speed of course, but it surprised my daughter that he was able to get away from her to chase the rabbit out of the yard. It's looks like he's going to make a full recovery, but for now it's back to kennel rest, where he can only dream of catching those rabbits.

Things to be thankful for...

I have a lot of things to be thankful for, but in light of the Minneapolis bridge disaster there was one added to the list yesterday, and that was that my daughter was home for the summer. She graduated from UMN Minneapolis/St Paul this past Spring and she had driven that bridge many time as part of her part time job for the UMN Library system, picking up and delivering books in the metro area.

Also, Duncan seems to be making progress towards recovery without surgery. This morning the vet said that he had some improvement in his reflexes and that we should continue the kennel rest and medication through the weekend. The vet will then evaluate his condition on Monday to see how he's doing.

Duncan Update

So far the steroid meds aren't helping his condition, so it looks like tomorrow we'll find out how much it costs for a dachshund to have back surgery.

Our dog's story

It had been many years since I had a dog as a regular part of my life, in fact it was probably at least 20 years. Then, one day about 7 years ago, I came home from work and was greeted by my wife, kids and a 12 week old Black and Tan Dachshund. We voted on a name and out of a couple that we agreed on we settled on Duncan. Duncan was supposed to be a miniature Dachshund, but due to a quirk, he's actually a "tweeny", somewhere between the full size and the mini's. Why Duncan, well we decided that if we got a dog, there could be only one.

He lived in the kitchen, for the most part, during the first few months and it wasn't long before I realized that we didn't want to carry him down the steps of our deck to the enclosed backyard. So one of my next tasks was to build a ramp from our deck to ground level so that he didn't have to navigate those steps.

Duncan has had quite a few adventures, he's caught and eaten his share of bunnies in our back yard. He's also taken the occasional tumble, his front legs were in a cast sometime during that first year or two. He also has a special backpack called a Dog Gone Device for taking bike rides with the family (otherwise those little legs just can't keep up). He's always traveled well, ever since that first day when he made his journey in our mini-van from his birthplace near Portage, WI to his new home in Waukesha, WI. He's made frequent trips to Illinois to visit his human families relatives.

But just recent prior to our vacation, Duncan was in pain, so we got him in to the vet right away and he apparently had suffered some type of trauma to his back. They gave him some morphine to take care of the pain and said that he was ok to travel, (we were leaving that day for one of those trips to Illinois). The next day he was walking with a strange gate, as if his back legs weren't working quite right and then the next day he could use them at all. After a visit to a local vet, the diagnosis was that Duncan probably had a slipped or ruptured disk in his lower spine and that if he didn't improve within a week or so, that he would need surgery.

So Duncan now has until Thursday of this week, to see if he recovers his reflexes in his rear legs, otherwise we'll need to make arrangements for him to have back surgery to relieve the pressure on his spine.

More to follow on Duncan's progress...

It's a dogs life

dachshundQuote of the day, from my Dachshund desk calendar

"A dog's day consists of eating, playing, and sleeping, and while sleeping, the dog dreams of eating and playing." - Anonymous

Our dachshund, trying to live up to the standard