tdierikx

The groomer members from Pets Australia have spread Buddy's story far and wide... and were very helpful to Cazstaff when it all happened too. I'm tipping one of them to win the Buddy award at Groomquest... *grin* T.

A heart dog will grab a hold of your soul - that's the only way I can describe that bond you have with them... and your soul breaks when they leave you... My Woosie left me in 2004, and I still can't talk about her out loud without losing it... I'm even choking up and have tears flowing now just typing her name. I miss her so much that it actually hurts even 9 years later. Harper is my latest heart dog - she is big, naughty, and a complete PITA most of the time - but I wouldn't trade her for the world... she's only 11 months old and is just going through the turd stage... *grin* I've had quite a few dogs over the years, and LOTS of fosters, and I've loved them all to death - but you just KNOW when there's that special one... T.

None of the vets I've had desex my dogs have charged consult fees on top of the surgery cost - that includes the pre-op check and any post op checks/followups. The dogs all had fluids, proper monitoring during surgery, pain relief post surgery, and any AB's needed post-op - some were dropped off the evening prior to surgery and stayed overnight for no extra cost. The most expensive was $265 for an adult female Lab, who had a reaction to the internal sutures and needed 2 post op consults to drain off fluid from the site at no extra cost. I tend to remove stitches myself unless I'm suss about the way they are healing. Actually, most vets I've used haven't charged consult fees for any followup visit for an already diagnosed issue - and also reduced X-ray costs for followups of those, especially if the dog doesn't require sedation for the x-ray. Case in point my male Rotti that had an issue with a bone in his foot - he would happily sit with his paw up on the x-ray table for his fave vets. I've also been very fortunate to have vets that will do massively reduced costs for rescue fosters - no consult fees, and almost cost price for any meds/surgeries needed. It helps that I don't take advantage by going to the vet for every little thing too - sometimes the rescue rates have extended to my own dogs too, even though I do tell them that they aren't fosters and am happy to pay regular rates for them. I also pay on the spot for any visits. T.

Weekend deliveries are good... *grin* T.

The lovely lillypilly would like the wonderful people who organised to get this beautiful girl to us to know how she's doing... Candy has had her surgery to fix her bad back leg, and is now lapping up lots of attention from her wonderful foster carer "Aunty Margaret". Aunty Margaret reports that Candy is a dream foster - and is coping very well with her surgery and having to be on a no-exercise routine for the next few weeks. She is loving her regular short walks to the yard for a tinkle and a lie in the sun under Aunty Margaret's loving eye - tummy rubs are the best apparently! Candy would like to thank Frenzied1, Camelia, and the lovely Therese who transported her to us... and anyone else that she can't remember that may have had a hand in this stage of her journey to her new and fantastic life as a pampered pet. Here are some pics of Candy post surgery... I don't think she's suffering any, do you? Hugs to everyone for all the great stuff you do behind the scenes - without you, dogs like Candy might not always get that special second chance they so deserve. T.

I'll see if I can get nice close-ups of the meerkats for you Frodo's Mum... they are cute cheeky buggers... T.

I've met this person in the flesh, and she's really quite a lovely lady... maybe if people have an issue with what she's saying, they could approach her and do so in a friendly manner... seriously, she won't bite... T.

Dane Bouris is the son of Mark Bouris - the boss guy that does the firing on Celebrity Apprentice - his daddy is yummo... and rich! http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/dog-day-in-court-for-rising-star-dane-bouris/story-fni0cvc9-1226684581601 He can afford the fines... so not really all that much in the way of punishment that will make him think twice about allowing his dog loose in public... *sigh* T.

You aren't fostering this dog through Pound Rounds are you? T.

I could shoot RAW and JPG... best of both worlds then, yes? *grin* T.

I'm referring to this pic Anne... I certainly wouldn't be all that happy with that amount of blood leakage from a sutured wound - especially not after 24 hours or more since the surgery. T.

It IS a nice lens... and I'm sure that once I get the mechanical stuff under control, I'll get very nice results with it. I must say that it does focus in pretty darned quickly when panning and zooming to catch birds flying about - it's more about learning the actual reach and zoom movement to catch them more often that needs the practice methinks. The added bonus is using it on a 60D means that I'm actually getting more distance out of it due to the cropped sensor... *grin* Maximum effective zoom becomes equivalent to 640mm... I am so looking forward to getting a nice tight facial shot of a tiger - like the lucky ones I've had of the lions in the past (lions appear to be way more lazy and will sit near the glass and stare at you for ages). Minimum focusing distance on this lens is 1.8m too, so I can be further back and still get the shots I want. Looking forward to getting closer shots of the chimps and gorillas too - especially the ones that stay their distance with their little ones. I might even be convinced to shoot in RAW with this lens... *grin*... but I'll need a bigger memory card first, as I have a nasty habit of taking LOTS of photos. T.

Gorgeous pics from yesterday... and you've proven that you can get lovely results from the camera... *grin* Snook's notes really do explain a lot of things about how to get your camera to work for you - and she's written them in a way that most laymen can understand. You should be producing awesome indoor shots in no time... T.

They are coming along really well... and look way too cute for boots! T.

I hope you at least called a vet last night... what you have there is NOT normal, even after surgery for a retained testicle. There is way too much bleeding from both sites for my liking. At the very least I'd be at the vet's door this morning as they open. T.

IS and AF on - no editing apart from resizing for posting online. I'm still very much a beginner... *grin* Seriously - I leave all the manual stuff well alone - just point, focus, and click... on one of the presets (Sports is my fave setting). I figure that if I've spent that much on camera gear, it can bloody well do all the hard work for me... lol! T.

All handheld Roova... and it's a big heavy lens with a slide in-out zoom system. They may be my first photos with this particular lens, but I have had lots of practice with my older and smaller lenses. It's going to take me some time to get a proper hold on the zoom on this one while panning around methinks, but I'm pretty happy with my first foray... *grin* Please also note that I took a lot of really crappy blurry photos today too - but funnily enough, I only posted the really nice ones... lol! For each focused flying shot, I got about 10 more that were completely off. I did manage to get a swallow diving into the water and a couple of him flying - all in reasonable focus, but the framing of the shots was sub-par, so I haven't shared them. This weekend is going to be fine apparently, so I'm off to the Zoo, and maybe even go to Manly and try to get collision pics of the seagulls... they are funny as! T.

I changed the link settings on Photobucket to only post the IMG - no linkbacks... Went to Update Link Options (on the right), then unselected everything except the "IMG code" one. T.

Don't cry Kirislin - you still get MUCH better photos than I do... *grin* T.

We used to get $20 for "top and tail" (ears and tail basically) of foxes and dingoes when I was a kid in the country... no way one can mistake either for a domestic pet. T.

Oh - no cropping on any of the photos - that's what I actually got. T.

Ummm... you would REALLY like it Kirislin... it takes nice pics... *grin* I'm definitely going to need some more practice with tracking and keeping/getting focus, but I think I got a few nice pics at the pond this afternoon... Check these out... ... and this one's my fave - at 400mm no less! I think the Zoo is going to be tres fun with this lens... *grin* T.

Snook's notes are brilliant! I urge you to take up the offer... T.

I think I might just toddle off to the pond in the park up the road - and see if I can get any decent bird shots... T.

At 400mm... Handheld no less... and a bit of shake because I'm such a noob... lol! T.