Category: Photography

Loyalty, as only a dog can do it!

This is too wonderful.

Slowly getting back to normal although yesterday morning saw the water supply fail from the well. (Now restored!) Perhaps not surprising as overnight Thursday-through-Friday the outside temperature went down to 8.6 deg. F. or in ‘new money’ -13 deg. C.  (In fact I’m writing this at 10am yesterday waiting for the well engineer to arrive!)

On January 4th, the Care2 site published what has to be one of the most remarkable examples of the loyalty of a dog. This is about as perfect an example of what we humans can learn from our dogs as it gets!

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Loyal Dog Protects Buddy Stuck on Tracks From Speeding Train

3197731-largeBy: Laura Goldman   January 4, 2017

About Laura

If you’ve ever had the slightest doubt about just how loyal dogs can be – not only to people but to other dogs – a pup who’s been named Panda really proved it on Christmas Day.

Panda and his pal, now named Lucy, apparently escaped from their home in western Ukraine and somehow ended up on railroad tracks in the town of Uzhhorod. Lucy had an injury and was unable to stand or move. Panda remained right by her side, warming her with his body in the freezing cold.

A train engineer contacted a group of animal rescue volunteers including Denis Malafeyev, telling them he’d seen the dogs on the tracks for two days. Malafeyev and the others took off to try to save them.

“I saw a train approaching and felt sick,” he wrote on Facebook. “The male dog heard the sound of the approaching train, came close to the female dog and laid down next to her. Both of them pushed their heads toward the ground and let the train pass.”

A viral video Malafeyev posted shows the dogs being run over by the speeding train. It’s chilling to think that this wasn’t the first time this happened to the dogs.

The video is disturbing and difficult to watch, but amazingly, both dogs survived with just minor injuries. It may also seem disturbing that, knowing a train would be approaching, Malafeyev didn’t put down his camera and save the dogs. He wrote in his Facebook post that he and the group had tried, unsuccessfully, to move them, but Panda would bark at them and refuse to let them get close to Lucy.

“Think about it. He was keeping her warm,” Malafeyev wrote. ” I don’t know what to call this: instinct, love, friendship, loyalty? One thing I know for sure is that not all people would do the same as this dog!”

The video has been viewed more than 1.5 million times, with many commenters agreeing with Malafeyev that humans have a lot to learn from this dog.

15697205_1203415936406516_7707205456893868670_nFour days later, Malafeyev posted new videos of Panda and Lucy on Facebook. The dogs were taken to an animal shelter and have been reunited their owners, UPI reports. (There are conflicting reports that the dogs were adopted and given the names Panda and Lucy by their new owners. Either way, the two dogs are in a forever home together.)

(Note: there was another video on that Care2 page that I can’t find on YouTube.)

Lucy had no fractures, but only severe bruising, The Sun reports.

“Lucy lives in a house in a warm room! It’s really warm in here!” Malafeyev wrote. “The animals are on the mend!”

Hopefully Panda will be rewarded with treats for his heroic actions, and the owners will make their home more escape proof.

Photo credit: YouTube

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 I am going to close this post by including another YouTube video of this incredible act together with the text supporting this video.

Incredible Story of Devotion Dog! 2017

Published on Jan 4, 2017
Incredible Story of Devotion Dog! The dog two days guarded wounded friend on the rails!
On Sunday, December 25 near the village of Uzhgorod in the district of Tyyglash a touching story took place in Ukraine. Two dogs spent about two days on the tracks, one of them was injured, and the other kept the injured dog warmed and protected from the passing trains.
The story was posted on his page on facebook user Denis Malafeev. His friends noticed two dogs lying on the tracks, one of them was injured. Later, the man himself arrived on the scene.
Several attempts to remove the animal from the rails were in vain, because the dog strongly defended her friend from the people!
When the animals heard an approaching train, the healthy dog lay next to a wounded dog and together they were pressed to the ground between the rails. This moment Malafeev managed to capture on video.
The dog did it for two days in a row! Just think! He warmed it for two days, so that it did not freeze and put himself in danger every time! I do not know how to call it: the instinct, love, friendship, loyalty? It is instructive for us!
Together with his friends, they took dogs and took them to the shelter. The Post reports that they are now waiting for their owners.

P.S. Shortly after the publication in social networks there were dog owners. It was learned that the Pandas and Lucy – so call the animals – there are no serious injuries, only bruises and hematomas. I found out that shaggy live in the home side’s S. Tseglovka in Transcarpathia for several years and are committed to each other from puppyhood. Dogs run away from home when someone from the house forgot to close the door on the site. They searched all over the village. But when the owners heard the story of “Romeo and Juliet” on track – immediately rushed to pick up pets from the shelter. Now dogs are at home, and their life is not threatened.

For two days that one dog protected the other. It is beyond imagination to think how frightening a speeding train would have been for those two precious dogs. Not just once but numerous times before rescue came to them.

Such a privilege to be able to share this with you.

A Very Happy Christmas

To all of you and your families and loved ones.

I saw this post below on a blog site that was new to me. It was just called Lady Fi. It simply reached out to me in the most beautiful and peaceful manner and seemed like the perfect re-posting (with LadyFi’s permission) for today: December 25th.

Can’t add anything more to who LadyFi is other than what she writes on her About page.

So, you want to know who I am? Well, you’ll get a pretty good idea from reading my blog. But, in brief:

A Brit living in Sweden since 1996. Came here as a so-called love immigrant.

Have got two small kids and good supply of ear plugs.

Husband is like a third child and the dog is like the fourth.

Blessed with an ironic sense of humour.

Scriptwriter, textbook writer and translator (Swedish into English).

Here’s that post.

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Paws for thought

13 December is Lucia – one of my favourite times of year.

Lucia is all about children dressed in white and carrying candles

To symbolize hope and light in the darkness.

ablazeThe dawn that day didn’t disappoint either.

It blazed with light and colour,

So that dogs (and people) seemed small and humble

Under the huge lilac sky;

dogsinpurpleAnd paw prints were etched across a purple

Canopy of snow – leading the eye

To that glorious sky of hope.

pawprintsooOOoo

(I believe these pictures came from the Skywatch site.)

Trusting that for all of us your Christmas period and the whole year to follow offer endless visions of such stillness, peace and beauty.

First Winter Snow

Taken looking to the North-East.

Mount Sexton, Oregon.
Mount Sexton, Oregon.

The photograph was taken a little after 4pm PST as the cloud cover was breaking up.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Picture Parade One Hundred and Seventy-Seven

The big flood!

Regulars will recall that during the week I missed being able to publish a post and just quickly dropped a note to say that Rain Stopped Play commenting:

Sorry good people but the rain yesterday interfered with our Internet connection until early evening.

Then there just wasn’t time to post something for you.

Other than at 6:50 pm we had had 3.17 in of rain since midnight!

Well on Thursday morning our ‘on-property’ weather station was reporting that in the 30 hours since the start of Wednesday through to 6 am on that Thursday we had had a total of 4.78 inches of rain.

p1160746
Cup Creek to the left of the driveway about 100 yards from the house.

Later on Thursday morning I went down to our creek and the following photographs record the scene!Our driveway drops gently down for about 250 yards from the house to our bridge over Bummer Creek where I was heading with my camera. To the left of the driveway is a creek with no official name but the locals call it Cup Creek. For most of the year it is dry!

Another view of a very swollen Cup Creek.
Another view of a very swollen Cup Creek.

Then I arrived at our bridge that crosses Bummer Creek. Upstream years ago an irrigation dam was installed. It is just visible under the raging waters.

Bummer Creek looking upstream from the bridge.
Bummer Creek looking upstream from the bridge.
Bummer Creek looking downstream from the bridge.
Bummer Creek looking downstream from the bridge.

Difficult to estimate how swollen the creek was but it was carrying many, many times more water than even the usual effects of a couple of rainy days.

But then looking up from the bridge to where the driveway runs up to Hugo Road this mini-river met my eyes.

Our driveway gate onto Hugo Road is just visible at the top of the picture.
Our driveway gate onto Hugo Road is just visible at the top of the picture.

The gully to the side of the driveway had become blocked with leaves hence the surface water. But then I saw that where the driveway met the metal platform of the bridge the flowing water had carved out quite a section of the driveway.

p1160740No question this has to be repaired by yours truly that morning because the hole would have prevented anything larger than a standard car from coming across the bridge.
p1160739So that was our rainy day; how was it for you!

Saturday stalls!

The Finalists of the 2016 Plumbers of the Year Competition.

The craftsmanship skills shown by these winners is simply ‘breath-taking’!

(Huge thanks to Cynthia Gomez for sending these to me.)

One very good reason for not putting the toilet paper on the roll.
One very good reason for not putting the toilet paper on the roll.

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The saying: "Prior planning prevents piss poor performance" comes to mind.
The saying: “Prior planning prevents piss poor performance” comes to mind.

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"Hey Joe, I thought the measurements were in centimeters!"
“Hey Joe, I thought the measurements were in centimeters!”

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Apparently, you don't want anyone seeing your face, but everything else is okay?
Apparently, you don’t want anyone seeing your face, but everything else is okay?

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Well at least the seat will be warm to the bum!
Well at least the seat will be warm to the bum!

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And the purpose for the door is?
And the purpose for the door is?

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For the long-armed among us.
For the long-armed among us.

Cynthia will be delighted to forward you contact details for any of the plumbers whose work is shown above!

In recognition of our mothers.

A month ago this day my mother died.

Not long before my mother died we contracted with a local landscaper, Leif Monchallin, to do quite an extensive improvement to the area of land that is to the front of the house. One of the improvements is putting in a dry-stone wall at the top of the driveway just before it splits into a turning circle. The photograph below shows the early stages of that wall.

p1160682Anyway, Jeannie came up with the idea of putting in some sort of engraved stone right in the centre of the wall. Leif knew of a local stone mason, Oregon Valley Sign Company, and off Jean and I went to meet Bryan Schram, who with his wife, run the business.

Bryan Sch at work
Bryan Schram at work.

Between the three of us we came up with a form of words that seemed highly appropriate.

But first off Jean and I had to locate a suitable stone for the engraving and take it over to Bryan’s premises.

Once that was done then it was about a week before we went to collect the engraved stone with the lettering also painted (that was Bryan’s wife’s area of expertise).

Finally, Leif placed the engraved stone in the wall after taking meticulous care to ensure it was perfectly positioned.

Here’s the result.

p1160722My mother was a musician and music teacher for most of her life and Jeannie’s Mum, Florence, was a great lover of music and dancing. Hence the clefs either side of the wording.

A rather special reminder of our mothers; don’t you think!

Picture Parade One Hundred and Seventy-Five

Taking it easy!

chill1oooo

chill2oooo

Dog Dazeoooo

chill4oooo

chill5Another set in a week’s time.

Meanwhile, you all take good care of yourselves.

A very strange cloud!

The endless fascination of the clouds in the sky.

Wherever one is in the world there’s something that will always offer delight, interest and a bit of a weather forecast as a bonus. I’m speaking of clouds.

I have written about clouds before in this place but the reason that I just have to share another post about clouds with you is this image:

garysmith-zippercontrailIt is from The Cloud Appreciation Society’s November newsletter and I’m taking the liberty of sharing the particular news item with you.

cloud-of-month-nov2016November 2016

A Mystery in the Clouds

Earlier this month, a peculiar ring appeared in the clouds over Warwickshire, England. James Tromans, who photographed the formation, asked what might have caused it. Clearly, this was time for some cloud detective work.

The ring was actually more of a curve, or a ‘U’, as there was no other half to it. It appeared to consist of regular lumps, or lobes, hanging down from the underside of a cloud layer. We wondered if this layer was an Altostratus, but off in the distance to the right of the image there appeared to be showers, like those produced by a storm cloud. This suggested that the cloud layer might in fact have been part of the huge canopy that spreads out at the top of a Cumulonimbus storm cloud.

Sometimes, to the rear of a storm, lobes of cloud known as

1. Could ‘mamma’ be involved? Spotted over Wilton, Wiltshire, UK, by William Saberton,
1. Could ‘mamma’ be involved? Spotted over Wilton, Wiltshire, UK, by William Saberton,

mamma can be seen

hanging from the underside of the canopy (see image 1). There certainly was a general appearance of mamma in the cloud layer. But could some of these mamma cloud lobes have arranged themselves into this strange, regular curved formation? It seemed unlikely.

There was something decidedly unnatural about the cloud’s appearance – as if it were man-made. Then it occurred to us that the photograph was looking towards Coventry Airport. Might this cloud effect have been in some way caused by an aircraft?

As planes fly through clouds made of ‘supercooled’ water droplets, they can encourage these extremely cold droplets to freeze and fall below, leaving behind a gap, known  as a dissipation trail, or ‘distrail’. Such formations are often seen in

2. Or was it to do with an aircraft ‘distrail’, like this spotted over Newcastle, Australia, by Jillian De Martin (Member 12801)?
2. Or was it to do with an aircraft ‘distrail’, like this spotted over Newcastle, Australia, by Jillian De Martin (Member 12801)?

straight lines where planes ascend or descend through the cloud. But they can also appear in circular shapes when one is flying in a holding pattern as it waits to land (see image 2). James’s cloud wasn’t quite a distrail, but we felt we were getting close.

It was then that we recognised the regular spacing of the lobes. These sometimes appear below aircraft condensation trails (see image 3). They are caused by the interaction between the two swirling vortices produced by the wings. As these rotate in opposite directions in the wake of an aircraft, the two turbulent flows interact and combine to form a periodic pattern of turbulent downdrafts. In the right conditions, they appear as lobes hanging below the condensation trail.

3. The clue was in the turbulence lobes that can appear hanging from an aircraft contrail. You can see these in this strip of contrail spotted over the Smokey Mountains, US, by Gary Smith.
3. The clue was in the turbulence lobes that can appear hanging from an aircraft contrail. You can see these in this strip of contrail spotted over the Smokey Mountains, US, by Gary Smith.

This explained the formation. It was caused by an aircraft, which happened to be flying just above the base of the cloud layer as it turned in a holding pattern above the nearby airport. The plane’s condensation trail was hidden within the cloud layer, but the lobes of cloud descending below it, caused by the turbulence from its wings, appeared extending below the layer.

Phew! With that cleared up, we could finally relax once more.

Turbulence lobes beneath the contrail of an aircraft in holding pattern over Hampton Lucy, Warwickshire, UK, by James Tromans.

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 How very interesting and hope I’m not the only one to think so.

Golly, there are some great persons out there!

What a wonderful sequel to yesterday’s post!

I am always amazed at how things turn out. Call it serendipity or what!

Because, as much as I love publishing a daily post in this place, not infrequently I think what on earth am I going to find to write about; or republish!

As it was yesterday morning. Not only did I have a heap of things to do around the house but also other ‘office’ work that had to come first.

Then in my email in-box there was another story from Care2. It made a perfect follow-on to yesterday’s post about how rescued dogs go on to become rescue dogs.

Enjoy! (And many thanks Miss Serendipity!)

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Hero on Motorbike Delivers Food to Street Dogs and Cats

3194050-largeBy: Laura S. November 20, 2016

About Laura

Murat Şahin climbs onto his dusty motorbike and holds his breath as he turns the key, hoping the engine will start. His trip is important because he’s going to feed more than 100 dogs in the forest of Aydos in Istanbul, Turkey. Dozens of cats living along the rocky coastal walls are waiting for him too.

fullscreen-capture-11142016-55055-pm-e14792322639441Watch Murat Feed the Animals

Murat’s mission is important to him, it’s a spiritual calling in fact, and he is deeply devoted to serving the hungry animals as you will see in the uplifting video below.

Murat does take some animals to the veterinarian for spay/neuter, but it isn’t always feasible. Some of the animals are wild, and without a car, he can’t bring a trap or transport them easily. He also doesn’t have the funds to do sponsor spay/neuter on a wide scale on his own.

fullscreen-capture-11142016-55135-pm-e14792322398831“Murat has never asked for any help,” fellow volunteer Anna Efe explains. “He has always used his own money and collected food at a restaurant and a local canteen. Also, some butchers were giving him leftovers free of charge. But this year the situation has changed. The butchers stopped giving leftovers for free and, on top of that, Murat’s old motorbike was stolen. It was his only way to deliver food to the forest dogs.”

Though Murat did manage to find a very low-priced bike to replace the stolen one, the replacement bike frequently breaks down. In fact, it broke down immediately after the filming of the video on this page.

Better Days Ahead

fullscreen-capture-11142016-55807-pm-e14792322056231The Harmony Fund charity, based in the U.S., is working on a surprise for Murat. The group is attempting to raise funds to purchase a reliable, used car for Murat’s rescue work and would be shared by Murat and his fellow volunteers working together as an authorized rescue team in Turkey. The car would have several advantages over the bike including carrying larger quantities of food, transporting animals to the veterinarian and safer transportation during bad weather.

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If anyone reading this post can find it in their hearts to make a donation, then this link on the Harmony Fund website is the place to go. You can specifically nominate that your gift goes to Murat out in Turkey. (And Jean and I have made a modest donation to Harmony to be passed to Murat.)