May’s banner is dedicated to the beginning of beginning a new beginning. “Come again,” you say?

It’s been almost 6 months since we knew about our move to Luasanne, Switerzland.  And funny enough, we were informed the entire process would take only as long as 12 weeks. It’s been about 12 weeks longer than the 12 week expectation and we’ve only just begun. But we don’t want to jump the gun again. We can only commit to saying that we’re beginning to begin the big move.

We received federal approval of our Visas and are waiting for the consulate to approve and provide it.  As we count down the days for that to finalize, the relocation company has begun the process of relocation. But we aren’t moving yet. Don’t worry Internet, when I know, you’ll be the third to know. There’s a whole bunch more stuff to do. Finding a place to live is the priority and that hasn’t happened. In fact, we haven’t even scheduled the beginning process for that.  Oddly though, the shipping vendor has contacted me and requested all my information, including what I’m packing, passport information and our final destination. Hmm… In addition our “cultural tutor” has contacted us to set us up a 2-day educational program on Swiss culture before we move. Well thank dog! At least we know we’ll be able to spot the differences between Swiss and American cheese and Nestle and Lindt chocolate.

And through all of this, I am researching pet relocation vendors to assist me in the daunting process of importing my beloved ant farm and gold fish. 

This month’s masthead conveys the results of what April Showers may bring. I never know what I’m going to do for my monthly masthead until I sit down at the computer. And I’m always amazed at the metaphors I subconsciously conjure. Yes, I had a Flower Power post earlier. But honestly, we all know Juno is my flower girl and Loki is my Power boy. They fit so well together. So I dared to use it again. Loki looks comfortable revealing his feminine side. But I wonder, would O’Keef approve? 

I was a little light on the blogging this month. Loki and I have been in some intense training and it’s been, to say the least, draining in some ways. I’ll have more on it early May, but suffice it to say, I miss blogging about their silly escapades and I plan to pull back a bit on the training and get back to more publicity of their shenanigans!

Wild Dingo blogging is in da hooooussse!

This month’s masthead celebrates the weather we seem to be experiencing across the U.S. Even in Northern California, March has rolled in on a week of more rain and storms.

The photo’s of the dogs actually come from the same photo taken in November when Juno was allowed to come home from her 5-day stay in the hospital.  Here she is taunting Loki out of a “down-stay” that i was making him do while she happily ran around. As you can see, she was victorious.

“Hey big boy, Mom says you have to stay down, but can you resist THIS?”

It also is a nice methaphore for how there’s a little bit of the lion and the lamb in both these beasts!

Sigh. Let’s just hope March rolls out like a lamb. I’m actually sick of the rain!

Mr. Wild Dingo and I decided to host a yearly Mardi Gras party, partly because our house is unconsciously designed in those colors and themes and partly because we love an excuse to party! Last year, these two crashed our party and did this:

This is the consequence of uninviting a Siberian to the party.

So we made them pay the price if they wanted to come to the party:

“Does this crown make my butt look big?” (I swear sometimes he’s such a chick.)

“Too … many … hurricanes. Can’t … reach … punch bowl.”

This year, we tortured them some more for this photo shoot. And yes, they are wearing real masks. They are not photoshopped. Why would anyone bother having dogs if they can’t torture them? Here are a couple of outtakes from the photo shoot.

First the shots I used for the banner:

I love the way the mask sits on his face here and his eye is visable. I wanted the two facing eachother so I chose side angles.

We only got a few good shots of Juno. She’s a horrible model. She shouldn’t quit her day job. (Which is….?)  But in this photo, her eyes are bright and alert and focused on the bag of Salmon Zukes I’m holding.

I went through a half a bag of Salmon Zukes, mostly for Juno. She’s a demanding and overpaid model.

You can see what she really thinks about working. By the way, did you even notice the size of those feathers? I have the world’s most athletic (read: “sporty” Mango Minster judge!) dogs who can balance feathers so nicely on their heads.

This was the first shot I did to set up lighting. I’m shocked Loki stayed still with Juno next to him and some girly feathers on his face.

Later on, I tried the green feathers. I think they look better than the white but it was hard to work it into the header. Loki amazes me. When I first got him 2 years ago, he wouldn’t let me put a harness or leash on him. He’d try to bite me if I put anything weird on  him. Today, he sits perfectly still wearing ridiculous costumes and doesn’t move a muscle until I release him. He’s like my little soldier.

Now he’s totally hammin’ it up, because I’m praising him and telling him he looks so handsome! Even in those feathers, he still looks like he can kick someone’s ass.

A disgruntled employee. I couldn’t get Juno to sit still for 2 seconds. I’d feed her and hope she’d spend some time chewing with her head straight, but never any luck. I had to bring in the big guns to help me get some good shots of her. Mr. Wild Dingo took a break from painting the new porch arches and came in to do her photos. And to think she still huffs and groans when he pets her.

There’s not enough Zukes in the world to make her keep her costume on.

A day late and a dollar short on my masthead this month. I must be setting the stage for low expectations for the coming months!  This month’s header celebrates the blue moon we had on New Year’s Eve 2009. Apparently, the next time we will see a blue moon on New Year’s eve is 2028. Wow, I’ll be old.

It’s been both a chore and a charm developing new mastheads every month. Every month I feel very sad to see the old masthead go, but as I develop each new masthead, something in me falls in love with the new creation. Probably because each reflects a little bit of Loki and Juno’s challenges and growth over the year and it makes me proud to see how far they’ve come as rescued dogs with many fears and issues.

 Which masthead of 2009 has been your favorite? And why? I’m curious to know!

Obviously, with our impending move to Switzerland this year, I’m excited about new beginnings and new opportunities for these two to dig up trouble on another continent. Hopefully we’ll take you through the experience of living and traveling abroad with two very rascally dogs. Hang on. I think it’s going to be a wild ride!

Happy Woo Year to all our readers and friends that we made this past year! We’ve appreciated how your comments and your own blogs have brought big smiles to our faces when we needed it most.  I look forward to enriching our cyber-friendship and providing you lots of opportunities to live woo-cariously through these two rascals!

In the mean time, if anyone can show my wolf dog how to “woo” that would be fantastic.

Each masthead holds a glimpse into the challenges and growth that Loki & Juno faced over the last year. Each time I think I can choose one which is my favorite, I change my mind and choose another. Because they all mean so much to the challenges they’ve overcome in one simple artistic statement.

Which masthead is your favorite and why? Click on the image to see it larger or the link to read the story behind the concepts.

09-Jan-Building Web Sites One Nap at a Time (for the story)

09-Feb-All’s Fair in Love & Tug-of-War (for the story)

09-March- Please Leash Your Alligator ( A great story behind this one!)

09-April- In the Dog Yard No One Can Hear You Scream (Another great story with fun images and captions.)

09-May-Born to Be Wild! (for the story)

09-June- Don’t Fence Me In (for the story)

09-July- Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Hot Dogs (for the story)

09-August- Miles Away from the Behaved (for the story)

09-September- Engineered for NitWits (A great story with photos of the famous NitWit Bridge)

09-October- Rhymes with “Boo” (for the story)

09-November- The Other White Meat (for the story)

09-December- Dingo Bells! (for the story)

“MUSH!”

Hmmm. What’s wrong with this banner? Something seems a bit, oh I don’t know, unusual! Like, isn’t the husky supposed to pull the sleigh, not sit in it? December’s banner celebrates Juno’s ability to make everyone, including Loki, giggle with delight and bend to her will using only her Siberian charm. Over the past year, Juno has managed to metamorphasize from a sullen, depressed, shy dog into an assertive, confident, oh-so-very-happy leader. And she did it all with sugar. Because she knows it’s better to lead with charm and love than to lead with brute force. Loki happily gives her status, though he likes to test the waters, just in case there’s room at the top.

There’s more to Juno’s story on her sleigh ride, but that will come in some later posts. For now, we’ll celebrate her rise to alpha.

November’s masthead is dedicated to the softer side of Wild Dingo — that would be Mr. Wild Dingo. The original story board was Loki and Juno chasing a turkey. Loki with an axe in his mouth, Juno with a fork, knife and napkin. The caption was going to read, “It’s just a friendly game of tug.” But Mr. Wild Dingo protested and felt it was too mean. Shocking. The rare occasion where Mr. Wild Dingo is actually nicer than me. So here I am acting presidential and pardoning the turkey. Of course it makes no difference to Loki and Juno. Meat is meat. Serve it up raw and serve it up often.

Start fluffing those couch pillows now to prepare for that month-end trypto-faint!

Woo!

October is “Woo!” Month! How can I resist a Halloween theme for October’s Masthead? Two dogs howling at the moon couldn’t be more appropriate. “Rhymes with ‘Boo’” is aimed at my Siberian Husky and Siberian Husky friends. Unfortunately, Juno doesn’t actually “woo” and oddly, Loki “woo’s” at Emergency vehicles as if he were a Husky. I wonder if Juno will ever find her “woo?”

The background image is a combination of a gorgeous haunted pumpkin patch photo with a full moon in fog photo. I’m glad I take so many pictures of the dogs because I always seem to find the perfect shot for what I’m aiming to do each month. Or maybe I’m just lucky.

Have a festive October! May the “Woo” be with you!

This month’s masthead feature’s NitWit Bridge. I’ve mentioned NitWit bridge a few times to friends and occasionally on this site. I even featured a few of the photos in an old gallery that no longer exists. But I never really told its story. I’ve neglected featuring photos or mentioning it because it was so closely tied to Maggie, the dingo and founder of Wild Dingo. You see, NitWit Bridge was aptly named by Maggie, as told in the story and photos below.

The bridge is located on our property and was “engineered” (insert tongue-in-cheek) in 2006 by our home builder for a few reasons. Firstly, our good-producing well was located about a quarter mile away from our home site and we conveniently needed to find a way to pipe the water to our home. Secondly, we had the dingo, Maggie, who loved the outdoors and loved to hike and walk. Building a trail from the top of our property to our home through the Redwood forest was always on our agenda and the well gave us the perfect excuse to make a trail for the pipeline. But there was one snag. The trail had to cross a creek that was about 40 feet below the trail and 90 feet across to the other side. Our contractor found a fallen redwood tree and there, we “engineered” our suspension bridge: 2 planks over the fallen redwood held taught by cable wire which was posted into the ground on either side in cement. The contractor found outdoor flexible pipe for the waterline and ran it under the redwood tree while he built our bridge.

Maggie, my late dingo and founder of Wild Dingo,  gives the bridge a first inspection. She looks down. Now Maggie was a brazen dog with incredible agility who used to walk on house roofs and leap a 6-foot fence from a standing position. But she took one look below and didn’t get further than three or four feet. The entire bridge is roughly 90 feet long. She gave up and refused to cross the bridge. Because she was old and more frail, I didn’t make her cross it.

Another day Maggie takes her friend ShyGuy, the basset hound seen at the end of the bridge. Maggie looked on and said, “Hey ShyGuy, are you crazy? Only a NitwWit would cross this bridge. Oh wait, I forgot who I’m talking to.”
As much as she liked ShyGuy, Maggie was a bit critical of other canines and felt intellectually superior to any she met.

So Mr. Wild Dingo chose the hottest day that summer to go out to NitWit Bridge and stabalize its safety with pirate netting. In the event a paw should slip off, the netting would catch it. Maggie came to supervise construction. The stairs in back lead up a very steep section of the trail. To the left, you can see the black flexible pipe for the water.

“I am Wild Dingo and I approve the safety netting on this bridge. I hearby name it NitWit Bridge.” Maggie crossed the bridge the first time that day, with netting in place. Smart doggie.

This spring (2009) took its toll on the brige. When its wet, one has to be extra cautious in walking the slippery bridge.

Because look what awaits you, should you fall. But you’d surly have to jump over the netting and cable to really “fall” off this bridge. Unless…

A tree like this happens to fall while you cross the bridge. Thankfully the tree fell on the stairs and not on the bridge, because it would have taken out our waterline too. It took out our stairs, which Mr. Wild Dingo later repaired. But for a while Loki and Juno had to do some agility work to get around the fallen tree. And people at school wonder why our dogs have good agility and a good bond with us! Its because we make them do this stuff! Booowhahahah!

Ah, who are we kidding? These two love the trail, the bridge and the stairs and don’t have any complaints.

They love it so much, they pose for me in the middle of the bridge to show you that it isn’t as bad as it looks. Still, they seem to have the same opinion Maggie had and every day we cross the bridge, they take great care and caution.

When Wild Dingo’s ISP service is in better shape (it only took 13 hours to get this post published in my slow ISP shape), I’ll feature one of Loki’s Training for NitWits videos, which are appropriately shot on location of NitWit Bridge. Also, I’ll feature a few walking trail photos so you can all sympathize with how difficult the walk is right outside our door. (No joke, it’s a workout!)