At Least Mom is Having Fun...

Unless you have been dead  (Ahhh!  Zombie alert!), or possibly been living on the dwarf-planet Pluto, you will already know that Mom has a new camera (and that she paid for it entirely with gift-cards, reward points and money earned from market research surveys; just ask her - she'll tell you - at least three or four times, if you aren't careful...).

Needless to say, Mom has been going crazy with the flashy beast.  While there will be a longer post this weekend with Even More pictures, Mom has So Many Photos that she wanted to get some of them up now. And boot our letter to Santa - which served its purpose - Santa (and Granny and Grandpa) were very good to us!

Mom's photos have been of varying quality, mostly because she's still in the early stages of learning how to use her camera (luckily our Granny and Grandpa got her a book for Christmas that explains where all the various settings on the camera can be found, what the settings do, and how to use them - without this book, our Mom would be truly hopeless!).  Mom is also in the early stages of learning how to take pictures from the 'artistic' point of view.  But when she's taking pictures of us, there are always treats involved, so it's all good.

"Why yes, Mom, I will stand here as long as you hand me that turkey snack when you are done.  You do realize I have the roof of the house coming out of the side of my head, right?"

Fluffica (aka Abby) doing what she does best - sitting in the snow, ignoring Mom and the camera!

Fluffica still not looking at the camera.  And hoarding frisbees.

One of Mom's favorite things to do (at least for now) is to sit/lie in the snow and see what sort of pictures she gets.  Well, I'll show you what sort of pictures she gets...

"Hey, uh, Mom?  Whatcha doing down there?  Are you okay?  If you are okay, can I have my treats now?"

Holy Hipposnooterus, Batman!

For some reason, Mom still thinks sitting/lying in the snow is a good photographic angle...

This next picture is only of interest because it is of the back of my neck.  Actually, Mom was reading her 'How to Use Your Camera' book and was trying out the manual focus option.  As Mom was sitting in bed, and I was right next to her, I was her guinea pig.  (Alas, no turkey treats were dispensed in the creation of this photo...)

Biggify this one if you are really interested in seeing my collar and/or the back of my neck!

While the actual photo-taking process is fun (you know, because there are treats involved), the editing process is vastly less interesting for Yours Truly.

"Mom, why do you want to look at me on the computer when I'm Right Here, Next to You?"

*sigh*  Couldn't you at least get the color tones right?

More pictures to come this weekend; I'll be the one napping on Mom's computer.

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

Yet more doggie class!

For those of you who have been wondering, we are continuing our doggie education in the hopes of being awarded Ph.D.s in 'Looking Attentive for Treats'.  We're doing a joint dissertation examining the efficacy of different treats in obtaining that attentive look.

Heehee.

Don't we look all serious and scholarly-like?

Yuh.  I thought so, too!

Sadly, our snow has pretty much vanished, and we are back to frolicking in mud. 

Hey, um, so where did all our snow go?

On Saturdays we are continuing to get 'out on the town' in doggie class - all in an attempt to get us more comfortable in noisy, chaotic situations.

We spent most of Saturday's class in World Market, where we posed with all sorts of stuff, to the amusement of Mom and Jessi.

Granny, we were checking out the little sausage things for you!

One of Abby's many nicknames is 'Fluff' just in case you were wondering!

Fluff and Pumpernickel bread.  I have no idea what statement Mom was trying to make here!

And since all the Christmas/holiday decorations were out, there was much posing with holiday stuff.  (Although, I will have you note, NO antlers and elf hats...)

Aren't we supposed to chase these things?

And a bunch of tree ornaments that Mom and Jessi found vastly amusing.

Why yes, I DO think these should be on our tree!

I'm taking a picture of you taking a picture of me!

And yes, we continued to work on our Looking Attentive for Treats

REALLY attentive!

After that, we headed off to TJ Maxx, for more chaos and confusion.

Really?  A monkey neck pillow?

Abby practiced her look of pathetic disdain.   She's quite good at it!

She's really good at expressing her non-plussed-ness!

Do you think there are treats in that bag?

Heehee!  It was a good time, and both Mom and Jessi were impressed at how calm we were in the face of crazy people doing holiday shopping.  Hey, enough treats of the right variety and we could probably be calm in the face of crazy people at Walmart! 

Oh, did I mention that our snow is vanishing?

Why are you complaining about mud, Mom?  You like commuting in nice weather, so deal with the mud already!

Heehee!

Mom spend most of the long weekend putting together the annual calendar, and if she can figure out a way to share it digitally to those who won't get a physical one, we'll post the link.  I kept looking over her shoulder as she worked, and it looks pretty good!

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus