Canine Christmas 2017

In Sunday post I asked if anyone could guess where we went on Saturday PHUNDAY... Can you guess now. My 9th annual visit to the fund raiser, Canine Christmas Festival, for our local shelters.

In 2009 my friend Rich invited me to meet him at my first ever Canine Christmas, he lived in an Assisted Living facility and drove his chair over to meet me. We attended 6 Festivals together and I still miss him. Saturday was my 3rd visit without him. PRIOR POST on Rich my friend, my Photoshop Professor, and lover of all critters on the planet.

In memory Rich Rodgers November 8th, 2015

Bright sun, 70 degrees and Twas a beautiful day in our neighborhood, Come follow Madsnapper and Bob as we wander the paths filled with DOGS, lots of DOGS... A few dozen up for rescue, but many bring their pets.

Above you see a black German Shepherd and the red dog with him is my most favorite dog at the park. I loved him on sight. His name is Bogie and you will see MANY photos of him in the future. He was not up for adoption. See that big beautiful face below? I am in love

the muzzle is to keep him from pulling to hard, he was so friendly

Canine Christmas Festival - 2016

Saturday at 10:15 I walked behind these cute dogs and their owners as I entered The 2016 Canine Christmas Festival. The festival is the annual fund raiser to help with all the MANY rescue groups that are trying to save the lives of dogs and cats.  It was a  beautiful 74 degrees.

I noticed this young lady with a camera, standing taking photos through the trees and wondered what she was seeing.

HO HO HO, it was Santa's Photo Booth, selling pics with pets to raise funds for rescue pups and cats

We had a great turnout, this photo was taken at Noon in a 81 degree day... See the green bags? if you paid a dollar to kiss a dog, they gave you a green bag. I paid Five Dollars to kiss the pup and the bag had a surprise of treats in it for Jake

Rich 2014 festival

My first visit to Canine Christmas Festival was with my BFF Rich in 2009 and I have only missed one festival since then. Rich passed away November 8th, 2015 10 days before he 2015 festival. I just could not go. Saturday I went again and this is dedicated in memory of my friend Rich Rodgers. and this link is to Canine Christmas Past

MadSnapper's MadSabbatical

The two photos below were taken by Gail At The Farm. Gail knows I love all things fire and dogs and sent these to me. I merged fire and Bonnie the dog, using CS4 Photoshop.

You may have noticed I have been missing from blogland for the past few days. The simple answer is MadSnapper took a MADsabbatical....

Sabbatical is a break or change from your normal routine..

My To Do list that kept getting longer.
1 Dirty Fridge
2 hours photo transfers
3 loads of dog bedding
5 hours of errands
6 future blogs created
7 toss it ALL out frenzies
8 paperwork
9 paperwork
10 paperwork
and Deep cleaning not in a pear tree

(10 pounds of paper to be shredded at .99 cents a pound at Staples)

My computer had over 1000 photos that had never been put onto my external hard drives (if the computer crashed they were gone). 

Because I did not keep up, it took TIME.. 

The last thing on the list was to install CS4 Photoshop. I had PS 7 and Elements 10 that had to be removed. I recieved the CS4 from the cousin of my friend Rich, who died last year. It had been on my desk for 4 months. Now it is installed and I had to see if I could remember how

to use the skills Rich taught me a few years ago.

I AM BACK....

Thank you my dear friend Rich for being my photoshop professor. He taught me how to make Flames in my first lesson 7 years ago using Photoshop 7, which he gave me then.

Rich, RIP

My dearest friend Rich Rodgers, has gone home to be with the Lord on November 8th, 2015,

 Rest in Peace my sweet friend. 

Rich has been my closest friend since 2007 and was my Photo shop professor and my companion on many outings, He and I attended Canine Christmas Festival for the last 5 years. We spent hours and hours on his computer together.

I will miss you my friend.

Rich and I shared a love of all critters, especailly the ones with four legs...

Rich - Super Hero

I took my camera to visit my friend Rich , My Hero and Photoshop Professor, I made a cartoon in PicMonkey to say Thanks Super Hero ...for giving me my start in photo editing 7 years ago.

.click HERE to see a few of the things we have done together.

auto shooting into light, adjusted exposure with handy dial and snapped again. what a difference

  

All 3 out of camera, 3 zooms. no edits no crop

even cropped closely sharp and clear.

Did you find Mr and Mrs Lizard???

Canine Christmas - Rich's Choice

 This is my friend Rich, we have been friends for 6 years and have a love of dogs in common. He is also my Photo Shop Professor and a big part of my blog because of all the things he taught me...

He loves all dogs, as do I, but the loves of his life, are the ones he has owned over the years. We both got "lots of Lovin" at the Canine Christmas Festival.

Little dogs like these are high on his love list.. Rich these are all for YOU ...

With Husky's and German Shepherds right up there at the top of his list... we have attended the Festival every year since 2009..

See that tiny little dog... each time he snarled at the Shepherd, she jumped back like it could swallow her instead of the other way around.. Made for good laughs.

Canine Christmas 2014 - Fun Zone

Along came a sleigh pulled ridden in by two tiny rein-dogs.

As they passed by Rich and MadSnapper they yelled

barked Come To The Fun Zone

We raced walked to the DogGone Funcourse where the fun was about to begin. 10.00 for a few times around the obstacle course, chasing a white rabbit thingy... Photographers recorded the fun and the photos were 5 dollars or FREE if you liked his Facebook page.

The dogs loved it, we loved it, the laughter was good for the soul when some of them jumped the fence and ran wild...

Rich had his own seat, I claimed a bale of hay, which was very comfy.. I only got one action shot because my new little red camera is not my DSLR long lens.

The Spectators were easier prey for the Pawparazzi with the tiny camera

LOOK! did you see that?

Well? Did you see THAT?

I don't think she is watching the fun, she has that silly red thing aimed at me.

(Mutant Lab up for adoption and I wanted him toooo)

Please daddy, can we run that course? 

As for Me, I like to watch and I love to get my photo taken, see that smile?

It is never to late!

 Every time I visit my friend Rich, I stare at these two pencil drawings that his mother created. At the age of 72, someone told her she could draw, she signed up for a class in colored pencil art. She took with her a photo of their Siberian husky and this is her first drawing.   Look at the detail in the next close up, yes, their dog had two different colored eyes. Isn't this amazing?

Pencil drawing by Doris Rodgers

 Her next drawing was of this beautiful cat.  Her second drawing, I am flabbergasted at her talent.

These drawings are proof that we should never give up, that if we have a dream, it can happen, no matter our age.

 Some of you saw the macro shot in a previous post of this Egret. I took the full shot, for you to see the size of the painting. this one is in oil and was painted by Riches cousin.  I am thinking talent runs in Rich's family.

Now if i can only get him to adopt me, maybe I can learn to draw/paint.  I can't draw but I can snap...
I HAVE DECIDED TO START POSTING ON MY OTHER BLOG, BUT ONLY RARELY WHEN I HAVE NEW DOG PICS TO SHARE. CLICK ON FOURPAWSETC TO SEE SLEEPING BEAUTY

Hullabaloo - Helicopter

My friend Rich and the helicopter we went to see. He lives next door to the hospital and has seen this helicopter land many times, including FIVE minutes before I got there, when it landed for the health fair.
FIVE MINUTES! and you would have seen it in the air.

 In photo above is the nurse that rides in this machine that saves lives daily. There is room for the pilot and a medic and the nurse.

Can you see how small the area is that they slide the trauma victim in? I asked the pilot what do you do if it is a 6'7" 350 pound man, as in a basketball/football player.

 His answer was they don't transport if they don't fit weight land height limit. The fuel is 100 gallons of weight and he said it would not lift off. OY

SOOOO I am now on a diet...... I fit under the height limit....and the weight limit, but what about the Fit In that slot limit?

 They sit in seats at the head of the person, there is KNEEL only room beside the victim.

 I started to hyperventilate looking at this and had to move on.
ONE of my many fears, is Tight Spaces. OY Vey