Testing a new camera

I had been dreaming about taking the dogs on hikes for as long as I had Brandy ( 7 years). Brandy and I used to go to a local park occasionally but it didn't last long. It seems that the only time I truly own is from 5-7 am while everyone is still sleeping. Driving to the park at that hour doesn't seem sensible, if the park was withing the walking distance, I would have probably done it, but driving 20 min each way seems too long especially when it's not daylight until 6am even when the days are at it longest.

One of the few things I really miss from Russia is long summer days, I don't really miss long winter nights ( I know they do have to come together, unfortunately), but the fact that it can be still daylight at almost 11pm is wonderful when you have to train dogs and you have no training building and a tiny house:-) I could have trained them after kids are in bed and the temps had dropped.

The one of the reasons, I think, why I never really went hiking is lack of time. The kids were too small  and even if I took them with me, then I would have to leave the dog at home. Between my dog classes and kids gymnastics , which is pretty much every day, the only time we have to do any other things are Sundays. Leaving the house for two hours during that time seems very selfish, not to mention that at least occasionally the laundry needs to be done and cleaning bathrooms once in a blue moon wouldn't be a bad idea either.

This year I was starting to revive thoughts about hiking, but now I have to take 3 dogs on a hike. I dont' really fond of the idea walking all three dogs in the woods. I would have done it if I knew I will be all alone:-), but now days I have a constant fear of running into some people with loose and out of control dogs, so I really do not want to be put in this situation. I do not mind when people have their dogs off leash, even that it's against the law, as long as they understand that not all dogs appreciate being jumped on by some strangers so they keep their dogs away form other dogs. Unfortunately it seems that the mentality of majority of the population is that dogs need to make other doggy friends and people don't even bother asking if the owner of another dog is ok with it. Oh well, off the soap box.

Now that kids are older I am thinking that I want to start taking them and my husband hiking. Not to mention the fact that this way we can take all three dogs with us without any worry and I don't have to feel guilty leaving someone at home:-)

I like taking pictures, so having a camera on hikes is a must. I love my Canon D20 but it needs it's own backpack. If the kids are coming with us, I will need to have a backpack full of water and snacks and maybe even towel or two if we go to a creek. Taking yet another backpack for a camera doesn't seem exciting. Then I remembered that my husband got me a point and shoot camera for my birthday two years ago.

He really made a mistake with that camera. That Christmas he got me my Canon 20D and an awesome lens, that got me really excited. Then the next month he got me a small point and shoot camera. He really should have done it the other way around.:-) Needless to say this small camera was laying in the closet - never touched. I pulled it out and took it with me on the dog walk last night. To my huge disappointment I couldn't take a single decent shot.  After almost two hours of trying different settings I was ready to throw it in the trash. It was infuriating. I guess no one should really transition from DSLR to a point and shoot camera:-) I am sure this camera takes acceptable photos in the bright sunlight, the problem is that it cannot take pictures of the things I want to take pictures of - my dogs in the woods:-) The light is too low and it slows down the shutter speed to the point that everything is very blurry.
After playing with it for two days this is the best I manage to do:

Belle exploring the creek. In case a little bit of sunlight in just this spot helped.

This week had been crazy hot 94F+ with high humidity. Mozart seem to have found a solution to this problem - as soon as we come to the creek he plumps himself into it and doesn't move for a few min. Of course it's helpful that he can lay in the puddle and chew on the sticks at the same time. The thing he seems to like the most in this world:-)