My Town Shoot-Out: Domesticated animals

The idea of the My Town Shoot-Out is to post photos of your local community every Friday. This week's assignment was chosen by Sandy from Arizona: "Domesticated Animals."

All photos shot in or near Corvallis, Oregon.

With a blog named after the family dogs, you can imagine how pleased I was when this assignment came along!

A walking loop that we often do with the dogs takes us through Bald Hill Farm, private property that not only has allowed public access, but has built this little shelter if you want to sit and watch their animals. I frequently buy beef and lamb from them. This is about 5K from our house.


These Bald Hill Farm bulls lead a charmed life. I suppose they fathered the beef I have been buying; when I see them they are always either eating or sleeping in their lovely pasture with views of the Cascades to the east and the Coast Range to the west. They pay no attention to the dozens of passers-by each day.

The horses in a neighboring field are super friendly though.

And the blackberries are begging to be picked along the way; Reuben gorged himself on these this week.

The nearby grass seed farms typically raise sheep, like those you see here.

We have several pet stores in town. This one is called Animal Crackers. Look at the wall of dog toys! When I was a kid, my dog's only toy was a knotted-up sock, how primitive.


At Animal Crackers they always have cats from the local humane society. This kitty, clean and friendly, puts our own cat to shame. I hope somebody adopts her soon.


This is Alfonzo, our cat: a compete mess because he likes to roll in the dirt, and then bite you. That's what can happen when you adopt a feral animal; good thing we like grumpy cats around here. He looks like he's impersonating a skunk, which is kind of charming.


After Labor Day the public swimming pool closes, but on their very last day they have a benefit for the humane society: for $10 you can bring your dog to the pool for the afternoon to swim and play ball. Here's Eddy retrieving his tennis ball (and I do mean HIS ball, which he brought from home.)


Eddy is a Portuguese Water Dog; that's him on the right with two of his cousins on the left, everybody soaking wet. A good time was had by all at the public pool.



Sometimes we head just one hour west,to the Pacific Ocean. Eddy is swimming through the cold water up to a huge downed log on the beach. The Oregon coast is so beautiful, with public access to it everywhere; I love going there.



We take Ed and Reub on hikes and backpacking trips, usually in the Cascades (about an hour and half away.) This is John's glam shot of Reub, lake water pouring off his coat, on just such a trip. It's hard to believe this boy languished in two shelters before we brought him home.


I am making it sound like it's all fun-and-games here in Domesticated Animal Land, but those of you who have pets know how exasperating they can sometimes be. Take last week for example, when I was trying to photograph the old chair in the back yard. It had been drizzling and I had tossed my rain hat on the chair, then thought "Hey that looks aged and weathered; I think I'll take a picture..." Ha!
(It's a short slide show: 27 seconds)



If you read Reub's shoot-out in August, then I guess you already know he is not always where he is supposed to be.