Another Year!

Wow, how time flies. The DKC Obedience and Rally trials mark the end of the year for us with Christmas just around the corner. It's hard to imagine that we have gone a whole year since the last one. Thanks to the club for putting on a great trial and thanks for letting us take pictures of all your wonderful dogs.

Nice To Be Inside

A big shout out to Carolina Piedmont Agility for putting together a great trial last weekend. It was nice to be inside on a very crispy (read darn cold) weekend. Thanks for having us and we look forward to the next trial.

Thanks to YAC!

A great weekend at the Youngsville trials. Thanks to the Youngsville Agility Club and Teamworks for having us. Weather was terrific. Let's hope for a few more days like this before Christmas. Here's Spinner in the weaves.

MACH 2 For Spin and Karen!

A great weekend for the Stewarts: the motorhome worked and even more importantly Karen and Spinner got their MACH 2. Thanks to the GKC for having us and to Laura and Dave for being such good hosts.

George!

Definitely one of my favorite pups! George does the teeter with great enthusiasm albeit a bit of a fly off. Thanks to the Warrenton and PVBSD Clubs for having us. A bit muddy but much more comfortable temperatures than the last few months.

Bubble Nebula

OK more dog photos coming once we get started shooting again next month. in the interim here's a shot of the Bubble Nebula or NGC7635. This is a false color image with the red channel from Hydrogen Alpha the Blue Channel from Oxygen 3 and the green a synthetic made from the other two.

Cayman Fun!

Karen and I are back from our trip to little Cayman. We had a super time with a ton of shark activity. Too cool! Here's a Caribbean Reef Shark checking out his reflection in my dome port.

Moven en Shaken

Thanks to the Movers and Shakers for having us shoot their annual Southern Splash even. We had a great time and the dogs obviously enjoyed it. Lots of super shots - here's one from the Courier Class.

Elephant Trunk Nebula

Life is good! The weather has co-operated for the last couple of nights. Here is a shot of the Elephant trunk Nebula (IC1396) through a Hydrogen Alpha filter.

The Great Globular Cluster

Well while Karen is up training in Maine I waited patiently for a few clear nights. Here's one from a couple of weeks ago - Messier 13 or M13 sometimes called the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules. It is a globular cluster of about 300,000 stars. Way cool!

Triple Q

Kudos to Karen and Spinner for a triple Q day. They have been harder to come by this year but they pulled it off this weekend. Thanks to the Piedmont Border Collie Association for having us last weekend. A hot but a least a dry one.

Pure Joy

Congrats to Judy and Seig on their shinny new MACH! Thanks to the Belroi Agility Club for having us shoot this weekend and a big thank you to Laura and Dave for hosting the event on their fabulous homestead. Laura great job - carrying on the tradition of Emily and Nelson's hospitality and expertise.

Fast Courses Lots of Fun!

Thanks to the Touch and Go Agility Club for having us shoot last weekend. Some really fast courses and the pups to take them on. Lots of super runs to take pictures of.

Weaving Out Of The Tunnel

A little wet but still a great weekend at the DKC Agility Trials last weekend. Here's a picture of Weaver launching himself out of the tunnel. Thanks to the DKC for having us. See you all in Lynchburg this weekend.

Finally A Full Moon

i have been struggling with getting a good picture of the full moon with my astro camera since the moon is so bright compared to other objects I shoot. I ended up shooting through a small 2 inch porthole that I made for the front of my telescope and a very dark filter. See you all at the DKC trials this weekend.

Sylvia's Bart In The Finals

Well another AKC National Agility trial has come and gone. Congrats to all the competitors, especially our NC team. We took thousands of pictures over the weekend - and my hand tells me it feels like it:-) We're sorry we couldn't get Sunday's up for you to see at the trials but we got some great pics so check them out on our website under recent events. Thanks once again to the AKC for inviting us to shoot. Here's a picture of Sylvia's Bart one of our many friends that made it to the finals this year.

Congrats Tracy!

Congratulations to Tracy and Chipper for MACH5! Thanks also to the Star City Canine Training Club for putting on a great show and inviting us to shoot.

Planteary Nebula

These guys tend to be pretty faint. PKPK164+31.1 is magnitude 14. Looking up we can see about a 4th magnitude star from our backyard. So this guy is about 10,000 times fainter. Sort of looks like the Eye of Sauron to me.

Hi Flying Newfie

Here's a shot of Beacon taking the bar jump at the DKC Obedience Trials last weekend. No problems here. Thanks to the DKC for having us and congrats to the competitors for some outstanding runs.

Ouch!

This guy cut the entrance into the tire a little close at the Star City trials last weekend. Thanks to the Star City and DOTC clubs for having us and putting on a great event. See you all again in February.

The Cone Nebula

One more astro image and then its off to the Star City Canine Training Club's trials this coming weekend. Here is a black and white shot of the Cone Nebula NGC2264 done through a Hydrogen Alpha filter (650-657nm).

M81

Finally got out after the snow, moon and clouds cleared. Here is a quick process of M81 a very beautiful spiral galaxy that lies in the northern portion of Ursa Major (Big Dipper).