Outtakes

Sometimes, I have ideas, and sometimes they don't work out very well. It's all good. I can most definitely admit when I'm wrong. (sometimes)

I *may* have been a bit wrong in thinking that I could take a Christmas card photo with the entire menagerie that I have living in the apartment with me. I mean, I'm not saying that the idea wasn't a good one. I'm just saying that, well....perhaps it was a bit, um....impossible. Unrealistic. We got exactly two takes with both dogs and Laney in the photo. Here's one of them. Please note Tyson's obsessed stare... I mean, he would not look away from the cat. So it's ironic that it's actually CASEY that I had to hold away from the cat. But then, I think she just wanted to say hello to her buddy. Unfortunately, her buddy was busy trying to get away from the huge, cat eating monster. So far, the shoot was not going very well.

So then, of course, my next step was to take the dogs and have the boyfriend handle the cat. This is about the point where I started to lose patience. The only reason why Tyson paid any attention to what I was telling him (basically variations of "stop going after the cat you d**n demon.") was because I had his pinch collar up around the top of his neck and had enough pressure on him to know that it would only take one more tiny pull to cause him a lot of pain. Even with all these precautions, he refused to take his eyes off the cat. Instead, in this photo, you can hear the cat growling, and Tyson making this urgent little whining noise which I believe meant, "Must. Get. Cat. Cat. Is. Near. Cat. Looks. Tasty...."

It was a tad bit frustrating. So after we finally got this picture (the gods must have been smiling on us) we released Laney into the safety of the bedroom where I'm certain she immediately went to find some article of clothing that the boyfriend had left on the floor so she could "release her frustrations."

But after reviewing this picture for a while, we both thought there was something....well, something just wrong about it. I mean, the boyfriend and the cat really don't look close enough to the dogs to make it look like we're all part of the family, does it? Everyone agreed that perhaps we should keep shooting, sans cat.

And thus the decision was made to remove Laney from the Christmas photo. Poor Laney. I still love you.

So it's just me, the boyfriend and the dogs. After the chaos that was Tyson plus Laney, this part should have been easier. Um, no. Until the boyfriend got the BRILLIANT idea to have the photographer (an extremely patient, understanding and wonderful man with a sense of humor) to hold a rawhide in his hand, we got variations of this picture. Do you love how Casey's hat made it onto my head? And how I'm explaining to her that she needs to look at the camera like she can actually understand me? And what is Tyson doing, you ask? Well, he's trying to get to the spot where he last saw Laney...you know, so he can make sure she's really gone. (This was taken immediately before Casey backed up and started wagging her tail in the fire. That was about the point when I decided that the photo shoot was done. Done done. We had a decent shot, I hated the way I looked, and Tyson had demon eyes, but otherwise, it was decent and that was that.

Overall, I think the boyfriend thought that the photo Christmas card was a great idea. Don't you? I mean, I guess I can't blame him. Just because we all live in the same apartment, doesn't mean we can all be within three feet of each other. Maybe next year I can just photoshop Laney in? Of course, if it comes to that, I'm just going to go ahead and photoshop Laney on Tyson's back. 'Tis the season and all that, right? I mean, the lion is supposed to be lying with the lamb right now. What's wrong with the animals in my apartment? Don't they have the Christmas spirit? I mean, they're wearing santa hats!

After this photo shoot, I say bah humbug. And judging from the boyfriend's expression, he does too.