A Dog's Family Reunion and New Camera Pics

Last Sunday I took Samantha for a walk on the jetties at Marina del Rey, where a whale had been spotted most days over the past couple of weeks. No luck there, but on the way back on one jetty we ran into Sean, who was walking 2 Labs, one chocolate and one yellow. The chocolate had some gray at the muzzle, so I asked how old:
Sean: Birdie is 11, but Besi here is 13
Tony: Samantha is 13 also.
Sean: What month?
Tony: June
Sean: Same with Besi
I looked down and noticed the same nearly white color, remembered that we had bought Samantha in Santa Monica, maybe 5 miles away, and said:
We got her from a couple on Ocean Park Blvd on August 4.
Sean: Yes! we got Besi there on August 11.
We both remembered the couple had both parents there with the same white color, and all the puppies too except a couple with a single black spot on one side. Neither of us had a camera, but Sean invited us back to his place and took lots of pictures.

Here's the three Labs


Sean got them all going at once in a Lab chorus


Now just the sisters:




Not easy to tell apart. Any of you dog people know if litters are usually fraternal, or how common identical puppies are?

Every though we got Samantha 5 miles away, L.A.'s Westside is densely populated and it was quite a coincidence that Samantha would meet one of her litter mates 13 years later!

I just got the new SX10 camera before the final Mammoth weekend and only took a couple of pics up there.

Max 20x zoom pic of upper June Mt. ski runs, taken near the Mono Lake turnoff from Hwy 395.


Here's an interesting looking couloir for you backcountry types


I work only 4 blocks from Staples Center, and I was fortunate enough to get company seats for 2 Laker playoffs vs. Utah plus Game 7 vs. Houston. So I walked over to the parade site with the new camera.

I got a great vantage point atop a fence here, but the police made me get down:


Here's the view from where I had to relocate:


So this would be a good test for both the camera zoom and image stabilizer. The Laker Girls were at the front to warm up the crowd.


Derek Fisher at upper left corner in gray shirt with 4 rings on hand


Pau Gasol leaning on railing at far left; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in black shirt far right


Trevor Ariza pointing at far right. Probably Jordan Farmer waving with arm partially in front of his face.


The last bus with Mayor Villaraigosa and of course Kobe with daughters and the trophy.


The big test for the camera will be the eclipse on Costa Classica on July 22.

Amazing Dogs. That is quite something to run into someone 13 years later with a dog from the same litter!