Bengfort.com

A Pinups for Pitbulls Story

Winston- A Staffordshire Bull Terrier

As some of you already know, last fall we had quite a different family project from the beer that recently stopped bubbling under the kitchen table–our 2009 project was a photo shoot for Pinups for Pitbulls.  While a combination of contractual obligations prior to the calendar’s release and pure laziness ever since has allowed us to put off publishing the pictures until now, my goal this evening is to correct this discrepancy!

It all started a year or two ago, when we were first taking flak for Winston being an adorable Staffordshire bull terrier and my mom found an article about a pitbull-themed calendar in the Fargo Forum.  The calendar was called Pinups for Pitbulls, and it was produced by an organization of the same name, dedicated to rehabilitation of the pitbull image and the protection of abandoned pitbulls.

Soon, I had the calendar on my wall and was a regular visitor to the website, www.pinupsforpitbulls.com.  Being incredibly vain, and thinking modeling couldn’t possibly be hard (even after several cycles of America’s Next Top Model), I watched carefully to find out how I could get involved…

…and soon had an answer.  As luck would have it, last year was the first year that Pinups for Pitbulls went nationwide, accepting photo submissions for the 2010 calendar from women and dogs everywhere.  I excitedly ran into the next room and quickly talked Ben into busting out his fancy camera and photography skills.

Within a week, we were putting together a portfolio of photos.

And selecting a Gil Elvgren classic pinup to emulate, from a selection provided by the ladies at PFPB.

In short, we were off to the races…

NOTICE: No one believes modeling and photography are hard.  They hold this belief because they’ve never tried either on any serious scale.  We thought we’d spend a few hundred bucks and bust out a hundred fabulous shots.  About a thousand bucks later (yes), we ended up with only a handful of usable snaps, even with the much-needed assistance of my mom and a work friend I’d conned into helping!  There’s costuming, make-up and hair, props, equipment…and other variables, like a model who spent the hours between 2 AM and 7 AM standing watch with a 9mm pistol, a surprisingly hot sun and its attendant semi-naked sunbathers, and a dog who turns out to be a diva.  Not to mention that, this being Seattle, we had to plan for rain: Ben and my mom worked throughout the night to create an indoor studio in what had previously been our garage.

For all the difficulties, we did get a few nice shots, before both model and dog model were spent and melting.

Jaci’s favorite:

Ben’s favorite:

PFPB’s favorite and our final entry:

Ben used his mad Photoshop skills to sharpen the already bright and shiny images, we signed the contracts, and we sent off the pictures a few days before the final deadline.

The end result: we didn’t make the final cut.  But we had a great time, and felt like at the very least we were supporting a cause that we became believers in thanks to our “accidental pitbull.”  Pinups for Pitbulls, by the way, has achieved official nonprofit charity status and has frequent events in Pennsylvania and across the eastern seaboard.

Would we do it again?  I don’t know.  Compared to brewing beer, modeling/photography is considerably more expensive and frustrating as a family activity.  Maybe not this year…but watch out, 2012, you might see a return of the Tipsy Bear Studios!

Jaci did manage to make it back from Rhode Island in time for Halloween- so we decided to celebrate in style. Three weeks ago we had gone to the pumpkin patch to pick up our perfect lanterns (a new Halloween tradition for Jaci, not so new for Ben). So the first order of business was to carve the lanterns. Winston is no stranger to carving lanterns, or dressed up strangers, as we had Halloween at Leckford Road both years in England, but country life has made him a little more farm ready for pumpkin patches. As you can see from the pictures- we went for classic style jack o’lanterns and they turned out very well!

Jaci was a little worried that we would have no kids show up at our house, since we are on the corner of a cul de sac- so she decorated the outside with a Halloween banner, some fake leaves, and 2 of the pumpkins. Obviously, one had to stay inside by our “hearth” to protect us from evil spirits- their main purpose on all hallows eve. (Note: we don’t actually have a hearth, but all this is metaphorical at best). To further prepare for trick or treaters we dressed up- Jaci as a fairy and me as sort of an old school vampire (teeth, cape- no diamond skin) but was wearing jeans. Winston started out as a dragon monster, but after some costume failures, he also became a fairy with his mother. (The failures were due to his teeth, but what can you do?)

For dinner, I made pumpkin, dahl, and roti. Amusingly, I was wearing a “Blood donor” apron while I was cooking, which went very well with the teeth and the cape. While cooking we enjoyed birthday martinis for Jaci, and during dinner- some of our new wine (thanks mom and dad!). We watched An American Warewolf in Paris as our pseudo-scary Halloween movie (which hopefully Jaci reviews- its now one of her favorite movies of all time– so bad its good!).

But we were quickly interrupted from our relaxing night by ghouls and ghosts in the night! There are hordes of kids in our neighborhood- in fact we quickly ran out of candy. Mostly this is my fault- at the beginning because we thought we would be skipped over, I may have been overly generous with the candy giving. Around 7 I had to make a frantic run to the grocery store to get more candy. Unfortunately in my panic, I grabbed six bags of candy- which was way too much, so in the end we had too many left overs anyway. While I was driving to the grocery store I was amazed by the number of kids in our neighborhood- seriously crowds like those in our neighborhood you can usually only find and sports stadiums!

Jaci was jet lagged- so unfortunately she passed out way early (although, pretty late for east coast time). I continued Halloween with Interview with a Vampire, then True Blood, and made it to All Hallows day! So here’s wishing you all a happy All Saints!

Winston is the smartest person in our family!

Facebook is monetizing “web 2.0″ by selling targeted ads- i.e. ads that use the data on Facebook to create custom tailored ads for each person. Google does similar things with Adwords and even the ads they place in Gmail. This kind of advertising has the potential to be extremely rotten (i.e. previous Facebook scandels where your friend’s Amazon purchases might be shared with you), or they can be an effective and lightweight way to advertise (no more annoying pop-ups).

In typical Facebook tradition, for my Birthday my wall was plastered with best wishes from friends and family- and I can only assume this is why I received the banner ad that was at the top of the facebook page. The ad features my family members- and lists their IQs (which I’m 100% sure are fake), then ranks them accordingly. The target of the ad is at the end where my name and picture are listed with question marks for my IQ- obviously trying to get me to install the Facebook app and do better than my family (impossible).

What really made this a flop, and quite amusing, is that they ranked Winston, my pet dog, number 1, above Bethany, who is finishing a Master’s degree at the University of Maryland in the time it takes most people to get an Undergraduate degree, Devi who is fluent in Chinese, and my mother who is CEO/President of a company! Now, I realize that Winston went to Oxford, and has a snooty English accent, but he is only 3!

Nice work Facebook- a classic Facebook ad for my birthday!

Note: Click on the picture to see it in it’s orginal size in a lightbox!

Winston is initially curious about truck driving.

Some of you may know that Tim is driving a fuel tanker now from ethanol plants in the south to gas pipelines here up north. Fuel prices have recently shot up thanks to the current events in this region, and the trucking company has been desperate for drivers- so as a result he is on the road today, even though the roads aren’t so good. Yesterday we decided that we should probably go to where the semi was parked and brush it off, warm it up, and generally prepare it for work; and since Winston has been getting cabin fever along with the rest of us, we decided to take him for a little puppy ride.

At first he was very interested in the Semi, and he really enjoys riding in the back seat of the pick up truck. I suspect watching out the window of a moving vehicle is akin to doggy TV. However, as the day drew on, Winston realized that being a trucker dog meant a lot of hard work and getting tossed about.

Pain number 1: Winston tries to get into the semi. As you can see from the above picture, the cab of the semi is probably about twice Winston’s height. That didn’t stop him. He jumped, he missed, he fell in the mud- and he was very displeased. Unfortunately we weren’t paying much notice to Winston because we had just discovered that the semi was stuck- really stuck, and we couldn’t get it out.

Pain number 2: In the last of our several attempts to free the semi from the mud, we tried to tow it out with the pickup. Unfortunately, Winston had to sit in the back seat for the duration of this indignity. And as we drove forward trying to jerk the semi out, he was tossed around the back because he couldn’t figure out the seatbelt. Needless to say, he isn’t so fond of the idea of a trucker dog anymore.

Gives driver dirty look after being tossed about in the back.

A Cute Picture of Winston

I downloaded the pictures from my DSLR today and found pictures of Winston from when we were still in England! I’m not sure how they survived so long on the camera, especially since I know I have downloaded the files from the card multiple times since we left England, but there he was. This is actually the day we moved- Winston is sitting on top of the steps and Leckford road on top of the list of stuff that we were selling before we left. He definitely doesn’t look amused! Anyway, not much activity from the girls, and I’ve been radio silent in Seattle- so here is a cute picture of Winston for you!

I have been getting a lot of emails concerning my description of weather in North Dakota, and it is to my chagrin that you guys have reminded me that there is another person in our family who is also facing the harsh reality of forced acclimation to a new climate- our puppy! In fact, even though he is a delicate English gentledog, he has the heartiness of his ancestors and has kept a stiff upper lip in the face of the meanest adversity. But it has been tough for him, considering he has the most unpleasant toilet that anyone can imagine!

Now Winston is no stranger to snow- we did get a bit the winter we got him: and he enjoyed frolicking on Port Meadow in the quarter inch of snow that we received. The temperatures never got to far below 0 degrees Celsius, and I would say the snow fall was all around idyllic! When snow first started falling here, he was a bit bemused, and was interested in it, and liked to play in it- but when the temperatures kept falling, he started getting less and less interested in going outside! In fact, now we can get him in and out without us even managing to get on the porch, he is so quick! He shoots down the stairs, takes care of his business and is back at the door as quick as a wink. Interested in walks? No way! He much prefers tearing around the house with Annie, and cuddling on the couch or sitting on top of the heat vents in the bathroom or in the dining room!

He has in fact, managed to perfect his crazy dance- this is the dance that happens when the wind blows under his tail. I have mentioned that the wind here is pretty malevolent- and as proof, even the dogs can feel it! Winston tries to keep his tail down, but there is one occasion on which he must be outside with his tail up… Needless to say if the wind blows hard on his behind, he takes off, doing this crazy greyhound run in circles that is as pitiful as it is amusing. The result is that we have to coerce him to poop as he is afraid of a very refreshing breeze…

But Winston is adapting. He can stand on two legs and then switch them quickly so as to not have all his paws freezing to the ground at once. He has learned not to lick metal outside (he has a nice scar on his nose from that incident), and he always comes when he is called, less the door be closed when he shows up.

Things are looking up for him, however! This weekend the temperature went above freezing (a whole 38 degrees!) and Winston was out running in the melting snow, investigating the scents he could now smell and thinking that he might have to start being walked again. We got out his red ball as a warm weather treat, and he even dived right into a snow drift to get it (he needed an hour on the heat vent to get over that, but he was thrilled to see his red ball for the first time this winter!) Unfortunately this week in went back into the negatives, and the wind is worse than ever- sorry buddy, we’ll have to wait until March for that walk!