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Showing posts from April 27, 2014

Camera Batteries

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One of my favorite cameras... an Olympus with a rare Kodak sensor... was rendered useless by a faulty battery charger. While the radio batteries are charging (the walkie-talkies and base radio mentioned in my previous post) I figured I should also get on with double checking all my camera batteries and chargers.   Last year, I meticulously checked all my camera batteries before we left for the lake.  My main concern was having enough batteries on hand for both still photography and videography. Even after being meticulous with all of these batteries, I still ran into problems the second day we were at the lake! In all, I think there are about two dozen batteries I must keep conditioned and charged for my cameras and accessories (ie, my flashguns use four batteries each). Before we head out for any weekend getaway or time out-of-town, I always ensure I have enough batteries charged to get me through at least one full day of shooting, preferably two full days.  Conditioning and c

Testing Batteries after Winter Storage

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Whenever we are out on the boats and especially while we are at the lake house, we regularly use two high powered walkie-talkies and a base radio for communications. Cellphones have no service in most of the areas we frequent so these radios are necessary for general communications as well as emergencies.   These radios have been in storage all winter so none of the batteries have had a charge in many months. Hopefully the batteries are still good and will hold a charge. I dug the radios out of one of our closets this morning.  I'll let the batteries charge for about 24 hours before putting them through a series of tests.  Hopefully, we're good to go...  If not, I'll need to order some new batteries very soon... Next up...  camera batteries... Update:  The batteries in these radios seem to be fine.  I charged them for 24 hours and see no power problems.  Now, I just need to remember how to use all the features on these things!

A Belated Birthday Post

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The grandchildren turned two years old a couple of weeks ago but I have been feeling so lousy that I have just now managed to doing anything with the photos I shot at their birthday party. So, while I am on a roll posting photos of the grandchildren from this past weekend (see my previous posts), I thought I should also finally post some photos from their birthday celebration before these photos just become another lost folder of photos on an old hard drive. So... a birthday party for two new two year olds...  presents, toys, laughs, music, playing, dancing, giggles, cake, food and drinks... everyone had a fun time!  A new train for his birthday... This is one happy boy dancing to a train video... and yes, his eyes were closed most of the time he was dancing... feelin' that groove... Apparently, Grammy is getting a bit too close to someone's cake...

The Grandchildren and Their Trains

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I've already written about the kids enjoying their little "Thomas the Train" train table but it is worth writing about again and sharing some new photos. While the kids were visiting this past Sunday we did the usual things... we watched a movie ("Finding Nemo")... we watched the usual model train video... we watched some videos of family... Kenzie played with the Mega blocks and built a tall building... Lukas played with his trucks... Kenzie played with her new doll... Lukas played catch with himself on the couch bouncing some soft, squishy balls against the wall... and they both enjoyed playing with their trains on the little train table. Whenever I watch them play with the trains, I can't help but wonder how long it would take for them to get bored with their little train table and village. I know it is only a matter of time before the kids prefer to watch the trains propel themselves around the track rather than pushing them by hand. I don't

Dinner and Gelato Cones

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This past Sunday, as usual, the kids visited and we had a nice afternoon and evening together. Dinner was a tasty herb encrusted pork roast and, to be honest, I really didn't think it would go over all that well with the kids. I was completely wrong though! The kids each had three platefuls of pork, roasted potatoes and gravy. Less popular were the carrots but they did have a serving each. Their lack of interest in the carrots also surprised me because these carrots were in a butter and brown sugar glaze which I thought they would really like. Truth be known, I won't eat carrots without a glaze like this! Typically after dinner, we usher the kids quickly into the bathroom for showers. This time we tried something a little different before showertime. We had some black cherry gelato in the freezer so we put a scoop or two in a couple of ice cream cones for the kids. That, too, went over well and excited the kids! Their laps were covered in melted gelato by the time