Scattered Thoughts . . .

Whenever I post some photos here of songbirds, ducks, loons, any wildlife as well as the moon, I know that few will understand the distances involved. I also know that few will understand many of the terms I use pertaining to these lenses.  After capturing some images of the moon last night, I thought it would be a good idea to get a couple of comparison images to show here. In this first image we see a fairly wide view... the red arrow is pointing to an insulator on a utility pole which is just peaking above the rooftops.... Just barely visible above this rooftop is an insulator on top of a distant utility pole... For the second image, I shot a photo using my longest lens... a 600mm lens...  of course, I understand that saying a focal length of such-and-such "mm" means nothing to most people which is why I am posting this comparison for everyone to see. These comparison photos help to picture the difference between focal length in millimeters. What may be mor

I had another lousy health day yesterday so I didn't do much around the house. My spine was so inflamed that I could hardly walk so I put all the home renovations on hold for a day while the inflammation subsided. Today, I'm feeling considerably better but I'm waiting for the rain to stop. While I was camped out in the living room on the couch yesterday, I decided to refresh my memory on effectively using two of my camera bodies that I use for super-long telephoto. I practiced getting some steady shots and reminding myself of the best settings for each camera body under specific conditions.  Both of these cameras have tiny viewfinders so viewing my subjects while wearing glasses is difficult and frustrating. As a result, I really do not enjoy using either of these camera bodies. I'd love to get a newer body with a much larger viewfinder but it simply is not in my budget just yet. I'll need to use these bodies again for yet another summer season.  I practiced u

I had another productive morning today which puts me on a pretty unusual streak. The weather is about to get lousy for a little bit so I can take a short break until it clears up since I have no room indoors to be cutting big pieces of lumber.  A piece of pine spread across the two foundation pilings... stone pathway is now extended to this new window alcove too. This morning I went outside with the intention of backfilling the dug out foundation and then quickly moving on to some carpentry indoors. Backfilling was done in a matter of minutes so I continued grading the area... then decided to continue with hard landscaping around the area. I expanded our stone pathway to where this new window alcove will be located. Then I placed some sod strips alongside the new stone... cleaned up the adjacent flower beds... did a little bit of raking... and now it is looking nice and clean out there. The two foundation pilings are slightly low (on purpose). I'll rest the outside end of

After overdoing it yesterday on home renovations, I only worked on the house a short while today. We have the grandkids here today so I'll spend the rest of the day playing with them. Yesterday, when I was digging the foundation for the little three window alcove, I realized that the septic tank is in the way by a few inches. So, last night, I came up with some new plans with new dimensions. Now I can cantilever this small alcove out beyond the two pilings holding up this alcove.  After digging the foundation deep enough, I dropped in some pre-made footings... then glued the concrete pilings on top of these footings once the depth and dimensions were correct.  I'll wait a day or two before backfilling.  This bedroom renovation project is coming along nicely but slowly. As long as I accomplish something almost every day, I should be okay.