Scattered Thoughts . . .

I had some relatively minor health issues over the weekend while we were with the grandkids but didn't think much of it. I threw some extra medications at my health and pushed on forward.  The past few days, however, have been rather lousy.  In hindsight, I know that the relatively minor health issues I experienced in the preceding days were clues that my health required immediate attention. I should have stopped all activity... I should have taken some emergency medications rather than just some extra medications... and I should have tried to rest and recover. Instead, my health progressively worsened as I tried to ignore the warnings and push on through our activities with the grandkids. I haven't been able to wander far from a bathroom. Sheila and I ran into town last night to pick up some groceries and even that very short trip was a problem. My current gastro-intestinal problems are fairly bad (it has been worse though)... I've been having some difficulty brea

I've really been struggling with attaining video quality that meets my own standards. Contrary to what most people may think, although there are some similarities between photography and videography, there are very significant differences. I'm pretty good with photography but videography is something I would like to learn to do just as well. I've had to learn about file formats, frames per second, how shutter speed affects video and is not nearly as flexible as in photography, and how to find correct exposure when locking down frames per second and that shutter speed. I've learned that there is vastly less flexibility in attaining correct exposure in video when compared to photography.  I've had to learn about post-production editing and that will always be an on-going process. I actually like this part of the video process but I could definitely use a new Quadro graphics card to help make things flow more smoothly throughout this process. (It's on my wish

Panasonic G3 camera, Olympus Zuiko 70-300mm lens As I was writing my previous blog post this morning, I could hear all sorts of birds and squirrels outside  for the first time in quite a long time . It was as though they all moved into the area at the same moment! It has been unusually quiet here for months... no small wildlife at all... no birds, no squirrels... just an odd silence outdoors. All of a sudden, this morning, this all changed. I grabbed my newest camera purchase... my Panasonic G3 with my old Olympus 70-300mm lens mounted on it. This combo gives me a very long telephoto reach equivalent to a 600mm field of view on a full frame camera. This is a loonnnggg telephoto reach in a rather small package! When I stepped outdoors, I headed toward the deeper part of the backyard with old, tall trees where I figured most wildlife would be located. As I walked back that way, I listened to hear where the birds were located... "hmmm..." all the noise seemed to be c

Overall, since Christmas, my health has been quite lousy to put it mildly. I used up too many "spoons" in the month of December leading up to Christmas. (For those who don't know, a "spoon" is a unit of energy... see  Gift of an Extra Spoon .) As a result of using far too many spoons in December, I am still trying to recover in February. Unfortunately, the end of this recovery period is nowhere in sight at the moment.  I am so exhausted and experiencing such consistently poor health that I'm having great difficulty even thinking clearly. Just writing this short blog entry is taking about four hours of frustrating work. My thoughts jump from topic to topic in just a few short seconds... yes, a few short  seconds.   I am having great difficulty trying to accurately explain... uggg... about five minutes have passed while I struggled to finish that sentence. I suppose that might explain my difficulties fairly accurately. I don't know whether to scream or