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 |  An attempt at creating a daily blog. |
| I'm hoping I can turn this into a daily repository of random and not so random musings of my daily activities. Perhaps it will gel into a common thread that I may be able to work towards creating something interesting. |
| I've been wanting a new lens for my newest camera. It's a mirrorless so my current lenses need an adapter to fit. The new lenses made for the mirrorless cameras are actually a smidge clearer and they focus faster. And they don't need the adapter. Lenses are not inexpensive. I have a big lens that I rarely use. It's bulky and not exactly light weight. I tried to borrow some money from my son to get the lens I want but he said no dice, sell some of what I already have. This started the gears turning. There is a site on the internet that buys and sells photography equipment so I sent them a note, told them what I have and asked for a quote. They gave me a ridiculously low figure. I nicely (a rarity) sent a response that it was way too low so they sent the information to another person. They asked me for the exact model and wanted a picture. I did that and they came back with a substantially larger figure. I accepted and they sent me shipping labels to print and it will go to get shipped tomorrow. Then, I should be able to get 2 lenses and if I'm lucky, I'll have enough left over for a cup of coffee! Doctor appointment in the morning with a new doctor. I'm not exactly sure where the clinic is so I need to leave a bit early. Plus, it will be rush hour traffic. Once that is complete, I can take my lens to the shipping/packing place and get it sent off. I had to wrangle around my days to head to the Blueridge. Lodging rates varied substantially depending on what days so instead of leaving Friday, I'll leave Sunday. I have an appointment Friday morning so I was going to end up getting a late start but by leaving on Sunday, I can start out early. That should work out well. That's a wrap for today. |
| This was from an assignment in my writing class. Part 1 is how you would view being in an ideal world to write. Part 2 is making excuses of why I can never become a writer. I've identified the problem in that last statement and i refuse to be self defeating so let's see what I can do to change from never a writer to actually being one. Pt1 In an ideal world, I am a writer. It would mean I am finally at peace with myself and have resolved any issues. I would have accomplished all that I had ever wanted and I would be comfortable with the knowledge and wisdom I had gained over the years. All the important questions had been answered and I could sit back in my chair, my hand laying on the head of my golden retriever, always at my side. My coffee cup would never need refilled nor would it ever get cold. Life would be good. Pt2 My mind is a jumbled mess. I don't think it will ever become simple and if I actually felt at peace with myself, I'd think I had died. There is too much I want to do, I want to learn. And as the world continues to evolve, there is so much more to do and learn. Perhaps if I can ever turn off the inquisitive part of my mind. The reality is, I'm not convinced it can be done but I hope that perhaps writing can settle me down as I put word to paper (actually, keys to screen). |
| It is late in the day but here I am again. I couldn't sleep last night. I woke up in the wee hours and could not get back to sleep, not sure why. The shoulder is starting to feel a bit better now and I was able to pick up my camera with the left hand. It's a bit heavy but I was able to do it. I'll have to work on it this week. Since I'm hoping to go out with camera next weekend, I need to be sure I can handle it. I have a battery grip on it which holds a second battery. It does make it quite a bit heavier but I'm so used to having one that I'd be lost without it, the camera just wouldn't feel right. I was thinking back and way back with my original slr, I had a motor drive to advance the film and then when I moved into digital I've always had it for the second battery. I've never really needed it but now it's ingrained into my brain. I signed up for "Project Healing Waters" today. This is a program for disabled veterans to teach them fly fishing. They cover how to fly fish, rod building and fly tying. And it is free. This will help get me out of the house a bit more often and hopefully get me into some nice fishing situations. Plus I'll take my camera along in hopes of snapping a few images and even better, it should give me more material to write about. Win-win all around. I got in contact with someone up in the neighborhood of the Blueridge area as far as finding areas for catching leaves for photography and in the prime area to catch some of the elk that are ending their rut. I've been seeing photos of some nice big bulls with big sets of antlers. Since it is about a 5 hour drive for me, I plan on leaving Friday late morning, then staying Friday night and Saturday night. That gives me opportunity to catch elk in the early morning when they hopefully come out of the woods. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'm able to have a successful trip. I think this is probably a wrap for the day, much to be done yet. |
| Running out of time today. I started watching a webinar on bird photography and I'm just getting to the end. It's only a 90 minute presentation but my shoulder has been killing me today and I've been easily distracted. The light is at the end of the tunnel now, pretty much just fluff on how the person does their editing and housekeeping chores. Those are all pretty much personalized and you adjust as you go, there is no definitive way to do things and as you learn you adjust until you feel you have it right. I had to start taking pain meds in middle of the night. My bed is not conducive to keeping the shoulder from aching and my recliner downstairs is not comfortable to sleep in. I should never have agreed to purchasing it but, it is what it is. I've been wanting to obtain a new lens for my camera but good quality glass is not inexpensive. I think I've decided to trade in a lens I have but rarely use since it is large, heavy and awkward. I can trade it for something that is more versatile and a bit lighter. I've got that in my mind now and will be tossing the idea around in my mind over the weekend. My birthday is next month so perhaps I can get myself a new lens. If I do it right, I may be able to get 2 new lenses. The one I'm considering trading was very expensive when I bought it and lenses do retain their value over the years. I took my son's dog in for her annual exam yesterday and she wasn't able to jump up into my truck so I had to lift her back end up. I'm paying for it today with both arms, muscle aches. Once I get healed up a bit I'm going to have to get serious about doing some working out. I just realized I have a few appointments next week...and they conflict with one another. Crap. I won't be giving the folks much time to react to reschedule. Well, nothing I can do about that now. I'll have to make calls early on Monday...or see if I can drive fast to get from one to the other... I need to get back to finish this video as I have another one waiting in the wings. Perhaps I can retain a bit from them, not as much as I could when I was a whole lot younger but all I can do is try. That's a wrap for today. |
| Here we are, once again. My mind is a blank slate (some would claim it is just blank). The highlight of the day was taking my son's dog to the clinic for her annual checkup. She is healthy, lost a few pounds, but the vet suspects possibly arthritis is trying to get started in her back end, typical of larger breed dogs... I need to go to the pharmacy and pick up an order, an antihistamine and a muscle relaxer. The latter has been somewhat effective on my shoulder, 2 weeks post having an arthroscopic procedure performed. I fell down my stairs a while back; will be 2 years come Christmas. I went face down, head first and ended up in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the door. The result was I tore loose all the ligaments that hold the collar bone down to the main back bone. It has take this long to find a surgeon that knew how to fix; I had seen 3 already. The collar bone stuck up with nothing to hold it down and was becoming a major issue during my sleep. Now, with a tendon put in place to hold it down, the issue should be resolved. It has been considerably more painful than I expected. There seems to be no position that doesn't cause pain but, I add it to the list. It won't be long before my lower back jumps back to the top. I started a video tutorial on my camera yesterday and trying to absorb it a little at a time. It is a total of 8 hours. New cameras have so many features that it almost takes a rocket scientist to operate them. You can leave much of the decisions up to the camera but that doesn't always work out to what you had in mind so knowing which controls do what is a major benefit. However, it is time consuming to learn and one needs to practice so things come to the mind without thinking, if you need to stop and think, you may miss the optimum shot. With wildlife, you really need to be on top of your game. That's a wrap for today! |
| Hump day today... Not that it really matters. When you're retired, the days all blend into one another. The major downside to this fact is when the days blend, then the weeks blend, the months blend and next thing you know, it's Christmas again...and you sit back and wonder "where did the time go?" It feels like I waste too much time, but, I'm not sure if I really do since I am always trying to learn something. Currently, my pursuits revolve around photography and they are anything but simple. I want to photograph nature and wildlife. That means being able to find subjects. Books on hunting and biology of various species fill my shelves. I even purchased a small boat so I could follow near the shore in hopes of finding animals that come down for a drink. Studying these animals, finding when they are most active, what the eat, reproductive habits...the list seems endless. Then I took a tangent into fishing. I figured if I was out sitting on the water and hoping for some type of animal to show up, I might as well take a fishing pole and maybe catch some dinner. Well, that leads me to learning about the various species of fish that inhabit the waters I'll be in. Once again, we get down to food, reproduction, times of most activity. Food of course brought me to insects, amphibians, anything else that would be of interest. Insects of course pointed me to entomology...knowing the species of insects I find can point me towards which species of fish. I swear, it is an endless circle which seems to be ever expanding. And of course, photography isn't something you learn over night. Cameras, lenses, flashes, tripods...once again, that endless curve. That expands right into image editing on the computer. I have sympathy for my brain. I'm too old for all this...but, I don't let that stop me. A big part of this then delves into obtaining photographs for publication and being able to write accompanying articles. So today I started my online course of writing for magazines. My bookshelves are overloaded. My brain is overloaded. I won't give in though, as they say, "no rest for the wicked!" I'll call that a wrap for today. I have books to skim through and the day is still young. |
| Gosh, my writing is only in short spurts. I'll never write a novel at this speed. Wait, I have no intentions of writing a novel. Short stories, magazine articles, maybe some filler for the local newspaper...no insurmountable ideals, only practicality. Tomorrow I start one of those short, 6 week online courses for writing magazine articles. I will have to see how that turns out. And of course, I had to order some more reference books. I once had a humongous book of various facts and another of famous quotations. I no longer seem to have them, I think I can see a possibility for quotations, they could serve as starting prompts...not to actually use but to spark an idea. Amazon has provided. Once again, they get a handful of my money that I have so precious little of, and I shall have an index of quotations as well as a book of quotations. I also preordered a book of facts...I don't trust wikipedia to be correct all the time, perhaps the book isn't either, but between the two, I should be able to get some reference points for further research. I still have my references for use of words, punctuation, etc. Of course, in our current times, it seems like a push for accuracy and correctness has fallen to the side. I did grow up in an education system that did pay attention to such things even though some of the new crop of teachers in my later years of elementary and high school did have some questionable ''teachers''. The education system was starting to go downhill while I was still in school and there is evidence of that running rampant in today's society. I had shoulder surgery not quite two weeks ago and it has not been entirely pleasant. I fell down my stairs just after Christmas of 2021 resulting in tearing loose all the ligaments holding my clavicle in place in my left shoulder. I just finally found a surgeon that would fix it so adding in a tendon to strap things down and a couple pins to hold it in place. Now I just have to be careful I don't overdo things. Patience has never been my strong suit. And I want to get back on my bicycle. Right now they don't want me riding in case I might fall. I can guarantee I won't be waiting until Christmas. I was getting my cardio vascualr system into much better shape, I don't want to regress too much and I am still trying to lose some extra weight. Meanwhile, life goes on! Until next time... |
| I always thought retirement was supposed to be a time of relaxation, kicking back and doing nothing... Definitely not true in my life... |
| After too long an absence, I've returned. I managed to get back on my bicycle this week...over 39 miles this month...I'm hoping to get in a hundred for the month. I've toyed with the idea of playing flute for a long time. I tried guitar but just couldn't get my fingers to reach around to play the chords. Piano, much like my writing, I just couldn't get enough glue in my seat to keep me down and at it. So, I'll give the flute a shot, hope springs eternal in my life. I was able to get a prescription for a medication for my anxiety issues. It seems to work but it has messed up my sleep...so I'm hoping it is just simply adjusting to the medication...if not, then I have to decide whether the good outweighs the bad. I'm still waiting to get an appointment with a mental health provider.. The Veterans Administration is handling it. They couldn't get me an appointment with in-house providers until the end of April so I asked for an outside provider. The counselor I had talked to had told me I should be seen outside. So, it's now "hurry up and wait". My limited time with the bicycle has been quite productive as far as my cardio health. My heart rate does exceed the limit per the guidelines but it recovers quite well. That's a good sign. And my blood pressure, which tends to be borderline, was the lowest I've had this morning. And, my resting heart rate is in the 50s now, something that it hasn't been since my 20s when I was running. I purchased some of these high visibility shirts like the highway workers wear for when I go out riding. I also have flashing head and tail lights. I'm sure it's overkill but I don't bounce too well and some of these cars feel a 55 mph speed limit actually means 80. Now I need some cooler weather but I go in the early morning. The bad side of that is the people driving to work but the good is it is cooler. I went a bit later the other morning to miss some of the traffic but the temperature went up 6 degrees while I was riding...no thanks. I'm also interested in use of a kayak for my photography pursuits. I don't swim (yet I was in the Navy) so I'm a bit hesitant. The state does offer a course in kayaking near me so I'll go to that next week and hopefully learn something. Unfortunately, they are not inexpensive. And I am looking at a new lens...it seems the money never goes as far as I want. And nothing is getting any lower priced. I think this must be it for today. I ordered new glasses yesterday. Promptly I somehow lost my two pairs of prescription glasses. After my cataract surgery, I need reading glasses...so, I'm having to rely on off the shelf cheapies until the new ones arrive. Of course, the ones I had were scratched (hopefully I'll treat new ones better). Tim |
| Oops, missed a day... I never got around to this yesterday. With my wife on vacation my routine is all messed up...and another week to go. Squirrels are testing my patience. I let them get access to part of my bird feeders but they are GREEDY! They destroy the feeders. I just got a "squirrel proof" feeder. It has a cage around it so the squirrels can't reach the seed...so one sits on top of the cage and reaches through to pick at the plastic tube. Apparently it thinks if it destroys the tube the seed will all drain out and it can eat it. That is true, but it would be a one shot deal. Once the seed is gone, nowhere to put more. I guess squirrels don't think long term. I have a baffle on the feeder pole and it is rare that a squirrel can get up above it...but it has happened. I felt sorry for them so I put a chair so they could go ahead and jump up. Enough is enough. I've been buying expensive feeders only for them to be destroyed in a week. The chair has now been moved. No more free lunch. Out air still has a slight haze from the Canadian smoke drifting down. I would think we are far enough south but apparently the upper winds carry it down here. It makes for increased difficulty in getting quality images with my camera. I'm critical enough about my photos without having additional haze added in. I can remove with software but, any alterations with a computer always come with tradeoffs. I strive to have the best image I can get straight out of the camera but often there is something that can be enhanced with a computer. I'll be scanning many of my 45 year old photos from when I was on the island of Guam while in the Navy (best move I ever did was joining up). They were taken with a cheap camera but the camera doesn't make the photo, the person behind the viewfinder does. Many of them are worthwhile but have some fading after this many years and the color can be improved. That's my project when the wife returns. I hope I'll have my reorganization complete by then but it hasn't been moving very fast. I'll try to get to it today and get my speakers set back up and rewired. I upgraded my internet service and it requires I put a different interface card in my computer. If I can get that done today and shift the computer to a stand on the floor, that would be a major step. Then I can reroute the video cables to it. I had to get a faster network switch and I hope I can get that installed today as well. Many things to do, little motivation to do them. I am still watching this series on streaming video. There are 9 seasons, 22 episodes per season. I just started season 5 yesterday. I feel guilty since each episode is 40 minutes and I'm not really gaining anything, well, actually i am paying attention to the writing so I guess it isn't a total waste. It would make for a good "who done it" style of mystery writing. Maybe that isn't really accurate but it is mystery themed. It makes you want to keep coming back Apparently a guy I was in school with has watched the whole thing. And another is a season behind me. I'll watch more today since I like to stay downstairs with the dogs. Usually the wife is with them and with the loss of one of their siblings, I've been giving them more attention. Frequent trips outside, bathroom and just trips to go bark. I spoil them rotten. What else are dogs for? I've done some minor cleaning but the dust is thick. Little by little I'm working at it. The lampshades I put in the dishwasher look much better. I washed the blankets the now gone dog used. Hmmm, I think one is still in the washer...I should probably go get it in the dryer. I made up fresh juice for the hummingbird feeders this morning. One of these trips outside I'll go ahead and grab the feeders and refill them. This is the first year that I haven't had mold issues with them. The weather has been extremely warm though but apparently I'm changing often enough that the mix doesn't get sour. I better go get that blanket into the dryer. Tim |
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It is nice to see someone here with similar background interests. I too like to ride my adult tricycle, spent time on Guam Island in 1968, and held a ham radio license. I was known as The Stork because I was an RN in surgery in charge of the OB/GYN Department. Hubby was known as The Bodyman{/] because he repaired and painted car bodies, and my son was known as 10 Speed. What better way to describe a teenage boy. 