A confession. . .

Think pre-feminism as you read this little confession! The journaling reads: "1966. 8th grade. 13 years old and definitely a geek. I had a brainstorm one day! I bought myself a pair of earrings, “borrowed” my brothers’ ring, and “Tom” gave me these. My standing in my social world suddenly improved greatly!"

By the way, my dh is NOT made up!

txt circle JSprague 4 sq template; LivEdesigns paper & ElemLove Triple frame;GCabrera journal ; bjc t2t key & seal; ktd t2t heart; bkern simply love paper; WWWildflowers loving u flower,1st love; VLim a little magic

Day 76 POTD More animals & Doggy Dementia

It's too tough for poor Bonnie to bear the all burden of the whole week of being The Animal, so I headed off to the local pet shop for a bunny, a ferret in a hammock, and a guinea pig. But since it still is Animal Week (and by the way, my first day with my DH was going to see Animal House), I'll tell you about Bonnie's doggy dementia.

First the photos, all shot with my 18-135 mm lens, ISO 400, fluorescent wb; autofocus.




The way we figured out that Bonnie, 13 1/2, has doggy dementia is that at night, she started guarding us against hallucinations. All night long, she stand at the top of the steps, barking her little cute fool head off, at absolutely nothing! Apparently barking is dog-to-human communication, and boy did she ever communicate! She was killing us! We'd be woken up all night long, and in the morning when we'd head off to work, she headed off to her cozy little bed to sleep the day away.

The vet tried amytriptylene, but it didn't do much good. Finally, we decided we had to have her sleep in a bed in the laundry room, where she wouldn't hear outside sounds as much. I hope this doesn't offend anyone's faith beliefs, but we put a radio outside the laundry room, tuned it in to an all-night radio station that plays the rosary in a fairly monotonous, but soothing, set of voices, all night long. Problem solved! Bonnie is much less anxious, doesn't bark at night, we sleep. . . and she still sleeps all day while we're at work.

Oh, and someone asked about the background for the jungle animals yesterday. I happen to have a blanket that has jungley looking things in it, like toucans and tropical trees, and I thought it would work well to cover the couch in the background.

Day 75: POTD Jungle Animals

Wild Jungle Animals on a rampage. . . . .



Easily subdued by the Queen of the Jungle, Bonnie. . . .


And isn't this little guy cute?

(and my kids wondered what I'd do when they left home! Ha!)

Playing with my 105 mm 2.0 really cool macro lens. Just seeing what I can do with it. All are shot in manual mode, with manual focus, delayed timer trigger, RAW, bean bag tripod on the floor and me lying on my stomach, VR off, ISO 400, wb Incandescent. The top photo was at f/32 and ss: 20". Bonnie, Queen of the Jungle was at f/5.6; ss: .4". And the little tiger on the bottom was at f/3; ss: 1/3".

And now, for some Warped Angela Philosphy:
I listened today to NPR talking about single women in the their 40s getting to a point where they regret not marrying and having a life partner. The author who was being interviewed said that some women have been making the mistake of looking for the perfect partner, and that they would be happier looking for "good enough". She said a woman needs to think more in terms of someone who will complement her, will be a good partner in life and in running the household/raising children. She said this was quite controversial and flew in the face of romantic ideals of finding "the one." The mail she got showed a definite pattern. People who had been married a good number of years readily admit the imperfection of their spouses. . . and themselves, but that they love each other immensely "anyway."

So of course, I asked my husband, "Honey. . . dear. .. . am I perfect!" Ha! One of those questions that make all husbands worth their salt suddenly perk up and take notice. They know they've got to carefully navigate a minefield, fraught with danger, and that the whole weekend could hinge on how they deal with THIS one.

And you know what this sweetest guy on the planet said? He said, "Well, I don't want to hurt your feelings, but no one's perfect. But you come really, really close."

Awwwwww! He's perfect for me!

This was actually one of the most important things I learned, though, in being a parent. I was knocking myself out, early on, trying to be perfect. And then I realized I just needed to be a good enough mom; that anyone could ALWAYS do better, but good enough will do really well.

Feel free to comment or ignore. . .

Day 74 POTD Ocean Animals?

I might be on theme with the animals inside the shell! (I'd have to ask a kid; they know everything!) I'm using my new macro lens 105mm 2.8 for these photos, and am hoping to get the focus and clarity much better. I used a tripod, used manual focus, turned off auto vibration, and used the timer. I know there're even things that have to do with how the shutter opens and closes that can affect movement and sharpness with macro, but I'll figure that out another day.

I shot these in manual mode, RAW, custom white balance, and ISO 200. The first one is at f/32, ss: 8".



The second one is also at f/32,but ss: 6".

This last once was also at f/32, but shutter speed: 2.5". I put this one in a sunnier spot on my couch and included it here because of the effect of the light coming through it. Actually, the REAL reason I included it was because I was impressed that you could see the DUST on it! So then I blew the dust off and took the above photos! :)

Sorry, folks. I'm crawling back in bed after I post this. I want everyone to know how much I appreciate their comments. I had no idea that people would like Buffalo so much! Thanks also for the suggestion to check out Pioneer Woman's blog. I've never heard of it and will be checking it out soon! I'll try to be back up and commenting on photos again by tomorrow, hopefully.

Day 73 More Buffalo Fun!

I'm not feeling well today so I thought I'd post a few more photos from yesteday's buffaloes. If you thought 1 buffalo having a stare down with you is scarey, this photo shows three of them keeping an eye on me! Actually, there had been more looking at me, but I had trouble getting a nice shot of the whole bunch staring at me. I don't know how they communicate with each other, but slowly they reduced the size of their "guard" on me. Note the blurred buffalo image in the back right, slacking off on the watch and "frolicking" on its back in the snow and the mud!

This one shows the guy (or girl?) on the left snorting at me. Note to photographers: getting eye contact with buffaloes does not seem to be a problem.

I ran a EZ Action Vivid Pro on this photo to play with the color a bit. You can see the red tag on the buffalo on the left. Someone asked, and this IS a buffalo farm on the edge of the city. In the western part of the state, and at Teddy Roosevelt National Park, there'd be more buffalo roaming in open fields. This makes me want to watch "Runs with Wolves" again! Seeing buffalo move all en-mass is pretty amazing! It's like a flock of birds suddenly, rapidly, moving in unison (only bigger.)

Day 72:North Dakota Animals

“Odd things animals. All dogs look up at you. All cats look down at you. Only a pig looks at you as an equal.”

Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965) British prime minister

And these buffalo, I don't think they like us much. . . They're scary looking, but as I approached them, they took off running, so I think I actually scared them!


They just stand around in this freezing cold water.



I used my 18-135 mm lens for these shots, definitely not my Macro. (although, I probably could use it, since it IS a 105 mm lens and it's not like I wanted to get nose-to-nose to these guys.


This one seemed particularly intent on watching me. Look at that frozen beard! Be assured, these are NOT my pets, and no, they are not our transportation to work in ND!

Day 71 Macro Shot Floral Paperweight

I'm loving this lens! Sorry, this is not on theme tonight, unless I can convince you this are some kind of micro-organism or exotic ocean animals!

We don't have flowers yet, but I used my brand new 105 mm 2.0 lens to take these photos of a curved paperweight with little flowers in it. Both are manual, custom wb, tripod, manual focus and VR turned off, ISO 200, RAW. The first one was at f/16, ss: 1". The second one was at f/32, ss: 3". Any and all constructive criticsm is most welcome and appreciated!




And thank you for all the nice comments on my dog yesterday! I was surprised that so many commented that we had a lot of snow, because I'm actually thinking we were spared a bit this year, especially compared to the rest of the country. If you look at the pictures of my dog, you'll see a 6' fence behind her. One year the snow was so high, that Bonnie (who is an escape artist by nature), calmly walked over the fence whenever she felt like it and wreaked havoc in the neighborhood. I had to go out into the yard with snowshoes, and literally shovel out a moat all the way around the perimeter of the yard. She'd go out, take a flying leap, and still go over the fence. I'd go out, and dig more, making it wider. Finally, it was wide enough, and she went racing out, took a flying leap, smacked into the fence, and fell in the moat, or trench. She did that about 4 or 5 times before giving up! Probably explains her doggy dementia now, which I'll post about another day!

Day 70 Poor Old Dog Stuck in the Snow

Look! I'm on theme with an animal picture tonight! Poor, old, arthritic dog. 13 1/2 years old--I hate to make her go out in the snow and cold.


Oh no! She's stuck in the snow! It's too deep for her! I'm going to have to go out there and help her back to the house! This is NOT good!


Oh, wait! Watch out! Incoming! Where'd all that energy come from?



Oh, right! Now she's going to roll around in the snow! Crazy dog! Come on; I want to go in; I'M freezing!


18-135 mm lens at 105 mm, ISO 200; f/13; sunny white balance; ss: 1/125. All shot RAW, manual mode, hand-held.

Day 69 POTD Daylight SavingsTime; Sequins

Just a reminder, tonight we set our clocks ahead for daylight savings time. I like this old clock.

These two photos demonstrate the difference between f/36 (bottom) 25" and f/22 (top) 13". Both ISO 400, with my 105 mm macro lens.



Thanks

Day 68 POTD Raspberries and a Fountain

This is just a little photo of a little "serenity pond" I have. It has a very soothing sound, and adding a little humidity to the super-dried air in these winter climates is quite welcome. I used my 18-135 mm lens at 120 mm, custom white balance, RAW, ss: 1/13; f/5.6; ISO 400, levels adjusted. I liked the look of the water with the slow shutter speed. My elbows were my tripod.





This picture may be technically horrible, but it's very exciting for me, and this is where my groveling will start! This was shot with my brand new, just received, I am such a lucky person, 105 mm 2.8 Macro lens!!!! I am so excited!!! But I can use any and all suggestions for learning to shoot macro images. One basic thing I realized after taking this picture is that even though I set this dish of raspberries next to the window for the light, it does not work well to shoot toward the light; I need to rearrange furniture tomorrow so that the light will at least be coming from the side. It seems like somehow, I need both diffused light, but bright light. Maybe.

Please share with me any and all suggestions you might have for Macro shots! Thanks!



105 mm lens, ISO 400; wb: cloudy; manual mode; manual focus and tripod; f/22; ss: 8".