BiddiesInMyBrain

Pics Are Up!

I haven't put up a HUGE number - after all, I do have bandwidth to worry about - but there are quite a few up there at Colorado '08.

Gotta run... Enjoy!

Home Again Home Again

Jiggety Jig!

We got home yesterday, about 5:15 - easy traffic across the I-40 bridge coming into Memphis, though we were a little unnerved by all the huge fires in eastern Arkansas. No clue what they were doing, but we saw at least 10 HUGE fires start and then get put out as we were driving from Little Rock to the state line. So weird. Couldn't figure it out - and nothing on the radio, so it must have been something business-as-usual - but what?

Came home and found everything in order - except that one of the burners on the stove had been accidentally jiggled in the morning when our house sitter came over and gas had been seeping into the house all day - freaked us out, but no harm done, thankfully. Took a good airing out, but all is well, and the kitties are just fine.

Turned in someone for driving erratically in a company van in western Arkansas, too... they had a "How Am I Driving?" sticker on the back of the van, so we told the folks at the 800 number just how they were doing! We've never done that before, and it was a little unnerving - Crash actually called it in, but it just had to be done - this woman was nuts. Driving 69 in a 70 - then 80 - then right on our butt (within a car length or two) for a mile or two - then slamming on her brakes and swerving out into the passing lane to pass us doing 80 - and doing the same with semis and other cars. For 25 or 30 miles. We finally had a opportunity to get the number down just before she got off the interstate. Hope she gets the book thrown at her.

The earache has subsided a lot, but I still went to the doc today - and she is sending me to an ENT on Friday... this has become chronic and must be dealt with by a specialist (another one???) at this point. Sinus infections and ear infections for six weeks straight? No thank you. We'll see what the ENT says and go from there. Can't believe the number of specialists I am collecting.

ANYWAY... about the trip! It was INCREDIBLE!! Two train rides (yes, I will get the pics up tonight or tomorrow - I took more than 250 and it will take a while to get through all of them), fantastic food (True Grits AKA the Shrine to John Wayne... and the SLV Brewing Company, both in Alamosa, CO, serve terrific food, and the home-cooked meals at Dad's were FANTASTIC), unparalleled company (gotta love my dad and stepmom, and my uncle)... and the wildlife. Saw deer, elk, TWO BEARS (I only saw one - a yearling - and saw it within about 20 feet - YIKES - Crash saw the second, larger one, from about a 1/4 mile), bighorn sheep, antelope, golden hawks, eagles... just incredible. But I am very tired - drove all but three hours of the 19 home - and with the earache, I am just beat. As I said, it will take me some time to get all this up on the website - and I will not be posting anywhere near all of them - just some select few of them - but you will get the idea. This was perhaps the most incredible trip I have taken in the past decade... really amazing.

It's good to be home to the kitties and Jenny, though. And my own bed and soft, soft sheets. But I surely do miss the mountains something awful. Did you know it was in the 40s at night and in the 70s during the day where we were? ::poking at all y'all who've been suffering through the nineties::. Yeah. But I'm in the land of the double and triple digits now too, and am looking back wistfully on the weather, the scenery and the company. What a treat.

More later.

ADDENDUM: Forgot to mention the hummingbirds - probably between 18-23 at the feeders at the house, dining on a 2:1 sugar:water ratio. They were going through 8 cups of sugar/water mix every DAY AND A HALF when we left, and that wasn't even peak season. WOW. And so many different colors and varieties of hummingbirds up there. Just beautiful.

Hello!

Having an incredible time, but heading home tomorrow ::pout:: I will miss the mountains. Saw a bear today, and bighorn sheep yesterday. :::grin::: Love it.

Just haven't had a lot of time to blog, but have tons of pics and will post them when we get home. The train trip? Beyond wonderful... it really is the train trip to measure all steam train trips against. Fantastic! And lots of pics. LOTS AND LOTS. I think I took 200, so there are plenty to choose from.

Figured out the car trouble today - the (plastic) mounts holding the air filter in place are broken and will need to be replaced when we get home. Not happy. We can pop the thing in place but in the meantime, the sensor doesn't like it. The oil leak? A filter that needed tightening. Done.

Beyond that, I have had a relapse of the ear/sinus infection, but the doc gave me a round of antibiotics and antibiotic eardrops and painkillers before I left home three weeks ago thinking this might just happen again, so I will see her on Wednesday and figure out where to go from here. I'm feeling much better tonight than I was feeling last night.

We're planning on making it to Ok City tomorrow and Memphis on Monday. ::smile:: It's been a terrific trip.

Colorado Photoblogging

I've been remiss - we've been having a lovely time, but I haven't been taking the loads of pictures I had been planning on. We haven't gotten out a lot - the car is having issues and we need to get it into the shop, but tomorrow we will be heading deep into the mountains (in Dad's truck) and will have lots of opportunities to take lots of pics. We may be delaying the return home by a day just to get the car looked at, but we think it's an oil leak and nothing major - I had the oil changed just before we left home, and the stuff on the driveway appears to be oil... and is in the right place for a filter problem. Anyway, I hope that's all it is.

Back to the photos. The two random inside pics of a pretty day were taken on Sunday from the top of Dad's house looking over the western mountains... Crash and I had a quiet evening with wine, fruit and cheese up there and enjoyed the sunset and a young golden hawk with practically iridescent wings flying overhead - so beautiful. Almost made me cry it was so stunning. Lots of storms to the north of us, but a stunning sunset to the the southwest.

Yesterday was cold and very windy. I went into town (about 2500 feet lower in elevation) and hit a cloud bank you wouldn't believe. Could hardly see my hand before my face, but once I got up here, there were no problems seeing - clear skies; mostly sunny though very, very windy.

Today, however, we had a gentle, sweet picnic at the Rampart Reservoir in Teller El Paso County and took some pictures there, which are on the Colorado '08 photo album. It's been hazy and stormy here in the afternoons and the picture taking opportunities haven't been great even with good filters... but I did get some decent pics. I like the one of the thunderstorm building over the hills and the one of Crash in front of Pike's Peak.

The hummingbirds are going through a mix of 8 cups water/4 cups sugar every day and a half out of three feeders. No red dye, just pure sugar water and my, are they are greedy suckers - and it's not even peak season yet; at peak season Dad will be going through that amount of sugar water every day. These birds are beautiful, too - there are ruby throated ones, green ones, tan ones, ones with black bands around their necks and more... just a stunning array. I sit and watch them for half an hour or more at a time sometimes, and their communications are as complex as their pecking order - just amazing little creatures.

Crash has been taking long hikes every night - LONG hikes - sometimes we don't see him for hours, and it gets me to fussing, but he is enjoying playing out in the valley and into the crevasses and ravines. He has to be careful, though - the elk have very young ones and they are in the woods down in the valleys, and they will kill if anything inadvertently comes between them and their young.

Wildflowers are just now really coming out - hope to have some new pics of them soon. We'll see what's in the high country and further south. With the late Spring, things are terribly delayed. Usually we're here a little later in the year - early-to-mid-July - and everything is really in season or just past, but this year we're almost a half month too early and maybe more with the late snowstorms. The last snow here at Dad's was about two weeks ago and it has thrown things wildly out of whack. But, like I said, we'll see. The columbine and all may really be popping with the snow runoff just hitting in the high country. Will let you know when we return on Friday night or Saturday.

Speaking of... there will be radio silence for the next several days while we travel down to Antonito, CO / Chama, NM with the family - I am traveling very, very light and will not have the computer with me, but will have all the camera equipment, so never fear - there will be lots of pics. LOTS.

Anyway, all is well (except the car) and I am terribly, terrifically happy. Lots to do when we get home, but I am not thinking too much about it at the moment. Too much wonderful stuff happening.

::smile::

Sign me,

Delirious in Colorado

ADDENDUM: Added two sunset photos from tonight.

Colorado High!

I am just in love with Colorado - had forgotten how much in love with it I have always been and being here is like a homecoming.

The only hitch? My allergies are in full force and I am having a terrible time with them - sneezing constantly. NEVER before have I had that problem, but this visit I am just having awful congestion - as is Crash. BUT, we're mananging, and getting out and having a wonderful time.

We got here day before yesterday after well over a 1700 miles in my car in two weeks - and another 1000+ to go before we get home next week. I can't keep track of days - no clue what day it is when I wake up - none - but I go with the flow and look to my PDA to make sure I am on track with the day's events.

Speaking of events :::grin::: So far... we have gone to Canon City and done the Royal Gorge Route Dinner Train The food was great and the selection of wines we had were from a local winery called the Abbey Winery which was a Benedictine Abbey until it closed in 2006. Very tasty wines - not world class - but very tasty. There are other wines in the area, but that was what I wanted to try. ANYWAY. I have a few pictures up in the Colorado '08 Album 

Today was a lazy day for the most part - we (just the two of us) watched much of the sunset from the topmost room in the house and loved every minute of it. Took up sushi, wine, cheese, crackers, two kinds of melon, a fruit pie... and just basked in the constantly changing scenery as the sun shone differently in the valleys and on the hilltops and mountains. SO restful. So peaceful, hearing the hummingbirds racing around and the wind through the aspens. ::smile:: I miss this place when we're not here.

Tomorrow we'll be helping Dad around the house, then wandering here around the property and nature conservancy that surrounds it. The next day we are going very early to a secret spot to watch bighorn sheep, mule deer, elk and a couple other animals. Have to do that *very* early in the morning. Then coming back here around 11 to get ready to go on a picnic with my family and then come home and go KAPUT. The following day is travel to Alamosa so we can take the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad from Antonito, CO to Chamas, NM. CANNOT WAIT!

More tomorrow, I hope!

Can't Tell You How Many Times...

...I have clicked on this "compose" page in the past two days and realized I have, well, nothing to say.

It's not a bad thing - I have just been doing other things and finding myself in the midst of them rather than here. I'm finishing up my GIS class - I have the power point done and ready to present on Tuesday - and am working on a paper for the 27th for my Directed Readings course... only two or three more papers after that and I will be done with that course. And, I am forging ahead with some of the database cleanup that needs doing for the GIS side of my dissertation (that will take a while).

Meantime, I have been continuing to fuss with the camera and lenses. I was able to put together the makeshift "tripod/unipod" thing, but I made it about four inches too short, so I am going to make another one here in a few minutes to work with tomorrow. Even with the shortness of it (I had to really scrunch over to take pics), it *did* reduce shake at the longer reaches of the telephoto lens, so I think I am on the right track.

Had a baby blue jay fall from a tree/nest yesterday. And yes, I took the opportunity to take pictures. I did not, however, mess with the natural course of things... I let mama and papa try and fend for it, but I fear that one of the neighborhood cats got it once I went inside. I mourn for it, but it is one of those things; there was no way I could save it... and even getting close enough to get pics ired the parents enough that they swooped down on me... no way could I get anywhere closer to scoop it up and put it somewhere safer - if such a place existed.

Terribly tired today - just plumb worn out. I slept in this morning until 11:30, got up and went to a neighborhood picnic, did some running around, came home, fiddled with the stabilizer for the camera, fed Crash, went back to bed for two hours, got up, am sitting here now... and am looking forward to going back to bed - even before Crash comes home tonight.

Off to work on the camera.

Trying to Master a Lens, and Other Miscellany

Still not entirely happy with my 100-300 lens... mainly because I am still dealing with shake - and I took nearly 100 pictures today in the yard playing with various applications of the lens. Will jury rig a travel "tripod" I have seen on YouTube and see how that works... I don't want to drag my real tripod everywhere, so this might be an option to help deal with the shake. If not, then for the train ride I am back to the 18-55mm. Dang it. Any ideas? It's not too bad at the closer (100mm) focal length, but the 300mm is almost useless without the tripod. Meanwhile, I *did* figure out several other features on my camera... and the remote, too, so I am *really* happy. But this lens is making me nuts. I get tremendous results between 100-150mm, maybe up to 200mm, free-held with a relatively near subject... but anything at a distance is just, well, it's out of the league of this lens without something for stabilization.

They got the floor furnace out of the front of the house today - yay - but the house smells like pipe dope and moth balls (they had to cut into an old closet that had, you guessed it, moth balls secreted waaaaay in the back. Naptha and I don't mix). Yech. I haven't been able to have the windows open for a lot of the day because of the rain coming through, but they are going to come flying open in a minute, and I am going to don a sweatshirt. Not much else to do for it, and it's giving me a bad, bad headache.

I am *almost* done with my GIS class - much closer than I *ever* realized - and I will be officially DONE as of early next week. YAY! Meeting with that prof today was extremely heartening. If I get a burst of energy, I may finish the project tonight, and put the glossy touches on it tomorrow.

Regrettably, I think my workhorse of an HP computer is coming to an end to its usefulness for my needs, and I am going to have to spend the summer looking for a replacement for Fall term and into my dissertation. I've had this one for three - nearly four - years, and it has just chugged along, but when I defragged and moved things around last week I realized I am almost out of room ... and my poor baby really has been getting slower and slower despite my best efforts. New software (especially the ArcGIS software I need for the mapping end of my dissertation) just makes it harder and harder to keep up (and I shouldn't have to wait four to five minutes for this puppy to boot). HOWEVER, Crash will love using this computer for school - his software for music will work fabulously on this - and I will be glad to have my baby see more use. It's a terrific little workhorse and should chug along for a long, long time (I have been very kind to it). The only thing I *don't* like - and I *really really really* don't like this - is having to go with Vista. I am absolutely disgusted with that, and am not even sure that ArcGIS will work with Vista yet - they just went through an upgrade that may have incorporated it (I need to read the most recent ArcGIS News which came in the mail last week), but I know the last one didn't - and I can't say I blame them.

Don't know much else - it's been a relatively uneventful day - really! Hope y'all had a good day... and that things just go terrifically for you tomorrow.

::smooches::

Flower Communion Tomorrow

Tomorrow is Flower Communion at church and we are bringing extras for those who forget - don't want anyone going home without, and since we have such a bounty here it is a joy to pick and choose the best to take in. While we were out there we found that the peonies were blooming and most of the blooms were too heavy for the stems and were on the ground... so we picked those as well - and they smell just incredible. In the pic the roses on the right are for flower communion and the peonies in the pink are home just because.

Then we came in and since I had the camera out, I decided to snap a few pics of Crash. This is the best one - he was trying to pose and all, so they all came out a little goofy, but this does capture his tenderhearted side. And, he's relaxed. Yay for that!! We're having a very gentle, kind, enjoyable day.

I'm a little worried about Jen today - she didn't want to go outside at all this morning (she usually has one of us up by 6:30 a.m.) and I had to practically kick her out at 2 this afternoon. She's been sleeping all the rest of the day. Hmmm. Will be keeping a sharp eye on her into the evening.

::happy sigh:: I am, however, just going with the flow today. Haven't felt this good since ... well... I don't remember when. I am not questioning this, I am not picking it apart... and I sure as heck am not going to do anything deliberately to spoil it. I'm just going to float through it and smile.

Gotta have some days like that once in a while, no?

Playing with Telephoto Lenses

So I went outside a little while ago and started playing once again with my telephoto lens. I had some problems with it a couple of years ago and had been frustrated enough with it to put it down in that whole intervening time... but decided to try again today... and voila!! Crisp, clear pics taken 100 feet from the subject! I photoshopped the squirrel because my light meter didn't quite catch the huge changes in light from sun to shade, but I am very pleased at the moment. Anyway. Here they are.

OH BOY! I've been BUSY!

Let's see... where to begin.

Well, Saturday we went to a wedding down at the Ornamental Metal Museum at the River - it was at sundown and it was simply... gorgeous. Got a bunch of pics of Crash as well as a couple lovely ones of the river... and a bunch of great ones of the family (though I don't have permissions to repost *those* here, so you won't see them here) The river pic I like the most will be below.

Then, I actually made it to church on Sunday. Yeah, ring the bells, mark the date - I made it to church!! LOL I was so glad I went, too - it was a nice day to go, and I got to see oodles of people I hadn't seen in ages. ::smile:: It was wonderful.

Monday, the HVAC folks came and started in on the cutting for the regsters and all for the heating and a/c - and the computers and tv and all other electronic equipment as well as all the glassware and all had to be put up and covered - until last night. We will have to recover the TV later today or tomorrow when they cut the return in the back of the house, but that's ok - I don't mind.

Anyway, I had to be out of the house all day Monday and Tuesday - my asthma doesn't tolerate much in the way of allergens and dust in the air - so I sat outside and read books and tended to the garden (yes, there are oodles more pics in the May 08 photo album).

Today I am reorienting to what needs doing (lots) and how much I can get done while working around the contractors (lots) so things are really going quite well. I'm in a great mood, though tired, and just plugging along. Crash is playing a show tonight, so it's going to be a late night for him, but he'll be home when he gets here... and I can't wait to see him.

Hope y'all are well. ::smooches::