We’re off

This is a picture of Yoda, the old many toed cat. Not sure how old she is but it has to be pretty old for a cat. She was a rescue cat and has 24 toes with a mellow disposition. Been a great cat and we’re leaving her in charge of the wifes feline brigade.

It’s amazing how many things have to get done when you leave everything until the last minute. Think I had a few short breaks yesterday and hope everything is ready to go. If we missed anything I apologize now. Once the wife gets home from work we’ll load the trunk and be on our way.

Not sure what all we’re going to see except Lake of the Ozarks, the world’s largest candy store, and a really old gas station in Lebanon, Missouri. Of course we’ll also be on Route 66 by this evening and will hook up with the mother road again in Oklahoma tomorrow. No toll roads for us.

Until we get to our regular motel in Oklahoma posting may be sporadic as well as the pictures. We hope to get plenty of pictures but one never knows what the weather will do. So if we missed something we’re sorry and we’ll keep you informed as we can.

Enjoy our Tuesday as we will. Now for some wake up coffee.

One more day

Now that Father’s Day is behind us we know our vacation is just a dream away. Figured a way to go mostly 2 lane black top and still see some of the attractions along the way. We are ready. Now, here are some pictures-

Going back to our post the other day, this moon shot is cropped. This was done to help show the detail on the moon. This was taken around sunset and yes, the sky was that blue.

Not to confuse anyone, but this picture of Missy is not cropped. We just got close enough that her face filled the screen. We wanted to see in detail what an ornery cat looks like. If she feels she doesn’t get enough attention she will swat at you until she gets it.

This picture of Lil One isn’t cropped either. Took this just as she was getting ready to attack something or someone. It was probably Lil Bit she was after but she was focused.

Had to share this one of Lil One acting like a hunting dog. This picture is was taken because we like it like that. Grateful to have time some days to witness things like this, and get it on camera. The small burrs on Lil One were all gone this morning so we didn’t have to work on that.

This shot is cropped and shows an angry robin on a fence rail. Now sure what he was mad about but he was very vocal about it. Didn’t realize birds could turn their heads around that far and got a sore neck just looking at the picture. He did eventually fly off and didn’t come back.

Enjoy our Monday as we will. Now for some coffee. Comments are always welcome.

Sunday snicker

Before we start the snicker we’d just like to say Happy Father’s Day!

Three men die and go to heaven.

When they arrive at the Pearly Gates, St. Peter says to them, “Congratulations; you made it into heaven! God has one rule, however, which is: YOU CANNOT STEP ON, KILL, OR TOUCH A DUCK. If you do, you will be punished.“

The men think this is rather strange, but they agree.

A couple of days later, they decide to have a picnic. It’s a beautiful day; the sun is shining, the skies are blue, etc. As they lay down the blanket, one of the men sits on a suspicious-looking lump (which turns out to be a duck).

St. Peter appears instantly. “I GAVE YOU ONE RULE!“, he bellows, “And you could not follow it!? I have no choice but to punish you.” Despite the man’s pleas, St. Peter continues, “As punishment, you are now bound to the ugliest woman in heaven for all eternity!” Both St. Peter and the man vanish.

The next day, the two remaining men take a walk in a park. One of the men doesn’t look where he’s going, and all of the sudden… CRUNCH! – a duck has been stepped on.

As with the last time, St. Peter appears instantly. “You know what I must do – you are now bound to the next ugliest woman in heaven for all eternity!”

Three years later, the final man is relaxing in his house, when out of the blue, St. Peter appears. Expecting something bad, the man gets on his knees and asks what St. Peter wants. he replies, “Since you have been so good as to not touch
a duck for the past three years, I will reward you by binding you to the most beautiful woman in heaven for all of eternity.”

As St. Peter describes her, the man really thinks she sounds gorgeous. He is so eager to meet her that he asks, “When do I see her?” St. Peter snaps his fingers, and POOF – the man is meeting his soul mate. They talk for a while,
until he says to her, “You’re so beautiful and smart and funny; what did I do to deserve you?” The woman responds, “I don’t know; all I had to do was step on a duck!”

Trying to explain

Thought we’d try to explain a little bit of what’s involved after a picture is taken to when it get posted here. First off we shoot the highest resolution with our camera and the uploaded photos are 6,000 pixels by 4,000 pixels. Not sure how big that is but on our 24 inch monitor it takes six complete moves of the mouse to see the whole picture. If it looks good as is we downsize the picture to 1,200 pixels by 800 pixels as shown above. That’s roughly an 80% reduction.

In this shot taken just before the first shown we kept the photo full sized and cropped it to 1,200pixels by 800 pixels as we feel this is a more manageable size. Also a full size picture right out of the camera weighs in at almost 11 MB and is just too big for most websites. So when we shrink the picture we’re dealing with KBs. So not all pictures are what they seem but we don’t edit them much other than to make them smaller.

Our shots of the moon are also cropped as our 300 mm lens isn’t capable of getting that close. The original pictures of the moon look much like the top picture in this series before we crop it. Still the picture we took are just a different version of the same thing.

If you’re still with us we forgot to say these are pictures of an American White Pelican who can have a wingspan of 9 feet and a body length of 62 inches! And they fly really high making it harder to get good shots. This one was flying solo but we have seen flocks of dozens gliding through the skies also.

This picture and the one above are cropped from the originals and were taken in a burst. One can take their DSLRs and take burst shots of varying speeds, our camera does this at 5 frames per second. Hope we don’t leave you too confused and that you liked the pictures.

Enjoy our Saturday. Now for some coffee and breakfast. Comments are always welcome.

Finally…

It’s the end of the work week, we got all the errands run, and now I can get to sharing a few pictures again. Before we start that we’ll add that we’re going on vacation this coming Tuesday and heading to Oklahoma so after Mondays post we’re not sure when we’ll be able to. We will try to keep our regular schedule and the house sitter and cat feeder will be in place. Now for a few more pictures.

This is what the moon looked like just after sunset the other day. The sky didn’t look to have any blue in it to my eyes but the camera said it did. Either way it was a great evening for getting a shot of the moon.

Think this might be a Lilly and the bright colors caught our eye. The fly just photo bombed the shot. Thinking that when we get back from vacation these will be gone but also hope not. They are pleasing to look at. And don’t mind the fly, he’s just a big ham.

A male cardinal was on the fence again so we got a shot. At least he sat still long enough to get this shot. Would have preferred another angle but we take what we can get when it comes to wild critters. Believe this is the one that was singing so loudly this morning. Better than an alarm clock to wake up to.

This one is just your average shot of a bee wearing a flower petal for a hat. Not sure what the bee was doing but first thought he had some great sunglasses on. At any rate, we thought this was a picture that people may smile at if we shared it.

Enjoy our Friday as the weekend is getting started. Now for some coffee. Comments are always welcome.

Different approach

Tried something different hoping to able to continue taking pictures until my eyes get fixed. Even though I don’t normally use auto-focus decided to look through my lenses and see if there were any in the bunch. Turns out there was so am learning how to use them. This first picture turned out a bit fuzzy but does show a pair of cardinals on a chain link fence.

Got Mama alone in this shot as was happy with the results so kept going while looking for more subjects. In this one the male cardinal had just flown off into some bushes and it looks like she didn’t like the idea.

The two reunited atop a neighbors fence yet neither looked too happy about it. This behavior continued for about 10 minutes before they both flew off and weren’t seen again yesterday. Not sure if this is normal bird behavior or not, but it was fun to watch. We’ll see if they’re out today a little later.

We even found a couple of cats in the viewfinder. This one was strutting over the fresh mown lawn acting like the Alpha male. Not sure where he was going as he was in no hurry to get there. This one even got on our back porch this morning as I was feeding the herd. Got him back out because he was looking to comfortable on the porch.

Found this one at the buffet line having his fill. His look made me question why they get fed everyday instead of learning how to hunt like feral cats should. If cats could talk I bet he’d ask for some steak sauce to go with his meal! But some things were learned.

I prefer manual focus but have to admit there may be something to this auto-focus thing, in certain cases. Manual focus allows one to focus and shoot while the auto-focus has a bit of a lag while the motors adjust the lens for clarity. Sometimes, just that little delay is a missed shot. We’ll keep playing with the lens and see what happens knowing that is should be a short-term solution.

Enjoy our Thursday as the start of the weekend is only a dream away. Comments are always welcome.

Getting there

Working on figuring out how to use the camera with my blurred vision. In this shot a cardinal was beyond my capability to get a sharp shot but I wasn’t sure if the bird would get any closer or not. Figured a not bad shot is still better than none and kept looking for something better.

The cardinal did get closer so I got this shot. Still not as crisp as I would like, but again, not bad. Usually the cardinals are pretty skittish and don’t sit still long enough for me to hone in the focus. Since I use a manual focus lens it sometimes works against me.

The the bird hit my sweet spot and I got a decent picture yet am still no happy with it. Things were easier when I could blame the lens and not my eyes. The lighting was terrible, and the settings off, but we still like this shot. Right after this shot the cardinal flew away and we didn’t see him the rest of the day.

Chose Lil Bit as a model and she co-operated. In this shot her stubby tail is down when it is usually up. When she has it up the tail looks comical with its 90 degree bend in it. All in all, this is the one feral cat I get along with. The rest are still too skittish.

Finally, one last picture of Lil Bit. In this one the light was perfect to bring out her eyes. They almost seem to glow and with the tiny pupils look different. And no, this has not due to a photo editor and just the way she looked laying in the grass.

Enjoy our Wednesday as we’re halfway to the weekend now. I need some coffee and Corn Pops. Comments are always welcome.

Pirates and pictures

I knew going to see a medical professional after a long lapse was a mistake and now I may end up divorced over it. We’ll explain. When the wife came downstairs last night before work she asked where my new glasses were so I told her they were still on the rack because the doctor wouldn’t give me a prescription for the lenses. Turns out I have to see and eye surgeon for cataracts in both eyes first. The wife said one eye would be covered after the operation and when that heals the other eye will get covered.

Being older and not afraid to admit it I thought she meant an eye patch. So of course I replied “so you get live with a pirate for a month! I’m going to have to practice my arghs.” This did not go over well as she knows me pretty well after all these years together so she said “no”. Meanwhile I’m looking for a grog supplier for next month. We’ll see how that works out but now will share some pictures.

Saw some American White Pelicans soaring above about a mile away over the river. The lazy circling of these big graceful birds put me in a good mood. Sometimes they’ll widen the circle and get closer, this time they did not.

Turns out an intruder entered their air space and even though the turkey vulture wasn’t a threat, the pelicans went further away as the buzzard got closer. I wished I had my bigger lens this time but didn’t. Almost every time I put the long lens on everything is too close to use it. Don’t need pictures of a cats nostril.

This lone shot of the turkey vulture that sent the pelicans toward the river got closer, and we got this shot of the sun adding some highlights to the white feathers. These birds also look graceful in the air and almost as big as the pelicans.

There won’t be any cat pictures in this bunch so here’s one with a little insect flying over a dandelion. You can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them if you wish.

We see these around all summer long and give them a wide berth. This one was buzzing around some plants and sat still enough to get this picture. Was going to turn the picture on its side for a different profile but decided against it as I like to post what was shot, not what I wish I had.

Enjoy our Tuesday as it’s here anyway. Now for more coffee and some pizza. Comments are always welcome.

The weekend

Glad I’m getting new glasses today as when viewed in the camera screen these pictures looked great. Once uploaded to the computer I realized they weren’t so great. But we’ll use them to illustrate the weekend. This woodpecker flew in as I was getting a little frustrated at the lack of critters. This somehow made Saturday better.

Caught these lilies in the shade and took a shot. In the shade the flowers are darker but I liked the look. Will get more pictures later today. These across the alley from us and have been popping up every year for a few years now. For some odd reason seeing the blooms for the first time puts a smile on my face.

These two pictures really convinced me that an eye exam and glasses are a good idea. I have the diopter maxed out and still can’t get a clear shot when the critter is further away. Hopefully, the new specs will help with this. This female cardinal was jumpy and going all over the place and hard to keep in focus. Just know she didn’t stay in one place for very long. There was a male cardinal in the same area but it was almost as if he knew when the camera was on him and getting focused and he flew away.

Finally, it wouldn’t be a post without a feral cat picture. In this one it would seem this guy doesn’t care for the heat. Lucky for him we’re supposed to cool down a little. As we say around here, it’s not the heat it’s the humidity. This one came out of the brush but hugged the shadows as far as he could.

And that’s what the weekend looked like around here. Next time we hope for sharper photos. We’ll let you know how that goes as it goes. Enjoy our Monday as I believe it is also Flag Day. Now for some more coffee before leaving for the eye doctor. Comments are always welcome.

Sunday snicker

The wife shared this so I’ll share it with you-

At the conclusion of the sermon, the worshippers filed out of the sanctuary to greet the minister. As one shook the minister’s hand, he said, “Thanks for the message, Reverend. You know, I bet you’re smarter than Einstein.

”Beaming with pride, the minister said, “Why, thank you, brother!” As the week went by, the minister began to think about the man’s compliment. The more he though, the more the wondered why anyone would deem him smarter than Einstein.

So the following Sunday he asked the man, “Exactly what did you mean that I must be smarter than Einstein?”

The man replied, “Well, Reverend, they say that Einstein was so smart that only ten people in the entire world could understand him. But Reverend, no one can understand you.”