March Madness

Friday:

Rebuilding, part of a daily work out.
The gates in the foreground were for bringing animals in and out of the pasture. I removed the pen, posts, and wire. The foreground in this shot will be returned to a grassy area now that I have only three mules.
 

I just have the one heavy gate and the white posts to remove now and wait for Frank to come with his dozer and level everything out. I still need the 'catch' pen to remove one mule at a time for trimming or riding. If I halter one animal, the rest want to join in.

So I moved the panels and made a new and nicer pen than the old one. The gals all fit comfortably in it. If I open the pasture side gate, they all just walk in. It is a nice place to groom them and put them back out in their pasture.

I'm hoping for some nice weather without the high winds to take out Siera and Sunshine and saddle them up for a spin in the field next to them. The farrier will be out in a week or so to do their trims and I'll be doing their spring haircuts.

Saturday:

On to the old Buick LeSabre Saga. Among other things.

The Junker Dudes showed up early. I had to get after them as they'd used my yard with the leach field in it to turn around. This after I'd cautioned them not to a few days ago.

I guess I'll put up posts with Crime Scene Tape to remind them.

In the meantime, the guys that purchased the old Buick showed up. I couldn't have asked for more polite young men. They jacked the car up, replaced the tires and opened up the trunk.

The trunk contained....drum roll....Romance Novels, crutches, umbrella, and nothing of any worth. The guys said they'd take the old tires and dispose of them along with the junk in the trunk.

They just about got the old car on the trailer when....

something broke and the car went freewheeling down the hill into the forest. There was a lot of shouting and one of them jumped in the vehicle and stopped it before it went into the trees.

These guys are also friends with Frank who plows, so I suggested that they call Frank and ask permission to use the Skid Steer. Frank agreed.

The LeSabre was loaded safely with a slightly damaged bumper and I earned some cash. They promised to send me photos of the modifications they did to the car.

The guys then thought they'd take a gander at the old Toyota Truck in the shed. The guy in the dark sweatshirt above saw it and whistled. "It's one of those barn finds! This is a diamond!" The boys checked out the engine and clean interior. 

Junker Don came in and said he'd offer me $100 for it. He knew a guy.

The boys looked at him like he was from another planet.

Junker Don went back to loading his trailer. The boys told me that this Classic Car was worth from $2K to $5K. I told them to get back to me with a buyer and we shook.

When I walked out, Junker Don said, "I thought that truck would go with the rest of the scrap." 

I said, "Sure it could. If anyone wants to bid over $5 thousand for it."

Junker Don then looked like he was going to argue. He must have seen my face because he started asking if I'd give him the Skill Saw, the Drill Press...

I saw where this was going and replied. "You are here for the scrap. The power tools and all tools stay, that is what we agreed on."

He did a big sigh and a shrug as if I'd hurt his feelings.

Guess what. I finally was able to get the big shed door closed and locked. I guess I have to be here now to keep an eye on the scrappers.

Closed and locked. First time I've been able to do that in 10 years. 

The money is in the vehicle and the power tools and I'm going to keep an eye on that and insist on being here when the scrappers come again.

All of that before 10:30 in the morning. 

Life on the farm can get hectic.

I spent the afternoon with a girlfriend and her family. We went hiking and enjoyed each others company. The temps were cold but in the valley it was pleasant.

That is the end of my Wild Saturday! I think I earned a beer!

Am I camera Crazy?

Mid February isn't supposed to be quite this cold.  Wow! This morning it was -12 F.
Yesterday it did warm up to about 10 degrees and if you could get out of the wind, it actually was pleasant.

I had put off my errands in town most of the week so yesterday I grabbed my list and went.

I really don't like going to town.  I especially dislike going on Saturdays.
But there you go, I really just ended up putting it off until I had no other choice.

However, I put my Olympus E 420 in a camera bag and brought it along.  Sometimes an opportunity will present itself and ... well, you never know.

Olympus E 420 kit lens

And it did!  I love this curve in the gravel road.  I wanted to explore some more, but there were chores to do when I got home.

Point and Shoot Fujifilm

And the road conditions on the ridge were getting a bit nasty.

Regarding my Olympus camera.  I do love it and it is generally my go to camera for hiking because it is a lightweight DSLR.  It isn't the tanks that the Nikons are.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Nikon and the Nikkor lenses.  But the Nikon D5200 is sort of a primadonna.

Apparently it doesn't like cold or damp ... or humid weather.

However it really loves doing Still Life photography!

Nikon D5200 with Nikkor 40mm micro lens

And I love doing this work with it.

So.
Naughty me.  I began to look into mirrorless cameras.

A few years ago I saw an ad for an Olympus OMD-D E-M5 Mirrorless camera.  A man sets the camera on a tripod and watches as a storm approaches.  Rain slashes the window he is standing by.  The camera is shown, water droplets are covering it.
Zoom into the back of the camera and live view. Lightening flashes and the man in the house uses his smart phone to remotely take a photo.

In 2012 this camera was $1,499.  Ouch, way beyond my reach.
Now the camera is being discontinued.  A new and improved model will take its place. The price was affordable even to me.

Kudos for Olympus.  Their mirrorless line will take all lenses from the previous DSLR's.  Nikon and other companies have all gone with special lenses.

The nice thing about the Oly lenses is that they are lightweight enough to work with a mirrorless camera.

Olympus E 420 kit lens

My Nikon weighs approximately 44 oz with a 'kit' lens. Generally I carry an extra lens with me while hiking.

The Olympus OMD-D E-M5 weighs 22 oz. with the M. Zuiko ED 12-50mm lens I ordered. 

Well there, the cat is out of the bag.

I am looking forward to hiking with the Oly.  I won't have to drag around a heavy weight tripod with it either, I can go for a lightweight one! 

I won't have to worry about snowfall getting the camera damp as it is weather sealed as is the lens.

Just color me happy.

My Nikon D40 is being retired.  I sent out an email to a friend who has kids who are interested in photography.

Nikon D40 free to good home.  It will get a good home and lots of use also.

Olympus E 420 kit zoom lens

I am looking forward to all sorts of great adventures and hiking with a lighter camera.

Now to figure out how to make these cameras earn their keep.

That is the hard one!

Oh and for those of you reading?  Happy Valentines Day...one day early!

Nikon D5200 50mm lens

Enjoy your Saturday.  It looks like mostly indoor work for me today.  

The editing of Where's Happy?

With the 'demise' of one of the most favorited toys in our house, I had an idea strike me up alongside the head...literally.
I'd been out of ideas for another book in the line of Morris's Children's Books.

But when I could not find an exact look alike for Happy the Hedgehog and one of my grandchildren had bought Morris a brand spanking new Hedgehog toy...remarking apparently that this new Hedgehog could be Happy's cousin...and....and...
my grandaughter picked up a Frog Toy which quickly became Morris's second favorite toy...

It suddenly started coming together.

Morris wakes up one morning and finds out that Happy the Hedgehog is NOT in the toy-box.  Crazy the Squirrel and Terrible Tiger decide to meet on 'the rock' to discuss where could Happy have gone?  Morris was so sad, they had to do something.

They heard of a Wise old Creature in the Deep Deep Woods that was a Mysterious Old Frog that may be able to help them...

 

So another adventure begins.  Will they find Happy?  What will the Mysterious Old Frog tell them?
What will they have to do?
What awaits them?

Stay tuned! 

I'm using Topaz and Photoshop Elements 5.  In this 'book', I'll be trying to create composites of photos for the effects and illustrations I would like to have appear in the book.
I will rely heavily on layers and going over tutorials by Topaz Labs for ideas.