My Little Angel

Morris points out the way home

Morris has been around as my little buddy now for nearly 8 years.

He is a pleasant little fella who never lets me forget the time of day.

Breakfast feeding time.

Supper feeding time!

He constantly watches over me.  If I get up at night, he is there curious and wondering why I am up.

When I put on my gunbelt and grab a camera.

He is there.

Eager, bouncing, panting, jumping, and sometimes even yes...whining.

We have hiked together almost every day of his life.  In all kinds of weather.

At night if I sit on the couch and read, he snuggles up against my leg...one paw rests on my thigh along with his head.

He watches.

All the time.

I see that my little angel is getting grey faced.  The hikes are starting to take their toll on him just a wee bit more than they did years ago.

I need only to look around at my collection of photos of past 'best' friends' to remind myself to cherish each day with him.

He just came up and nudged my leg, letting me know that it is time for his supper.

I think I'll oblige.

Review of Star Effects Plug In by Topaz!!!

Topaz Star Effects was launched January 26th. I received an email and immediately downloaded the free 30 day trail.

I thought I'd give it a spin.
I'm not a professional photographer, but I do enjoy playing around with photos I've taken.

First lets look at a photo pre-Star Effect.
[ I took this the day before Topaz came out with the plug in...I actually was trying to get a 'starred' effect and lens flare when I originally took this.]
I dropped into Topaz's new plug in and this is what I got.
Well that was pretty fun! But seriously, it was nothing I was going to write home about. The photo wasn't that great to begin with.


So I searched around and found a sunset that could use some extra help.
First I used Topaz Adjust 5 to give the photo a bit of pizazz.
Then I dropped it into Star Effects...
Here is a 'screenshot' of how it looks.






Now for a bit of fantasy fun.

I edited this photo in Topaz 5 to get an HDR look, I wanted to get this to look as though it would be a place that you could find Forest Faeries ...so this would be my base image.
...okay well just a bit more fun...
Pre - Topaz Star Effects:
After Star Effects:
You should realize that I am playing around and having fun.

If I wanted to add a Wood Faerie to the scene, it would fit nicely.

I could do this in Photoshop or in Elements with brushes, but the time would take me much longer than this did.

For the creative person, this powerful little plug in could be a great time saver.
For the serious photographer who 'never' edits his or her photos...well then, this wouldn't necessarily be for them.

But creativity abounds.

How about a Mandelbulb3D Fractal?
Pre-Starred Effects:

Afterwards...
Who says that Topaz plugins can only be used on photos?

Get creative.
Check it out.

I think I may add this to my collection of Topaz Plug ins.

Walkin' the Dawg

This is mostly for my Grandkids.
This is to let them know that yes, they do NOT have an average cookie baking, sewing, ladylike, Grandma.

They have one who still likes to play in the woods.
Who thinks that walking the dog should include a slide down a steep creek bank in the snow on a deer trail.

Walking includes walking in the creek because she can and no adult is going to tell her that she might get wet.
[Waterproof Bogs really help!]
She can toss rocks and draw in the snow with her fingers.

She can look for cool rocks in the flowing water and call to her dog who goes everywhere with her...


She can...
feel like a kid.

Chores in the Bitter Cold

First, dress warmly.
Yes my son will laugh. I wear the ugly hated green coveralls with rips in them...over that a ripped flannel insulated shirt.
The Elmer Fudd Hat.
Scarf.
Leather 'lined' gloves.
Bog Boots.

Most of the choring goes well.

For those who don't have heated tanks, I break out the ice and fill their buckets with water. I watch them drink and add some more.
This takes several trips slogging through the hard falling snow.

Lil' Richard takes a drink then pauses for me to take his photo.
The amount of snow on his back is a good indicator of how warm his coat is and how well it insulates him.
I check him over. He is not shivering, but is nodding off to sleep.

The snow literally 'pours' down on me while I water the donkeys' heated stock tank. The view to the meadow though is certainly worth ducking under the hotwire and taking a shot with my pocket camera.

It really is quite a beautiful snow fall...if you like snow!

I water the donkey stock tank, the 'Fred & Gang' stock tank, then drain the hoses after making sure that Thor, Bob, T-Bone, Chuck-Steak, and the Dexter girls are taken care of.
All take nice healthy drinks.

I'll be out before dark to water those who don't have heated tubs again. It is hard work, but the animals need water, even in -5 temps.

I pass the heifer named Valerie, she is dozing near a log. She reclines after I take her picture and begins to happily chew her cud.
Some might argue that they'd be happier in a barn. Outside is natural for them.
Oh Oh...Oh the horrible feeling it is to find that about 100 ft of the hoses that go to the large stock tank have frozen!

I say some explicit curse words and begin to work on getting water to the heated tank that waters 12 animals.

I spend the next hour swapping the donkey hoses and rolling up the frozen ones. I carefully drain the hoses I'd swiped from up the hill and replace them...draining them carefully ... twice for good measure.

The frozen hoses get taken apart and rolled up.
The are thawing in my tub.

Ever take a shower with 2 50 ft hoses in your tub?
It can be done.

Isn't winter grand?

Puttin' up with no account Puppies~ by Morris

SHE thinks they are cute.
Sure, they look so pretty, cute, and harmless.

They are annoying.
They eat all the time and have to go out ALL the time.
Then SHE thinks it is my job to take them and entertain them outside in the snow.

SO.
I obliged.
And tried to get 'em lost in the stickery ickery berry briers and thorny bushes.



I was doing a pretty good job at it too, until...
SHE hollered at me to come back.

The little stinkers followed.
The one named Thelma went and stuck her nose up a tree where a squirrel had gone.

Oh. Well you might have thought she was Einstein or something the way SHE acted when SHE told HIM!

So after we came in the house to warm up, I snuck over to their big sleeping crate and lifted my leg on it.
Yeah, I was pretty sneaky.
I left some Morris 'stink' right on it.

I'm sorta ashamed as it backfired.
SHE knows that the pups didn't do it.
And I got
....
scolded.

My Life has gone to the Dogs

...and you know, I like it!

So my husband says to me that he is going to go 'look' at a puppy. A black and tan hound puppy.

So I volunteer to go along, after all what harm could I do?

Yeah.
Fall in love with those puppy faces and those puppy smells.
In particular just the whole being of puppy.

So as the sun is setting and we are getting to go, hubby holds the one he has picked out and has me holding another.
I admit, I do not want to put this puppy back in the kennel.

I sigh.

Then the gent says...*Hey, I can make a heck-ofa deal on two!*

Short story.
Two came home.

Meet Thelma and Louise.

How does Morris feel about this infringement upon his household?

Well he likes the baby gate that keeps them in the kitchen.
He is a bit put off, but did take them for a gallop up and down the driveway today.
He is handling as only a dignified as a Jack Russell could. He believes if he ignores them, they'll magically leave.

These two are a hoot.

Mandelbulb 3D Fun with Rendering

Rendering your Mandebulb creation can be the hardest part of the whole process of creation.
Why?
You have to twiddle your thumbs and wait.
And be patient.

This is not one of my better qualities, so I will go fix a sandwich or eat supper if it is that time of day.
I drive my husband crazy by jumping up from the table and running to look at how my 'fractal' is coming out.
Like I said. Impatient.

This is the first thing you'll see when you hit the Render button. Don't let it scare you. The first time I saw it, I freaked.
What?
I lost my picture?
No, as it renders the black disappears.
If you don't like what you see you can always hit the Stop button.
Which is located in the middle of the control panel in the main screen:

I'm not going to go over each of the buttons as there are some great tutorials on this already created by other real Mandelbulb 3D Artists!
Check out this Blog: Mandelbulb-Mandelbrot-fractals for beginners. The site has Tutorials on everything you need to start with. Check it out.

Here is a closer look at the parts of the 'rendering screen':
...and a part I love of this program...
a 'clock' if you will that tells you how long this rendering will take. However, it does not take into account for ambient shadows which may add a few more minutes to the render.
At this point I go back and check on my Mandelbulb creation:
It is looking good!
Here are what helps control the coloring and the shape of the Mandelbulb. Lighting is covered very nicely in several YouTube tutorials.
You should watch all of this fellows Tutorials, they are very helpful! Tutorial Part 1 - overview.

For more reading on lighting and different lights that are free to use, visit The Design Space Blog. She has great tutorials and some fantastic parameters to check out also.

Well let's go back and see what my Mandelbulb came out like!

This was based on the parameters by one of the Mandelbulb 3D wonderful artists named Hal Tenny. He also has Tutorials at devianArt for those interested in working with this program.

So what are you waiting for? Go to fractalforums.com and get your own Mandelbulb 3D program.
Have fun.
Take care of those winter blues!

Happy Rendering!