Hang on, it could be rough!

Posted by Photonstopper on November 19, 2008
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Snowy Flowers
Snowy Flowers

I took the day off today to attend the house while workmen from WindowPro featuring Renewal by Andersen repaired a patio door. A portion of the outdoor "skin" of the fixed (non-moving) portion had started peeling off! So, despite the cold temperatures (~28 F) the guys removed both portions of the door, replaced the deteriorating part with a brand-new door panel, and reassembled the thing. It only took about 30 minutes and the door is now –literally– good as new. With the entire patio door out for some time, it got really cold in the house (~ 54 F). I had the heating system shut off so as not to waste energy and it took a good long time to bring the place back up to comfortable levels once the install was done. Overall a good repair experience and I've got to hand it to Andersen for really standing behind their product. Thanks!

It's been cold here and, thanks to weather conditions peculiar to the region, we got not just arctic air but a nice snowfall as well. Between snow, ice, and clouds it looks and feels like mid-winter. Our beautiful late-season daffodils are covered with globs of flaky snow and are, no doubt, finished. I'll be hosting a Cub Scout troop at the Observatory tonight but all they'll see is the telescope — 100 percent overcast for days and more expected. {sigh}

Thistle Station
Thistle Station

With the snowfall I've started feeding the birds in earnest and they've responded in force. Cardinals, sparrows, woodpeckers, chickadees, goldfinches, and other varieties clamor around our feeders. One red-bellied woodpecker, in particular, repeatedly darted in, chased off smaller birds, picked out a peanut, and zoomed off to consume it. I topped off the big feeder this morning and it may be empty by nightfall! The thistle seed feeder is also getting heavy traffic but will "only" be down by half tonight.

Yep, it certainly feels like winter. Hang on, it could be rough!

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Tasha is watching

Posted by Photonstopper on November 5, 2008
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Tasha's Chair
Tasha’s Chair

Tasha Watches
Tasha Watches

Tasha's chair

Tasha actually owns several places, including a few chairs, around the house. This perch gives her a commanding view of the patio garden and beyond. It is from these places the cat observes the world for her comfort, amusement, and security.

The observer's blind(s)
A cat's duties include the need to keep track of many things both inside her house and in the world beyond. Below, Tasha watches for marauding chipmunks, goldfinches, and other threats.

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Goodnight Opus

Posted by Photonstopper on November 5, 2008
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Opus - The End
Opus – The End

Our dear friend Opus the penguin has gone away. His departure was a most unusual one, lovely and quite surprising.

Opus is napping. He sleeps in peace, dreaming of a world just ahead brimming with kindness and grace and ubiquitous bow ties. Please don't mourn him. He lives in all my childrens' stories, if you look. I hope to meet you again there. — Berkeley Breathed

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Sand Run Sunday

Posted by Photonstopper on November 3, 2008
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The switch back from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time (about time!) helped us get a good night's sleep Saturday night. Maybe not big shakes to you but we, and especially I, have been sleep deprived for the past several days and it felt great to wake rested! After a quiet morning around the house and lunch at home we headed back again to the Summit County Metro Parks and their Sand Run park, an area of 992 acres adjoining the Metro Park we visited one week ago. What an experience it was! Skies were partly cloudy, temperatures were cool to mild, and the park lands were hilly and gorgeous in what is now the declining period of fall color.

We chose the 3.3-mile Mingo Trail for its distance; we usually skip the really short walks. We found the unpaved, earthen trail a welcome challenge with a good amount hill climbing that really warmed us up and got our heart rates climbing as well. All along the way there was natural beauty to behold and, of course, photograph.

Sand Run Bent Wood
Sand Run Bent Wood

For me the day's shooting was a continuing exercise in re-learning my skills in photography with all manner of subjects available. This day I was also able to give my newer Canon EF 50mm Macro lens a good shake-down. Walks in dense wooded areas lend themselves well to finding subjects suited to close-up views and I really love viewing things close-up… have loved it ever since I started doing photography many years ago. As a kid I used a lens –objective lens off an old binocular, if I remember correctly– as an improvised macro adapter. Worked pretty well, too! I still own a really good 50mm macro from my Minolta film SLRs but, because of the auto-focus revolution and my migration to Canon's system, it now sits unused. When I was doing fine art photography I loved using black & white and, in the darkroom, made excellent prints from my shots. I still find certain subjects lend themselves best to the strong graphical qualities of black & white. In one case we happened across a large tree that had toppled. Where the trunk had broken, splintered and bent fibers of wood posed in subdued light. Even standing there recording the view I was seeing the broken tree not in shades of light brown but in monochrome. So, back at my desk, I used Photoshop to remove all of the color from the shot to show viewers what my eye had already seen.
 

Fallen Beauty
Fallen Beauty

Then again, I like some images better in color. Of course I select different techniques for different subjects. The gray of the rotting wood embedded in colorful fallen leaves is an interesting study in contrasts. The small fungi are the only white in the shot.

White Water Dark Woods
White Water Dark Woods

While I was experimenting with the macro lens on non-"macro" subjects I also tried out a longer exposure on the small waterfall we encountered. Very nice effect. Yes, I know, it's been done many times and by many others. I still like the shot and the macro, while not ideal for a larger scene, did an acceptable job.

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QotD: Backseat Driver

Posted by Photonstopper on October 27, 2008
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While driving, what's your biggest pet peeve?
Submitted by Alexandra

"I'm more important than you…" that's the attitude. Whilst driving I am most ticked off by those who will speed along in a left-turn only lane or stay in a lane that merges or is otherwise closed ahead in order to pass all others who are already in the correct through-lane. Then, at the last possible moment –or later– the driver crowds his vehicle into the lane where he should have been all along. The attitude seems to be "I'm more important than you." To those who do this: NO! YOU'RE NOT more important than the rest of us!  Instead of cursing I try and calm myself by talking at them, as if talking to a baby, saying things like… "Ewwwww, you're such a widdle piggy, aren't you? Such a widdle piggy!" Other times I just cuss but that doesn't help anything and just feeds my pet {peeve} and makes it hungrier.

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Along came a spider

Posted by Photonstopper on October 27, 2008
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This morning we visited the F.A. Seiberling Nature Realm property of Summit Metro Parks. It's a beautiful, 104-acre property preserving natural plant and animal life of the area. It's also at the north end of the Akron metropolitan area. Always a surprise and pleasure to see not only green space but forest land preserved so close to a city. We chose to take one of the hiking trails on what is now, for us, a regular event: a photo walk. The rolling 1.3-mile Seneca Trail took a while to cover as we would walk a bit, stop and photograph something or other, walk some more, stop and photograph… well, you get the picture and, of course, we got lots of 'em. At some point past the half-way mark I spied a bright object floating in a clearing between trees. At first I thought it was a brightly-colored autumn leaf caught in a spider web. Nope, it was a spider hanging from a high, vast web and it was a very large spider at that!

Along Came A Spider
Along Came A Spider

Fortunately I had been using the nice macro lens on my camera so I was able to step right up and try and photograph the colorful beastie. I don't really want to know how close I was to this one. It was very large and, appropriately enough for the approaching Halloween and harvest sesaons, bright orange like a pumpkin! As I attempted to shoot close-ups of the hanging spider it apparently figured the giant a few inches away might be a threat and began lowering itself to the ground and the bed of autumn leaves below. Between the necessary manual focussing, wind, and a determined escape plan, I was only able to squeeze off two shots and only one was in good focus.

Spidey dropped to the ground and headed into a tent of curly tree leaves. I couldn't just give up so I crouched down on my knees and elbow to spider-eye level to get some more shots. The spider, now ensconced in a leaf tent, held still for my new attempts at a portrait. I got several shots, a couple of good ones, and my favorite of the bunch is shown here. My, such pretty eyes you have… and so many of them!

By the way, for those who may be interested in such details, our arachnid friend is an Araneus marmoreus or Marbled orb-weaver. Some may, however, refer to the commonly-heard names: "creepy crawler," or "eeeeeeek! "

Spider Hideaway
Spider Hideaway

The autumn woods were looking, feeling, smelling, and sounding of the coming onset of winter. Everywhere there are lovely leaves on the ground and the trees are looking naked. There was a definite chill in the air and blustery winds that reach to the understorey. The sweet smell of decaying leaf matter hangs in some areas, strangely not everywhere. And bird calls are becoming less common with less variety, the whole woods are quieter.

Our trail exited into a beautifully landscaped garden area with water feature near the park entrance. Looking at the surface of the water I was taken by a tiny surprise, actually thousands of little surprises. I don't know why I hadn't considered that tiny aquatic plants might change leaf color with the seasons just as readily as the large terrestrial variety. There, floating on the pond, were miniscule, square plant leaves in colors ranging from green to red, all beautiful on the syrupy-looking dark water.

Tiny Autumn
Tiny Autumn


We're sure to visit Nature Realm again, perhaps soon, having added it to our short list of favorite nearby places.

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Zoar bridge

Posted by Photonstopper on October 14, 2008
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Saturday night was the monthly Public Night at Stephens Observatory. Featured object was the Moon and we had more than 135 visitors show up! At one point I had about 30 people inside the dome. It was a fine evening of viewing and visitors had good questions, were orderly, patient, and in a good mood. Although our published closing time was 10:00, the last folks left at 10:30. Of course this meant another very late night for me and sleeping in Sunday morning for the two of us.

Zoar's Route 82 Bridge
Zoar’s Route 82 Bridge

It was a lazy Sunday morning and, after much consideration and delay, we set off for a trip to Zoar, Ohio, to try out the Zoar Valley Trail. Parking just outside historic Zoar we began walking north with the idea that we would turn around at Bolivar, about three miles away. Of course we had our cameras in hand so it became a photo hike and we covered one mile in likely a bit more than an hour. We never made it to Bolivar but did enjoy a beautiful afternoon on the tree-lined gravel trail which is the former towpath of the Ohio-Erie Canal. We were within sight (most of the time) of the Tuscarawas River though wished we could have been closer. Returning to the parking lot we moved the car and ourselves to the old town of Zoar. By then things were closing down but we did enjoy a quiet stroll around town and a brief talk with the keeper of the general store. We expect to return next in the Christmas holiday season and, some day, to the Zoar Valley Trail for a more extended hike.

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Opus ending

Posted by Photonstopper on October 7, 2008
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Opus
Opus

Washington Post Writers Group has announced that Berkeley Breathed’s Opus will end syndication on November 2. "With the crisis in Wall Street and Washington, I'm suspending my comic strip to assist the nation" Breathed declared. "The best way I can help is to leave politics permanently and write funny stories for America's kids. I call on John McCain to join me."

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