September 20, 2009 - Posted by danielle- 0 Comments
In my attempt to write short little updates, here goes a bit about yesterday.
Performing was a lot of fun. The crowd was small, but appreciative. The event was organized by a different church that invited us to perform and raised money for the local food shelf.
My solos went pretty well. There was one note that wasn’t ideal, but HB didn’t notice, so maybe no one else did either!
I played the tambourine some while I sang, which was also fun.
Some of us hung around to watch the other groups. The second group was another praise band from a church in the twin cities. It was interesting to hear their versions of some of the same songs that we sometimes sing (ones that we didn’t do that day).
I also loved the petting zoo. My camera battery ran out of power before I got any photos of the bunnies, unfortunately. One bunny let me pet him/her for quite a while. 
March 7, 2009 - Posted by danielle- 4 Comments
I set these flowers up in one of the Girlie’s favorite spots. This happens to be my usual spot for taking flower photos, but also happens to be one of her favorite places.
It was a little later in the day than she really liked, but the light was good for photos. So, it was a compromise.
January 9, 2009 - Posted by danielle- 5 Comments
The Girlie-girl was intently staring at the fireplace hearth last night after I had turned it on and it had warmed up. I decided to put her blanket on the hearth, since that is likely what she wanted. It took 30 sec (or less) for her to sniff it and decide it was a good place to be.
She was so adorable, all tucked in, that I took a few non-flash shots of her with my tripod.
Doesn’t it make you feel warm and cozy?
March 21, 2008 - Posted by danielle- 4 Comments
As per my usual photo-taking when I don’t use my lightbox, I set the flowers on the floor to get a wide shot.
And guess who came over to investigate?
Yes, the Girlie-girl had to get right in the center of things.
I actually had to herd her away to get that first shot, because she kept wanting to lie down in the sun. This made her tail, or some part of her, in the photo.
Finally, I shoo-ed her away and got a shot. But just one, because she was quickly back.
Close-ups will be here when I take the ones with my 70-210 mm lens with the Kenko extension tubes.
But here is a hint of some photos taken in the late afternoon sun with the lens that came with my camera.
December 21, 2007 - Posted by danielle- 5 Comments
The Girlie-girl just loves the tree skirt. The funny thing was that she was nowhere near the tree when I was decorating it. Then about 1 minute after I got the tree skirt down – bam! – she laid down on it. At first, she had this hunched look like she was sure I was going to scold her about it. But once she realized I didn’t care, she relaxed and got into her favorite sleeping pose with her front feet all tucked in. And then, of course, I got the camera and the nap that she had planned had to be post-poned. Hence the grumpy look, I’m sure. 
I hope each of you finds somewhere to snuggle up and be cozy this Christmas season. Maybe on the couch with a fuzzy blanket. Oh, well, that is my favorite place, at least. Isn’t it everyone’s?
I hope to take some poinsettia pics to post on Christmas Eve, so if you are around, see you then! If not, Merry Christmas!
October 27, 2006 - Posted by danielle- 7 Comments
We had a visitor the other weekend during our Sunday morning breakfast! A wild rabbit jumped its way up onto our top deck and sat and stared into our dining room!
You can see in this zoomed out photo how close the rabbit was to the window. And you can also see how Girlie-girl is ignoring all of it. I don’t think she ever turned and looked to see the rabbit during its brief visit.
The other thing you’ll notice is that I didn’t take the photos. HB did. I was concerned that if I got up, the rabbit would jump away. Whereas he sits on the other side of the table and was just far enough away that the rabbit didn’t leave when he got up to get the camera.
All in all it is quite strange that the rabbit came up onto our deck like that. It is a second story deck, so it had to jump all of the way up the steps and around the corner to come up there. I kinda wondered if it was attracted to the fallen bird seed or perhaps the zinnias and other flowers that were growing in the pots (note that the zinnia pot is dumped over by the wind in that photo and not by the rabbit).
The rabbit didn’t stay long. After HB got close enough to the window that he was about even with my chair, the rabbit took a bounding leap off of the deck.
We got a little worried about it jumping from such a height and went outside to check on it, but we didn’t see any injured rabbit, so we assumed that it was fine.
We haven’t seen the rabbit up on the deck anymore since that time, but it was nice to have it as a brief visitor.
June 30, 2006 - Posted by danielle- 8 Comments
First, there was one.
Then there were two.
Then there were three!
These photos of the wild rabbits who came into our yard remind me of my seestor. Why is that?
Well, first there was one (Texas Seestor).
Then there were two (Texas Seesor and Trainwreck).
And sooooooooooooon there will be three! (Texas Seestor and Trainwreck and ?)
Yep! They are expecting! I’m going to get to be an auntie! Exciting, huh? Well, we think so. She is due near Christmas. I am really thrilled for them.
January 31, 2006 - Posted by danielle- 10 Comments
Guess who discovered the bird feeder today?
Yup! Mr. Chubby Squirrel.
This is the first that I’ve seen any squirrels at it.
And I might’ve been disappointed, except that this gave me the perfect chance to try out the zoom lens my dad sent me that arrived late yesterday. He has a Nikon film camera that he doesn’t really use anymore and a zoom lens that he was willing to send me. One of the cool thing about Nikon is that they’ve kept all of the lens threads the same over the years so that any Nikon lens, or Nikon-compatible lens, will fit onto the new camera models too. (Note: I believe Canon has done this too so that older Canon lenses will fit onto new Canon cameras.) Anyway, the lens is a Vivitar 70-210mm zoom lens.
Now, I’ve barely gotten to experiment with it, and since it is an entirely manual lens, I’m learning how to change settings to get the exposure the way I want it. But this will give you an idea of where I am today with it, and then as I (hopefully) get better, you can see my progress.
Now, that photo above was taken with the ‘kit’ lens that comes in the camera kit (if you choose to buy the D70 in that kind of package). The kit lens is an AF-S Nikkor 18-70mm. And in the photo above, I have stood inside the patio window and zoomed as close as possible with the kit lens.
Here is another example.
What I’ve often done in my bird pictures in the past, is cropped the photo so that you can see the birds (or in this case, the squirrel better).
Now, after taking those photos, I switched lenses. Lucky for me, Mr. Chubby Squirrel was happy to continue eating while I did this. And I started attempting to get the exposure right with the zoom lens.
Well, what you’ll see is that it isn’t quite where I wanted it, but you’ll get the idea of how different the zoom is with this one. I zoomed in as far as possible for these shots.
In this next one, the wood and screws are in great focus, but the squirrel is not.
I could’ve sworn I was looking at the squirrel’s face and feet to get the focus right. But the feeder kept spinning, he was wiggling, and I have/had a migraine, so it could be that I’m goofing up the focus. I also think I’d better double check the viewfinder, because it is possible something has gotten bumped on it and that also changes the focus-ing some.
I also kept changing some of the settings to try to get everything optimal, but I kinda knew I was working against time, because he’d already run away once. Finally, he’d had enough of that crazy lady inside the house with the beeg skeery black thing.
And off he went.
As he scampered along the railing, he paused for a second…
… and I got this one.
The fact that his front feet are in focus makes me think that some of the focusing issue may be that he was sniffing/moving slightly. Changing the film speed or exposure would probably help with that. But I’ve still got to figure out how to do all of that.
and off he went
I have lots to learn about how to get the kind of image I’m looking for, but now you can see where I am today. And then when I manage to get a shot with the squirrel’s eyes in focus, it will be all the more exciting.
January 27, 2006 - Posted by danielle- 6 Comments
It took me many tries to get a photo that I liked of the daffodils in my bouquet. Finally, I realized that if I wanted to use a small depth of focus, I needed to get the flower angled so that the ruffly part was the same distance from the camera as part of the petals. This is where I smack my forehead and say “Well, duh!”, of course you can’t shoot it straight on and get both parts in focus! Thank goodness for digital cameras where I can take some shots, look at them, then take more, if need be. I may be a slow learner about some of these kinds of things, but I am learning.
And now, the Girlie-girl reminds us that it is important to stop and smell the flowers.
mmmmmm smells good, doesn’t it?
And as I was taking shots one day, she just had to come over and plop herself down nearby so that she could be in the photos. And you know how I love to show her off…
And look how good her face looks! After 4 solid days of wearing the cone back in um, December, I think it was, we finally got her to stop fussing with her eye and nose. I think it just had to get a chance to get past a certain stage of healing. Now, if she starts to rub at it, I stop her from catching it with her claws and then clean it for her with a warm washcloth. That seems to get rid of the little scabs that must be what is making her want to scratch. Her white fur is growing back too. Pretty soon, she may be back to normal completely, and that would be terrific.
I’ve found a couple groups on Flickr for that picture. One is for cats that have a black mask. Girlie-girl’s mask isn’t perfectly black, so we’ll see if it stays on there or if someone removes it. The other is for pictures of cats that are staring. Well, this pic is about as intense as she gets, eyeball-wise. In the process of looking for those groups, I found a heck of a lot of cat groups. My goodness! Who knew? I’ve got all kinds of photos that would fit into some of the groups… close-ups of whiskers, eyes, cats on computers, cats with their human family members, and stuff on the cats, amongst others. One could spend hours looking for groups and looking at photos! Because I am trying to limit how much time I spend doing stuff like that, I really haven’t delved into it much, but I may slowly keep my eyes out for stuff like that.
December 23, 2005 - Posted by danielle- 10 Comments
And THAT is true Christmas spirit; the cats, dogs, and mice all get along.