I took this photo yesterday of an eighteen-wheeler transporting what appears to be an Armored Personnel Carrier. The truck was northwest bound on US 60 in the general direction of Nevada (?). Perhaps this load is destined for one of the areas up there where war games are played. We saw the vehicle as we were pulling our new travel trailer home.
I checked the PO Box today and lo and behold, the custom Eclipse Shades had arrived. The minimum order for this item is 25 each. No problem – if there are people at the campground that need a pair, we’ll hand ’em out. We will also hand out some to our Wickenburg neighbors who will get a partial eclipse that day if they stay here in town.
I tried to hold one of the lens filters in front of the camera today, and that didn’t work out, so I’ll be in the market for a lens filter. I’ll also need one for Damsel’s SLR. Since the eclipse will occur near sunset, perhaps a filter may not be required.
Meanwhile, the new travel trailer will be ready for us to take possession tomorrow. We will probably tow it home and park it in our RV drive while Damsel and I get it ready for the eclipse trip. We’re also planning to tow it later this month to our friends’ place in Earp, CA, down by the Colorado River near Parker, AZ. That will be a good shakedown for us.
If you’re even slightly nerdy, then you must visit Astronomy Picture of the Day and explore all things from micro to macro. A very well done Flash animation.
Now that we have been in our new home for over a year, we are observing the variations to flora and fauna that take place when the seasons change. Now that spring is a little over a week hence, we see more and more small lizards around the property. I guess they hibernate or become dormant in the winter months. We were walking the dogs today when I spotted this lizard sunning itself on a round rock.
Image: Lizard sunning itself on a round rock. Click to enlarge.
As the weather continues to get warmer, we expect to see a lot more activity from reptiles (including snakes) as well as other critters such as scorpions. We have not seen any snakes or scorpions this spring, but we will be watching for them . . . 😯
Planets Jupiter and Venus are currently gathered in the western sky as they do from time to time. This evening, I went out with the new camera on a tripod and played around with some of the settings and modes to get this image of the conjunction in the twilight. I took this image using the AV or “aperture priority” mode on the camera. You can see the two brightest objects are Jupiter (left) and Venus. Our neighbor’s illuminated flagpole is visible near the bottom of the frame. Click on the image to enlarge.
About a week and a half ago, I blogged about a new camera I ordered. Yesterday, the post office delivered my new Canon SX40 HS. I unpacked the box last night and followed the getting started instructions this morning.
Image: composite of four photos I took today – click to enlarge.
As soon as I finalized the order last week, I downloaded the users manuals from the Canon website. I browsed through the manual to get familiar with the camera’s controls and specifications which gave me a head start on operations.
So, several times today, I took the camera outside and shot some sample photos. The top left image above is a bird perched in a mesquite tree about fifty feet away. At top right is a neighbors flagpole taken at a range of about 400 feet. Bottom left is a view of the home taken this morning. Finally, bottom right is a Cleveland sage flower I took in the courtyard this afternoon.
I am reasonably pleased with the performance, notably the telephoto images. The image stabilizer works much better on this camera than the old one. Close up photos aren’t usually my thing, but I think the camera performed well on those as well.
Speaking of the bird in the photo above, you may be able to help me identify the species. It is black with white stripes on the bottom of its wings, has a topknot like a jay or cardinal, jumps into the sir like a mocking bird dancing and has a whistle-like call ascending in pitch like a human whistling for a dog to come. You can click here for a large view of this bird. We can’t find it in any of our bird reference books.
