Two Girls

We had two little girls come to visit today. They watched Snow White and were scared by the wicked witch. They took refuge in the afghan that Granny crocheted.

Saturn Photo: February 28, 2008

I guess this is about as good as I'm going to get with this setup: 6" f/8 with a 24mm eyepiece, aimed at the subject. Add a camera on a tripod, set to manual focus, with a 2 second shutter delay (to stop vibrations before the shutter is released). Aim the camera into the telescope eyepiece for about ten minutes, while continually adjusting the telescope and camera to follow the moving object. If the subject appears in the camera viewfinder, set the manual focus and take the shot. Adjust the shutter speed as might seem appropriate and try again. This photo is the best of about 100 frames:
Canon PowerShot S80
ISO: 50
Shutter: 1/6 sec
F/Stop: 4.5
Focal length: 6mm

The moon Titan was visible below and to the left, well inside the frame, but was not bright enough to register with a 1/6 sec shutter speed. Slower exposures only made Saturn grow and get blurry, and turn into a streak in the frame. Notice the definition between the planet and the ring.

Lunar Eclipse 2008

OK, I gave up on image processing. Here is my best single frame of the lunar eclipse, complete with a camera artifact (a horizontal line). At least it includes both Saturn and Regulus, and you get a hint of the moon features.

Technical Details:
Canon PowerShot S80
Shutter: 1 sec
Aperture: F/5.3
Focal Length: 21mm

Saturn Photo: June 30, 2007

While photographing the phases of Venus last summer, I took a little time out to snap a few shots of Saturn. This one was taken on June 30, while the evening glow still colored the sky slightly blue. The camera was on a tripod, up against the eyepiece of the telescope. I didn't record the eyepiece or camera zoom settings. Saturn was not in a preferable location, so this photo is a poor example of what can be done. Since Saturn is at opposition, a better location, I might try to get some better shots tonight.

Wool Slippers

Here is a sequence of photos showing how I made these wool slippers.

I started with 100% wool, knitted intentionally over-sized. Then I ran them through the washing machine and dryer, using full heat to shrink and stiffen them. At the end, I stitched on the leather soles to help them last longer.

More Snow Photos

These photos were just too nice to keep to myself. Maybe it's because I like snow so much.

Snowy Road

Monya took this photo through the windshield while I was driving. The All-Wheel-Drive handled that snow so well that I didn't even come close to putting on the tire chains. The last section of the road was solid snow, and the steepest grade, and I made it as difficult as possible by going slow and daring the slightest bump to catch us without traction. I was testing to see when the traction control would fail, but it never did.

Red Sweater

Here's the red sweater I knitted for BeeBoo. You may notice that BeeBoo fits nicely inside of it.

Holding Babies

On Christmas Day, I had a chance to practice holding babies. Five days later, we went on a walk through the forest, in falling snow. By the way, that's Lief (aka "the Daddy") carrying Miss Maple.

Hot Air Balloon Launch

Finally, the snow stopped falling and we were able to send the balloon up. It was surprisingly successful. We attached a fishing line as a tether, which limited the altitude to about 150-200 feet. When the balloon came down, it dropped like a limp handkerchief.

Toy Hot Air Balloon

This toy hot air balloon has been in progress for several weeks. I finally got the last of the "gores" glued together, and was able to inflate it. It took two or three minutes to fill, even with the powerful blast from a vacuum cleaner exhaust. We're planning to launch it from the hills of Amboy the weekend after Christmas. More pictures are almost certain to follow.

Hanging Nest

We discovered this nest in the Linden tree yesterday. Apparently the bushtit birds like our trees and bushes, because this is the sixth hanging nest we've found, and the third nest in the past three years.

Note the wine bottle shape. The opening is at the top, with a flap of moss and spider web covering it to keep out the rain or obscure the entrance. The entire structure is very resilient at this stage. The insides are lined with cobweb, feathers and down, so soft that I can't feel it when I touch it.

Natural Beauty

No credit can be given to the photographer. These models are just naturally beautiful.

Tomato Crop

Here is a sampling of the tomatoes we harvested this year. Apparently we eat our tomatoes with butter.

Goldenrod Spider

Monya and I found this Misumena vatia in our Escondita hedge this morning.

We saw one of these flower spiders before, but didn't have a camera. It's also out of place on a bush with red flowers. They usually crouch in a white or yellow flower and snatch a bug that is landing on the flower. She looked a lot cleaner before we got the zoomed in version from the camera, but it is late summer, and she's probably just looking for somewhere to lay her eggs.

Great Pumpkin Harvest 2007

Last weekend P'Nut and Miss Maple helped me harvest our pumpkins. We gathered up 45 of the Cucurbita pepo melons. Note that some of them were different colors, and some had warts on the surface, like gourds. All of the seeds came out of the same pumpkin from last fall, so maybe this is a result of cross-pollination. We were also shocked to discover tiny thorns on the skin, not just on the vines, but they were easily rubbed off with leather gloves.

A View 40 Years Old

Compare this photo with the one posted on the Letters From Amboy blog. They're quite similar. My intent here was to capture the seven horizons. Thanks to some help from two excellent photographers, I was also able to capture the texture of the clouds.

This was my second visit to this lake in 40 years. I can't tell if it was different this time or not. At least I knew it was there.

Giant Q Tips

Clouds rolled slowly over the mountain tops, partially obscurring this meadow of Western Anemone. Sometime soon, I intend to post a photo of some Anemone under water. They're just as tall, and a lot more colorful, but you can't see as many of them at one time.

Giant Mushroom

This mushroom was about the size of a loaf of bread. I especially like the color, and almost wanted to eat it.

Fishing at a Secret Lake

We watched the fisherman, on the left in this photo, while he brought in three Brook Trout. Many more fish were jumping clear out of the water, but they were out of his casting range.