Remembering PRESTAGS

Of The FMW - Five Quintrains

Five Quintrains for Python. 

 

Of no boys weekend Python lament,

Because no forum for his news.

All his mates were absent,

The weekend, just empty pews.

So alone in Sydney he stews.

 

But not long did Python have to wait,

One mate his dates did send.

The other mate alas, a nasty ingrate,

No reply bad news portend.

So hope for Python  suspend.

 

But clever lawyer mate,

a cunning plan he did conceive.

Don’t worry about the date,

Just a new name to deceive.

Cause Thygo, well he’s naïve.

 

Instead of boys weekend, what is it,

Well it’s a cracker.

Why nothing but a simple Kanbra visit,

To the home of the duck caretaker.

Python at last, a merrymaker.

 

But what is the Python’s news,

He’s so desperate to impart.

Could it be some sexual blues,

That needs a heart-to-heart.

Poor old Bonaparte.

 

On the road again

After an awesome drive from Brisbane to Toowoomba, and back, I find myself pining for the open road again. This time my animal magnetism was overstretched, and I had neither man nor dog as companion. I did have a beast though!

Although it looks much the same as the Thrifty (best car hire firm ever!) beast, this one was noisy. I had forgotten how much noisy it makes. And Thirsty. For this journey, I used my entire quarter's fuel allowance for the Prius. Old tech, I suppose.

Spring was showing on the road with the wattles just starting to burst.

I stopped at a rest area and found some Rosellas and Grass Parrots enjoying a midday feed.

I had all these lenses in the car, but the trouble with those is by the time you have them all set up, the target has gone!

Just before jumping into the car again, I checked out the name of the reserve.

I can just image the Germans saying "There is a mad Aussie down there chucking grenades. Let's decamp." Thomas Derrick did inspire me though: next time I'm with my mates, I'll spend some time chucking grenades around.

Road Trip Stage One is a success, and Blust is in the Black.

Now I wonder if I will get a turn. The again, if John Michael Young wanted a turn, he had to invent a whole game. I just have to be patient, I suppose.

Autumn shooting

A sample of pics

from today - opportunistic shots at Weston Park. Nice afternoon light.

I love Gang-gangs - I was trying to get close as I only had the 17-50 with me. These are cropped pretty heavily.

early this month - ornamental pears (?) in the neighbour's front yard. About as big as a small grape. Nice afternoon light.

Tree in my front yard.

and one of the moon, also cropped a lot, some sharpening. 70-300 AF-P DX VR

 

 

Easter Feasting

Super fast delivery of GAS (little tripod - wall macro tool)

I ordered a little tiny tripod over the weekend and amazingly it arrived today.

The idea is to have something I can brace against the wall for shooting jumping spiders. Thought about a gorillapod but heard they are prone to squish down under weight/pressure, and, perhaps more importantly, if they get left in a hot car the joints are cactus.

So this little guy arrived:

It has two leg settings. The yellow I added for testing against the brick wall to avoid scratching it in the first 5 mins.

The macro set up. The ball head is from a monopod I had already. The rig can screw directly into the camera but then there is no movement possible.

and the results. providentially I spied a jumping spider when I was doing soccer practice with Carl (I expected them all to be gone but it hasn't really got cold yet).

These are straight out of camera jpegs, cropped (a fair bit) and downsized for the web - no post processing. The tripod works well I think, and I was impressed with the results - I think it gave the bracing / stability I was hoping for.

note the spinerets - they don't weave webs but play out a safety line behind them. He/she is sitting in the groove of mortar between two bricks which give an indication of scale.

Lexi the miner

Lexi is an accomplished digger. She has dug into the outer chook yard twice. 

And she has dug two rather large holes. apparently randomly.

Hole 1, beside the driveway

Hole 2 - down the back

 

Handy man thygo

Changed the outside tap today, eventually.

Not without a few moments of consternation and misgiving. Thought I might damage the copper pipe behind it from tortional forces ... despite holding on tight with another spanner on the outlet nut.

It was soooooooooooooooo tight, and I ended up stripping one of the hex faces when the spanner slipped.

Poured some hot water over it, then applied WD-40 liberally.

It was still tight but did yield.

New tap attached and not leaking - YAY !! (I think this was making my water bill bad, bad, bad).

New - bright and shiny

leaky old bastard (metaphor?)

Lexi, the (would be) hunter

Snapped through the window with the venerable D60 (closest too hand).

She made a rush just afterwards but the pee wee was way too quick.

Good Friday

Crux fidelis inter omnes arbor una noblis

Nulla silva talem profert, fronde, flore, germine

Dulce lignum, dulce clavos, dulce pondus sustinet

Faithful Cross above all other, one and only noble tree.

None in foliage, none in blossom, none in fruit thy peer may be.

Sweetest wood, sweetest iron, sweetest weight is hung on thee.

(Venantius Fortunatus, d 609 AD)

 

Ecce lignum crucis

Venite adoremus

 

The timing of the Good Friday Liturgy in this Church generally gifts us the illumination of the cross with beautiful autumn afternoon light, as if heaven shines on the commemoration of Our Lord's passion and the cross which is now our trophy.

Coleman Lakeside 4

the two lakeside 4 tents.

cream & blue

 

green and green

jumpers courting, redback

today I noticed a jumper and was taking some pics. out of the corner of my eye I saw another movement, and noticed that the first spider was looking that way.'I think what I was witnessing was courtship - the smaller spider (presume male) would do some jiggles and arch his abdomen up and then run toward the other (slightly larger) spider, who would run away a bit, then turn around and watch (presume this was the female)

this shot is as close as they got to each other. I think it is the female in top left. If you zoom in on the male he has his abdomen pointing in the air - "look at me baby"

just before we headed to QLD the 2nd time, we discovered this redback (from looking at books I understand this patterning indicates a juvenile female). she is dead now ... But had very striking markings.

Hello Handsome

A visitor ...

Magnificent sunset, and a waning moon

the light in the yard was so orange ...

handheld shot of the waning moon with 70-300 AF-P. Cropped a lot. Sky was a bit hazy. 

(to) Coonabarabran - a day of big clouds

but first, on the back of the shed door, female Latrodectus hasseltii (soon after sent to the here after ...)

cropped image, handheld macro with flash.

first stop Boorowa

beautiful church

clouds on the way - all along the way there were billowing storm cells around us

facing behind

several hours further along - opposite the Warumbungles

Warumbungles off to the left

through the windscreen

 

Beasties and dinner

another random macro adventure this afternoon.

This funny little fellow - some sort of weevil apparently. About 4-5mm long.

cropped

Jumper (Crop)

another

Thygo's slap bang sitr-fry satay

The Great Escape

Patrick was home sick yesterday but had done some training with Lexi. Chooks and ducks in their extended enclosure.

When I got home from work, I didn't go outside but started up my laptop.

Then I heard a 'sqwarky' noise from one of the chooks - didn't sound right, so I stood up to have a look out the window.

Lo and behold, Lexi is in the chookyard, standing watching the fowls. 

But the gate is still shut.

On closer inspection, she has dug her way under the outer fence ... No idea how long she was in there. No dead fowls (thankfully).

She got in again a little while later and I think she wants to play with them.

here is her tunnel INTO Stalag Chook

Steering Wheel Shake - the Movie

First multi-media post (2nd attempt cos I pushed the wrong button and lost my opus magnus and had to start again)

And I can't work out how to embed a video but hopefully the files are uploaded and you can download them.

so I know you guys think the shake in my White Camry's steering wheel is just in my head.

But swapping between cars, I am convinced it is real, and it leaves my fingers tingling.

Googling has given some possible causes but also indicated that such phenomena are not paranormal.

There is a field of academic study for it (see below)

From googling, my hypothesis is engine mount(s). I also found a neat way to provide a visualisation of the vibration - with the help of a bottle of water.

So this afternoon I did the experiment. Red Camry = control, White Camry = experiment.

 

 

A Frequency Weighting for the Evaluation of Steering Wheel Rotational Vibration J. Giacomin F et al https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/1440891.pdf 

Frequency dependence of perceived intensity of steering wheel vibration: effect of grip force https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4145150

Driver estimation of steering wheel vibration intensity: questionnaire-based survey http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.426.2931&rep=rep1&type=pdf 

Macro attempts

first one is the fleeting jumping spider Paul & I spied in the Botanic Gardens. Attempted post processing. This one did not want to sit still.

as shot

significant crop

A jumper on the wall near my front door yesterday. Lots of out of focus shots but a couple of nice captures. Stayed reasonably still but he/she didn't want to face me.

as shot

cropped

hiding in a crevice 

as shot

cropped

 

and a flower shot at same time - subject isolation helped by flash

Rainforest Adventures

It was great to catch up with Thygo on the weekend, and we had a very enjoyable rainforest adventure.

The intrepid explorer with photographic kit in hand:

We saw three BIG lizards. One lizard was perched on a rock next to a pond:

Thygo liked the lizards, but I think he was more interested in smaller fauna with his macro lens:

There was another lizard on a cement block near the Botanical Gardens bookshop:

Near the entrance, a lizard, this time not standing on something:

Before meeting Thygo I tried to get a shot of some bees, but they moved too fast. Only one photo was any good and it wasn't that close.  I will leave the macro to others:

I did get a flower, mostly because it wasn't moving:

Thygo had a flower too, but he prefers his more sensitive side in his breakfast:

 

opportunistic macros - red & gold

a few days ago, a jumper on the wall near back door. wasn't very cooperative in staying still

a big fly in the bathroom - fabulously red eyes, and gold front  face

 

New car

some comparison and interior shots of my 'new' and 'old' Camrys. The white one has more extras and is very tidy.

typepad being horribly slow loading my downsized pics. so just 2 pics for now ...

 uploaded some more - hopefully conveys that although old it is in nice condition

 

 

 

impromptu macro. peekaboo

near front door.

as shot

crop

scurried into this little web. not sure if it was his/hers or just appropriated

closeup crop - Peekaboo !!

lots of bees on bush nearby.

as shot

closeup crop. you can see his tongue in the flower

Roulettes from Red Hill

all these shots cropped to some degree.

 

Latrodectus male. also a fly

Fairly often there are redbacks on the back of the shed door. Tonight I noticed a male in a little web. (he is no longer with us after the photoshoot ...). This is a significant crop - he was only 2 maybe 3mm bodylength.

 

the other morning there were quite a few flies sunning them selves on the wall outside the backdoor. They stayed quite still so provided a good shooting opportunity. as shot:

bit of a crop:

First jumpers of the season

taken last weekend but only just got to do sharpening and cropping. First one was on the garage door - encountered by accident. Second one, much smaller, but I was looking just near the back door. Neither were very cooperative in showing a good pose or staying still.

Weird IT

down (up?) loaded photos from SD card (32GB genuine SanDisk card) using card reader.

Jpegs look fine in Windows viewer.

Open up the folder in Capture NX-D and most of them start showing coloured bands in the previews, and then the Windows explorer view also shows bands. However the actual image. tried downloading again and same thing. Images look fine on camera preview screen.

so, issue with the card?, the card reader?, the Nikon Capture NX-D software, something else?

Capture nx-d

windows explorer

First decent spider of spring

this guy was on the ceiling / eave outside the front door last night. Stayed put for ages.

Looks very similar to a white tail but wrong colour - a juvenile, an albino, a different species completely? 

I'll see what the Flickr spiders of australia group says.

no cropping

cropped

Lexi

first 2 pics taken by Carl (with a little post-processing by me). The cone is to stop her licking / chewing out her stitches/

this one by me tonight

Peasant food

dinner Monday night.

 

not for drinking but nice colourful label ...

A computer error brings the future 20 years closer

I have seen many computer errors in my life, and been responsible for most of the ones I have seen, but this one is astonishing.

0.712 x $3.50 = $29.90

Or $10 per apple; the price in Anno Domino 2038. I am off to Woolies this morning with a "please explain". I am glad I didn't buy this from Coles: http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-19/coles-stores-nationwide-shutdown/10137418

Of course, there is another explanation. Prior to executing his coup d'etat, has he colluded with Russia to hack our supermarkets?

This Morning In Canberra

Moon tonight

cropped, sharpened, little white balance adjustment

Afternoon animal encounters

Crested pigeons on my back power lines - all puffed up - it was cold. Walked to the pharmacy and unexpectedly saw kangaroos on the oval and even closer to Drakeford Drive on my way back. Indication of how little feed there must be and how dry it is. Also saw some wood ducks, quite some way from the lake.

Then at soccer practice, cockatoos and quite a lot of grass parrots, all in pairs. They are hard to capture though - they were almost always in the shade.

cropped image of pigeon, and something weird has gone on with the colour of the sky

on the way back - you can seen the road at the top right.

parrots at soccer

cropped

Sharp

so sharp this little 70-300 af-p ...

Dinner Monday - ol'timer's disease

Running multiple lines of food preparation on Monday night ...

Thought I had served them all up.

Then part way through dinner, I could smell burning ...

AAGH! The wedges were still in the oven ...

Dinner tonight

Crested pigeon on my roof

Crested pigeon, Ocyphaps lophotes, sitting on the crest of my roof this afternoon. They come to get a drink from the duck pond and normally nervous, flighty birds even on the roof, but this one stayed put for me.

So impressed with the 70-300 AF-P.

as shot

cropped

cropped some more

another perspective as shot

cropped

cropped some more

 

Liking the new combo

Lots of dogs this afternoon at the fields where the junior soccer practice is. Light was ordinary - late in the day and very cloudy.

tried some shots of a couple of dogs running very fast at the far end of the fields - probably 200-250 metres away.

D7200 + 70-300 AF-P lens. Processed just a little (I can't drive Capture NX-D properly yet !! My old View NX-2 is no longer supported and won't recognise the D7200's RAW files)

2 shots both with field of view (zoom) as shot and then a close crop. I am amazed at the performance - the focus was good (on a high proportion (some out of focus shots but it was dim and focusing on a runnng black dog can be problematic because of lack of contrast) and the level of noise at ISO 4000 is acceptable (to me).

 

Anzac Day 2018 - Canberra Dawn Service

Carl and I were just near the steps to the actual memorial entrance. A very large crowd. Took a few photos, only 3 near passable - in focus shots handheld in the dark are a challenge.

Very good addresses from the services chaplain and the retired army surgeon. Very good sermon from Fr Leung at Requiem Mass later on in the morning.

Looking South a few minutes before the start. all those big street lights were turned off for the event.

 

Kiwi flag at half mast.'

Last Post and Reville from top of memorial.

More accidental jumping spiders, a very tiny one

Saw one jumping spider on the wall - 'standard' size - maybe 5-6mm. Also tried to get some video of this one to show the way they pump their pedipalps up and down - not very successful.

then saw that it seemed to be watching something else, and saw movement out of the corner of my eye, and behold a very tiny (very young) jumping spider. They might be the same species but the first one is much bigger.

the first guy - first one is uncropped (as close as I could get)

a crop of another shot

the little guy - uncropped on the mortar between bricks - shows you just how small

peeping out - significant crop

legs almost transparent - significant crop

can you see him peeping out from someone else's house? also cropped a lot