Remembering PRESTAGS

Problem solving for the home handyman

There were going to be photos with this post but I can't get them to load ...

Wednesday the dishwasher didn't drain completely. Cleaned the sieve trap and screen (which were not really grotty at all).
Did a clean on hot cycle yesterday - still some water remaining.
Fiddled around in the water, found the outlet hole, didn't seem to be blocked.
Did a shot hot wash empty. Still water remaining above the normal level.
Recourse to Dr Google for potential causes and to try to find a manual for the model online. Both searches moderately successful.
Easiest thing to test was the outlet hose.
This morning had a go at trying to check that - which meant pulling nearly everything out from under the sink to find the power point.
Then to get the bracket screws holding it to the cabinetry walls out (not sure how the installer got them in!)
Then feeding hoses back from under the sink to allow the dishwasher to move.

Slight diversion, when I go the dishwasher out far enough to see in the recess there was a mostly desiccated mouse ... (photo). If he could get in, not sure why he couldn't get out? Maybe success of rat bait stations - apparently the tend to go off somewhere out of the way to die.

 

Anyway, back to the hose, 'voila!' the hose had a fair kink in it behind the dishwasher. The kink probably there from when it was in stalled 8 or 9 years ago (never needed servicing). 
Managed to get some gunk and water out of the hose, indicating it probably was blocked.

OK, then 'how to address the kink in the hose?'.  Pressing around it pretty much returned it to norm shape but it would be liable to kink in the same place again. 
Thought about a replacement hose but further Dr Google and YouTubes indicated I would have to take various covers off the bottom of the dishwasher to access where it attaches to the pump. I wanted to avoid that if possible.

I thought 'maybe if I wrap something stiff around the kink site ...
Then, what if I can find something cylindrical about the same diameter as the hose? A 'sleeve' to support the kinked area.
I tried to type of drink bottle lid - standard soft drink bottle, and the blue outside bit of a juice popper.
Cut off the lids with a hacksaw, then split one side with the hacksaw.
The Popper lid was too wide and it was liable to crack.
With the help of some boiling water to soften the soft drink lid plastic I got it over the kink.

Next problem - how to hold it in place, and if possible make it a tighter fit?
Tried a plastic coated wire tie (like comes in toy packaging) first - wasn't strong enough.

Then thought - hose clamp. Found my stash of those in the shed (minor miracle?), and got one on and tightened over the sleeve.
Now to put it all back in place and see if the draining problem is resolved.
Quite happy with my simple fix.

 

An afternoon walk

hazy & cloudy.  but so green.

An afternoon walk

hazy & cloudy.  but so green.

It must be the anniversary of buying my home

I remember the Jacaranda tree in the park opposite as we were bidding.

Best import ever from South Africa. The overcast skies of earlier this week subdue the effect, as does the barbed wire fence of a primary school - kids are dangerous; ask any parent!

Macro adventures on a ladder

There was an arachnid visitor to the extended web of the black house spider at my front door today (top of the wall where the eave joins). A large huntsman (I suspect a huntswoman actually) - sheltering from the heavy rain? Seemingly uninterested in the house spider further down the wall. (I might call her a pet, as I leave her big messy web in place above the door knowing she won't bother anyone unless they bother her).

A challenge for shooting, as she was behind the web on the wall - autofocus was almost certainly going to focus on the web in front not the spider.

I tried a couple of strategies - first a monopod with the foot wedged against the wall, and camera pointing up. I tried manual focus with live view (zoomed in), and there was sort of success but not stunning. (my eyes just couldn't pick focus or not through the 'normal size' optical viewfinder, especially as I was 'perched' and an odd angle).

Got out a tripod but realised that wasn't going to be high enough either. Then I thought about an approach I had contemplated for jumping spiders - using my travel tripod as a horizontal brace against the wall. This allowed be to have the camera positioned opposite the target rather than underneath. I imagine it looked weird to anyone driving along the street ...

So the set up was small 2 step ladder, tripod with all 3 legs against the wall with me pressing inwards to keep it stable. flash, manual exposure to get shutter speed up a bit, and live view with zoom in then manual focus to get focus on the spider not the web. Moderately pleased with the results. Had a go for the house spider but the web around her is too think and she is in a corner making bracing tricky - in the 'as shot' pic below you can see where she is though.

monopod shot - web in focus

As shot (size wise, minor process tweeks)

cropped image

The house spider hidden in her web. I was trying to focus manually but it was hopeless. She seems to have abandoned the big web further out from the door (her mother's from 3 or so years ago) and stays in the corner.

An unexpected visitor

yesterday I had the back door open, and was working in the lounge room at the computer.

suddenly there was a flutter of wings, and a silvery eye alighted on the windowsill, presumably having thought he could fly out the wide window. Luckily he didn't crash headfirst into the window.

Lexi had a half hearted lunge at him as he flew into the curtain corner and thankfully she came away when I called her.

I deposited her outside, took one quick shot with the venerable D60 which was right at hand.

It was clear he was going to stay put against the window so I then went and shut all the other internal doors and opened and wedged the front door & its screen door.

Came back and moved quietly and thankfully he let me grasp him without freaking out.

Then out to the door, and he was on the wing and gone hardly before I had let go of him.

2 shots - as shot for scale of how small they are, and then a pretty big crop.

I generally only see them around here in the Spring and early Summer, so they must migrate in then.

Peacock spider (Maratus pavonis ?), seen as a result of other opportunistic macro

iNaturalist suggests it is Maratus pavonis, the common peacock spider.

The lead up story - saw a little jumping spider on/under the handle on the shed door. Got the camera ...

here's a crop of one of those shots

as I was getting ready to take the gear back inside I quickly scanned the back wall of the house, and spied a little spider.

On a close look, it was a PEACOCK SPIDER !!!! It was such a thrill to see one in the flesh and to get to photograph him. A joy in the Creator's creation.

Here are few shots, all crops except the first one (for scale, beside the mortar line between bricks).

 

 

more accidental macro while preparing dinner

I was getting my dinner ready when I noticed a rather large moth on the cupboard above the stove ...

Beautiful red colour and so fluffly looking up close. Here are a few shots. A few contortions undertaken on a little 2 step ladder and against cupboard doors etc.

Would have been nice to be able to get a front on shot but it was facing upwards and was a long way up and I didn't want to move it and risk injuring it. I got it in a glass and released it in the bush outside. It also reminded me of a character from Monsters vs Aliens (see at the end).

with 18-55 as shot (downsized)

18-55 cropped - the gap on the left gives some scale - that is the edge between 2 cupboard doors.

85 micro uncropped.

85 micro, cropped a bit.

and reminded me of this character - Insectosaurus

Look what I found

a blast from the past (I also found the access codes too). I don't know where disk 1 is though.

I don't have a working computer that accepts these disks anymore ... 

more accidental macro

quick playing around this afternoon with pretty little flowers outside back door. First with 18-55 AF-P lens, then with macro trying a different tripod setup - didn't think the horizontal extension would be useful but turns out it is.

 

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Just because it was there

the moon. Starting to wane so not so bright which makes for better shots with contrast and detail rather than 'white out'. (a cropped shot of course).

 

First Jumper (photos) of the season

I had just got back from a ride and sitting on the front steps espied a little jumping spider on the wall of the house ... Quickly inside to collect camera, minitripod and flash.  These are all cropped a fair bit.

Here is the setup - the little tripod allows me to brace against the wall and avoid camera shake.

some flies from today

Accidental naturalist

Today I saw a little spider flitting very fast on the window & sill. I captured him (I think it was a male) with a glass. Very pretty markings. How to photograph? First I thought I would put some gladwrap over the glass and shoot through that. was worried that wouldn't be very stable. Then thought of a little shallow porcelain dish I could try - luckily virtually the same diameter as the glass so transfer wasn't a problem. Used a piece of hard plastic to 'seal' him in. Then had another thought - a clear lens filter sitting on the dish would not fall off and should not affect too much the optics.

Here is that set up:

then to attempting to photograph. lots and lots of shots. spider wouldn't sit still. getting light tricky (couldn't use flash as it would just reflect). Tried a couple of different tripod setups. Had the jar on the floor under the big lounge windows and was lying / crouching on the floor to get angles for shots. D7500 + 85 micro lens

This is actually one of the early shots. Google provided me with an identification this evening - Nyssus coloripes or orange legged swift spider. http://www.findaspider.org.au/find/spiders/509.htm  http://www.arachne.org.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=1807  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyssus_coloripes

From all the observations I did notice something really neat - he was cleaning his legs, one at a time by running them past the mouth parts. Depth of field proved an insurmountable obstacle to get a nice shot of that but I saw it nevertheless.  I also didn't register for ages that he was missing one leg.

A gorgeous little spider. I subsequently released him under the bushes outside.

 

In between changing tripods (teeny for small) I also noticed that a male blackbird was sitting quite still outside the lounge window. Grabbed the D3300 and wacked on the 70-300 AF-P and tried to get some shots through the (not very clean) window. The bird was also sitting in a patch of shade so lighting was tricky and trying focus on a black bird. I also noticed he had a grub or worm in his beak. The shot below is a moderate crop with some post processing but I don't think focus was nailed and that can't be provided after the fact. Might be a function of the dirty window too.

I like blackbirds - they have a beautiful song, and flit quickly about through the spring and summer. The hen bird is a drabber brown colour. Although an immigrant species they haven't gone nuts like Indian mynas.

dinner

usual big wok of stir fried vegetables with some honey and peanut butter. plus stir fried chicken from previous night - garlic, ginger, little chilli, pepper & soy sauce.

Very unconventional carbohydrate though - boiled potato.

Hoverfly

pseudo macro of hoverflies outside the backdoor. 8-10mm long. (70-300 AF-P lens but cropped a fair bit)

my one good 'hovering' shot - they wouldn't stay in stationary hover! (both crops)

 

 

opportunistic macro

I was playing around trying to shoot flowers near the backdoor. On closer inspection I saw there was a tiny fly feeding from one of the flowers ...

as shot (about as magnified as I could get). The flowers are probably about/< 1cm diameter.

successive crops - can you see the droplet of liquid at the head of the fly?

 

Last night while cooking, I noticed this fly on the cupboard (not a housefly or blowfly - also flower feeders I think). cropped image.

I saw my first jumping spider of the Spring this morning too but there was no time for photos ...

Light rain, jewels on plum flowers

Fly sunning itself in the late afternoon

I've seen these big flies doing this in the early morning and late afternoon - presumably warming themselves up.

This was the first macro shot using the little manfrotto tripod that was in a camera bag I bought - really helps with bracing against the brick wall. I hope it will help shots when the jumping spiders emerge too. a little sharpening and exposure adjustment.

big crop

lesser crop

view as shot (it was more or less upside down)

have to post obviously - the moon

hand held last night from my front porch, seeing how the Nikon AF-P 70-300 DX goes vs the Tamron 70-200 f2.8. sharpened a little and contrast adjust a little in View NXi

70-300 AF-P

Tamron 70-200. although shorter, the Tamron image holds up well even with the additional cropping. (it is a big piece of glass)

Moon, supermoon

So I fired off some quick shots tonight before the supermoon was engulfed by cloud ...

here is one as shot (slight touchup for exposure). Hand held, D7500 @ 300mm

50% crop

Evening Sunday 3 May. D7500 @ 300mm, on tripod.

as shot

50% crop

another one, slightly different exposure

50% crop

New toys. Food. Old toy. Birds.

NEW TOY

So I got a poor man's RX100 - a used Canon S120 (for $120 incl post) with the teeny 1/1.7 inch sensor.

I'm pretty impressed. Solid build - metal top and bottom. Lot to learn to drive it though.

Should be good for quick photos.

Dinner last night.

Carl: spring rolls, chicken things, wedges


Thygo - stir fry / satay + kanga bangas

Packet cake made by Carl & Thygo last night, iced today, tastes good.

Lexi enjoying the sun

selfie of Grumpy old Man

 

Another NEW TOY - old binoculars (Gumtree special, $30)- object d'art

image quality good and much more comfortable to hold than the new-bought Olympus.  Both 8x40. Dad had/has a pair like these older ones when I was young.

thi

 

OLD TOY - D7500 + (stellar little) AF-P 70-300 DX VR - Crested pigeons from the clothes line. No cropping.

Trouble photographing black creatures - Willy Wagtail & a new jumping spider

Over the last few weeks one or more Willy Wagtails have been visiting the backyard. They flit about quickly and are elusive photographic subjects.

This morning there was one in the yard below the rear window. So rather than try to go out the door, and probably scare him off, I tried shooting through the glass.

There seem to be two challenges getting good focus - the all black around the eye, so little contrast for the AF system, and the rapid and almost never stationary movement of the bird.

but I got a couple of half-decent shots. shown as shot with a crop. Still some motion blur evident I think.

in this pic I think he has just done a little white poo !

The little jumping spider, with a similar body shape to a white tail. But the eye arrangement clearly shows it as a jumper. The lack of different colours made it hard to shoot this one, and he/she wasn't cooperating with being still either. These are all crops. The mortar line between the bricks gives scale.

 

 

More backyard camping, of tents

Carl and I had our third night in the tent in the backyard last night. It was rather cooler last night - a hot water bottle is a good addition to a sleeping bag. I slept 8 hours and kept the CPAP on.

post-Easter dinner (Monday?) - Carl liked having candle, and driving the remote of the camera.

in the tent

Lexi looking on

Of Tents.

The tent we have been sleeping in is a recent(ish) Gumtree acquisition - a fairly large, 3 room one. All seems in good condition. It was a little fiddly to put up (though straight forward as it didn't come with instructions). Unlike some other gumtree purchases, true to her word ALL the poles and pegs and ropes appear to be present! The fly is mostly dark blue so it will be a heat magnet in summer but can open up very well with entry ways on all 4 sides. It has little zip holes for entry of power leads to all 3 compartments.

But, I noticed it has a distinctive smell to me, which I suspect of resulting in mild asthma for me. Not sure what it is coming off and I've had it airing for 4 days now. Some of the floor coating is rubbing off (the lady I bought it off pointed this out at sale, not a functional issue).

so, I thought I would pop up the other older 'big' tent I have had for a few years now. [all tents Gumtree bargains].

We used this tent the last time I went camping with Pat and Carl. It absolutely bucketed down mid-setup that trip which was interesting but this tent proved to be very easy to put up. Unlike many other tent designs, you don't need to thread any of the geodesic fibreglass poles through sleeves but simply clip them onto the main tent. The design of this tent also means it basically stands up properly without needing any guy-ropes to be set out. The blue one above only really stands up properly once the fly is on and at least a couple of guy ropes.

It is slightly smaller in floor area than the blue one. It is older and a bit more worn than the blue one (but in the downpour it didn't seem to leak - some water ingress was run off I think)

It is by default a 2 room tent. The bigger room could be partitioned by a curtain into 2 - there are eyelets in place for that. It does it have windows on the 'back side' of the fly - facing the camera in this orientation - though that whole backside can be lifted up like a verandah [also true for the blue tent too].

The fly is silver in colour though, which has to help with heat in the summer (still gets hot though).

no guy ropes, main tent without fly:

avec fly, pegged down without guy ropes set up

So the question ... [with Thygo there is always a question]

on sell the blue one if it gives me asthma? try washing the floor and see if the smell goes away?

 

Camping in lockdown, kitchen floorball

we put the tent up in the back yard. Lexi joined us as well.

the weather is very mild - 'Indian summer'.

wide angle courtesy of Tokina 11-20, lighting from SB400 flash. However it was evident that in order for the camera to focus pre-shot you still need SOME light ... (a torch helped for this)

amazingly wifi extended to the backyard so thygo was able to provide Spetz his ATGE breakfast [which as of the time of writing he has not touched ...]

CPAP machine run courtesy of heavy duty power cord from the shed [all the mod cons]

Lexi curled up for sleep

roofscape

kitchen floorball [I am so bald now]

 

 

Easter Day dinner Peter & Carl

Peter & Carl had a nice Easter dinner, with Carl driving the camera remote.

BBQ lamb chops (and Kanga Bangas too)

roast vegies

Carl food [sigh]

at the table [note Prestags Grand Tour shirt, and Lexi nuzzling in hope of a hand out ...]

cheers! [Sparkling red & creaming soda]

Carl decided it should be by candlelight

Carl's egg/bunny haul

 

Good Friday 2

Some photographs from Segovia Cathedral, Spain, taken 16 January 2018.

Good Friday

Some photographs from Toledo Cathedral, Spain, taken 13 January 2018.

food

mine & Carl's

 

just a few shots

Today - just a small egg

Little visitor

above - checking out my macro lens

photographed with macro lens.

just a few shots

Today - just a small egg

Little visitor

above - checking out my macro lens

photographed with macro lens.

Orroral Valley fire

saw plume while driving. went back to take some photos.

wish that ice age would hurry up and arrive ....

Mystery spider

Thought he/she was a dead insect in a daddy longlegs web in the corner of the ceiling in the loo at Dad's house in Toowoomba.

Then I noticed it had moved position, and then noticed it move ever so slightly and indeed a spider - 8 legs visible. Probably body about 1.5 - 2 cm long so not very big.

Took some pics on the last day there, and upon internet searching it is a rufous net-casting spider - Deinopis subrufa.

These images are only of the top view of the spider so the characteristic 'dual headlights' big front eyes were not visible.

crop of shot above. the very front of the body you can see the 2 curves of the 2 front eyes.

Boxing Day jumper

Looking for something near the back door with a torch as preparations for the northward trek continued.

Noticed a spot on the wall, and thought 'what insect, or spider, is this?'

Well it was both. Jumping spider with, relative to her size, a big fly, still flapping a bit so I guess capture was only a tens of seconds before. Quick, quick find the camera, macro, flash. A couple of hand held shots, she didn't seem to be going anywhere, so quick get the little tripod.

This is one of the better captures. Together with its final flappings she kept turning it over so the aspect kept changing. I was a bit surprised to see this is in the night, as I thought jumpers were diurnal. 

size as shot, exposure adjusted (+0.5ev), sharpened a little.

cropped

on the radio last night there was an interview about a spider exhibition at the QLD museum - I might have to see if I can go while I am up there. https://spiders.qm.qld.gov.au/

Sound Recording 3 - Padua, Italy

Our trip to England and Italy in May was far more of a photography trip than a sound recording trip. I took three cameras, plus photos on the mobile phones of the boss and I. The folder of photographs after the trip is over 45 GB and has over 6,000 photos!

In Padua we stayed in the Hotel Casa del Pellegrino with a wonderful view of the Basilica of St Anthony across the street. In the photo below, our room was the two windows to the right of the circular ornament with cherubs.

Looking out of our balcony window, here is a view of the street and the Basilica using a fish eye lens.

We spent a lot of time in the Basilica and exploring Padua, and I didn't do much recording. One early morning I put the Tascam DR 100 and Sony stereo mic in the flower pot on the balcony. While the view was spectacular, the recording was only of light birdsong and traffic driving up and down the street.

Here is a tiny sample, slightly interesting because it captured two camera clicks, probably taking the photo above. Remember the volume may need to be turned up. With the car driving past, the stereo should come out clearly on stereo headphones or two spaced speakers.

Padua Birds Camera Car

A WavePad view of this sound snippet.

When I analysed the whole recording afterwards I found the best bit. The bells of the Basilica!

Basilica St Anthony Padua Church Bells

A very distinctive pattern in WavePad.

The Basilica bell tower.

We treated Padua as a pilgrimage, and it was just as uplifting as our previous visit long ago in 2007. Lots of wonderful memories and photographs of Padua, and nice to have a few sounds as well.

 

Come into my parlour

said the spider to the fly.

at the garden tap in back yard, bending down to look at a fly, when zzzzip, a jumping spider appears from nowhere and grabs the fly. 

The spider then slowly started dragging its prize across the brick wall.

It was still there when I returned with camera. Should have brought the tripod but I was in too much of a hurry.

This is a crop of the best focussed shot.

Jacaranda Season

Hoverflies

Took a rec day today to try to sort some stuff, including tax. Minor distraction in the morning - lots of hoverflies around a bush. Lile so many tiny little attack helicopters, as their name implies, just hovering in mid air. Creation is amazing.

Thought I will quickly (sic.) try to take a few shots.

Here a couple of better ones. Started with the Macro lens but it was having real trouble focusing quickly enough (especially in flight), and not focusing on the background. Using a tripod. Then tried the Tamron 70-200, focus speed better but it has a long minimum focus distance. Then tried the little Nikon 70-300 AF-P, and at this point remembered to go AF-C (moving targets) rather than AF-S (stationary) focus mode. Still elusive little blighters to catch. Out of camera jpegs with some sharpening and brightness/contrast adjustment and some cropping.

I expect if I tried processing the RAW images I could get them better - reduce noise, improve colour and exposure. A job for another day.

85mm

as shot (only shot uploaded that is not a crop), can you see him?

crop of above

not a hover fly ... (crop)

70-200

70-300 AF-P DX

that little 70-300 is a great little lens !

I could have kept playing for ages longer but didn't.

Molongolo Gorge

Uncle Paul had a flying visit to Kanbra and had a nice jaunt with Bastard, Carl & Lexi to Molongolo Gorge. First time I have been there, despite it being so close.

Weather was a bit so-so - very windy, and intermittent cloud/sun and the odd spit of (trying to) rain. The path was a bit rugged, playing havoc with Paul's knee. Sadly the ACT BBQs weren't functioning for our planned lunch.

departing:

Crows and currawong were investigating someone's rubbish. The currawong was less scared than the crows:

before the rocks

looking upstream towards Queanbeyan

Captain Paul (now with Gandalf staff)

A few from the dog park this afternoon

took Lexi to the dog park (dustbowl) and tried out the Tamron 70-200 f2.8. Some in focus ...

Three attached. Lexi loves to chase and be chased. One of these is reminiscent of Hairy McClairy :-)