Shoes, Ships, and Sealing Wax

All waterfowl all the time

I had too much wine with dinner, which prevents me from typing well enough to blog all the deep things I was going to blog.

Instead:

I still prefer Canada geese, but this guy is cool. Actually, I watched for about twenty minutes as it flew back and forth across the lake, landing in the willow tree to gather sticks and taking them back to a tree on the other side...I wonder if this guy's a she building a nest.

Baby herons. I need a telephoto lens, too.

You know how some people can carry on a conversation with a brick wall?

We can grill!

Statewide Burning Ban Lifted In All Counties

ANNAPOLIS — The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) lifted the statewide ban on open air burning in all remaining counties, including DNR public lands, effective 11 AM, Monday, April 24 due to recent rainfall and projected wildfire conditions. The ban was originally implemented on March 31 due to dry conditions across the state.

Rainout

I know we need rain. I even want rain, because I want them to drop the fire restriction so we can grill. But did it need to rain tonight?

We had Nats tickets. More of a bummer, my cousin and his wife were in town, and we got tickets for them in the same section.

My dad did get a lot of sympathy from the ushers by saying that my cousin and his wife were in town from Canada, gen-u-ine Expos fans here just to see the game.*

*My dad lies like a rug. My cousin did grow up in Canada, but it was Ontario, and his wife is from Ohio.

Just in case it is heriditary...you might want to take anything you read in the blog with a grain of salt.

The itsy-bitsy spider

I went out in the yard to take pictures of raindrops, because what else is there to take pictures of on a rainy day?

I was setting up a shot and noticed something in the viewfinder that I'd not noticed with my naked eye: a spider. I had the devil of a time focusing on him, as he was maybe half the size of my pinky fingernail. (And it shows you how into this photography thing I am, because I don't like spiders.

While I was trying to get a shot, a little flying bug had the misfortune to come by.

Normally this would creep me out; today I was thinking I have got to get a macro lens!

It's going to rain all weekend

So might as well get this in today while I have some sun:

Backlit fortune cookie

Ivy on brick

Praying mantis egg sack

I don't expect I'll get luck enough to actually see this hatch, but if I do, that will be super-cool.

Game over

Last night was the last Caps home game of the season. It didn't put me in the funk that the end of the season usually does. Last year I speculated that baseball was all I needed to get me over hockey, and it does help to have a distraction to bridge that April-to-October gap. But last night I realized that I just don't have the same emotional investment in the team, and I won't be getting it back.

It struck me when the crowd...well, some of the crowd, but still, it shoudn't have been any of the crowd...booed Peter Bondra.

There's just no reason to boo Peter Bondra. It pissed me off that people were booing Peter Bondra. I still have an emotional investment in Peter Bondra.

That's because Bondra started playing for the Caps in 1990, when my seats were behind the bench and I hung around the press room with my dad after the games. I met players back then, and I saw up close how they acted during games.

Except for Kolzig, there are no players on the Capitals now that I've ever met. I'm sure they are fine young men, and I'm impressed with a lot of what they did this year. (And it goes without saying that I like Alex Ovechkin, right?) I was happy Pettinger got his 20 goals, and I hope Brian Willsie can hit his 20th tonight.

What I saw this year wasn't as awful as I'd feared, and I think Ted has a nice young team that should mature into a really good team. I look forward to watching them, and I'd never not root for Washington...I'm as steadfast a homer as you can get. But now hockey is like football and baseball and the Caps are like the Redskins and the Nationals.

Which is why, I suppose, it was no big deal to walk out of the arena last night. On the way home we talked about what to take for tailgating at the baseball game on Saturday.

The Band at City Hall

I haven't been to my local City Hall in probably 25 years, but it was a nice morning, and I'm doing a photography-improvement effort called "go out and take more pictures, dammit."

I neglected to note the artist and name of the sculpture, but the next time I go by there I'll stop and write it down. It shouldn't be another 25 years...City Hall has a really nice park with a bandshell, and during the summer they have free concerts.

My photography may not improve any, but at least I'll be taking advantage of all the parks and public works programs.

My mandate also includes weird bugs

Crappy picture, but he was a neat color green.

I actually had every intention of riding today, but when we got to the park and I unloaded the bike...actually as I was riding in a little circle waiting for Victor to finish getting ready...I noticed that the gears weren't shifting when I was shifting gears. And since the gear I was stuck in wasn't a hill gear, there was no way I was doing 15 miles.

I think I know what happened: I had trouble getting the bike on and off the rack the other day, and it looks like I pulled my rear derailleur cable loose. D'oh.

So while Victor rode, I took pictures in the woods. Nothing particularly good, but I do like this wildflower:

Good Friday

Reflection Terrace at Brookside Gardens

It says:

Linger here and reflect on those lost to violence
Hope for a more peaceful world
Seek a reverence for life among all people

Twitch

I have a blepharospasm, and it is driving me crazy. It doesn't hurt, but it's damn annoying. Plus I'm afraid I look deranged, with the left side of my face contorting three or four times a second...

(There was an actor, played a Nazi in a bunch of old war movies, who had some kind of an eye twitch thing going. Anybody remember who that was?)

Anyway, I'm guessing that the computer may be contributing to the fatigue that may be contributing to my spastic eyelid, so perhaps it's time to power down for today.

Another neighbor

He lives around the corner...well, around three or four corners.

Actually, if you are, say, leaning over a fence to take a picture of a llama in someone's yard, and an emu notices you and comes over to see what you are up to, I bet you jump back a few feet real quick. Emus make good watchdogs.

Here's a llama:

Oh hell, now I have the Llama Song in my head. Sorry, I hope I didn't do that to you, too.

(I could also post a picture of a duck...but I won't. Not this time.)

These are just snapshots from Sunday's errands. I did a little serious picture-taking, but not enough to brag about. Flipping through a magazine Sunday afternoon I saw an ad for the New York Institute of Photography home study course. I remember seeing that same ad in photo magazines back in 1982...maybe I'll give it a shot now that I have my own source of income. It certainly can't make me a worse photographer.

Other than playing with the camera, which is about all I want to do, it was an up-and-down weekend. We had dinner Saturday night with bloggers, and I found a way to hang out at Capital City Brewing Co. without coming home lit. See, bloggers (with the exception of certain waterfowl-obsessed wanna-be photographers) are good storytellers telling good stories, and to keep from laughing so hard that I sprayed beer out of my nose, I had to take small sips. Ergo, I drank slowly, ergo, no hangover.

That was the up part. On the downside, Sunday night we had to put two more of the rats to sleep. I've been trying not to dwell on it, but we've lost four in about a month. This is the down side to animals with short lifespans. Several people have suggested that I should look for a pet with a longer lifespan, like one of those parrots that lives eighty years.

I wonder what it is for an emu?

Rainy day people

Actually this is a test to see if I can upload through the MT interface (making it easier to blog the pictures) and have them available for the Gallery. (Wo hoo! I can!)

Actually it's proof that I'm way obsessed with my refound hobby. (If I were shooting film at this pace, I'd be bankrupt by now.)

I'm in an abstract phase. (As opposed to an "I can't focus" phase. Really.)

See? I can focus.

I just can't find anything to take pictures of except the rain on the back window of the car...

I'm glad it is raining

Because if I had given up a beautiful sunny Saturday to stay home waiting for the window contractor who didn't show and the FedEx package that won't arrive, my head would explode.

The window company says the guy called yesterday to cancel, which may be true, but if he did, he didn't bother to leave a message.

I'm not sure what the excuse is for the Nationals ticket office guy who swore that my tickets would be delivered by noon today. FedEx says the package was shipped for delivery by 3 p.m. Monday.

You know what's funny? The only "customer service" type person I have talked to this week who didn't bullshit me was the FedEx guy, and he apologized for my package being inaccessible right now. I should send him cookies.

Play ball

I love the Washington Nationals...the team.

Dealing with the ticket office makes me long for the customer service at the MVA.

Rain dance

True, usually I just want to go out and play in the sun...but the lack of rain is now putting a serious damper on a vital spring/summer activity.

Maryland Department of Natural Resources enacted a statutory statewide open air burning ban...including charcoal grilling.

I wonder how long the ban will need to stay in effect before I can convince Victor to go over to the propane side.

I bet you I can tell you the score of the NCAA Final before it starts*

I got this e-mail from Amazon today:

Click to see it full sized and you can really see the subject "[placeholder for winning team] Wins the NCAA Tournament!" and the text

Congratulations, [placeholder for winning team]! As someone who has purchased sports products from Amazon.com, we thought you should be the first to see our selection of NCAA championship products.

Oh, speaking of Final Four: GO TERPS!**

* 0 - 0. Hahahahahahaha.

** Women play basketball too, ya know.

Abstract

Went out to play with the camera today:

(Click to see bigger.)

There are a few more pictures in the gallery. For the most part the gallery ones aren't cropped...I'm trying to train myself to compose in the viewfinder. It would also be a good idea to find my tripod...my hands are really not that steady.

Interestingly, I have a new album on my photo page with a picture of a Czech castle in the snow. Thing is, I've never been to the Czech Republic. I wonder if I need to tweek some settings to keep random photographers from posting pictures...although for now I'm keeping the castle picture, because it's pretty cool.

It's a roller coaster

When I got up this morning to get the animals their medicines, the sky was pink from the sunrise. I thought it was supposed to rain today, but since it was clear, I asked the dog if she wanted to walk down to the lake. She danced around me with her tail wagging.

I took the medicine up to the rats to find George curled up in his box, barely responsive. When I took him out to see what was wrong, he had a seizure. I've now seen this several times and I recognize what it means.

I'm still torn between letting them pass on their own and having them put to sleep, but remembering how long it took Leather to die, I decided to take George to the vet for the shot. While we waited for them to open, I held George and looked out the window. It was gray and raining.

George barely opened his eyes until he got the shot, then he faded out.

The sun came out again while we were at the vet.

I'll take the dog for her walk now.