The morning calm was interrupted by the incursion of cattle into the wetland. Upon closer inspection, an old cypress which has been progressively dropping limbs had taken out a section of fence (thus allowing opportunistic bovine to access yummy greens).
The slowly forming TARDIS continues… Added the right hand side light box. Matters of contemplation now include: cutting several (lightbox sixzed) hole in the frame for access and placement of graphics & lights, addition of rear lightbox, strengthening base, doorstop design (Doctors 3 & 4 had small wedge stoppers above the doors), and stepped & sloping roof.
Here’s a critter you don’t want to find investigating your clothes horse full of freshly laundered apparel (which is in fact where I discovered it)
It’s been a while since I started construction late last year as a ‘basic’ furniture making skills demonstration. I should have twigged when my teacher kept questioning if I really wanted to build a TARDIS. Anyway, it’s slowly taking shape. Latest work was to hang the doors and attach the front and left light boxes.
The wetland started filling after the deluge of 10 Aug 2010, having been dry for almost 4 years. Ducks appeared the very next day. No nesting swans yet.
With much excitement, I opened the boxes containing my new whizzbang telescope. All good, except for the enclosed A3 assembly and quickstart leaflet for the LT (resulting in much hilarity until I worked that out).
My fuji apple planted along the line of the espalier didn’t have a chance. With the introduction of new chickens into the flock, the dog became very excited with his new minions to be subjugated.
Not being allowed to hurt the chickens, the dog took out his frustration on my poor tree, and gnawed it down to a stump.
My first crop of tomatoes appear to be doing well though, and include some special galapagos tomatoes courtesy of Dimitry the tomato guru from permaculture.
A little while back, I was on the phone and heard some loud cracking noises. A cypress along the fence line came crashing down. From the tall remnants of one of the trunks, a number of birds enjoy the view. We watched this frolicking couple of black shouldered kites.
Anna’s tree plantings though still small, provide endless entertainment for the smaller birds. It was a surprise to see a pair of kookaburras frolicking.
Knowing not a lot about photography (other than a lifetime of whacking the camera into ‘Auto’ and pressing the button), I’d spoken to a few friends and done some net research http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/nikkor.htm about what lens to get. I decided on the Nikon 18-200mm which seems to do it all.
I’d had a few tamron 28-200mm in the past. The big heavy early ones did a degree of macro, and the later one was ok, but unsatisfactory for its minimum distance to shoot (about 1 metre meaning a lot of lost shots). I’d also been unhappy with the color & sharpness of the pics on my D70, and put it down to the D70.
The Nikon 18-200mm was a revelation. Nice pics, easy and quiet focusing, vibration reduction. Just for fun I whacked it on the D70 and magically, the D70 started to sing! It is true what they say about getting a decent SLR body but getting the best lens you can afford.
Now to find some camera/photography classes.
