Puppy pacifier.
At the local swap meet I found a guy who sells 25 metre/80 foot rolls of cotton rope for ten dollars. So, I’ve been making Luna chew toys out of it.
She has a hard time leaving Albert be when they are both in the same room. He had the last two teeth on his right side pulled on Monday, so we’ve really been cracking down hard on her to leave him alone. This afternoon, she responded to getting yelled at by getting her chew toy and gnawing on it – hence the appellation, puppy pacifier.
Afternoon keres.
Hello. Your afternoon or mine? It’s a little after 7pm here. The winds are still in the 60 – 100 kph range and I’m listening to them howl.
Luna’s outside, although I’ll probably make her sleep in because of the likelyhood of rain.
Albert was asleep in the laundry, last I looked, and the alpacas had their mash and the ducks their evening feed about two hours ago.
Now it’s only a matter of feeding me since Imogen is gone to the east coast over-night.
It’s very early moring here. I’m the only one awake at the moment. Even George and Cat have looked at me like, why do you have to get up so early.
That wind sounds bad.
Fast winds are pretty much par for the course down here.
The winds that run between the south side of mainland Australia and the north side of Tasmania are known as the “Roaring 40’s” because they are at 40 degrees south, and the last land mass in their way was South America. Even Africa is not far enough south to slow them.
Fortunately, the trees here have adapted, and rarely fall in high winds.
I’m getting used to them.
That’s one of the worries I have around here is falling trees. When bad thunderstorms or parts of hurricanes come through, I always wonder if a couple of tree will still be up after it’s over.
I was trying to remember if I’ve ever lived anyplace where it seemed the wind never stopped. Can’t remember any, but I’m sure it would have taken a lot of adjusting on my part.
The winds aren’t constant, but when they blow, which is often, the blow hard.
Luna’s outside barking, and I think it’s just the wind that’s making noise and setting her off.
Poor Luna. Can’t play with Albert and now the wind.
BTW that an excellent picture of her up top.
Thanks. I happened to notice the light on her and saw the posibility for a good shot.
I think it’s a great shot. The look on her face is classic.
Hope Albert perks up soon.
If only I could get George to go into the water.
Luna doesn’t mind the water, and usually finds her way in it when it is most inconvenient – like just before we have to get back in the car. That’s why I keep towels in the trunk.
A picture of Cat right after I bought her home from the vet. She has a swollen paw, but the vet said he couldn’t find anything wrong. So what did he do? He prescribed kitty Advil.
She still won’t put any pressure on her right paw, so I’m not sure what is wrong.
Maybe he got stung or spider-bitten — that happens to our dogs fairly regularly.
That’s what we were thinking. I never would have thought it, but the Advil does help. About an hour after I wrestle her down to get it in her, she start putting a little weight on her paw.
However, I’ve been told cats are even more slackerly than me and she might be playing it for all it’s worth. I hate to think a cat is smarter than me, but……
I usually find a cat with a swollen paw had a run in with a spider or something with a stinger. It usually goes down in a few days.
We’re going on this about a week now. I’m figuring if by Monday she’s still the same, then it’s back to the vet. If he still says he can’t find anything wrong, then I’ll sit Cat down and have a long talk with her.
It’s not nice to fool the people that feed you. 🙂
a Purple-crowned Lorikeet.
I’ve been going through the photos I took on our vacation in West Australia – and cropping, correcting exposures, etc.
The Ausralian Greens are building a new web site and I’m supplying them with images – hence the clean-up and cataloging effort.
Do you use a telephoto lense for these shots? I’m always amazed at how close and clear the shots are.
Yes, I do use a 300mm lens for most of my animal shots.
but more importantly, I take HUGE images.
Here’s a portion of the Purple-crowned Lorikeet – at actual pixels.
That way, I can crop even small portions of the total frame and still have a high resolution image.
Some Australian parrots are just unreal in their color combinations.
A close relative of the above and one of the most popular cage birds here.
are a constant source of amazement — both for the beauty of the birds and your ability to turn momentary glimpses into a feeling of insight.
It’s kind of you to say so. I know I have a good “eye,” but I sometimes forget to share the results. Which is one of the reasons I enjoy doing the dog blog – it makes me go through my images to see what’s worth sharing, and to that end, maybe even do a bit of work to improve them.
This morning I keep just missing getting a shot of the Yellow-throated Honeyeater. It’s an olive-green bird with a bright yellow throat, and a de-curved bill, that feeds on flower nectar – and only lives in Tasmania.
Woo hoo. Just got three shots. I’ll be back with the goods.
Here’s a good example of the what I usually start with – a small bird surrounded by lots of background.
This, btw, is my view from the window next to the computer.
Work the magic keres. 🙂
I’m not sure this counts as magic. This image was very “thin” (low exposure) because of sun was behind the clouds and it’s still morning light.
I correct for the overall grey appearance by increasing the exposure and the contrast, and decreasing the off-set and the gamma.
Which gets me to here.
I’d say it’s magic. Looks good to me.
BTW good morning.
Actually, it’s technology, plus four years of Art School. 😉
And a very good evening to you.
Whenever I can do any little thing on the computer and someone asks me how I did it, I usually say it’s magic.
On my pictures I used to use brightness/contrast a lot, but lately I’ve just used the gamma control.
Brightness/contrast is useful, but I find it washes out the highlights very quickly. Gamma is usefull to pull tones futher apart without losing information in the lighter and darker areas.
If you have a Shadow/Highlight option, try using that to get a clearer image, especially from the darker tones.
I also use Hue and Saturation corrections a lot.
I’ve used the Hue and Saturation before, but don’t think I have the shadow/highlight option.
I’m mostly just a point and click shooter and then I go from there. A long time ago I really did get into re-doing all the families old picture and working on the new ones I did, but I was never satisfied. After having 20-30 copies started from the original, I would think that’s as far as I’m going, but still think more could be done.
All of which only gets me to this:
The orignal image was too pale to get enough information to work this any futher. But it should give you a sense of the process.
Anyway, it’s a lovely bird and we very much enjoy having it around.
Certainly won’t get any arguments on its name. The yellow really dominates.
I actually like the literalism of australian bird names.
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo is so much easier to remember than some bird named after some guy (like Gould, who has far too many things named for him).
Keres, your bird pictures are simply amazing. Helped on, of course, by the incredible colors of your birds. Once in a great while I see a painted bunting here. More often indigo buntings, both of which are beautiful breeds, but not quite the shocking colors of your birds.
and luna is always a pleasure to see, thanks keres.
Poor Albert is having an awful time….hope he returns to his curmudgeonly self soon, then he can get back to bugging luna.
Here’s Bu, lounging on her, now missing, pillow…
rt/clik to enlarge
it had been hers since she first came home as a pup. Had to throw it out as she picked up a type of mite infestation about a month ago…walking dandruff, in vet-speak…think we’ve finally gotten rid of it so have to get her a new daybed…:{)
My condolances to Bu on the loss of her obviously much-loved pillow.
Try a dog bed with a removable cover and cedar shavings in with the stuffing. This deters critters and allows for the occassional washing.
FYI, after 4 years, ten percent of the weight of the average human’s pillow is attributable to dead (and living) mites.
We are not alone!
Now that’s another fact I’d just as soon have not known. Sometimes ignorance is Bliss!
On the other hand, this is bliss: I know it is just past midnight, and therefore officially Friday here, but so what? This is Beezie, Aunt of the Gang of Four:
Sorry for hogging all that bandwidth!
Not to worry; it’s been Friday here for the last sixteen and a half hours.
I worked some the above described “magic” on Beezee. Tell me what you think, did I get the colors right?
What an improvement! Other than BZ having green eyes, the colors are excellent. You certainly captured Beezie’s “why am I having to share this space with my inferiors” facial expression. She thinks she’s the Queen of the Universe (as do a couple of others who live here).
Actually, I know the picture (mine, not your version) is sort of strange. The rug was new, the windows had been covered for ages while we painted and did various things to repair the plaster, and it was a cold but clear sunny day – rare in wintery Detroit. All our cats were upstairs on that rug, pushing each other around between sunlight and shadow. It was a rare moment of not living in a construction zone.
Green eyes – check.
I played with Beezee a bit more last night.
Excellent job, er, magic keres. 🙂
And to think, all it takes is a few minutes on one of those new-fangled computer thingies (to do what would have taken me hours in a darkroom).
Yeah ain’t technology wonderful. :~)
Beezie is pleased!