04-27-09

My son has had a hard time dealing with my aunt's death. He asked to come home from school early today and took him to a restaurant he's been wanting to try out and then took him for a walk at the wildlife refuge. I gave him one of my camera and I took the other one. About half way through we switched cameras, so I'm not sure which one of us actually took the picture. This momma and her babies crossed out path.

04-26-09

I got a new used lens from KEH. It's a 500mm Reflex that was a BGN grade. In case anyone has wondered about buying a Bargin grade, this is the 2nd bargin grade I've ordered from them and they've both been great lenses. Today I went out to the Magee Marsh Wildlife Area to try it out. It's a little tricky finding small song birds with it and it's going to take some practice. Plus having a few hundred other bird watchers in the area didn't help. I'm going to have to try it again either by myself or going to the zoo in a more controlled environment.

04-25-09

My aunt's funeral was today. She died on April 20th from congestive heart failure and cancer. She donated her body to the University of Toledo Medical Center. Even though we asked that no flowers be sent, there were a bunch and my mom was the recipient of them (my aunt's sons said they didn't want them). So Mom asked me to come up and photograph them for her. Even though I did take them on Sunday, I'm going to post them for Saturday in remembrance of my Aunt Nancy.

04-24-09

i saw some really pretty photos that were taken with oil and water. I just got my new macro lens today and thought I'd give it a try. I used a clear pie pan and sat it over a scarf with some wine glasses. I tried some clear votive candle cups, but they were too short and I wanted the scarf out of focus and the "bubbles" in focus, but I ended up with everything in focus. Hence trying the wine glasses. I'm going to have to try it again with a bigger pan and a tripod. I took a bit of experimenting until I figured out I needed to use manuel focus too.

04-23-09

My mom received a bouquet of flowers after my aunt died and wanted me to take a picture of it for her.

04-22-9

My mother gave me some old photos my father had taken on D-day during WWII. He had been in the navy and was on the boats that brought in the marines for the invasion. He never talked about the war until they first gulf war. My mom said one day she had been out and came back home to find him sitting at the kitchen table crying after having watched the gulf war on TV. After he died she found an envelope of pictures in his stuff. Most of the pictures are very small and some are damaged, so I'm am trying to scan them in and enhance them and repair them.

04-18-09

Well another day spent at hospice. I did slip away for a bit and took pictures of some of the foster dogs for Planned Pethood Could the puppies be any cuter. They are cattle dog/JRT mixes. My favorite breeds and no one in there right mind would ever breed two of those dogs together. The bad thing is, even though I listed them as potentially challenging dogs (and not for 1st time dog owners) people seem to want to challenge us on it. People keep wanting to adopt them that live in apartments. They have no idea. The little old chihuahua is being fostered by a friend of mine. She was in one of the pounds that I watch. With all of the events of the last two weeks I couldn't move her and Molly went to the pound and picked her up herself. She's a senior but the sweetest old girl you could ever want. And then back to the hospice. I don't see how she is still holding on. She has hardly ate since she was admitted and she is a naturally thin person anyway. She is still eating and her kidneys are still working. The doctors and nurses tell us that when the kidneys shut down then it will be soon. I walked around a bit today and took some more pictures. Tanner wasn't there today, but the flowers were and the temperature outside was in the high 60's again.

04-17-09

On 4-9 I had my beloved Aunt Nancy admitted to Hospice of NW Ohio So between work, having some kind of upper respiratory cough thing, and visiting my aunt I haven't had much time for anything. Today was a beautiful day with the temperature in the upper 60's. The grounds at the hospice are filled with flowers and wildlife. And in the building there is an endless parade of new bouquets of flowers and potted plants. I took a walk around the grounds with my camera and took some shots. And there is a wonderful therapy dog named Tanner. My aunt's room is right across from the nurses station where Tanner spends most of his time. I got a wonderful shot of him. I'm hoping to have it enlarged for them to display in the building as I've noticed that the only picture of him on display is a snap shot.

04-02-09

Oh, I am so bad at keeping up with this. Yesterday I picked up a beagle from the Ottawa county pound. The received a call about her before Christmas that she was running loose. No one could get near her. The neighbors were all putting out food and water for her as the temperature was sub zero. They even had a trap set for her. They didn't want to dart her because of the risks. Finally they caught her after about a month. There was someone that said they wanted to keep her, but she was in heat and they didn't want her until she was out. So the dog warden agreed to keep her until then. But then once she was out of heat, they didn't want her. By that time the dog warden had become attached to her and named her Ginger Bay, since she was found on the Sandusky Bay and Ginger because it's a cute name. I kept trying to get Planned Pethood to take her into their program, but we already had at 2 female beagles. Finally we were down to only 1, and they agreed to take her. Well it probably helped when I told them how Ginger will cry and has tears coming out of her eyes when she doesn't get her way, be it wanting whatever you're eating or getting out of her kennel. She's a cutie, but in typical beagle fashion all she cares about is smells. When I finally figured out I needed to be between her and the wind, I got a few decent shots of her. It didn't help today it was so windy and her ears were flapping around.