THIS WAS THE WAY OF THE OLD WEST
Tonight's photos are a random sampling of pictures from the day we dropped into RATTLESNAKE CRAFTS near Gleason & Tombstone Arizona this past winter.
SELF PORTRAIT IN A GLASS BALL
With the exception of some weed whacking this morning I didn't get much done around home today but I did get a few things done a whole bunch of miles away.
CHATTING IT UP WITH THE RATTLESNAKE MAN HIMSELF..................... JOHN WEBER
I have been thinking for over a year now about trading my 55-200mm Nikon camera lens in for a new 70-300mm lens. Been watching the prices on a particular lens for quite awhile & finally it went on sale so it was out the door & off to Henry's Camera Store in Masonville Mall, London Ontario this morning. I did have an alternative reason for going as well because yesterday I while on the way to & from London with the mobility van I had spotted a Jeep Wrangler for sale in the little town of Hensall.
MY NEW AF-S VR NIKKOR 70-300 f4.5-5.6 G IF-ED ZOOMERGATOR LENS:)) (fully extended)
AN ANTIQUE BROWSER'S PARADISE
The Jeep turned out to be a 2001 with a ka-zillion million miles on it plus rust spots so that was the end of that. Proceeded on to London. I have blogged before about dealing with some of the 'kids' in retail stores so I didn't go through the door with a lot of optimism going for me. Computer & camera type stores usually have those young wiz bangs behind the counter who no doubt know their 'technical' stuff but don't seem to have a lot tact when dealing with older folks. Luckily, this time I dealt with an older fellow by the name of Mike who didn't talk to me like I was some kind of old homeless geezer who just crawled in off the street & didn't know which end of a camera to look through anyway. I traded in my 55-200 lens plus a 2x Tamron converter. I didn't expect to get much for them.....and I didn't. In retrospect I probably should have kept that lens as a spare because there was nothing wrong with it. It had a lot of miles on it for sure but still worked fine. Like I've said before.....I'm not the brightest crayon in the package sometimes!!
IT WAS JUST NICE TO STAND HERE LISTENING TO ALL THESE HANGING ANTIQUES TINKLING IN THE DESERT WIND
The new 70-300 lens is much bigger than I had expected but that's fine. I'm from the old school where heavier feels better. I know I'm going to love this lens & I'm hoping to get in a bit closer on those bugs & bird shots now.
Leaving the camera store I got the brainwave to head on over to a Stratford Ontario auto dealership that had some Wranglers on the lot. Looked at a couple nice 2007's but the prices were enough to pull your pants down & I could not believe the low ball price the guy offered me for the Caravan. It was $1,300.00 lower than the lowest offer I have had on the van so far.
Headed on back to Bayfield stopping at a few car lots on the way but no Jeeps in sight. Also stopped in Goderich to take that red 2005 TJ for another run. It's a 4 cylinder 6 speed & I like it but Kelly is not keen on it. This is the only place that will take the bike on a trade. Yes, I could maybe get a few more dollars for the motorcycle if I tried selling it myself but I absolutely hate all that 'bargaining & stupid dickering crap' you have to go through with everybody coming to look at whatever your selling. Some people enjoy that BS but I am not one of them. Nothing like haggling over money to bring out the worst in people!!
The big spring rush is over at our front yard bird feeders for another year. Activity is way down as the Cardinals, Blue Jays, Red Breasted Grosbeaks, Orioles, Nuthatches, & others have all but disappeared. Still a few Goldfinches at the feeders, some sparrow type birds & of course the ever present all time front yard scavengers....the squirrels!!
I unplugged our troublesome external hard drive from the desktop computer & hooked it up to our newer Win 7 Toshiba laptop this afternoon & it worked perfect. Re-plugged it back into the desktop tonight using a different USB port this time & so far so good. I'll know when I go to publish this thing in a few minutes. Maybe it's not the X-drive after all. Maybe it's just the color of my socks or something.
NO, THE CACTUS IS NOT FOR SALE!!
I have finally decided to include my SMUG MUG photo gallery on the bottom tag line now. It is nowhere near done, nor will it probably ever be done because I just have way too many thousands of photos to sort through. But, it is a work in progress for sure.
GROANER'S CORNER:(( Suburbia: where they tear out the trees and then name streets after them.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Tourists see the world, travelers experience it......
"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UNAWAKENED"
OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/
OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/ (a work in progress)
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.
I feel the same way you do about haggling and dickering over a price of something. That's why I'm letting my son take care of selling my 5th wheel - he tells me what's been offered and asked about, and I will give the bottom line. Works well and I don't have to talk to people who would think they could make any kind of an outrageous offer to an old lady!
ReplyDeleteWell, you've sure covered a lot of ground in tonight's blog Al. It's hard to know what to comment on first! Anyway, the new lens looks like you may have to put an anchor on your tripod just so it doesn't tip over!! Can't wait to see your first closeups.
ReplyDeleteKeep looking and eventually the perfect little Jeep will show up for you and Kelly.
I can't wait to see pictures, taken by the new lens.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see what you can do with your new lens Al. :)
ReplyDeleteConnie
That is a great looking lens,I'll bet your pictures will also be great, Only trouble with car shopping is the haggling, plus you will have so many miles driven trying to find what you want that it will take a year to catch up. I have to agree with Kelly, at highway speed the mileage differance from a 6 to a 4 doesn't amount to much, but the power increase when you are going UP a mountain road will have you saying, "Honey you were right". We all know how much fun that is. be safe out there. Sam & Donna.
ReplyDeleteMy Wife and I went through the exact process when we came back from Arizona this spring. We wanted a Jeep to take next year with us, and I spent 2 weeks Jeep looking all around Stratford, London and Woodstock Area. We decided on a 2005 Jeep Liberty that we found at J.P. Motors in Burlington. You can see them online. By far, they had the best prices of any we looked at. Had the Jeep 1 month now, and simply love it and can't wait for October to come! Good luck in your Jeep looking! www.rvlifeonwheels.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to believe you could get much closer pictures of the birds and the bees, but I guess we'll soon see. Enjoy the new lens. :)
ReplyDeleteOh I love that gazing ball pic! I remember reading in your blog when you went there for your visit. How cool of a place is that!
ReplyDelete*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Karen and Steve
(Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/