My bedroom window faces east & I love how for a few nights each month part of my bed is bathed in Moonlight just prior to, during, & after a full Moon. For the rest of each month I can clearly see stars high overhead through my window right from my pillow. For me that is kinda special.
TOOK THESE 4 PHOTOS WITH MY TELESCOPE LENS THIS MORNING
Thankfully our cloud cover broke this morning & my body immediately began absorbing old Sol’s energizing rays. I used both my arms to tightly grip my right leg & twist it around behind me far enough to give myself a good swift motivational kick in the ass. That did the trick & I immediately loaded up my wheelbarrow with garden tools & tackled my cactus gardens which I had pretty much neglected since arriving here back in early October. I not only re-dug & re-scuffled 4 existing cactus beds but I’ve also started digging in a couple new ones. I like when I get inspired to do things like that. But I do sometimes need that good swift kick in the pants to get me going.
NOW IF WE COULD ONLY AFFORD TO FILL THESE BEDS UP WITH SOME NICE CACTUS PLANTS
One of the reasons I couldn’t get myself interested in doing any more creative yard work around here the past couple months was simply because we had been talking a fair bit the last few months about selling our Congress house. With that thought in the back of my mind I hadn’t been able to keep my interest up about doing things around the yard anymore. Selling the house would of course put us back in boondocking mode & we’re not so sure we would enjoy it as much as we did a few years ago. I have a feeling our best boondocking days are behind us. A few things have changed since 2012 & we now have to take those things seriously into consideration when contemplating future plans. One of those things unfortunately is health issues & we may not be traveling around as much as we once did.
Temecula Valley RV called today saying our Magnum inverter was repaired & being shipped to Solar Mike’s place Wednesday. But here’s something we didn’t like. They told us last week the problem with the inverter was the control board & it needed a new one. Ok that’s fine & we were happy it wasn’t the FET board because that board is more expensive. Today they told us the inverter also needed a new FET (I have no idea what FET means) board as well. Kelly called Magnum & Magnum said that was highly unusual to replace both boards at once. Only a 20% chance that could happen they said. Kelly called Temecula back & they gave her some long drawn out techno answer. Only saving grace here is that they gave us a substantial discount on both boards. I checked the on-line reviews tonight on Temecula Valley RV & OMG the majority of reviews were not good!!!! In hindsight we are thinking we should have just gone to Phoenix a month ago & had this whole inverter problem taken care of there. Sometimes we get lucky in making right decisions & sometimes we just don’t.
Depending on Solar Mike’s schedule we may head out for Slab City Thursday or Friday. Or maybe next Monday. We’re just waiting right now for Mike to get back to us as to when he can re-install our inverter & check over our system to make sure everything is up & running properly.
I HAVE THIS CACTUS BED ABOUT ONE THIRD DUG
I thought Ed from The Peregrinating Graybeard summed up my thoughts very well in a comment on my Mondays post about ‘rarely & frequently. You can read his summation in the comment section of yesterday’s post.
HAVE ABOUT HALF OF THIS LARGER BED DUG IN & YOU CAN SEE THE LINE IN THE DIRT TO THE LEFT LEADING INTO THE FOREGROUND I HAVE YET TO DIG
All the information about my cameras & lenses is on my sidebar to the right near the bottom. A reader Monday asked what camera & telescope/lens I use for my bird photos so in this paragraph I will answer that. In the past weeks I have been using my oldest Nikon camera which is a D40. To that camera I have attached a Nikkor 75-300mm zoom lens & all the recent bird photos were taken at a full 300mm hand held meaning no tripod. A few days ago I set up my Nikon D3100 with my 80mm Stellarvue Nighthawk refractor telescope using an Orion adaptor to connect camera to telescope. This is a heavy metal astronomy telescope & built like a tank. It has to be on a tripod. This telescope/camera combination is not as versatile or easy to use as my 75-300 lens so I do not use it often. I took a batch of bird photos with the telescope lens this morning but was again not happy with the results so I am back to using my 75-300mm lens only this time with my Nikon D3100. I’m always switching cameras & lenses around.
MY CAMERA/TELESCOPE LENS IS 20’ FROM THE FEEDER & WHEN I USE MY 75-300mm LENS I AM ABOUT 15’ FROM THE FEEDER
THIS HOLLOW 2 INCH ORION EXTENSION TUBE ADAPTOR CONNECTS THE CAMERA TO THE TELESCOPE
THIS IS MY FAVORITE 75-300mm NIKKOR LENS, IT’S A WORKHORSE & DOES ALL MY BIRD PHOTOS & PRETTY WELL ALL MY FLOWER PHOTOS & CLOSE-UPS AS WELL…THIS IS THE LENS THAT WAS ON MY D50 WHEN IT FELL OFF A TABLE ONTO A CONCRETE PORCH…THIS TOUGH LENS SURVIVED THE FALL BUT MY NIKON D50 DID NOT
MY 80mm REFRACTOR STELLARVUE NIGHTHAWK TELESCOPE ATTACHED TO MY NIKON D3100
A reader enquired about the BLACK RAPID camera strap I use & like so much so I took a few photos of that as well today. It’s a Curve RS7. I carry my camera & heavier 75-300mm lens on this strap. It allows me to carry the heavier weight with the strap over my shoulder & not around my neck. In fact I carry both cameras over my shoulders & never hang a camera strap around my neck. Don’t like that pulling feeling plus it’s much easier to control camera swing if the camera is not around my neck. Both my DSLR’s ride on my hips just like 6 guns & it’s not much different from reaching down & pulling a quick draw with the camera up to my face & quickly shooting at a running deer or soaring Hawk.
MY ‘BLACK RAPID’ CAMERA STRAP SHOULDER PAD…I CARRY A CLEANING CLOTH & SMALL BLOWER BRUSH IN THE POCKET UNDER THE ‘R’
STRAP CAN QUICKLY BE TAKEN OFF CAMERA WITH THIS HINGED CONNECTER
Boy I sure cheesed off the bird’s this morning. A lot of them around the feeder early on so when I decided to change cameras I took down the bird feeder while I was in the house. Cameras & lenses changed I headed back out & put the feeder back up. Didn’t want all those birds eating up the birdseed when I wasn’t there with my camera. Set my camera up, got comfortable in my chair & waited for the birds to come back. I waited & waited & waited. Yep, they were cheesed off alright. So much so that I never saw a single bird at that feeder for the rest of the day. Oh Dear I can be such a cheapskate sometimes. Generally I leave the feeder up all day but I just must have been in one of my momentary Scrooge moods:((
THE REASON I DON’T PUT NAMES TO ALL THE BIRDS IS SIMPLY BECAUSE I DON’T KNOW WHAT A LOT OF THEM ARE…I’M GUESSING THIS IS A FEMALE SOMETHING
GROANER’S CORNER:)) A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts: "Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?" The man below says, "Yes you're in a hot air balloon, hovering 30 feet above this field." "You must work in Engineering or Information Technology," says the balloonist. "I do," replies the man. "How did you know." "Well," says the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but it's no use to anyone." The man below says, "you must be a Program Manager." "I am," replies the balloonist, "but how did you know?" "Well," says the man, "you don't know where you are, or where you're going, but you expect me to be able to help. You're in the same position you were before we met, but now it's my fault."
Al, I had to chuckle when you said 'I think it's a female something or other' When we were at Sonita Creek last spring and I was captaining the pontoon boat tours, I would tell the 'Birders' two things, they all taste like chicken and everything I know about birds I learned at KFC or Popeye's. Good thing we had a Birding tour guide on board.
ReplyDeleteThe cactus gardens look really good. When you are making future plans health issues have to be the first consideration, sad as it might be. The good thing is you have a neat house no matter where you are,
ReplyDeleteI remember when I had a 1970 Chevy Malibu, had a distributor in it. I thought I would save like $5 by just putting in new points and not a new condenser....bad decision because the new points increased the amount electricity coming through the system and the old condenser fried in no time at all. That time I put in new points, condenser and distributor cap. Don't know if the inverter "Might" have same type of problem which is why they wanted to change both, or if they want more $$$$ out of you. Either way, be sure to ask Solar Mike to check it out and make sure both are new. Sure enjoy your bird pictures, and sure hope Kelly is doing better. --Dave (GoingRvWay.com)
ReplyDeletehad a laugh re:- bird seed....like blackmailing the birds!! LOL anyhow whatever works it does supply great pics..doesn't the cactus grow like weeds...if you break of a piece and plant?? .cheers Lesalp.blogspot.com.au
ReplyDeleteI didn't think your bird pictures couldn't get any better. But I love that first one.
ReplyDeleteOh, I don't know how you both could tear yourself away from that gorgeous place.The flowerbeds are just beautiful.
Hope that inverter works better than new for you.
ReplyDeleteGardens are looking wonderful.
You have to make your own decisions, but thoese of us who are "arm chair counsellors" would hate to see you sell the Congress house. .IMO if you need to sell anything it should be the RV. The house is a safe, warm place. If Kelly isn't up to boondocking, you can just take a short ride into the desert. If she needs to stay closer to her Canadian doctors for a winter, perhaps you could rent it out. Your yard work has been an outlet and a pleasure to you. You know that yhe summers will always set you back, but I sense you enjoy the challenge. Keep the house. You can drive a car down or take a plane. You know it would break your heart to give it up. Just my opinion. You will do what is best in your own time.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that is a hard decision on whether to sell the Congress house, plus a mental strain. That is a great house and a great location. Those cactus beds look great. Is it safe to assume that the ground is soft enough there is not a lot of problems digging up that much dirt? Good luck on the inverter.
ReplyDeleteI have never stopped missing my house in North Carolina, but times change, we age a bit, and the health issues overtake us. What we can do is give it our all, whatever life we are living, and then gracefully move on to the next stage. I think it is difficult for most of us who love to travel, change our scenery, and move on at a whim, to be stuck in one spot, but it unavoidable sometimes. I really wish you the best in whatever you do and wherever life takes you and Kelly.
ReplyDeleteFET means Field Effect Transistor.... The board controlls the amount of power coming out of the inverter.. FETs are very sensitive to static electricity.. It is quite possible that some kind of a surge, like lightning, killed both of the boards in your inverter.. At least your Magnum inverter is repairable... many are not, requiring complete replacement..
ReplyDeletePretty sure she's a "LGB" (little gray bird). We have several of them in our trees as well :-) Bummer about the bad reviews and sketchy explanation on the additional board. I'm sure you'll let Solar Mike know about both as he must do regular business with them.
ReplyDeleteYou two will do what you need to do when you need to do it, but I know it can weigh down the spirit when change is in the back of your mind. Regardless of the final decision, playing in the dirt is always a good idea :-)
It must be fun to be such a camera buff and have all these choices. I just have my two point and shoot cameras. One sits inside the rig, and one fits in my pocket. For some of us, less is certainly more. But some day...
ReplyDeleteAs usual your Groaner's Corner gave me a laugh. I can always count on that.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot - I'll bet if you sell the house you'll find your buyer right here on the blog. If I had the money, I'd buy it in a New York Minute. I LOVE your house. :)
Your Congress house is a keeper. Even the Pack Rats and Skunks know that. I like the way it is so remote, yet just around the hill from a town. I suspect your new neighbors barking dog gang has a lot to do with your sell the house feelings.
ReplyDeleteGreat bird pics and funny story about being cheap on food and running off your birds.