FIRST MOON SHOTS WITH MY NIKON COOLPIX P900

I think word must be getting around in the Squirrel community that Al's got free corn for them over at his place.  Counted four black Squirrels plus a new gray one in the front yard today.  Luckily none of them have been able to get onto our bird station so far.  Not that they haven't been trying because they have and I've seen with my very own smug face their many attempts:))

NO THESE ARE NOT THE SQUIRRELS I WAS TALKING ABOUT.....THESE ARE A TRIO OF FURRY COWS

FURRY COWS WITH MUDDY FEETS THAT IS

Friday's brief heavy afternoon snow fall didn't last long and by the looks of the countryside this morning I think most of it landed in our front yard.  Pheebs and I did one of our usual Jeep routes backwards today so we had a slightly different perspective on things while rolling down the road.  Managed a walk on a dead end road near Kerr's Campground and despite it being cold there was no wind which made the walk doable.

SOME FIELDS HAD A LIGHT DUSTING OF SNOW WHILE OTHER FIELDS WERE TOTALLY SNOW FREE

ALWAYS A NICE PLACE TO WALK BECAUSE WE HAVE NEVER EVER ENCOUNTERED ANYONE

NO WE'RE NOT GOING TO TAKE THE JEEP DOWN THERE

THIS WIND TURBINE KINDA BLENDS IN WITH THIS MORNING'S CLOUDY SKY

Home again I rearranged a couple Christmas lights, burned some trash, and filled up the bird feeders.  Heading out on an afternoon walk with Pheebs I took my Swede saw with me and cut a small pine tree up which the wind had blown down across the path near our Park's pond.  Yes I'm quite the lumberjack alright.

I CUT ABOUT THE TOP TWELVE FEET OF THIS PINE TREE OFF

JUST AROUND THE CORNER FROM OUR HOUSE MACHINES ARE BUSY WHACKING THE FOREST DOWN CLEARING LOTS FOR NEW HOMES

AND THESE ARE SOME OF THE MACHINES DOING THE WHACKING

AT SOME POINT THERE WILL BE HOMES BUILT ALONG BOTH SIDES OF THIS NEW ROAD....OUR PLACE IS WAY UP THERE ON THE LEFT NEARLY AT THE END

While out after supper tinkering with the Christmas lights I noticed a small steadily moving light in the sky and recognized it right away as the International Space Station.  It was traveling west to east in the northern sky.  While watching it cross the sky I saw another smaller and dimmer moving light and I recognized that as a probable satellite but here's the odd thing......that probable satellite was on the same track as the ISS following it about 30 degrees behind.  If I knew the ISS's phone number I'd have given them a call (okay so I would have had Kelly call them) and said, "Hey I think somethings following you guys".  Also while outside I noticed the three quarter Moon through our tall pine trees and with all our cloudy weather we've had for quite awhile it was a joy to see the actual Moon again.  Bit of haze in the air but I headed inside right away and grabbed my Nikon Coolpix P900 and a tripod.  Only had few minutes to set things up before the Moon slid behind more pine trees.  I had been looking forward to this moment ever since getting the camera.  The CP900 has a special setting for Moon shots so I simply clicked onto that, zoomed right up to the Moon and got off six shots.  Despite my clumsy fumbling around out in the freezing cold I was pleased with my first Moon shot effort with this camera.  In fact even I had a big slice of the 'WOW' factor going on when I saw what this camera can really do.  First image is zoomed right up to the Moon and is as the camera saw it and the second two images I cropped in much closer with my editing program.  Despite the crop I was 'WOWED' again when the images held together reasonably well.  With a little tweaking on my camera settings I'm sure I can get even better images so I do have to admit I am a little excited about that.  You can see my first CP900 Moon shots at the end of the post just ahead of Groaner's Corner.

HERE'S KELLY ABOUT EIGHT THIRTY THIS MORNING WORKING ON HER LIGHTS

WORKERS JUST DOWN THE ROAD FROM US PUTTING A ROOF ON A PIG BARN

'BRRRRRRR' THOSE GUYS HAD TO BE COLD

::Al's Favs:: Katja by Cantoma

::Foibles & Fumbles::  From a post written April 27th 2008:: Have you ever had a pine tree sneak up on you when you weren't looking. Happened to me last Saturday morning. I had walked out to the motorhome to unplug the electric cord because I intended to move the rig ahead about 20 feet to wash it. Opened the bin door, unplugged the cord, turned around & laid it on ground. Did you just catch my mistake!! I turned my back on an open bin door therefore making it a non existent open bin door. Kelly came out of the house with the dogs for our morning walk & off I went.  Upon returning I hopped into the motorhome, started it up, took a quick glance in the mirrors (no such thing as a quick glance!!) slapped it in drive & motored ahead. There is something about the sound of crunching & tearing metal that just kind of takes your stomach out on ya. You know you have just done something bad alright & by the sound of it there is probably going to be a costly repair involved somewhere. I knew there was no need to panic because whatever it was I screwed up would be out there waiting for me. I hazarded a look in my drivers side mirror & yup, there it was alright. A pine tree had sneaked up alongside the motorhome when I wasn't looking & all but tore off my (open) bin door. Trees will do that to motorhomes sometimes. But, I never thought a tree was smart enough to open the bin door first before attempting to wrench it right off the coach. After all, I had closed it...right??
Took my sick feeling stomach with me & exited the coach, walked around behind the motorhome to the drivers side. The bin door was twisted at an upward angle with all the apparent & appropriate damage of course. Took it in my hands to try & twist it down but the whole door just came right off leaving an open & gaping electrical bin hole. The whole upper hinge mechanism was torn & twisted. Torsion bar hanging askew, body flange bent, etc. etc. Amazingly enough the bin door itself was still intact. Wasn't twisted or bent, & no paint missing but that still didn't alleviate that awful feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you've just screwed up by not seeing a pine tree sneak up on you. I remember my Dad having a brand new Honda generator years ago at his cottage, leaving it behind the car, & then promptly backing over it. The look on his face that day was the same look I had on my face last Saturday morning!!
No point in me trying to fix it because I'm still attending my 4th year night school class on how to change a light bulb. We have an auto body repair shop near us so Monday morning I took the rig over there & left it with the professionals. Picked it up Tuesday afternoon all fixed up but I'm too embarrassed to tell you how much that tree cost me. Let's just say it took a huge bite out of our income tax return this year.
Kelly was quick to point out to me that things like that don't happen to her. I was quick to point out to her that's because she never drives the motorhome or moves it around. She quickly pointed out to me that maybe it was about time she did!! Case closed:((

THIS IS THE REPAIRED BIN DOOR ON OUR 2003 DAMON CHALLENGER AND THERE IS THE PINE THAT SNUCK UP AND TORE IT OFF 

FOCAL LENGTH 571mm - 1/1000 OF A SEC - F6.5 - ISO 800

'WOWSERS:))'

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A family had twin boys whose only resemblance to each other were their looks. Opposite in every way, one was an eternal optimist, the other a doom and gloom pessimist.
Just to see what would happen, on Christmas day their father loaded the pessimist’s room with every imaginable toy and game. The optimist’s room he loaded with horse manure.
That night the father passed by the pessimist’s room and found him sitting amid his new gifts crying bitterly.
“Why are you crying?” the father asked.
“Because my friends will be jealous, I’ll have to read all these instructions before I can do anything with this stuff, I’ll constantly need batteries, and my toys will eventually get broken.” answered the pessimist twin.
Passing the optimist twin’s room, the father found him dancing for joy in the pile of manure. “What are you so happy about?” he asked.
To which his optimist twin replied, “There’s got to be a pony in here somewhere!”
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- What do you call someone who can’t stick with a diet?  A desserter.

- When you die at 72, no matter what you die of, its natural causes. Even if you get hit by a truck, its natural causes. Cause if you was younger, you would have got out of the way.

-  “Christmas is in my heart twelve months a year and thanks to credit cards, it’s on my Visa card statement twelve months a year also.”
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