The new camera did not show up today due to reasons. It doesn’t really matter. Even so, I am excited. Tomorrow will be a fine day for it.
I spent today with our youngest working on her report on Cone Snails in the local public library. We got help using the computerized car catalogue, and found no books on her topic, but I showed her that even so, there were adjacent books that had little tidbits of information for her, such as a book called Venom, which included a little bit about the Cone Snail for it being one of the more dangerous animals on earth, and another book about Mollusks which had two and a half pages of photos of different Cone Snails and their individual species names. That gave us some good direction to go forward on Google if nothing else. For a small local library whose religios section is much bigger than its science section, we at least got that much after the librarian herself gave up on finding anything on the shelves to help us.
Also due tomorrow is a new range. We really could use it. It will have five hobs rather than four, with two being a combination that I will be able to put a griddle on. I am super excited for this upgrade! A decent cook surface for the griddle and three hobs! Look out world! There is a double oven, too. As we have a wall oven across from where this is going to go, this too is super exciting! The oven arrangement consists of a small pizza-like oven on top, and a full oven below. Put this with the other, and we going to be cooking fools this year!
Okay, so that is materialism covered. Onto the things to DO with material goods. Especially as things never last. I have some cleaning to do in the barn as soon as it dries out in front of it. I also have a few things to move into it to clear space in my shop. Once that is done, and I can get some cleanup done in there, I think I need to organize my tools and start off the shop work with a few photos with the new camera. I’d like to immortalize what I think it is supposed to be arranged like, then after a year or two of use, do it again with a bit of wear and tear on it, and things arranged where use has shown them to want to be. Also, I want to really see how photogenic my handtool workshop is. I have a thougth that once I get thigns going in there, I will be taking some photos of projects in process.
The fields around the house are draining out. Hopefully that will produce dry land in our yard soon, and the mud will finally go away. I have a sawmill that wants setting up so I can get to work on collecting wood and getting it into the drying rack, and some green wood into the shop. I am very eager to get the year’s firewood collection going, and logs for sawyering. The tractor is going to make such a huge difference on the heavy work! The one thing that is going to possibly present a challenge is that I could REALLY do with building sheds to put the firewood stacks into to dry. Let’s see what we can get to saw into long-ish beams to build with!
So that’s about where today and its excitement sits. It is extra exciting over the last time I got set into a new camera back in England. Then it was a Nikon with a DX sensor, at about 12MP, and I got a lens that I thought would hold me over till I could get a decent one. You know, a low end kit type lens. I did pick up a couple of relatively inexpensive primes over the years, but I never got any real decent ones. Not this time, buddy. One does not fool around like that with a 45MP FX camera. There is no room for it, as any imperfection in the glass is going to show. So I have a small compliment of lenses coming that will cover 14 – 200mm. The top zoom lens is a little bit of a compromise as it will only stop down to f/4. But I am 2.8 all the way below 70mm. Also, one of my old primes is a 50mm fx, so it will compliment the camera nicely. I think it is a 1.8. Oh yeah! Now, a fella could be left wanting at this point, but not for much, and he could make a living with what’s in the bag. So watch for some results coming soon! I still have that robust tripod from my Hasselblad days, and lights to work near power with, when needed, such as those woodshop photos. I also have a beauty dish that has not got many miles on it. There’s things to do!
I’ll leave it for now. But the thrill of the ride of life is going up this year, I think. With the years ahead shortening, it is good to think I can up the throttle a little bit. Maybe make a living off this stuff!