Project 365 - Day 23

Snow day!  (Finally! We have had a really lean snow year so far, so it was nice to see almost a foot of snow in the driveway this morning.  Well, nice for those of us who don't have to clear the driveway....)

I took out my Olympus Tough little camera, as I don't think either of the Panasonics is weather-sealed.  (The Olympus is what I used in the pool with Fi, so I knew snow wouldn't be an issue!)  I didn't take any time to re-remember how to use it, so it took me a bit to find the right settings...

Not the right settings.  But one of the few snowplow photos I've gotten, ever.

The Donner Party was well-equipped for the walk with pants and boots, and even the humans were appropriately dressed.

And I did take a few photos that could have been in black and white...

Dad, I took this one for you. I thought you would appreciate someone who decided their car wasn't going to make it up the hill in the snow, and so just left it here.  Seemed both Jeddah-like (other than the snow) and the Minnesota "can't make it up the driveway, so can't make it work" thing!

Here's something you don't see everyday; the snowplow had slid off the road and into a ditch, just below our house. It had to be pulled out of the ditch by a tow truck for trucks.  You really don't see snowplows off the road too often.

When we got home, some of us had to clear the driveway...

And the back deck...

And some of us watched from inside!

Project 365 - Day 22

I didn't really see much on the walk that grabbed me - and one of the photos of the pebbles on larger rocks that might have been interesting was interrupted when another dog walked by, and the girls had to go all nutty at the dog, so that was that.

There was a cool moment with the sun and the clouds, though, as we were heading back down the hill.

Before the storm came in.

By the time I finished work, it started to snow. We might actually get a decent snowfall out of this.

I think some of why I didn't really see much of interest on the morning walk was that I was thinking too much about all the work I had to do today.

Remote shutter release with my phone (I'm working in my "emergency backup office" as Gary wanted to play his guitar - and he's got the laptop I use in the upstairs office because his is out for repairs). 

In case you were curious, the serious face was brought about by yet more competing outcomes analysis (the competing outcomes being death, transplant, explant, and no-event survival for left ventricular assist device (LVAD) patients; it's not appropriate to just compare to look at "dead v. undead" when looking at mortality).

At least before work and walkies, I got in my daily yoga.

This morning's yoga included a child's pose. And yes, this is actually quite comfortable!

Project 365 - Day 21

My new to me camera arrived yesterday, and while I haven't made much progress with the user manual, the camera is similar enough to the other one I have that I could get started.  We didn't see any moose or other wildly far away things, but it was still fun to play around with.

The back country ski hill (not much snow since the last time I photographed this hill, so it's probably the same tracks from the last time.)

I felt that an "Oliver, who is playing the fife?" moment was totally appropriate today.

And I got a few photos of the beasts.

I've seen this movie before, but it never gets old!

Seriously, it's like the Blues Brothers. I can watch this all the time!

And since Noom, the lifestyle/behavioral change app I've been using to lose weight, suggested I take a photo of food, and we just got a bunch of grapes, here are some grapes for your viewing pleasure!

Only one day in, but I think this new-to-me camera will be a option for dog walks - it is really nice to be able to zoom in on things!

Project 365 - Day 20

As of yet, I am unable to photograph this particular thistle weed thing, as I see it in my mind's eye.  But, I like a challenge.

Meh.

Not exactly any better in black and white....

As for other sights, this was the only moose we saw on the walk today!  (Well, there were other metal moose out there, too, but I figured this one was new to you!)

Moose are a big decorative theme around here.  No great surprise.

And while I was working today, Larry came by and put in some much taller temporary fencing, because our darling children could jump over the current fence and go up the hill and find all the burrs that aren't covered with snow (not hard, as we have almost no snow right now) and discover new and exciting sources of mud.  With the taller temporary fencing (it will become more permanent temporary fencing once the snow melts - assuming we ever actually get snow), the kids have been let loose together in the backyard again.

Which means... bitey-face!

Yay for taller fences!

Project 365 - Day 19

I actually had a couple of photos in mind when we started out on the walk today; I wanted to photograph the weed I saw yesterday (lots of prickly things, all dried out, against the snow), and some telemark skis that someone uses (I think) to mark the sides of their driveway (most people in this part of the neighborhood have plastic or metal poles to show the snowplows where the edge of the road is, but I think these people use the skis for that).

The weed photo totally didn't come out the way I saw it yesterday, so I'm going to have look at it again tomorrow to see if I can see it the way it caught my eye the other day.  But, because we got out a bit later (I had a 7:30am meeting), the aspens had a bit more sun behind them.

Still not quite how I saw it in my mind's eye, but pretty.

For the photo of the skis, I couldn't decide if I wanted just a black and white photo, or more of a sepia thing.  (When I see these skis, even though they aren't ancient skis, I see photos out of my History of Skiing collection of books.) 

I'm still not sure which I like better.

For reference, here's the same photo in color.

When we got home, I had piles and piles of work to do, so when I quit for the day, I though some Super Snooter Shooter photos of the girls was in order.

Daisy has a perfect head lift for optimal snooter size!

Oh, and since I had the super-wide angle lens out, I thought I'd show you our house, and the neighbors up the hill! 

My new-to-me telephoto camera is supposed to arrive tomorrow afternoon, so I'm looking forward to scoping out Far Away Things!

Project 365 - Day 18

Yeah, so, today was one of those days. I was tired on the walk today, and not much really grabbed my eye (although I did see a weed that looks really interesting for tomorrow - unless the winds take it out this evening), but the whole snow/cloud thing is always worth a shot.  

There's snow in them thar hills! Actually, there was snow in our hills, too!

Anyway, after the walk, I had to do some work.  One of the Fellows (an MD specializing in Cardiology) I had done some work for almost 2 years ago decided he finally had time to write up the full manuscript and wanted me to look at the data again.  (And before you wonder why it took so long, he's continuing his training in the Bronx, and well, COVID happened.)  Because I have several more projects that have pressing deadlines, and I knew as soon as I revisited the project from 2 years ago that I had learned a better way to do the analysis since when I had first done it, and so basically had to start from scratch.  (Yippee...  Actually, it's an interesting project.) While I knew I wasn't going to get everything done today, I needed to get a start on it so I could show the Fellow I was making progress (and explain the better analysis) while not dropping the other projects I've got going.

So, I worked most of today.  I wasn't really sure about the snowy/cloudy mountain photo, so I looked around at all the guitar stuff, and this is something (don't ask me what - ask Gary) that could make for some interesting photographs if I find interesting angles.

But I had dogs that expected to be taken out and fed, so not a lot time for interesting angles.

"Hey, um, Mom. Is dinner going to be coming any time soon, or do I need to learn how to open the fridge?"

"Look into my eyes. You will feed me dinner. You will feed me dinner now."

So, yeah, dogs and dinner took priority.  And if you want to know what I was working on, there's this. It needs to be re-worked, but competing outcomes analysis is handy when you are interested in more than just whether someone is dead or alive (simple survival analysis).

Technically not a photograph, but there you have it.

Project 365 - Day 17

Today's walk was a bit hurried, so I only got one photo - some haze in the valley.

Since that didn't really grab me, I thought I'd try to get some dog photos.  My yoga area gets nice light in the mid-morning this time of year, so I thought I'd bring the dogs up there.

Apparently I wasn't going to actually do any yoga. Unless I wanted to use the dog bed...

Yep, they aren't moving without serious bribery.

Hai. I have heard you have snacks. I like snacks.

And since she has such pretty eyes, I couldn't resist.

Hmm. Clearly I need better snacks.

I provided better snacks, and thought I'd do a little yoga.  Daisy apparently thought she would help.  (This is not what assistance looks like.)

But I thought the photo was sort of interesting. And when I went into extended child pose, this was an interesting view of my feet. And since the whole goal is to look at things from a new perspective, this definitely fits the bill!

This is what the pose looks like - not my photo, taken from the doyogawithme.com website

And then I was just goofing around (hence the silly smile), and was shocked that this photo actually turned out!  (Daisy is clearly non-plussed, as there were no snacks immediately provided.)

Project 365 - Day 16

No moose photos today, as both moose (our neighborhood moose) were close enough that they wanted to keep an eye on the dogs (although not so close that the dogs were bugging the moose). 

But speaking of not being close enough, I have decided that since I see lots of things on the walk that are farther away than my current little camera can zoom into, I used some AmEx rewards points (thanks, solar panels for giving us lots of rewards points!) to get a new-to-me Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS100.  The little camera I have right now is a Lumix DMC-LX10.  So, the new-to-me camera is in the same family of little cameras, but it has a 10x optical zoom, so 27-270mm compared to the 3x optical zoom my current camera has.  

I'm not going to get rid of my current camera - my current camera has a maximum aperture of f/1.4, which I really like, while the telephoto little camera only has a maximum aperture of f/2.8.  For close in stuff, the current little camera is going to be better, but for the "interesting stuff up on the hillside photos" the telephoto camera will be better.  Which camera will I carry with me more often? I'm not sure - I'll have to see how much I like the telephoto camera - but I'll probably switch between the two.  We'll see. If I don't like the telephoto camera, I'll send it back.  Hopefully I'll have the camera late this upcoming week, and then maybe you'll start seeing some zoomed-in, rather than cropped-in photos of faraway things!

In the meantime, here's a some close-in pebble on a rock.  I don't doubt that the pebbles were there on purpose, but I didn't think a lot about the composition - I was a little worried that one of our moose friends might sneak up on us.

I actually like this one the best, with the hill and the mountains and sky in the background, but my father has been suggesting that I play around with different cropping, so here's the original, and then there is this same photo cropped different, and a different photo also cropped in more closely.

I think the sky and mountains give it context, but the whole point of this exercise is to play around with new things.

A closer-in crop.

And closer crop with a different photo.

Not everything needs a telephoto lens!

And this corner on our loop always catches my eye, particularly when we have sunlight filtered through clouds. I'm not sure the photo does it justice, but I won't ever get it if I don't try!