The Last Picture! Oh?

March 3, 2014 Timothy PriceLeave a comment

These photos of Beaker are the last pictures I’ll ever take…

…with my first digital camera, that is — an old Olympus C-5050. I was testing the telephoto attachment to make sure it was still sharp before I put the camera and accessories on the auction block. The last photo shows the camera with all the accessories I used with it. The Olympus C-5050 was my only camera from 2003 to 2009. I sold all my film cameras soon after buying the C-5050 in 2003, then 6 years later, I bought a Lumix L10 body with a 28-100mm zoom lens in October 2009. The Olympus C-5050 served me well for all those years, but I hadn’t touched it for over 5 years, until today when I got it out and tested it to see if it was still working. It worked great, and will soon have a new home.

Coffee Art

March 2, 2014 Timothy Price5 Comments

After photographing the sunrise filtering through the dust and mist the other morning, I was inspired to accidentally create a work of coffee art on edge of the counter.

Put Down that Camera and Let Me In

March 1, 2014 Timothy Price13 Comments

Need I say more?

Cat Games

February 26, 2014 Timothy Price16 Comments

While I was playing with Rosencrantz by the end of the bed, Guildenstern walked up to the edge of the bed and grabbed the stick out of my hand. He held it there while Rosencrantz watched for him to move it. When Guildenstern didn’t wiggle the string, Rosencrantz looked up at him like “Are you going to do something?” At which point Guildenstern attempted to wiggle the string, but the pole dropped from his thumbless paws. He grabbed for it, but it finally ended up on the floor.

Fill ‘er Up

February 21, 2014 Timothy Price5 Comments

The obligatory stop to fill ‘er up.

Sleeping In

February 20, 2014 Timothy Price4 Comments

While I got up bright an early, Diné and Rosencrantz chose to sleep in.

Rise & Shine with Rosencrantz

February 19, 2014 Timothy Price7 Comments

Sunrise poured light through the window, prompting Rosencrantz to rise, shine and model for me.

Retro Tech

February 18, 2014February 18, 2014 Timothy Price7 Comments

In our reorganization, Laurie pulled out a lot of old equipment. This 4th Generation iPod and DLO iBoom are a couple of the gems we’ve had around for awhile because they are now obsolete for our purposes because we have newer computers and iPhones. While the Gen 4 iPod and iBoom are only 10 years old, they might as well be 100. The iPod/iBoom combination produces fine, loud audio, and has a nice retro tech look, but while Gen 5 and newer iPods and iPhones up to the iPhone 5 will plug into the dock on the iBoom, they will not play. I suspect they don’t have enough power to drive the system. The Gen 4 iPod is thick, clunky and power hungry compared to the thin, more elegant iPod touches and iPhones. So these classic pieces are now a retro tech couple, united until death does them part.

Catio Concrete

February 17, 2014 Timothy Price11 Comments

It’s not really concrete, but a cement top coat used for refinishing concrete surfaces. The refinishing cement is really intended for fairly smooth slabs, but the slab in the catio is very rough concrete, so getting a really smooth top coat didn’t happen.

A lone leaf decided it needed to break in the new cement floor, since I have the cats locked out of the catio while the cement cures. In the second photo, there are three dominant shades of gray. I mixed the first batch of cement following the instructions exactly, and the mixture ended up being too thick, so while it poured out of the bucket, it started setting up almost immediately, making it difficult to spread, and almost impossible to smooth as per the instructions (it’s the darkest shade of gray along the back wall).

I made the second batch soupier than the first, but I got it a little too soupy, so it spread thinner than I wanted it to (lighter shade of gray in the middle). On the third batch I got the mixture figured out so it spread well at the thickness I needed, and I was able to get it a little smoother (middle shade of gray in the foreground). I used the same mixture for the the next 8 batches needed to cover the entire slab. I also ended up spreading and smoothing the cement on my hands and knees with a hand trowel. Our air is so dry here, that even the wetter mixtures started setting up as soon as I poured them out of the bucket, making it difficult to spread with the 18 inch-wide cement spreader the instructions suggested I use.

While I was photographing the new floor, I noticed my little chainsaw and level on a bonsai shelf made a nice composition. The last two photos are the candles we have behind the couch in the sunroom unlit and lit.