Saying goodbye... and I'm off!!

I'm on the shuttle bus, leaving Corvallis at the moment. I was home for less than48 hours between my conference in Canada and my trip to Cape Town. I was exhausted and barely got the things done that I needed to do before leaving, but I am all packed, and shipping off. My flight isn't for another 11 hours, but I hope to not miss two night's sleep in a row - so tonight I'm off to Portland to sleep in a hotel before my very early flight. I figure 5 hours is better than none. My body will appreciate being horizontal and comfortable - I can dream about it when I'm sleeping sitting up on the plane tomorrow night!

I had a hard time packing, and I feel that I have way too much stuff with me. I tried to only bring the essentials - but I have many different things to pack for this trip so it's hard, plus I'm gone for 5 weeks, so I need a good bit of stuff. I need professional clothes, casual work clothes, going out clothes, hiking clothes, and all this for the Cape Town winter weather - which can range from 50F with cold damp air to 80F and sunny. Then I'm off to Safari in Kruger mid-way through the trip, and in Kruger it is much warmer, so I need summery rugged clothes, but sill warm things for the cool evening.

On top of all the clothes, I have my new camera with accessories, work stuff, fun books to read, and the oddest thing taking up space is a bunch of physics demonstration equipment I'm bringing for one of my friends there. He owes me big time! I hope I'm not over the weight limit!! I'm sure I'm quite close...

I don't yet know where I'm staying tonight. This shuttle is quite comfortable and has internet, so I figured I could take care of it on my way to Portland. I can't believe I'm off in the morning - going far away, for quite a long time. I haven't had such a lengthy trip probably since I went to live in France when I was 18!

My dog-sitter's roommate dropped me off at the shuttle, in conjunction with picking up Audrey. I got to say a long goodbye to her in the parking lot, and tell her what a sweet angle she is. I will miss her like mad. The boys, especially Shadow, were mad to see my suitcases out. Shadow took it out on poor Cirrus. I know the cat sitter will give them good love though.

I will try to post on my blog regularly... Send me emails!!

A good day for little doggies... and me!

Despite getting the bad news about the lymes, today was a good day for Audrey! We started the day working sheep - her absolutely favorite activity! At the sheep barn she bathed in a stock tank, and I asked where to buy them and was told "just up the street!" So I went and bought one for Audrey. A 30 gallon stock tank - basically a dog-sized bath tub! When we got home, I filled it with cool water, and we sat outside. I worked on my hammock and she laid in her little pool, happy as a clam! I had bought her a kiddie pool, but that is very shallow and flimsy - this is much better, and also looks nicer on my porch and takes up less space.

In the evening when the weather had cooled a bit more, we walked up the hill behind my house again. I was so proud of myself because in the fall it used to take me 45 mins round trip to go up that hill and back. Today I did it in 25 minutes including the 3 minute rest break at the top, and furthermore I didn't have to stop to rest at all while climbing! I had narrowed it down to one resting spot, but when I got there today, I took a few breaths and thought - I can do this, I can keep going, and sure enough I did! I think I can still shave a few more minutes off... Boy was a sweaty at the top :)

I saw a guy running those trails on my way down - and I thought, wow, I'm envious! Then I saw a guy walking in the neighborhood huffing and puffing on a slight incline, and I thought - it's all relative, I'm doing fine :) I was actually really proud of myself for being able to help a friend move on Sunday and not having any soreness in my arms on Monday. I feel strong! It's a very nice feeling...

Poor little Audrey... Lymes again!

I felt Audrey seemed a bit "off" when I returned from visiting family - she seemed a bit lethargic, a bit too cuddly, and had an on and off limp. I at first thought that was just a burr stuck in her foot that had aggravated her, but after I removed it this kept happening. I took her to the vet on Monday and being a concerned mom, had her re-checked for lymes. Turns out it's a good thing I did! It has relapsed...

I think she'll have to repeat a long course of antibiotics. Fortunately the pet sitter I have for during my Africa trip is fine with treating her, and will dote on her a lot. She is such a precious dog - she does not deserve to be sick... I am so glad it has not gotten worse - she is showing no serious signs like throwing up, and is still eating and drinking. She is not as bad as she was in the fall. Then again in the fall I had her at the vet ASAP, and this time I don't know how long she's had it.

Please keep her in your heart!!

LOVING my new camera!!

I took a hike yesterday evening to test my camera outside... really the hike was because I told Audrey we were going to the beach and she got SUPER excited, then I looked at the weather report and found it was raining at the beach and decided not to go - and I had to do something! So I took my new camera and a very happy dog up the hill behind my house. I've posted pics from here before - back when I first moved to Oregon. Being outside really shows the power of my new camera - I am VERY satisfied with my selection...

None of these pictures were taken with a tripod. Modern image stabilization is amazing! My old camera had 10x optical zoom but could only go to 5 without a tripod or things were blurry. This one has 18x and does great at full resolution with very crisp photos, then if you reduce the resolution and use the digital zoom is goes to about 115x zoom - and I was able to go nearly to full zoom without a tripod just using the back of a bench to keep my arms steady...

First test that impressed me - taken from my porch, can you see the clump of leaves in the first pic? They're about 2/3's of the way up the tree near the right edge of the 1st photo:











If you think that's good, keep looking... Can you spot the water tower? How about now with the optical zoom?? Then look at the extra detail you get with the digital zoom?





















Can you spot the bird?? How about now? Let me give more help - enhanced zoom :)




























How about the branch? Can you spot it? Here's the progression again!






















I wasn't the only one having fun on the hike - here's my cutie girl:















And here are some of my favorite pics:

Rusty with a drill...

It's either that it has been too long since I've done any household projects, or that I have cupboards made of steal, but I had a bear of a time trying to mount my new under-the-cabinet paper towel holder. This SHOULD have been an easy project...

Four stripped screws and one broken drill bit later, it's finally installed! It only took about 40 minutes!! My vicegrip is still my most favorite tool and saved the day - removing stripped screws and the drill bit that only had a few millimeters sticking out of the wood where it broke - that was a delicate operation!

Maybe I'm warmed up now and can get a lot more done, or maybe I should give up and shorten my to-do list that way!!

Nah... I can do it - I've done so many household repair projects, much more extensive than this little thing. I think it's hard because I don't have easy access to my tools, and I am still thinking about how I want to decorate, so have been reluctant to do much... but I think it's time I make the plunge and move beyond the mostly-moved-in state that I reached last fall, and claim this house as my own...

Testing the new camera

I got the batteries charged on my new camera: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz18/
and tested it out today - very exciting! Here's what it does on normal mode:











here's what it does on the furthest zoom setting my old camera could do (without a tripod):











And here's what this one can do, no tripod, with only optical zoom (notice the fibers and cat hairs!):











Pretty cool, huh?

Here's my first unsuspecting wildlife shot - he never new I was there... (note he's behind the basket in the first pic above - I was still sitting in the same place to take the pic)











Then I can use the additional digital zoom features to go beyond the optical 18x zoom to a max over over 100x zoom - but I could only get to ~50x without serious blurring, so a tripod is needed here. Here's the wild cat at ~70x zoom with no tripod:











Meanwhile miss Audrey was wondering when we could go back outside and enjoy the porch again!











No wonder she likes it out there - I do too, with the new hammock and seating area, and the freshly planted plants:











And last but not least, the other wild animal of the house needed to feature in a photograph, too!

Ahhhh.... SUMMER!

I love unscheduled days. I am currently working from home, on my laptop, out in my hammock, feeling the refreshing breeze and hearing my wind chimes, and seeing my precious dog chew a stick under my feet. The sun comes and goes from the clouds and provides warmth to counter the breeze. A beautiful day, a beautiful view from my hammock, and I don't have to feel guilty because I'm being productive!!

I just bought a new camera - I hope to get back to blogging more regularly, and improving my blog with much needed photos. I have not had a working camera much of this year, so pictures have been sparse...

So much to blog about - my first grad student finishing, getting my first grant, going back to Purdue for a teaching workshop and meeting up with my fun friend I met in Vegas, going home and seeing my precious 3 week old niece, relaxing with family... Then back to Oregon where I've been very social and am very thankful that school is out!!

Many fun things planned this summer - I'll try to keep it posted!