Day 137 - Not Too Loud Enough

no guitar amps

Before I start, I'd just like to remind you that this is Andy's fault.  

Seriously...blame him!

If you're not blaming him yet, I reckon you might be by the end...

Andy's question was (as I'm interpreting it) broadly about how you can get a decent guitar sound in the house, without annoying the neighbours. 

This probably sounds like a silly question - there's a volume knob, right?

(by the way, gecko poo...you know who I'm talking to...)

But it's not that simple... 

The guitar produces a very small, clean signal.  Guitar amps were originally valve amps, which use vacuum tubes to amplify this signal to a level sufficient to drive a speaker, producing a sound loud enough for us to hear.    

When driven through an amplifier at relatively low "gain", an electric guitar sounds smooth and clear - think Hank Marvin (and the Shadows).

However, if you increase the gain up to the point where the valve can no longer cope with it, the signal starts to break up.   In valve amps this signal degradation happens in a smooth, warm way, and if you continue to increase the gain, the signal becomes fuzzy...think Jimi Hendrix on Purple Haze or Voodoo Chile.

Keep applying more gain and you eventually get into Heavy Metal territory.

To keep things simple, I'll just say that gain is closely related to volume...you can only get this overdrive effect by turning the amp right up...and valve amps are loud!!

Many professional guitarists would use amps as large as 1-200 Watts.

I have a 30 Watt valve amp, and it's literally unusable in the house!

In order to drive the valves, you need to apply some power...the net effect of which is that the amp makes almost no noise until you turn it up to about 2, and then it's suddenly so loud it seems like the windows might break. 

So how can we get this tone without the volume, for use at home?   The short answer (you'll be relieved to know) is digitally!

There is an ongoing debate over the merits of digital versus analogue signal processing, but if you look at the quality of, say a video on your smartphone, it gives you an idea of how far digital media has advanced over recent years.  The same is true of sound processing, of course, and I think it's fair to say the quality of digital systems is very high now, and it takes an expert ear to detect a difference. 

What this means to me is that I can use a Guitar Effects Processor to fake this fuzzy, over-driven sound before I amplify it, then I can just use normal levels of gain and volume, and get very similar tone to what you'd get from a large'n'loud valve amp. 

From the top in the photo, there's a vocal processor, a power amp, a small mixing desk, a PC on the right, a guitar effects processor, and a pile of assorted cables. 

The trick is to assemble these in the correct order to create sound!

It should go something like;

1a)  Guitar into Guitar Effects Processor
1b)  Microphone into Vocal Processor
2a)  Guitar Effects Processor into Mixer
2b)  Vocal Processor into Mixer
3)    Mixer into PC
4)    PC into Power Amp
5)    Power amp to Hi-Fi speakers

As I was about to start setting this up, I realised that I've apparently lost the power supply for the Mixer, which as you can see, is right in the middle of this signal path!

So, a quick bit of improvisation, ditch the microphone (I wasn't going to sing along anyway!), 
and this becomes the much simpler:

Guitar to Guitar Effects Processor to Power Amp to Speakers.

job's a good'un

Sorted!

So, Andy, I don't know why you felt it necessary to subject everyone to that.  I hope you're suitably ashamed of yourself!

;-p

Day 136 - Funky Li'l Dude

international toadlet rescue

So this is what Anna calls "work".  

After going in to work early, to attend a meeting to resolve a challenging staffing issue, I then spent a full day in a course on Public Sector Finance and Budgeting...

(I can feel you all falling asleep as I type that...don't panic, I'm moving right along...)

Anna spent the day hunting for snakes, and playing with toadlets and newts.  I think that's right, let me try to recall what she said, exactly...

Loads of work...blah blah...quite stressed....blah blah...SNAKE HUNTING...blah blah, relentless demands...blah blah...RESCUED A TOADLET...blah blah...no time to think....blah blah...GREAT CRESTED NEWTS...long, tiring day...blah blah...

So yeah, I think I was about right, mostly just playing with cute animals. 

Toads are pretty cool, aren't they?  I used to have one living in a hole next to the path in my garden.  If I peered into it, I would see him hunkering down at the bottom, looking up at me.  

Yep, I had a toad in my hole...I'm sure you can all enjoy yourself with that one - you're welcome.

But this was before Anna and the cats lived here (good band name - Anna and the Cats!)...not sure I've seen him since....hmm

Anyway he was a funky li'l dude...he'd come in the house once in a while and freak Bluez out.   
I'd find Bluez in the hall, in a closed loop of barking indignantly at something by his bed, sniffing it, retching at the smell, barking indignantly at it, then sniffing it, retching....and so on. 

Not the sharpest tool in the box, our Bluez...

Next up, Female Great Crested Newts don't seem to have a crest...

show us your crests

What's up with that?!  

I bet if you were a male great crested newt, meeting up with this female having hooked up via an internet dating service, you'd be all like, "Woah dude, wtf?!  Your ad said you had great crests...was that a really old photo, or what?"...

And just to show you that I took a photo myself today too, here is a cool spider web on the privet hedge under our bedroom window.

practising to deceive

The whole hedge was covered with them this morning, and it was foggy and damp too.  I took this photo at around 7.30am, just to get a banker in for the day.  I could have worked with it, had Anna not come up trumps with the amphibian wrangling snaps. 

Apropos of nothing - just to keep you in the loop really (whoever you are) - Andy asked an interesting question in the comments on yesterday's blog;

"Actually, I WAS wondering how you were going to crank up without annoying the neighbours, which I'm sure you don't want to do."

I bet you don't even know why that's an interesting and insightful question!  It is though, isn't it Andy?   I'm going to address that tomorrow, I think.

(psst, everyone else...I apologise in advance for tomorrow's geeky blog post about how to get  a decent guitar sound indoors - it's Andy's fault, blame him...)

Then he asked, "Why has the prove you're not a robot thing changed from legible numbers to the usually indecipherable letters I wonder." the answer to which escapes me (and to be honest the question mostly escapes me too).

Andy concludes this literally wonderful post by helpfully pointing out that "That's two wonders". 

I presume he's talking about the act of wondering, rather than the word wonder...cos there's three of those...

Just sayin'...

Day 135 - Hole in the Hedgerow

spring edition

As I reverse into my usual parking spot here at home, if I look ahead (which, to be fair, I usually don't), I can see directly through this hole in the hedgerow.

I realised it must be about three months since I featured the Winter version of this shot, and as it was lovely and sunny, an update might be interesting.   Of course, by the time I got around to getting out there to take a snap, the sun went in (in? in where?) and big black clouds drifted in from the West. 

(This view is oriented more or less due South, for those now curious - I would be!)

So anyway, this then becomes part two of my four part seasonal series, Hole in the Hedgerow.

I'll try to remember to capture part three in mid July or so, then again in October.  Please remind me if I forget (if anyone's still reading this by then).

I wonder if I'll run out of things to say at some point?   It's such a variable thing, from day to day...because I completely improvise every blog post - I just start typing with no plan whatsoever for what I'm going to write - it's largely mood, energy and time driven.   

One day I can be tired and have nothing interesting to say whatsoever (I don't need to tell you that, right?!), and the next I find myself off the beaten path on some random tangent.  

I wonder which direction this post is heading?!  

Actually, the post is going slowly, because Anna is off newt or bat bothering (or some such, though I concede that "bothering" isn't the correct jargon), and that means I've got Queens of the Stone Age on very loud, which is distracting.  Curious that their Wikipedia page describes their genre as stoner rock.  I don't know what they mean...

For some reason, this evening I really want to get my guitar, crank up the dirt, and blast out some funk/rock riffs.  In fact, I will go and do that shortly, if I have time.  I've been too busy being a bit stressed, 50@50 Mission Planning with Jezz (not related to the stress!), trying to remember to keep turning the jacket potatoes, and writing this blog...

I think it's the stress that's making me want to go and groove on my guitar...music was always my outlet.   I found playing the piano to be a great stress release, but I don't have room for one here, so that's not an option.   

But a bit of dirty blues guitar should do the trick.

I was just going to go off on one about how complicated a setup it is to play my guitar at reasonable volume in the house, but honestly, it'll just bore you, even if you manage to follow...it's really of no interest to anyone.

I guess I've answered my question about which direction this post is heading...

Sorry 'bout that...

:-/

Day 134 - Morphological Specificity

acting kinda boulder...

Boulder Central was rammed today, so I took a few photo's of the seething masses. 

Oddly, in all of the pictures it doesn't look as though there are that many there...and of today's snapshots, this one is relatively action-packed, in that you can see two people actually climbing...it seemed much busier!

It was a mixed session...we climbed a selection of reasonably hard problems, but we both had failures.

We haven't been to this particular bouldering centre for a while, and this time found many of the problems to be morphologically specific...that is, they were straightforward if you were the right size and shape, but significantly harder if you weren't.

The usual effect of this is for many climbs to be hard for Anna...it's notable at some places we climb outdoors, how many of the routes are described in the guidebook as "hard for the short".  

The consensus opinion is usually that the problems that come with being short (generally, a simple matter of not being able to reach), are broadly equalised by the problems associated with being tall (which primarily revolve around high weight, and poor power to weight ratio). 

It's generally agreed, then, that being tall is neither better nor worse than being small...some climbs suit one type or the other, but overall, it balances out.

When we climb outdoors though (especially on grit), it seems that my height is an advantage, and so is my weight - grit climbing relies on friction, and rubber shoes seem to stick better when pushed more firmly onto the rock...further, both of these things boost confidence (or conversely, sap it for the vertically challenged), exaggerating the advantage even more.

Today though, for the first time in a while, it seemed the advantage was with the small.  Being large, and with my centre of mass further from my hands and feet, climbs can sometimes feel scrunched up.  I find it difficult to get my weight close in to the wall, holds can seem too low (such that my weight is relatively high, and thus unbalanced), vastly reducing their helpfulness.  Sometimes, I'm just too close to the floor!

Anyway as prophesied, I feel somewhat out of shape.  I climbed reasonably successfully, but I don't think I climbed with particular finesse...fine control was a bit lacking.  I also tired quite quickly...and everything hurts now!

But I hope that the exercise session will help to wake everything up and perhaps regain some of the good fitness I had at the end of February...since when exercise frequency has been too low, I've had a persistent virus of some sort, and the good shape I was in has been quick to retreat.

When we got home from bouldering, absolutely worn out, I found that for the first time all weekend, it was sunny and the lawn was dry...so I could find no reasonable excuse not to get it done. 

It was a hard slog, but I pushed through, all the while telling myself that it would help with the fitness...

(freshly mown)

This is about half of the lawn I mowed...it was heavy work, as the drive on my lawnmower is shot...I keep thinking I should fix it, but that just kicks off an endless debate in my head about the exercise being good for me versus the pain in the arse of having to push it...so I default to not doing anything, and regret it every time...until afterwards - having done the exercise, it becomes a good thing (to have done...)!

And so the cycle continues...

Anyway here's the old boy Jazz, looking a bit better on his new drug regime (although you can clearly see how wonky his shoulders are...).

...since my dog got older

He has shown some improvement, both physically and mentally, over the last couple of days...he's more relaxed and his stress levels appear to have receded.  For the first time in a while, I'm optimistic that he might be ok for a bit...

...tho' he is getting to be a very old man. 

Hang in there Jazzy Boy! 

:-)

Day 133 - No Man Went to Mow

green grow the rushes-oh

I spent most of today waiting to see if the weather would dry up long enough to mow the lawns.  

It didn't, which I'm somewhat conflicted about...on the one hand, yay, I didn't have to mow the lawns!  On the other, damn, those lawns still need mowing!

The venerable JazzyB is on a new drug regime for his ongoing lameness...he's now on Metacam, an NSAID (like ibuprofen), Tramadol, an opioid analgesic, and Symmetrel, which is a drug used to treat Influenza and Parkinsons Disease, but can be used in dogs to increase the effectiveness of other painkillers. 

So far he's doing ok, and this evening he isn't limping much, considering he's been out for a walk today (which is encouraging...). 

We went to see Frankie, who was lying down in his field, somewhat worryingly.  When he saw me, he struggled to his feet and started to hobble over.  I jumped over the fence and went to meet him, to save him walking all the way to me. 

I gave him a couple of apples and a bit of a fuss, but then left him fairly quickly, to save him following me.  

Later on, I phoned the shepherd (whose sheep were in with Frankie the other day), and he said the horse was his, and he hadn't noticed anything when he'd been there earlier, or through the week!   Clearly, he doesn't pay attention. 

When I asked the horse's name, he said "the kids call him Toffee", which I thought was a curious response (not to mention a bit of a rubbish name).   He'll always be Frankie (or occasionally Ol' Blue Eyes) to me.

I explained that the horse appears to have laminitis, and probably needs to be stabled and treated.   I'm not sure how seriously he took it - he said that the farrier was due to visit next week...to which I thought, well that won't be soon enough, and he needs to see a vet!

Anyway he said he was going up there shortly and would take a look, so we'll see what happens.  I'll try to check on Frankie again tomorrow. 

Following that, we wandered over to this little artificial pond, which is only about 30-40m from our house.   It's referred to as a canal on some old maps, and I guess this is strictly true, as it's straight and narrow, and man made. 

The pond always looks lovely at this time of year, and as far as my blog goes, it's another reminder of the gorgeous verdant green I seem to surround myself with in the Spring.

There are a pair of mallards that seem to be in residence.   I've seen them a few times in recent weeks, and you can spot them at the far end of the pond in this photo (click on it to view it full size, on a PC at least - smartphone users will have to make the best of their teeny screen).

Having said that, as we were leaving in the car earlier this evening (heading to the local pub), we saw the pair of them wandering down our lane...I've not seen them do that before.

Anyway, our new camera hasn't arrived yet (although, frustratingly, one of the lenses has) , so this is a standard smartphone photo.   

Speaking of which, Anna is getting a new (work) smartphone on Monday, a Samsung Galaxy S5, which apparently is capable of recording 4K video!!!

Can't wait to give that a trial run...although first I have to get over feeling peeved that she has a phone two generations newer than mine, when I love my funky gadgets, and she really couldn't give a toss... 

That shit ain't right! 

Hmph...

}:-\

Day 132 - Prime Directive

climbing clematis

Friday night at last, woohoo!

It's been a long week, for a short week.  It hasn't helped that I've been interviewing for the last two days...it's quite draining, mentally at least.   Today I was interviewing from 9am until 5.30pm...a bit of a marathon.

Not as much of a marathon as the Marathon Des Sables, which my cousin completed a couple of weeks ago.  Incredible - Philippa puts my puny efforts to shame!

Speaking of my puny efforts, the years primary challenge, the 50@50, is one week away today.  I'm feeling a bit out of shape still...perhaps because I still haven't done any exercise.

The weather looks like it'll be a continuation of today's heavy rain, so I think a climb outdoors is off the agenda.  I'd like to get a good bouldering session in on Sunday, to wake all the muscles up and to do some high volume, high intensity climbing. 

Anna was telling me that she'd been regaling a group of friends with the story of the imminent 50@50 challenge.  It seems they were fairly horrified at the notion of me doing a lot of climbs without any ropes.  Anna played it cool and nonchalantly suggested that it was well within my capabilities.  

Two things struck me about this exchange.

Firstly, whilst I suspect that it probably sounds much more dangerous and hardcore than it really is, that doesn't preclude it being a relatively serious undertaking.  I'm not in the least bit concerned or afraid about it, but neither am I convinced this is a good thing...am I managing the risk, or just ignoring it?   

There was a suggestion that we take bouldering pads...presumably for when I fall off.  For some reason, this irks me a little, and my instinct is to reject the idea.  In fact, as I'm writing this, I'm starting to understand...

When soloing (climbing without ropes), you must retain, at all times, a focus on the Prime Directive, which is "I will not fall off".   To place a boulder mat underneath me is to suffix the Prime Directive with "but if I should happen to...", and psychologically, the game changes. 

Suddenly, I'm both considering the idea of falling off (and so increasing the likelihood of that happening), and I've lost the focus required to stick with the Prime.   Risks have now risen, whilst reward has remained static.

Bottom line - no bouldering mats!

The second thing that struck me was how confident and supportive Anna is of my ability to complete my challenge.  Anna has seen me climb pretty much everything I've ever climbed, so for that reason alone (although I have many others), I consider her to be a hugely authoritative source.

Thanks Anna!  

Your apparent belief really helps to support my confidence, which helps me to retain the required focus, which helps me to not fall off!

50@50 Status Report: Bring it On! 

Anyway, there was a photo up there somewhere earlier on, wasn't there?!  What was it now?

Oh yes, clematis montana, climbing our car park fence, blooming soon!

It's looked virtually dead all winter, but now it's absolutely covered in these lovely buds.  It will be the first time this plant has flowered, as far as I can remember.  I expect Anna will correct me on that, but I prefer the notion that this is the first time...

History is written by the victor...so we'll go with my version, thanks...  

:-p

Day 131 - Curious Creatures

like a crowd of people...

Sheep are curious creatures. 

I'd gone over to see Frankie, to take him some carrots, but found these sheep there instead. As I walked slowly towards the gate, they all started to move away.  When I got to the gate, they all stopped...then started hesitantly back towards me.

The two heavily pregnant sheep in the middle of the photo were alternating the lead.  The one on the left would take a slow couple of steps forward and then stop.  The one on the right, now half a metre behind, would then tentatively take a few steps, then stop...and so, en flock, they crept towards me.

I was hoping that they'd come all the way to me, if I just stood there and let them...but then the one on the front right of this group looked away to her left, then after a moment, turned that way.  The one on her right immediately followed, and within a couple of seconds they were all skipping away across the field. 

Curious creatures...

I suppose you have flock/herd/shoal species (which are always prey) at one end of the spectrum, and lone hunter species (always predators) at the other.   Man is somewhere in the middle, I guess...we have some herding instincts, and some hunting instincts.  

Politicians and marketing people know how to tap into the herding instinct, fully understanding the power of peer pressure...hence the term sheeple, meaning the unthinking masses, people behaving like sheep. 

Perhaps most of us unwittingly choose one or other of these mindsets...or perhaps our pre-existing mindset determines whether or not we will be drawn along with the crowd.  The current can be powerful, with a strong undertow...sometimes you have to pull really hard to get clear of the torrent of mainstream propaganda, and social and cultural conditioning - if that's the course you wish to pursue. 

I'm not sure which road is better - maybe whichever path we choose is by definition the right road for us.

Personally, I do feel strongly the urge not to conform, not to go along with social convention. 

This makes me relatively unsuccessful - by conventional measures.  However, if you measure instead on some kind of subjective criteria such as, oh I don't know, how happy I am, or how happy my home is, or how much I enjoy life?

Well I think I'm doing reasonably well for myself thanks.  ;-)

All that said, I'm a little concerned about Frankie. 

When Jazz and I went down to the bottom of the field, he was standing up on the bank.  He soon started to make his way over, but seemed very uncomfortable on his feet, as he slowly hobbled towards me.

do you remember me?

He seemed interested in carrots, and appeared to be clear eyed...but shifted his weight a lot, often holding one hoof or another off the ground. 

I think Frankie has laminitis, which can be a very serious condition in horses.  Tellingly, it can be brought on by eating lots of fresh new grass...

At the weekend, I will try to find out who owns him and whether he's seen a vet. 

I'll keep you posted...

:-/

Day 130 - Behind the Veil

see-through when wet

I suppose it couldn't last forever.   Since late March I've been really pleased with the photo's I've gathered...the promise of Spring was reflected in the proliferation of fresh new growth green through my blog...and all riddled with a liberal sprinkling of adventure.

But the last few days the weather has turned cold and grey, I've felt tired, and all of this, too, is reflected in the dull tones of more recent pages. 

My 50@50 challenge is less than 10 days away, and whilst in some ways I feel ready, in other ways I'm starting to feel out of shape.    Since going to Spain in early March, my general activity levels have gradually dropped off, and I'm starting to feel the effects.

So I need to pick up the pace, get myself up and running for a week on Friday...perhaps I'll do a little exercise tomorrow night, then I'll need to climb this weekend.  I'd prefer to climb outdoors, but the forecast isn't good, so we may end up climbing indoors again.   Whatever, at this point I'm getting withdrawal symptoms, so bring it on!

None of which has anything to do with tonight's photo, of course...

With the forthcoming arrival of our new camera, I'm trying to practice with Anna's bridge camera more often.

Tonight, it was gone 7.30pm by the time I was ready to go looking for a photo.  When I looked outside I realised it was grey, raining, and the light was just beginning to fade. 

So I decided to play with the zoom on the camera, and try to get an interesting shot of the rainwater on the glass-topped table out on the decking.  I didn't want to get Anna's camera wet, so I wondered what sort of interesting shot I could get from the shelter of the little porch over the front door.  

It was tricky getting focussed (I really struggle to focus with the bridge camera), and challenging to remain steady enough to get a clear photo.  I took plenty of photo's, but really this is the only one with something about it at all.

It's not really focussed anywhere, although it appears to be from a distance, in the middle...but I like that you can see the rattan through the large clear puddle in the middle of the shot.  

It makes me think of a clean, structured interior, masked by a chaotic exterior.  The opposite of a swan, with its typical cool, calm serenity on the surface, masking a riot of activity below.

Kind of the opposite of lots of people, don't you think? 

I like to think that I'm more like this tabletop...getting a little rough, wrinkled and worn on the outside, but calm, peaceful and rational on the inside. 

I said I like to think that I'm like that...it's more of an aspiration!

Generally I feel as though I'm doing fairly well...but then sometimes, I wonder whether there's a difference between a tranquil, meditative inner state, and a psychologically anaesthetised coma...and would I be able to tell the difference?!  

Well, on that cheery note, I will bid you, good folks, bon soir...

I'll be back with more fun times tomorrow...

B-)

Day 129 - Walked One Mile...

...in my own shoes

Now we have a new camera on the way, I need to lower the bar considerably, in order to give the illusion of greater improvement.  This will justify our purchase, and prove that we were absolutely right to spend all that cash on something we really don't need at all...

So here we are with today's exciting, substandard photo - a pair of approach shoes!

Ooooh, I hear you, erm, ooh...

They are actually noteworthy for a couple of reasons...

Firstly, it's taken over a month to get hold of them.  The first delivery attempts went so horribly, repeatedly wrong, that I can't even bring myself to talk about it...suffice to say, the bottom line is, they arrived today, at long last!

Secondly, they were only £17...down from a (presumably artificially high) recommended retail price of about £50!   A veritable bargain, I'm sure you'll agree.

I bought a pair of these (in a slightly different colour) two years ago, and a half size larger. 

As mentioned earlier, I use them as approach shoes.  This is a category of shoe that I think is specific to climbers.  They're walking shoes, used to walk and scramble up to the crag before climbing.   

Lightweight and grippy, they can easily be carried up a climb, and are comfortable and effective to scramble and even climb in.

I'm not sure if anything differentiates a lightweight walking shoe from an approach shoe, other than the way it's marketed.  As it happens, these aren't marketed as approach shoes, yet that's what I use them for...go figure!

Anyway, the point is, since buying a pair for £15 two years ago, they've accompanied me on all of my climbing adventures. 

They've been all over the Peak District...carried me from Snowdonia in North Wales to Pembrokeshire in South Wales...tramped through la Forêt de Trois Pignons en Fontainebleau, to Orihuela en la Costa Blanca with me...

I've driven thousands of miles wearing them...I've even worn them to work a few times!

I've found them really comfortable, light and easy to wear, grippy on rock, nice to drive in...all in all I've been really happy with them, even though they're a fairly basic outdoor shoe.

Lately, though, they've started to feel a little loose and baggy, especially walking downhill...which I seem to do quite a lot.

So I've gone mad and bought myself a new pair, a half size smaller for a snugger fit.  

(snugger - there's a word you don't hear every day!)

Also, look closely...they have red bits!

B-)

Day 128 - Cat in a Bag, Part Deux

cat?  what cat?

After a mostly quiet Bank Holiday Monday, we have at least had a couple of minor successes today. 

Most obviously, we have a brilliant new edition of the ongoing Cat In A Bag series!

Here, Maisie is demonstrating advanced Improvised Disguise bag technique, whereby an everyday plastic Matalan bag can be repurposed to create this instant White Ninja outfit.   This is a very handy skill for a black cat who lives in occasionally snowy climes to possess!

Obviously it's difficult to spot that there even is a cat in this photo, so Maisie insisted I also include the more fundamental Cute Pose technique.   It's a timeless classic, and although this pose is easily performed by any cat, it's not so easy to overcome the clichéd, forced look that so often devalues this sort of shot - it takes a true professional to bring a natural feel to the discipline.

cute pose

Bravo, Maisie!

Our other significant success of the day was that after a mere several months of relentless indecision, we finally managed to order a new DSLR camera!

We'd decided some time ago which camera model we wanted, and thus it was a simple matter of working out which lenses would best suit our needs, whether to buy new or second-hand, whether or not it was cheaper to purchase separately or as a bundle, where to buy from, and so on and so forth.

As we had a relatively free day, we realised the time had come to actually Place the Order. 

We started by changing our mind about everything we'd decided before, forgetting where we had found all the best deals, and failing to remember why we'd chosen one particular lens over another. 

To assist with the process, we started to reread a multitude of reviews, most of which conflicted with each other. 

After several hours, and having been around several loops several times, we came to the crunch, and went back to our original choice.   Anna helpfully resolved the lens quandary by impulsively buying all 3 lenses over which we were deliberating. 

Go Anna!

So we've now actually ordered a new Nikon D90 DSLR camera, with 3 lenses;

35mm fixed - a fixed lens with low f-stop for interesting, arty shots.
18-55mm zoom - for general day to day use, with a bit of flexibility.
55-300mm zoom - predominantly for wildlife and climbing action shots. 

Frustratingly, the fixed lens will be here before the rest of the camera and other bits and bobs...but still, the lens itself might make for a handy Photo of the Day subject!

It will be interesting to see if there's a noticeable improvement of the quality of photo on this blog...

Just to finish up, deliberations deliberated, we popped over to see Frankie.   He was at the bottom of the field, and apparently reluctant to run up to us...in fact, he downright refused to!

We headed down to see him instead, and it seemed to me that his feet were a little sore - he was hesitant to move and walked gingerly towards the carrot and apple I dangled for him...

He was a bit cleaner than he has been though, so I think his owner must have been to see him.  I'll keep my eye on him over the next few days and see how he's getting on. 

Here's a final photo looking up the orchard where he lives.

how do you like them apples?

The orchard used to consist of these six fruit trees, but I see that one of them has now fallen, so there are only five remaining.  It looks like there's fruit on one of them...surely it's far too early in the year for that?

But then the seasons are all over the place now that we've broken the planet so thoroughly...

Lovely old trees, anyway.

Day 127 - Day of the Living Dead

egg-cessive

Easter...what's that about then?!

I grew up in a church going, Christian family.  At least, my mum was devout, and the rest of us went along, for one reason or another, at one time or another.

Personally, I felt neither the presence of God, nor the need to feel the presence of God...(I've felt otherwise since, but not in a way related to Christianity, or any other religion). 

The point is, whilst I remember an incident of brutal, public torture and execution, and then a later resurrection (nowadays known as zombification, I believe), I don't recall anything about eggs, chocolate, rabbits, or gifts.

Full disclosure - I haven't read the whole Bible, (or virtually any of it, to be honest).

But I'd be willing to put cold hard cashola that were I to, I still wouldn't come across the bit about the Easter Bunny handing out chocolate eggs...and how did rabbits and eggs get mixed up together anyway?!  

Sounds like some Frankensteinian nightmare to me! 

The photo shows our little haul of chocolate and other goodies.  This is just for the two of us!  Clearly the themes of eggs, rabbits and chocolates (not to mention diabetes) run right through them.  

I haven't noticed any crosses, or other references to pain or execution.  But then there's no mention of last suppers, nor of sin, death or rebirth either. 

So we're going short on the resurrection thing, but we're going long on the cute bunnies and yummy chocolate side of the story, are we?? mm-kay. 

Try as I might, I can't quite work out what the message is supposed to be here.  There might be something vague about new life and the hope it brings...or am I just imagining that because, you know, eggs! 

Whilst the chocolate is indeed yummy, and I very much appreciate those who chose to include me in their Easter in this way, it does make me wonder what we, as a society, are trying to teach our children...it seems to me we're simply teaching them to be good little consumers.   

So now Christmas is no longer about Jesus, but instead, it's all about a fat, jolly, wealthy white man in a red suit, judging whether children have conformed acceptably, and are therefore worthy of a gift...

Easter is no longer about Jesus, but about a giant Easter Bunny that hands out chocolate eggs for no obvious reason...

Of course we all know there isn't really an Easter Bunny, nor a Santa Claus - and that we have to actually buy all of these chocolate eggs and Xmas presents ourselves...so why do we go along with it?

A significant number of those reading this may well concur with the sentiment I'm expressing here...yet still, we go along with it.

Those marketing boys have got us just where they want us...

Right, I mustn't get carried away...and besides I've got to get on - all these chocolate eggs aren't going to eat themselves!

;-)

Day 126 - Great Expectations

no deer

Well, this is a first...the morning after the night before blog post!  It's now 7.30am on Easter Sunday morning, and I do feel somewhat the worse for wear...plenty of fluids, I think!

To be clear, I both took the photo and started this blog post yesterday, which means it's well within the long standing rules of the 5-oh 1-a-Day blog (which I'm making up as I go along, obviously).

We had friends round last night for deer stalking and a barbecue.  

When I say deer stalking, I don't mean deer hunting, no siree, Bob.  That kind of thing is really not my bag, baby...we were simply trying to catch sight of one.

One of our friends told me he had never seen a deer in the wild.  I boldly claimed that we see them all the time, and told him that if he were to come over for a barbecue, we could go over the woods and see if we can spot the deer that live over there. 

I love the woods up at the top of the hill.  In the photo above, there is a large stand of sycamore trees.  They're tall and slender, and when their foliage comes in, it's all up at the top of the tree.  The wood becomes a calm, natural cathedral, with the leafy canopy creating a green ceiling over the large, airy interior, warmly suffused with dappled sunlight...it's a beautiful, atmospheric space. 

I'll endeavour to get back up there in a few weeks and try to capture the feel of it.

We didn't see the deer up there...but after spending 20 minutes feeding carrots to Ol'e Blue Eyes (now re-christened Frankie), as we wandered down the path towards home, we spotted fresh roe deer prints in the soft mud. 

Sure enough, two minutes later, we saw two deer lying down in the wood, 20yds off the path.  They lay there stock still looking at us for a minute or two, before hesitantly getting to their feet.  After a moment they started to trot, and then run, as they took a wide path around towards where we were coming from.  This is their standard strategy for avoiding predators, and why you can pass them by a dozen times and never see them.  

They know what they're doing!

It's surprising how often your experience reflects your expectations of it...funny how sometimes, when you throw a bold claim out there, the universe responds to your confidence by making it happen.  

Thanks, Universe!

B-)

Day 125 - Ritual Sacrifice

what demonic beast is this?

We were supposed to go climbing today, but when I woke up this morning I felt drained, exhausted even.  I didn't even have the energy to get ready, let alone to drive 100 miles, lug a heavy bag on a difficult scramble up to a crag, then climb.  I'm ashamed to say I had to cry off...really not like me.

I sat around for a couple of hours, then went back to bed and slept like a baby for four hours! I think I might still have the remnants of a lurgy...ho hum.

Anywho, I felt a bit better when I woke up, and have a had a pleasant day since, thanks for asking!  

First, Anna took me snake hunting!

There's an SSSI site owned by the Wildlife Trust nearby, and some of Anna's friends have reptile mats down.  These are simply mats of various types, that are put on the ground in the sun, in environments where there may be reptiles.  Reptiles, being cold blooded, need to warm up in the sun, and it gets warm under the mats, so attracting snakes and lizards.   

It has the side benefit of providing ecologists with somewhere to look where there's a better than average chance of finding any local reptiles.

At the site local to us, there are grass snakes and slow worms, so we hoped to maybe get a photo of something interesting.  

Basically, you wander round the site looking for the mats, then see if there are snakes under them. 

We did get distracted for a while by a bit of a skeleton I came across.  Looking around, we found several bits of bone and some feathers, and part of a wing.   Somewhat disturbingly, we then spent some time reassembling them on top of an anthill.   

If anyone comes across it they'll assume they've disturbed a serial killer's sacrificial altar, complete with grisly souvenirs of his evil deeds.

Maybe we'll get back there later with candles and incense, and have a little midnight ritual, raise some spirits, all that jolly stuff... ;-) 

Anyway, that aside, I can succinctly summarise the two hours we spent doing this with the following two photo's:

any snakes?

nope

Still, it was a good to get some exercise, and a pleasant walk around a peaceful, quiet site. 

And I got this photo of a cool tree:

After that it was time to fulfil my promise to Ol' Blue Eyes, so I took him a juicy apple, which he seemed to enjoy:

He then proceeded to check all of my pockets for any further goodies, getting his muddy snout all over me in the process.  

He was a bit braver today, and he has quite a personality...I like him.

Tomorrow, I shall buy him carrots!

B-)