Wednesday, May 26, 2010

New backpack






















Those pictures are from amazon.com which is where I got my new backpack yesterday. It has plenty of room for my digital camera & laptop plus little pockets that I'll fill with a few odds&ends for my trip next week. I don't have the tripod though thats in the above pic.
The backpack looks bigger then I expected.

I'm only allowed to bring 1 camera onto the plane, which is ok...just means that I'll be changing lens often. I'm recharging batteries now to make sure they are ready. Someday I want to get another digital camera so that I won't have to keep changing lenses.

With my laptop & camera all in 1 bag....seems like I could live out of this 1 bag. Guess if I ever get fired and forced to leave or if I ever do decide to transfer to another park, this will be the 1 bag I will be taking with me to start over somewhere.

I'm assuming I'll be working the next 6 days straight, as my vacation starts on June 1st.
I fly out of PHX airport on the 2nd.
Course I assume that my mom will complain that I didn't bring enough clothes. Well I will admit there isn't much room in this backpack for clothes, but I would rather have the camera & laptop then a bunch of clothes...besides that's what washer & dryers were invented for.

Good Motto~
"No place is boring if you've had a good night's sleep and have a pocket full of unexposed memory cards for a digital camera."

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Canyon Fairies

Sunday has been my day lately to hang out at Brenda's place. So I brought the new lens and took a bunch of pictures of the fairies she had made. (only posting 3 below)
I still think she should set up her own shop to sell them somewhere or go to someone elses shop and see if they will sell them for her.









Good thing these fairies aren't real people because they would of been complaining about posing so long. But it was fun trying out different lighting stuff while using the zoom lens.
Unfortunately it was to windy outside to take pictures of them outdoors.






















Winter Fairy~I liked this background best for this fairy. Made me think of the red rock wall that you come onto as you are heading to the 1.5 mile resthouse.



















This is her latest fairy. I call it the cactus fairy. I think its also the first completed fairy with hands too.

I LOVE this one...the wings, costume & cactus flower are terrific!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

around the area

http://www.azdailysun.com/news/local/a65783f9-779f-58b8-b45f-35a5cd83e75a.html
a story about a new wildlife park called Bearizona. It opens today.

http://turquoisedeathspider.blogspot.com/
I still haven't really figured out who's blog that is, but they have wonderful pics of different spots within the GC park that I haven't seen for myself....yet

http://jasonhenrie.blogspot.com/
I don't know Jason either...but his blog is interesting even if I don't agree with his blogs about Phantom Ranch.

http://runningthetrails.blogspot.com/
I just came across this site...and it mentions their hike/run from the South rim-to-North rim-and back to South rim (R2R2R). I remember some guys eating at Yavapai Cafe about the time this was written....so it might have been them.
Hell I'll be lucky to get down to Phantom & back up.....but then Christine is going in October and maybe I'll go with her.


http://www.nps.gov/grca/parknews/2010-05-21_over_edge.htm
Yesterday, soon after I clocked into work...the manager thought she heard an alarm over
at the bank. When her boyfriend called and said that he could also hear it over by the
El Tovar, we knew it wasn't the bank. All the switchboard would tell us was that "They
were not at liberty to discuss it". I had to wait all day to read about it on the NPS website.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

zoom lens

I ordered a telephoto lens from amazon and it took 3 days to get it...plenty of time to practice with it now before I go to NH for my son's graduation.




I stood near the ice cream foundtain, and was able to se the 3-mile resthouse down on Bright Angel trail. There was people walking around down there.


Now sure what this bird is, and its the only picture I got of it because it took off right after I clicked the camera.
Yesterday I went about halfway down on the red route. The buses were crowded, but what do I expect for a day with great weather.


ok, who wants to go down the river on a raft through those rapids. My friend Terri went river rafting last month.


Monday, May 3, 2010

Wildlife Day~birds

This pic below is a screech owl. There are 4 different owls in AZ that are smaller then this one. I've never seen an "elf owl" but was told it's about 4 inches tall. Not sure how tall this screech owl was.
Hummingbird display~my dad loved hummingbirds


Girl Scouts were enjoying the day.


Of course there were other animals around for wildlife day, and a bunch of ranger programs. I listened to 1 ranger give an interesting talk on different reptiles.