Learning the New Lens
After mowing the lawn this morning Buddy and I spent some time outdoors enjoying a summer like day and experimenting with my new telephoto lens. I think I’m getting a handle on it but I’ll continue to practice, practice. practice. At least my forearms aren’t aching too badly from holding that 4 lb. monster up.
Incidentally, with the steep corporate discount, courtesy of the company I was working for when I had my accident, combined with the close out discount offered by the supply house I purchased this lens from my actual cost was less than half that quoted on the Sigma catalog page the first link takes you to.
Frankie had Godzilla today so Buddy and I were sticking close to home. These are a few of the best shots I managed to capture from the front porch at an average range of 15 to 20 yards. I can’t wait to get out and about with my new gear, especially on the beach next month when we go home on vacation.
If you’d like to see larger views of today’s images just click on the images from the gallery below.
If you would like to insert slide shows into your WordPress posts a step by step tutorial can be found here. Puzzle, a talented, creative and prolific blogger gave me the link a while back when I was still learning my way around here. I have followed her blogs since my first post on Windows Live Spaces a little over two years ago. Thank you, Heide for your friendship, knowledge and inspiration!
And so it begins……
Having accepted the WordPress Daily Post Challenge I found myself wondering whether to use one of the suggested topics provided by the forum or just try to wing it. The need for a trip to town, an itchy shutter button finger, clear blue skies and sunshine outside my window this morning made the choice easy today……the feathered option won.
Now, what to write about?
The Mallards in a stock pond down the road?
Maybe Mr.Cardinal peering in the window when we returned home, wondering if we were going to re-stock the feeders.
The Red Bellied Woodpecker, who has recently discovered our feeders, was nearby, working on a suet cake.
Then there are the bossy Blue Jays who always find a bounty of spilled seed under the feeders
Perhaps the Dark Eyed Juncos, recent additions to the daily menagerie in and around Burd Town?
I can always count on the Sparrows for a visit and sometimes one will hold still long enough for a clear shot. More often than not my Sparrow shots are nothing but a blur of wings flitting through the branches.
Always on hand to watch us fill the feeders, and to sample the new seed, are the Titmice.
Decisions, decisions……….. Oh, yes; before I wander off I have to admit that I’m no authority on birds so some of my identifications may not always be accurate. This is where the Internet comes in very handy:
All About Birds Cornell University Lab of Ornithology
2010 in review
This was a surprise. I opened my inbox this morning and found the following message from WordPress.com , complete with a Post this summary to my blog button so I clicked it and what you see is what I got. I never would have guessed that this site had accumulated this many hits in the short time I’ve had it up and running. It seems like just yesterday that I shut down my WLS site and started blogging here and on Blogger!
I’d like to thank each and every one of you for following my blogs and putting up with my intermittent rants, raves and occasional bouts of insanity. I promise to make every effort to bring you more of the same in the future. You have been warned 
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.
Crunchy numbers
A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 3,000 times in 2010. That’s about 7 full 747s.
In 2010, there were 94 new posts, not bad for the first year!
The busiest day of the year was December 3rd with 85 views. The most popular post that day was Addition to the family.
Where did they come from?
The top referring sites in 2010 were networkedblogs.com, mail.live.com, facebook.com, wordpress.com, and blogger.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for jingeorgia.wordpress.com, funny turkeys, pine ridge physolipher, sunrise october 4 2010, and http://www.heatwave entertainment.com.
Attractions in 2010
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
Addition to the family December 2010
17 comments and 5 Likes on WordPress.com
My buddy November 2010
23 comments
Sunset On The Rocks June 2010
8 comments
Sam’s Story June 2010
13 comments
Down on Main Street November 2010
15 comments
