[mom2karen]

We're doing a meet and greet with a possible dog adoption today. Karen is so excited! We've talked a lot about what would make a good dog for our family and that even if we really like the dog we might not adopt it, or they might not let us adopt it. Here's his picture.

http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/15923313?recno=11

My kindle died again. My last one froze in Feb and my replacement never really held a charge. I finally tracked my reading and charging patterns and realized that 2-3 books or 5 days was the max with whispernet off. They are shipping a new one, but now I have to put all my books I was in the process of reading, or in my TBR pile (11 pages!) back on my new one. Grrr. When I get it all figured out, I'll jump onto the read alongs.

 

[Archer]

Ooh! Adolfo is gorgeous! And such a nice size, too. I've learned to appreciate the smaller dogs--used to be a big dog person. I would still like to have a wolfhound or a mastiff some day, though.
We are having to rescue another Corgi in a couple of weeks. Need him like a rubber crutch, but he is out of our breeding and I can't leave him where he is! Gonna cost me a fortune, but there you go.  :-\

 

[kcrady]

Mom2karen, the dog is adorable, hope it works out! I still want to hear what you and your daughter think of clicker training.

Ipad... mixed feelings here. I'm a technophile, so I really wanted a reason to get one but just couldn't get there. It would be a toy, nothing more. Got an ipod AND iphone, a netbook, and of course my Kindle. The only thing I could possibly see getting an iPad for would be reading magazines and newspapers... just not enough to sell me. Will be interested to hear what you think of yours, ibrewalot.

What am I excited about? Well, it's a deferred excitement, because I have to wait another week to order and then wait for delivery... Filed taxes last weekend, and the returns will be more than sufficient to allow me to get the digital SLR camera I've been lusting after for years! I used to be a pretty decent photographer back in the 35mm days, so I'm hoping to revive that hobby and see where it takes me. Here's what I'm looking at buying once the check hits the bank: http://tinyurl.com/yjw9vet

 

[Archer]

k:
(I'm sorry. I just drooled all over your new camera.)

...wow!

 

[kcrady]

(I'm sorry. I just drooled all over your new camera.)

Hmmm, as long as it didn't get on the lens we should be fine here!

It's a doozy, isn't it? I read a lot of reviews, and right now it's about the best you can get for the price. Isn't that zoom lens lovely? I'm looking forward to some of the nature/animal shots I might be able to get with that one.

 

[stacydan]

Mom2karen - Adolfo is beautiful!  and he sounds like he has a sweet personality too!  Hope everything works out for y'all. 

 

[Annalog]

Home grown asparagus tonight from roots planted 4 years ago! The granddaughters and I cut down the old ferns two weeks ago and just in time. ;D

We kept the cuttings the first two years to two small servings. Last year was supposed to be the first full year but we missed cutting any asparagus last year as I was on an extended business trip.

 

[mom2karen]

We brought Adolfo home and he's settling in.  He's in the laundry room with dog door access having some quiet time right now.  He's more submissive that I would like to see, but I think with some time he'll become more confident.  He did have a blast playing with another dog at the pet store so that was a great sign. 

Karen came up with Blizzard as a possible name. 

We need to figure out how to train him to keep out of the pool.  I don't want a wet dog coming in and out of the house.  Any ideas?  I read some clicker training books but I can't figure out how to apply that to stop him getting in. 

 

[kcrady]

Could be tricky if he's part lab - they sometimes love the water.  Best bet would be to work on Sit/Stay and Stop - so that you can stop him if he's heading for the pool - or traffic!

 

[Archer]

Happy Easter, everyone! DAWGS WIN!!
Woo-hoo-hoo!

 

[Winter9]

Hey! Hope you are all having a great Easter!

I'm reading my reading game book, and then I will be finally starting Elfhunter!

 

[Archer]

Winter, that's great! The nice thing about these klubs is that you can jump in any time, go at your own pace, and I, at any rate, will still find all your posts. I'm new at this thing, too. We'll enjoy it together, I hope.

Happy Easter to you! It's a fine, fine day here--sunny and breezy and in the 70's. Spring has sprung!

 

[Archer]

Hey, guys...I found some more old editions of EH AND FH while doing inventory the other day (tax time, you know...).
Should I give them away again, do you think?
Most of you already have at least the first one, but there's always gifts for other people...

(And I still have to make up some t-shirts.)

 

[Tip10]

What am I excited about? Well, it's a deferred excitement, because I have to wait another week to order and then wait for delivery... Filed taxees last wekend, and the returns will be more than sufficient to allow me to get the digital SLR camera I've been lusting after for years! I used to be a pretty decent photographer back in the 35mm days, so I'm hoping to revive that hobby and see where it takes me. Here's what I'm looking at buying once the check hits the bank: http://tinyurl.com/yjw9vet

kcrady -- mine arrived about 3 weeks ago -- have only taken about 50 shots or so with it. Still waiting for the first trip out to "field test" the thing (work is definitely NOT cooperating) but everything I've come up with so far lives up to its billing.

I come from a Pentax K1000, Olympus OM-2, Pentax-ZX background (wife still shoots film with the ZX) Also went through a couple of old Oly's and a Canon S-1 on the digital side.

I suspect you'll quickly fall in love with this beast as I have -- couple of idiosyncrasies I've noted with it -- shutter is a bit touchy (might just be mine or might be just ME!), I've double clutched a few exposures because of it but nothing major there. Not having auto focus points that light up was bothersome at first but quickly faded as an issue once I got used to it. Having the adjustable diopter helped immensely -- can shoot sans glasses now (a definite plus since I'm an old geezer) -- means I'm able to do manual work again, something I've not been able to do for a while. Also on the plus side is the auto-focus thumb button -- nice to be able to crank on the zoom and thumb it into focus rather than having to lean on the shutter release (see the comment above).

Hoping work will slow down enough for me to get it out and work with it in the very near future.

 

[kcrady]

Tip10, thanks for the review!  I can't wait to get mine, I've been waiting for a dSLR for many years now, and this one looks outstanding.

I took a B&W photography class around 15 years ago using a Pentax camera inherited from my father (think it might have been a K1000, but not positive) - I still have some of the prints I made at the time.  I guess the darkroom has changed rather substantially with digital photography.  

Any good books or reference websites to recommend?

Oh, and here's hoping that you get a chance soon for that field test outing!  Would love to see what kind of photos you take.

 

[Tip10]

K1000 was the good solid workhorse camera -- fully manual -- probably more folks learned 35mm photography on that one camera than perhaps the rest put together.

I don't really do much with books.  I'm more of what one might term as a hacker photographer.  I'll shoot settings that make absolutely no sense to anybody else and occasionally hit upon a combo that produces that one WOW picture every thousand or so. 
One real nice thing about digital -- get a big card (figure out what you want and go a size bigger if you can), shoot the highest res you can and take lots and LOTS of shots -- if one will do take two, or three or four and never ever delete on camera (unless you are simply completely out of room) -- screen is way too small to see what you really have. I've marked shots that I thought were garbage that upon closer look had some really interesting elements to them and ended up being some of the best shots of the bunch.
I did learn though, there are things one can do with a digital that cannot be duplicated with a film camera -- especially in low light situations.  I've grabbed some night shots with my Oly and my Canon that would simply be black frames with my wife's film camera. 

I shoot mostly landscapes and nature, with the occasional architecture shots tossed in -- very rarely people or "things".

I love shooting in zoos, wild animal parks, nature preserves, state parks and forests, etc.

 

[kcrady]

I shoot mostly landscapes and nature, with the occasional architecture shots tossed in -- very rarely people or "things".

I love shooting in zoos, wild animal parks, nature preserves, state parks and forests, etc.

Ah, a photographer after my own heart! Never was much for 'people' photography, and always felt uncomfortable when called on to take the candids at an occasion. I'm really looking forward to that 55-300mm zoom lens, it'll probably live on my camera most of the time. Some of my b&w shots came from shooting the wild ponies on Assateague Island off the coast of VA/MD...

Got an 8g sdhc card on order to start with, and will get at least one more of those. My netbook is going to be handy for offloading pics on the fly. I'll probably expand to 16g cards if I can find a good deal.

 

[Carolyn Kephart]

It's a doozy, isn't it? I read a lot of reviews, and right now it's about the best you can get for the price. Isn't that zoom lens lovely? I'm looking forward to some of the nature/animal shots I might be able to get with that one.

Really nice! I'm tempted to upgrade to it, now that my Canon SX110 went south on me yet again. I loved it--the 10x zoom was wonderful and it could take an hour of video--but the lens mechanism went wonky around Christmas and never got repaired quite right, and the warranty expired a week ago. Urgh.

Back when I had a Nikon in the days of that now-all-but-unobtainable substance, film, I took a few decent/lucky shots that can be viewed at http://home.comcast.net/~kephart/Photos.html. Digital pics are much more fun...easier to crop, color adjust, cartoonize, and otherwise mess with.

 

[kcrady]

You have a good eye, Carolyn!  I particularly like the colors in the shop decoration at santa fe - all your pics are great!  Hopefully I'll have a website up in a few months with some of my photography...  I have some oldies taken on a digital camera (non-SLR) camera that I'm rather proud of...  if I can remember where I stored them  :-\

 

[Carolyn Kephart]

You have a good eye, Carolyn! I particularly like the colors in the shop decoration at santa fe - all your pics are great! Hopefully I'll have a website up in a few months with some of my photography... I have some oldies taken on a digital camera (non-SLR) camera that I'm rather proud of... if I can remember where I stored them :-\

I'm delighted you enjoyed them; thanks! I'd love to see your photography, because you're clearly in the know and have studied the subject. Let us know when they're ready for viewing!

I noticed your Pentax takes AA lithium batteries...my Canon did the same. That's a really useful feature that further influences my decision.