Category: Beasties

An hour of good light – 9 February 2016

Posted on by Zogman

combo bWe had intended going to Ayr today, but the weather said NO! It rained all morning, then as predicted by the weather men (and ladies) it stopped at midday. Too late to go to Ayr, or anywhere else really, so we took some rubbish to the council tip. Hmm, not exactly exciting or scenic. However, it was worth a walk over to St Mo’s.

I spent an interesting and worthwhile hour in St Mo’s. The light was good, the ISO setting was reasonably low and I got quite a few shots. From the 70 odd shots I distilled the four above. Top left is a group of Cladonias lichen which will forever be called Green Trumpets by me. Top right is a wummin walkin’ her big dug. Try getting Google to translate that! Bottom right is a coot looking for some bread. I had none today. Bottom left is a rare Scottish Pink Haggis – the female of the species. It was grazing on grass near the old BMX track. They will feed on grass if there is no heather available.

Hoping for more sun tomorrow.

Monday Blues – 24 August 2015

Posted on by Zogman

Have you ever had one of those days when you just don’t feel settled from the time you wake up?  That’s how it was for me today.  I just couldn’t settle down to do anything.  I was a fidget!

Eventually I went out for a walk late in the afternoon and finally got some stuff done.  It was still a bit breezy, but I got some insect pictures and some flower pics too.  Instead of using the 70-300 lens, I used the much more reasonable and useful 105mm macro.  Horses for courses, that’s what it’s all about.

Salsa as usual, but boring dance moves.  Couldn’t get interested.

Tomorrow WILL be better

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A full day – 18 August 2015

Posted on by Zogman

It was up early as the weans were going to school and the teachers realised that the phony war was over and it was now the real start of term.  I was determined to make the most of this auspicious day. 😉

After breakfast, the day started with the Gym & Swim thing.  Gym was fine, but there were toddlers and their mums in the pool along with a really annoying teacher singing to the weans.  Not the way I wanted my day to start, but I’ll know better for future.  Avoid the baby swim time.

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Went straight from there in to Glasgow.  I did think that I should do a drive past of the school, but decided that was a step too far.
<Rant>Took a ticket at Cowcaddens and went to find a parking place.  There were none.  Why does the machine give out tickets when there are no spaces.  Isn’t it simple to issue the number of tickets equal to the number of spaces?  Is there a problem with this algorithm?  It would appear that Glasgow Council just issue tickets to everyone who asks and if you can’t find a space, tough luck, that’s just the way it is.</Rant>
Anyway, sat ‘poaching’ and waiting for someone to leave and got a space 5 minutes later.  Just went for a daunder round  ‘the toon’.  Got myself a mudguard for my bike and two posh cakes for pudding tonight from Patisserie Valerie.  It was a good choice, judging by Scamp’s face when I got home.  While I was there, I saw a healthy food stand in Buchanan Street, selling coconuts andOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA advertising free WiFi.  Healthy?  Coconuts?  FREE!!! WiFi?  In Glasgow?  What’s the world coming to?  Where are the deep fried Mars Bars and the pints of heavy?  I despair!

When I got home, the sun was still shining so after fitting the mudguard, I OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAtook the bike out for a run to try to find some puddles – not usually a problem in Scotland.  I could not find one puddle to splash in because the magic weather fairies were still in charge.  Apparently the magic weather pixies plane home had been delayed due to an air traffic controllers strike in Eastern Zogland.  They are expected tomorrow.

Bummer

I see sunshine – 7 August 2015

Posted on by Zogman

Yes, it’s been sunny all day. Completed a watercolour painting this morning. Not a new one really. It was one of the first ones I did in acrylic, but I always felt it would look better in watercolour. I’d done a sketch of it earlier in the week and it looked ok., Bits of the finished watercolour are good, the sky for instance, but there are other areas that look overworked to my eye. Onward and upward!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWe took a walk down to the pub for lunch. Rather than the usual fish and OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAchips, I had a carvery and just a little bit too much. Scamp was jetting off on the bus to the ‘toonie’ while I walked home, then went out to annoy the deer in St Mo’s. Saw and captured Mr Grey – the heron – a couple of dragonflies a froglet (or toadlet) and finally two deer. I imagine they were quite young, because they let me get quite close and didn’t run away far when I got too close. Two little Bambies!

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By the time I got home, Scamp was already ensconced in the garden, so I set Lightroom to import the pics, and build the 1:1 previews while we decided it was Pimms o’ clock. A very enjoyable hour or so sitting reading in the sun with a Strawberry Pimms. Sometimes life is good.

Ants – 13 July 2015

Posted on by Zogman

I was putting some old fruit in the compost bin today. When I opened the lid I was shocked to see a load of white eggs and hundreds of ants. I fed the fruit to the composter and put the lid back on then went in DSC_2893- blog--194.jpg search of Mr Google to see if he had any thoughts on the problem of ants in the compost, and possibly a solution to get rid of the beasties. I was surprised to find site after site extolling the virtues of ants in the compost. Apparently they help with the decomposition of the vegetable matter. They also help aerate the compost and save gardeners the trouble of turning over the compost as they do that themselves. WIth that information, I returned to the composter with my Nikon and a Sigma 105mm macro lens and took the Shot of the Day, then put the lid back on. Welcome ants, friends not foes.

I got a watercolour sketch done today. Not entirely satisfied with it, but that’s the point of a sketch. I’ll try it again tomorrow. I’m not sure now if I will proceed on to a full size watercolour. I may change it to an acrylic using a technique I’ve read about in a book. If I try this technique and it works, I’ll write more about it later in the blog.

Lunch today was the pulled remainder of the meat from yesterday’s dinner. I’ll share a secret with you. It wasn’t really a dinosaur bone, it was an Aberdeen Angus Rib steak. It was delicious again today on a roll with brown sauce. I tried it with mustard too, but it wasn’t as good. Thanks JIC for introducing me to this.