Big Blue Huddle

Here are more puppies I worked with:





Ginger - I would have taken her home in a heartbeat but she did not like cats.  I pray I never find her abuser. . .he/she cut off her ears!!!


Emmett Gray was awesome.  Always had to have a ball.  If one was not in his kennel, he would find one outside and take it everywhere with him




Hawaii - He didnt last long.  He was as gentle a Dobie as I ever saw.  He was scooped up by a Dobie rescue group.

5 weeks after we lost Moses, we lost Sophie, our other GSD.  I wasn't ready to get another, but I needed to be around them.  We still had Ginger, but she is a couch potato (other than Ball Play).  She doesn't really like to go on walking adventures like Moses did.  So, I volunteered at the local Animal Control, walking dogs, playing with them and getting their pictures out so someone could rescue them.

Here are some of the ones I worked with and have since been rescued:

This came up in a Facebook memory today.  This is Moses.  We lost him almost 2 years ago.  He is in his cage because he stole (and ate) an entire plate of a new chocolate chip cookie recipe I was trying.  Sadly, for the life of me, I can not remember what recipe it was. . .I miss this dog.  He was a recuse that was severely abused, obviously by women.  We thought he was about a year of so when we recused him.  He was actually about 3 1/2.  The reason I say "obviously by women" - I could do anything I wanted to him.  My wife, even with a mild child like voice, he would cower and pee.  I just hope he knows he was loved and had a good home for his last 5 years or so.

8 and a half of the 11 jars of Peach Jam I made this morning.  I have peach cobbler cookies waiting to go in the oven as soon as the Swedish Meatballs come out

I just hate when you

Quote from: Shoelessjoe on August 08, 2020, 04:37:32 PM
When I first started ISO was know as ASA or (American Standards Association).  That changed to ISO (International Standards Organization) in 1987. 

I got my first real camera - a Yashika from my uncle stationed in Sapporo, Japan in 1977.  I honestly dont remember the ASA standard.  I upgraded that to an Olympus OM1 in 1980 with a motor drive and two telephoto lenses so I could do sports for the school yearbook.  I added a bounce flash for awards ceremonies and other indoor activities for the year book

Give me that snow covered house any day over this hell called summer in Florida.  I can only take off so much clothing (legally - and still have somewhat nice neighbors) but in snow, I can put on as much as I need.  Honestly, it isn't much. I still dont wear a jacket until it's under 30 degrees. . . .

I know the digital world has changed photography a lot.  In the film based world, when I was shooting track meets or anything fast, I would use a faster speed film.  In High School, all I knew was 400 iso.  I have some good pictures of me pole vaulting (a friend who is now a professional photographer used my camera).  I wish is still had it, but last day of senior year for the class two grades ahead of me, some of the guys with muscle cars decided to smoke the tires in the parking lot.  I had a great black and white photo of an old GTO, smoke billowing off the back tires, yet the speed of the film stopped the tires to where you could read the white lettering on the tires.

In Japan, I learned that FujiFilm made 800 iso and I learned you could "push" it at higher speeds.  I ran 800 iso, pushed to 1200 iso for Air Shows.  Those were some great pictures that I wish I could find.  They are in a box somewhere in the house.  For closeups and portraits, 100 or 200 iso was the best.

So, my question - in the digital world, can you change the iso or does that even exist anymore?  I am wondering because in the film world, I would push the iso for a clearer photo on the surfer.  This is in NO way a slam on the picture.  I know how hard it is to capture a moving target.  And the distance from the shore to the wave, and him moving quickly, those are good pictures.

A mixture of trips - from Vegas, to Valley Forge to DC over the last decade

Bellagio





Caesars Palace



New York, NY



Paris



Venetian



Venetian, Second Floor



Devils Den (Dive site I like to dive at)







Washington, DC

I took the pictures of Vietnam Memorial for my Brother-in-Law





I took the pictures of Illinois and Pacific for my Father-in-Law (where he grew up and where he served)





I took the pictures of Korean War Memorial for my Wife's Uncle





I took the pictures of Police Memorial for all the police in our family and for the local Deputy who lost his life in the line of duty a few months before this trip.  I have a picture of his name etched in the wall, but I did not post it here.



Valley Forge

That

Quote from: LennG on August 04, 2020, 07:40:32 PM
Seems everyone else has given up or run out of pix.

I just don't want to dominate a thread as I can continue to post pix, probably for another month, if I really wanted. I take thousands of pix when we travel and then comes the process of seeing what is good, what I want to save and just tiding up some of the pixs.

As I said in the beginning, you have created a pix monster, am I coming on too strong with all these pix?

Absolutely not.  Please keep posting

Quote from: Jolly Blue Giant on August 02, 2020, 09:13:49 AM

And that is why I never got one.  My son, though, has a very impressive one.

Quote from: LennG on July 31, 2020, 03:46:59 PM
You got it Jim. Don't know if you were there with family. but here, it was just my wife and I, so once we did the Flamingo parade and the feeding the parrots, we just wandered around a bit. Spent about 3 hours there, but most was waitjng for the shows.
BUT, we sort of made the same mistake you did. We were told the Zoo was about a mile from port, and we decided to walk. it wasn't THAT far a walk, but once you get away from the main part of toown, we were basically walking by ourselves and Nassau isn't the best place to be wandering about on your own. We took the bus back and people were just so nice.
Overall, we have been to Nassau so many times, that the least time, we didn't even get off the ship.
Atlantis is magnificent. We went just to see it and didn't pay to use their facilities. We spent some time in the casino, and had a bite to eat. AND, we had heard so much about that Fish Fry, which is on the way to the zoo, but we don't eat most of what is on the menu, so we past. But it was busy as anything.

No, it was just the two of us.  It was out 20th anniversary.  I think we dropped maybe $5 in the slots in Atlantas, but we absolutely loved Goldies.  So much, that when ever I can find conch, I make cracked conch at home.

Quote from: LennG on July 30, 2020, 07:32:40 PM
So where are we going today.

I'm sure you can see, one of my biggest likings, when taking pix, are clsoe ups. I just love to get right 'up close and personal' be it a rock, a shell, a flower and animal a butterfly, whatever.

We were cruising a few years ago and were stopped in the Bahamas, Nassau specifically. I have said this many times, I do not beach. I grew up on beaches and really do not like them now. We have been to some of the most gorgeous beaches in the world, we maybe step onto it and then retreat to do other things. I also have had a couple of cases of Melanoma, so I do try and avoid the sun as much as possible. So back to my pixs. Since the Bahamas are beach heaven, we looked for something else to do. We found they have a small zoo there, where they have some animals that are allowed to roam around the grounds, as well as caged ones. They also have a huge cage where you can feed the parrots (they give you apple slices) and another show where they have a sort of parade of flamingos.
It was fun, but I did come away with, what I think, are some great pix.













And finally, they have this 'parade pf flamingos' where they encourage anyone to come to the area and intermingle with them. I have to give my darling wife credit, as she had to jump in there and become a flamingo also.

We have been there too.  I have some pictures from that zoo.  Need to go through them.  The Marching Flamingos was fun to watch.  That was a long day.  We got lucky and a storm prevented us from stopping at the private island on the way down, so we went straight to Nassau first.  We had a full 24 hours there which gave us all the time we needed.

We got off the boat and walked to Atlantis and went through that aquarium.  Honestly, wasn't impressed.  Then we walked downtown, got a drink at the Hard Rock and asked where the "Fish Fry" (Arawak Cay) was.  We heard much about Goldies and wanted to go there.  We were told it's just a short distance. . . yea, about that.  We walked there, had lunch (I had Cracked Conch and Heidi had Cracked Lobster) and then walked up to Ardastra Gardens, Zoo and Conservation Centre.  Watched the Flamingo Parade and then walked back to the ship.  All in all - 8 miles in the June sun.

I'll have to see if I can find those pictures.

I have had my share of run-ins with Barracudas.  I learned how fast they can really swim when I saw a literal "silver streak" fly past me.  But one of my last dives, I was about 100 feet down kneeling on the ocean floor what was left of a wreck (not much).  I look up and I see a large, probably 3 feet, barracuda and three smaller ones looking at me.  They were about 15 feet or so above me.  I swam to the back of the wreck and they followed.  I swam to the other side of the wreck - and they followed again.  I went back to where I started, and not only did they follow me, there were about 10 more, all about 15 feet above me, but had me completely "surrounded".

I have seen some crazy things, swam up to a shark, had my breath taken away from a Giant Goliath Grouper (think of being face to face with a Volkswagen with teeth) etc, but I have never been so nervous as I was with that dive.  Needless to say, I slowly went up through the middle of them and safely got back on the boat.

I am thankful that I do not wear anything silver or shiny on my gear.