Monday, July 8, 2013

My new toy...


Movie Monday is being postponed until next week. I had the movie watched and the post is all ready to go (I swear), but this weekend was so productive and I bought myself a new camera and got some awesome pics that I wanted to share!

So the new camera is a Canon Powershot SX160 IS with a really awesome zoom lens. Much much better than my previous little Kodak. It was a good little camera, but I've gotten to the point where I want closer pics of things that *I* can't get closer too. (pics to follow) And the battery would no longer charge properly. Yeah, sure, I could have bought a new battery, but...see reason above for buying a nicer new one. Got a good deal (I think so, anyway) at Office Depot.

So I finally finished edging the bird feeder bed:

It needs a bit of weed whacking, but all the little edging stones are there.

 On Mother's Day I received three miniature rose bushes, one from each of the kids:



Eventually I lost (okay, killed) one of them, but have managed to nurture the other two along. One bloomed a few days ago and the other has a bud... I was very excited to see these.

Several weeks ago, I'd bought a cool hanging planter for them. They've been doing pretty good hanging on the side of the house, and I do mean hanging on the side of the house. Sonshine hung it from a small little plastic bracket right up under the eave holding the coax cable to the house. So the planter has been resting against the brick.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I happened to be in Albertson's and found another mini-rose bush. So I bought it with the intent to transplant it into the bottom pot of the planter. And then I got a bee in my bonnet yesterday to dress up one of my trees. So now I have this:



I poured ceder mulch around the three huge rocks there at the base of my oak tree, then bought a shepherd's crook to hang the planter on. The crook needs to be embedded into the ground better, but I didn't have the weight to get it all the way in, nor did I have a mallet to help me... The roses are shaded through the hottest part of the day and should do great right there. Plus, I can see them from my kitchen window and my office.

And now for the *really* cool pictures that I took yesterday afternoon:

 A mama cardinal on the bird feeder, some forty feet or so from where I sat.

 This wood pecker in the branches above me.
I thought for sure he'd fly away before I found him with the lens and super zoom feature.
But find him I did! How cool is that???

Now, this here is our resident tree lizard. I've named him Handsome. He's been around a few years at least, and it's always fun to watch him scurry around the tree or across the yard.

And this here is Steffi, one of several squirrels that visit our yard. We're pretty sure she's the same one--none of the others seem to eat the squirrel corn. We'd been calling her Steve, but I finally realized she doesn't have boy parts.

And that, my friends, is that. I'll have a 4th of July update on Wednesday.

2 comments:

Regina Richards said...

Great shots.

Unknown said...

Congrats on your new camera! Looks like you're already having fun--can't wait to see more pictures :)