Incidents and accidents

Blixem just came over with a new video card for John. He happened to bring one for me too! Yay! So instead of the Pine XP-2800, I now have a 3D Prophet 4500. Muuuuuuuuch better. World of Warcraft actually runs on my computer now! I don’t have to usurp John’s computer anymore so I can play.

In other news, I shot my first paid wedding this weekend. Kim and Kacy, two lesbian friends of mine, asked me to do the photography for thier wedding on Saturday. I won’t post any until I get permission, but I think they came out rather well. I was supposed to get the formal portraits out of the way before the ceremony. The ceremony was scheduled to begin at 7pm, so I was going to start the formals at 6pm. They had a hellish week (including a death in the family), and were not realy at all until about 7:30. They decided to do the formals after the ceremony, which left me about 30 mintutes of light left to get them done. Not the best conditions, but I can edit a lot in Photoshop. They’re in Key West fo rthe week, but I’ll have the majority of them done by the time they get back. I’ll ask about posting shots on their return.

John and I broke down and finally bought a copy of World of Warcraft! We traded in a bunch of PS2 games we never play anymore and got about 1/2 of the price of the game. Not bad at all. We’re both busy n00bing it out in there. Larken showed up and helped me kill stuff for a while. Blixem also showed up for a bit last night and gave John some bags, but I’m still stuck with the 16 slot default backpack. We’re liking it so far. The game won’t run on my computer because I’ve got a shitty video card, but we’ve only got one account, so neither of us would be able to play at the same time anyway.
Come see us! Just tell me who you are or I won’t answer. It took me 15 mintues to figure out how to talk to Larken last night.
John- Orc Warrior: Varik
Me- Night Elf Hunter: Sequiro

On saturday, my mother came down here to shop for a wedding dress. She’s getting remarried next September, so she’s shopping early. She went to David’s Bridal where she lives, but had a not-so-fun time of it. I stayed over at Angel’s place and she and Jeff drove me in to the first bridal shop on my list at 10:30 to meet mom. The photo to the left was shot there. It’s my favorite of the ones she tried on that day, besides the one she ended up buying. I obviously can’t post the one she did buy, but it’s stunning. We were in a dress store and about to leave when I walked past a dress in the window display that I thought she would like. I asked a clerk about it and she said she’d pull it off the model for me. I went back and told Mom “There’s one coming out of the window for you.” She put it on and the store clerks were all shocked. It’s THAT stunning. It’s being altered in the store, but it’s bought! If you’re dying to see the dress, I can e-mail pictures to people I know.

Today, K and QJ came up for their engagement shoot. They’re sending out ’save-the-dates’ soon and wanted some photos for the cards to send. I dragged them all around the Georgia State Botanical Gardens for the shoot. It was hot and nasty, but not too bad for the short time they were here. It took more time that i thought it did, actually. We were there for 2 hours and it felt like 30 minutes to me. I got excited about the photos and went ahead and edited them when I got home. A lot of them turned out really well, but some did not. Notes for the future:

1. Quit talking to your subject and then shooting the pictures when they’re replying to what you said.
2. Don’t pose the couple so one’s head looks to be growing out of the other’s shoulder. It’s not flattering.
3. It’s an engagement shoot. Make sure the ring is in the shots!

I do think I did a decent job on head-hieght posing (put the man’s head higher than the woman’s) and my near-trademark softening and eye highlighting. It’s a learning experience, right?

I just woke up from a nasty nap. I dreamed that John and I were living in this huge house near a forest. The big trees pretty much came right to the huge glass windows that covered the entire side of one wall in the room we were in. We were watching somehting on TV then a really really (read: horse-sized) big lion jumped out of the trees outside and began pacing back and forth on a little sitting-sill outside the glass. Naturally, I got my camera and shot a few (non-flash) photos. John was watching me somewhat bemusedly. Suddenly, it reared up on hind legs and proceded to claw at the glass, obviously wanting inside so it could get us. I saw it’s elbow crack the glass, so I gasped and yelled “The glass broke! RUN!” before running out of the room. I was aware that running would just make it’s prey drive stronger, so i ran into the nearest room I could find with a wooden door: the bathroom. As I fumbled the phone out of my pocket to call 911, I opened the door a crack to check on it and saw that it had John’s shoe in it’s mouth. Looking around for John, I was horrified to see that he’d been knocked behind the sofa. It was like one of those family films where they show that someone’s hurt or dead by placing them behind something and showing only a body part, motionless. That’s what I saw. John’s feet, motionless. The rest of his body unseeen behind the couch. I woke up, breathing really hard and near tears. Yikes!

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All of the photos from the trip are now up. No captions yet, but I’m working on it. Here are a few of the best.

Day 1 - Fly to Arizona The flight was good. The two hour stopover in Dallas gave us time to eat and relax a bit before getting back on the plane. I had planned to go to Beatty’s Ranch in the afternoon, but it wasn’t to be. The car rental took much longer than expected, and by the time we got to Sierra Vista three hours after landing at 2pm it was too late to do anything but eat and crash. I enjoyed the flight over, but we had a little rough weather coming in so John didn’t enjoy it at all. Bonus: Sierra Vista has Little Ceasar’s pizza!

Day 2 - Beatty’s Ranch and Ash Canyon B&BI woke up at 5am thinking it was 9am. Sux0rs. John woke up only a little after me, so we decide to gt breakfast and head out early. The air was quite chilly even at 7am, and the mountains were wonderful. Beatty’s was packed with hummingbirds, too many to keep track of. We were there for about 3 hours and must have seen at least 300 different birds. Ash Canyon B&B was nice, mostly because of the host (Mary-Jo). She talkedto us, helped ID hummingbirds.. etc. Her place wasn’t as swarming with birds as Beatty’s, but it was much more personable to be there. We also got there just as it was getting hot out, so that may account for the lack of birds.

Day 3 - Ramsey Canyon Preserve Ramsey Canyon would have been much better if we were avid birders of all types. As it was, the hummingbird section was the smallest and fewest attended of all. The feeders were far away, the birds were few. All in all it wasn’t inpressive. The best shots I got of the day were actually of some deer, not hummingbirds. We went to the Sierra Vista Mall looking for gifts. I got a few things and a small glass hummingbird necklace for myself.

Day 4 - Arizona Sonora Desert Museum The road getting to this place is really scary. It winds though the mountains, at one point you look out your door and it’s a 100ft drop down. Yikes! Not my idea of fun, but John really enjoyed the drive there. It was hot when we got there and it just got hotter. It was also Day in the Life, so you can see the entry here. Th hummingbird avaiary was actually wonderful. The only ay it could have been better was if it was cooler. I sweated through a memory card in tere and called it quits. We wandered through what rest of the park we could make it through, but it was just so hot that we were miserable by 3pm. We leaft to check into the hotel afer buying some postcards for people back home.

Day 5 - Pima Air and Space Museum Hot hot hot. This place was dusty and filled with old airplanes. John’s dad would have loved it, and I think we’d have enjoyed it more had he been there to tell usfunny stories abuut the planes e worked on in the war. I did find the Blue Angel plane and the Harrier (made the awesomest in True Lies). We were dissapointed to learn that John’s favorite plane (The Warthog) was in restoration and not on display.

Day 6 - Reid Park Zoo and Tucson Botanical Gardens Reid Park Zoo has to be the smallest zoo I’ve ever seen. It took us less than two ours to go all the way around it slowly. That said, it also has to be one of the most well-done zoos I’ve ever been to. It was shaded niely, well laid out, designed with the viewer in mind and featured some great animals. This place would rival San Diego Zoo if it were larger. The only issue we had was that it was a school feild trip day there. Packed with screaming kids isn’t the best idea for a small zoo. We left there at about 11am and went directly to the Tucson Botanical Gardens. This place is also stunningly well designed. I could have done with more shade areas, but it was great for what it had. They had a few wild hummingbirds there too which I chased around for a bit, but it ultimately got too hot even for them. We left after buying a pair of awesome hummingbird socks for me.

Tomorrow we may go back to the Desert Museum to pick up some more hummingbird shots before it gets too hot. We might also go to the Zoo again and hope that it’s not filled with kids this time. Saturday we fly back home. We’ll be getting in at about 11pm EST, then driving home from Atlanta.

Three days into the trip, and we finally have internet. The hotel was in the middle of switching internet service, so we were SOL for a bit. The trip has gone great so far though! We’ve been here for about three days now, and have seen 9 species of hummingbirds.

M/F Magnificent
M/F Blue Throated
M/F Broad-Tailed
M/F Broad-Billed
M/F White-Eared
M Lucifer
M/F Black-Chinned
M/F Anna’s
F Calliope

We’ve missed Rufous, Allen’s, Berylline, Violet-Cowned, Costa’s and the Male Calliope. The Costa’s we’ll see in Tucson at the museum, but I don’t know about any others. So far I’ve gotten some pretty decent photos, but I have no photoshop onthis computer. Editing in Paint sucks a lot. So far, I’ve taken about 700 pictures. Of all the places we’ve been, some of the best photos have been in the field behind the hotel. The shot to the left was taken last night near sunset. It’s a male Anna’s, and he was less than a foot from me, singing. Hopeful to get a girl or something.

The number of Hummingbirds here is amazing. We saw 7 species in one hour, hundreds of birds. They’re everywhere in the canyons. The best part so far was when John and I were in the mountains at Beatty’s. We walked up the hill and there were at least 8 feeders there. One feeder was right next to the entrance to the veiwing area, and I stood there taking pictures of a Broad-Tailed. As I stood there, another flew up. John says “They’re so close, it’s as if you could reach out and touch one.” I slowly reached out my arm, expecting it to fly away. When it didn’t, I moved a bit closer. It didn’t move. I acually gently pet it’s back before it finally realized I was human and flew off. I know I shouldn’t abuse the birds like that, but it was too magical to pass up.
Worst part? Realizing I left my little camera on a table at the preserve we were watching hummigbirds at. I paniced for a bit before emembering where it was. I called the preserve and they said someone had turned it in. Bless that selfless person, because I got it back.
Arizona Photo Album so far - here. More will bedded, of course, once I don’t have to edit in Paint.

Almost 5am, and we’re leaving soon. I had a hard time sleeping last night. I felt too much like a kid on Christmas Eve. The flight leaves at 9:10am, so feel free to call on the cell phone if you want to chatter. We’ll get into the hotel by 3pm, then right back out to see hummingbirds. With luck, I’ll see 12 species in a day!

Returner

Originally uploaded by Crickie.

Quick shot of the (or one of the perhaps two) Female Ruby-Throated today. I didn’t manage to get any decent ones of the male, but he’s still around. He’s probably too busy sexing it up with thr girls to get his picture taken. This girl was quite nice in posing for me. She watched the camera while sipping from the feeder, but never sat down. It’d be nice if I could get shots of her sitting, as she might have a band on. The male sits, but I haven’t gotten close enough to get shots of his feet yet either. I hope to get a few photos tomorrow in between cleaning before we leave.

Last night, I saw a male hummingbird at one feeder. This is good, because I haven’t seen any around here since April 10th. Today I’ve seen a little girl hummingbirs about once every hour. She’s probably sitting on eggs, or she’d be coming every 10 minutes. She’s very early for nest building, so she’ll likely build two nests (total of 4 young) this year. The rest of the females will show up within two weeks and begin their nests.
Just two more day until I’m surrounded by hummingbirds everywhere!
Off topic: anyone have a really tall chair I can have? Like, taller than a tall barstool tall.