31 Days of January The Poster

Well it's almost finished just one more pic to go.

Day 31 Yay

One last little project for the month. A timer for the pool system.

I have two timers one has a dodgy LCD screen and the other has a faulty switch relay.

So I decided to desolder the good LCD screen and put it on the good timer.

I could use the new one my wife brought me but where's the fun in that.

A pretty little bird only stopped for the shortest time on this railing 

I think it may have been a bit slippery in the rain.

Day 30

Not a lot of time today so just a quick shot of our Hawaiian hamburgers cooking on the BBQ

No time for a 300mm shot but here is one from the 28th.

Day 29

OK here is a daylight pic of our dragons you can see the smaller one reaching up to the light 

with a close up of Machete, she is quite powerful.

They don't bite much harder then a clothes peg 

but they do have a good set of claws and quick strong legs.

 

Not a very friendly sky.

Day 28

Here is one of our dragons under a black light with a 25 second exposure.

It's really hard to focus when you can't see your subject. I had to use a flashlight to set the focus manually.

Hope you like her she is about a foot long.

Here we have a trio of pigeons with the lucky male on the bottom branch.

 

Day 27

This is a tribute to Lea and her farm signs.

The galah gods were smiling on me today and I had a choice for todays shot.

I liked this one the best with the male showing off for his mate.

 

Day 26

Happy Australia day

I have almost finished the short side of the pool deck.

Just a 9 meter by 5 meter bit to go.

These little rens are just starting to come back around, this is a female and the male that we usually see has a bright  blue head. I'll keep my eyes out for him tomorrow.

Day 25

We brought our horse a new bale of millet, I think he likes it.

My wife took this shot of one of our dogs.
His name is Paco, he is out lizard hunting.

Day 24

So what did you do with your Sunday?

I need to make more room for the deck, it comes out to about where the trailer is.

We're going to the moon baby.

Day 23

An Aussie icon the Akubra.

First they take about fourteen rabbits and squish em all together

then they smack em flat with a really big hammer.

They then put the flat rabbits into a press and just like magic out comes a hat.

OK today I thought I would take two shots just so you can see how well the back yard is growing

and how hard it can be to spot these little birds.

 

Not my best pic but it shows just how hard it can be.

My hat goes off to Harry he is truly a master.

Day 22

I was looking for a shot late this afternoon when I noticed the sunset and thought it was very pretty.

Unfortunately I can't really do sunsets because of all the foreground trees. Then I saw this reflection in the bus window and it really caught my eye.

Reminds me of somewhere in Africa that I have yet to visit.

This was the hardest to shot bird yet, he was so well hidden that I would be less then a foot away

and not see him and then he would jump up fly off to the next tree. 

His face is a real yellow but hard to bring it out without blowing out the greens,

and the baby is asleep in my lap. :)

Day 21

This was on fire a few weeks ago while we were in town

but I never knew about it until we saw it on the news. :(

I had to wait a while for them to wake up and start moving around.

I think it was worth it.

They are a fruit bat or flying fox very noisy and they stink a bit,

if you are lucky to have fig trees then they will come and eat all the figs

and get pissed on the fermented ones

and then crap all over your car and eat away at the paint.

We don't have any near us these guy are about 100km away. :)

There is about a hundred just hanging about in three trees grouped together

with inter twining branches.

Day 20

OK I have finished all the wiring for the pool and house pumps and the solar heating.

I decided to make a box out of some aluminum  that I had

and I think it worked out very nicely.

This is a galah  they are a very friendly bird and live to about 80 years old.

This one was very curious to see what I was doing.

A very pretty bird, unless you are neighbors then they are noisy and destuctive.

I did some satellite installation work and you wouldn't believe the damage they can do to your wiring.

I knew a guy that had spent about $5000 on a tower and antennas for his TV and radio and the galahs and cockatoos just destroyed it in less then a week. All because he didn't about $5 worth of bird protection.

 

Day 19

OK I'm not very happy with this shot but my whites are getting whiter.

I think better light then an energy saver bulb would help.

The candle holder might be better in a low-key shot.

 This little bird has been around for a while he's the one that craps on our car mirrors.

I finaly shot him today, not quite the way I wanted to but I don't have a gun license so it will have to do

.

Day 18

OK first time trying out a white backdrop and it looked great until I saw the pics.

Defiantly something I'll be working on.

My first time shooting in raw too.

I'm not very happy with the birds around here they seem to have all buggered off leaving just the little ones.

You can see the leaves around this guy and can tell how small he is,

just imagine how hard they are to find in the bush.

Day 17

I almost ran into this guy web while I was doing a spot of bird watching.

He was pretty big easily filling the palm of a small child.

If you look closely, closer oh go on lean right in, you can see his big ass fangs that he would use to

inject  toxic fluids into your blood stream before wrapping you in some of the softest silk you have ever felt

and then digestion would start. Although I don't think you would actually feel any of the digestion part, probably just feel a little withdrawn. ;)

OK I had a request for some kookaburras by kookaburra and here is an entire family.

Dad is out front look for food then mum is next with the scruffy feathered baby last.

A kookaburra has a very strong beak they see a worm and then dive into the ground spearing the spot they saw the worm then rip it from the ground leaving little divots all over the place.

They are a big meat eater and can become very friendly if you feed them regularly, taking the food from your hand.

Day 16

OK some of you live with snow and I'm sure you have made snow angels before.

Where we live there is no snow but plenty of dust so our kids like to make dust angels.

I wish we had some bigger birds around there usually is but all I can find are little ones

and that is getting harder to do.

I need to get out earlier, on a good note I am getting firmiliar with their

songs and whistles and chirping.

Day 15

I was asked if it was hot here so this is a shot of the road in a car park and you can see where the tar has melted and stuck to the tyres as they pulled out and left.

OK this is my best 300mm shot so far.

They seem to have a nest there as they have been quite busy.

The male is the pretty one with all the colour and the female blends in very well with the timber, no one will see her guarding the nest.

I gave up the square crop theme for this shot.

Day 14

Back on track with the decking I have two rows nailed the others are just there for show. :)

Hope to have the rest of this section finished tomorrow.

I didn't get time to play with the big lens today. I need to get up a bit earlier tomorrow.

Day 13

The fire station 120 km away where we go to do our shopping.

Some random bird I found after about half an hour walking through the bush

following their calls. I could have sworn he was going to be bigger. He was about the size of a finch.

Day 12

Only a cat could fall out of his basket and just keep on sleeping.

This is a kookaburra I tryed to get him in flight but it came out a bit blurry

so this is the best I got for my 300mm lens.

I'm going to try and take a photo with both lenses each day if I can.

Day 11

Tea for Two

Coffee and a lemon lamington

Day 10

Today is Levi and Phoenix's 5th Birthday YAY

They had a lilly pond cake with frogs and lizards.

Day 9 Plumbing is done.

Ok I have finished all the plumbing and checked for leaks before covering it up. ;)
Tomorrow I hope to have all of the electrical stuff finished. You can see the outdoor power units and the other box is the temperature control for the solar heating. We intend to cover the pool with either a heavy shade cloth or a solid roof  to keep the kids safe from our hot Aussie sun, so it will need to be heated. :)

 

The red line is the solar heating.

The green line is the overflow so I can pump into a holding tank.

The orange pump is for the house.

Day 8

My first bug for the month. I hate these little bastards they are so hard to kill, they don't squish like most bugs you have to hit them with a hammer. And they hurt a lot when they bit or pinch cause they can do both.

The pipe is some 50mm PVC and it should be white as was yesterdays can of Jimmy.

Can you tell me it if it looks white to you please.

Day 7

This is the drink I drink when I'm having a drink. :)

Just playing around with low light.

Day 6

I was in town today taking it easy with the six kids at McDonald's while my wife did the shopping and other girl stuff. I thought today would be a good day to play with my 100mm-300mm lens. Unfortunately with the lens extended all the way I miss judged the distance to the edge of the roof and fell two stories onto some bushes

got some great shots on the way down though.

Just kidding. ;)

Injury free day today. :)

This one was taken from about 200 hundred meters away across a river and if you look closely you will see a little critter I'm calling a possum for cuteness sake but my wife thinks it's a water rat.

It's in the hole of the tree.

My lens doesn't have IS and i should have used a tripod so this shot is hand held at 300mm.

I'm pretty happy with it.

Day 5

I threw my back lifting this bastard onto the trailer today.

Only just made it tonight, stupid internet.

OK done some post processing hard to get a square crop with this crappy pic but I was lucky to be able to stand at all let alone take a decent shot.

The front wheels kept getting caught on the bits that the door closes onto

so I gave it one final heave and my back went,

NO I don't think so !!!

It's eight hours later and I feel better.