Sunday, September 27, 2009

MysteryRoll

Film Photo by SnaggleTooth


Before December 2007 when Digi-Cam was aquired, I'd been using disposable, film cams. I was suddenly swept away into shooting seemingly endless digital experiments, n abandoned the unfinished disposables. I had several IP (in progress) at the time. One in the house, one in Little Truck, leftover exposures from an occassion, n thought I'd eventually get around to using all the pics up n develop them before they disintigrated.
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Today I finally went digging in my Cam-basket (Thanks for those baskets, Ellen!) after the Digi's manual which I'd been meaning to read again for awhile. What do ya know, Voila! Another disposable with only a few exposures left!
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Last year's one-bux Petunias have risen n bloomed this week, n I've been so click-starved it took no time to use up the 3 remaining negative slots. Last time I waited so long to develop film, the pics were all hazy-yellowed, but visible, somewhat.

Film Photo by SnaggleToothI feel like a child shaking a present- I wonder what's in there!? About 8:30 PM now, time to go pick them up-
A hassle-errand I haven't needed to do in ages-
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Ok, one-hour-photo took two hours, then they forgot to do the CD, n I had to wait around a bit, but at least scored a discount.
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The Petunia from today didn't come out well- a bit grainy on the old film. Pics taken in 2007 tho seemed to come out alright. I got the pier (top), clamming shots, the playgound, n Thanksgiving with folks in Western MA-
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Film Photo by SnaggleTooth
Film Photo by SnaggleTooth........I feel good about having new pics to see n post, n a few in reserve to play with in the paint program for later.
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Worth the wait... n the discovery...

Friday, September 25, 2009

New D-Bridge

Puter image by SnaggleTooth 2009
Photo by SnaggleTooth 2009

(old D-bridge) Amazing what the click of a button can do in seconds...

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Sleepytime

Photo bt SnaggleTooth 2009
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What a dreamy sight of the M-cove.
The first week of August 2009 was hot n humid when I stopped to snap this shot. This overnight it's still in the 60's F, n we're expecting hot, humid, in the 80's F for the first full day of Autumn! Wish the work week was over already, but still got another day to do, n after that I'll be all spent again.
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I've never had an "easy" or "unrushed" day at my current job, ever. I'd prob fall asleep if I did, even tho there aren't any chairs there... When it gets slow, I'll usually opt to go home early.
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Have you ever fallen asleep at work?
(I haven't, yet-)

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Day Off-On-Off

Photo by SnaggleTooth 2009
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Back in July, I chose other pics to post than this one from the same day. Again I can only visit my Fav place via past pic today. What that day n this had in common was the strong, gusty wind.
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Not as rested as I wanna be, I'm not sure that this Day Off qualifies as really Off. Everyone was asked to attend an employee party scheduled between the early n late shifts. At least it was a nice day to be outside, n there was loud music, chairs n tables, n Tex BBQ food to share with the hornets.
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Our factory managed to get the highest corporate inspection score ever attained in August, n so the owner insisted on throwing a (tax-deductable) party. It was a tad inconvenient. Those in earlier had to stay later, those in later had to get up sooner in go in a few hours early, n the truck drivers had to give up the entire day of sleep! Everyone looked so tired. Myself I had a few hours of sleep, was awakened, then got another few hours before I had to get up again. That also means I had to go to my workplace both Days Off this week- (The other was go pick-up check day). Then It's a busy week-end order night to boot, n everyone working there tonight must be zombie-like beyond tired.
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Meanwhile the work-orders are way down, n everyone's hours have been cut to reflect sales. Too Bad they don't save money cancelling the party to give us hours back... But that would make too much sense-
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It felt strange to hurry, wake up n go have BBQ sauced meat for breakfast. It was so bright, n my eyes couldn't see (stinging away), so I put on my wide-brimmed leather hat from "South of the Border" in South Carolina from my long drive in '01. They had a photographer, n lotsa folks used digi-cams. I bemoaned not having mine again. Why we'd even want a poster of the small crowd out at the party to gander later in the breakroom, I don't know... A few folks who like to move to stay awake danced a little bit. Then I the boss showed me his video of us dancing-Oh Boy! He better not put that on U-tube...
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After that I went to the nearby shopping plaza, n visited Pet-Co for the first time. I found an arch groomer for Mishief, who always begs to be brushed, n a new little play mousey that squeaks. N what was her fav present after getting home? You guessed it- The box!
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I visited the folks down the hill for a few hours, n almost fell asleep watching TV with the little ones. Been a long time since that's happened- I was reminded how short today's rest was for me. Here I am at 3am finally deciding to give up on today's chores n get back to more rest. Here comes cooler weather, this am, with a frost forecast for inland areas just a few miles away. Time to find the comfy blankets, n psyche myself up for another long, n stressful week.
zzz.....

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Setting Clicks

Photo by SnaggleTooth 2007

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Before I got my present Digi-cam, I used to take pics at my fav place near sundown on film, had them developed, n put on a CD to load on 'Puter Machine here. The images format, colors, n feel seem so different with the film takes.
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Here's a couple I like better than most of the Digi shots due to their feel n clarity. Those days I didn't need ten shots to get one in focus, n didn't need as many crops. Also, the red-tints (red pic) or other details seen with my eye, appeared in the prints more often than not.
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Of course, the disadvantage of waiting to see what you got, was inconvenient. The shutter was carefully clicked not to waste exposures on unworthy subjects. One roll of 27 clicks would last me about a month, then I had to have time n bux to get them dropped off, developed, printed, CD'd, n picked up during store hours. For about a year at the start, ESR Bloggy didn't have any pics at all, until I began using disposable, kodak, film cams as used for these examples.
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Now in Digi-days, I blow thru 50 to 100 clicks per week sometimes. I go to view them on 'Puter Machine larger, to find I won't use most of them due to color, light-meter, or clarity issues without any camera controls to correct these things while shooting. It takes more clicks to get usable specimens. Well, it's an older, cheaper, refurbushed cam. At some point when I can afford to, I'd like to upgrade megapixels n features, so I can adjust light meter, aperture, shutter speeds, focal distance, n get tight close-ups, as I learned to do with a manual, film, SLR model in college.
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Today I realized I'm going to have a problem getting a new 1GB SD card for my Digi-Cam, because there are none in this whole town, n they've been on clearance, meaning discontinued! It isin't compatable with the plentiful 2GB cards in the stores now, which I tried. I'll have to order them online, add shipping cost, n shipping time. While I'm waiting around, I'm on involuntary click vaca...
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I'll prob be sifting thru old pics for ESR until a card arrives. For me, a new card is preferred to deletion n re-use, due to wanting to use them as ultimate proof of ownership of the images. So I'll wait this time. I have to wait for enough bux in my account, n hope there will be some of the cards still available in the future as well, until I can afford a better Digi-cam, or else revert back to disposable film cams again.
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Photo by SnaggleTooth 2007 The above pic was taken on film in January 2007. This film image is from two years ago this week. Today it was cool, cloudy, n I had no time to get to Fav place, little bux for errands, n no cam anyhoo.
September 16 two years back, was sure pretty tho...

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Swimmin'

Due to a proliferation of water falling from the sky, Day Off has been forced to remain indoors. Photography has been post-poned, n no errands whatsoever will be accomplished.

Before the Sun went down, n heavier rains began, Rain Toad was registering three inches of water already! We are now reported on the weather to have about 6 inches of rain here this day! Rain Toad has overflowed, only measuring to 5... Thunder n lightening had me unable to get online when my errand run went down the drain, so this waited awhile!

The trailer park down by the boat ramp beach is flooded, n news reported many flash-flooded local roads. Guess I won't attempt an outing at all. I'm just glad I got to avoid the massive puddles at work by being home today. (Whew)

Shark Tail Soup

Photo by SnaggleTooth 2009
NOTE: For those who like longer reads

Years ago in the '80's at a flea market book table, I purchased a paperback non-fiction, treasure-trove of info with copyright date 1961 (twelth printing 1975) titled "Shark!" by Thomas Helm. It was a fifty-cent purchase I was compelled to make. The original price printed on the cover is "$1.95." I've read the interesting facts about different species, n shark attacks, over again many times. Ever since childhood trips to the Boston Aquarium I've been interested in the dangerous creatures. Recently going thru boxes in the backroom, I discovered the old book again, n was lured back into the yellowed but pertinent pages.
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Decades ago, when I was a teen-ager before I moved to this town on Cape Cod, a six-foot nurse shark was found dead on the beach of my friend's summer home where I was visiting (near my current home). Nurse sharks have small mouths, with barbels on the nose, n have a tail n fins resembling Dog-fish features. Unless bothered, they are considered harmless sharks. Boy, did that thing reek like rotten fish- We had to hurry n bury it in the hill next to the stairs. That day I knew for certain, when I'd previously lept off the boat in the middle of Buzzard's Bay, (the water, not the Town by the same name), there were indeed sharks in that same water.
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That was the Summer of '75, when the famous movie "Jaws" was in the theaters. My group of seven friends scared ourselves silly of getting in the water after watching it, then finding the beached shark-body the following week-end jaunt down to the Cape-house. Water-skiing activity was curtailed, n the 14-foot Boston Whaler broke-down anyways. (I hadn't yet learned how to repair outboards). Even tho the "Jaws" movie was based on the five, New Jersey White Shark attacks reported from July 2 to July 15, 1916, (detailed in my "Shark" book), all the way up the northeast coastline, folks got paranoid, even without any shark sightings.
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I remember that TV news had reported bull-shark sightings several times off Old Silver Beach in Falmouth during the 80's n '90's. A week after a family ride on the ferry to the Vineyard n back (as reported in 2005 on ESR), a 25-foot tiger shark with a 5-foot-wide mouth was caught somewhere in the islands area (south of the Cape) for the annual shark-hunting contest. That's comforting... The fishermen were a few minutes late for the contest deadline, n lost! I love that pic tho- an incredible creature it was-
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The last documented fatal Shark attack reported in my state, (as I again refer to info in my wonderful "Shark!" book, by Thomas Helm), took place July 25, 1936, in Mattapoisett Harbor, which is part of the water of Buzzard's Bay, to the SouthWest of the Cape Penninsula, just a couple towns away from mine down Route 6 on the way to New Bedford, the famous old shipping n Whaling port.
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A sixteen-year-old teen, Joseph Troy Jr, was swimming about one-hundred, fifty yards from the shore with a buddy close by, when he was attacked on the left leg n dragged under. He managed to be released n brought by his friend onto a boat, but died a few hours later at Saint Lukes Hospital. My book reports in the "Appendex I Shark Attacks in the US" log he thought it was a White Shark. I've read other sources of the attack, however, such as my local weekly paper, that reported it had been a Mako shark attack. Troy gave an account before his death, as well as his buddy, n the boat owner, all described what they saw. Mako's are identified by their shovel-shaped, almost flattened, pointy snout. They are open-ocean swimmers. Also, they are thought to be the fastest shark.
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It would be unusual for White Sharks to be around Buzzards Bay, n the Cape, due to their usual tropical territory preference. The past several weeks however, you may've heard that many White sharks have been sighted attacking seals, off the Eastern Shore of Monomoy Island in Chatham, which is the out-most elbow part of the Cape's penninsula arm. The story's been followed by National News media. No human attack reports were made, but they closed alot of Lower Cape Beaches to swimming for Labor Day Week-end. Some of the Whites were temporarily tagged to be tracked until January.
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There was a report last week of a diver getting pulled up off his dive due to sharks being too close. Diving for rescue/recovery, exploration, shipwrecks, salvage, n instruction is big business around here. These sightings have put a damper on the post-labor Day activities n the economy locally. (Including my job's work-order volume).
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Earlier I stated on ESR in my Hurricane post that it's not an unusual ocean phenomenon for critters to follow the pre-storm fleeing of the food supply species. I attribute White shark species being here to that, as well as the high water temps we tend to get at the end of the summer, being on the gulf-stream current which feeds in from tropical locations. I'd been expecting to hear of Jelly-fish, Portugeuese Man-O-War, n sea turtles tho... Last year a manatee was in the town Dennis on the Cape, which didn't live for the ride home. Tonight there's a report of another one, near the same area again. That's odd, too. Have I mentioned too many times already, I did study Ocean Science in College...?
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Usually I buy cheap, used DVDs, but last winter I caved in to buy a spiffy, new DVD, Discovery "Shark Week, Ocean of Fear" containing more info to glean about fishy predators. Stories about the WWII ship-sunk soldiers getting picked off by sharks in their flimsy life-rafts was so depressing! But other sections described speed muscle anatomy, shark-skin surface properties, n species characteristics with electromagnetic current detection in detail which was fun. That's also where I learned more about the Mako species mentioned above.
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On the Discovery DVD I also Learned that in one month a tagged White shark traveled 2500 miles, from the island of Guadeloupe to Hawaii in the Pacific. To me that means White sharks here right now, in one month's time, could possibly be off the coast of South America, or follow the main Atlantic currents to the Europe side of the ocean. Currents are indeed, the fast-lanes of the sea. It also could mean shifts in the earth's magnetic fields could be throwing their navigation to different areas than normal.
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Between old sources, n new information, better understanding n less fear, there will be more answers to explain sea-animal movement n relocation. Meanwhile, we need to learn to expect the unexpected, for our natural world is definately changing.
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That's my theory, n I'm sticking to it...

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Flowers for Remembrance

Photo by SnggleTooth Sept 2009
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It's that anniversary again, THAT day, when the world lurched in distress of man-made, violently lost lives. Here's a pic of my one blooming sprig of Forget-me-Nots. They are so small, n tough to photo. We won't forget the 911 victims, either. I'll watch my "In Memoriam" Video, n my "United 93," n "World Trade Center" DVDs this week.
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The Video which follows the New York event in progress gets me to re-live the feelings I had in my gut that day, a tight knot which roiled in my belly. The realization that being at work just then was not as important as being with people I care about. Work was a trivial excercise when compared to fighting for survival, mourning the victims, n finding out the "Why?" answer.
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Photo by SnggleTooth Sept 2009.
The intensity of flights n hieghts revisits my mind from that day. Here's a pic of Mischief outside the upstairs deck rail on the roof. She's pretty casual about it, n prob doesn't realize how easily her leg would break if she went over the edge somehow. Luckily, she's sure-footed, n always comes back in when I call her. (The long-ago cat, "MidNight," once broke her leg going off the deck). I'm reminded how fragile n precarious life can be, n in climbing way up there, there's more of a chance we may fall.
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Photo by SnggleTooth Sept 2009.
Bells toll for the thousands of lost souls, n names are read. Lives are remembered for the shattered families. The beautiful, purple, Canterbury Bells in my pic fit so much on one stem, splayed in all directions. The seeds from seasons before have sprouted in some spots around the yard, I noticed this year. I'm glad the little ones are continuing on, dispite the distance away the original parent. The victims families somehow manage to keep on with their lives.
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Altho I'm not a direct victim, I'm forever altered by the trauma of 911. It has changed my path, n how I view everything!

Scene Below a Deck

Photo by SnaggleTooth 2009
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Below the seaside lunch spot to the left of the village pier, I'd found more prolific Petunias hanging from above in a box. A gull flew by just at the right time, too! This pic was taken the same day the hurricane was to the East of the Cape.

Sunday, September 06, 2009

Sum

Photo by SnaggleTooth Sept 2009

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The lovely Petunia n grass containers outside the Morse hardware/garden center across town were the best looking blossoms I drove past all week. The Bamboo blooms below were proliferating with hundreds of honey bees across the road, of course they were too fast to capture.

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My stinging eye is recovering on schedule, tho all allergens encountered are re-irritating it easily, (Such as the Bamboo pollen). I spent half my ride sneezing going to get fuel today, trying not to close my eyes while driving, Ah-choo!

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The "Summer's Over Blues" have begun. So many shoppers with kids tonight were out getting school supplies everywhere I went. Parents are gleefully getting the kids back to school, savoring those free hours without whining again. I enjoy having less of a crowd around town, myself.

Have fun at your BBQ's n end of Summer parties...
(Time for my nap...)

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Labor Day
... ... Summer ran with the ball
... ... To herald Autumn's fall.
... ... Remind Winter to chill out
... ... Before Spring sprouts back to life.
- by SnaggleTooth
(jotted down with pen on paper Labor Day 07)

Photo by SnaggleTooth Sept 2009




Friday, September 04, 2009

Blinding

Photo by SnaggleTooth 2009
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At two points of my mountain drive odyssey, The low sun was in my eyes while I was under the dense clouds in the rainfall. In the pic, you can still see some of the water sprinkles on the windshield. I was trying to get the reflections off the water on the road in the sunshine I could see, but battery-going-dead cam didn't see it.
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Today's post n blog reading will be very short due to a swollen shut, n stinging like hell allergy eye. There was way too much dust on the violin I had to clean for playing, because the case wasn't closed all the way last time a few weeks back. I'm very allergic to dust mites, n the clariton taken earlier didn't work this time. (*rats*) My eyes don't want to open in bright light at all, it really hurts. Hopefully benedryl n teabag soaks does the trick in a day or two.
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Right now I'm basically blind...