Playing With A New Toy

Terry and I are booked for an Alaskan Cruise with Royal Caribbean next month. We'll fly out to Vancouver, BC and board the ship there. It'll be nine days up the coast with stops at Sitka, Ketchican, Juneau, Skagway, among other ports with the final stop in Seward. We'll take a train from Seward to Anchorage and then fly home from there.

All this has been booked by our nephew, Brian who will be accompanying us with his wife, Vicky, and their little one, George.

This will be our first cruise and I'm looking forward to it. I am NOT looking forward to the long flights to and from our starting and ending points, however! At least they will be on Alaska Airlines.

Not wanting to haul my big camera and lenses with me through TSA checkpoints, I went and purchased a Nikon Coolpix P900 which is an all in one point-and-shoot, with a lens that goes from 24mm to 2000mm (!!), nothing short of a miracle camera. I also purchased a dandy little guide on how to use it. (Photographer's Guide to The Coolpix P900 by Alexander S. White) While you can pretty much take the camera out of the box and take some really good pictures, that guide book helps you utilize some of the amazing features of this camera. It also shows you how to use features you probably never, ever even considered.

Anyway, I've been toying with the camera for about a week now and still have a whole lot to learn let alone master.

American Goldfinch

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Tufted Titmouse

First Violet on the lawn.

House Finch

Spring Beauties

I'm Back.

Let's see if I remember how to do a post. ...

It's been a long while since I've posted here. Lots of stuff happening but I'll spare you most of it (for now). I'll especially spare you any politics for as long as I can hold my tongue.

Terry and I have been busy doing our usual stuff. Mostly she's been traveling for various sewing classes and conventions while I've been hanging around the neighborhood. Some hunting last fall (I got a nice 8-point buck on opening day), some birding (still seeing the usual winter birds with only a few of the summer/migrants arriving), some gardening (rebuilding a raised bed that was starting to rot away), and a few short trips together into NJ for family stuff (Christmas, birthdays, etc.).

One major change that just took place was the trading of our 2007 Toyota Tundra for a 2017 Tundra. The "old" truck had 177,400 miles on the odometer and had see several trips up to Clova, Quebec for fishing; several trips with and without the trailer across country to the Pacific Coast; to Florida (no trailer); to Nova Scotia (with) and even to Alaska (again, with the trailer). We'll break the new one in easy like with a trip to Oregon in June without the trailer in tow and then to Clova (again trailerless) in July.

2007 Tundra has been a good workhorse.

2017 Tundra has yet to be tested but holds great promise.