A 12 pound addition

Sean, a friend of Todd's, works for the San Diego Union Tribute as a staff photographer. Before the Olympics the paper had told him that they weren't going to be buying any new camera bodies or lenses, so he decided it was time to buy new gear himself. That included at least 2 digital bodies and 4 "L" lenses. (Basically, he bought my dream setup.)
Shortly after he returned from the Olympics the UT decided they would, after all, buy basically the exact same set of gear Sean had just spent several grand on. Given the choice to use (and put wear on) his gear or the papers... well, let's just say that his gear didn't see much use after the Olympics.

A while back he decided his stuff had spent enough time gathering dust in his garage so he mentioned to Todd that he was looking to sell it all off. Todd wanted to get the 2 bodies, but he told me Sean was going to be selling off 4 very nice lenses. Now I hadn't really been looking to get any new lenses, but figured it wouldn't hurt to see what he wanted for them. After all, they are very nice lenses. Todd also mentioned this to Dave, another friend of ours (that I work with). Dave was very, very interested in two of the lenses. Unfortunately it was the two that I was also most interested in (24-70L and 70-200 IS L). I didn't really expect to end up buying anything so I patiently waited for prices. Dave is, well, not known for his patience. :) Watching Dave over the next couple months while we waited for prices was most amusing! I guess Sean was busy. ;)

When we finally got prices Dave decided he did want to get the two lenses he was interested in. Which basically meant I was out of luck. Which was a bummer because the prices were much better than I expected. But then as I took a second, then third, then forth, look at the list of prices I began to spend more time looking at the 4th lens - the 400mm F2.8 IS L, weighing in at 11/70 lbs! One I had originally written off as an unreasonable purchase for an amateur. I knew I eventually wanted to get one of the truly big lenses, but I didn't think I'd actually do it for several more years. But with a little used one available at a steal of a price, I managed to convince myself (and then Lisa) that I should get it! I picked it up on Sunday and now have NO excuse not to be out in the field very frequently.

Here is the beast, along with what I formerly called my "large" lens.

Canon 400mm F2.8 IS L with Canon 400mm F5.6 L above

I am extremely excited to have this lens for our trip to the Carolinas. Contrary to Lisa's previous post I don't plan to spend the entire time birding. Instead I'm going to try to spend the whole time taking pictures of birds! Ok, so that really doesn't change anything from her perspective - it's bugs either way! ;)

Jim's Trip to Peru

I have asked Jim to write something up so I can post something about his trip other than the little I remember that he told me. Hopefully he will email me back something soon. I'm not sure where he is right now and if he can get to the internet so don't know how long it will take.
For now I will post the pictures of the climb he took and a little that I do remember.

He flew into Lima on July 1st I think. Somewhere around there if not exactly on the first. I think he spent a couple of days there and then went over to Huaraz. I know he loved it there. He will have to tell you all about it though. He stayed in a hostel there and it looks like I have lost the link to it so can't show it to you. While there he did a three day hike with guides and porters etc. Then he did a climb up Pisco which is 19,000 ft high! He said he made out great for most of the trip. He went with a guy he met there and again a guide and porters to help out. A couple of days before his climb three Americans died on a mountain right by there. They had been staying in the same hostel and he had talked to two of them a lot. Theirs was a techincal difficult climb but still worried me some!! I was glad that he wrote before he left that they were missing and if I heard something to know it wasn't him they were talking about!!
These are the pictures he sent back from that trip.







Top picture is of Pisco Mountain. Then the base camp they had. Next is the guide and Jim' partner. Last of course is Jim. Here we are in high 90 degree weather and he is playing in the snow!

Around the 10th he left Huaraz and was going to make his way though the unbeaten path to Huanuco and then on to Huancayo where he said it was more touristy. That is as much as I know right now. I haven't heard if he made it though the back country but I'm sure Tammy would have called it there was a problem. You would won't you, Tammy?

This doesn't say much I know but we will hope for the first hand account soon.

Eastward Bound

Steve and I will be spending some time on the East Coast this summer. We are visiting the Carolinas next month for a wedding, then it's off to the Big Apple in September.

I am not sure what to expect in the Carolinas. While I look forward to the wedding, I am rather apprehensive about the trip as a whole. So far, we have no solid plans on how to spend the entire week. What's certain is that we are flying into Raleigh and staying on Ocean Isle Beach, which is where the wedding is. We will have a car and may go as far east as the Blue Ridge Pkwy and as far south as Charleston to visit some Civil War sites. If Steve had his way, we'd be spending the entire time birding. With his new lens and a collection of birding books, he is all ready to go. How much time I spend with him will depend on how buggy the area is. I read about all the mosquitoes, no-see-ums and chiggers - according to some tour books, the area is infested! Needless to say, I am a bit freaked out. Let's hope the bug repellent will do its trick. If anyone has any recommendations or traveller's tips, please send them along.

If I end up not liking the Carolinas, I'd still have NYC to look forward to. I've already been there twice and can't wait to make it out there again. 9 days in the big city! 9 days of shopping, theater, museums and most importantly, SPORTS! On the schedule, we have two days of baseball (both Mets and Yankees), plus four tennis matches (the semis). When we're not inside a stadium, we will try to hit Central Park (for more birding, of course), the Empire State Building, the Met and if we're brave enough, Harlem. I am hoping that the weather will cooperate this time around. The last I time was there, it rained half the time. In fact, the Yankee game I had tickets to got rained out, the only one in that series to do so.

Beardsley's first trip to the Conejo Botanic Garden

We took our little baby boy out for his first offical hike Friday morning! We went out to the Gardens here in town and he had a great time. He didn't get to see much as he had his nose down on the ground sniffing everything! There were so many new smells he was on overload! We have been taking him on evening walks over and around the church across the street from us but this was a much longer hike. We didn't walk around the hill on the nature trail but did get all the way up to the top of the hill with him. He did very well for his first hike. I will say that when we were going down he did stop several times to rest up. Of course neither Paul or I complained about that as we both had taken our fast walks before we left for the gardens as we were getting tired too!!

When we got home Beardsley was full of stickers and burrs and dirt!! I love the haircut of the Schnauzers but for hiking I don't know if it will be easiest to take care of!! Of course he always has his beard in everything from his food, water and all the dirt outside. He was so tired when we got home that he just let me lay him on his back and brush him out. He didn't even move while I was doing it! That was one tired dog.
As long as I'm writing about the dog I might as well tell you all about how is doing and what he is doing and what we are doing! Don't I sound just like a new mommy?
We couldn't have asked for a better dog for us! Schnauzers are apt to bark a far amount but I don't think Beardsley even knows how to bark. Okay, that is saying a bit much as he has barked a few times, only one or two barks per though. He went out chasing a cat in the backyard this morning and he got out half a bark on that! Remember what I didn't like about dogs? The fact that they are always following you around. Well, that is Beardsley to a tee. This dog can't have me out of his sight for more than two seconds. I just came in from filling hummingbird feeders and he was in and out with me on every trip! He has this look that Paul calls the "cow eye". He just looks at us and stares. It reminds me of one of Darcy's dogs completely. When Socha did it it would drive me nuts and guess what now I have one too!! Oh well, he is so much fun it makes up for it.
He is still sleeping all night long with not a whimper at all. We put him in is crate at night and then get him out in the morning and he is quite content. Not to say he wouldn't like sleeping with us but with how badly I sleep anyway that isn't going to happen. He will go into his crate if I'm working around and not sitting still. I think he just feels save in there and he gets out of the way.
Other than that everything is going great with him. So far, so great.
One of the things we were worrying about was him with the birds in the yard. Guess I don't have to worry about that much. He will chase the doves some but the other birds he doesn't pay any attention to most of the time. Jay-Jay and Mrs can come down and get peanuts from the table while he is sitting there! How perfect a dog for us is that!!!! So far so good.
Well that's all for now. I will do a blog on Jim's trip tomorrow morning. He sent some pictures the other day so will add those.

Beardsley

Well,well; look at what we have done!!! This is the new member of our family!! Our little boy is a black and silver Miniature Schnauzer and is four months old. We picked him up on Friday from a breeder in Palmdale. She also had a 9 week old puppy but we decided on the little older dog.
He is the mellowest puppy I have ever seen! He is already crate trained so he sleeps in his crate at night with only a couple of wimpers when we first put him in. We were expecting lots of whining and barking but it hasn't happened. At least not yet! He isn't housetrained yet so that will be a joy to do.
He will be a small dog, at the small end of the standard which is 12 - 14 inches. Pretty much a lap dog but he should be sturdy enough to do some hiking with us. We will have to work on getting him in shape as I think he might wish to be a little lazy. I know, a good match of us!! They are said to travel well so we hope to be able to take him most places with us.
As you can see his ears are uncropped and we will be keeping them that way. In past years most of the Schnauzers had the cropped ears but more are going with the uncropped look. We like it a lot better. His right ear might need to be taped so it flops down better and he doesn't have one that sticks up and one that flops down. We will wait for another month and see how it goes and then do something if it needs it.




I still can't believe we have a DOG!! For all of you that have heard me say over and over again, I would never have a dog go ahead and make fun of me!! One of these days I will learn never to say never!! I guess it makes the best sense for a animal that we can take with us when we go places. Oh who knows why but there is it, I have a Dog!! Paul has had several dogs over the years so it isn't that big a deal for him like it is for me. He had no problem with getting one and left it up to me whether we did or not. Such a love. I know I would have gotten a new ferret if they were legal in California but that was just something we didn't want to worry about again.



So this is the beginning of a long story of Beardsley and his "keepers". I'm sure there will unending stories to tell until everyone of you wishes they never heard of this dog!! Hopefully all the stories will be happy and funny and none of them sad. He should live for 12-14 years so we will be long retired by then. He could very well be the only dog we ever have so we are going to enjoy him everyday!!


Momma and her baby


Papa and his little boy