Be vewy, vewy quiet...

Spring has sprung again in Calgary but we'll have to see exactly how long this one lasts. With the office weigh-in, another season for basketball and softball season pending, it'd be nice to be able to get out and about without needing my down jacket. In the hopes that tomorrow will be nice enough to ride to work again, I did a very quick shake-down of my 'cross bike. I was just a few metres off my driveway and a big hare appeared in front of me on the road. After getting back home, Ying and I went for a walk in hopes of seeing the hare again. We did a little circle of the neighbourhood with no success. As we're heading home, the hare appeared at the head of the bike path and made its way right towards us. It passed pretty close and I was able to get a number of good shots.

Here's hoping the weather starts to improve. Another session of basketball starts on Wednesday and softball in just over a week. I'm hoping most of the guys added to our team are no shows 'cause we've got double the number I'd like: eight! We only have two girls which means they'll be on the floor the whole game and, if everything was equal, the guys would get 37.5% of the playing time. I might get more exercise in softball this year. The team I play for likes to take things easy. There are usually a lot of volunteers to be the extra player and no one was interested in a league with no outfield fence. I'm quite the oddball on the team 'cause I'm looking forward to the bigger field this year. My favourite position is still first base but I'll probably be seeing most of my playing time in the outfield. I hated the small outfields I've previously played at since lazy fly balls turned into home runs. I'm not a power hitter in softball so I'd rather have the opportunity to track down some balls in the outfield. Thanks to Dr. Jordin, I'm feeling quite good this Spring so I'm eager to do some cycling, some running up and down the roundball court and to stretch my legs in the outfield. If only I could find a decent outdoor basketball court. I checked out one near by today. One hoop was set at about 11' and the other was 9'. No happy medium.

necessary photographic equipment

We're up in Edmonton this weekend picking up the new family car. So far, we love it! It's got a sunroof, an aux jack for my iPod so I'm no longer using the cassette converter and a ton of oomph. (Remember cassettes? Two wheels and a ton of magnetic ribbon which made skipping ahead a song very difficult. After I turned 16, I spent more time in Stuart's car listening to a tape winding than actual music.) Uncle Bob and Aunt Joan are also in town this weekend and have bought us a crib so we almost have everything we need for the new member of the family. With six weeks to go, we've got some new baby clothes, blankets, a rocking chair, stroller, crib, car, house and visa documents for Ying's mom. With all this new stuff, I'll be hard at work over the next long while to make sure there's enough money to pay for it all. We still have two grandmothers who are doing a good job spoiling the baby before it arrives so we're well taken care of.

I brought my camera to Edmonton and found a little time to do some photography. I'm still hoping to get a picture of a bird washing itself in the bath in the backyard but I got some photos of the next best thing. Some chickadees kept landing on trunk of this old tree in the backyard. They were continually landing just out of my view so I was wondering what they were up to. I was able to circle around and it seems they've built a nest inside the trunk. I've got a few photos of them flying in and out. I'll try for some more later when the Sun is in a more favourable position; assuming they're still at it later. As I'm taking my pictures, I'm realizing some equipment I should have handy next time: a baseball cap and a stool. While using my 300 mm reflex lens, I was also using my tripod since the focusing is so tricky. The Sun was above and behind the nest which is very close to the ground. So, I'm squatting in the backyard, squinting through my viewfinder and trying to get some good shots. I haven't squatted that much since playing catcher in baseball when I was 16 or 17. I'm also trying to shield my eyes with my hand so I can see something out of the viewfinder because the backlighting is quite bad. A little shade for my eyes and something low to sit on would have been very helpful. I'll post the results once I'm home and can get the photos off my camera.

=> We're home now and I've posted a photo of the chickadee. It was using my 300 mm reflex lens and did I mention the focusing is tricky? I botched most of the shots on the focusing and should have taken control of the ISO so that my exposure was shorter. You can see that I was shooting into the Sun and you can notice a bright spot in the upper right.