I paused to take this photo of one of my Devil’s Tongue Barrel Cacti this afternoon. This one had a lot of flowers and now has quite a few of the cactus fruit growing between the spines and spikes. In spite of the natural defense this cactus has, the little desert critters still manage to nibble away at the fruit. Click on the image to enlarge.
Planets Jupiter and Venus are currently gathered in the western sky as they do from time to time. This evening, I went out with the new camera on a tripod and played around with some of the settings and modes to get this image of the conjunction in the twilight. I took this image using the AV or “aperture priority” mode on the camera. You can see the two brightest objects are Jupiter (left) and Venus. Our neighbor’s illuminated flagpole is visible near the bottom of the frame. Click on the image to enlarge.
About a week and a half ago, I blogged about a new camera I ordered. Yesterday, the post office delivered my new Canon SX40 HS.
I unpacked the box last night and followed the getting started instructions this morning.
Image: composite of four photos I took today – click to enlarge.
As soon as I finalized the order last week, I downloaded the users manuals from the Canon website. I browsed through the manual to get familiar with the camera’s controls and specifications which gave me a head start on operations.
So, several times today, I took the camera outside and shot some sample photos. The top left image above is a bird perched in a mesquite tree about fifty feet away. At top right is a view of the home taken this morning. Bottom left is a neighbors flagpole taken at a range of about 400 feet. Finally, bottom right is a Cleveland sage flower I took in the courtyard this afternoon.
I am reasonably pleased with the performance, notably the telephoto images. The image stabilizer works much better on this camera than the old one. Close up photos aren’t usually my thing, but I think the camera performed well on those as well.
Speaking of the bird in the photo above, you may be able to help me identify the species. It is black with white stripes on the bottom of its wings, has a topknot like a jay or cardinal, jumps into the sir like a mocking bird dancing and has a whistle-like call ascending in pitch like a human whistling for a dog to come. You can click here for a large view of this bird. We can’t find it in any of our bird reference books.
The last of the cold weather is just about behind of us and spring starts in a couple of weeks. While the nights are still a little cool, the days are beginning to be warm enough that the puppies won’t be needing their knitted sweaters until late next fall. Bob took this photo last week when we were having a brisk fifty-something day. The dogs were comfortable though with their colorful winter garb. Click on the image to enlarge.
The Good Samaritan Hospital Trauma Center in Phoenix had me wired up to the vital signs monitor after I was admitted following my Humpty Dumpty experience. Thankfully, all the vitals looked good (heart rate, respiration rate, oxygen levels, etc.) except that my blood pressure was curiously lower than I would expect having not taken my BP meds that morning. Indeed, even after spending the night in the hospital, my blood pressure remained normal or a bit lower still despite having taken no BP meds for the second day in a row.
Image: Wrist band blood pressure monitor showing normal reading
Almost two weeks after the incident, I was at the Community Clinic to have the staples removed. During the visit, the Medical Assistant took my blood pressure. It was quite low – like 97 over 53. The PCP discussed this with me and told me to cut the meds in half. That was a week ago.
I got out my little wrist band sphygmomanometer today and took several readings. The at rest readings were still a little low, on the order of 105 over 65, but with normal activity the readings looked quite normal. I am due to go in for another follow-up next week and will further discuss the readings as well as take my wrist model along to see how it stacks up with the clinic’s sphygmo-whatever.
I put the pot with lithops succulents outside the patio where the morning sun can shine on them. All I can say is that they must like it there. These are the three latest flowers produced this early spring. Click on the image to enlarge.
