Observe, if you will:
Jackson, WY extended forecast = BLISS
As opposed to:
Phoenix, AZ extended forecast = HELL
The forecast is calling for rain while we’re in Yellowstone and Aspen, but I’m not too terribly worried. Summer thunderstorms happen pretty much daily in those areas, and roll in/roll out quickly.
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Observe, if you will:
The rental camera gear, and our binoculars.
In the center of the frame is the binoculars we purchased from B&H for a song. The lens on the left is the 70-300 telephoto lens we rented from Pro Photo Rental. The lens on the right is the 10-22 wide angle lens, also rented from Pro Photo Rental. I’ve been playing with these a bit since we received them on Friday. Got this shot of the moon with the telephoto – not my best work, but I was just futzing:
The moon, from our back yard. 1/13 / f25 / 300mm.
I dug out my copy of Scott Kelby’s The Digital Photography Book and refreshed myself on when to use aperture priority vs. shutter priority vs. program mode, as well as the “formulas” for getting good outdoor/landscape shots. If you don’t have the book, I highly recommend that you pick up a copy. I only have volume one, but volumes two and three are on my wish list!
Pretty sure these lenses are going to go on my wish list, too. Day-amn.
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Observe, if you will:
Nearly our entire wardrobe.
What you see here is almost our entire wardrobe. Behind those stacks are additional stacks, nearly as high as the stacks you can see. There’s warm weather clothing, cool weather clothing, casual clothing, dressy clothing, clothing we probably won’t need but are taking anyway “just in case”…
I’ve solved the dilemma of what to pack for an eleven-day road trip. Just take everything you own!
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Marie is taking care of the house and the pets (farm!) while we’re gone. Even though we’re not leaving until Thursday morning, her boyfriend ships off to the Army early Tuesday morning, so she’s coming over Tuesday afternoon to stay with us until we leave. In anticipation of this, Calvin and I spent several hours on Saturday cleaning her room, which was pretty much still in the condition she left it in when she moved out, oh, a year ago. We cleaned the carpet and repaired the leaky windows a while back, but that was about it until last weekend. Yarg. I won’t describe everything we did to get it into some semblance of shape. Suffice to say it’s clean now, the ceiling fan works, the drapes have been washed and re-hung, and the bathroom has been scrubbed to within an inch of its life. It makes a pretty decent guest suite, now.
Word to the wise, the invitation is open to any of you guys who wanna come visit this winter and get yourselves out of the snow you’re going to be buried in!
I also went grocery shopping today and picked up Marie-approved nosh. She’ll be living off of bologna sandwiches with Miracle Whip on white bread, raviolis, spaghetti-o’s, Kraft mac-n-cheese, cookies, Pepsi, sunflower seeds, and frozen taquitos. Plus the big ol’ batches of tuna and noodles, and goulash, that I’ll making for her before we leave.
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Observe, if you will:
Road Trip Nosh
We’re not going hungry, either. What you see here is our supply of road-trip nosh. There’s even some apples (not pictured, they’re in the fridge) as a futile attempt to prevent our diet from consisting ENTIRELY of junk food. The can with the blue lid is mixed nuts – those are good for you too, right? I must say, when I saw those Munchos at the grocery store, I squee’d. I haven’t had those since, like, high school.
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So! This is what we have left to do:
- Top off the hot tub and throw in some chlorine.
- Chop up a ten day supply of lizard greens.
- Finish packing (ha! ha ha! ha!).
- Get Kali a rat to satisfy her until we get back.
- Write up an instructions document for Marie.
- Pick up the rental car.
- Get the hell outta Dodge.
And…
- Post a blurry picture of my dogs (the phone rang and startled me into twitching):
The goofball mutts.
We’re (almost) off, my darlings! I have an hour and a half left at work, after which I will go get the truck lubed up (we decided against the rental car after all – more money to spend on souveniers!), pick up a prescription, get a rat for Kali, then go home and pack my brains out.