Loadin’ Up

Late yesterday afternoon found us loading up the old 630.  Its headed to the repair shop after fainting dead away at the sight of our neighbor’s shiny new John Deere tractor the other day.  (See blogpost of two days ago.) 

Also packing up to leave the farm was our college son, signaling that the holiday season is now officially over.  I made sure to send along any remaining Christmas cookies and snacks.  We don’t need them around here anymore, that’s for sure.   

Skywatch

This morning, a frosty sunrise here in Iowa…

Thank you for stopping by.  Visit Skywatch Friday to find this week’s list of sky photos.

Another New Lens

The previous post was about the wide-angle lens I bought recently.  It cost around $15.  I also purchased an Opteka 10X Macro lens for about the same price.  Nancy at A Rural Journal had mentioned using that lens so I decided to consult Google to get more info, expecting it to be expensive.  What a pleasant surprise to find that this macro lens was very affordable!  I immediately ordered it (from Amazon.com), along with the wide-angle one.

Here’s my first attempt at using the macro lens which screws right onto my Nikon D40’s Nikkor 18-55mm lens.  This little building sits inside a snowglobe and is less than one inch wide:

 

I also discovered that the wide-angle lens will screw onto the macro lens and had to find out what results could be achieved with that combination.  You have to get really close to your photo subject.  The windmill on this little Dutch ornament is about one inch tall in real life:

I’m looking forward to using these lenses next spring and summer when the wildflowers are in bloom! 

New Lens Meets New Tractor

This afternoon our neighbor drove in to show off his brand spankin’ new tractor.  He had ordered it last summer and then was allowed to watch it be assembled at the John Deere Waterloo Tractor Works in November.  Pretty cool. 

I will use the image of this gleaming green machine to demonstrate how that wide-angle lens I mentioned yesterday works.  This first photo was taken without the wide-angle lens.  My Nikon D40’s regular lens was set at its widest setting, 18mm:

While standing in the same spot, I attached the wide-angle lens and took this next picture, still at 18mm.  Vignetting does occur.

This next photo was taken with my camera’s regular lens set at its closest range (55mm), without the wide-angle lens:

With the wide-angle lens attached, the same shot looks like this:

They even let me climb up into the tractor.  Wow, the cab was so clean it was almost scary!

Over on the side sat this cute little “command center”, looking for all the world like an electronic toy!   

The engine was idling and you can see that we were using 0.6 gallons of fuel per hour.  We were traveling at 0.0 mph, and this tractor has a grand total of 4.6 hours on it.  When you’re looking to purchase a used tractor, instead of asking “How many miles are on it?”, you ask, “How many hours does it have?”  

Fresh From the Cold Outdoors

One minute I was packing Christmas ornaments away and the next minute I was running outdoors in the cold to try out my new Digital Concepts 0.45X wide angle lens.  It’ll be good for landscapes and sky shots, maybe.

I say “maybe” because I really don’t know that much about camera lenses.  I ordered this very inexpensive wide angle lens from Amazon.com.  It screws right onto my general-use Nikkor 18-55mm lens.  I’m hoping to add some excitement to that rather ho-hum lens which came with my Nikon D40 camera. 

Barn Charm

Corn crib charm…

I snapped this photo a few years ago.  The large corncrib, which no longer exists, sat along Highway 18 east of West Union, Iowa.  Look closely and you’ll see that the structure was “4-Sale”.  I hope someone bought it to recycle the old lumber.

When I was a kid we had a corncrib similar to this one.  Ear corn was stored in the sides of the building and shelled corn was kept in bins that were in the center above the drive-through area.  When the crib was empty, we had fun playing hide-and-seek in there. 

Please visit Bluff Area Daily blog to see more Barn Charm photos. 

A goal I have for 2012 is to take more photos of aging farm buildings.  Barns and sheds are being demolished right and left around here.  There was a neat old red barn down the road from us that I was thinking of photographing for Barn Charm, but just the other day my husband mentioned that it had been torn down recently.  Me and my camera had better get busy!   

New Year’s Day Sunrise

Hopefully its a kickoff to a great year!

Shadow Shot Sunday

Looking forward to spending time in the new year!

This is the first time I’ve participated in Shadow Shot Sunday.

Yesterday’s Drive-by Shootings

Yesterday, we took a spur-of-the-moment trip to Des Moines.  As we zipped along in the pickup, I randomly aimed and shot.  From I-235, its pretty much impossible to get a clear view of the entire state capitol building, so I zeroed in on the golden dome only. 

My husband and I chuckled over this “Admobile”---a moving billboard!  (We don’t get off the farm very often, so it doesn’t take much to amuse us.)

Unexpected circumstances took us past the Marion County courthouse in Knoxville.

And, near the Des Moines Airport, we saw this plane which appeared to be just sitting there in the air, not moving at all.  I’m not kidding.  Apparently, it was waiting patiently for its turn to land. 

 

In case I don’t blog again until 2012, here’s hoping you have a Happy New Year!

Skywatch

Photo taken on the day after Christmas…

 

Thanks for stopping by!  Visit Skywatch Friday for the rest of this week’s links.

TV Channels

Its yesterday afternoon as I type this and I’m sitting here watching The Green Glove on the TV channel called This TV. 

Here’s the description of This TV from their webpage:

This TV is a free premium channel that brings you award winning films, box office hits, cult classics, retro TV series and all your favorite Hollywood stars! Whether it's on satellite, your local cable provider, or your over-the-air digital signal, it doesn't get better than This!

We get it free via over-the-air digital signal.  When I was a kid, we received only three TV channels---ABC, CBS, and NBC.  Nowadays, out here on the farm we get 16 channels, all for free!   Much of the time, our TV is tuned to one of the three PBS stations. 

Barn Charm

An old barn in our neighborhood…

Thanks for stopping by!  Visit Bluff Area Daily blog to find this week’s Barn Charm photo list.

Recipes

Happy day-after-Christmas!  I have no photos to blog, but am posting links to two new recipes I made to include on the food buffet for the last two days.  One is Cranberry Fudge.  The other is Celery Hazelnut Salad, in which I substituted dried cranberries for the dates and used cheddar instead of blue cheese.  Normally, I don’t try new recipes very easily, but was happy with these two!  

Greetings of the Day

Hi, Santa!

Bye, Santa!

Sunset

Wouldn’t you know, I had to do some last minute shopping yesterday, the day before Christmas Eve.  Christmas Eve Eve, that would be.

While driving home from town, I kept glancing at the evolving sunset, hoping for a possible photo opportunity.  By the time I pulled into our farm driveway, the sky looked like this.  Happy Christmas Eve to you!

Snow!

Obviously, the snow was waiting to fall in a timely manner---on the first day of winter!

I took this photo yesterday morning on my way to the barn.  You can see a couple of farm yardlights still aglow in the distance. 

Skywatch

A colorful sky from earlier this week…

Thanks for stopping by!  Visit Skywatch Friday to see this week’s sky photos.

Another Painting

Happy first day of winter!  Yesterday was so short, I couldn’t find any time to take photos, so here’s another painting from the Pella Library.   

There’s no signature, so I don’t know if it was done by a famous painter or not.

Dairy Air

This photo was taken yesterday.  Sorry about the derrieres pointed this way.  I didn’t have time to wait until the heifers decided to turn around.

We have a bald eagle in the area.  That white speck up in the trees in the background might be him or her.  Either that, or its a plastic sack caught in the tree branches.

**

Yesterday afternoon I made two double-batches of biscotti to give to friends.  I’m not including a photo of the biscotti as I never care for the pictures I take of food.  Click this sentence to go to the recipe.  You don’t have to be a coffee drinker to enjoy biscotti…it can be dunked in hot cocoa, too!

Barn Charm

Seen along a highway in Fayette County, Iowa…this barn wearing a quilt block charm!

To see more barn photos, visit Bluff Area Daily blog.