Family – Page 7 – WesterBlog

March 21, 2018March 24, 2018

March 21, 2018 Snow Storm

It seems like I just posted a blog on a snow storm!

The last couple of days has been preparing for another n’easter to come in to the mid-atlantic area as two low pressure systems collide near my home. With the crazy weather brings some interesting photo opportunities; especially for black and white high contrast photography which I enjoy so much.

The Doukénie’s are nice people. I got to know the owners of this winery with my previous work. I’ve since lost track of them but drive by their place all the time as it’s on a road less traveled.

This corn field is on my regular running/walking route. I give them shit because they use harsh chemical to treat their land. You can’t see any of that under the blanket of snow today.

Drone photography has really changed the way I look at the earth. The first time I saw my first photograph from the drone I knew it was going to be something that would take the world by storm.

Back then I had the DJI Phantom 1 which did not have a camera mounted to it. Instead, I mounted a then unknown camera to the bottom of the drone … my GoPro (the original).

I remember being in my living room seeing the picture for the first time and saying something like, “Oh My!” which got my entire family’s attention. They wanted to know what I was looking at. It was something like you see here.

Producing the photograph is skill. The equipment is pure science.

My “new” drone is the DJI 2. Even the DJI 2 didn’t have a camera so I bought a third party gimbal, wired it into the GPS of the DJI as well as into an OSD module.

The OSD, short for On Screen Display, superimposes all of the flight data into the video transmitter which I also procured and wired into the drone. All of this runs on 5 volts of dc power that I get from the drone itself.

Then I put my “new” GoPro 4 in the gimbal and tie that into the entire system.

When I fly the drone I have my FPV, or First Person View, goggles on my eyes and it is as if I am hanging from the bottom of the drone. It is literally like flying an airplane. I have the exact same instrumentation as an aircraft all displayed in front of me.

I control the drone with 2.4ghz DSS. The video downlink is 5ghz analog. It’s worth noting that the use of 5ghz downlink video is not something normally approved without a license. But I do possess the FCC license to do this.

This camera system that I created is not as fancy as the stuff you can buy today. Since that stuff wasn’t available when I built this I did what I could. It takes a photograph every 5 seconds as well as shooting 1080p 30fps video at the same time. So I get a little of both vs one or the other. But I do have to stay on my target for 5-20 seconds to get the photo I want. That is if I want it in high resolution and not from the video grab.

The video is not the latest 4k with all the latest technology. But for what I am doing with it I don’t need that either. For me and this system anyway, that is just a camera change. Not a drone system change. I just haven’t gotten around to swapping out the camera mainly because I don’t prefer GoPro cameras any longer as they are too expensive compared to all the other technology out there that can do just as well for 25% of the cost.

This is me behind my “camera” this afternoon

I’ve thought about buying a new drone over the past several years and, so far, I haven’t seen anything I’d prefer. There are smaller ones that fit in your pocket but don’t take better video or photos.

I think the next drone I have will be much more sophisticated in the use of aerodynamics. Like quieter props. These are not quiet machines. But they take awesome photos!

February 28, 2018

The geese are headed north.

It’s still cold at night and cool during the day. Right now its 35º at midnight and we have a fire going in the fireplace keeping the house warm. The fire keeps the house warm without running the air conditioners. At this temperature, anyway.

When I got home today and walked out in the back yard and notice two things immediately. First there were all these geese flying north in big “V” formations. One after the other. The second was the grass is turning green again.

The ground is still super soggy with all the rain and snow we’ve had recently. That must be helping it all start to look like spring. I’m hoping we don’t have any hard freezes from now on since the flowers will be up soon and the trees will start to leaf out. I’ve seen that kill a number of trees here.

I hope it’s warm and sunny where you are at too. Have a good day!

February 22, 2018

February 17, 2018 Snow Storm

Last week we had this snow storm come through here that was interesting to observe. Listening to the radio you’d think we were going to be buried under an apocalyptic layer of white stuff.

It was OK because as much salt as they put on the road if we had enough water it would just become a sea and we could all be sailors again. All that salt has to have a negative impact on the environment. In particular, the water. If we continue to put all this salt on the road our fresh water is going to become saline! We should all stay home instead. Or use something else.

Here is a short video of that day.

Have a good day!

February 20, 2018February 20, 2018

Big snow. Then no snow.

On Saturday, 18 February 2018, the day started cool in bright sunlight. There was a winter storm warning for later in the day where they said the weather would change and become overcast and quickly dump 3-5 inches of snow on the ground. I didn’t believe them until it started snowing.

It was about 30º and the air was very moist making the snow sticky which quickly covered everything.

The next morning I got up and flew my drone to take some pictures of the snow covered landscape knowing that the temperatures were about to rise and it would likely all be gone soon.

My home after a snow storm February 18, 2018

Virginia snowscape looking towards my home.

And, no kidding, it didn’t take long. By the time 5pm rolled around the sky was super clear and sun uber-bright casting long high contrast shadows everywhere.

Mongrel at sunset on top of a bird house

With Mongrel on top of the bird house I noticed it cast a cool shadow on the ground behind us. I snapped a few photos. He’s on the house because the ground it totally saturated with water. It’s like walking on a big sponge out here.

So many places are doing without water. This just doesn’t happen to be one of them.

Mongrel really doesn’t like having his picture taken so I have to be coy about all this photography thing. When the camera is pointed away he will do his own thing. The second I put the lens in his direction he complains. So if I shoot a photo of him you now know it’s extremely quick and has to be right the first time or he’ll move off.

This winter the temperatures have been so cold, colder than I remember previous years being. For several weeks we had temperatures consistently below freezing with lows near zero every day.

That changes tomorrow with a high of 75º in the afternoon. I’m really hoping I can peel off and get a motorcycle ride in during the evening hours. Work is busy so that may not happen.

Maybe spring really is only a few weeks away.

Other than droning I got to fly some of my other aircraft during the calmer parts of the days without precipitation. That was fun but I have no photography of that. Also spent a ton of time with my radio hobby but not photos of that either.

It’s been a fun, long weekend but that all changes in the morning.

Oh, it is morning.

Off to bed.

February 11, 2018February 12, 2018

Potomac River in the Winter

Today I had to run an errand in Baltimore.

The weather there and back was in and out of the rain and fog with a temperature range between home and Baltimore of about 20º. It’s just so odd that the temperature spread would be that different in such a short distance.

The ground is still very cold as is the temperature of the waters near home. When we went across the Potomac river we couldn’t see past the windows in our car. But when I came back across the river this is what I saw:

It’s often not easy to get a photograph like this. I’d say that most photography that you don’t see every day has some element of crazy in it. I tried to describe it here.

I’m not posting these high resolution pictures on Instagram or Facebook because they take out all the detail. Since these shots were made by hand with very high ISO in low light they are already “grainy” which would look worse after “enhancement” by the big box social media sites.

As I stood on the river bridge like a crazy man the sky color changes like it always does as the sun sets lower in the sky. The colors changed from blue/grey to pastel. I did my best to capture that here:

If you want to see more detailed photographs you can touch the images. Following is a map showing the GPS coordinates of where I was standing to take these photos and video. I was on the west (left) side of the bridge.

I hope you have a great week ahead of you!

February 5, 2018

Winter came back!

Over the weekend we had a small winter storm that changed the landscape back to winter.

I still feel quite fortunate that we have not had a major winter storm this year where we had to shovel 3+ feet of snow like previous years. And now that I’ve said that I’m sure it’ll happen. Ha. Either way, I’ll be ready to shovel snow or chill and enjoy the last 5-6 weeks of winter. All of us are ready to get outside more so the quicker spring can come the better.

Busy work week so I’m off to finish some of that.

Have a great week!

February 1, 2018

Moonrise

I wish I had thought enough head to program the computers to get the lunar eclipse the other day. It’s so easy and I just forgot.

I was poking around through the time lapses the last few days and was about to discard this one because it just showed what I see every day. About the time I was going to shut it down I saw the moon rise from the east.

It’s been so cold that I haven’t been outside much to take many photographs so I don’t have much to contribute here tonight. Hopefully that will change soon.

January 15, 2018

Winters day – January 14-15, 2018

I have been collecting images for a few days now. As I went outside with my camera yesterday evening the following photos came in close succession before the sun went down.

The evenings here are alive with wildlife of all kinds. I’ve been trying to get a photo of the fox that has decided to come live with us but so far have been unsuccessful. It’s been very curious of me and Mongrel. Unlike most of them that just run away this one stays and observes us.

It gets so cold here with the blowing wind that I can only take a few photos before I have to put my hands back in my pocket where I have hand warmers running full blast.

Red shouldered hawk looking for the unsuspecting from above.

As you can see from the photo above amateur radio is assisting the local wildlife. The hawk is atop one of my telephone poles with my 80-meter antenna just below.

I took several pictures of geese flying around. Every evening they seem to be looking for a place to spend the night near some body of water. You’d think they would all be sort of going in the same direction but they are going in all directions and at all altitudes but in groups about this size, all of them in the V formation. I liked the contrast of them against the sky.

Interesting contrast of a single goose trying to catch up with it’s flock and the jetliner going in the opposite direction.

Mongrel and I still go out on our walks but it’s been so, so cold that we haven’t been goofing around like we normally do. The first few minutes we are out, as indicated here with Mongrel on the stump, are so uncomfortable I’m surprised we don’t just run back inside.

On top of it being bitter cold the winds are blowing 15+ miles an hour. I don’t know what the wind chill is and I’ll keep this G rated in trying to describe it. But it is crazy cold.

The pond (above) is frozen solid. When we were out there exploring it made a popping sound that was so loud that it sounded like a gun going off right next to us. We both jumped!

Mongrel at the pond rock. Normally we hang out here for a 20-30 minutes.

Mongrel on one of our walks today. All boy.

This morning when I woke up and looked outside the frost was so think that I didn’t think I had seen it like that before. It was definitely a “hard” frost. It had the appearance of snow in the sunshine. The weather last night was uber-clear with a very light wind.

But we did manage to get in a tree climb in spite of the weather. For whatever reason Mongrel loves the game of “cat and mouse”. We play this game both inside and out, typically in the evenings. He will run and hide and I’ll have to go find him. Then I go and hide and he’ll find me. Often when I am looking for him (unsuccessfully) I’ll get ambushed from behind. I’ve never had a cat that plays like this one. Normally I’m tacitly ignored.

December 29, 2017

Saying goodbye.

Saying goodbye is never easy. Some are harder than others.

I wouldn’t be so bad if she weren’t 1,500 miles from here and could pop in anytime she wanted. It’s back to work for all of us in the coming week. The holiday is about over and time to get back at life.

Gloria is off to a wedding. Helen and I are home with the cats. The cats want to be in someone else’s home. Well, two of them do anyway.

After getting up at 4am I think I’ll go to bed early tonight. Or not. Depends on what I get involved with between now and then. Ha. It always depends.

Peace.

December 28, 2017

It’s bitter cold!

In spite of it being only 19º today we ventured out for a drive in the countryside towards Shepherdstown, West Virginia. It’s a pretty drive on any given day but most days you want to get out and check things out. Not today really. It was sort of nice to stay in the heated car. But we got out anyway.

Olivia cozy in a thick jacket on the C&O Canal path.

I think we’ll stay out of the water today.

We had brunch at The Mellow Moods Cafe in town. I’d never been there before. They had a egg and cheese sandwich on sour dough bread that was pretty darned good! And a black iced tea to go along with it. The girls had some chips and guacamole and we were off to the next place.

The girls went in to “The Good Shop” to see what kind of things they couldn’t do without in there. We came out of the mostly unscathed. There are a few shops in Shepherdstown that are fun to visit, have some pretty cool stuff in them but I rarely buy things except for food. One of my favorite restaurants there is Betty’s. I think it’s appropriate they don’t have a web site and still get 4 stars. I like eating there. The service is good and people are always nice to me. Typical “home” cooking.

We came back home via the Shenandoah River bank on the West Virginia side of things. It’s a pretty drive and there are some cool places to get out and visit but no one was really into that because of the cold.

The air temperature is headed down to single digits tonight so we’ll be close by the fire together. Two of these guys are off on airplanes tomorrow to be in other parts of the United States. It’s a bummer to see them leave but so glad we got this time together as a family.

More tomorrow. I hope your day was fun too.