Girl Gone Wild

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida (high 88, low 67)

 

We finally got some much needed rain.   In fact, we were getting a pretty strong storm with hail, about the same time the killer tornado was striking Oklahoma. 

Now now that I have constant access to weather radar from my Weather Bug phone app, it allows me to worry even more.   As soon as I saw the big massive area of red on the radar, I started getting nervous.  It actually looked worse on the radar than the tornado area in Oklahoma the day before, but we didn’t have any tornado watches or warnings, thank goodness.  I have sure become a weather wimp since we live in a metal box.  :)

For the most part, we didn’t get too strong of winds, but apparently right behind us there was a microburst or something because there were two trees split.

This was a pretty large tree.  I hope there were no bird or squirrel nests in the tree.

It appears that we are in the afternoon rain pattern that is common in Florida during the summer months.  I’ll have to get used to it again, I guess.

 

Now, for the title to this post.

The Girl Gone Wild is because I’ve been on a camera upgrade mode this past week or so.

I already told you that we got a Canon Rebel T3i.  It’s DSLR, so it has interchangeable lenses and you can spend a LOT of money adding lenses and accessories.

 

In fact, I was online today looking for a telephoto lens and I stumbled across a lens that cost $25,999!   I don’t think I’ll be purchasing that one anytime soon!

The Rebel  came with two lenses, but they aren’t nearly strong enough for good wildlife photography. I haven’t really enjoyed the camera because every time I try to take a wildlife shot, I find I can’t zoom close enough.

It does take great kitty pictures though!

 

Al wants me to get a big telephoto lens, but the price is holding me back.  They aren’t cheap, and they aren’t light in weight either.   I’m still thinking about it, but right now we’re considering a Sigma 150-500  mm lens with a 2x tele-converter, which will give me a zoom of 1000 mm. 

 

My other camera is a small Canon digital camera (the SX30 IS), with 35X optical zoom and the digital telephoto lens.  I get an 840 mm equivalent zoom.

Of course, there is a loss of image quality in the digital zoom,  but for me, I would rather have any picture, than no picture.  I see a lot of wildlife that’s so far away and without the digital zoom, I would not get the shot.  With the digital zoom, I at least get a fairly decent picture.

This is an example of a photo taken with full digital zoom with my old camera.  It’s not perfectly sharp and crisp, but for me, it’s good enough and without the digital zoom, I wouldn’t have gotten the shot at all.

The new Canon Rebel DSLR with the telephoto lens, will be able to get a little closer and hopefully the photo will be sharper.  Of course the photographer needs a lot of practice.

The two main reason’s I have held off on buying a DSLR camera before now, was because of the fact that you have to constantly change lenses, and the weight of the camera.

So now have a better quality camera that weighs a ton and a lesser quality camera that is portable and lightweight.  The best of both worlds, I guess.

Did I need both cameras?  Probably not, but I wanted them and I’ve been a very good girl lately.

(and Al got a boat).

 

Of course……..I might already upgrades  my little Canon SX30.

Erin had mentioned in a recent blog post about how much she loved her little Canon SX 50 HS camera.  She also has a DSLR camera, but like me, she feels she needs both.  :)

Anyway, her camera is the newer and better big sister to my SX30.  It has a stronger optical zoom lens (which is all she uses) and a stronger digital lens (which will be mainly what I will be using).

I knew my camera had been upgraded and had a stronger zoom but I was happy with my camera and figured I didn’t really need a stronger zoom. 

As it turns out, not only is there a stronger  zoom, but they have made some other improvements on image stabilization.  I did some online research and looked at a few You Tube videos showing what you could do with the newer camera and I was sold.

It’s like with anything else in electronics.  They put a product out and then immediately work to make it better so you want to upgrade.

So…..guess what else I bought?  Yep, the Canon SX 50 HS.

 

 

I tested it out a little and the new image stabilization technology is really a big improvement. 

The pictures seem a little crisper and brighter to me as well.

Here are a few shots I took around the park.

This was the equivalent of a 285 mm zoom.

I apologize if these pictures take too long to load.  I may need to adjust the image size for the blog.

A bird nest at Catherine and JoBeth’s site. 

 

Sweet little Miss Grace.

 

If anybody is looking for a small, light weight digital camera, this is a great one.  You can check online for You Tube videos showing the amazing zoom lens and wonderful picture quality.  Just Google “ Canon SX 50 You Tube.”

 

I think I’m going to like the new camera.  Al will inherit the old one.  :)

 

in the process of working this blog post, I went ahead and ordered a new lens for the DSLR.  I got the 150-500 mm lens and the 2X teleconverter, which will double my zoom.

I should have it in a about a week.  

Roof Sealant Answers and Powerball Winner

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida

There were a few questions from yesterday’s blog regarding what Al used to seal the roof of the motor home.

We have a fiberglass roof, and after a while it tends to get a little chalky,  and the white chalk runs down the sides of the coach.  We could get up there on our hands and knees and use a car type wax, but we are looking for easy and that sounds way too energy intensive.

A couple years ago I read on some Rv forums that some people use a home floor wax like Mop N Glow or Future.  I’ve used both and they work fine, they just don’t last forever.  Some other people had discovered a product sold at Home Depot,  called Zep Wet Look Floor Polish.  It’s basically a commercial floor polish. We decided to give this a try and see if if would last longer than the Mop N Glow we used last summer.  Al cleaned the roof with a string mop and then took a sponge mop to spread some of the polish on the roof, being careful not to let it run down the sides.

He applied two coats, and hopefully it will be good to go for a year. 

We  noticed the old stuff had started to flake off and I’m sure the new product will do the same.  He didn’t kill himself trying to make the roof look perfect and we can live with some flaking as long as the white streaks don’t run down the side.  Some people on the forums mentioned using Zep floor stripper to remove the old flaking wax.   You would have to be very careful that you didn’t get the stripper on the paint.

I’ll let you know in about a year how it works.

 

It looks like Catherine and JoBeth will be leaving Quail Run pretty soon and heading towards Lazy Days.   It’s bad enough they are leaving, but they are taking Miss Grace with them!!

Murphy  will sure miss sweet little Grace. 

These two are so cute when they play “kissy face.”

   

Grace really loves Murphy.

Murphy is going to Michigan soon, so I guess we’ll be dog-less again!

Fortunately, for Murphy, he has two other doggie friends.  Can you believe how he posed?  His Mom was standing across the street talking to me and he was keeping his eye on her.

It’s a good thing we still have kitties.

 

We took a run over to a local camera shop where I checked out a couple of longer lenses.  Wow, can those get expensive!!!  I looked at a Sigma 150-500 mm lens that was humongous in size.  It would not be for taking on long hikes  I still love my little Canon SX30 IS.  Here is the link to the blog post when I bought the camera. It has a wonderful zoom lens that I sometimes refer to as my stalker zoom.  Someone asked about it in the comment yesterday.  I think Canon has a newer and better version out right now, but it’s a great little camera and will probably still be my camera of choice.

Sherry asked why I got a new camera, since my old one does such a great job.  I guess the answer is that I wanted one that would take the really sharp images that I can’t quite get with the small Canon.   When you use the zoom on the SX30, it’s digital zoom and you sacrifice some quality.  As much as I enjoy photography, I thought a DSLR would be nice for those special times when I can get close enough and can lug both the camera and the various lenses.  I think it will be perfect for Kissimmee Prairie Preserve, where we do a lot of photography from the car.

 

I’m sure many of you out there in blog land bought a ticket for last nights Powerball.  The jackpot got up to 590 million.

I didn’t think Al got any tickets, but when I heard there was one winner from Florida, it got my attention.  Of course it was 3 am, but I just had to wake him up to see if he had bought a ticket.  He had.

It turns out the ticket was purchased at a Publix grocery store in Zephyrhills. That’s the next town over, and by this  point, I’m starting to get excited.  Al said he did buy his tickets at Publix, but the one in Wesley Chapel, not Zephyrhills!  We figured maybe they got the city wrong and we were holding the winning 590 million dollar ticket!!!

Well, we weren’t!   So close!  Zephyrhills is a small sleepy town in the summer, that swells up big time in the winter with snowbirds.  There are a LOT of Rv parks and a lot of elderly people who stay all year long.  It’s likely the winner is some retiree here from somewhere up north.  Lucky them!