Happy Maggie at the Park

 Don't ask me how the restoration work and insurance stuff is coming.  Just don't.  Instead, let's enjoy these photos of a happy dog, a beautiful setting, and a bunny.  Maggie and I go out to a park most days, in addition to our little neighbourhood walks.  Today we went to Rathtrevor, which we haven't been to for quite awhile.  We traipsed around the trails furthest from the campers and majority of walkers, and had a thoroughly nice time. 

This is a big tree, Mama! 

Bunny - one of many. We saw chocolate ones, black ones, peachy coloured ones, and brown ones with white tails.  I'll never understand why people dump their pet rabbits in the wild. 

Checking out the interesting smells along a lovely trail

Maggie's favourite spot - a dozen or more stumps just the right height for jumping on and for leaping from one to the other.  She can'd do quite as many as she used to, but she sure remembered what to do.  Such a happy girl! 

Happy Easter

 

I'll leave this here

I'm dealing with a Very Big Crisis here to do with a broken pipe, a bunch of damage, a second water-related crisis in another area of the house, tons of frustration dealing with insurance companies etc etc etc.  And total chaos and upheaval for Maggie and Me.  Plus snow last Sunday (SNOW! On the Island! In April!), and a six hours power failure. Life is not going smoothly.

Let's just say I could use some good vibes, a few prayers if you're so inclined, a pot full of money, a barrel full of patience, and maybe a few good jokes. 

Meanwhile, since I know you come here for the photos, even if I don't have time for a story or two, here's a few more photos from the other day at the North Island Wildlife place. 

Some days I'm dealing with turkeys.....but not cute smart ones like these.

I need the wisdom of an owl and his quiet zen nature as well.

Things are moving on at about the speed of a turtle. 

I'll get back to blogging when I can, if only for a photo or two.  I will probably have to move out for a bit so not sure how much time or access to computer/internet I'll have.  

This is kinda cool

On the weekend, I popped over to the wildlife sanctuary to work with my new-to-me Canon T3 camera and a Sigma 18-250 lens.  I also took my "point and swear" bridge camera, a Sony DSC-HX99.  The sanctuary had recently added smaller gauge wire to some of the pens, making it harder for me to focus through the wires, so I wanted to practice different settings that 'should' minimize the bars of the pens while maximizing the focus on the bird or animal behind the bars. I also wanted to compare the efficiency of the more expensive Canon & lens to the less expensive but still versatile all-in-one Sony. 

Here's my subject, Elsa the snowy owl, who was found near starvation in 2013 and has never been able to fly well enough to be released back to the wild.  This first photo, taken on my Canon, shows you the gauge of the wire in her pen:

In this shot, with my Sony point-and-swear, I attempt to mask the wire and focus on Elsa.  It is somewhat successful, but you can still see the shadows of wires in front of her:

And this one, with my Canon and the Sigma lens (f 7.1, 1/400 sec, 250mm, ISO 1250) is almost as if the wires weren't even there!  With a bit more skill, I could probably have fine-tuned it so that even the slight blur wouldn't show. 

Pretty cool, eh?  

(None of the photos has been edited/retouched in any way except to add my signature in the corner.) 

Hello from Maggie!

 Hello there!  Good morning!  Happy Spring!  My mama's been doing a lot of posts about hikes, so I just wanted to make sure you don't forget your real reason for following her blog - the critters!  Okay, more accurately, critter. Singular.  Just little ol' me.

When she began this blog eons ago, there were a whole big bunch of animals - lotsa dogs and a cat and a bunch of piggies and an alpaca.  Now there's just me.  Do you think she should change the name of the blog?  Or does 'critters' include the birds and otters and sea lions and other wild things she sometimes posts photos of? I dunno.

Anyway, these are a few photos from our walk in Craig Bay Park on Thursday.  It was a nice sunny day.  We saw an eagle.  And the eagle's nest. That's one huuuu-mungous nest! Two dozen shelties could fit in there, I betcha.  If it weren't waaay up high in a tree. 

I sat on the grass whenever anyone else or their dog came by.  I always do that.  Everyone says I have nice manners. (Well, except when I bark like crazy when someone comes to the house. Then I'm just annoying.....whatever that means.  I'm just protecting my mama!). 

If you came to visit me I would let you come to the park with us.  We could sit on this bench and watch the herons and ducks and eagles.  I'd like that. You would too, I bet!

I hopes you haz a nice day!

Love, Maggie.