The death of a 50 year old tree

Friday evening as Gary and I were getting ready to go out to dinner with friends we heard the most horrendous noises.  At first it almost sounded like rolling thunder but then it grew and things started hitting the roof of the house and sun room so my thoughts went to a small plane exploding and went running toward the sun room.  (okay now I understand the scary movies!) I got there just in time to see the end results of a tree (actually a huge limb the size of a tree) landing right outside the sun room and on the sun room roof.  This is the second large limb that has broken off and fallen from that tree this year so I think we're going to go ahead and have the tree removed.  This breaks my heart because the tree is almost 50 years old but it sits too close to the house to take these kind of chances.  I will never again have a house with trees this close.

We sit on 2/3s of an acrea and this limb is taking up 1/3

Totally covers up the sun room

Wraps around to the side where the patio is

side view

Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington area

We just got back from a week in the Seattle, Washington area.  We went to visit old friends there from college days and spent 5 days wandering all over the city and surrounding areas.  Today I'm going to post several of the pictures I took while at the Woodland Park Zoo.  It was the most beautiful zoo I've ever been too.  Not only were the animals in very nice natural habitat spaces for the most part but the pathways were lined with trees, bushes, plants and flowers.  It was pleasing to the eye and soul in whichever direction you traveled.  They had plenty of benches scattered along the pathways to just sit and enjoy the ambiance.  They animals seemed happy and were fairly active.  If you travel out that way try to make time for the zoo, it's so worth the trip!

When we first arrived at the Snow Leopard's exhibit, they were both laying down sleeping but then a bird appeared and this one got interested.  He woke and started creeping toward the bird.  It was amazing to watch.  

Once he came out the bird flew off and the poor leopard had to decide whether to go back to sleep or come out and play. 

He decided to play.  I loved watching him move, it was like liquid muscle.  

Bird came back, (dumb bird), so off he went to chase it. 

He marched around a bit to make sure his kingdom was secure once the bird was gone.  He was absolutely beautiful. 

Another animal that I fell in love with there were the Singing Siamangs.  They mate for life and stay together as a family.  The older siblings help raise the younger.  They sing to mark their territory and secure their borders.  They are very interesting primates.

Here they are right next to each other.  One is actually holding his ear as if he or she is trying to test their sound.  I found that so fascinating.  A lot of times they would move in close to each other and time their sounds perfectly.

Different pose but same song. 

more of them singing

Last one of them I promise.  I really loved these guys.  

I'll post more at a later date for now these were two of my favorites.  Have a wonderful day all.

A Little Work & A Whole Lot of Playing

Today I worked a bit on organizing one of my closets.  Going through my clothes is a daunting task, LOL.  The more I weed out, the more I find.  I really want to reduce my clothes to one closet.  My shoes are going to be the biggest issue.  I love shoes ... I mean I LOVE shoes.  I can't seem to have enough of them.  I built shelves in our smallest bedroom closet and I have rows and rows of clear boxes that hold my shoes.  I try to go through them and give them away but they end up back in that closet.  I really can't let them go and I keep adding to them.  I guess I should have started this post with ... Hi, my name is Debbie and I'm a shoe addict.  I do wear them though, in my job I should always be dressed nice so I wear all my heels. In the summer I wear all the sandals and in the winter I wear all the boots.  So ... I'm thinking it's really not so much an addiction as it is a necessity.  But, truly, I do love shoes!

 Today turned out to be warm and sunny for a January afternoon so I took some time off and ran to Best Buy to find myself a new camera bag.  My old one is just not large enough for everything and I've already outgrown the one that came with my camera.  Things have changed a lot since I bought my last one, it's almost all backpacks now and that is what I ended up getting.  I thought about it for a while because I could always go online and order one but after trying several over my shoulder I found one that was really comfortable and roomy enough to hold all my photography stuff in it.  This is the one I chose:

The pack is slim and the straps or extra padded.  Very comfortable to wear over one or both shoulders

There's room for everything.  I was able to put in all my lens and camera, cleaning stuff, extra battery and filters.  I found a place for the battery charger, and all the cords. Everything is in one place. 

After I packed my new camera case, I went outside and played with my camera a bit.  I wanted to record the difference between the different lens so that basically I would understand what each does, what their pros and cons are.  Mostly I took pictures of tree tops and sky as I was wanting to know how true the color records to the photo.  I also wanted to play with composition a bit as well.  Today I played with the 24mm, 40mm, and the 18-55mm lens. I tested how close I could actually get without losing focus and how far I could shoot without losing value.  making sure that I chose the same things to take pictures of helped so that I could compare the photos. The 18-55mm allows you to get closer to your subject.  I was within 3-4 inches before it got blurry.  The 40mm I had to be 6-8 inches away.  The 24mm I could be within 4-6 inches.  All of them shot at a distance pretty much the same but I had all the lens on auto focus.  This was my favorite shot of the day:

shot with the 18-55mm. 

Gloomy Days of Winter

Gray cast skies today.  Why does winter have to be so gloomy?  It's bad enough that it's cold outside but to see everything gray and dead looking is just depressing.  My new mantra is ... Spring will be here soon ... Spring will be here soon, and it will be.  But, until it arrives, I have the opportunity to do the things I never have time for during the Spring, Summer and Fall.

• Cleaning out the attic ... a job I have put off for years but has needed to be done.  Oh my it is a mess.  We live in a two story house so it's a walk in attic and I have a tendency to store junk, ten years of junk actually.  So this is a big job and most of this should have been thrown away years ago.  Note to self:  Get rid of junk, don't store it!
• Cleaning out closets ... how many of us collect clothes thinking we'll wear them again someday?  Or maybe they were favorites at one time but basically have been replaced by other favorites.  I think I'm a shopaholic.  My closets are crammed full and I don't wear a tenth of what's in them.  I hate trying on in the store so I buy, bring home, stick in closet and when I finally try it on ... I really don't like the garment.  Time to donate or discard.  Note to self:  Take time to try on clothes in the store and save yourself a lot of money!
• Clean out from under sinks, kitchen and bathrooms.  I don't know if you're like me but I have every cleaner known to man under my kitchen sink and again I only use a handful of things.  Time to toss all the others and get real when I'm shopping. Note to self:  Quit buying crap you don't use!
• Finish painting the upstairs hallway!  Oh man this one stings ... it's been halfway painted for a few years now.  It should have already been done but basically out of sight out of mind.  This has to be done before I start any new home renovation projects.
• Finish putting up crown molding in downstairs hallway.  Ouch!  This one is not out of sight so it needs to be done first.  
• Strip carpet from stairs and do wooden stairway.  Oh my, this will be my reward for getting the last two projects done.  I've wanted to do this for quite some time.  I hate carpeted stairwells.  We have two cats so constantly vacuuming the stairs and that's one of their favorite places to play.  
• Redo cabinets in kitchen and paint kitchen.  Again, something I will enjoy.  

Well, as you can see, I have lots to keep me busy plus I have just gotten a new camera that I'm learning to use.  So these next 5 or 6 weeks should fly by.  I also have returned to my sewing machines and have started several projects there.  So there's really not a lot of time to absorb the gloom of winter since I'm going to have to hustle to get ready to welcome Spring.  Can't wait to open windows and let the fresh air in and hear the birds sing.  I want my house all clean and fresh and ready for it as well.  

I've been going out a few times a week taking pictures and I'm going to attach a few to this post that I think are note worthy.  My husband, Gary, and I went to Oxley Nature Center in Tulsa and took several of the trails while I played with my camera.  It was one of those rare warm, sunny winter days. It had followed a really bad freezing few weeks so it was nice to get out and feel the sun on my face.  It had been several years (probably over 20) since we had been to the Nature Center in the winter so it was like discovering it all over again.  Enjoy the pictures.  

This was the marsh area.  An area we avoid in the summer because of the mosquitos 

This was the lake area, this is always a beautiful area no matter what time of year. 

To Challenge Myself

Brrrrr!  It's cold outside!  This is always the hardest time for me ... the cold, cloudy days of winter.  I hate to get out of the house, I want to just burrow in and read or watch a little TV.  So each winter I decide I have to have some sort of challenge, something that gets me out of the house and keeps me active.  This winter, I've decided to take up photography.  I've always been interested in it and I've dabbled in it for years but now I really want to learn everything I can about it.  I just ordered myself a really good camera so when it gets here I'll make myself get out and take pictures.  I'll learn new things and have something wonderful to show for it.  I've also just gotten a new sewing machine that does quilting and my first serger so I'll be making myself challenges with that too for those days that's just horribly depressing and too miserable to get outside.  I'll post things from time to time to show what I have learned.