Photographing Sheep in Chandler

This is the time of year when sheep herds are being taken to various pastures in the area to forage. They can often be seen from the road standing and feeding in the fields. Yesterday, as I was returning from physical therapy, I spotted a herd that was easily accessible from a major crossroad, Queen Creek and Dobson. I drove home to get my Canon 70-200MM f/2.8 L lens and 1.4X doubler. These make a great combination because, although the doubler does diminish the light gathering capabilities of this amazing lens a bit and it requires more postproduction, especially for sharpening, than the using the lens alone, the lens is good enough that I can still get good exposures and the autofocus still works, unlike using the doubler with the 100-400mm lens.

I headed back to where the sheep were and parked at a nearby business. I carried my equipment, including my assembled Manfrotto carbon fiber tripod with Arca ball head, Canon 20D camera body and lenses, over to the field to take photos. I spent about an hour and a half photographing the sheep. At first, they were a bit skittish and ran down the field away from me, especially when another group of people approached from the other side, but after a while they realized that I wasn't coming in past the electrified fence and spread back down the field. While they kept a little distance, they were close enough to get some good photographs. The curious lambs were very cute. Unfortunately, I accidentally changed the settings on my camera and ended up underexposing many of the shots I took, but I still managed to get a few that I like.

I particularly like the photo with the herd in the foreground and the radar and microwave dishes in the background. It provides a great contrast between the old agricultural life and new technology. I'm glad that the fields are still safe enough that the sheep can be let out to pasture so close to the industrial site. Although Agricultural businesses continue to be pushed out of Chandler, the "High Tech Oasis in the Silicon Desert," by development, there are still rural aspects that can be found in our community that provide welcome respite.

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Chocolate and Cream Heaven

Today I finished processing and uploading my photographs from November 4, 2005, during our trip to California last year. In addition to numerous photos of baby giraffes, mating rhinos and grazing antelopes from the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, I posted a photo of one of the eclairs that we had at D'Carlos in Ramona, CA. Although Ramona, in general, does not provide a great deal of gustatory excitment, D'Carlos provides a decent meal with several highlights. We especially liked the beef ribs, which were popular enough that they ran out more than one night that we dined there, the baked potatoes, and the eclairs. The eclairs are incredibly huge, as big as the plate, bountifully delicious with cream and fudge. If you dine at D'Carlos, be sure to save room for dessert!

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Now for an amusing interlude ...

The last few days have been sad. With Sabrina's passing and all of the other cats sneezing day and night, my emotional stability has been difficult to maintain. I find myself counting the cats regularly and checking to make sure they are okay every time one of them wakes me up with a wet spray of sneeze, about once an hour. I don't know where it came from, but it spread like wildfire. From what I've read, this is probably Feline Viral Rhinotracheitis (FVR or FHV), and I probably brought it home unwittingly from my recent vet visits. Zeus, who was recently at the vet to have a skin tag removed and received vaccinations then, is the least affected, but still lethargic and sneezing on occassion. There's no direct way to treat a feline viral infection, so caring for the ill kitties is primarily about managing the symptoms, treating with antibiotics to ensure that secondary infections don't develop, and making sure that they stay fed and hydrated. We started medicating them all with the antibiotics we got for Poozer and Sabrina. The ones who got sick first are doing better, if still miserable. Luckily, any fevers seemed to subside after administering antibiotics and all of the cats are still eating and drinking regularly, so I'm not overly worried. The only one I'm watching particularly closely is Pumpkin because she's the oldest and currently the hardest hit. It's just draining to have to take special care of all of the cats so shortly after spending so much effort on trying to get Sabrina healthy without avail.

It was a relief to stumble across Douglas Crockford's Wrrrld Wide Web today as I was looking for references on Javascript. His tagline makes me smile each time I read it, "When you get bored, click something. If that doesn't help, then turn off your computer immediately. " In addition to good technical references, Douglas has a very amusing sense of humor. For example, his site also has articles on alternatives to English spelling and writing, Nuspelynh, Anguish Languish and Blissym. Try completing his multiple choice game after reviewing Anguish Languish. I'm sending out a hearty thank you to Douglas Crockford for interjecting an amusing interlude into my day.

References

Feline Respiratory Disease Complex
Feline Respiratory Disease

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Memorial

Yesterday, despite ongoing care with subcutaneous fluids and medications, Sabrina started displaying the same symptoms, inability to maintain hydration and peeing all over the house, that she had about a week ago, before her aggressive treatment in the animal hospital. We took her to the Emergency Animal Clinic to have her seen and decided that it was time to put her to sleep. We spent some time with her, picked out private cremation and settled the bill. Sabrina always hated medications. Although she wasn't so bad with injections, she was a little terror when it came to giving her pills and liquids by mouth. Ironically, the first time she was injected, the catheter was not set properly, probably because she had just had catheters in her front legs last week, and she didn't immidiately pass away. A catheter was inserted in her rear leg, then the medications were readministered. After a couple of involuntary breaths, Sabrina's eyes went dim and she was gone.

Sabrina was sptifire of a cat. What she lacked in stature, she made up for in love and attitude. My mom and I picked her out at the Humane Society in Tucson during my second year in Graduate school, about a year after I got Pumpkin. Sabrina was a shy kitty there, but quickly became outgoing and vocal at home. She talked to me often, loved to be petted, if not held, and liked to play fetch with cat toys and rubberbands. Sabrina was never close with the other cats. When we first brought Vixen and Zeus home, Pumpkin hissed at her, like it was her fault that she brought these other black cats in. Sabrina just hissed back and things settled down. However, Sabrina did get along with our dog, Eddie, and could be spotted rubbing up against him.

Sabrina was also always mischievious around water. She prefered either moving water or mine. Every morning when I came out of the shower, Sabrina would be sitting on the air purifier and would meow until I let her groom my hair. When I had fish tanks, she would lick water off the top. The fish would swim up, thinking they were being fed, and bounce off her tongue. Sabrina also had a habit of knocking over my water cups to drink from them. A large part of why I left graduate school after I finished my Master's degree was that she knocked a Big Gulp of water into my laptop trying to get a drink and destroyed 2 years of class notes that weren't backed up. Although I had already taken one Prelim exam in Criminology, I still had one more to go in Organizations and had no notes from which to study. I tried and failed the exam. I decided to leave graduate school rather than continue to pursue a Doctorate because I didn't want to be a Professor and I didn't want to retake the classes to regenerate my notes to study for the exam again. When we ordered our theater seats for the livingroom, we made sure to get cupholders, not only for convenience, but also for just the situation pictured here. In the bedroom, we use water bottles instead of glasses on the night tables so that when Sabrina knocked them over, they wouldn't spill. In retrospect, this behavior was probably an early sign of her kidney troubles, which would lead to Chronic Renal Failure and ulitmately her death.

We love Sabrina and will miss her deeply for a long time to come.

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Giraffe Hygiene

Giraffes grow about an inch of tongue for each year of life. As we were leaving the photosafari, the guide gave us each a moist wipe to clean off the giraffe slobber from feeding them. He pointed out, "You know, they pick their noses with their tongues." We did know because we saw it up close and personal. As I accepted the moist wipe, I asked if it really mattered, "Do giraffes carry diseases that are communicable to humans?" He didn't know of any. A giraffe picking its nose is a bit gross, but I would have washed my hands before eating after a long day in the sun and dust. I'd be more worried about all of the tourists on the safaris bringing in something that could hurt the giraffes, than getting sick from a giraffe.

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Chipotle

Usually when I take pictures at a restaurant I include the food, but I like Chipotle so much that I gobbled down my burrito before I could take a photo of it. We've had Chipotles in Chandler at Ray and I-10 and at the Chandler Fashion Center a couple of years. Now, we have one at Queen Creek and Alma School, close enough to go to for lunch without worrying about being gone too long. Also, their new DSL (Don't Stand in Line) web site, which allows preorders for pickup, makes it even more convenient, especially with a busy schedule. Chipotle is a chain owner by the McDonald's corporation. The professionalism of a large corporation is evident, but with an up to date urban style.

My favorite order is a steak fajita burrito with rice, corn salsa, extra sour cream and cheese. Ever since I came up with that combination, I've always order it. I keep telling myself that I should try something different, like chicken or barbacoa for the meat, or tacos or a bol (no tortilla), but I always end up ordering my favorite again. The only thing I've tried at Chipotle that I wouldn't rave about are the chips, which have salt and lime already baked on. They're ok, but not my style. I'd rather add fresh lime myself. I can eat a burrito for lunch every day and not get bored, which is very unusual for me.

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How do they find their way here?

One of my amusing practices is to review how the visitors to my blog found their way here each day by looking at my Site Meter statistics. I have the system set to automatically ignore my visits. People are most likely to find their way to my blog by searching for "path is too deep," a Microsoft Windows error I wrote a haiku about. A lot of visits come from links I've set up myself in my Flickr photo blog. Some of the visits are from people looking for places to eat in Chandler, especially sushi and gelato. I always appreciate the random traffic generated by Blogger.

The most amusing search that shows up on occasion is for Janine, apparently a famous porn star who just put out a DVD called "Janine's Got Male." All of those terms show up in my recent entries, so people looking for porn sometimes find their way to my blog. Some people want to control who visits their site and would be mortified to get porn-intended traffic. However, I see it as a feminist triumph, like when I intentionally added the rape prevention web site I worked on in my last job to porn lists to try to help raise awareness. Mostly, I just got a lot more spam, but I hope that maybe a few people found interest in it. For those who may find their way to this entry porn surfing, I have included the only photo that I have taken that even comes close to porn, "The Birds of the Birds and the Bees." If you're looking for something really sexy, take a look at Susie Bright's Journal. You won't be disappointed and you might even be enlightened.

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Sabrina's Homecoming

Monday, we went to see Dr. Bailey, a specialist in Internal Medicine and a member of Arizona Veterinary Specialists, who is evaluating Sabrina for her Chronic Renal Failure (CRF). Dr. Bailey said that we should look at other forms of maintenance before considering a kidney transplant. I was glad because after doing some online research on feline kidney transplants, I didn't think that Sabrina is a good candidate.

Although there is no one thing that would absolutely rule her out, there are several that are not in her favor. Sabrina has already lost more than 20% of her body weight. Although cats are easier to match for transplants than human, she would be a difficult to match because she is such a small cat, normally weighing about 5 pounds. Sabrina is about 12 years old. There is about a 50% chance of survival to six months after the initial surgery. After that, cats have a much higher chance of survival. However, they do require anti-rejection medication every 12 hours for the rest of their lifes. Sabrina is already middle aged. The surgery would be putting here through a lot of pain with not a great chance for a long increase in life. On top of all of the issue for the donee, there is the question of the donor cat. Although cats, like humans, can survive very well with one well functioning kidney, they cannot give informed consent to have their kidney taken. Donee families are required to adopt the donor cat after operation. We would be willing to welcome another cat to our family. However, I do have qualms about taking an organ from an animal that cannot consent to the procedure. Finally, there is the expense. Although we could afford the $10,000 to $15,000 for the surgery, then more for ongoing care, given the other issues, I would not want to go forward with the procedure.

Unfortunately, Poozer also got sick while Sabrina was in the hospital. He's been sneezing for several days. Although he's still eating and drinking as usual, I took him in to the First Regional Animal Hospital to be seen last night. We had a regular vet appointment for him at 6:30 PM tonight, but I didn't want to wait until after we brought Sabrina home. The vet gave him a shot of Benadryl to help with the symptoms and antibiotic drops to take in case it is a bacterial infection. Sabrina will also be coming home with unreconstituted drops in case she starts sneezing.

The good news is that Sabrina's Createnine and BUN values were significantly reduced over the weekend. Her Phosphorus value is still high, but can be managed with diet and medication. She also has high blood pressure. She will need onging fluid therapy, involving the injection of water with electrolytes under the skin, intially daily. This afternoon, Sabrina will be coming home with several medications, including potassium gel, phosphorus binder, blood pressure medication, and fluids.

References

Feline CRF Information Center
Feline Kidney Transplantation at the University of Wisconsin
Kidney Transplants in Cats

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Sabrina Update

We've been visiting Sabrina at the Emergency Animal Clinic daily since we checked her in Thursday evening. Friday, she actually looked worse than on Thursday. However, Saturday and today, she looked significantly better. Her fur has gone from gray and dry to black, and her eyes have gone back to a pastel yellow, almost green, color from being a deep yellow-orange. The IV therapy has rehydrated her and cleaned some of the toxins from her blood. Tomorrow morning, we'll call to see if she's ready to come home and arrange to see an Internal Medicine specialist.

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Mom's Photographs

My mom sent me a package of old photographs. I started scanning and uploading them to Flickr today. I created the Mom's Photogaphs set for them. I'm using my HP photo scanner 1000 to scan the photographs. Running off only USB and mounting as a removable drive, it's small and convenient to use with a laptop. Theoretically, it scans at 300 DPI, but the JPEG scans don't look that great. I'd like to find a higher quality mini scanner. If anyone knows if one exists, leave me a message.

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Janine and Sabrina's Medical Day

Today was a very medical day. This morning, I went to see Dr. Discont, my ankle specialist, to get the results of the MRI we had done on my ankle on Monday. He told me that I do have a torn ligament with a spur, in addition to some damage to the bone. I will need surgery to repair it. I scheduled my surgery for the middle of February after we get back from Hawaii. It will be an hour to an hour and a half under general anesthesia. Hopefully, he'll be able to repair the ligament directly, but he may need to take tissue from another part of my foot to complete the repair. In the meantime, he changed my brace from a neoprene support to a rigid brace with gel. It continues to seem a little silly after having walked on it as is for about 20 years, but I don't want to injure it further before surgery. After surgery, I will have to be flat for 2 weeks in a rigid cast, then primarily sitting and using crutches or other mobility aids so that I'm not weight bearing for 8 weeks. Dr. Discont said that overall it's about a 3 month recovery process after surgery.

This afternoon, we took Sabrina to the Emergency Animal Clinic again. She's been losing weight for the last couple of days and showed signs of difficulty with bladder control this morning before I left for my doctor's appointment. We checked her in for overnight hospitalization so that she could rehydrate with an IV and have tests done. The good news is that we caught it quicker this time. She's down to a little over 4 pounds from a normal weight around 5 pounds and she's not as listless and obviously sick. About a year ago when she had similar symptoms, she was down to 3 pounds. The blood tests so far have also shown that she is in better shape than the last time we had her checked in there. The bad news is that the vet thinks she has developed a heart murmur and may have thyroid issues. She may also be a candidate for a kidney transplant.

In addition to the obvious risks to Sabrina, a kidney transplant would be quite complex. First, she would have to be screened to make sure that she is healthy enough to withstand a transplant. Then, we would have to be approved to adopt the donor cat. The University of California, San Diego, raises donor cats, but the family of the cat receiving the donation has to agree to adopt the donor cat. We would have no problem with it, even though we do have five cats all ready. We would have to go to California with Sabrina for the actual operation. To do the transplant would cost on the order of $10,000. That's a lot of money, but hospitalizing her in her current condition with full emergency care costs close to $1,000 per day. Sabrina is about 12 years old and the life expectancy following transplants isn't very long, about a year or two. Hopefully, Sabrina will get better with the care she's getting now. It will be a tough choice if the vets continue to recommend a kidney transplant. We'll be getting more information tomorrow after they rerun the blood tests and we find out how much she has improved.

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Order of Precedence

Today, I've been thinking about the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) a lot. It has been years since Jim and I played regularly in the SCA, but we have friends who are active and I still subscribe to several of the listservs. I looked up a book on the SCA, The Knights Next Door: Everyday people living Middle Ages dreams, today based on a message on the SCA Arts list serv, and our local Barony of Twin Moons' Acting Herald sent out a request for the populace to review the Order of Precedence to ensure that our awards have been correctly listed. I was amused to review my listing and find that it is accurate. I was awarded the Award of Arms by King Aaron and Queen Alisandra and the King's Sigil by King Aaron for my service as their Chatelaine during their second reign at Estrella War in 2000. Jim has many awards in his listing from his many endeavors in the SCA. My rank in the OP is currently 2822. Jim's rank is much higher at 528. If we enter an event together, I get to join him at his rank.

We only rarely attend events, generally when we know a friend will be given a special honor. I was mostly in it for the partying and enjoyed Merchanting with friends when I lived in Tucson. Jim was very active as an Autocrat, always running events. When I moved away from Tir Ysgthir and stopped being a Merchant, it wasn't nearly as fun because I had few friends around and I didn't have the time to keep up with my friends when starting a new job. Jim was always busy running events, which kept him away from me at events. I was devastated that my closest SCA friends from Tucson didn't come to our Medieval wedding. When Jim got tired of running events, we stopped being active members. We often talk about getting involved in the SCA again, but our busy schedules don't tend to lend much time for just hanging out. Last year, we didn't go to Estrella War because I was recovering from surgery. This year, we may go. It will be starting February 15th, shortly after we get back from Hawaii.

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Wildlife Photographer...

Wildlife Photographer..., originally uploaded by eastsidefreak.

After spending the weekend stalking ducks, this image was a very amusing find on Flickr.

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Duckshop Photos

The best of the photographs I took during the Arizona DuckShop are now available in my Flickr account. They are all tagged with DuckShop. The biggest challenge for me in shooting ducks is getting the right exposure. The high contrast feather patterns are difficult to expose correctly in light and shade. My next photographic equipment purchases will be a magnifier and an external battery for my flash. Fill flash is very helpful for correctly exposing high contrast subjects or dark subjects in front of bright backgrounds, such as the sky or reflective surfaces like water. I'll also be practicing manually adjusting my camera's settings for difficult exposure situations.

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DuckShop

This weekend I'm attending an Arizona Duckshop taught by E.J. Peiker. Saturday evening, we met for a lecture on the technical aspects of photographing ducks, areview duck species, and the opportunity to review some of our photographs and get advice on the aspects of our photographs to implement the next day. Sunday, we'll be spending the day at a local area that attracts many ducks. We'll be shooting in te morning, with a break around noon to have lunch and review our photographs so far, then returning for more shooting in the afternoon. I've already gotten some good tips and I'm looking forward to implementing them tomorrow.

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Santa's

This week, Jim and I went to Santa's, A Christmas Theme Park. Santa's is a temporary amusement park with shows and rides set up at the Firebird Raceway just off I-10. Intel employees were offered a 50% discount off the entrance fee on December 29th, but I was confused, thinking that it was on Friday instead of Thursday. So, we didn't go that day. We went on Monday instead. Photography, including tripods, is allowed. I had lots of fun practicing my night shots. I got quite a few photos of the rides. I'm still working on processing and uploading all of them to my Santa's set. We got our exercise that evening as it is a full mile walk from the entrance down to the biggest ferris wheel, and most of the other rides, at the end of the raceway. Santa's will be open for a couple more days, until January 6. Visiting is expensive. Parking is $5, general, or $10, VIP, plus entrance fees range from $16, just for shows, to $23, adult admission including rides. Some discounts are available. See their special offers for details.

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Happy New Year!

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