Hobbled to the park to check on Bushtits
Left camera’s memory card plugged into computer
Returned to get it
Weather warm
Changed into lightweight shirt
Pollen everywhere
How long does a sprain last
My aching foot wants to know
I swallow some medicine
To ease my paltry suffering
But still I revel in being alive
Considering the alternative
What have I to whine about?
And today on my shift:
Filed under Birds, Photography, Poetry, Wildlife
From Wikipedia: The American bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus) is the only species in the family Aegithalidae found in the New World, and the only member of the genus Psaltriparus. In North America, it is referred to simply as “bushtit”.
Filed under Birds, Photography, Poetry, Wildlife
Three weeks ago I missed a step going downstairs. There was a terrifying crunch from my left foot and within no time I was lying on the basement floor in shock, spewing curses and hoping the pain wouldn’t get worse. I can walk now, but my foot still aches. I stubbornly refused to get an X-ray, confident that my bones don’t break that easily. I’ve only ever broken one bone, a cracked finger due to a hockey mishap. Don’t ask. But a sprained foot is bad enough. It is amazingly difficult to get around with the use of one leg, I have learned.
I blame the poor design of the stairs in my house for the accident. Of course it wasn’t MY fault! It was the ARCHITECT’S fault. These stairs are built thus: the rise is 7 1/2″, the run is 10″, with a 1″ nosing in addition. The nosing is fine for going up, as it allows for an effective tread of 11″. Going down however, which I am 110% certain is the operating direction of most stair accidents, the tread is still 10″ long. Now look at your feet. How long are they? Mine are longer than that. This means that when descending stairs my toes generally hang out beyond the tread nosing. If you overstep a little too much, as I did, it’s very easy to miss the step entirely, and then WHAM!
In architecture we had manuals giving standards for things, like chairs, tables, closets, doors,ramps, stairs and a thousand others. The old rule for stairs was 2R+T=25″. That meant 2 times the rise plus the tread length should equal 25″. The stairs here conform to that old saw, i.e. 2 (7.5) + 10 = 25. I am living proof that rule is not good enough! I always thought it wasn’t, to which end in my working life I have endeavored to make stairs less steep than that formula allows. I have measured and observed lots of stairs, and here’s my conclusion: ideal stairs should have a 12″ tread, with 6″ rise. Per the formula: 2(6) + 12 = 24. I have measured and tested many stairs as I said, and I can confirm that 6 x 12 is both comfortable and very safe. You can practically run down stairs of that slope, but don’t try it. Note the slope difference here: 6×12 is 50%, while 7.5×10 is 75%. Both conform to the old rule but within that rule you have the possibility of slope variance factor of 1-1/2. When descending stairs you should: 1. hold onto the handrail, and 2. watch your step. I was doing neither when I fell, as I was carrying a ladder using both arms, and couldn’t see my feet. It will be a long time before I make that mistake again.
Lesson over, here are some photos from my walk/limp around the lake the other day. The bushes were teeming with birds, and many more were deep inside brush, chirping, hopping, flitting, pecking, eating and doing what birds do. They do seem to be very active these days, full of spring fever.
Filed under Birds, Photography, Technology, Wildlife
Thinking I was painting a picture of a dog, it was pointed out to me by two family members (who shall remain nameless) that it more resembled a sheep.
So I decided to use the Polling Feature that appears as a button just above the box in which I am typing these words to try and settle the matter.
woof, or baah
Filed under Animal psychology, Painting
One theme about art which I’ve heard all my life is that what’s left out is as important as what’s put in. In architecture school, my most influential teacher said the best buildings looked simple, a sign of great skill in their design. Many great photographs were cropped from the original shots to achieve their best impact. I was looking at a picture I shot on the street recently, of a girl dressed up in various shades of pink. She had obviously gone to great lengths to achieve her look and it certainly drew my attention. But looking at the picture I began to notice things I hadn’t seen when I took it. Two men were coming, both dressed in black, with not the slightest nod to fashion. I couldn’t figure out if the picture worked this way or that, however, despite trying various crops – until I tried a function called ‘Cinemascope’. This removed even more than I had done in all my experiments, but I found it nevertheless had more impact. I give you both shots here, the original and the ‘Cinemascope’ version, for you to judge what works best.
the original photo
Cinemascope wide screen version
Filed under Photography, Street photography
Last weekend I happened upon an interesting looking typewriter case in a local “curiosity shop”. I didn’t recognize the case nor the machine when I opened it up, and the badge was missing. I found the nameplate on the back however, which said it was an Oliver, made in England. Now I know what it is. The Oliver Courier, aka Patria, and a number of other names. I returned with a box full of old cameras and we made a straight trade. It dates from 1956, and works very well still. I particularly like the typeface, which is pica of a most beautiful style. It is rather loud, and heavy of touch – it’s a man’s typewriter! Built to last. Heavy duty.
Oliver Courier c. 1956
The missing badge bothered me, so I found a photograph of it on line and made a quick imitation badge which slipped neatly into place through slots in the depression for it. Close enough, we’re not going for heritage status here.
THE TYPING SHELF
Wait – there’s more! Inspired by my serendipitous discovery of the art easel as typing desk I decided to make a portable shelf to use at the dining table, rather than be stuck in the basement where there are no windows. So I came up with this idea, and built it in a day from a 12″ x 48″ piece of 3/4 birch veneer plywood. It works very well, and I’ve tested it with heavy typewriters – it’s solid. By lowering the machine I find it much easier to type, and of course it’s a lot more pleasant to sit in the dining room where I have a huge window beside me, and where I can also look right down the hall to the backyard, where a pair of House Sparrows have taken up residence in one of the birdhouses I installed in the trees one year ago. Tenants at last!
PLANS
If anyone’s interested, here is a drawing and a downloadable pdf file of it.
plan for a typing shelf
My new tenants…
Filed under Birds, Photography, Thrift shop finds, Typewriter accessories, Typewriters
The other day I picked up a cheap old tele-converter for Pentax, for five dollars. I thought I’d test it out with my 500mm Tamron mirror lens, just for fun, expecting nothing. This is close to a 28x power telescope on the APS-C size sensor of my K100 DSLR. There are two problems with doing this; first thing is it reduces the aperture another f stop from f8 to f11, thereby slowing down the shutter and forcing the ISO higher. Both those factors effect image quality negatively. But second; the thing is really hard to hold steady! However, in the sunshine today I was able to get a few shots, which proved not bad. Remarkable in a way, when you consider these were hand held. The hawk probably would have been acceptable if I’d used a tripod, as the shutter speed was 1/45th of a second. That’s absurdly slow for a 1000mm lens. I applied some post processing to that image to try to make it look more artsy, since it was rather fuzzy to begin with. The heron was about 200 feet away however, and it turned out not too badly. If I wanted to get better results than this I’d have to buy a lens that costs over a thousand bucks, which isn’t going to happen soon.
Filed under Birds, Cameras, Photography, Thrift shop finds, Wildlife
I recently had the idea of using my heavy painting easel as a typing platform. With a piece of plywood clamped to the lower cross member, it is possible to sit a big typewriter on top and position it just above the knees. This posture is far more preferable than sitting at a dining table or conventional desk with typewriter up high. Before this I couldn’t type for long before getting pains in my upper back, but testing thus far indicates the easel will be much better.
counterbalanced & height adjustable
The result is that I can now circulate all my machines, so I first got out the collection of Olympia SM models. I’ve got one of the 3, 4 and 5’s (Monica version), as well as 3 SM9’s and also a Monica SM9 with French keyboard. A problem with old Olympias is their platens go very hard. But the SM5 Monica, newest of the old round body styles, had a platen that was much softer than the older SM3 and SM4. I speculate that around 1963 they changed the rubber compound. Monicas being budget models were not full featured and mine had elite type which I didn’t like as much as Pica or 10 character typefaces. The SM4 was a real beauty however, with cushioned keys, and key set tabs.
SM5 Monica
I have previously attempted to soften hard rubber platens with brake fluid, to no long lasting effect whatsoever. I’ve given up trying this, as it will merely soften the outer few molecules of a platen for a brief period, after which the rubber reverts to its former hardness. But having once again pulled out the platen on the SM4 to apply the brake fluid, I’d become quite adept at this. So I thought – what if the platens of these SM3’s, 4’s and 5’s were interchangeable?
SM4
I removed the platens from the SM5 and the SM4 to have a look and compare. As it turned out, they were interchangeable, with one caveat: the internal clutches were different, so each platen would have to retain its spindle. That meant the plastic button on the right hand end would stay with its platen. So the SM4 got a white button, and the SM5 got a brown one. The other knobs were interchangeable.
same gear, different clutches within
I swapped platens as follows; remove left end knob by loosening set screw; remove right end cover plate screws to allow plate to be pushed aside to access three set screws which hold right knob assembly to spindle; loosen three set screws enough to pull spindle out; between carriage frame and platen end disc there may be a washer which will fall out – this is not really necessary – I reused one but not the other due to differences in clearance; push carriage to far right and pry up right end of platen to extract .
accessing right hand set screws
Reassembly; I had to swap the end knob so I removed the set screw from the sprung wheel and pulled it off the opposite end (extracted the spindle complete with spring); replace platen and wiggle until toothed gear end snaps home up against left side; now comes the hardest part – insert spindle and try to find the hole inside platen into which it goes; this will take five minutes if you’re like me, so keep trying and be patient, it may seem impossible but eventually you will find that hole and slide it right in; reassemble screws and don’t forget to flip up the paper table before inserting the platen, or you’ll have to take it out again! And oh yes, the softer platen is much quieter than the old hard one. Next job – see if platen from SM9 Monica can be swapped with my SM3.
Filed under Typewriters
There has been a noticeable shift in the weather lately – despite almost constant rain for days, the sun’s warmth can be felt when it deigns to shine. Spring means migration, and the appearance of birds which either left town or went into hiding over the winter. I also got a very close look at the heretofore very shy muskrat, which inexplicably one day last week stood its ground despite the loud attention of numerous enthusiastic kids, and me with my camera almost in it’s face. Only the attack of an irate duck sent it on it’s way. Green buds abound in the brush, and in the field I saw new flowers poking up suddenly.
Filed under Birds, Photography, Wildlife
Seeking elusive Shrikes
I scan the bush
ears pricked
But Shrikes, like
vagrant Pileated peckers
have moved on
So with dashed hope
of seeing a butcher bird
I turn homeward
But hark here’s a sight
before my eyes right
on low branch a-twitter
The head
fiery red
flashes like police
Without doubt
‘tis most
arresting
Filed under Birds, Photography, Poetry
nathanguitars 