Today's walk report: Pine cone paranoia

 Today I engaged in the second photo walk since a pine cone viciously attacked my left foot in an attempt to take me out on Sunday, April 26th. The injuries have mostly healed, but the psychological torture still looms. Every step hangs in suspense, with a creeping realization that I am no longer in control of my own feet. My morning walk was restricted to well-maintained paths in the local botanical garden, and then I ventured out on sidewalks and pavement to take the "farm tour." I haven't done this for quite a while and wanted a change of pace. Besides, going that route provides a walk that covers more distance, and I felt I needed to do that. I also wanted to check out the livestock.

Here are some photos from today's walk...

Saturday, May 9th.

Somewhere in this blog I have a post providing the ID for these seed pods. Google was no help. I will probably check back later. 

 The Apache Plume (Fallugia paradoxa) is currently more plumes than white flowers.

 I believe this is a hybrid, Salvia leucophylla x clevelandii.

 The Salvia darcyi (red mountain sage) suddenly shot up. For me this means anticipating the arrival of migrating rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus).

 Behind the Salvia darcyi is Vitex agnus-castus, the chaste tree. I used to be able to get back there but wild roses have kinda taken over. I had several posts running back in 2013 about a green lynx spider and her offspring. The chaste tree was her home base. 

 Iris pseudacorus (yellow flag).

From this point, I went to look for my Selasphorus sasin friend, male Allen's hummingbird, Laukki. I hung out, called for him, but another no-show. I have seen him twice since I last posted photos (I think that was the last one), but he was busy chasing off other hummingbirds. I decided then to move on and do the farm tour.

Seed pods on an Albizia julibrissin (mimosa tree). Once upon a time, I was tempted to nab a few, but after seeing what both my sister and a few neighbors have to deal with on the reseeding front, I changed my mind.  

This is one of two domesticated donkeys (Equus asinus). I used to visit them in their pen when I first started doing the farm walk. This was way back in 2011. Donkeys typically live for 25 to 35 years on average. However, with exceptional care, their lifespan can extend significantly, often reaching 30 to 50 years. I didn't spot the other one, and you might be able to tell; this was a long shot.

 There! There they are! The woody, seed-bearing reproductive organ of a pine tree. Vicious I tell you!

 Goats, (Capra hircus). Yep, the greatest of all time. They usually get antsy when I get close and back off, but not today.

 Sheep. For the life of me, I couldn't get them to raise their heads up. People driving along behind me... Is that guy yelling "bah?"

 Needs no explanation.

 A female Haemorhous mexicanus, house finch. Fresh out of a bath.

 Horses. My understanding is all of the horses for the equestrian unit are on loan. This campus also houses horses when fires threaten surrounding canyons, etc.

 On the opposite side of the street we have cows. Apparently the cows are all owned by Bayer these days. Hmm, Bayer, I don't care to get into Bayer's dark history. There used to be a lot of cows on this campus.

 The western edge of the campus, my walk goal. Since the gate was locked I couldn't get to the river.

 

Turning around and heading back to my car. What's this?!

 It made me wonder, how do they get into the middle of the street?

 Almost back to my car and I see this. Apparently the squirrels are in on it. They take pine cones and turn them into small rolling pins. Then they drag them out onto the sidewalk.

 Despite dealing with the betrayal of coniferous objects and the psychological triggers of a fight-or-flight response, it was a pleasant walk. Total was 3.21 miles Music was outstanding. Here's the tune that took me to infinity and beyond. I remember wearing out the vinyl on this one. 1980.

 

Today's walk report: Blessed Relief

 And I mean that in the most secular way possible. Last Saturday, I went for a walk with taking pictures in mind and was rudely interrupted by a pine cone attacking my left foot, rolling my left ankle, and me falling down on my right side. Adding insult to injury, I landed right on top of my camera and lens combo. Various portions of my body were in varying degrees of pain. Some still are, but most specifically, my left ankle and right wrist are leading the way on the pain intensity scale. My wrist is in first place. However, compared to last Sunday, my week-over-week (WoW) Improvement is the blessed relief I'm referring to. I was a serious mess for at least a few days. 

I walked for the sake of walking on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with an average distance of 1.67 miles. Today's walk was 1.92 miles. This isn't something I'm taking any special pride in, but considering that immediately after the fall a week ago Saturday, it crossed my mind I might not have been able to get up and walk at all. I felt a great deal of relief for holding up as well as I have with these recent efforts. Walks maintain my sanity. So does music. Put them together and what have you got, bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!

The larger concern for me has been my camera and my 70-300mm lens. I wear my camera on my right hip. I fell directly onto my right hip. The landing zone was an old asphalt road. While I went out into my backyard last Sunday and took pictures, I have been waiting on a replacement UV filter for that 70-300mm lens to take photos in earnest and check out my equipment. The local camera shop said there was no way I'd be able to get another protective filter to thread. The filter arrived Thursday. Besides protecting the lens glass, having a filter back on the lens was the only way I was going to be able to continue using my Canon 500D close-up lens. I expected the new filter to go on until it crossed threads, and it would become a permanent fixture, that was okay. It did, and I breathed some new life into the 70-300mm. 

If you want to get camera nerdy with me, look for the word Tiffen on the UV filter. Below that, you can see some of the damage to the lens, and between the UV protector filter and the lens itself, you may note that the filter isn't quite flush with the lens. That's where the damage stopped it from screwing in all the way. The close-up lens on top actually attaches much easier than it did on the old, destroyed UV filter. That old filter was put on in January of 2013. The combo of the close-up and the 70-300mm has been my run-and-gun solution for going from a macro world and then being able to remove the 500D quickly, palm it, and transition to birds and butterflies. 

 
Today I left the 500D on for the duration of my walk. Today's walk was all about testing both the lenses and my camera. I took 239 photos and it was mostly about my tuning in on my equipment. Aside from what I've already described, there were a few "uh-oh" moments with the camera today. The uh-oh discoveries, all have the potential for ultimate equipment failure. 

Here are some pictures from today's walk. Depth of field with the 500D close-up attached is very narrow. It was also gloomy gray today.

Sunday, May 3rd.

Mutabilis rose.

 Apache Plume (Fallugia paradoxa).

 Salvia apiana, Californian white sage, or sacred sage.

 Desert willow.

 Eremophila bignoniiflora.

 Caesalpinia gilliesii.

 Bees on narrowleaf milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis).

A lot of what I was doing was to zoom in and out, checking for sharpness, center-to-corner consistency, and focal length accuracy. So there are quite a few pictures out of the 239 that are basically the same.

 Westringia fruticosa, the coastal rosemary or coastal westringia.

 Parkinsonia florida, the blue palo verde.

 

The blue nolina (Nolina nelsonii), or Nelson's bear grass.

 Berlandiera lyrata, with the common names chocolate flower, chocolate daisy, or lyreleaf greeneyes.

 Asclepias curassavica, commonly known as tropical milkweed.

 Tecoma stans. I have two of these at the house, the latest one grown from seed from the first is now taller than the house. There's nothing better than "free" plants.

 Nerium oleander. To me, while not entirely unpleasant, it even smells deadly. 
 

Once again, thanks to Junimoon for keeping me company throughout the photo editing portion of the program. 

If you've never listened to music by Frank Zappa, this might be a good time to do so. You might be surprised, especially if you have preconceptions.