Had my normal breakfast, processed an image for the blog, then worked up a blog entry. I left at 9:40 by myself and ...

Walked along the path to the main road, then took the road back to the campground.

I returned to the RV around 10:25. J left around 10:40 to go for a walk, and I did some computer work.

I went outside at 11:15 to re-string our Protect-A-Tow. It's a device that runs between our RV and Jeep when we're towing to protect the towed vehicle. There's a bungee cord that runs around the periphery of it that holds the clasps that attach it to the RV and towed vehicle. The bungee cord on the driver's side of our Jeep receives inordinate wear, and the cord was about to break again when I performed the temporary field repair on January 15, 2010. I ordered some new bungee cord on December 16, 2009, but didn't want to replace it until now because the ground had been covered with snow or slush at our previous locations. Our neighbor, Robert, an amateur astronomer, came over and we talked for a while before I began working on the Protect-A-Tow. Right after I removed the old bungee cord, it occurred to me that I could have attached one end of the new cord to the old cord before I pulled it out of the channel. I went ahead with stringing it like I had planned. I first attached a 12-inch (30 cm) tie-wrap to the end of the bungee cord using electrical tape so I could use the tie-wrap like a needle to thread it through the channel. Fortunately, it was possible to push the bungee cord through almost the whole length of each segment before I had to start using the "needle," so the job was easier than I had anticipated.

I came back inside around 12:10 and had lunch — ham and Swiss on rye that I picked up yesterday.

I went back outside around 1:35 to look at our umbilical cord because the tail lights on the Jeep aren't working properly when we're towing. The umbilical cord itself was OK, so I started to get things ready to test the socket at the rear of the RV.

Because the quail were nearby, I got my camera gear and went into our Primos Vision Blind to photograph them. They were very cooperative, and I was able to get lots of nice images before a low-flying helicopter went by and spooked them.

I went back to looking at the umbilical cord socket at the back of the RV, and it was sending out the correct signals, so that means that the problem is inside the Jeep somewhere. I tested the socket at the front of the Jeep, and the voltage readings didn't make any sense, so something's definitely awry there.

I went back inside the RV around 3:20 and started to prepare images for a stock submission. I started to convert all of the large Photoshop images that I had processed since September 1, 2009, and had recently assigned a final file name, into JPEGs with 1000 pixels on the longest dimension.

J and I went out to our Primos Vision Blind around 4:50 to photograph the quail that had returned. They took a long time to come back after we scared them off when exiting the RV. By the time they returned, the light was really low which wasn't good for photography, but it was still fun to watch them.

We went back inside the RV around 5:50. I downloaded the images I took today and finished processing those images for a stock submission. Then I downselected the images from today in iView.

I started up our grill to pre-heat it and J made a batch of Citrus Salmon sauce. When I went out to put the salmon on the grill, I discovered that the grill had gone out, so I replaced the propane cartridge and got the grill pre-heating again.

We finally had dinner around 7:05 of the citrus salmon, long-grain-and-wild rice, and fresh broccoli. The salmon was good, but the piece of fish was huge (enough to feed four people!) and watered down the sauce too much.

After dinner, I downselected the images from today in Capture One (C1) while having some Aalborg Jubilæums Akvavit. I received an email from Bob Biedron. He works at NASA Langley and developed the CFD (computational fluid dynamics) code called CFL3D that I used extensively when working at McDonnell Douglas and Boeing. He saw an image of mine on the NANPA (North American Nature Photography Association home page, and wondered if it was the same guy he knew from the CFD community. He followed the link to my photography website, discovered that it was in fact me, and dropped me an email. It was neat to hear from him.

I was looking at some photography information online, and I think I know why I was getting an odd color shift on August 21, 2009 when using a HiTech neutral density filter. Digital sensors are sensitive to IR and UV, and most old-style neutral density filters do not attenuate IR and UV like they do the visible spectrum. Filter manufacturers have started to produce "ProGlass" or "Water White" neutral density filters that attenuate IR and UV in addition to the visible spectrum to produce better color with digital sensors. So, I think I'll have to spring for a Lee Filters ProGlass neutral density filter. The Lee ProGlass filters are 2mm thick so they'll fit into my Lee Foundation Kit filter holder just fine because they're the same thickness as the resin filters I already have. The Water White filters by Schneider, Tiffen, and Formatt are 4mm thick.