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February 6, 2010, a Saturday
Elephant Butte Lake State Park (South Monticello), New Mexico, USA
— Photographed quail and had a hands-on astronomy lesson
I got out of bed before J and did some computer work. I also uploaded the remaining images to my stock agent. When J was awake, I made my normal breakfast. Somehow, I forgot to put the filter in the bottom of my AeroPress coffee maker, and spilled the whole batch of freshly-ground coffee beans into the sink! I ground another batch of coffee and made sure that the filter was in place before I poured it into the AeroPress. I did some more computer work, then we left at 10:22 and ...
Walked down to the boat ramp and back.
We returned to the RV around 11:15. J helped me repackage the 40-lb (18kg) bag of cracked corn we picked up at WalMart.
I had lunch around 12:35, then started to work on a blog entry.
We went over to our friend Andy Baird's RV at 2:05 to visit for a whie.
We returned to the RV around 2:55 and prepped it to move.
We went over to the dump station around 3:05.
We returned to our site around 3:30 and the quail were out. I leveled the RV and hooked up the electricity, then set up to photograph the quail that were still in the area but not in a good place to photograph them. Then I started to load up the RV with fresh water while waiting for the quail to come back. J came out and set up her camera too, and eventually the quail came back. :) They were a little skittish with us just sitting on the ground without our blind, but eventually they settled down and we were able to get some nice images (below left). There was some wonderful warm light right before sunset, and one of the female quail posed in a great location (below right).
We went back inside the RV around 5:40. I downloaded the images I had taken and downselected them in iView while J got dinner ready.
We had dinner around 6:00 of leftover Citrus Salmon, rice, and a Greek salad. We opened up the jar of Mezzetta Napa Valley Bistro Pitted Kalamata Olives Marinated with Herbs & Napa Valley Cabernet and they were delicious. We love kalamata olives, but I had never considered just eating them as a snack right out of the jar before — these were very tasty! The salmon was tasty too — more mellow than the first time we had it.
We went over to our neighbor's around 6:35 to get a guided tour of the sky by Robert and his Meade 10-inch Schmidt-Newtonian Reflecting Telescope. We viewed Mars, the Orion Nebula, the Andromeda galaxy, Pleiades, and the M81 & M82 galaxies. It was the first time I've ever looked through a serious telescope at the stars, and it was really interesting.
We returned to our around 8:25. I finished the blog entry while having some Asbach Uralt. I did some computer work before going to bed.
Walked down to the boat ramp and back.
We returned to the RV around 11:15. J helped me repackage the 40-lb (18kg) bag of cracked corn we picked up at WalMart.
I had lunch around 12:35, then started to work on a blog entry.
We went over to our friend Andy Baird's RV at 2:05 to visit for a whie.
We returned to the RV around 2:55 and prepped it to move.
We went over to the dump station around 3:05.
We returned to our site around 3:30 and the quail were out. I leveled the RV and hooked up the electricity, then set up to photograph the quail that were still in the area but not in a good place to photograph them. Then I started to load up the RV with fresh water while waiting for the quail to come back. J came out and set up her camera too, and eventually the quail came back. :) They were a little skittish with us just sitting on the ground without our blind, but eventually they settled down and we were able to get some nice images (below left). There was some wonderful warm light right before sunset, and one of the female quail posed in a great location (below right).
Male Gambel's Quail
Elephant Butte Lake State Park,
New Mexico, USA
New Mexico, USA
Canon EOS 1D Mk III, 500 f4 & 1.4x,
1/750 sec, f9.5, ISO 400
1/750 sec, f9.5, ISO 400
Female Gambel's Quail
Elephant Butte Lake State Park,
New Mexico, USA
New Mexico, USA
Canon EOS 1D Mk III, 500 f4 & 1.4x,
1/250 sec, f8, ISO 400
1/250 sec, f8, ISO 400
We went back inside the RV around 5:40. I downloaded the images I had taken and downselected them in iView while J got dinner ready.
We had dinner around 6:00 of leftover Citrus Salmon, rice, and a Greek salad. We opened up the jar of Mezzetta Napa Valley Bistro Pitted Kalamata Olives Marinated with Herbs & Napa Valley Cabernet and they were delicious. We love kalamata olives, but I had never considered just eating them as a snack right out of the jar before — these were very tasty! The salmon was tasty too — more mellow than the first time we had it.
We went over to our neighbor's around 6:35 to get a guided tour of the sky by Robert and his Meade 10-inch Schmidt-Newtonian Reflecting Telescope. We viewed Mars, the Orion Nebula, the Andromeda galaxy, Pleiades, and the M81 & M82 galaxies. It was the first time I've ever looked through a serious telescope at the stars, and it was really interesting.
We returned to our around 8:25. I finished the blog entry while having some Asbach Uralt. I did some computer work before going to bed.