ABOUT ME

I live in a camper van with a West Highland Terrier for company.
My passion is creating images but it is a work in progress.
I am always willing to share what knowledge I have and can be contacted through the comments on this post or e-mail ADRIAN
ALL IMAGES WILL ENLARGE WITH A LEFT CLICK

Sunday 2 September 2012

INSOMNIACS DREAM. (02/09/12)

I woke at around three this  morning after a couple of hours sleep. I tried to get back to the land of nod but was kept awake by a couple of Tawny Owls. I gave up the fruitless pursuit of a pleasant dream, got dressed, had a coffee and went out to see if I could find the owls. I could hear them close by but never spotted so much as an owl feather.

As dawn arrived I started taking pictures.

P9023470_1_2_3_4_tonemapped_edited-1

P9023490_1_2_3_4_tonemapped_edited-1

P9023505_6_7_8_9_tonemapped_edited-1

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Untitled_Panorama1      Arrived back home and messed about with them.

I don’t know why, I have plenty to do. Arduino, cooking my supper, clothes washing, tomorrow I have to go to the bank, Tuesday I’m supposed to be cooking for three days, I ought to check the kitchen out. Forget the latter I’ll just hope and pray it isn’t too busy when I get to work.  It will be fine, the kitchen porters will know where everything is. I’ll just have to do a crash course in Lithuanian.

The Arduino continues to dominate my life…..I did promise myself to follow the easy tutorials. I know, they are just too easy peasy…….I can jump several steps……OH! No I Can’t!

I wired up a row of eight LEDs and started writing my own programme….programmes are called Sketches when one is using an Arduino. I suspect it is to reduce the fear factor that I feel when asked to mess with anything from a Blog template to a Psion. I don’t have the latter anymore so forget I mentioned it.

It has worked…. I am fearless. I wired them all up. Very neatly, I clipped their wires. I then wanted to make them come on one at a time and when the last one lit for them all to come on, then go off. Nothing happened. I’d forgotten to put the curly brackets in. I’d also been a little cavalier over my placement of semi colons. I have learnt that if one is good then two are not necessarily better. Shouting or any form of emphasis is not appreciated by micro processors. Eventually, around tennish last night, I downloaded some similar code and got the bulbs to light up in a random sort of sequence…..Light up! I could have cooked a steak on them. Ballast resistors were required. I thought that their inclusion was just a bit of icing on the circuit board. fiddly wee things they are to install but necessary.

Things were much better with them. I used 560 Ohm ones cos I have more of them. One is still a bit bright but as I have given up and reduced the series of bulbs to three I ditched the bright one……it was probably made on a Friday afternoon.

I still have one hell of a way to go before I build anything useful but it keeps me happy and as there is little time to sleep I no longer suffer from insomnia.

The cooking? I’ll have a quick rake through the larder when I get in, get a chalk board and write up a few Chef’s Specials. Now that is Cavalier.

Almost forgot here is the Arduino all lit up………………..

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Well nearly all. I caught it mid sequence. I should have wired in a camera trigger….that is many moons away.

It’s time for bed as Zebedee used to say.

Enjoy the week to come.

28 comments:

  1. That third picture is a beauty Adrian.
    Looks like dawn was better at yours, than mine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I got a wee bit damp on the walk home. It's grand now.

      Delete
  2. I like the second photo best. No Arduino (did I get that right) lamp can beat that...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Non are good. You got it right. I now, or will have the computer as a tool. If I persevere it will become a friend. One just has to learn how to speak to it.

      Delete
  3. More of us should get out at 4 AM and get some pictures. Great shots of the dawn!

    ReplyDelete
  4. The question is.....

    Do insomniacs dream of electric sheep? or just Ardunio powered LEDs?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You have much to answer for....I must dream of solutions as I often wake up and have a solution to hand.

      Delete
  5. Love your photos Adrian, I am a night owl so it is hard for me to get up so early in the morning. I do love it when I do get up so early. That Arduino of yours is so interesting to me, who knows I may try working with one, one day

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are cheap entertainment but very frustrating.

      Delete
  6. Nice to see the work of a fellow insomniac. Amblesdie at 4 a.m. will be part of my next post...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The cure is not to fight it....I am fortunate in that when I get really tired I can sleep for four or five hours at anytime of the day.

      Delete
  7. The second image does it for me Adrian.....

    -Trevor

    ReplyDelete
  8. breathtaking dawn! also enjoyed the 3rd one! You lost me at Arduino; I googled it and decided...too much work. I enjoy natural light the most.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is a challenge...possibly a step too far.

      Delete
  9. Wonderful pictures, beautiful composition, lovely colours Adrian!

    Have a lovely day.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love them, the pictures are the best. And, what about the two Tawny Owls, keeping you from precious sleep.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love them, the pictures are the best. And, what about the two Tawny Owls, keeping you from precious sleep.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't mind them calling for hours. I just wish I could find one roosting.

      Delete
  12. Wonderful pictures Adrian. I am afraid the technical stuff leaves me baffled.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Sunset through the corn field is quite special.

    I like it best.

    Not sure what the other project is all about, but does it involve programming an epromm chip? If not.... then I'm totally puzzled.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a reed bed, our corn grows on very short stems as until recently straw was a waste product.
      It has an eeprom chip but I leave that alone. The idea is that I'll learn enough to make and programme my own camera triggers.

      Delete
  14. Love the pictures of the early, early morning. Thanks for showing me what it looks like, I am pretty useless at that time of day. Tawny owls keeping you awake, especially when they don't show themselves, now that's just a bit rude.
    All that technical stuff is way .... over ..... my .... head I'm afraid. Hope you have a great week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's not too early....dawn is around six here at the moment.

      Delete
  15. Your landscape shots are out of this world. Really inspiring. So maybe you didn't spot the owls but I imagine hearing them as you did during this beautiful sunrise. I have the same things happen at times with sleep.....but that is something special to behold.

    ReplyDelete
  16. By coincidence a friend I was speaking to last night also mentioned Zebedee's catchphrase. I wonder when it will cease to be understood. One of the many Good Things about the holiday I've just had was the fact that those of us who were of a certain age and from the North West of England had a myriad of saying that we had used all our lives but which now seem obsolete.

    ReplyDelete