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

Friday 12 September 2014

DEW DROPS. (12/09/14)

I am tired. I heard yesterday that our sun was misbehaving so checked AuroraWatch for any sign that their magnetometers were showing anything and it was just the normal wriggly black line. I heard a quick bit on the news saying that there could be an aurora in the early hours of today. I got up and waited till half two but nothing except dew. I went to bed.

The dogs woke me at five and I decided to go out with a tripod and an extension tube on the 100mm macro lens. The dew had all but gone. I didn’t bother with the tripod.

_MG_3572     Dew Drop.

_MG_3576    And another. They could both have done with being sharper. Both shot at f9 with ring flash.

I wandered back to the van for breakfast and it was still murky and misty. I decided to walk the mile up the road to look at Signal Rock. I had just got to the new footbridge over the River Coe at the back of the Clachaig Inn. It hasn’t rained for a week so it wasn’t very impressive.

_MG_3592_3_4_tonemapped   I was just deciding what to do when the dogs shot off back towards the car park. I whistled but to no avail. Even Alf who usually comes to a whistle ignored me. I wandered after them dreading that they had found a deer and be gone for an hour or more. No they had found a friend of theirs called Sam he is a Border Terrier and lives near Foyers. We haven’t seen him since the spring but they knew who was there at a good quarter of a mile. When I rolled up ten minutes behind the dogs, Helen, Sam’s mum, was feeding them biscuits. She said aren’t they lovely and picked a wet Molly up to give her a cuddle. What can one do? My dogs are very social but I wish folk wouldn’t reinforce bad behaviour. Helen and Sam are on their way to Killin for the weekend and had just stopped for a quick tiddle break. Presumably for Sam but one can never be sure.

We then retraced our steps to the Clachaig and walked the old road to Loch Atriochan. It was still misty but the sun was starting to show. There were no reflections in the Loch but I did like the look of the upper reaches of the Glen.

_MG_3580_1_2_fused   I sat for twenty minutes while the dogs snuffled about the eastern side of the loch. The mist kept shifting about. I’m happy at long last I have a new image for my desk top.  The dogs have tics which I am not so happy about. I’ll wait till they have had supper and get going with the tic fork. I do use FrontLine or Onestop but only every few months as it does make them dozy and off for a few days. It is expensive and the tics have been sucking for a day before it kills them. I have a set of small green fork thingies for removing them and then I burn them with the little blow torch that I use for putting a caramel crust on custard. I hate tics. I had one on my tummy a week ago. No. I don’t want suggestions of how it got there. I’m not Welsh or a Shetlander. I can only assume it got between the buttons on my shirt whilst I was giving the dogs a cuddle. Teach me to be posh and wear a shirt with buttons.

Have a great weekend.

28 comments:

  1. I so agree about tics. They are totally revolting. No redeeming features at all. We used to have to pull them off our cat by hand. Makes me sick thinking about it. And I'm not particularly squeamish.

    Gorgeous photos, as always.

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    1. Frances, I have a couple of little green things like a garden hoe. They slot under the tic and a quick twist pulls them out. A dab of Savlon and the job is done.

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  2. If you're feeling posh wearing a shirt with buttons, knowing there's a zipper in my trousers has put me over the moon...

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    1. Bob, there is nothing worse than button up trousers.

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  3. Lovely photos, the last one is wonderful.........i liked to use the tick fork on the old dog,saved a fortune on vets bills.

    peter

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    1. Peter, it is a thrice weekly job at this time of the year. Awful things.

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  4. Yes Adriaan sign are truly a great plague, but you have beautiful pictures, s with that beautiful reflections in the droplets and the beautiful area, have a great weekend.

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    1. Bas, another month and the tics will have gone. They haven't been too bad this year.

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  5. Stunning images and great new profile pic! As for tics, I hate those mother#@$%#! We had them all over us in Maine. Worse yet is having dogs run through the grasses full of them! Sorry you had to deal with that:(

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    1. Chris, I pick them up walking through Bracken. A miracle that I haven't got Lyme's disease.

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  6. That last shot is a cracker Adrian.

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    1. Keith, I wasn't expecting much from today. I like the last picture. It is HDR but then I was shooting into the light.

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  7. Beautiful photos Adrian, and, the Tics, I can't stand them as well.

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  8. The view up the glen is a stunning image really like the low cloud/fog.
    The sun thing, I had heard the eruptions/solar flares were heading away from us rather then towards us, unless it's a different eruption.

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    1. Douglas, I got up to check three or four times. AuroraWatch is showing a bit of activity at between 2000h UT and 2400h UT last night but even if it came to anything it was too cloudy.
      It's probably not saying much but I like the last image.

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  9. I didn't see northern lights either although there was some cloud. Those dogs must drive you crazy sometimes as they have a mind of their own and have you trained to run after them and find them!

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    1. Red, they are terriers. I can get so far with their training but it is much more relaxing to accept that near enough is good enough. They do wander back eventually.
      Yes cloudy here too.

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  10. I arrived home last night and had a good look out for the Aurora but, like you, to no avail. I should be able to see it from here given that there's nothing between me and the sky on the horizon above the North Pole. This is perhaps a unique post. Everyone agrees: tics are terrible and the photo of the misty glen is superb. I was through the Glen a week or so ago.

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    1. Graham, SpaceWeather were only giving a 50%/50% chance. It wasn't really likely.
      I just wish I had taken more time with it. There is only so much that I can do in Photoshop. A two stop ND soft graduated filter tilted would have given me much more to work with. I still like it.

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  11. These photos are awesome- I love the last shot! I cannot stand ticks, or chiggers either for that matter. Now I have a third to add to my list- poison ivy.

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    1. Terri, we call chiggers Harvest Mites. They aren't very nice but not really a problem in the UK. As far as I know we don't have Poison Ivy we do have leaches. They are nasty revolting things.

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  12. A great shame you didn't manage to see an aurora. It was photographed as far South as Cumbria though at its best on the Northern Isles so I guess it's pot luck.

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    1. John, it was very misty but I suspect being in the valley didn't help. One day maybe.

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  13. Buenas gotas amigo!!!
    Un abrazo.

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  14. Amazing last shot.

    I remember the first time I did Glasgow - Mallaig on the train and was disappointed that I couldn't see anything for the mist. It was not until the train climbed the hill towards Tyndrum Upper that I awoke from lack of overnight sleep realising it was now clear outside. Looking back to Crianlarich there was this amazing morning mist lying in the valley just like your last shot.

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    1. Jay, you can guess unpromising days but it is only a guess. I'm lucky I am out every day.

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