Day 163 – Toy

I may have mentioned previously one of my cats, Jezebel, is a talker. I mean she’s really a talker. She will wander from room to room meowing and meowing. I’ve tried distracting her with the laser pointer, but that only lasts for the length of time I am willing to play. So today I went to the pet store for cat food and to search for something that would engage Jezzie’s mind.

This toy has a well in the middle to add loose catnip. The cats can’t get it, but the odor wafts out to them while they play with the ball that rolls around the outer circle. At first they were far more interested in the catnip than they were in the ball.

First Jezzie had a turn . . .

Then Maya . . .

Then Jezzie again . . .  Once she got used to the eau de catnip, she started playing with the ball. She returned over and over again to the toy throughout the evening.

This toy may have done the trick, her meowing seems to have abated a bit, and  instead of being asleep on the back of one of our sofas, right now she is sleeping  next to the toy on the floor.

Day 148 – Birthday Present!

Yes, I’m spoiled rotten. I know it. Canon EOS 7D 18 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3-inch LCD

Sweetie gave me a Canon EOS 7D  EF-28-135 IS USM kit for my birthday. I’ve had my eye on one for a while and I’m really, really happy with it.  It’s much heftier that my Rebel T1i, and has a wider range of capabilities.  ISO starts at 100 and increases at 1/3 stop intervals up to 6400.  Very, very little noise at the highest ISO (one of the comments I read over and over and over again about this model).  Also, 100% field of view means the photo I compose in my viewfinder will be the photo the camera will produce. No unknown stuff around the edges.  I took it out for a whirl today.  Here are just a few of my shots.  Very little processing done to these, just a bit of sharpening of the RAW files.

Close-up of  a buckle on my leather jacket.

Rose in the backyard.

Nina on a walk-about in the backyard.

Jezebel by the light of the living room window.

This was my only flash photo…Maya by the front door. Exposed for outdoors with flash used to equalize the indoor lighting.

Day 94 – 50mm

I got a  50mm  lens!  Unlike my zoom lenses which will only allow me to go to  f/3.5 at 18mm, this lens allows me to take my f/stop all the way to 1.8.  I took it for a test drive today. Here are just a few of the photos I shot.