Animals – Page 11 – Not Content to Crawl

Photo Weekend w/ New Lens

Posted onMay 11, 2015May 25, 2015

It was a rather wet weekend here, but Saturday morning it was just overcast so we headed to Lilacia Park to see the tulips and lilacs. It was actually a more comfortable visit than last year because it was only in the 60’s. On top of that, the previous day’s storms left pretty water drops all over the tulips and the lack of harsh sunlight made the photos more evenly lit.

Afterward we visited Cosley Zoo so I could test out my new Canon EF-S 55-250mm F4-5.6 IS STM lens I had ordered earlier in the week. I really wanted the 70-300mm lens but the price has been holding steady at $650 for nearly a year now, so I decided to compromise with 50mm less range for half the price. The lens I got sells for $300 pretty much everywhere, but I ordered it from Buydig.com because they threw in some accessories, including a protective filter for the lens, for free.

I like the reach this lens affords me now. The bobcats are always in the back of their enclosure so I could never get a decent shot of them until buying this lens.

On top of that, the auto-focus on the lens is very quick and the image stabilization works even better than I was anticipating. All my shots came out very sharp even with the added zoom. I’m very excited to use it at other zoos!

American Goldfinches

Posted onMay 4, 2015

Last year we learned that if we put up a finch feeder, they will come. Unlike the hummingbird feeder that attracted nothing but ants.

It took about a week, but the finches started visiting a few days ago.

They’re telling their friends too, because I can tell that there are more than two of the same birds visiting throughout the day. I was excited to get a shot of the most colorful one this morning.

Now I really can’t wait to get my hands on a longer zoom lens!

Next up: Bluebirds and Baltimore Orioles. So far the mealworms aren’t attracting squat, but I’m hoping adding some orange slices to the platform feeder will draw them in (or maybe we’ll just end up with ants again, haha).

Sunday Funday With Birds

Posted onMay 4, 2015

We always have the best weekends and this one was no exception. The weather was beautiful until Sunday late afternoon and we definitely took advantage of that. We had breakfast at the arboretum and then drove around and stopped to take photos. I brought my binoculars to help spot birds. We lucked upon these pretty blue Tree Swallows which I’ve never seen before. Joe actually spotted them first and I was lucky enough to be able to get close enough to them to get a decent shot.

I’m so glad I had my zoom lens with me even though it’s only 135mm. Today’s experience pushed me to just buy a new zoom lens. While ideally I’d like the 70-300mm I just can’t justify spending $650 so I’m going to get the 55-250mm instead which will be either $200 or $300 (depending on which model I choose). That I can stomach. Maybe when I win the lotto I’ll buy the crazy expensive lenses.

I also got some shots of the arboretum’s daffodils. They bloom and then die so quickly that if you blink you’ll miss them.

After the arboretum we went to Herrick Lake to walk around, then ran some errands which included a trip to Home Depot to get flowers for the new planter Joe built last weekend.

I love it!

We also moved our creeping phlox into a new planter which looks way better than the crappy one it was in (we inherited it when we moved in and were too lazy to do anything with it until the plastic started cracking and breaking off).

It was a fantastic spring day; I wish we were wealthy so we could just hit up nature areas every morning and then relax in the afternoons.

Beautiful Sunday

Posted onMarch 16, 2015

Yesterday we decided to take advantage of Jamba Juice’s BOGO coupon and then head over the arboretum to drive around.

From there we visited Willowbrook Wildlife Center so I could see Dot and Dash, the resident rats, as well as some other interesting animals they keep inside, including this turtle who wanted his portrait taken.

We also walked the portion of the trail that wasn’t still squishy from all the snow melting, and then headed over to Cosley Zoo where the fox showed me what he thought of my picture-taking.

While there I also got another frog to add to my growing collection (the all red one in the back).

Right now they sit on top of my computer tower, but I’m planning to put up some shelves over my computer desk to display them along with a few other collectibles I have.

College Buddies, Free Food, & Petting Snakes

Posted onJanuary 5, 2015

Joe had to work on Friday so I spent a good portion of the day spending time with the rats and cleaning all their cages.

Before doing that, though, I called an old college friend of mine and we had a nice hour long conversation. We hadn’t spoken since last July when I drove out to visit her and meet her kids. She’s very busy with three young kids and doesn’t do social media so it’s tough to keep in touch. I sent her a Christmas card which had triggered her to write me a very sweet letter that included asking me to call her. She thought I had changed my number since she had texted me awhile back but didn’t hear back. I never got those texts though so I’m not sure what happened. I wish we were able to see each other more often. She’s one of the very few people I feel comfortable enough around to be myself and not feel weird.

Saturday it was alternating between raining and snowing so we spent most of the day at home just watching stuff on Hulu and Netflix. We got a free two month trial of Hulu for buying the Chromecast and I signed up for a month trial of Netflix. Neither seems to have any current movies we haven’t already seen, but they are great for binge-watching old TV sitcoms and clips from SNL. Netflix is especially great for watching comedy specials, so we watched the latest from Chelsea Peretti, Aziz Ansari, and Bill Burr. We also watched a movie called Peep World that wasn’t as good as the trailer promised. So many familiar faces too, but it seems like that’s how most of the IFC films go. For instance, I had been dying to see Skeleton Twins starring Kristen Wig and Bill Hader ever since I heard about it, which we rented it from Redbox the first week it was out. While it was better than Peep World, because it actually had a plot, it still was pretty disappointing. I guess I just prefer action and comedy movies instead of weird independent film dramadies.

We did leave the house briefly to get some groceries at Aldi, pick up Joe’s repaired sweaters from the tailor, and grab some Qdoba. They sent me a BOGO coupon for my birthday and a coupon for free chips and guacamole because it was also my anniversary signing up for their rewards program, and they let us use both coupons together which was nice. They were also extremely generous with the food portions, almost too much. I decided to try the pulled pork burrito bowl and there was too much pulled pork in it! It’s been awhile since we’ve eaten there so I was surprised to learn that you can get their three cheese queso and guacamole on your burrito for no extra charge. Needless to say, I had them load mine up and I swear it weighed a pound! It was so filling that I didn’t end up eating dinner, though, so that helped a bit with the calories.

Our first stop on Sunday was at Jamba Juice so I could get my free birthday drink. I also got two $15 gift cards from Groupon for only $15 total, so we used one of them for Joe’s drink. Then we headed over to the arboretum since we had always talked about seeing it after a fresh snowfall which had happened the night before. The road in the arboretum was a bit slippery in places and one of the cars ahead of us actually got stuck. Everyone in “line” had to back up so they could back up to try and make it up the small hill they were getting stuck on. Three bicyclists who were sharing the road actually had to push their vehicle to help them gain traction.

After that we decided to leave instead of visiting the other half of the arboretum. We ended up going to Willowbrook Wildlife Center. I love the two resident gray rats and got some cute photos of them.

One of the volunteers offered to take one rat out so I could get a better photo of her since their aquarium glass was smudged, but she was so hyper she would barely stay still! Her fur was so soft though! I also can’t believe how small she is compared to my boys especially since she’s full grown.

After that the same volunteer brought out a milk snake that I was able to pet. It felt a lot softer than I was expecting! Unfortunately I couldn’t get a great photo of it because it too wouldn’t stop moving.

We picked up some litter from Petco, some carrier oil from Whole Foods (to be used with the jasmine essential oil Joe gave me for Christmas), and then had lunch at Noodles & Company (free bowl of noodles for my birthday). Gluttons that we are, we headed over to Red Mango after lunch to cash in my free $5 of yogurt they put on your membership card for your birthday.

So if anyone is keeping track, so far I’ve consumed the following free items for my birthday – Red Robin burger, Qdoba burriot bowl, Jamba Juice five fruit frenzy, a bowl of pesto cavatappi at Noodles & Company, and frozen yogurt. The irony? My one goal this year is to lose weight. Hahaha!