How about this weather, eh? 32C (90F) on Friday, frosted lawn this morning. Summer left us like a thief in the night. (Lytton, the town that isn’t there anymore, set a new record September high for all of BC of 39.6C/103F.)
A small amount of rain Sunday helped damp the smoke out of the air. There are no serious fires burning near us, but enough small ones (including one 1 km behind our house) that the weather forecast one day said “smoke in the morning …” and we’re all having PTSD from the memories of past wildfires. The nightmares are real, and I think we need financial compensation from the government.
Speaking of which, certain provincial ones have decided to hand out cheques to their citizenry to help with the rampant price-gouging because nothing eases inflation like pumping more money into the economy, right? (You can just see their report cards: “Economics 101 [F]”). But don’t worry because after reporting record quarterly profits the grocery chains have assured us the increases they make are just covering their costs. Also, pigs fly.
I have not finished my pre-winter preparations around here and may not get to because suddenly it’s time to start harvesting wood. As in the overnight temperatures have dropped to where lighting the stove may be necessary at both locations while I get wood in for the season. The trick is to cut and stack it faster than you burn it.
Will we be going out to the cabin this week? Good question. I haven’t finished up even what I can do out there yet, and I just got back from WL hospital with five new holes in my arm.
Are things going well around here? No, not really. There’s huge room for improvement, and we all know it won’t happen.
The last of my e-Bay purchases arrived. Disappointment abounds.
They were two lenses meant to augment my photographic arsenal. The one is an absolutely excellent Super Albinar 28mm Canon FD, which does not fit my Canon FD adapter (which does not have the infinity focusing lens in it, but that’s another issue). The lens is flawless, I just can’t use it. Like much of my equipment now, thanks to one thing or another. Anyway I won’t be ponying up any more money for a different adapter. Anyone want to buy a lens?
Make that two lenses, because the other was another 28-70mm Super Albinar in Pentax K mount. Almost Pentax K mount. I don’t know what’s wrong but it doesn’t exactly fit. Besides which it doesn’t exactly work: the zoom is stiff and limited and it won’t go down to macro mode. The diaphragm is sluggish too. I didn’t pay much and wasn’t expecting much, but it could have gone better.
Crop from full size image taken with the second Albinar lens. It shows promise, but …
A lot of things could have gone better lately, but they didn’t and aren’t going to. For example after e-Bay dropped me like a hot potato with no explanation or recourse I found a camera shop that said it was willing to buy used equipment. Fine, since mostly I want to sell off those things I either don’t or can no longer use. Give me an estimate on one item, I said: the very expensive Panasonic Lumix ZS60.
$40 they said.
Goodbye, I said.
I realise they have to make a profit, but that’s absurd. Looking at their used offerings I can see the problem: they’re asking more for a second-hand Canon T7 than I can buy a new one for.
So I don’t see me getting rid of superfluous equipment, which means I won’t be buying any more supplemental equipment – never mind the e-Bay disaster.
Oh and they love to rub salt in the wounds; they continue to send me e-mails about items I was watching and/or bidding on up until they sell. This allowed me to see that I could indeed have gotten another lens I wanted (from a seller I’ve done business with before but who has only e-Bay as an outlet) and a Pentax K200D which I don’t really need but would be a step up from the battered K100D I have. Also there is not much chance of getting a Nikon lens to try that adapter with. Nor could I splurge on a Sigma Foveon sensor camera, which I considered doing.
In other words all my photographic master plans are shot to hell.
Thanks, e-Bay. You suck like a Hoover. I hope you go bankrupt from paying taxes. Seriously. You should be sued, indicted, and left to rot. That terminal policy is the absolute worst (and illegal) crap I have ever seen on any website anywhere since the start of the World Wide Web.
But all is not that cheerful otherwise either. I have huge amounts of work to get done with a shrinking amount of time to do it in. Every little joy I’ve had in life has been removed, and I even have to drive two hours to get necessary medication because they don’t/won’t stock it in town and ordering it in costs even more than the drive.
Anybody want to buy some cameras or lenses? I’m not sure I’ll have a use for any of it now. My vision is permanently blurred, and my inspiration has evaporated. A (working) new piece of equipment might have lifted my spirits, but no. Not even that am I allowed.
Addendum:WordPress no longer functions on my secure browser either. They’ve changed something, and the only way I can get it to work at all is by using an unsecure browser. You know what I mean; the kind that wants you to give away all your info right down to your shoe size.
That can get stuffed too. No reason to take photos, and no reasonable way to share them. What is the point?
Is everybody happy? Anybody? Yes? Well let me just spoil that for you.
This past week here has been full of nasty incidents. Some of them were dangerous, like having wildfires at both ends of our road albeit on two different days. The first one messed up an appointment to look at a house for a friend.
Line of traffic stopped by wildfire.
Turned around, went home, rescheduled. Then that turned out to be a waste because the house that looked so good in the listing pictures was some nice renovations hung on a pile of junk. We’re talking about one of the area’s famous (infamous) bring-it-in-on-a-truck builds so popular in the 1970s when people were slapping up “Summer homes” all over the place. Almost none were done correctly, and they’ve gotten worse over the years. Poor foundations (this one was concrete pillars and pressure treated wood – okay for a shed but not a house), bad joins with additions (two in this case), lack of insulation … et cetera. This house had brand new floors throughout – and they never bothered to level things up first so almost every room was joined via “toe stubber” level differences. I’d show some pictures, but that is unethical under the circumstances.
What else? Well I got raging sick for some unknown reason and lost two days to that. No idea why, except that it wasn’t the dreaded COVID-19. As to that I still haven’t got an appointment for a jab, despite being registered. I have this weird sense I somehow got passed over.
I was going to the cabin for a recky on Thursday, but Lorne & a buddy went out Tuesday – and got stuck on the road. Three times. I had mentioned the distinct possibility that the short road would be full of compacted snow banks as sun doesn’t get through the trees much along it. This was in fact the case. I would have seen the snow, backed out and gone home. They tried to push through. Two 4×4 full-size trucks are still no match for the frozen masses we get here. They did eventually make it in, and warned me not to come. Like I didn’t know?
So there’s nothing to do but wait, which is quite the usual pastime around here. I got some work done on clearing out the shed I have to finish:
Less junk, but not enough less.
Believe me; you couldn’t see that much floor before.
Shopping has become problematic as the stores keep not having what I need. Some of it is essential, just not in stock. Some is not essential, but still not in stock. Buying things has become rather hit-or-miss.
One good thing: Jojo got a bath.
Incidentally, our COVID numbers continue to be outrageous. But not as bad as Ontario. Oh for vaccine! If only Truedope hadn’t spent millions on nothing. But hey, his latest budget … well what do you expect from an idiot who thinks budgets balance themselves?
I’m going to put the Nissan on the road again, although there’s no hurry. I need to fix the trailer too, and then get the materials to finish that shed and get it off the list of things to do. I hope.
Spring is trying.
Oh and the hospital sent me a nice note saying I’m on the surgical waiting list. Which could be up to 50 weeks. Gosh, two more and it would be a year. It will probably become emergency surgery before they get it done. Just weeks ago the government was bragging that they’d cleared 90% of the backlog. I guess that was just another lie.
Anyway I did do some photo experiments and a few pictures around the place, but nothing really interesting. Obviously haven’t been able to take the big camera out for some scenery shots, though.
Oh there’s snow in the forecast for Sunday. It figures.
Wandering Words 