Off of flying this weekend. That is as far down we go. Since we had such a great flight last weekend and this weekend seemed to be going South as it came closer ( proven right but the crummy and weird weather ) and in the end was two days of standing in the dirt if that got you going ( It does most times ) . I stayed home.
My waterfall on my in ground pond after I cleaned it. Set to half speed or it would spray across the whole thing. Unfortunately that meant removing the pump box, cleaning all the muck out of it, removing the dead filter pad, washing down the pump, washing down the filter balls, dropping pump box on ground splashing muck in my eye, cutting my finger and blistering another hand, cutting new filter, reinstalling all that stuff and strapping it closed.
Eye washed out multiple times but if it hurts I'm heading to the optometrist asap Monday. All so that it can run clean until I get it shut down and the fish transported to the above ground pond. Yeah.
I really want to move to a efficiency condo with no outside work as I hate it so... What possessed me to buy a house with a double lot and so much ground.. oh.. yeah.. Kids and a balloon system...
The interesting thing about the above picture is there are two perfectly circular holes in the water of the falls.
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This week its busy with visitors and then I have to take Patturns Highperactive in for her annual inspection. yep.. Just like a fixed wing aircraft she has to be examined top to bottom every year or 100 hours. As she is in such good condition and there are no issues it should be pretty straight forward. Drop off at Aerco on Tuesday afternoon.. pick up either Wednesday or Thursday. Aerco is great for processing them in and out. Like I said.. she is a fantastically built Lindstrand from Lindstrand USA so I have no worries.
Oops.. forgot I have to remember to take down my Flytec turtle as I took it off to replace the battery and have yet to reinstall it. No biggie there. Just have to remember to do it.
Patturns In Czech Envelope ( AKA Terpsnickery ) ( Love that name too ) goes in in May and that is a pretty quick annual inspection. Again. No issues at all. Love this envelope.. Just wish I could fly her and take pictures of her in flight at the same time.
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There was talk a few weeks ago about where to locate your fan so its safe to the people around and the crew-member managing it and the Pilot in the basket. I took a picture of where my sits.
Cover on the ground so it does not pick up dirt and rock and is secured and not flapping, Fan cage just beside the bolster but not touching. Crew-member on the fan. Fan checked for loose parts and blade checked for wear. I have a P tip on this and its a very good blade.
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I at last sat down and uploaded last weekends pictures to my website at
http://invisibleblack.zenfolio.com/
I have to do more because I am so far behind its just sad.
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I did try something new with the photographs this week and tell me what you think... Ill tell you what I did at the end.
Pancake cactus from the Santa Fe Airport. I ran over it ( it was tiny, about 2 inches tall and only one little pancake ) brought it home and planted it on my waterfall and it blossomed nicely. I have to dig it back up and replant it here soon.
Some ribbon reeds. I will also dig this up. The guy who planted it called it Japanese ribbon grass.. I've never looked it up.
My neighbors tree drops stuff in my yard constantly. I have sprouts of stupid trees everywhere. My pond gets choked with the silly circular things too... Though the tension on the water looks great.
So many pictures of clouds out there I rarely take a shot but this was as a storm was brewing to the left. I should have take a pano of it as it would have been super dark on the left and super light on the right.
World balloon fly's... and when I looked at this shot a day or so ago I saw three ultra light craft flying around. Pretty clear but not easy to see. Two on the left one on the right.
A good progression of balloons... or promenade of balloons as that is what they were doing... To the right.. then the left.. slide South and repeat.
The outcasts.. hahaha... No.. more like finding a spot and with the winds reported to be heading East this morning... it was a good place to fly from.
Shadows of In Czech and Kisses. Love balloon shadows.
Mesmerizing sand drifts. I had to shoot this and look away or I would plow into the ground. Its a great eye candy shot.
Love the colors on this envelope. I wished we didn't get so dusty out here in the desert as the black fabric just sucks it in.. still looks great.
World dominates the valley. They normally take off down by the river so they can get their passengers into or very near the Rio Grande.. I haven't flown down there in an age. I think after In Czech and Highperactive come out of annual and past a check out flight I want to go down and join them for the fun. It could be a fantastic video and photo day.
Floating over the deeper part of the arroyo. Edges of the volcanic rock outcroppings below. Fun place to fly into and out of.
Another of my fav shadow shots. If only the road were straight but then the shadow would not be there. You work with what you got.
Straight up past the Lindstrand burners is always a nice shot. Semi abstract and eye drawing on any balloon. The soft colors just ring with the chrome burner cans.
So do you line up the balloon in the center or go with the thirds rule or just throw up your hands. I went with the center the closest balloon and keep the interesting shape down in the bottom.
So what did you see?
All shots were taken with the Sony RX10V4 with 20 meg pixels.
Okay.. what I did was create 4000x2000 frames to put the standard 5472x3648 shots into. Allowing for a bit of maneuvering of the subject but the 4x2 frame looks great to the eye. It really changes the way you look at the shot and it also allows for the removal of distracting items.
I will keep this in mind when working on more shots later.
Need to work on the outer frames next.
So that is what I got up to other than the damage from the pond and other stupid stuff... Another week down and a new one coming up.. much closer to real summer and close to the Top Gun Rio Grande Classic... Target rich for photographers. Camping at a target will always get you a good action shot.
Think about it.
http://www.riograndeclassic.org/
I may have forgotten something but this is long enough already.
