Place holder. It was a quiet week.

No really.

Tried to take pictures of the moon but there was... stunningly far too much moisture and clouds to get a good shot. It was horrible. Horribleness below.... below the next... below. Took some shots of the volcanoes... pretty boring. But that is the banner for the day..... Lucky you!

Some color but damned washed out completely.... Oh well...

And a single shot tone map HDR... cause it was there and I can....

Other than those minor things I was able to clean my garage and relocate items and get rid of other things so it looks nice ... which allowed me to relocate bins of winter clothes and such to the garage neatly... and that led to rearranging the balloon trailer so that everything is where its supposed to go ( almost.. We had rain get in during one of our heavy storms and there is a leak in the roof or the vent let it in but regardless the envelopes in their AERCO dry bags are nicely dry but not back in place so the floor can dry out... whew ) and closed up. Need to refuel though.

All those items had to start with one thing to allow other things to be done. I hate when issues stack.

I even cleaned up and re-binned my office closet to make it easier to find things.. that was the second leg of the stack.

I think I need a truth table to sort this out.

Since I had cleared the storage shed up two weeks before and all the tools were placed to be easily accessible.. damn it... I was able to get the saws all and hedge trimmer out and clear the brush and tree sprouts from the East side of the house and that area is raked and the gate opened.

Sometime last weekend someone wapped into our wall with their car. Hit is perfectly at a pillar but sadly that took out 30 feet of wall. Its leaning in but not fallen over... They popped by to tell me they were sorry and will have it fixed so that meant cleaning the area up became a priority.

Hopefully soon.

The whole top three rows are broken away from the bottom.. wooooo..... Could not have hit it in a worse place.

Also.. I asked about my lens cover from my Kodak 360 cam and it was located in my cup holder in the truck.. much thanks for whomever set it there for me to find!!

They are silly costly things.

So I am completely wiped out tired. But the side yard looks good..except for the huge pile of brush that has to be taken to the dump sometime very very soon......

There you go.. Besides dealing with companies that cant hold up their parts of deals and the crap you have to go through to get them to fess up is sad.

It was a tiresome week. hoping next week is more good, happy, positive and enjoyable.

Hope yours is too.

Sony RX10V4 dustup & Ballooning in the heat.

Well it was a filled up week after last weeks iffy time..very iffy time....

We are going to look at the SOny RX10V4 vs the Nikon 7100 and 10.5 fisheye lens then look at some pictures of flying this Saturday and finish up with Hot Air Ballooning In The Heat Of Summer.

What happened with the cameras... I was walking the perimeter of our office property to check on footprints or paw prints as we have had a rash of troubles in the area. I took the fisheye as I wanted to see how much I had forgotten of it after playing with the Sony so much and if there was something needing a picture taken I could do that at the same time.

I found only one trail on the property and that was directly West of the Upper Air building. Looked to be coyote tracks. So I ambled along and took pictures of the plants and stuff just to see what would come of it.... I did this three days running with the last day taking the Sony along instead. Each subsequent day my tracks were overlaid with coyote tracks... so they are out there.. and coming on the property and coming close to the building. One is fine but in a pack they could be pretty dangerous. Reports were made.

On the easier side of it I got some pictures to evaluate... and they are below.

Focus was off on almost everything.  With the fisheye you have to have the camera very close and lens closer so that throws everything off.  These flowers looking so much like funny butterflys.

The colors were very nice and bold. The shadows were super deep though.

An extremely tight sweet spot I never noticed before but the 10.5 fisheye isn't really made for this. I know its awesome when you use it the correct way. and it was fun to play with it. It really was not a good choice to try to evaluate with the Sony so I threw the whole idea out. 

My footstep on day one with a coyote print right int he middle. This happened a lot as if it was saying.. yeah.. I see you on my trail... and here is a warning...  Or TAG your it.

The Sony shots were a lot of awesome....

Very crisp focus... Lots of space to play with.

Zooming in on this it stays neat and unfuzzy in the details.

The colors are super good.

I just do not spend enough time with this camera.


Ballooning this Saturday. I stated I was going to not not fly to fake out the winds.. which turned out to be very nice on launch but they quickly caught on that I had in fact left the planet and started messing with me directly after that. If I say I am going to fly then I get out there and the winds go blowing at 15 mph and no one gets to fly.. so I have to fool em.

Just after launch I did what Trent did and chucked a baggie to the trailer.. missed by ten feet but Rory throwing it back almost got it in the basket. Great throw by a pro there. ( Baggie is that blue tail hanging in the top centerish of the pic )

Lifting off and going in the wrong direction.... everyone else went Southwest.... First inkling that the winds had knowledge I'd stepped off the earth.

Dave cruising along...

Trent went straight West... Im still trying to find it low or high.

The rest of the group had lots of fun and many loops of the field while we were going strange directions.

Bob going in for a landing as Mo and the chase crew head West.

It was too damn hot! One problem. I had temps that were too high on launch that I had to land and drop off my passenger at a street corner. I couldn't get the winds to take me where I wanted and they becalmed me so straight down and drop off Ross... sorry Ross. It was hot and it sucked. I popped up solo from there ( I hate flying solo )  and proceeded to look to the upper wind going West. Found it! About 6ish mph. Scuttered West was the plan ... as I was watching Bob and Dave go South at speed about 500 feet  ( below me ) or so I thought I would move West then drop into that and move South past Paradise...

Didn't happen.

I dropped into what was supposed to be a good South and I had it for about five minutes at 11 mph but then it stopped and kicked me North.. wha.......  So then I had to start feeling my way more West..and I thought I had a good place to land in a nice parking lot just past houses but when I started my run it pealed me off to the West and becalmed again... Back up and more West and now its pushing me to the power lines.... wiggled off the power lines and about then I was over this huge area of open space and decided I had had enough of being a wind toy and dropped in for a nice landing.

We even used the new tarp because of all the poky sticks and we did put a hole in the tarp! so it was good we used it. Granted I never ever walk on my envelope .... It was nice to have it.

Turns out that my temp sensor had wiggled itself loose again and was hanging about an inch off the fabric which is why I had to terribly high temps. I am now going to get thread and sew it to the load tape so it cant move about anymore.

It was still stupid hot and not much fun to fly because of that and the burner just making it un-fun it was still nice to have the racer in the air. If the temps keep it up I will stay indoors until they subside.

I will have to fly the racer again in the heat after I sew down the sensor to make sure its functional.

Here are some clips from the 360 video cam. The video came out nicely if a little boring.

Off the ground

Dropping in.

Hanging out at the corner gas station. ( way away from the pumps ).

Up and Out.

First try at a landing.

Perfect open spot.

Getting the red line untangled.

Hauling envelope.

And from the Samsung Note 8 phone..

It looks and felt like a wonderful morning. A tiny bit of virga off to the NE.

After the flight and strapping the envelope that didn't want to let go of the air... walking on the new bright yellow tarp.

Basket in repose as Shelly disconnects the carabiners.

Blow back of the envelope. Now it wants to stay inflated..sheesh... Great crew to man handle this heavy balloon.

All strapped and clean on the tarp. All those bumps are stickly bushes.

Oh yes... and my Kodak 360 cameras.. seems the lens cover was taken off and misplaced.. if its in your pocket.. please get it back to me... thankssssssss......

Other than all that I found some great music and a beautiful voice .. which I watched on youtube but when I went to listen to the rest of her music it was ho hum...

Too much to put here now....

Place holder Blog. Nothing happened this week

Or nothing I want to report.

An abrupt slap of reality this morning stopped pretty much everything for the remainder of the day.

*

I was asked to do an outline of two balloons this afternoon.. so I have to hunt down a good shot of each. I got one that looks like it might work so that is a nice thing. Its a lot of patient work to get it right but when they come out right the look fantastic. 

Three for friends.

I signed up for the Colorado Springs Labor Day Lift Off rally in September. Just had to use some licence on the logo as it was very .... well...

Dont it look better?

*

One other thing I was chatting about last night.. I made this nice triple of the Albuquerque City skyline but now I have my favorite painting up on this wall and no where to put this set.. Have to think about it. I could put it in my computer room but that would make me adjust other pictures in that room. Still thinking about it.

When panos go bad... or long.... Standard ballooning tail gate after flying.

I should have gone and tried to fly today. It turned out to be a very nice day and everyone had a great time bouncing around the levels.. I'm almost positive that if I had shown up with my gear the winds would have screamed and thunder, rain, and hail storms would have popped up to smack me in the face again. Perhaps this next weekend will be more nice for me.

This was a perfect find..... for some of the people I see every day on the way to and from work.... This suits....

Maybe this week will be nicer and there will be less push back and reversals and more positiveness and paths forward instead of waiting to hear nothing and spending more time doing things that will end up in the trash because no one wants to make decisions.

Sit around and wait to sit around and wait to be slammed is getting tedious.

Oh and can we drop the temps soon? I'm good with the heat. Now we need a couple of months of 70s. I have things to do outside, in the attic and in the garage as well and its too hot to be out for longer than an hour. 

Bah!

Beautiful, Awesome, Clouds, Balloons Words of the day.

A beautifully cloud filled day for the balloons to look awesome against. Striking off in the distance even though they were far far away or much higher than the balloons when you zoomed in they looked like they were brushing up against them.  Not gonna happen per the FAA regulations but very nice.

It was a AAAA or Albuquerque Aerostat Ascention Association Meet on the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Park zone. Whew! Every other or almost every other month we fly off of the park.

But I will get back to that in a moment.....

FIRST!!!

Because no one would know unless I told you.... I got more of my shed clean!! WOO HOO!!!

Yeah.. exciting news.

I did go through all my books that have been stuffed there forever. It was a pile.. ok .. a large bin and a half. What did I find.. that most of them I cant throw away because they are out of print or not digitized yet. Great huh! After reading so much on the EYEpad I've almost forgotten how it feels to lug around a book again. Got to though as I have run out of real good things to read on the pad and want to reread a bunch in the pile below.

A mix of stuff you cant throw away as I said.

Standards.. I wonder how far out of date they are now.

Nifty find here... Going to have to look through this again.

With 90 photographs!

I found a bunch of other stuff too... pictures I had thought were gone for good ... found.. next is to scan them in for safe keeping... not that they are amazing pictures but they are history.. or my history..

So what do I do with these books.. guess they go in a more accessible box.

More to do still.. Also some people who I know are going to see some pics thought lost.. oops.

BACK TO THE BALLOONS!!

Wow.. it was a nice day for ballooning in Albuquerque!

Flying from fiesta field takes a lot of practice and lots of ability. There are few good spots for a clean high speed landing South (/ East / North) of the field until you get to the airport.... well past the airport... So its mostly hope for lower speed winds and or maneuverable winds.  I usually only fly from the field during Fiesta because I hate being stuck at 500 to 1000 feet above the ground. For me the fun is getting close to the ground and flying the terrain.

Now during Fiesta there are 550ish balloons to fly about so that is completely awesome fun for me. Then I have no problem with flying in that space. There isn't anything like it anywhere. 3 dimensional flying. The only fun factor of flying the Park off Fiesta time is the river. If the winds are going to the river its a great time for a splash and dash then run to Rio Rancho... But rarely.

Today there was a hare and hound.. in which a balloon takes off with the target.. fly's away while everyone else waits then the hare finds a place to land and set out the target, then the other balloons have to get there and drop a baggie on the target... harder than you think but some great pilots can do it no problem.

I got to the field later than I usually do for these things as I was not paying attention and so I got shots of most but not all... but the sky was full of clouds and that makes shooting balloons much more special... I also shot tons of crew pictures as they are the best for funny things... and a mix of everything else...

Below are about 14 or so... out of 110 total good shots.  Oh..and I do not give permission for any company to use my shots unless paid in full.. Everything I shoot is copyrighted by ME. Since some idiot judge decided that some pictures can be used as fair use even when company's are making money off them.. not here but on the East coast... So my statement goes for all my shots.  Yeah.. fun huh!

Just a few... Ill post all of the shots to my website right after I finish here then post the link.

Installing the Crown velcro ( or springs in an Aerostar ) Grass is damp and try and not get tangled up in the load tapes.

Thumbs up means the air space above is clear....

Mistaking the thumbs up for a need for a hug...... Or was that thumbs up back at ya.... Never know.

As many or more balloons than some remote rally's out there. Albuquerque is the heart home for hot air balloons so why wouldn't we have 60 plus flying every month or so.. and the weekends when we are just goofing off have usually 20 or so up. The Sid Cutter building and the Balloon Museum in the background.

Overhead with the crown of clouds!

Working for the reflection off the windows... not at this angle.

Kicking the heat to the balloon! Such a comfortable position.

Looking like he is riding the cloud bank....

Returning to the field using those famous box winds... and settling down to the ground...

Taking some time to reflect .. and seal the throat as well.... come here often?

With a three or so year old instructing on how to pack an envelope into a bag for storage...

With camp kids in basket off they go.... Balloon Camp is a thing... You can send your kids to it!

A return to almost the exact place you launched from.. and the eager crew who got to sit around while you looped around... making it look easy.

Swoopen it.... As the morning went on the winds shifted and the low South wind went away and turned to the West.... But a lot got back....

There was eve a cooking competition and ice cream from the cancelled ice cream social.. and then it got hot.

It took about three hours to deal with the shots... Plus I have this irritating issue with my camera... it show this ( FULL ) icon... and I cant find out what it means in any of the docs that came with the camera...

I can find every damn other icon but not this one.. Camera is not full nor is the frame full nor is the focus full or the light meter full.. so.......

Oh.. Here are two freebee panos.. one from my visit to the Sunport and this mornings field from my standing spot on it.


The Sunport is a very nicely decorated airport. I really like how if feels, looks and it even smells nice with all that wood up there.

After flying tailgating.. so many you can barely see in this shot. And yes.. we have nice lush green grass at Fiesta Park. If we could get the soccer players to pick up their used water bottles that would be nice... Balloonists are the cleanest people I know.

In the end I wanted to go to Vics for breakfast but it was too late and there were more people waiting outside than there were seats inside.... so... another day for that breakfast burrito with red and green on the side.....

Ill post the link to the full picture set here in a bit... stay tuned!!