Cleaning Dangers

Somehow Cooper's night clock has been adjusted yet again.  I finally had him at 4:30 am, but that has reverted back even further to 4:00.   Add to that last night's storm keeping us up and I now have toothpicks keeping my eyes open.  

Luckily it fizzled.  The storm that is.  I got a severe storm warning with 70 mph winds and torrential rains. We did get a nice rain, but the rest never materialized.  This morning, my fingers are typing faster than my brain is working, so look out for bad English.

Thanks to all the rain, the prickly pears are ripe and ready to provide lunch for the critters.  This curved bill thrasher had quite the breakfast as he destroyed all but two of the fruit.

He kept pecking until he broke them all open, taking maybe three bites from each one before knocking them to the ground.  Don't you just love their eyes?

My adventure plan for the last two days was to go to Redington ghost town.  It was first settled in 1875 by Henry and Lem Redfield.  When they applied for a post office in their name, they were told it could only be the name of a dead person, so they named it Redington.  

In 1883 brother Lem was lynched in Florence on suspicion of being involved in a stagecoach robbery near their ranch.  What better place to check out since it's close to the San Pedro River.  The map said it was a State Highway.

Here's a picture of the "highway" I downloaded from the internet this morning.  I should have done this before I ventured out there.

This is what brought on all the hullabaloo about my computer's photography program.  I had all these pictures and NO program to download them.  I did eventually have success in my computer endeavor, but quickly discovered my camera's sensor is so dirty, I was spending fifteen minutes on each picture trying to clean them up.  Time for a camera clean!

I was nervous.  No surprise.  This operation is generally left to the pros due to the cleaning dangers, but the cost of $400 is daunting.  Every photographer will tell you to send your camera off to be cleaned.  Then every photographer will proceed to clean his own.

Here's the thing.  That greenish thing inside is the sensor that takes the pictures.  You lock the mirror up, put a few drops on one of these sterile pads and carefully wipe it down.  If you scratch it or touch anything else inside, you can destroy your camera completely.  That would definitely mean some big bucks for a replacement.  I mean really, I could buy a CAR!!

Ever so carefully I cleaned it twice and it's still not really good.  To test, you take it outside and take a lovely picture of a clear blue sky.  Download on your computer and you will be able to see every little dust speck.  It's as good as it's going to get.  I'm not taking any chances of scratching the sensor.

At long last I was able to download all the Redington images.  All meaning the few I got.  It's hard to drive and take pictures with my camera.  It took two hands on the wheel just to get as far as I did.  I'll post those tomorrow.  This morning my lawn is calling my name.  If I don't get it mowed, lions and tigers will attack my house.

I did get some nice sunset images.  I do love seeing the flowers bloom in my yard, no thanks to me.

You just have to give it up to clouds in Arizona.  They make for some of the most beautiful images.

Also on the schedule today is Jungle Cruise!  The Rock's latest movie is now #1 in the world.  Who would want to miss THAT!!