Today is one of those days off where I didn’t run anwyhere major or do anything big. Heck, I didn’t even do laundry today, and that’s one of those standard day off deals.
Instead of looking for another ghost town or venturing to Sedona / Flagstaff / Phoenix / Wickenburg, I stuck near the Airstream and did some of that “learning” stuff that I’m so good at.
I spent the entire morning reading “Adobe Dreamweaver CS4, Classroom in a Book.” Finished more than half the book this morning! Best part, I understood it. Always nice when you retain what you read.
It should be said here that I’ve known how to design websites for a very long time. I was writing HTML documents before there were all these fancy editors out there. I’d write files in a simple text editor back in the day. Sounds like the next thing I should say is that I walked up hill to school in 5 feet of snow as well. But seriously, my start into technology was a thesis on the economics of digital networks, and I taught myself all about TCP/IP, then about web development. Honestly, I’m still more comfortable with writing the code directly.
Now that I have the CS4 suite in hand I figured I should use the tools in front of me. So, Dreamweaver it is. I’ll be redesigning a new photo site for myself soon, and I’ll be redesigning the Ian Russell Gallery’s website as well. A new version of the gallery site will be up before April 26th. Not an arbitrary deadline, we’ll be moving servers. Might as well whip out a shiny new website as well.
Beyond the reading today I took a small walk near Watson Lake. Not a long walk, but it was nice to meander along the shoreline. My purpose was pretty simple. Get some shots of the birds floating in the water today. Pretty easy task.
Getting to the boat launch at Watson Lake Park several birds were already waiting. Several mallards and 4 domestic geese. It seemed like they knew the Versa was on its way.
Seriously, they all floated right out of some reeds / underbrush and came to check us out. Clearly they were expecting something……..
FOOD!
Of course, nothing was brought along for the friendly waterfowl. Big disappointment too. There was lots of quacking, lots of honking, some angry looks, and two geese displayed their total offense as I took their pictures……..
The reaction of the geese reminded me of a homeless guy that I passed by this weekend. Walking downtown on Saturday I had my camera out. Shot a few cool cars if you recall….. Well, I sat down on the square before heading back to the gallery and just started taking a few photos. 50 yards away a homeless gentleman (his sign said he was) played a guitar. He saw me with the camera and started yelling, “It’s a buck a picture!” He yelled it a lot. At the time I wasn’t taking his picture, but after all the yelling I decided to take his picture. I think the geese today were of the same mind set of that fellow.
So, we offended a few geese and mallards. There were other birds there as well, and they weren’t squaking about our lack of treats for them. Next time I go visit I will try to bring something for them though. If homeless guys demand money of photographers on town squares then I guess waterfowl can expect something as well.
In total I counted 4 unique duck-like species. Don’t ask me to name names. I’m unfamiliar with most of them and my little guide book is stuffed away somewhere. What I can say is that Watson Lake is loaded with cool floating fowl. Lots of interesting calls as well.
Next time you stop by Watson Lake remember to bring treats. Tell the geese I sent you (they were the ones to take total offense).
There’s the wrap on another exciting day! Dreamweaver, sprites, spry tools, div containers, form manipulation, ducks, geese, cold winds, and a cold shoulder from a few geese! 🙂
Comments 2
Look at them with their tails all up…you KNOW they were plotting at how to get back at us for not bringing any food…
Now those are some snobby geese! Geeses? Gooses? Either way, great tushie shots!