It's Written All Over My Face

Where is this guy from, anyway?

I lost track of the inspiration for this - it was a similar image posted in a Photoshop group on Facebook, so I can't take credit for the idea.

Wildlife Around the House

 

Not so wild, although she sometimes meows at inconvenient times. 

If you're a fly, I recommend staying away from one of the yews in our front garden.

I took these photos with my new camera. I upgraded my five-year old camera with a used camera that's four years old but in good shape. I also bought a few lenses, one new and one used. In another five years, I plan to buy a three-year old camera, and in fifteen years, the math says I'll be all caught up. 

Orange Brains and Pink Blood

This doesn't look right...

I was at the Red Cross blood donor center yesterday and took this photo of my arm. Something's off - shouldn't blood be red? And what's with the orange brain in my hand? 

Ordinarily, I'd make a joke about the grapefruit diet being the cause of this very light-colored blood, or say I'm a robot and this is a picture of me getting an oil change, or mention that I was at a picnic and the host was providing pink lemonade intravenously. But it's not as exciting as that. This is the second stage of a "Power Red" donation, where they take a pint of blood out, extract the red blood cells, then put the remainder back in. The remainder is clear-ish. It also feels funny when it goes back in, as that is not a sensation most of us are familiar with. 

The orange brain is a foam toy they give you to squeeze while you're donating - it helps keep the blood moving. The nurses there tell me they have a box full of all kinds of squeezy toys, and that people regularly drop off new ones. I have a squeezy pig and frog back at the office, and if I return there, I may drop them off for a future blood donor to use. 

"Preventative" Shouldn't Be A Word

Technically, "preventative" is a word. It's in the dictionary, and spell checkers allow it. A number of word experts consider it a less-desirable form of "preventive", which is the word you should always use. "Preventive" is more precise and it follows patterns from other similar words. 

For example, when someone does something clever or comes up with a new product idea, do you refer to them as inventative? 

We don't use a carrot as an incentative, do we? 

If we are unsure of whether to proceed, do we consider ourselves tentatative? 

No, no, and no. 

I hope you found my thoughts on this topic positative and constructative.

 

So Many Birds

Not really...

There weren't actually this many birds at once under the feeder. This is a composite of about 30 photos taken from a camera on a tripod. I was inside the house pressing a button on my phone, telling the camera to take a shot when a bird was in view. The phone and the camera communicate over wi-fi. 

I need to try this at a different time of day when other birds and animals are around - some cardinals or blue jays would really bring some color to this. And squirrels, chipmunks, beavers, turkeys, raccoons, and red squirrels would add some variety.