23rd October 2009, Glenorchy

Another  hapless fowl sentenced to the Hobart Show for the duration

I have a bump on my noggin and a sore hip from ice skating. If I go again I’m wearing a helmet and one of those suits that attack dog trainers wear.

No, that isn’t me. If it was I’d have a helmet on too.

Popularity: 18% [?]

23rd October 2009, Glenorchy

A dodgy looking character incarcerated at the Hobart Show.

Popularity: 17% [?]

23rd October, Glenorchy

Another picture from the Hobart show. This Duck was making a racket, and poking her head out when there was no one around. I felt a kindred spirit.

I took this at full zoom (200mm) and at iso 800 which is why it is so grainy, but I like the shot.

Note: Woody is short for Wood Duck.

Popularity: 16% [?]

23rd October 2009, Glenorchy

This morning I had a test ride on a Can Am Spyder - see below. It is a three wheeler 990cc rotax engined flappy paddle type auto gearbox. Two wheels at the front.

I booked in for the test ride, just to have a ride on something exotic. It was a beautiful day to have a ride and I enjoyed it, but the bike was a huge dissappointment. I really thougtht the front wheels would lean over into the corner, but they don’t, they stay upright. This makes for a very boring, stilted, two dimensional ride. I can’t imagine many motorcyclists would enjoy these - you just can’t get into corners like you can on a motorbike.

Also, my single cylinder  650 would have left these for dead; they just didn’t move. I was expecting a lot more.

The rest of the day I spent at the Hobart Show. I mostly enjoyed looking at the animals and photographing them. I felt for them though, caged up for three days with all sorts of people in their faces. Well, I was in their faces too but able to put them at ease. They really all looked as though they just wanted to get out into the open.

There were also some great photographs in the photographic exhibition. You could tell that none of them were taken with a compact digital - the quality was superb.

The Can Am Spyder - I pilfered this photo from http://www.tuvie.com/can-am-spyder-roadster-three-wheels-vehicle/

Popularity: 18% [?]

“Chook (now her name) was wild when I first came here. Now, if I’m a bit slow feeding her, she walks up the veranda steps and looks through the glass front door.”

(c) Andrew Calder

Popularity: 21% [?]

“I’ve more or less decided to be friends with Floss, we have stuff in common. She’s a funny girl. I was trying to take photos of the poor chook today, and I think floss was jealous, she kept chasing the chook away. She was quite happy for me to take pictures of her though.”

(c) Andrew Calder

Excerpt from email sent late February.

Popularity: 26% [?]

“I have no idea where the chook lives. She shows up when she is hungry, and is often  looking in through the bathroom window. Her and the cat lived here for two months  with nobody looking after them, until I moved in. I’m amazed the cat didn’t eat her. She is pretty bossy when she wants to be fed.”

(c) Andrew Calder

Popularity: 18% [?]

“I was in the garden, chasing bees from flower to flower. After a while, it seemed as though they just started ignoring me, and let me get close to them with my camera.”
(c) Andrew Calder
Reminds me of all the stories I’ve been reading about Sounds like we need to get serious.

Popularity: 46% [?]

(c) Andrew Calder

When Andy moved into his new home, there was already an inhabitant. He named her ‘dirty fairy floss’, owing to her colour, which I shortened to ‘floss’. Despite not being a cat person, he grew fond of ‘floss’ and related many of her adventures to me. Andy loves animals and I wasn’t surprised! She has now returned to her owner.

Popularity: 27% [?]