Damn that pixel.

I heard back from Nikon, did what they asked, and submitted some sample pictures back. I am still not sure if I want to send it back yet. I think I might keep it for the rest of the summer, and into fall and then mail it to them. I'm still pretty happy with the camera though.

These kids are driving me nuts, and we are only into week two of summer vacation. They are such good boys, and I love them so much, but seriously. 24/7 is a lot of time to spend with anyone. I need to start getting them out and about more. I am tempted to bring them to Drumheller to have a peek at the dinosaurs, but I am not sure if I am up for it.

My lovely mil took the boys to work this morning, so I busted my ass to get some shopping done so I could go take some pictures. There is always quite a few people snapping shots there, and I saw a woman pushing her kid in the stroller, and gave her a smile. She looked right through me. Okay. A little while later, I stopped to take a picture of a momma bird feeding her baby (which never turned out) and this chick walks by me again. I finish what I'm doing, about a minute or so, and then keep going along the trail. I hear a noise, look over, and see this:



After I get over my awe at being maybe six feet away from this beautiful deer, I think "ha ha, Miss Snootypants didn't get to see this". Is that wrong? The doe just stood and looked at me for a few seconds, and then took a few tentative steps forward. I stepped back, since it seemed like she wanted to cross the path I was on. Sure enough, she did, about three feet in front of me. Crazy. There were mosquitos all over her, and I felt so bad for her. It must be awful to have mosquito bites that you can't even scratch.



In that picture, if you look at the larger version (click if you feel inclined) you can see the mosquitos are so full of blood that they are red. Makes me itch just looking at it. Poor thing, I wanted to cover her in mosquito spray. But it would probably make her sick.

She headed down to the water, and I thought I had better leave her to it. I headed further down the path, and heard a "hoooo hoo hoooo". I looked up, and saw this:



I know it's a crappy picture, but it's a freakin' owl. I think it's a great horned owl, but I am not sure. That is the second time I've ever seen an owl outside of a zoo, and the first time I snapped a picture of one. Really neat animals. Danny was impressed, as owls are a personal favorite of his.

Then, I was rushing back to the car (I only had an hour there) and I saw some baby loons with their mom. Man, can those things dive. And they were soft and fuzzy, and I have a serious weakness for little ducky feet. I wonder if loons would make good pets. So I'll leave you with these.