Today there was more Snow in the north west of England, in fact the worse we have had over the this snowy few weeks. The snow meant a day off as we were closed and it also meant that I could get out in the garden and take some photographs of these unique conditions.
Looking out the office window whilst working on some stuff I noticed a bird in the trees in the garden. Perfect opportunity for a photograph and so I got my camera out. The bird was an excellent subject as he/she remained nice and still while I made use of the excellent 12x optical zoom on my camera. I think these photos have come out really nice.
For a while now I have kept seeing stunning panoramic photos on the web and wondered how on earth those photos were taken or created. Well after a little more extensive research today I have found out that they are really simple, thanks to Photoshop CS3.
The image above was created by merging together 8 photographs from the garden. We have been working in the garden for the last 6 months or so and wanted to find a way in which I could showcase the whole job in one photograph, which is what got me looking at panoramic photography.
The process is simple. You basically take all your photos, panning around your subject. It is best to take them in portrait format because your image will end up capturing a lot more of the subject. You then take your photographs panning around, making sure that you give them plenty of overlap. The more overlap the easy it is for the software to get a good match.
Upload the photos to your computer and then in Photoshop CS3 you simple select the Automate from the file menu and choose the Photomerge. Then select all of the photos that you have taken and simply press go. Photoshop goes to work importing your photos together and produces the finishing touches. Somethimes to tops and bottoms of the photo are not level as Photoshop has had to move them up and down to get things aligned up correctly so I usualy just crop the photograph down slightly so that the top and bottom edges are straight.
That is all there is to it. Export your file in a suitable format and size and you have a lovely professional looking Panoramic photograph of whatever you want.
Today it was painting time again. I was painting the shed while Helen was painting the bedroom. I hate painting and to top it off, I am not very good at it either.
The garden is now very very nearly finished. In fact next week I am going to install the electrics in the shed and do some general tidying including adding some guttering to collect the rainwater in the water butt off the shed roof and then I think that it is. What started in February will be finished in August. Not bad going don’t you think!
On Friday my shed was delivered from B&Q and it has been sat in the garage over the weekend ready to be erected. Today my father-in-law and I decided to have a bash a putting the thing together. Well I have to that in the face of adversary we have done a rather good job.
We came to the shed in the morning which is all in bits in the garage and the first thing that we looked for, obviously, were the plans. The first (major!) problem was encountered here. No plans. The shed came in 3 packs. A base pack (pack A) which is needed for all sheds and then extensions (pack B x 2). Therefore, rather annoyed at the lack of instructions I was on the phone to B&Q. After having left it ringing for fifteen minutes (and not I am not joking here!) I finally got through to Steve. He said that he has the plans there but couldn’t get them to me. He had no email (which I also couldn’t believe!!). Therefore my wife on her way for the weekly shop picked them up.
Meanwhile we were using the instructions that we had from pack B to work out what everything was. The week before we have started to lay the base for the shed and done around the outside as it were. It was clear however that the shed had 3 strips of wood down the centre and therefore we would need something in the ground in order to level it out. Therefore we had some bricks left over and we decided to berry these in the ground with some chippings and dry mix cement, to level it up. Once these were in the bases went down, rather well actualluy, and then we fastened the bases to each other.
The shed then went up rather smoothly with the bits and bobs accounting for themselves really. Then came the final rather large problem. No door hinges. At this point it became obvious that we were a bag missing, which would have had the plans in as well as the screws for pack A. Still we had managed to make do with the using my own screws. Tomorrow I will be off to B&Q to ‘claim’ my hinges and perhaps a few packs of screws from them.
I have to say that I am not happy with B&Q. Delivering a shed without any door hinges or even instrucitons is like selling it with no roof on, or selling a brush without a handle. It I had paid someone to come round and fit the shed I would no be well out of pocket. We will see what tomorrow brings when I head to B&Q.
A short while ago now we constructed a ‘Pets Corner’ in the garden, which was somewhere for the rabbits and the birds to enjoy life. We finished this and then discovered that George and Jeremy could escape by literally climbing over there pen fence. We then constrcuted a futher ‘overhang’ to prevent this which worked. However for the last few days George has managed to find a way out. How was the question?
I wondred at first whether he had figured a way over the overhang section of the fence. But then again it was cleary just to much for them to scale. Therefore I just couldn’t figure out how he was getting out. The only other way I thought was literally a running jump.
Why am I so bothered you might ask? Well the real reason is the plants. If the rabbits do get into the garden there is no really problem of the escaping and getting into trouble as they are sealed in with 7ft high walls. What does worry me if they get into the garden for long periods of time is that fact that they will just eat all of the plants that I have spent all year planting and getting right.
So the only way that I could think of was to video the rabbits for a period of time and then see if I could catch on camera George’s escape route. Below is the video that I managed to shoot.
As you can see he was getting out, off camera and therefore it was nothing to do with the fence at all. In fact on investigation of the left hand side of the hutch (far left on camera) there was a very small gap between the hutch and the all, with no over hang on there. That was how he must have been getting out. The gap was tiny and that would explain why only George could ever get out, because Jeremy is bigger than George.
I like the video, as watching the two rabbits makes them look so human. Once George is out he almost goes up to Jeremy as if to say “you not coming out for bit to?”. Jeremy would then reply with “how do you get out George?” and then proceed to get on his hind legs trying to scale the fence only to resort in a failed attempt. They really do have such great personallities these rabbits.
So I suppose the only thing that remains is how will he find a way out next? Maybe he will learn to high jump and then I will be stuck for ideas to keep them in!
The weather was absolutely sweltering hot today in the garden. In fact it must have been well over 30 degress C and working was particularly difficult. Ticked off the list of things to do today was doing the electrics in the aviary, re-constructing the aviary and finishing off what my wife and I are now calling ‘Pets Corner’.
We have a south facing garden which is brilliant as it gets to sun all day long, but today it was relentless as the sun was high and very hot. We started the day finishing off from yesterday with a quick trip to B&Q in order to buy an outside light and some wire. We then finished connecting the electrics in the aviary as well as at the top of the garden on the new patio. Hooray it all worked wonders. So now the birds have a light in the aviary and one outside in the fly bit.
After cleaning all the aviary we then reconstructed it on the newly laid concrete slab that should make sweeping the floor much easier. It went back together surprisingly easy and once the gate was changed to fit the new position of the aviary pets corner was finished. Just a latch for the gate and some wood to go on top of the fence to prevent the rabbits from escaping.
Then at the end of the day, after a little pitch and put with the lob wedge from the golf bag (and 15 attempts to chip into the rabbit run without succeeding) we started to dig the footings (trenches) for the new shed to sit on when that arrives shortly.
After that it is a big tip run tomorrow to clear out all the rubbish and then on with the garage clean out ready for a conversion in the near future.
Its funny isn’t it how for so long over the last few weeks I have had very little to blog about, and then all of a sudden there is so much to say that you need lots of posts to do it. For this reason this post is a mix of this and that, that has been happening over the last couple of days.
About a week ago now Daphne (our female breeding budgie) hatched another two young. They are both coming along nicely and seem to be developing well. They have even coped with the moving of the aviary (see below). Another couple of weeks and they should really start to look like littlle budgies. At the same time however Goldie is not doing to well. She had a lot of mess around her bottom this morning and when Helen cleaned her up it is clear that she is bunged up with something. A trip to the vet means that she is on Antibiotics. Hopefully she will pull through in a day or two.
Yesterday and today was the big aviary move ready for concreting underneath the aviary. We first had to dismantle the shed and avairy then it could be moved onto the patio that was constructed a few months ago. There is was part reassembled so that the birds could go back in there for the next week or so while the concreting and electrics are done.
We have been waiting all day today for the order to arrive from Berrys (the local builders merchant) and as I write this the materials are still not here! Therefore today has been tidying up this and that.
Finally the rabbits. They too have not escaped the moving of the aviary, as moving it meant their pen was now open. Therefore they have been relaxing in the sun all afternoon in the old rabbit run. I think they have quite enjoyed siting in the shade next to each other, eating grass and apples. They certainly looked relaxed.
