You did what? – Page 4 – Do people spend a lot of time thinking up good tag lines?

Hot crossed buns

I have been making at least a few batches of hot crossed buns every year for many years. But Amelia turned out to be so sensitive to wheat that initially I couldn’t even cook wheat containing meals in the same kitchen. I tried making various wheat free versions. But now that we are wheat, egg, rice and corn free…. I’ve not succeeded in making an acceptable tapioca bun.

This year, things are under better control. I can make some wheat things like pancakes without bad reactions, so I started a small batch of buns last night

When I baked them today we got tasty light buns. So happy.

Yes, very happy

This was cropped out of…

This

Finally, surf photos

Having got a nice heavy nikkor 300/4, I have just enough length for photos of the lineup.

A view that no longer exists…

A photo from 2009 when we still lived in the flat in Sutherland.

Now there is a block of flats and a rail commuter car park where this photo is looking.

Our house is great, but we can’t see the horizon for sunrise or sunset. I miss sunset especially in autumn as it mostly coincided with cooking the evening meal. The photo is much the same view as I had from the kitchen. So, life moves on I guess.

Old is new again

Back in the 80s, Dad let me use his Nikon F with the photomic finder. Here is a slide from that era:

(Remember, these sat around for ~30 years before processing. This is a crop and was taken near the wreck of the Cherry Venture, at a guess Dad shot this with his F3)

Much later I’d use the same camera with a 55mm macro to make many of the pictures in my PhD thesis. I wonder where those negatives are?

Now, with new light seals, and the meter back in working condition, I’m having a blast shooting the back yard.

Has it really been that long?

You SHOULD own (lots of) gear

It seems it’s all the rage now to write blog posts about how you dumped 20k of canon/nikon gear, got a M4/3 (or whatever) and “found” your artistic vision. Whatever works for you. But I don’t think you should try to persuade everyone else that this is the “one true way” though.

I’ve got lots of nice film gear. And lots of nice digital gear. And some cool medium format and rangefinder stuff. At a stretch I can do 4×5 with some salvaged technical microscope cameras too. I love it all. I want more of it.

I don’t take it all out with me. That would be madness. But seriously. A 200/2.8 makes nice portraits. But it does lots of other stuff too just walk a bit. Take one camera/lens and shoot. Then think about it. And shoot some more.

At five, my daughter had started to pose. This had made the natural photos harder to get. But I’m getting more opportunities to shoot carefully. I don’t see me reducing the amount of gear anytime soon.

I still want a big format camera too.

Sitting in the yard…

drinking a G&T, shooting birds with the longest lenses I have.

Toys are fun

D300 ISO200

Nikkor 70-210 f/4=> 210, f/4, 1/640

Nikkor 75-300 f/4.5-5.6 => 300, f/5.6, 1/320

Nikkor 75-300 f/4.5-5.6 => 190, f/5.3, 1/400

Nikkor 300 f/4 => 1/400

Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 => f/4, 1/800

Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 => f/2.8, 1/1600

It’s no fun replacing the antenna on an AU Falcon

Snapped the antenna mast on my car. New masts are ~$25. How hard can it be?

Yeah.

In the hope this helps someone else…

Put the car in the garage and turn out the lights. You’ll see later.

Turn the steering hard left to access the inside of the wheel bay.
Try to undo the 3 Philips head screws that hold the splash guard in.
They are actually a screw that expands a plastic tie. In my case one undid and could be pulled out as expected. One tie snapped. The bottom one has a slot in the splash guard, so it pulled over the screw head. These have been in place for 15 years. It’s not surprising they don’t work like new. I guess a proper mechanic would just snap all three and replace with spares….

Ok. Now pull the splash guard down and off the inside of the arch. Also work it off the triangular metal tab that goes through a slot in the splash guard.

Get a torch. Do this inside so you can see up in the dark arch. You should see the antenna assembly. It is held on by one nut at the bottom bracket. Undo the nut and try to thread the thing out of the car.

My antenna was bent half extended. I snapped it off to get enough play so I could get it out.

Undo the strap attached to the top of the mast. Ignore the black moulded plastic one.

Undo the lock nut on the top of the antenna mast housing.

Remove the Philips head screw at the bottom of the housing.

I broke the glued guide tube off the pulley housing and pulled the rope out.

Now, the mast should be pushed back down the guide tube. If you’ve snapped it, it won’t fit.

I bet the $100 complete assembly looks good about now…

I used a dremel to cut it off clean and pushed the remains out with a screwdriver. If yours is snapped too close, you might not get it out. Which will frustrate you no end after the time you’ve put in. Also the reassembly required to be able to drive the car.

The instructions that came with your mast have you covered from here.

I’m happy with the outcome. But dirty and with sore fingers from trying to get the now old and stiff splash guard back in place.

Argghhh

Why! Oh why?

see, cleaver people are able to keep their wits about them even when so many other things (and 5 year olds) are vying for their attention.

Not me, I slipped up and opened the 4 roll tank “a bit”. Maybe I’ll get something off the bottom roll. I hate myself right now. Slicing life a bit on the thin side I think.

Time will tell.

[update] top roll is toast, next is badly streaked, bottom two might be usable…

[next update] streaks not so bad. Need to find scanning time. Quite behind… But in general I think I got lucky here.