Lens is doing is AGAIN!!!

I'm refraining from using some foul language here, but my lens is back doing its nonsense.  I got off about 12 photos yesterday before the error message came back:  "Communication between lens and camera" error...

...sigh...

I can still use my lens, but I have to turn my camera OFF between each shot I take.  And, yesterday, there was an osprey flying above a lake in Arizona, which I was able to get some photos of, but after that...back to the lens error message.

Al, I went to a camera store and bought an $8.00 container of some kind of cleaner.  Hubby has it put away somewhere in one of his bags, and I'll ask him what it was.  The guy at our camera store told me he's never seen this happen with a Tamron lens, but, from what I see on the Internet, it DOES apply to Tamron lenses.

I do have my old Nikon D40x with me, as my backup camera, and it also has a Tamron lens, but I've never got that particular lens error with it and it goes out to 200 mm, so I may just use it.  We are currently in Arizona, heading over to New Mexico, so I'm glad I brought both cameras.

No photos yet, as I've only taken 12 yesterday.  And, for some reason, they look really overexposed.

Back to square one.

A follow up on my camera issues

So, hubby took 1/2 day off yesterday and went with me and my camera to Camera West, in Rancho Mirage.  The darn thing was giving me that error again..."Communication between camera and lens is faulty"...that nonsense.  It is a real pain and I can't take more than one photo at a time.  I can take a photo, but then I have to turn OFF the camera, and turn it on again and do this for every photo.  I was taking photos of the turkey vulture when it happened.

We were lucky this visit and an older, more experienced gentleman took a look at my camera.  He couldn't visually see anything wrong, so he gently took a solution, sprayed it in a wipe, and wiped off the connections on the camera.  He told us those connections are gold plated, so one has to be VERY CAREFUL!

IT WORKED!  He took several shots inside the store and let the camera lens adjust on its own and no problem!  Apparently my Tamron lens isn't made anymore.  It's a macro 28 to 300 mm lens.  I really love it, but hubby gave me his old 55 mm lens, just in case.  And, he was willing to trade me HIS Canon lens, which is a wide angle.  So, thankfully, he doesn't have to do that.  I'll leave my lens on the camera and PRAY that it works!

Thank you, Camera West!  Now I just hope it continues to work!   :-)  We shall see!

Summer vacation is HERE at last!

I drove up to see the horses yesterday and on my way, I spotted two turkey vultures over Deep Canyon.  Then two more, and finally one trailing the others.  I pulled over and got some photos of one of them, but my camera freezes after I take each photo...something about communication between the camera and lens.  This morning I'm driving up to Camera West to look over their used lenses and I may buy a CANON lens to go with my Canon, instead of this darn Tamron one.  Anyway, I had a good visit with the horses, but it was getting so hot (even 9:00 a.m.) that I only stayed until 10:30.  I brushed them and gave them a snack.  It will be 111, even 113 degrees down here in the desert this week, so that means it is also hot up at the horse ranch (in the 90's).    Summer, then, is officially HERE!

 One of the turkey vultures.

 He made a big circle in the sky and came back over me.

Pretty thunderheads yesterday.

First day of summer vacation!

Yesterday was my first day of summer vacation?  And, what did I do all day?  NOTHING!  It was wonderful!  I took 2 naps~one in the morning and another one in the afternoon.  I swear that it was only adrenaline that got me going through the last week of school.  Then, yesterday, was the letdown.  I did go out in the afternoon to the neighborhood WalMart to buy cat food, and to Whole Foods to buy deli stuff for dinner, but that was it.

Today I'll be heading up to the horses.  They will all need a nice grooming and some coconut oil.  I give them coconut oil each visit to help their tummies.  It also makes them nice & shiny! :-)

We had quite a lightning show last night.  I believe the storm was over Joshua Tree national park.  We were watching 5 episodes of "Bosch" and the kitchen lights were off and I could see flashes.  Both hubby and I walked outside and yup...there were dark clouds over Joshua Tree.  It should be drier today, however, and by Tuesday, it will be 111 degrees here.  YUCK!  I took this photo of a thunderhead over our local mountains with my cell phone when I was at Whole Foods yesterday afternoon.  The storm was over the mountains, in the opposite direction.

Getting ready for summer vacation!!!!

I only have two half-days of school left this year and today is our daughter's last day.  The grandson is already DONE for the summer (he survived kindergarten!).  Summer plans are coming into shape.  We'll be heading out in a week or so over to Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.  We'll stay 2 nights in Chinle and visit Canyon de Chelly.  Haven't been there now for several years.  Then, up to Durango, Colorado, for 2 nights and over to Santa Fe for 3.  I can't wait to be on the road.

I'm still having issues with my Canon, however.  I can only take 1 photo at a time, then I have to turn it off and let it sit.  I get the message that the lens and camera aren't communicating.  This is a common problem and I think it is my Tamron lens.  I may have to switch it out for another lens (borrow hubby's) or just use HIS Canon.  I have a Mark 7 EOS, but he has the Mark 5 and it is a LOT heavier than mine!  Of course, I'll take my trusty Nikon as my backup anyway.  It's much better than the Canon anyway for sunrise and sunset photos!

Here are some photos near Deep Canyon that I recently took with my Nikon.  It was high noon, so the color isn't as great as sunrise or sunset, but...hey...it worked for me!

 This is looking DOWN into Deep Canyon, Palm Desert, CA.

Another photo looking down into Deep Canyon.

Al, this is for YOU!  My good friend Barb told me that one time she and her daughter were driving home, toward Pinyon, up Highway 74 when a... UFO came right out of Deep Canyon!  I kid you not.  She didn't tell me this for 15 years.  When she did, she said it changed her forever.  Right up out of the canyon it came and hovered over their car.  They both saw it.  In fact, her daughter spotted it first.  Now, the daughter is an archaeologist, so she would be doubtful, but there it was!  

So, WHO KNOWS?

I'm such a softie!

Four more days of school this year and 3 of them are half days!  Whoo, whoo!  This class hasn't been as rough as last year's, but I DO have challenges:  7 of them!  At least two are drug babies.  Two boys cannot control their behavior AT ALL and the rest are so hyperactive that they CANNOT sit still, they CANNOT focus, they CANNOT complete their work.  I sat with one boy yesterday and honestly, he couldn't focus more than 30 seconds on ANYTHING!!!!!!  I do have some outstanding students, however, and that makes it more puzzling.  WHY are so many kids dysfunctional?  I know for sure, as I stated above, that two kids are drug babies (meth...)  They are the ones with the worst behavior.  They have NO filter.  They just say or do whatever comes into their minds at the moment...sigh...

I've often wondered if their parents' work in the fields has caused some of their problems.  Pesticides are on the parents and they bring them home on their shoes and clothes.  And, we're talking about some heavy duty stuff.  I can only imagine what pesticides would do to young, developing brains.

So, it has been another ROUGH year.  One girl steals things from me and other students. A boy drops the "F" bomb constantly.  Another one told a girl, "I'm going to kill you!"  OUCH!  Another girl tried to strangle another one at recess.  Then I have the ongoing DRAMA of a girl who left my class because she was so jealous of one of my students, it drove her crazy!  She has glared at me now every time she sees me and my class.  The list could go on and on and on...

But, yesterday I got this note.  I'm typing it exactly as it was written:

"Dear Mrs. XXXX,  I wish you a happy summer and to go on teacheing more students.  Also you changed my life with all you teached me and even thou I am new I think you steel tought me a lot of things I did not know.  Thank you for evreything."

I cried.  Right in front of the student who gave me the note and two others.  I couldn't help myself. :-)

And the winner is...

American Pharoah!

So, yesterday hubby and I stayed home and watched the Belmont Stakes.  I had been 37 years since the last Triple Crown champion, and we were anxious to watch AP do his race.  And, win he did!  He is now the 12th Triple Crown champion, after Affirmed.  By the way, my off-the-track thoroughbred, Quad, is a great-grandson of BOTH Affirmed, Secretariat, and a descendant of the great Man O'War, but, in 7 starts, he NEVER won a race.  Thank GOD he went to a horse rescue, instead of going straight to slaughter.  He only won $6,200.  So, it isn't JUST about the breeding.  It takes a great trainer, good connections, and "las ganas"..."the desire" to win.  Quad doesn't have that.  He's too laid back.

I was screaming and crying and yelling when American Pharoah turned the last corner at Belmont.  I knew he had the race in hand.  And, from the looks of him, he could have kept going!  What a great horse.

It CAN be done.  I was quiet shocked last year when California Chrome's owner said that it was cheating to bring in fresh horses to the Belmont.  SAY WHAT?  Hey, if your horse isn't up to it, the public will find out.  If you horse IS, he will win the Triple Crown.  PERIOD.

Here are a few pics I took directly from the TV and a couple of links, if you wish to watch the race.

 American Pharoah on his way to winning the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown!!!!!

 His sign, next to that of Affirmed.  It was 37 years until his Triple Crown victory.

 The winner's circle celebration.

American Pharoah being led back to his stall after the race.

Here's a complete video of his race:

https://www.facebook.com/HRTVnetwork/videos/10153302340880170/?pnref=story

Here's a link to the previous Triple Crown winners, from CBS news:  http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/horse-racings-triple-crown-winners/

I did NOT see Affirmed's win, nor that of Seattle Slew.  I was too busy with my job and getting pregnant!  :-)  I did, however, see Secretariat's 1973 Triple Crown races and I will always remember his Belmont Stakes.  And, somewhere within Quad, there IS Affirmed, Secretariat, and Man O'War.  Frankly, I think he's laid back from his dam, At the Altar.  She is the one from whom he inherited his gray color, too.  Here's a link to Quad's pedigree:  You'll notice he has Northern Dancer, Secretariat, Affirmed, Nasrullah, Bold Ruler, and even Man O'War.  Breeding, however, isn't everything.
http://www.pedigreequery.com/cero+quatro

 "Quad"...or "Goofy"

Quad with me, 2014.  Yes, I still have him.  He is SUCH a goofball!