Nikkor 55-200 Lens Now Working

With rain predicted tonight, I heard the rumbling sound of farm equipment and assumed the field across the highway was being plowed. It was the next field over, where they had plowed a few weeks ago. One tractor was spraying fertilizer with another following with a new round of disking.

It wasn't long before a 3rd tractor shows up with planters on the back. Of course my Nikon D3200 decided it didn't want to work again. It's been on the blink now for the year it's been back from repair. I don't think I'll be buying another Nikon in the future.

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It looks like a case of user error ... a long article but it's the answer to all my frustration with this camera ... dslr-autofocus-modes-explained.

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The hounds went out for an early scout of the yard. Neither was too enthused about starting the week, although Stella entered the field on the far corner again where the grass is not as high. She tried to sneak out along the edge of the brush line.

It was about this time while I was trying different things to get the Nikkor 55-200 lens to work. For the past several months when turned to the 55mm mark the lens would not retract flush like it should. I found a fix for that on the Nikon D3200 forum months ago. It said to turn the focus ring counter clockwise and the lens would retract to the correct position. When doing that I always felt resistance and hear a slight plastic clicking sound. I figured that was normal since it was being turned counter clockwise. Today when I tried that on the 55-200, it was smooth as butter. There wasn't any kind of resistance nor sound.

When I tried taking photos with the 200mm zoom, the lens auto-focused with the lens moving in and out very smooth without any kind of sounds. Was that my problem with focus in the past? I had not been able to take a zoomed photo higher than the 135mm setting on the camera for quite a while.

With it working I started taking photos from different lengths of zoom. I saw where the birds tried building a new nest in a different part of the carport last night. The problem with this area, that ledge they were trying to build on is only 1/2" wide and not enough surface to hold a nest.

In the meantime as I was trying to get photos of the farming across the highway, Stella decided she would quietly sneak away. I am going to have to start watching her and calling her back before she gets into the wooded area. She has been creeping past her boundary lately.

Sadie decided she would hang back and try to talk me into the first walk of the day but it's way too wet for that right now. It might take a few more hours for the field to dry out from the heavy dew.

Stella starts her escape.

I was only able to get this one photo of the farming going on this morning with a 55mm setting, then I cropped it. When I turned around I couldn't see Stella so I yelled her name pretty loud for her to get back to the yard.

She wasn't happy being caught but did start her slow trek back to the house.

With the camera battery low, I stopped attempting to take more photos, happy that the lens was now working again. I still don't know if it's my eyes but the photos don't look nearly as sharp to me as they did when I first got the camera.

One difference is when I first bought the camera I was shooting NEF Raw quality then but changed that this past year to JPEG Fine due to the large file size of the raw images. With limited data per month I could not afford to upload as many photos to the blog as I do with each photo being 6-7Mb's in size with the raw quality setting, unless I did my blog posts after midnight. Between midnight and 5am I get unlimited data that is not counted as part of my monthly usage.

I've been going over the camera owners manual over and over, reading the Nikon forums in trying to solve the different issues I've had with this camera. Years ago I used a Cannon Manual camera and various lenses without any trouble.

Heidi is headed for a bath after this and a fresh application of the water, vinegar mix. This morning is the typical "two steps forward and one step back" in the process. I'll let you guess which direction she is going this morning.

I'll try to add some more photos to this post after the battery is charged up.

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Here are some photos taken after the battery charged up. The lens is still moving smoothly and retracting to the correct position. It will be interesting to see how long it works.

Sadie and Stella take in a meal of grass chewing. Looking back on the blog a year ago and I see that the field this year is much taller than last. I had not got Stella yet and Sadie was still being tethered while she roamed the field.

Heidi's skin looked almost the same as this year and Winston spent a lot of time just laying in the yard.

Overcast skies and another day of cool temps here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Hounds Walk Early Evening

I guess the hounds will decided when I am finished blogging for the day, not me.

It started with Stella howling and acting like I had never seen her. I thought she had hurt herself someway. Since it was way after her lunch and not even close to breakfast,  I didn't know why she was howling. I had really not seen her like this during this time of day. Their water bowl was full. I was a little confused what she was trying to tell me.

By the time I came back to the desk with a glass of water in hand, she was laying by my chair asleep. Sadie was in her spot along the living room wall where Winston spent his last days resting. So I continued to read some things on the internet.

It was getting cold enough to get up and shut all the windows but it looked really nice outside. I changed my camera lens to the 18mm-55mm and out we went. Right off the bat, Sadie is give me "the look" ... that look she gives when she wants to go on a walk, not just roam the yard.

So off we went for a early evening walk, it was close to 8pm. I could tell the lighting for taking photos seemed to be much better this time of day than the afternoons or late mornings. That will be something to remember, maybe we need to take the 2nd walk later in the day.

All of the recent rains have really changed the growth of the field these past couple of weeks. The farmer should get a lot of good hay when they cut and bale it in late June or early July.

With the smaller lens, I was able to get more photos of Sadie since she has been spending most of her walk near me ... maybe it's because the hay is taller?

Sadie notices something up ahead, but I don't see any deer on the horizon. What she does see is a bird on the ground and that has always been her favorite thing to chase. While Stella stayed behind, Sadie took off for something I could not see.

I did see a large bird take off from ground level.

Stella was on her own trip though and for the past two or three days she has found something that she doesn't want to leave, over in that far right corner. I even called her today because we were already on the way back home. When she looked up at me and then went back down to what interested her ... I decided today I was leaving her.

Sadie continued to hang fairly close but was still doing her own searching.

You can barely see Stella far ahead in that photo and Sadie and I are just making the turn to go home.

This is the time she looked up when I called and then went right back to what she was doing. Sadie and I headed home without her.

As we reach the yard Sadie is still looking back for Stella who isn't anywhere close and I cannot see her tail in the tall grass.

About five minutes later as I was downloading the photos from the card to the computer I hear "someone" at the door. Stella decided it's better to be a house dog and sleep inside than having to stay outside ... I guess. She is curled up sleeping as close to my desk chair as possible.

I can't remember the last time I've seen a tick on Sadie or Stella so NexGard did it's job. Also for you that use blogger for your blog, I have found loading all of my photos first and then writing in between the photos is much easier, faster and eliminates the format issues with spacing. It makes a lot of difference blogging on Blogger.

I guess there was something else to blog about tonight in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Heidi Continues To Improve

I still don't want to show any detailed photos of Heidi for another few weeks to compare to the starting point just last Tuesday, the 10th. I wanted to post this photo to prove she is still alive and active. You can see if you look closely her paws have really healed up on the tops and back of her legs. The rear hocks are not as red and are very soft. I see where old skin has flaked off and new healthy skin has replaced some spots.

Early in the afternoon the hounds didn't want to move out of the yard but they were really excited about the word "ride". We drove out about ten miles and came back home. Heidi acted as if she was car sick, Stella whined and Stella laid down. No photos of where we went since the road was up and down with hills, blind curves and narrow roads.

With their reaction we came back and slept the afternoon off, getting enough rest to mow the yard for the 3rd time in 6 days. I am seeing signs of the front yard starting to grow slower. I am hoping to wait a week before I have to mow again but the rain will be a factor in determining that.

Not until a year or so after I bought the Yews and had the holes dug by the local landscape business owner, did he tell me that he didn't think they had a chance to grow in the type of clay dirt I have surrounding my house. As you can see they have a lot of new growth this spring. Last year I trimmed them with electric clippers but this year I will do them by hand.

I don't want them much higher than they are now. That would make them even across the front of the house, with the top edge just below the edge of the living room windows. I saw on "this old house", trimming them by hand will make them grow thicker inside. The one between the satellite dishes is suppose to grow taller.

My test weed/flower is still standing but I am not sure for how much longer.

That's about all I have for tonight. It was a pretty lazy Sunday. I did try to fix the light in the carport. After I started working on it I remembered what the deal was. That extension was put in before I arrived and did work for many years. It must have gone bad because I cannot even get a new light bulb to work in it. When I screwed the new bulb into the fixture itself, the inside was too small for the bulb to fit. I'll get a different bulb and see if that works.

It's hard to believe that May is half over.

It's pretty quiet in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana tonight ... not much to blog about.