Light Diffusers - Cheap

I've been doing basic experiments with homemade light diffusers with mixed results. The first thing that stuck out was it is time for some glass cleanings before I try to shoot through water spots again, but I did get a few halfway decent experiment pics. My goal is to remove the horrible green and red eye I almost always get when using a flash indoors with the critters. Most notably one of my dogs with gold eyes and my cat. Neither can be photographed with the standard flash on my camera, and before I buy a slave flash I thought I would play with some cheap diffusers. One was just white paper wrapped around the flash, which was okay, but not great. The better one used plastic from a make your own stencil kit. It is slightly opaque, but lets most light through, with a matte finish on one side, which bounces the light nicely. It does have a slightly yellow cast that needs to be edited out later though, so i might have to stick to white paper until I'm interested enough in something else.

Laziness and Cold...

I think I'll go with laziness as to why I haven't been out and about taking pics of things. I just don't like the arrival of Fall. Not a real big fan of Fall either, but I like wearing t-shirts, and dislike coats, so summer is wonderful, but fall is just freaking cold, so I have a tendency to clean inside and not venture out for anything but work and groceries... My house is approaching as clean as it's been ever, but there are still the random piles of stuff that I obviously don't need, (or it wouldn't stay there for 6 months) but apparently can't throw away either. It might be useful someday. Someday being the next time I want to torture a small fish by making it live in a 6 inch by 6 inch cube, rather than any of the many large tanks I have. I have lots of tiny useless fish tanks, that I really need to stop collecting then keeping. I really need to stop trying to make them miniature terrariums with plants, unless I can figure out covers and lights better than my previous attempts. The kitchen is clean, I managed to get the table clear enough to wash it before I started piling projects on it again. Of course with the cooler weather all the plants that summered outside are now cluttering up my kitchen floor while I puzzle over how they multiplied while outside. The Critter Room is clean one day, messy the next, though the cages are fairly clean right now. My cricket farm thing is kind of working, but not as easily as I hoped. I need to find some way to heat all of them, so their lifespan doesn't take quite so long. The snakes have been enjoying their periodic strolls across my lap during computer time.

Veggies

I will admit I'm not a well organized gardener. This year I got better at actually getting stuff planted, but I will never be living off the grid and surviving on my own foodstuffs. Especially since I just like growing stuff, not actually eating any of it. Last year I tried Little Finger carrots, which grew but were king of a pathetic feeling harvest. This year I diversified. "Thumbelina" and some Nantes type I'm too lazy to look up. Both performed quite well with my lazy gardening. I couldn't be bothered this year to put out the drip irrigation hose, so have been hauling water from rain buckets for weeks. Here's an example of my efforts paying off. I'm quite proud even though both are pathetically small carrots.

Happy Labor Day

Well, happy late Labor Day. I spent the day doing chunks of little jobs, mostly potting things, and buying a tree I don't quite have a spot for yet. I have ideas for a spot, but no actual spot, and have to find one this week. I was rather violent toward one of my rose bushes today. I have two miniature rose bushes. I got them as those little rose plants the supermarkets sell in early spring. I have a pink and an orange. I have one planting bed I really like, and started with shade plants, then didn't plan and this year didn't really get to see any of my favorite plants because everything in the front is now too tall. So, one of the rosebushes came out. A real advantage with miniature roses is they are on their own rootstock, not grafted on to another. I have several roses that obviously the graft died, and the rootstock took over. Does not happen with miniature roses. As I was very impatient about it there was yanking rather than digging, and I ended up with 4 plants. Now that I look, I started with 4 plants, and they were much too close together. Now each got trimmed a bit, and potted up, and hopefully will survive. Two will likely have to be trimmed more, I left too much and the tops started wilting from my less than kind care. Start of next year I have a full size rosebush I need to remove from the same planting bed, and move my clematis to it's spot. I also have the other miniature rose. I might just keep them in large pots rather than planting them back out anywhere. They attract aphids in amazing quantities each spring. The flowers are worth it.