Category Archives: Pets

New Adventures on the Horizon

The Almosta Blog Posted on by

Time flies so darn FAST!!! I’ve been so busy, I completely forgot our blog . Well, let’s see if I can remedy that in 2019! No, it’s not a resolution for the new year, we all know what happens to those, right?

Well, I unfortunately start this post with sad news. This past September we lost our beloved Ranger, a husky we rescued. He was found hurt (he had been shot in the rear left leg, probably got mistaken for a coyote by someone) in November of 2010. We took him to the veterinarian and had his leg fixed. He had no collar and no microchip. We posted ads all around as well as kept an eye out for people looking for their lost dog. We didn’t see anything and no one called to claim him. So he became a member of our family. I’m a cat person, but Ranger stole my heart. He was such a sweetheart, so intelligent, and a very quick learner, eager to please. I miss him so much… 

On to happier things. After staying at the helm of the shooting club’s websites for another 4 years, I’m finally hanging up the webmaster title and moving on to other adventures. I’ll be meeting with the new webmaster in a couple of weeks to transfer the accounts’ information. This will definitely help me spend more time working on my business.

And speaking of business, products are going to stock up the shelves in 2019! Woohoo! Well, that’s the goal anyway. Hopefully, things won’t keep going south like they’ve been in the previous years. I’m tired of not getting anywhere

Which brings me to a little stressful event I just went through. In order to up my game in the photography/video domain, I’m purchasing a handheld gimbal for my camera. So I’m selling my bigger gimbal, a Ronin-M. Well, before putting it up for sale, I put it together to make sure everything is still working properly. That’s when the fun began.

I check the battery level and three of the four lights come on, meaning there’s about 75% of charge left. Wow! I charged those batteries about a year ago and haven’t used them since because of various life circumstances (nothing severe, don’t worry, just got too busy). So I set up the gimbal, balance the camera, and turn the gimbal’s power on. The power light comes on steady on the battery, but the gimbal’s motors don’t start up. Nothing, not even a slight humming. What the …? I spent hours online trying to fix it and that’s when things became a bit more stressful. There are so many stories of people having the same problem and of not being able to find a solution. Also found stories of people contacting DJI for support and not getting an answer for weeks, if any. Things really didn’t look good.

Last Saturday, I sent a message to DJI, not really expecting a reply, but it couldn’t hurt, right? The following day went by, we spent some time with close friends and I forgot about the whole thing. Then on Monday, I remembered I have a third battery I never used (the gimbal comes with two batteries and I had bought a third one as an extra). I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try it, right? So I opened the box and what do I find, a small manual giving information about the battery, information not found in the Ronin-M’s manual. The gimbal does come with a battery manual as well, but given the battery “showed” it still had a charge, I never thought of looking at that manual. Well, I discovered that when the Ronin-M’s intelligent batteries are not used for a long period of time, they go into hibernation mode. The manual explains how to make the batteries come out of hibernation. So I set out to test this with my original batteries and low and behold, when I plugged the first battery in the charger, the battery level indicator now showed one white light instead of three. What? So in short, the batteries went in hibernation, but for some reason were showing me that they still had a charge and were ready to go to work. So I left the battery to fully charge and then connected it to the gimbal. Pressed the power button and … *drum roll* … the gimbal came to life! Woohoo!

I tried the same procedure with the other battery and I got the same result. Both batteries work and the gimbal works. I still have to apply the same procedure to the extra battery, but I’m not concerned about it now.

That being said, I mentioned earlier that I wrote to DJI’s support without really expecting a response from them. I sent my message on Saturday and got a response from them the following Monday, in the evening. That was quick! I don’t know if they used to be slow and picked up speed after customer complaints or if the people complaining about not getting replies just simply couldn’t send their request properly, but my experience is way different from theirs and I’m happy about that. The only thing I would recommend is that DJI make the battery hibernation thing more prominent. It should probably be included in the main manual where they talk about how to charge the batteries. I mean, if I hadn’t bought that extra battery, I wouldn’t have thought of checking the battery manual and I wouldn’t have found out about the hibernation state. DJI does need to make things a bit easier to find. That’s another thing I read a lot of complaints about online, having trouble finding the appropriate information.

So in conclusion, I’m not making any promises, but I’ll do my very best to update the blog more often, starting this month. Happy New Year everyone!

Where have we been?

The Almosta Blog Posted on by

Actually, we’ve been here all the time. We’ve just been too busy! A house and 12 acres sure keep us occupied!

Sometime in July, Gary took Sparky for a long walk. After well behaving for a long while, Sparky smelled something interesting and decided to run after it. Gary didn’t see what it was. But sure enough, Sparky ran in the ditch and crossed in the culvert under the road before responding to Gary’s calls. Well, no need to say that the poor dog was pretty smelly after his escapade (I’ll spare you the details ). However, a bath was in order!

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The wildlife around us never ceases to amaze. On the morning of August 1, around 7 a.m., I walked in our living room and was graced by the sight of a buck right in our front yard. Here’s a little bit of information: Contrary to popular belief that a deer’s age can be guessed by the size of its antlers, the only way to tell for sure is by looking at its teeth. The growth rate of the antlers is influenced by genetics and diet and thus is not a sure way of telling.

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Remember the swallows I mentioned last month? Their second attempt at building a nest was successful and they now have a little family to feed. There are four chicks in the nest. Can you spot all of them?

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The parents are very protective of their young and every time we go by, they start chirping and flying in circles, away from the nest, trying to get our attention. I tried catching a picture of them faking a broken wing in flight, a common practice to attract predators away from their young. I was unsuccessful (geez, they really make sharp turns!) but got a beautiful in-flight shot.

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And speaking of couples, it’s mating season for the dragonflies and damselflies. Caught these two in the act, right on our living room window frame.

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Spring Creek

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Went outside early to take some pictures of our creek. There used to be a creek running through the pasture but it ran dry many years ago. However, with the spring thaw and the huge amounts of snow we received, the creek has come back to life.

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I also got lucky and took this picture of the horses in the fog.

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Home vet work

The Almosta Blog Posted on by

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Rascal cut his foot just below the coronary band the other day. With the wet conditions we’re having, his wound wasn’t staying dry enough. So, Myriam and I got our med kit out and proceeded to treat his wound. Some cleaning, antibiotics, vet wrap and water proof duct tape.

I think she did a pretty good job. Better than I did the first time. Her’s stayed on all day where mine came loose within a couple of hours.

When the wind calls…

The Almosta Blog Posted on by

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Yesterday morning was full of activity. The day before, Gary discovered that the horse water fountain wasn’t working anymore. So yesterday morning, we take Sparky, our dog, out for his morning business and go to investigate the fountain. Turns out the tape heater stopped working and the water froze in the pipe. Ok, we’ll find a fix and water the horses by hand in the meantime.

So we set out to go back to the house and… where’s Sparky? We call and we call but still no dog. It was a little windy that morning and we guess he found some smell interesting in the wind and decided to investigate it while we were busy working and not paying attention to him. Ok, so we have to get in the truck and drive around to find him, probably at one of our neighbors.

But wait, the wind has been blowing for two days straight and there are two huge snow drifts in the driveway, about four feet deep each :P So we get the shovels and start digging.

After over an hour of shoveling, Gary decides to give it a try and drive over what snow is left by the gate. Well, that didn’t go too well, he high-centered the truck. More shoveling, try again. Still stuck. More shoveling, try again, no luck. More shoveling, try again, it worked! The truck is unstuck but not out the driveway.

In the meantime, one of our neighbors called to tell us that Sparky is at their place and that he’s ok. Good, at least we know where he is now. Gary calls our closest neighbor and asks if he could come and dig out the rest of the snow with his loader. There’s just too much for us to finish shoveling. After two hours of work, we’re both drained.

About an hour later we’re able to drive and pick up Sparky. Darn little turkey went about a mile and a half from our place. It’s the third time he’s done that. Guess we’ll have to tie him with a leash each time we’ll be busy working on something!