A Night Like This .....

Last night I took a bit of a drive to a nearby town called Doodlakine which is 15km East of Kella. The town itself is a little off the Great Eastern Highway and has a nice little traffic island at the turnoff to the town, so I figured I would set my tripod and camera up and see what sorta long exposure traffic photos I could get. Everything I do is a learning experience and so, even though these photos look sorta cool, I know I could do better. Let me explain ;) One thing I have realized with these is, it's much better if there is moon light as it lights up any clouds and landscape features a lot better ;) I'll paste a few of the photos and have a bit of a blah blah about what I think. Hopefully if you are thinking of trying these long exposures my experience might help you get better shots :)

Exposure time: 40 s; F-Number: f/5.6; ISO: 100; Metering Mode: Pattern

This was one of the first photos I took, looking west into the set sun. I like how the sky looks with the 40s exposure, but don't like how the lights on the truck aren't illuminating the objects it passes close too. This is where I think these shots would be suited to being taken later (well after the sunsets glow has gone) but with the light from the moon coming into play.

Exposure time: 40 s; F-Number: f/4.5; ISO: 100; Metering Mode: Pattern

This one was taken shortly after. This was of a car coming from the town and turning in front of me onto the highway. I like in this shot that the headlights of the car have lit up the tree trunks etc in the background. I think it's a better idea to have in mind a place where trees are close to the road ... or objects encroach over the road and will be lit up nice by the headlights etc. It really adds something else to the photos. Another thing I have noticed is that it is hard to get good focus because when you are framing the shot, it is pretty dark and doesn't make focusing easy. This is easier when there is a car or truck coming from behind because they illuminate the scene you are going to take and so give you a chance to focus properly.

Exposure time: 40 s; F-Number: f/3.6; ISO: 100; Metering Mode: Pattern

Okay, now it's getting a lot darker. ;) I like the feel of this one so much more than the first, because you can really start to see the lights on the truck so much better. It would have been a lot better if he had had his lights on high beam though, there isn't a lot that is exposed in the background as he got further away from me. There was a car coming from the other direction and so he dimmed his lights. The reason you can't see the car in this photo is because as soon as I started to see the headlights of the car, I placed my hand in front of the lens so that that wouldn't be exposed.


Exposure time: 60 s; F-Number: f/5; ISO: 125; Metering Mode: Pattern

Now ... with this shot I seem to be getting somewhere closer to what I would like. I changed the Exposure Time up to 60s, ISO went to 125 and F-Number to f/5 allowing for more light to be exposed in the shot. This was a shot of a car first ... that had the high beam on and has illuminated the trees really well. The truck came into shot just as the 60 seconds where up and so the shutter closed while it was in the shot like this which I actually like :) I think you would be able to get this same effect putting your hand (or a dark card) in front of the lens at that time to stop any more light from being exposed :) I also like the tiny star trail in the sky :)


Exposure time: 60 s; F-Number: f/13; ISO: 125; Metering Mode: Pattern

And finally as I was coming home and driving into Kella I pulled over out the road a little and set up a shot looking into town down the main street. Usually with a 60s exposure in town like this the street lights get really bright, but I think because I was actually out the road a little, it helped heaps to keep them from over exposing. I also LOVE how the colours from the lights in the Gull Service Station have a different effect on the feel of the photo (that tree looks yum LOL). But the thing that amazes me most is the stars!! I can't believe how well the stars have shown up in this.

Ta Daaaaaaaa :) :)

VBS :) Well .... it has been quite a while since I posted an update; mainly because I wanted to give Jordy a chance to heal so the new photos wouldn't be more of the same. His healing is coming along really well :) :) His fur still hasn't grown all the way back, but already it is covering the scar really well :)

And Jordy seems to be doing much better than he was before the operation ... he's much more smoochie (is that possible) and is eating more and is now staying much closer to the house during the day. He even now has a routine where he sleeps with me every night :) :)

We would both like to thank you all so much for following his progress and also for taking the time to look, comment and donate you time, love and money :) :) Remember that I will be donating ALL the profits from the sales of my work at Red Bubble towards the cost of the operation until that is paid in full ... and will continue to put the works sold and total made in the Jordy Fund :) :)

My Alien is Home :) :)

Well ... he is finally home :) My little baby man!! It was the biggest day yesterday and I will never forget when the Nurse and Dr walked me into the consultation room and I saw him in his little cage. So raw ... so stitched ... but he saw me with his single eye ... and meowed!! I nearly cried!! Jordy I have been so worried about you. God I missed you matie!!! Straight away I let my fingers weave between the mesh at the front of the cage ... and straight away he rubbed my fingers .... like only he knows how to do. :) :)

The Dr started to explain to me exactly what they had done ... and how I should now care for him. Thankfully they had a written sheet made up for me, because his words seemed garbled and no matter how much I tried to listen and look at the Dr ... my eyes kept being drawn back to Jordy in his tiny cage, wanting out so he could give Dad a damn good cuddle.




So we both looked at each other while the Dr said his stuff ... I thanked him and the Nurse and made my way back to the car with him. For the last 4 days Jordy has been spoiled rotten by being in a much larger cage ... with his collar on and being so confined now in his smaller pet cage he was very anxious to just be out. I reached over again and put my fingers thru the mesh and started tickling his neck ... he started weeing .... *Good boy Jordy ... I don't care matie, let it all out. The towel will soak it up and we'll be home in 2 hrs anyway.*


He and I slept together alone last night. Fudge was not happy. Needless to say, apart from the wounds from surgery and the cumbersome collar ... Jordy was being his usual self (which meant waking Dad every hour for rubs). I didn't get a lot of sleep ... but I was so happy :)



Okay ... so for the next 2 weeks Jordy has to be kept confined in a room by himself. It was going to be my bedroom, but after last night, I think the spare room would be a better option. ;) The stitches will be taken out after two weeks and then we can remove his collar. :) I bet he can't wait for that. :) I fed him last night ... to do so I needed to remove his collar which was fine while he was eating, but boy do I need to keep an eye on him. Without warning he will start scratching at his stitches, so I needed to find an easier way for him to eat and drink (and so he can have food and water while I am at work) without taking his collar off. Thanks to Jen (TBO) we figured out a way :) Two One Litre Milk Cartons cut down the middle so he can get his face in there without the collar getting in the way.

So now it's just a matter of letting the tissue heal and waiting for the two weeks to have the stitches taken out. We aren't out of the woods yet. There are still a few things that could go wrong (like the flap of skin not getting enough blood supply and dying etc) but as far as things look right now he is 100% :)

Thank you so much to everyone for your well wishes and you donations towards the Jordy Fund. :) Until these bills have been paid fully ... I will be donating 100% of all the profits I make in Red Bubble towards that Jordy fund. So if you buy something of mine ... I will be putting your purchase and Profit on the Jordy Fund Page.

His ears were removed 10 years ago from skin cancer ... this time he had his right eye removed. His lip and nose look pulled in the photos (they are from stretching the skin to cover his eye socket) but over time that will relax and will cover with fur and will hardly be noticeable :) He doesn't look the best ... but I am just happy that he has had the cancer removed ... and to be honest with you ... I think he is going to look just as handsome ... if not MORE so with only one eye and no ears :) :)

The Jordy Fund at Red Bubble

Well most of you would know I received some bad news about Jordy last week. If you haven’t read about it, you can here

My Vet also suggested she could give me a referral the the Murdoch University Cancer Care unit for Animals in Perth, if I wanted to see what sort or treatment etc was available for Jordy if I wanted to go down that road as well. I couldn’t not use the referral and have Jordy get worse and put to sleep soon … and always wonder if maybe I could have done more to help. I am sooooooo glad I took him to Perth today!!! I left him there for an hour while the surgeons looked over him and they gave me three options.

1. Leave him be to let the cancer spread to his lungs shortly and just give him a good quality of life until such time that the pain was too much and have him put to sleep (this option was the only hope the Vet had given me!!!)
2. Scrape his tumor and do a course of Chemo to shrink and slow the growth and spread … and monitor him with subsequent checkups and then give him a few extra months before having to make the decision.
3. Remove his eye and the surrounding tissue, check the nasal cavity and use skin from his head to patch the eye and he would almost certainly be free of the cancer (if it hasn’t spread yet) and could live another 2 years or more until he died of old age.

So I am opting for number three of the above … but this is where I want to ask you all a big favour.

The operation is going to cost me $3000, money I don’t have right now. The operation also needs to be done as soon as possible!!! The longer it is left, the more likely the cancer has spread and the chances of this operation working become less.

What I want to ask you all (beg even) is that you support me in giving Jordy the chance to live and die in a few years of natural causes, rather than in about three months if I do nothing … buy buying my work here at Red Bubble. For every cent of Profit I make from today I will be putting in a Fund especially for Jordy’s Operation and I will start a new Journal Entry at Red Bubble called The Jordy Fund where on request, I will paste the product bought, who bought it and how much profit (with a running total) has gone towards Jordy’s Operation. Normally I would save and plan when I needed money for something, but this is very important for me to do ASAP and so your help would be greatly appreciated. And it doesn’t matter if you just buy a card … or a Full sized Framed Print. It ALL means something to me. I appreciate your help so much and so does Jordy.

If Only Tonight We Could Sleep ....... forever.

(Click the lyrics to listen to the song)

if only tonight we could sleep
in a bed made of flowers
if only tonight we could fall
in a deathless spell
if only tonight we could slide
into deep black water
and breathe
and breathe...

then an angel would come
with burning eyes like stars
and bury us deep
in his velvet arms

and the rain would cry
as our faces slipped away
and the rain would cry

don't let it end...

Today I received some sad news. My little Jordy man has Cancer again. :( I am at a point right now where I am very lost. Anyone that knows me well enough, will understand the bond I have with my Three Boys ... but especially so with Jordy ... my little Alien.

When Jordy was about 4 years old, he got skin cancer in his ears. Something a lot of animals with white fur get. Luckily Kim and I got him to the Vet before it had a chance to spread and they cut it out. Since then, Jordy has been my no ears little Alien. The Ironic thing is that when Kim brought him home as a Present ... I said he was the ugliest cat I had ever seen .... he is now the most beautiful thing I have had in my life.

The vet has told me without Chemo, he probably has about 3 months to live ... but that is with pain. :( I can't afford the Chemo for him sadly. :( And even with the Chemo, the cancer is too far spread ... it won't cure him this time ... just prolong his life.

With a heavy heart I now need to make a decision on timing :( At some time soon I need to figure out that Jordy is suffering and allow him to be free of that, so he can forever watch over me. This will be one of the hardest things I will have done. I am going to share the next few months here .... some of this may not be nice, but it will help me too. I am going to miss .... this gorgeous Monkey on My Back so much!!!

Getting Ready

View looking over the top of the Dump Pocket to the control Panel for the Rock Breaker. The Dump Trucks dump to the right of this photo.


So the very first thing that we had to do was to clear all the rubble out of the bottom of the Dump Pocket and get ready to lift the Spider and Mantle free of the Crusher. Usually (in the photo above) the Pocket would be full of Earth and rocks from the Dump Trucks and that Rock Breaker is used to break up the larger boulders. Just out of shot at the bottom is where the crusher sits level with the bottom of the Pocket. The controls for the Rock Breaker are where the right most guy is standing. Not a great job to have, with all the dust and noise!!!


The Photo above shows the hole that goes down inside the crusher (in the middle of the Dump Pocket). Usually the barriers and yellow safety cages wouldn't be there and there would be a Spider sitting on top of the huge lifting lug at the top of the Mantle. This photo was taken looking from the Rock Breaker Controls. The spider (see below) has already been removed and we are now in the process of hooking up the Gantry Crane to lift the 80 or so Tonne of Mantle out. The Crusher extends down into the next level underground and will need to be core drilled around it's base to be removed. It's in three parts and has concave wear plates covering the inside of it. The whole lot needs to come out.

This is the Spider which sits on top of the Mantle to protect the lifting lug and help disperse the Earth and boulders evenly into the crusher.

My Time at Tom Price

Map showing location of Tom Price in WA.

During August of 2006, I spent 35 days in the Iron Ore Mine at Tom Price in the North of WA. I worked as a Trade Assistant up the top of the Mine in the Pit. What our job entailed, was changing out the old rock crusher for a reconditioned one from Japan. The original Primary Crusher had been in place since 1967 or so and it took the full 35 days to remove the old one and replace it with the new one. The Crusher is a mechanism which has a rotating Mantle within a shell, when the Dump Trucks dump their rock into the pit, it falls through the crusher, thus getting crushed. The heaviest part of the Crusher was 80 tonne from memory, that was the Mantle.

This is a rough diagram of the different levels and what things are called so as I post photos it can be used as reference :) :) The rock was dumped in the Dump pocket, crushed thru the crusher and then the conveyors at the bottom took it out for further processing.

The Dump Pocket. This is the very top of the Crusher where the Dump Trucks back into and dump the raw rocks.