Category Archives: Pets

Temps to Break 40C in Burnaby

The plan today:

Up at 5:00am and get some stuff done.

Crank all the windows open until 7:00. Then batten down the hatches and hunker down while the temperature steadily climbs to ~42C (107F) here in Burnaby, BC, peaking between 2:00 – 4:00pm.

Thank you tall trees of Byrne Creek Ravine Park that keep us shaded until noonish.

Supposedly it will be back down to 30C by 10:00pm, and a bearable 23-25 overnight.

Check in on vulnerable family, friends, and neighbours.

Stay safe, all. . .

UPDATE: And watch out for pets, too. Sora the Cat quickly figured out that an ice-water filled bed warmer is a great place to hang out :-).

sora ice water bottle

UPDATE 2: As of mid-afternoon it now looks like we’ll top out around 36C instead of over 40. Whew!

Reviving Nikon D300

After some 40 years of shooting with film cameras, my first DSLR was a Nikon D300. I still have it but hadn’t used it in years.

Today I ran across its battery charger as I was cleaning out some desk drawers, so I charged up the battery, put a Sigma 10-20mm wide angle zoom on it (15-30mm equivalent on this sensor), and tested it out on Sora the Cat.

Pretty good. . .

I see on my old blog that I got the D300 on April 16, 2008. 🙂

D300s are built like tanks, and though just 12MP, that’s plenty for web and online work and prints of moderate size.

sora the cat nikon D300

Acclimatizing Sora the Cat to Harness, Leash

Working on acclimatizing Sora the Cat to a harness and leash. Baby steps, but she’s coming along.

We hope to get her to the point where the late Choco the Cat was. Choco would ask to be harnessed and taken out.

Too dangerous for cats to be out on their own around here, steps from a ravine forest, and of course, even fed domestic house cats have a huge impact on birds and other wee critters. . .

sora cat harness leash
I’m scared, Daddy!


Oh, that’s a bit better, cuddling in the sunshine : – )