Nice treatment of the fowl. (Foul is something that smells bad, like sulfur pools at hot spring spas.)

I really like your treatment (and the subject.)

Gorgeous shots. I really do like the last one where you were spotted. A perfect end to a remarkable series of shots.

That's amazing! I wouldn't mind having something like that in our side yard. They don't look like satellite dishes. (And I like the outdoor patio building you built - can't wait to see the gingerbread trim when you get it up.)

Thanks for the welcome, guys. I don't know that I'll be on very much and most of the time it will be lurking. I've had my Nikon D3100 for several years and I'm still not in Manual mode all that much - but I'm trying to learn it. And I do like to look at the pictures others post.

The name is Francine (not Fran, please.) Most of the time my on-line name is DragonsLady.

strikerazde, Thank you for your explanation. It made much more sense to me. I'll still probably stay with Adobe Cloud for my Adobe products; I like the continual upgrades for the price. I may try to figure out how to get BackBlaze to include one of my external harddrives as a secondary back-up (maybe it's my third level, I'm not sure now.) I know it will take a while but I'll be able to buy from them an EHD with all my files then if I experience catastrophic failure. Again, thanks for the explanation in terms I could understand.

Thanks. BTW - it's DragonsLady (a name that reflects the heroine of an unpublished book I wrote of a witch who was wrongly accused of trapping dragons but turned out to prove herself to the four major clans (air, water, earth, fire) and become the dragons' champion.) Maybe some day I'll revise the book and actually get it published.

How is that different? It's still an electronic/electrical storage arrangement, isn't it? Would it be vulnerable to an EMP? If not, why not? I'd truly like to understand. (I've lived/worked around physicists, chemists, and engineers for a good part of my life so I should be able to understand your explanation.) I think of an EMP somewhat like a sudden air pressurization/depressurization but in the electrical/electronic realms. How far off am I?

BTW - I did sign up for the Adobe Cloud - but only because I've now got four Adobe programs and the continual updates for the cost of only one each year is worth it. I'm just not putting my photos or creative projects in the cloud.

Yes, I do realize that. It's stored on a computer network somewhere which still makes it vulnerable to EMP activity, i.e. sunspot triggered solar events.

I've never had my question about any Cloud storage answered to my satisfaction. Bear with me a moment - We have recently moved into the more active sunspot period of the 13 year cycle. What bothers me about any cloud storage is how will it be affected by a large solar storm event that sends a huge event our way. Back in the 1800's after telegraphy was spreading across the country, there was a large solar event that hit the earth with the result that no external electric connection was needed to send a telegram for about 7 days. With that in mind and knowing how planes can have problems if they're in the air when such an event happens, what do you think will happen to anything in some cloud storage somewhere? Unless the storage units are heavily protected by some kind of shielding (and perhaps in an underground facility covered by granite) I'm pretty sure my data would be toast. Still trying to figure out how to protect my EXHDs, too. (Bank Vault?) Anyway, just a thought. I'll go back to lurking now.

Hi. I'm a 60-something married woman using a Nikon D3100 or a Fuji XP camera to take not-so awesome pictures. I also use Photoshop CS6, Lightroom4, have Adobe Illustrator (but don't use much) and Premier Pro (I really WILL get those movies processed, honest!) My main passion is digital scrapbooking but I want to improve my photography as well. I live in North Central New Mexico with my husband, two cats and two dogs. Children are grown, grandchildren almost so.