One part of my life that I’d say I’m fairly consistently concerned with is how I spend my free time. I’ve written posts that describe some of the world’s most popular hobbies as well as posts that describe which hobbies are most popular for men in particular. Have these posts done anything for me specifically? Have I gotten any ideas? Have I gotten very far with my attempt to settle on a hobby that’ll bring me through to the end? Not really. I do keep coming back to blogging though so I may as well consider this the one. I thoroughly enjoy sitting at my desk writing. Even if I write things that wouldn’t be considered as interesting to most people as much of what’s currently available is. I have a small following though and for that, I’m appreciative.
I don’t think Laura struggles as much as I do in this regard. There’s a peace about her. She rarely seems bored and she almost always appears to have something to do. She’s just about as introverted as I am, so she also enjoys toiling away at never-ending projects that keep her mind busy through the days. It’s fun to watch and at times, I secretly take notes on how she does it all. Don’t tell her that though. I oftentimes position myself discreetly on the sidelines.
One of Laura’s hobbies has to do with the photographic capture of the goings-on of the creatures in the forest. I can’t be certain of the reasoning behind the attraction to this activity, but I can tell you that her commitment is steadfast and unwavering. A few years back, Laura purchased two trail cams that she inconspicuously mounted to appropriate trees in the wild – and since that very first moment of recording, she’s been unyielding with her maintenance (battery changing and SD-card swapping). Basically, one of her primary daily routines is to walk back into the woods to do what she does with those cameras. And then she comes back into the house to check the data cards on her computer for footage. If it’s a good day, she’ll have found some action. If it’s a bad day, she’ll have captured just the two of us wandering around out there, unknowingly caught on videotape.
I think it’s a fun hobby. I regularly get called over to watch the recordings of any number of animals. By far, the most recorded is the squirrel. Then comes the rabbit, house cat, random neighborhood dog, deer, turkey, bear, escaped pig, racoon, moose, bobcat, fisher, fox, bird, beaver, coyote, owl, porcupine, or goose. You name it, we’ve seen it, so you can understand why this type of footage is fun and, dare I say, addicting. Even I sometimes look forward to discovering what type of antics were occurring outside the night before. So much so, I purchased Laura a new Vikeri trail cam last year for Christmas. Vikeri is just another knockoff brand from Amazon, but the camera has so far served us well. It produces high-resolution imagery that’s far better in quality than the other two cameras. It hasn’t been without its hiccups, but since I contacted the company to learn its ideal settings, it’s been operating very well.
Take a look at these two photos. The first one is of a few deer passing through one of my freshly cut trails and the second is of our very own moose. We don’t see moose too often around here, so this sighting was especially exciting.
We’ve got about a zillion other photos, but I thought these were a pretty good example of what we find on the daily. The videos we capture are especially entertaining, but you’ll need to wait until we put together the giant montage we’ve been threatening to make for at least a few years now. We’ll get to it and when we do, I’ll post it here. I’ll also post any standout shots we capture – ones that folks generally don’t see too often. Okay, see ya!
