Create and Sell Your Own Calendar Online

Like I did!

It’s no secret that I have a serious photography addiction.  With sunrises and sunsets as beautiful as they are around here it’s hard to resist.  The perils of living in a target rich environment I suppose.  As a result I have all these pictures.  What to do?

Over the last couple of years I have been playing around with Zazzle.com.  I have a little store there with some of my pictures on coffee mugs and mouse pads.  I’ve sold a few and it’s pretty neat to see some of the great scenes I capture around here on a mug.  My favorite is the “God Is Amazing” mug with a great shot of Pusch Peak after a storm.  The other is a mug that screams Valentine’s Day gift.  The, “Life is Better Shared” mug features two hummingbirds enjoying a sunrise lit breakfast together.  Aw.

I’ve had a couple of friends asking when I was going to have a calendar for sale.  Well today I finally went through my pictures and have published two calendars you can buy at my Zazzle store.  The Oro Valley 2012 Calendar and the HummingbirdFeederCam.com 2012 Calendar.  The cost is kinda high though.  Almost $21! and I only make $2 of that.  Calendars are half price today at Zazzle, so you might could grab one for $10.50 plus shipping.  I’ve sold a couple so far today!

Still, $21 is kinda high for a calendar.  I don’t care how much you like me :-)  So, I was looking around for a better solution and I found it.  A quick web search landed me at Lulu.com.  I remember my Mom telling me about it.  A site mainly dedicated to self publishing authors, but they also have a slick tool for creating calendars.  Here’s what I came up with.  My self published TonightsSunset.com 2012 Calendar:

Best part is I can offer it to you for $15.99 and I make almost $3. I call that a win win.  Order up a couple today and tell your friends.  2012 is only a week away!

Here is the HummingbirdFeederCam.com 2012 Calendar:

November 18, 2011 Linda Vista Loop Trail Sunset Time Lapse

Nice Sunset tonight.  Here’s a time lapse taken with my FlipUltra HD.

Sunset Time Lapse

I saw the high clouds late yesterday afternoon and knew it was going to be another one of those amazing Tucson Sunsets (patent pending) that we Tucsonans love so much.  So I grabbed my tripod, camera and FlipUltra HD and headed for Pima Canyon.  I hiked about a half mile up the trail, ducked behind some cacti and ocotillo, set up my tripod and started rolling.  Meanwhile, I hiked around with my “regular” camera and got a few dozen shots.  The best ones are here.

I sat on a rock drinking in God’s handiwork while the Flip did all the work. I love watching Him paint and repaint and repaint the sky.  As it got darker and darker the Moon seemed to get brighter behind me.  I followed my Moon shadow back to my car and coasted (almost) down the hill to edit the video.

Here it is.  45 minutes of sunset condensed into 3 minutes-ish with Selah’s, “Oh Draw Me Lord.”

Sun Dog

I snapped this Sun Dog late this afternoon.  Unfortunately it was even brighter a few minutes before but I didn’t have my camera with me.

Sun Dog’s are formed by the refraction of the Sun’s rays by ice crystals in cirrus clouds.  Usually 22 degrees (or more) from the Sun, Sun Dogs are usually seen when the Sun is low in the sky.  Conditions were just right this afternoon with clouds (including cirrus) were streaming toward the eminent sunset.  With the naked eye, it just looked like a small part of a rainbow.  Sun Dogs are more rare for Tucson than colder spots, but obviously we have them!

North Coast San Diego

I’ve always loved the North Coast of San Diego.  As a teenager my brother Chris and I would visit Mom in Mira Mesa.  She would work near the coast and we would hit the beach!  I remember swimming all day body surfing.  The workout was incredible and it was just so fun!

My favorite places were Torrey Pines and Cardiff by the Sea, although Cardiff had some seaweed.  That’ll freak you out a little bit when you are swimming along and some seaweed brushes your leg.

I went to visit my brother this past weekend.  He is living in Oceanside which is even north of San Diego’s north coast.  I got there early enough to make a bee-line to Torrey Pines to watch the sunset and roll some video.  There is nothing like the smell of that salty air, especially when you haven’t been near the ocean in a few years.   Here’s a picture, although it doesn’t quite do the sunset justice:

Chris and I had a great visit!  The highlight was Sunday when he cooked bar-b-que and some of his friends came over.  Quality people and great food.  The Chargers even beat the Eagles.

On Monday morning when I left to come home to Tucson, I had to take the scenic route to the freeway.  I paused at the Pier in Oceanside and again in Carlsbad for these pics.  I can’t wait to visit again.  Just need the money and the time all at the same time.

Oro Valley Sunset – May 28, 2009

It tried to rain this evening, but not quite.  The winds did kick up a little bit as a result of the evaporating rain that didn’t quite reach the ground.  The resulting sunset was nice!  This is captured video from my Flip Ultra HD and then resized to fit the page.

Sunset – August 14, 2008

Shafted Sunset

Another AWESOME Sunset Arizona style. Heavy rain shaft to the west illuminated by a setting Sun. Too cool. As always, click on a pic for a 1024×768 version

Javelina!

FINALLY!  I actually saw one.  It’s not like they are elusive or something.  Almost everyone I knows talks about seeing javelina.  In the road.  Eating the neighbors cactus.  Herding through a wash.  Whatever.  In my almost three years here, I have not seen one.  Until tonight.

There I was minding my own business taking pictures of the 1,000th awesome sunset in a row when I hear a rustle down below.  There he is.  Right below me a wild pig covered with hair sorta walking briskly.  He stopped to bite his rear (I guess he had an inch) and then he sorta walked briskly into the brush and was gone.  I took a picture, but it was too dark and a little shaky.  It didn’t turn out.  Still, pretty cool!

The only thing that could have made it better would have been a mountain lion chasing him looking for pork for dinner :-)

Since I’ve moved to Arizona, I’ve seen the following wildlife.  Most of it close up.  A diamondback rattlesnake.  Lot’s of cottontails and quail.  A red-tailed hawk.  Constant year round hummingbird traffic at the feeder.  Coyotes, including two with fresh kill in the empty lot behind the apartment.  Roadrunners.  Lots of lizards of many kinds.  A centipede, bright yellow.  Toads.  A king snake in the road (still alive).  Catus Wrens everywhere.  Woodpeckers at the hummingbird feeder of all places.  Bobcat, not full grown.  Probably an adolescent.  Bats.  and maybe a few things I’e forgotten.

I’d still really like to see a Gila Monster!  I used to say I’d like to see a Mountain Lion, but I’ve changed my mind.  I hear that usually when you see ‘em it’s because they are hungry.  I wouldn’t mind seeing one as long as it didn’t attack, like if it was on its way somewhere else!

Yet Again!

Tedious.  Another evening ANOTHER AWESOME SUNSET!!!  Arizona has every place I’ve been to beat by quite a long ways when it comes to sunset awesomeness!  Better than Roswell.  Better than Lubbock.  Better than Odessa.  Better than Oregon.  (although Oregon has best lots of other stuff!)  Even better than San Diego at the beach!  It really boggles the mind.

Two things.  First, I noticed that my camera adds some color to the sunsets.  Usually it’s a nice effect, but I would rather capture the actual real colors.  Maybe that’s the difference between a $199 camera and a $1,199 camera :-)  I suppose even a $500 camera might do the trick.  Great.  Something else I need!

Next was catching the hummingbird in flight.  They are sooooo cute!  I stood just a few feet away and waited with my camera.  A couple of times I didn’t have it raised to eye level.  Even when I moved to raise the camera (s)he didn’t fly away every time.  A couple of times, but not every time.  After  I got a few pictures and knew I had what I wanted the next time (s)he came around, I just watched.  Standing three feet away looking at this tiny wonder while (s)he sipped away on some sugar water.  Pretty remarkable.  Did I mention the sunset going on the whole time wasn’t too shabby?!

There really is a God and He really is good!

Humming Right Along

From Matthew 6:

²⁵ For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

²⁶ Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

²⁷ And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?

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