October 2, 2005

• I received my new camera I bought online through Wal-Mart on Friday. The local store didn’t carry this particular model, the Canon PowerShot Pro 1. It’s along the same style as the other PowerShot models, like my G-3, which my son took with him to college (grrrrr!). He took over my G-3 when his JVC DV video camera messed up, since the PowerShot models also take video clips (though not as good quality). The PSP1 is 8 megapixel, whereas the G-3 is only 4 megapixel, so the new camera should give me even better photos.

  
  

  I like the position of the selector buttons on the Pro 1 better. Interestingly enough, the telezoom function is manual, not motorized like the other PowerShot models. One thing it makes me think is that the battery life will be longer. I haven’t noticed if it has digital zoom at all, but I don’t think it does, which means I can’t zoom as close as I did with the G-3. I think it can take a doubler though.

  
  

  I used the new camera when I went to the Hilo Orchid Show on Saturday. Unfortunately, I hadn’t yet gotten another memory card, so I was limited to ‘fine’ rather than ‘super fine’ image quality so that I could get more shots on the 64 meg compact flash card that came with the camera. After the show, I went to Wal-Mart & bought a 1 gig card..

  
  

  Once I get the software installed & download the pictures onto my computer, I’ll upload them into a new blog.

  
  

  They had some wonderful & unusual orchids on display this year. This is the first time I’ve made it to the show. I really expected to see more venders & selections than they had there. There’s one particular very unusual one that I searched for to be able to buy, but none were available. The species is called catasetum, with the variety called “Green Apple.”

  
  

  I just had to go outside & find out which of my cats fell out of a tree, landed on my roof, then slid off the drizzle coated roof onto the ground. I’m typing this just after midnight, so it’s dark out. Stupid cat! It was a young tom I named “Midget” (sometimes I call him “Menehune”). He started out undersized, but is now larger than most of my cats. He banged his upper left lip. Dumb, dumb, dumb! Hopefully, he’ll stay out of that tree from here on. At least at night, when it’s wet.

  
  

  Back to the Orchid Show…

  
  

  I bought several cattleya varieties in what they call “comp pots” (community pots). These are very young orchids in their first planting out of the flasks, so there are probably 10 to 15 young plants in one pot, for $10. They’re ready to be transplanted into individual 2″ pots.

  
  

  I bought them primarily to send to my sister in Texas. We have a mutual friend there who has a nursery & wants to get more orchid varieties. Those he has now have been improperly taken care of, so my sister is going through what they have, one-by-one, dividing them, trimming off rotted roots & repotting them in proper planting medium. She’s also been advising them of the proper care & having them move the orchids into a better environment. They had them at first in direct sunlight, then moved them, but watered them too much. Orchids need air to their roots & mostly get their moisture as humidity from the air. Eventually, they’ll have a better greenhouse setup for the orchids.

  
  

  There even was an orchid grower from Florida there, selling the more unusual varieties. I go for the more unusual, cattleyas & fragrant orchids. I like the ones that are more rare & untampered with, meaning that they’re just like they were found in the jungles, not crossed with anything or hybridized.

  
  

  More on the orchid show later, with pics!

  • 7:15 am
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