Guardian Of The Forgotten Trolls

Does anyone remember the little teaser 3d shot from 2 posts ago? And I told you not to worry cus it's gonna be good?

Well, it is good.





And if you can't see the whole thing, just click on the pic below!

Monarchs!

Yes, we have them down here in Oz. Why look, here's one now!





I wonder what the cat is dreaming of eating...





Pictures by Yours Truly (don't swoon ladies, I'm human) and feel free to use them in whatever manner suits you --just gimme a credit, eh?

Sorry for the brief (as opposed to boxer shorts) but I'm working on something so very cool...

You know that odd sound in your ear?

Oh c'mon, you know what I'm talking about. That ringing when you've had too much codeine! Or perhaps that low level hum that sounds just like your fridge running but every time you look at the fridge it's only walking?

But your BP checks out fine. So does your HR. And you haven't been over-imbibing of your favourite adult beverage which contains C2H5OH.

Hmmmmmmmm, just what, I say WHAT could be causing that humming or buzzing in your ear?

By chance you may have noticed your earwax running and being oh so much more tasty than it used to be...

Yes, I can be disgusting.

If you have noticed all of the above crud,

then

there

could

be

a

r
e
a
s
o
n
!

A little known, completely unscientific study down unda came up (or down) with the following conclusion. Please note this has not been peer reviewed in a journal! And since it's so much easier to show instead of tell, how's about a picture of the phenomenon.





You know that joke that goes something like, "There is no such thing as gravity, the Earth just sucks?" Yes, of course you've heard it before. Apparently, this bloke didn't get the memo...




Moving on...

Can you spot the butterfly?




Tick

tock

tock

tick

goes

the

blood-sucking

tick


It's much easier to spot in this closeup:




Good thing none of you are bug-eating birds cus otherwise you'd starve due to your lack of awesome eyesight!

Can you spot this one ten feet away?




I'm working on some 3d stuff that will be So. Bloody. Cool! Here's a peek at the work in progress...

Don't worry, it WILL be very cool lookin'!

And for those of you wondering about the size of 4 pregnant watermelons, the embedded song should just about be getting to that part... maybe...

Oh Baby, Let's DO!

This will be some random crappola (does anyone know how to spell "crapola"????) as I just want to get up some pictures and also a video. And some 3d stuff.

Hint: the 3d stuff just may have something to do with the title of this post. Maybe. Perhaps.

Saw the hugest koala I've ever seen the other day. It was a huuuuuuuuge, monster koala! A koala the size of four pregnant watermelons.

**Quick, what song was I referring to in the above paragraph and can any of you long-time readers tell me whether or not I saw the performer of the above song in concert or not Comments are open, no worries.**

This koala also had some seriously big claws. Big claws. Really big claws. Her claws were so big I'm sure she was part bunyip! Judge for yourselves...


I'm damned lucky she was 50 feet up in the tree.


Has anyone ever wondered just how fast an emu can emu if an emu had to move? Wonder no further!




Later on she came back with her boytoy in tow. He was off to the left of the frame, but she posed and strutted and preened for me. Um, I mean for my camera of course.




And finally, that which you've all been waiting for with baited breath (pee-yu!), I present for your viewing pleasure that which has been referred to in the title of this post...

*drum roll please*

*no, a LOUDER drum roll*

*thank you*




Oh Baby, Let's DO!




And for those of you with a normal sized monitor (at least that what I heard), then please feel free to click on the picture below to bring it up into it's fullsized glory!

Love Thy Neighbor

And put up with him. And let him pester you during the day to fix his computer. And help him move in three MASSIVE (bloody-well heavy, mate) rainwater tanks. And let him borrow any tools he needs. And keep an eye on his place when they are out of town.

Why?

Is it because I am a nice (don't swoon ladies, I'm human) guy?

No.

Well, actually, I AM a nice guy (ok, you can swoon now).

Why do I like my neighbor Frank?

He's one of those "salt of the earth" blokes. A country bloke. Tells it like it is. Loudly. Very loudly. But that's not why I like him.

Why do I "love my neighbor"?

Cus of where he (and his family) go during the school holidays. See, his wife --Mary, very nice lady-- is a school teacher and they are all from rural Vic just across the border.

His son, Jess --plays a damned good piano for a 13 year old, helps him out on the property over in Vic when they all head back.

What sort of property is it, you may ask?

He has vines.

As in vineyards.

Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of vines.

I do believe the grapes he grows are all contracted out to a local winery over there.

He brings The Most Awesomely Tasting Grapes back over here this time of year! And he has a permit so there's no quarantine!

Just look at the haul he dropped off yesterday:



Yes, BIL has really fuzzy arms.

These are the most succulent, firm, flavourful, tender grapes I've ever had. Heck, I even make sure I don't wash the 'stash or beard after eating Frank's grapes so that I can suck the juice outta my facial hair at 3 am! Yes, they are that good.

Doesn't that paint a pretty picture? Yes, I thought so.

And for putting up with me babblings, how's abouts some pictures?


Oi mate! Are you eating that piece of bread?



Damn I hate going to the bistro right when the kids get outta school!



Don't turn around mate! That bipedal pervert with the camera is watching us again and we don't want to encourage him.



Hey look! They actually DO move:

G'day Everyone!

G'day from Oz!

To YOU! Yes, YOU! No, not that other you, butt YOU!




And, of course, let's not forget YOU!




Did y'all notice the poll over to the left of your screen --your left, not the screen's left?

There's a poll, there's a poll. There's a poll on the sidebar!

Go ahead and start thinking about that silly song... There's a hole, there's a hole. There's a hole in the bottom of the sea!

So do any of you have that tune in your head now? Do you think it'll still be there when you try to sleep tonight? Yes, you are welcome.

Back to the poll. I now have had double-digit return visitors for over 30 days straight. And that includes the time when I don't post for a few days too. Gosh, you all must really love me *sniff*! So go have a squizz at the poll and tell me what sort of direction you'd like the blog to go.

There is, of course, no guarantee that I won't laugh at the poll results and do whatever the heck I want to anyways. Jus' sayin'. But hey, it's worth a go, eh?

Do any of you want to know just what the ole Gov of South Aus used to read? Of course you do! How would I know? Lemme tell you.

WP and I were up at the old historic Old Government House in Belair National Park the other day and sauntered through it. The restoration folks have done a great job with it, btw. This was the summer residence of the Gov of South Aus back in the late 1800's. In the main living room there was an antique bookcase with lots of very old books in/on it.

See?




I had a quick squizz at some of the titles. I did a double-take when I got to this one particular book. And then another double-take!

One thing you folks in the US need to remember is that Australia wasn't settled by prudes. And South Oz wasn't settled by convicts* either! Here is a picture of the book in question:




Something tells me that this guy knows all about that book...




Anyways, go have a looksie at the poll and if you feel the need to contribute your little bit of feedback to Yours Truly (don't swoon ladies, I'm human!) then GO FOR IT!



*When the Poms where shipping convicts to The Antipodes it was more to get rid of the poor and destitute so the prisons weren't overcrowded and neither were the slums. For example, the penalty for stealing a loaf of bread was to be shipped to Oz and when your multi-year sentence (for stealing a loaf of bread to feed your kids) was up you were then free to go. No, you didn't get a boat ride back to the heart of the Empire. Weren't the Poms nice back then?

Nesting Rainbow Lorikeets

Wifey-Poo and I were hiding in the woods yesterday. Yes, I know, I still need to explain where the saying of "gone to hide in woods" comes from regarding WP and YT. But knot today.

Did you know that rainbow lorikeets (and pretty much all other parrots down here) nest in the hollows of various gum trees? Now you know! You're welcome.

Here's what a typical lorikeet lair can look like:


You see those clawmarks around the knothole? Perhaps you are thinking those are made by the parrots... You'd be wrong! Those are, of course, the claw marks of baby bunyips from when they were raiding the nest! It's true, I swear!

And for those of you perverts who think the knothole and it's surrounds look like something you'd see on THOSE sites. I have one word for you: PERVERT! And, uh, so like, when you gonna visit?

Back to the lorikeets. Here's one of them poking it's head out. I couldn't tell whether it was a bloke or a sheila from this distance.









Sooooooo cute!

In fact, I thought it was so cute that I went looking in some other tree cracks (shut up!) to see what kind of critters were in some of the larger cracks. It was all well and good until I stuck my head in one that had a juvenile bunyip in it! It grabbed my beard and tried to pull me in!



Fortunately my good friend Tom Bombadil was nearby and rescued me from the critters vile clutches!



Really! It's true! Would I lie to you? Well, only if I was paid what some former gov of Alaska who aborted her term partway through was paid... Like $12,000,000 in 8 short months! In that case I'd be more than happy to lie to you!

It Needed a Critter

There's something rather fun about 3d artwork. Would you like to know what it is? Too bad, cus I ain't tellin'!

Well, ok, I'll squeal for you...

Lighting

Yes lighting. You can do SO MUCH with the proper lighting. And, of course, knowing how to drive the software you are using.

Shall we revisit the 3d sunset? Do you remember this?




Well, I decided that the scene needed a critter. But what type of critter, thought I? Hmmmm, dolphins jumping? Pelicans soaring? A shark devouring a person?

Decisions, decisions...

I finally decided upon something different.

In order to do what I wanted I needed to use Daz along with Terragen. I'm still learning Terragen and I've NEVER made anything in Daz (but I did beta test a tutorial) so I wasn't sure I'd have time earlier today to make what I wanted and still get a nap in. As it turned out, I didn't get my nap.

What saved me (as in this didn't take all day) is the fact that I know 3d lighting very well. I mean really, really well. And I'm also very good with surface specularosity, reflectivity, refractivity, coloring, and such like.

But I'm sure I'm boring you by now, so how's abouts I just give you the NEW sunset with "The Critter" in it. As is per usual on the large sized pics, just click on it to embiggen. It's 1280 by 960 and should resize itself nicely to use on a 4:3 screen for a wallpaper. If you have a widescreen then make sure you use a good program to resize it without the picture getting "the jaggies". I recommend Irfanview. It's free. It's very very very very very good.

Oh, would you like to see the sunset with The Critter? Of course you would. Here you are:






Last night I made stuffed squid tubes for dinner. Actually, everyone else had chicken... But I had my stuffed squid tubes!

The stuffing was brown rice, prawns, red bell pepper, seaweed, shrooms, garlic, chilli peppers and a lemony-wine sauce. I was happy.

Damned Good Just Ain't Good Enough For Yours Truly

Nope, it is not. Especially when it comes to 3d artwork. And especially if I KNOW there is a way to fix it.

Remember the previous post? Ti mentioned that I did any abso-posi-lutely great job on the sunset. And, well, yeah, it was damned good.

But I just knew I could make the reddish, fiery, cloudy cave that can sometimes appear over the ocean in warmer climates as the sun dips down into the ocean. I know cus I seen 'em.

Needless to say, I learned a lot about 3d stuff today.

May I humbly present to you a tropical sunset which was done 100% by Yours Truly --don't swoon ladies, I'm human.






Click on the pic to embiggen it to 1280 by 960 and then feel free to use it as wallpaper, no worries.

You know, the more I looked at it, the more I thought that I could get the sun just dipping down into the ocean... I then came up with this:






Again, just embiggen it and snag it for your computer wallpaper.

Even then I wasn't satisfied...

So I blew the dust off a 17 year old morphing program --that was light-years ahead of it's time-- and played God as I made the sun set.







Yeah, I'm fairly pleased with how it turned out. Oh, I had to zoom way in on the sun the get the control points placed properly. Yes, I was actually wearing my darkest sunglasses with my nose about an inch away from the monitor.

If anyone likes my 3d stuff and would like to continue to see it appear RIGHT HERE then puh-leeeeeeez let me know. Comments are always open.

*sound of grinding gears*

Switching gears now! Guess what didn't get done today as I played with pixelly pixies? The algae was not getting scrubbed off the pool walls. I admit I have been a bit lax about cleaning the pool as it gets on towards winter down here. Do I really want to go for a swim when the water is 22 C --that'd be 71.6 F for those of you calculationally-challenged folks? Would you? No, thought knot.

I even have proof:





Next topic that I have time to write about before I go made dinner... I have new mushroom spoor for this season! About 4 kilos worth!!!! In about a month I'll have fresh shrooms all winter long! Woo-Hoo! Yay me!

I guess I'll share some with Wifey-Poo.

Ai Izz Uh Phailyur

Didja eber halve one of "those" dayz?

Ok, I'll stop typing in cheezburger-speak now.

One of those days when nothing seems to go right? Or left?

I was going to dump this sunset render cus it's just WRONG! Didn't come out anything like I wanted. Blech. The undersides of the clouds aren't lit up in red tones, the sand STILL doesn't have the sandy-twilight color, and I totally f*ck*d up with the sun dipping down below the sea level horizon as astute perusers will note a SECOND horizon line halfway up the setting sun...

About the only good thing is that I finally carved some shallows properly so that their is some soft wave action on the beach in the lower right.

Otherwise... this sucks.

Don't click on this to embiggen it or you will be as disgusted as I am. The only reason I'm showing it to you (yes YOU, not that other lurker) is cus cus the d*mn*d thing took 2 hrs 28 mins and 4 bl**dy seconds to render! And I'd like to share with you the fact that I ain't always prephekt.





And I can't even take good caterpillar pics! This should be simple! They don't move quickly! They even pose! Sheesh. Bl**dy stupid cattapliers. grumble Just LOOK! One of the antennae is owt of phocus! Another photo phailyur by Yours Truly --don't swoon ladies, I'm still human.






You'd think that with me being a master chef and all, that I'd be able to make jellied ox tongue easily. Nope. My ox tongue DID NOT jelly-fy. Just look what I had to start with...





This is just won of those days when I decide to just do this for the next 16 hours...

When I Make A Pizza...

I REALLY make a PIZZA!

Oh, the song you are listened to is one of them old hippy songs. The title is --you may have guessed this-- Everybody's Making It Big But Me by Dr Hook and the Medicine Show.

If you get tired of it, just have a squizz at the left sidebar and, ummmmm, well, gee, uh, you'll figure it out.

Back to the pizza!

When I make pizza, I make PIZZA.

Deep-dish

Thick-crust

Toppings piled HIGH

I gotta tell ya, I could only eat two (count em, 2) slices and have one (count it, one) beer last night at dinner before I. Was. Stuffed!







And to my interweb bud over in Sydney... Frances; what is your screen size?

The Birds 'n The Bees & Hiding In The Woods

This'll be just a quickie on this Easter Sunday morning. Oh, did everyone in North America know that Easter is a 4 day weekend down here? Yup!

Ahhhhhhhhh

Not that it matters too much to me, ahem. *grin*

After consulting my crystal ball and deducing that the weather for the rest of this week will be utter crap (by Aussie standards, of course, folks in Los Anchorage would love it) we decided to take a day off and go hide in the woods.

So, like, we are, ummmmmm... OUTTA HERE!!!!!

Also this being a Sunday the historic Old Government House up at Belair will be open. So expect lots of cool pics and a write-up about that sometime this coming week.

To tide you over, here's some birds n bees pictures. Cus I'm nice.



Any guesses at to what kind of cockatoo the bloke in the salmon pink coat is?




And now for the bee:




And lastly, I've been trying to get some glacial ice and frozen surfaces using the free version of terragen basic. As you can see, I, quite obviously, still have some work to do:




I could have done some cleanup work to make the shoreline in the foreground look smoother, but I don't have the time right now as wifey-poo and I are OUTTA HERE!!!!

Oh, Francis over in Sydney won the contest from last post. What would you like Franics? Wallpapers? Screensaver? 3d work? Lemme know.

Alien Abduction Act X... Zombie dave Aboard The A.S.S.!

Butt before we get to that, I have some things I need to get off my chest --like this tattoo that says "I love you, man!".

Y'all 'member last post? Oh, c'mon, the one where I used lots of swear words and was all pissy.

Ah yes, you do remember. Good.

I have been hoping that someone, anyone, would comment about it. Butt no, not a single one of you did. Did any of you try to tell me to lighten up? No. Did any of you offer a shoulder to cry on? No. Did I lose/gain any readers? Nope, not a chance --well, I may have lost some.

Did anyone realize it was one big, bloody joke???????? Not just No, butt HELL NO!

Witch brings me to my next thingy-doo-dad that I was tagged with a while back (just trawl through the last 10 posts or so and you'll figure it out): Just Another Thing You Won't Learn About Me By Reading This Blog!

I'm a nice guy.

Really, I am.

No, seriously! I am!

When BIL (shall we just call him "Mike"?) got his Masters degree just who do you think had the video recorder set up on the tripod so that MIL (shall we just call her "mum"?) could see her youngest obtain serious accolades? Yup, Yours Truly (that's me, don't swoon ladies as I'm human) was not only doing the duties but he also took Mike to a celebratory lunch at a high-class pub afterwards.

Every week I do a mechanical once-over of mum's wheelchair.

Wifey-Poo gets massages whenever she needs them.

I give rides to strangers. Yes, I really do. There was one time when I was dropping off WP and mum at the doctors office when a very lost Nigerian gentlemen asked me for directions to a side street in the area. Once I made sure that WP and mum were fine I tried to direct him to the street in question. I could see that he was not going to be able to find his way so I gave him a lift to not only the street but to the house where he needed to go.

I also fetch items off of high shelves in the grocery store for little old ladies and gentlemen. In fact it has sorta become a habit that when I see someone elderly stopped in the aisle looking up that I do ask if they need anything from up high. 9 times out of 10 they do.

I took Mike grave-robbing so many times for the research of his PHD that I still respond to calls of, "Hey, Igor!"

The last time we moved house it took A LOT of trips in a rental truck. Guess who did the driving and moving without too much bitching? Yup, Yours Truly.

I've stayed up all night for a week keeping an eye on mum when she was going through a "bad patch".

I've rescued orphaned, baby mouses.

And if any of you ever decide to come down for a visit I can promise that you'll have a place to crash at, be fed gourmet meals (unless I'm cooking --I JOKE!), hang out in the pool, have loads of good home brew, and I'll even pick you up from the airport --or the beach if you came by boat.


So do ANY of you really think that I was really swearing and bitching like that in the last post?

**************************************************************************

Next topic...

Pretty birdy picture! I'm sure all my regular readers will immediately recognize this bloke...

Those are some really, seriously, cool-looking claws!




**************************************************************************

As my regulars will also know, I like playing around with 3d programs. Been doing that for almost ten years now. I am, however, still trying to get good glacial ice with, ahhhhh, inexpensive (free) programs. But I do have sunset colours down quite well as the beach faces westward here and we are about a mile from it.

What do you think of this?




Here's a contest for you:

Did dave, Yours Truly (don't swoon ladies, I'm human), make this sunset in 3d? Or did he actually take this photograph? Or did he shamelessly steal the image from an online source?

The first correct answer in the comment section wins something. Don't know what but I'm sure the winner and I will come to some sort of arrangement.

And now what you've all been waiting for...


Alien Abduction Act X My arrival onboard the A.S.S.!!!!!!!

Just a quickie recap for you, the name of the alien craft is A.S.S. which, of course, stands for Alien Space Ship. Well, what else could it mean? Perverts. And remember that the rego of the A.S.S. is C4P-PFP2012 and in my zombie state at the time I had no idea what that meant.

C'mon, as any zombie I was just wanting to eat some brains!

In case you have joined me late, here's a quick pic recap!







Which, of course, brings us to my stealthy arrival in a corridor of the A.S.S. This was just before I materialized --please note the A.S.S. is parked above Oceania!


And then there's a bright flash!




And I slowly start to materialize...

Hmmmmm, something appears to be slightly wrong with dave...






Yes folks, my smashing of the pyramid atop my house with my lightning-charged sledgehammer whilst in my zombie state had caused the alien transporter beam to become totally discombobulated! It had somehow taken my awesome brainpower and shoved it into my muscles!

And just what type of aliens would I find aboard the A.S.S. rego'd as C4P-PFP2012? And would there be any brains at all for me to eat?

Those 2 questions (and probably lots more) just might be answered soon so STAY TUNED to this channel!