The Manic Mechanic

Okay, I'm a big geek, and for better or worse, a bigger kid at heart. As such, I like toys. Toys in the traditional sense, yes, but for me, the more grown-up sort of toys are what keep me happy. Cool tools are toys, yes, but they allow me to create, build and fix. Different things that are part of my myriad hobbies are toys. Cameras, for example. There are at least a half dozen digital cameras around La Casa, not including smart phones and computers equipped with them, or the surveillance cameras and whatnot. Even my vehicles are playthings sometimes, as roads near and far that have had rubber from my tires can attest. Then again, there are things around here that can only qualify as playthings. The small fleet of various sized cheap RC helicopters I would terrorize the dogs with, for example. Snickles would bark and jump at the tiny Estes Proto-X quadrotor I would fly around the living room. That is, until he got a little too close and it bit him on the ass, eliciting a loud yipe before he hid under the living room table. Last Christmas, Jeff bought me a GoPro Hero3+ Black Edition camera, something I had been wanting for a while, after seeing what people have done with them. It's an amazing little bit of kit, I still have a time wrapping my head around a camera not much bigger than an Altoids tin able to shoot high resolutions stills, HD video, and, in the case of this model, video in 4K. Many evenings were spent browsing the internets for really creative and amusing videos shot with these things. I became especially fascinated with video shot from RC aircraft.

I think you might know where I'm going with this.

Earlier in the week, I ordered up a DJI Phantom2 quadrotor "drone." I purchased a gimbal mount to fit my GoPro as well. So far, I have just been flying the Phantom by itself, sans camera equipment, until I get the hand of it. Big kid fun was had. The thing is a delight to fly, and even a noob like me was able to maneuver the thing as if I had mad skillz. With summer deciding to get all hot and humid after a season of unusually cool and pleasant weather. I had fun flying the thing directly overhead as I walked around the field, across the street and around my yard and driveway with the most awesome fan in the world keeping me cool. No crashes either, except for a bad landing once as the battery petered out. I can attest to the thing being quite usable as a lawnmower in the field of overgrown grass.

So, while I get some flight time under my belt and become pretty sure I won't crash my precious into the ground, hang it in a tree or have it suddenly fly off to parts unknown, I will rig up the camera mount and take some aerial shots of Mayhem Acres and the surrounding area. I might take it with me to PA when we visit Jeff's parents and family, and take some bird's-eye shots of the new house. If it turns out well, I will make a nice big print and frame it as a gift. I will do the same for her too, in order to compliment the aerial photo that was taken one day over twenty years ago by a commercial outfit. It will be fun to see the contrast. Alas, any photos I would have would not show Mom and Patches, as that commercial shot had as a sort of happy accident. Mom is working in the garden, and Patches was standing guard as she always did. It is now one of my most treasured photos.