Olympus C-750 Crash and Burn . . .

It is with a tremendous sadness and sense of deep personal loss that I report to you, the kind readers of this blog, the incineration, just yesterday, of my faithful and ever ready 2004 Olympus C-750 Ultra Zoom Camera. This lonely sadness is compounded by my recognition that the circumstances which led to the destruction of my trusty little lens were entirely of my own making.

You see, I had just returned last week from an extended journey to the NE Minnesota Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Area. In the course of unpacking and cleaning of all of my equipment I found that the little camera had some moisture within its shell which was causing some intermittent electrical performance. No worries, this had happened before. After all, this camera has seen thru it's expandable lens 4 continents , locations from desert to rainforest, weather conditions from dry wind borne sand to deluge (10", or 25 cm, rainfall one night in the recent trip), and complete immersion in saltwater. After each assault of the elements I would carefully wipe it down with clear fresh water and dry it near some gentle heat source such as a radiator or, best of all, sunshine. This time, as baking of bread had just been finished at Limberlost for the week, and sunshine not being forecast for a few day due to a cooling trend, I placed my sturdy little camera in the now cooling oven to dry in the dissipating low heat - making sure that the temperature was not too extreme.

Alas, 'out of sight and out of mind' as the old saying goes. a couple of days slipped by and the camera in the oven was forgotten. You know the rest, dear reader. Yesterday, the Lady of the Limberlost determined that, the leaves of the trees and the feathers of the goldfinch being of the proper color, the time had come to bake pumpkin pie. The oven was set at 425F in preparation just as the doorbell rang. Out went the pie baker to consult with a man from the concrete trade... In the time it took to complete their conversation regarding chips in the driveway the instrument of my blog record was accidentally cremated.

All that was left was the task of properly disposing of the 'bones'. So, today, after eating a healthy portion of pumpkin pie, I interred the remains of my clever and capable friend within the roots of an American White Oak (Quercus alba), beneath the light dancing feet of the White Tail (Odocoileus virginianus) bucks and does, and within the sight of the swift flowing Cannon River.

As I am unemployed and on a fixed income, contributions the the Olympus C-750 memorial REPLACEMENT fund are being accepted at PayPal under the receiving party name TR6guy@yahoo.com