If you thought that I was going to post a summary of today’s film photography extravaganza before I had the film safely removed and ready to drop off at a developer then you’re just nuts.

I am knocking on every piece of wood in the house as I say this, but it went okay today… I think. Who knows? We won’t know until I get the actual photos back from wherever CVS sends them, but from what I can tell everything is okay.

I retraced most of yesterday’s steps. I didn’t go to Canobie Lake in Windham. I didn’t want to drive that far if it wasn’t a perfectly clear sky. Also, I was gun shy and didn’t want to go too far from home.

I started at the Methuen Rail Trail. I did not see any Canadian geese today, but I did see people. There was a couple out walking their dog, I waited in the car until they passed by, and another person walking away from me who was way in the distance. I went to that little bridge over the Spicket again. The river was perfectly calm and really low. This spot is within the bird sanctuary but I didn’t see any wildlife to speak of.

I then went downtown. I took one picture of the sidewalk where the businesses have their signs hanging off the buildings and then bolted to the Spicket Falls Dam again. I took a bunch of pictures there. Probably too many. Today’s roll had 36 exposures (Kodak ColorPlus 36/200) and after 12 years with my Nikon D90 and a memory card that can hold over 2,100 full res images, the idea of having to limit myself is kind of hard to wrap my brain around.

After I finished with the dam I went back to the record store to try and get the sidewalk from the other direction. I made sure to get one of the big clock too because it’s me we’re talking about here.

Next I went back to the Tenney Castle site and took a bunch of pictures of what’s left of the courtyard. I took one of the long dead water fountain that I think might have a blurry background. Fingers crossed on that, right?

This was the end of the picture taking as I ran out of film. I went back to the car, holding my breath the whole way. The next step is to unload the camera and that’s where my stupidity turned everything to cow shit yesterday. Picture me walking on eggshells, spiritually speaking (or some shit like that).

I made one other stop before I went home. I saw a flyer online a few days ago for a July 4th event where the Methuen Historical Society (I think) is going to read the Declaration of Independence at the oldest burial site in the city. I went to that site to see if it might be a good place for some pictures, but it’s fenced in and locked up. It looks like there might have even been barbed wire at some point. Yikes.

So back home I went. I left at 5:33 and got home at 6:25. Out of pure paranoia, I did all of my morning routine stuff before sitting down to try and unload the camera. Once that was out of the way I came downstairs to my desk and took care of things. As I mentioned yesterday, there is no way I will ever unload the camera again without having the manual open in front of me (yes, this is an exaggeration in the long term, but I sure as hell had that puppy open today). I read through the steps and did it. No issues that I know of. I have a little zip lock baggy in one of my desk drawers that holds finished rolls. It’s the only roll in the bag right now. I then took the third and final roll from my Walgreens experience last weekend and loaded it up. The camera is good to go.

Sigh of relief. No signs of any mechanical failures. If anything goes wrong from this point it’s because I suck at photography, not because I did something stupid or because there is something wrong with the camera. Sigh of relief indeed.

I actually need to get my pantoprazole prescription refilled (for the final time ever, I hope) so when I go to CVS to pick that up I can also drop off the film. Seems like a decent deal.

Okay, the photography experience for today has come to a close. Time to make a protein shake and walk for half an hour while watching The Umbrella Academy. Bye for now, oh my readers and only friends.