I’m more pleased than usual to be blogging tonight, not just because of the subject matter. Yesterday I was modifying some of the background settings and managed to do two things. First I locked myself out of the site. Completely. No way to log in, just a dead page and an error code. Then in attempting to sort that out, I knocked the site over completely. 🙁
Thankfully everything of importance is backed up, so the panic levels were no more than moderate. I had another look this morning and was able to get the basic site back up (I’d installed an old system file which needed a minor edit to remove a deprecated command). The lesson here is that error codes are really useful things if you bother to read them! It gave me the file and line that was causing the problem. A quick edit sorted it. Tonight I updated a second corrupted file. And Eureka! I was back in business.
So much for that. I really wasn’t looking forward to re-building from scratch.
The second reason for wanting to blog today is that I caught a glimpse of our local great spotted woodpecker. It lives at the edge of the car park at work, and is just beginning to get active. I’ve previously photographed its chicks, and with luck I’ll be able to do the same over the coming weeks/months. These shots are the female, but I’m sure her mate is around.
So all told a good day. A working website and a great spotted woodpecker. I can relax again.
Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.
derwandersmann
4 Feb 2015Very nice catch, Words!
Good job getting the site back up, too.
Words
5 Feb 2015Thanks, dW. She brought me luck!
Darko
4 Feb 2015I don’t know what kind of contract you have with hosting provider but usually they have backup of a whole system on a separate server(s). However, if you knew which files were corrupted, than it was easier to do what you did!
And that woodpecker is a nice catch. Last weekend we were in Richmond, BC in Terra Nova park and I made some photos of eagles and hawks as well as some other birds that we don’t usually see there. I was more than pleased 😀
Words
5 Feb 2015Darko, to be honest I didn’t even think of a host backup, but yes they do hold nightly backups so that would have been an option. I must remember that for the future. I back up everything fairly frequently so would never lose much, and the blog creates a backup every day as well so it’s all pretty secure. This time it was definitely my fault… messing with one setting too many.
I’ve been looking out for the woodpecker. Colleagues at work had started to mention that they were back. Congrats on the eagles and hawks. 😀
Darko
5 Feb 2015Thanks. I will make a post, as soon as I identify two different types of hawks we’ve seen. One of them is juvenile so I can’t be quite sure of the sort. We’ll see.
Words
5 Feb 2015Look forward to it!
Robin
4 Feb 2015Words, a very pretty woodpecker! I’m glad you got things sorted with the computer!
Words
5 Feb 2015Robin, thanks! It’s been a while since I’ve had to put my techie head on. Glad it still works. 😉
Adele
6 Feb 2015Glad you got over the technical problems. Computers can be such a headache sometimes.
Beautiful woodpecker! I always think this is the best time of year to see them, before the trees get too leafy.
Words
7 Feb 2015Adele, ’twas my own fault. I tried one trick too many and fell off. As it turned out it was fairly painless, and the fixes I wanted are now all in place.
I agree about this being a good time of year for bird photography. I just wish the winds would drop a bit. Biting out there!