Hazel - I'm sorry to hear that a monopod/tripod isn't the solution. And to not even be able to play with them on the computer
I admit, post-processing isn't my favorite part, I'd rather be out and about. But if it's raining, and the indoor fuzzies refuse to cooperate...
I just got this lens. I've been saving up for a true long lens for a looong time (or at least it feels like it). Tamron just came out, beginning of the year, with a new zoom lens, and then I had to wait for the Nikon version to ship. 150mm-600mm 4.3f-6.3f (first f-stop may be slightly off). It's about half the price of the cheapest Nikon prime, and when you add in extenders to get to 600mm, it's reasonable (If you can call any lens reasonable) It's not very fast, but the cheapest prime I could afford, with extenders to get it to 600mm would be just as slow. It IS heavy. I didn't realize just how much difference the extra weight would make. The autofocus chews up battery power, I think because of that extra weight, but Nikon batteries carry a pretty good charge. it's also quite long. It felt very clumsy at first, but not as much after a few days in a row of taking it out.
All this makes a great excuse to go out taking pictures as practice. Almost all those shots were taken at 600mm. I would never have gotten anywhere near close enough with my old lens.