Category: The DayBook

AND

Taken with the ZS15 from inside my living room. The hawk only stayed around for a couple of minutes. Glad the ZS15 was handy. Maybe he’ll come land on my ledge some day. We have lots of nice tasty looking starlings.

Over the last couple of weeks, our summer visitors, the starlings have changed behaviour. Mating/nesting/hatching activities have ended. And most evenings a couple of dozen starlings show up on our ledges for what appears to be a social gathering. It would appear that they are sizing up potential travelling companions for this fall’s migration.

I continue to be way too busy with my volunteer job. Just when I think I am going to be getting back to a lazy 3 mornings a week routine, something else pops up. I have just about battered our new software system into shape – but a massive upgrade is scheduled for next week. My fall migration can not come soon enough!

My summer “vacation” – how does one have “vacation” when one is retired? My vacation was cancelled due to Carlton’s medical issues. I am having a fantasy about hopping a plane maybe in early October to maybe Iceland to try to catch some northern lights. “They” say this fall “might” be awesome.

On the Sunday closest to the Feast of the Assumption, every Bolivian dance troupe in Virginia comes to the church across the street (a Spanish language Anglican Church). It is always huge fun. But, there is so much going on in a very small space – so photography is sort of iffy. This year, my head shots were best.

AND

In 1965, Carlton was busily doing a cost assessment of nuclear war. Those were the days!

Some photos are almost beyond saving. So, the lesson here is: If you have any old color snapshots around the house rescue them ASAP.

 

When we moved out of the house I dumped a bunch of B/W prints. I still have some left. But, I am no Margaret Bourke-White. After I am gone, and I will be “going”, no one is going to want my old prints.

So, I am scanning them and will try to trash them. I have two archival boxes of ephemera. So, they are next on my crazed digitizing project.

When you die, you should leave nothing behind. I might leave a stack to photo books behind. But, they will be real easy to cart off to the trash room in the old ladies home.

I didn’t take enough photos when I was in ND. Don’t know why not. There was lots to photograph. But, I was using color film. And, it was expensive to buy and process.

Speaking of expensive. Airfares to Kona this winter is out of sight. But, I made reservations today. Heading out Sunday, November 10. Mr C is having a hernia repaired on September 6 and he wants 8 weeks to “recover”. He should be recovered in 8 days. But, we remember what happened with his “little” skin cancer surgery this spring.

For the last 5 years or so we have gotten to Kona on Alaska and/or Delta. This year Alaska/Delta will take 20 – 35 hours to get from DC to Kona. Yes, boys and girls, 20 – 35 hours. This is at their “cheapest” rates. US Air is will to haul us from DCA to KOA for $860 in less than 14 hours, steerage. Or $882 in less than 14 hours, 1st class. We be riding in Row 3 this year. I am sure that USAir 1st class will be only mediocre. But, it is bound to be $22 better than steerage.

This is one of my favorite memories of North Dakota. Slipcovered sheep at the State Fair. Last summer when I stepped off the train in Minot ND for a “smoke break”… What should I see, but the ND State Fair.

I took the following photo on that smoke break. All these years later, ND is still fascinating to us city folk.

 

Well, the Declutter Program is over. It wasn’t a resounding success. Maybe one bag of stuff to trash and 3 bags to give away. Trash has been taken out. One bag has been given away and two more bags are scheduled for a trip to Goodwill. Problem is there is no reason to declutter. Have space for everything. No move on the radar.

Wow – windows open. The canons are blasting away at Ft. Myers. Hope we are not being invaded. Think it must be some special Tattoo Ceremony.

About the photo – I must have taken that picture on the way back east from one of our summers in exciting downtown Medora ND, population 101. 20 years later the population is 112.

What the … Amazon just bought our dead tree newspaper, the venerable Washington Post. The good people who brought down Richard Nixon. Does this mean I have to sign up for Amazon Prime to get my paper delivered same day?

It is like discovering that your Grandmother ran off with the UPS man.

A couple of shots from the vault. This was the summer of 1997 or 1998. We were “working” at Theodore Roosevelt NP in exciting downtown Medora, ND both of those summers.

I am scanning the Theodore Roosevelt NP images into the computer. I didn’t use high enough resolution on the last set. I knew better, I just wasn’t paying proper attention. Doing a better job on these – but sadly the images really aren’t as good to start with. I have thousands of old photos.

Had lots of pictures of co-workers – at their desks. Setting behind vintage computers. With those cheap-ass little computer speakers proudly on display. I realized that I still have a pair of those speakers. Not absolutely rock bottom cheap – but close to. Setting on my computer work area, sucking power 24×7. And, I think the only time I have used them in years – is when I was testing them to see if they worked. Guess what aren’t on my computer work area any longer?

Mr C is going to have an unpleasant week. He broke a chunk off of a tooth that he knows he has to have taken out yesterday so  he has to get that taken care of ASAP, he is going to see the orthopedic guy about some elbow bursitis on Tuesday, and on Thursday – he is having another chunk of skin cancer cut out (at the doctor’s office). So, I’ll have to be extra nice to him.

For the potential dental extraction – I stocked up the fridge with “mushy” foods.

But, it was a marvelously glorious early fall-like day here in the middle of summer’s dog days.

Our office went out for dinner to say Bye Bye to Joanne – who is moving back to Boston. Good time had by all. But, too bad that a good friend is moving.

Getting old sucks – today Mr C and I started talking about “Who will handle our money when we get too old and senile to do it ourselves”. This is real scary. But we know we have to do the serious thinking, planning and interviewing now, while we still have most of our facilities.

Gave up wondering about WordPress and the missing spell check. Will just use the checker built into Chrome. I give up pretty easy.

Not much going on. Which is not a bad thing. We had way too much going on earlier this year.

Got new version of WordPress today. I wonder if spelchek got fixed. Hmmmm not only does it not work. My little spell check thingie vanished. alt-shift-n doesn’t work.