Learning Something New

August 3, 2013

Good morning.  Tis a bit cloudy outside at the moment, but I'm not sure what we will end up with for weather.  Yesterday turned out to be a gorgeous day after the rain passed by.  It was even good for Pogo, as Deanne came by early in the morning and picked him up and took him home with her. 

This morning, Pogo and I are watching "Too Cute Kittens" and "Too Cute Puppies" on the Animal Channel (on TV).  The kittens and puppies are so darn cute and I want them all.   It's a good thing they are on TV and not here in my living room.  I am a sucker for baby animals.  (Tonight there will be two new episodes of this program on the Animal Channel.)

Speaking of animals, well these really come under the heading of "bugs",  I got some interesting new photos yesterday.  At first I thought they were just dragonfly photos.  But when I looked closer, I realized that this dragonfly is carrying eggs.  To be sure, I looked it up on Google.  My goodness, I have never noticed this before. 

Nature is filled with so many interesting things.  Seems like every day has something new to learn.  I'm so glad my camera picks up what my eyes sometimes do not see. 

This morning's email brought me two more fabulous gifts from my good friend, Kyra, and has put a huge smile on my face.  Kyra has such an amazing design talent.  Here are her two new scrapbook pages.  Aren't they just beautiful?

On this happy note, I am going to go raid the refrigerator to see what Pogo and I will have for lunch.  I'm thinking that the peach yogurt is looking rather yummy.  There is a jar of Gerber (baby food) meat sticks for Pogo.   Sometimes he eats them right up, and other times he turns his nose up at them.  Ah well, he'll eat when he is hungry.

That's my news for today.  I have a small load of laundry to do and then it will be nap time.  Have to be alert for work tonight.  So, till tomorrow, Y'all be safe and have a fabulous day.

Hugs, Edna B.

Tis Raining Here In New England

August 2, 2013

Good morning.  It's raining here in New England.  I'm at work, and my poor little Pogo is home alone.  Hopefully, he will eat his breakfast and have a nice nap until lunchtime when Deanne will stop by and pick him up and take him home with her.  I will go by her house after work and get him.  It's not the ideal situation, but it's the best I can do without a sitter.

I'm at work now so this will have to be a short post.  Mrs is asleep, but will wake soon and be wanting her breakfast.  I brought the manual for my car in with me today so that I can look up a few things.  I try to learn something new every few days. 

Yesterday, Pogo and I spent a little time out in the yard.  While he was busy romping through the grass, I got some new photos.  There was a beautiful large yellow butterfly busy flitting from branch to branch on the butterfly bushes.

 

 

There was also a butterfly moth enjoying the blossoms on the bushes.  This is the first time I've seen one of these in my yard. 

Another lovely surprise in my garden was all the new flower buds.  My orange rose bush has finally got a new bud on it.  This is one of my favorites.   Here's the new little bud.  Isn't this gorgeous?

Well, now the Mrs is awake and wanting her breakfast.   She has just given me permission to bring Pogo to work on Fridays when I have no sitter.  This will be such a big help for me.  Of course, on her grumpy days, she may change her mind.  Ah well, we shall have to take it Friday by Friday.  Now I'm off to get busy here.  Till tomorrow, Y'all be safe and have a wonderful day.

Hugs, Edna B.

Another Month Has Gone By

August 1, 2013

Good morning.  It looks sunny and bright outside my window, and I got to sleep late this morning.  Last night, I had no problem falling asleep.  I just had to close my eyes, and I must say that it felt good.  Now if I could just figure out how to do that on Thursday nights. (Friday is a work day.)

Well, yesterday was another busy day, followed by a nice visit with my DIL, Janet.  We had pizza for supper and watched some fun TV programs that I had taped earlier in the week.  Betty White has a new program featuring all elderly folks who enjoy playing pranks on young people.  I must admit that it is really funny.  It's called "Off Their Rockers".

This afternoon, I am going shopping with my daughter Deanne.  Her birthday was last month, and this is the first chance we have had to go shopping for a birthday present for her.  I am so looking forward to spending the afternoon with her. 

Speaking of "last month", did you notice that today is the beginning of another new month?  It's already August!!  Folks, it time to start some serious Holiday shopping.  (or hand making, if you are into crafts).  The way time is flying by, December will be here before we know it.  Oh my.  Well, here is the August page from my calendar.

I also have a couple of moth/butterfly photos to share.  I don't know whether they are tiny butterflies or moths.  Who cares anyway?  They are interesting.

I know I was going to show you a photo of a new craft but it will have to wait till tomorrow.  First I have to take a couple of photos.  However that will have to wait till later too.  There are only so many hours in the day and I seem to use them all up rather quickly.  Getting old is such fun!

Speaking of fun, I want to get a load of laundry done before I go shopping.  Got to have all my work clothes ready for tomorrow morning.   So, let me get busy here.  Till tomorrow, Y'all be safe and have a fabulous day.

Hugs, Edna B.

Adobe, I Don't Like You Anymore!

July 31, 2013

Well, it's almost noon time.  I've been so busy around here that by the end of the day I can't tell which part of the body hurts the most.  I just plop into the lounge chair and rest the whole body.  I do think that I will start slowing down again. 

The new little orange vacuum cleaner is working just fine.  I even packed one of those "air" storage bags and then Joe hooked up the vacuum hose and pulled the air out of the bag.  Boy oh boy, that bag sure did get heavy!  Sort of like a block of compressed coffee grounds, but much bigger. 

A little while ago, I sat down to read some of my email and got another fabulous surprise from my friend Kyra. There were three new scrapbook pages.  Woo Hoo!!!   Folks, I am going to have the best scrap book ever! 

Are these not beautiful?  I am so in awe of Kyra's creative talent.  Thank you Kyra.  You have given me huge smiles today.  I have another very creative person dear to me.  My SIL Edie also is very talented.  Later today, I will take a photo of the gift she made for me and post it here tomorrow.  I will even tell you how she made it. 

Well, remember I said that Wayne, my PC guru, was coming by last evening to try to install the Photoshop Cloud that I purchased?  Well he tried for an hour and a half, but had no success.  He even had to uninstall my Norton because there was no way to shut it off.  It cost me $30 to get it reinstalled and turned back on.  Add that to Wayne's fee, and this new Adobe Cloud  has been quite costly, corrupted and useless.

I finally had to cancel my subscription and ask for a refund.   So much for Photoshop and progress.  I don't have to tell you how very unhappy I am with Adobe.  Did you know that there is also NO WAY to call, talk or chat with anyone from the company?  You can leave a message in one of their forums, or speak to someone in India (I guess that's where he was, it was hard to understand him).  Adobe's customer service STINKS!

Let's not get me going off on another rant here.  I think I will meander out to the kitchen and rustle up some lunch for myself and Pogo.  Have I told you that he is getting more free with his doggie kisses?  I've been getting two or three of them a week lately.  I think he likes it.  I know I do! 

Okay, that's it for today.  Till tomorrow, be safe and Y'all have a fantabulous day.

Hugs, Edna B.

Not So Happy With Adobe Today

July 30, 2013

Good morning.  The sun is shining and it's looking really nice outside.  Maybe if I can get a few things done around here today, Pogo and I can get outside for a while.   I set my clock so that I would not sleep late.  I tend to do housework slowly, so it's better to start early.

Yesterday I went to Walmart and bought a cute little Bissell vacuum cleaner with hose attachments.   Today, I will try out the space saver storage bags that I bought a while ago.   You put in a whole pile of blankets, suck the air out of the bag, and voila!  The bag is now only about as thick as one blanket.  Well, at least that's sort of how it works.  Today I'm going to try it out.

Well, I have just now taken a forty five minute break and assembled my new little orange vacuum cleaner.  The good thing is how little it weighs.   It's not a bad deal for $35 plus tax.

The theme this week in the Photography Plus forum is photos expressing feelings in either people or animals.  I dug out this cute photo of Pogo from last summer.  (He doesn't wear a collar anymore.  Instead he wears a harness.)   He was howling away and the expression on his face was priceless. 

I also have a couple of photos from my garden.  These are two of the hydrangea  blossoms.  One from the white bush and one from the blue bush.   There haven't been any pink blooms yet.  Hopefully, the weather will settle down, and all the plants will be back to blooming again. 

Lately, I've been so busy with other things  that I almost forgot about ordering my newest blog book.  This year I will break it into three books.   I tend to post a lot more photos now, so the books are getting quite thick.   Maybe I can get that done this afternoon. 

Last night, I finally made my decision to purchase the new Adobe Cloud so that I can continue to use my Photoshop.  You can't buy the product in a box anymore.  Instead, you have to purchase a one year contract (renewable each year)  and pay monthly payments to Adobe.   They say this is to make it easier to give us new updates to the program, but I say it is all about making more money. 

In any event, I purchased the product, but then could not download it to my laptop.   I tried several times with the help of their on line chat technicians, but it just would not download.  I tried calling Adobe Customer Support, but after being on hold for twenty minutes, I finally hung up the phone.

Tonight, hopefully Wayne will be able to come by and try to get the program installed for me.  If he cannot do this, I will be one very unhappy Adobe customer.  I just don't understand why it has to be such a hassle to use a product once you have purchased it. 

Well enough of my grumbling.  It's time to get busy here and try out that cute new vacuum cleaner.  So, till tomorrow, Y'all have a fabulous day.

Hugs, Edna B.

Having Hairy Feet Can Be A Good Thing

July 29, 2013

Good morning.  So far, this morning is cloudy and comfy cool.  I was able to have the sun roof open part way on the way home this morning and it felt sooooo good!  I'm really enjoying Baby Blue Eyes.  I just need a few extra hours each day so that I can sit down and get familiar with the manual. 

I did learn one more new thing -- how to turn down the volume for the phone.   I was chatting with Deanne a couple of days ago and the volume was so loud.  I asked her how to adjust the volume, and she explained it to me.  Ahhh, so simple, really!!  Thanks Dee Dee.

This morning's TV fare is "Cat In The Hat".  It's actually quite interesting, and teaches lots of fun stuff.  Today we are learning how spiders are able to walk on  water.  Imagine!  Having lots of air bubbles underneath your hairy feet makes it possible to walk on top of the water!  I don't know about you, but I did not know this.  Of course, I don't have hairy feet, so this won't really help me to walk on water.

Today is Mandarin Orange Monday, and I have a couple of butterfly photos to share.   This past week was my week for lots of new bug photos. 

Yesterday, I mentioned that I wanted to learn a bit about "street photography".   Let me share what I have learned so far.  Basically, it's just photographing interesting things and people -- seeking out expressive faces, hands or postures that show an emotion and invoke a feeling in the viewer.  Look for interesting scenes that tell a story, or photograph someone in front of an interesting background. 

There is a world full of interesting subjects out there.  One just has to look around.  There's also a very interesting web site where you can learn more about this and other fun photography.  Check out "Picture Correct".  If you sign up, you can receive new photography tips in your email.

Here's a photo of one of the many orange tiger lilies growing in my yard.  They are double and ruffly, and quite gorgeous. 

Now I want to get busy here.  Maybe I can do a load of laundry or something before I succumb to nap time.  Later I want to go to Walmart and get me a new small vacuum with hoses.  I need them to suck the air out of the new storage bags.  So, till tomorrow, Y'all be safe and have a wonderful day.

Hugs, Edna B.

Did You Know That Dragonflies Are Fuzzy?

July 28, 2013

Good morning.  It's 5:45 a.m. and I'm still at work.  Pretty soon though, I can pack up and go home to Pogo.   He had an especially hard time about me leaving without him last evening.  His nerves start acting up and he gets the squirties all over the place.  

So, when I should have been getting into my car to leave, I was in the bathroom giving Pogo a bath.  I wrapped him in a bath towel, and gave him to Joe to dry him off.  Then I had to go back into my place and start cleaning up everywhere.   I barely made it to work on time.   God Bless that little guy of mine.  He surely does keep my life interesting.

My friend Donna asked to see a photo of the side yard now that it is looking better.  I took this photo yesterday.  A lot of the blooms are gone or knocked off from the rain, but there are lots of new buds on the bushes.  This is the front half of the side yard, and a closer shot of one of the butterfly bushes.   I'll have to take another photo when all the new buds start blossoming.

 There were several dragonflies in the garden, so I was able to get some photos of them too.  Here's one of them, and a close up to show you how fuzzy he is.

 

At the moment, it isn't raining, but it's supposed to be rainy today and tomorrow.   I still cannot find my favorite umbrella, and I forgot to bring a different one with me last night.  Well, that's understandable.  I had a lot on my mind when I left the house for work.  I will have to remember to put one in the car when I get home this morning. 

 

I recently read an article on "street photography" and I want to try it out.   It's mostly just different views and aspects of life on the street and around town, but between excessive heat and/or lots of rain, I haven't had a chance to get out and take some photos.  It sounds rather interesting, and I can't wait to try it.

 

Now it's time to check on the Mrs again.   About an hour, and I'll be on my way home.  Woo Hoo!  So, till tomorrow, Y'all be safe and have a fantabulous day.

 

Hugs, Edna B.