The Camera Saga

About a year ago we were getting ready to go on a once in a life time family trip when my camera broke. I was at a baseball game and I tried to insert a new CompactFlash card and it jammed. I couldn't get the card to seat in it's slot. I tried the other card, same thing. ACK! We were leaving the following day! So we went out in a rush and bought a new camera. A newer better version of the one we had. We intended to send the broken one in to have it fixed so we could sell it, or have a spare, or whatever. Well, somehow a year went past and we hadn't sent it in.
As I have been taking baseball and soccer pictures this spring and early summer I've been noticing more and more problems with the focus on the camera. The exposure has been off too. Little things that just kept getting worse. So, we finally decided it was time to do something. The one year warranty is up in two days...yep...two days...so we sent the camera back to Canon to have it checked out. Hopefully they will send it back as good as new. I think that the sensors are dirty or messed up or something. I took this picture the other day of a daisy that was almost opened. If you look closely it's out of focus, not very crisp.

Well, I was pretty bummed about not having a camera while mine is getting repaired....so I dug out the old one. I decided to try seating the flash card one last desperate time...and you know what....it slid into place! Weird. So I tried my other flash cards, those won't slide in far enough to be recognized. Double weird. So, it only works with my smallest flash card....but, the good news is that my old camera is working good enough to get me through the next few weeks until my other camera comes back. I took this picture of the same daisy today...with the same lens on the old camera. Both shots are straight out of the camera, no photoshopping. See how nice and crisp this one is. Hurray!

And you know what I am going to do the day my new camera gets back...I am going to send in the old one and have that one fixed....because you just never know when you're going to need a 2nd camera! :-)

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 27th Wedding Anniversary. June 19, 1982. We were so young. Through thick and thin, richer and poorer, better and worse, and all that jazz. When you can stick it out, things just get better and better.

I made a little slide show in honor of the day. It's an odd assortment of pictures set to Alan Jackson's "Remember When". Come on, watch us get old, you know you want to! :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnicQ35Wsio

Happy Anniversary Eric, I love you!

Dirty Dog

Sometime in late May I started an outdoor project. The black plastic edging junk around our house was popping out of the ground in spots, had been chewed up by the mower (before we moved here) and needed to be torn out. I put it off because I don't like working with that stuff at all. I decided to replace it with landscaping bricks. On Sunday I finally finished the East and part of the North sides of the house. I shouldn't say finished, because I still need to replace a bunch of the mulch, plant grass seed where I changed the shape of the edging....but finished with the brick part anyway. I reserved a little area where I am going to plant a few annuals...as soon as it stops raining. Anyway, I looked out the window today and look what I found! The dog has decided that the area where I am going to plant my flowers is a perfect bed. A perfect wet, muddy bed.

Great. Now after I get the dirt scooped back into the spot, replace the mulch, plant the flowers, wash the dog, I think I better put up a little fence. In the rain. On the other hand, the mulch and flowers can wait....and if I leave the dog outside maybe the rain will wash off the mud.

Changing plans, that's what we're about around here. Oh, the first picture was taken through a screen, so that one I can understand....the second one...no excuse. I had to tweak it like crazy in photoshop just so you could see what it is. I'm convinced that it's the camera and not me. The camera is going in to be looked at today...3 days before the one year warranty is up. Wish us luck. That's ok, I should be working in my yard instead of taking pictures anyway. :-P

Same Old Same Old

The days are starting to all feel the same. It must be summer. Billy has been getting up early and going to football training. At 8:30 a.m. it's HEAT (high energy athletic training) and at 10:00 a.m. it's the freshman academy. The freshman academy is a combination of watching game films, strength training and aerobic training. He's a tired boy when he gets home. One of the things that he has been doing in HEAT is jumping rope. He has a little trouble with that, so he was practicing this afternoon. Too bad I don't know any rhymes to teach him!

Brian had soccer this evening. First they didn't have enough players, then they had too many. The league is pretty laid back. This was one of the few pictures that I got to turn out tonight. I'm having some trouble with my camera. I need to bring it in. Rats.

After Brian's soccer game I headed to Billy's baseball game. Again, I had camera troubles. Rats. And the game was called early because of lightening. They lost. Rats. Their team only had 3 hits all night. Billy had two of them! That's my boy! :-)

The lightening was pretty cool, the kind that just lights up the clouds in the dark sky. I almost kind of sort of got a picture of it. This time it wasn't the camera, it was me. Rats.

Busy day followed by a rumbling, thundery night. My favorite kind. Now if I could just figure out the camera issue! Rats.

Sometimes it Rains

This is what it looks like out my front door this afternoon. It's raining. A nice, gentle, cool rain. We need the rain, I like the rain, trouble is, I am supposed to have two softball games tonight.

And I don't know if we are going to play or not. The weather line says "show up at the field and we'll decide." I don't mind playing in the rain...but we probably won't. I'd be much happier if they would just decide ahead of time and save everyone a trip to the field....

...but we'll get dressed, show up, get wet standing around and then they will say..."no game"....I think I better stop and smell the roses.

Every time it rains and we have a softball game I think of one of my favorite movies. There is a line in the movie that says, A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while.-- Nuke Laloosh
Can you name the movie? It's Bull Durham. And if we get rained out I think I might watch it tonight. After I change my wet clothes from standing around the field to see if we are actually going to play. I wish they'd decide already!! More than everything else....it's the not knowing that bugs me.

...OK....I'll stop and smell the roses again. They sure are pretty in the rain.

Pests!

Between running Billy to football training, getting a couple of jobs out, editing some pictures, feeding the boys, doing dishes and doing laundry in time for Billy's game..... I stopped for a minute to smell the roses. Ummmm......aren't roses grand? After smelling the roses I started to look around the garden a bit, it needed water.

Then I looked at this pretty bud and noticed the bug.....ack....aphids! Then I looked around a little bit more and noticed that the rabbits had been having a great time snacking on my tender flowers. Errr. I was too forlorn to take any photos of the evidence. And to think that I used to think that rabbits were cute.

When ever I read the story about Peter Rabbit I so wanted Peter to get away. You remember Peter Rabbit don't you? Actually it is "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" by Beatrix Potter. Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail and Peter. Peter was so cute. But he was a naughty little rabbit. Momma Rabbit would go out on the town and leave her poor baby bunnies to fend for themselves. Sorta. Then Peter would sneak under the gate and snack on Mr. McGregor's garden. Poor little unsupervised bunny.

Mr. McGregor spied him and hollered at him and chased him with a sieve! Oh Dear! Oh...that was so scary! Peter got tangled up in the fence and was doomed. He sure looked dead...but with the help of some squawking birds he escaped...but he lost his coat.

....then Mr. McGregor made a scare crow out of his pretty blue coat with the big buttons. That little reminder would have scared me enough to stay out of the garden! That and those evil birds. But Peter found his way home and had some tea and was fine. I always wondered about what was so important in town that his horrible mother left her babies alone. Isn't this picture scary?

Anyway, as I was saying before I got side tracked....I used to hope beyond hope that Peter would escape from that mean old Gardener. Now...not so much. I'm thinking of getting a sieve...and hanging a blue coat in my garden....and hollering at those pesky rabbits! Mr. McGregor...forgive me...I didn't understand! Darned rabbits!

OK, I feel better now. I think I'll go back and smell some more flowers...and not look so closely at those problems those pests are causing.

Because I have enough other stuff to keep me busy that I don't have time to be chasing rabbits! Have a happy Monday!

A Quick Trip

We took a quick, unexpected trip to the country this weekend. Some plans fell through for the day and we found ourselves with a rare break in our schedule. So we hopped in the van and went for a visit. We visited this guy. Czar is looking shiny and fit.

And we visited this guy. Skylar was looking for food. He's always looking for food.

It was a happy reunion.

After spending some time with my mom and with the horses, we headed to the cabin.

One of us found the hammock....

...one of us talked grandpa Bill into going fishing.

The rest of us just enjoyed the peaceful beauty of the river. The river changes colors depending on the day, the weather, the season...it's always beautiful.

Brian and Grandma Barb got caught up on what's new.

Billy and Grandpa Bill watered some trees....and one of them enjoyed the chance to drive the riding lawn mower.

We were having one of those wonderful cabin suppers that our moms whip together on a moments notice when the weather changed. The wind picked up, the temperature dropped, the skies got dark.....but no rain.

Eric and I drove up to the farm to see what my brother was up to. He was fixin'. My dad spent a lot of time fixin', now my brother is. This day it was the haybine. One little thing needed to be fixed, which led to another thing needing to be fixed and "while every thing is apart might as well fix that" type of fixin'.

I grew up thinking that everyone could take apart equipment, fix what needed fixing and then put it back together again. Life is different in the city.

While my brother was fixin' and Eric was watching / helping, I took a little walk into the pasture to get a better look at the clouds. I found a long ago forgotten wagon wheel.

And enjoyed the pretty sky. The thunder rumbled once or twice, about 10 raindrops fell, and that was it.

On the way from the farm back to the cabin we stopped for a second to enjoy the sunset.

Then it was time for smores! Grandma Janet didn't trust Billy with her marshmallow. I don't blame her, he promises to make you one, but good luck getting it before he eats it himself!

Isn't this just a perfect fire? We thought so too.

Having an unexpected day and night at the cabin was just what we needed. Hope your weekend was full of family and fun too.