Christian Photographers Community

Melody:  Welcome!  I am glad someone is having reasonable temperatures.

We spend each day packing something and taking our hour walks early.  Afternoons are more quiet or running errands.  We are getting thevan ready for a run to bring more fragile things to son's garage tomorrow, Don has a meeting in Denver and we need to look at paint chips so that means daughter will help with the colors .  So much is starting to happen now.  And of all things, I just realized that our actual move is during the Dem. convention - can you imagine getting two local trucks with our belongings and us in two vehicles going back and forth on the only north south freeway while everything is to be tied up in the city?  It looks dreadful to us but that isn't for over a month.

We are thankful for so many things.

Quote from: Al Moak on July 16, 2008, 10:07:16 AM
Melody - another Canadian!  What part of that big country?  We've been to B. Columbia, but that's as far as we've been.

Hey, Al -you need to come a little farther. I live in Newfoundland. Beautiful place and lots of scenery.
I live near the ocean which I love. I will have to share some photos.

Melody, what a lovely province!  How I'd love to visit there but just got as far as North Sydney in the lineup for the ship for the crossing and my father decided that we should really head home to Ontario sooner than planned.

I look forward to seeing some lovely ocean photos from you.

Larry, great news about the laptop.  My crack on my monitor is starting to "bleed" now since it's little bump and I'm going to have to start saving maybe for a new one if the "bleeding" covers a lot of the area.  Not good when you are trying to view photos!!! 

Happy Birthday, Judy!!! 

Janet ~ So glad you are giving your notice.  I will be happy when I realize it is a done deal and your last work day there was yesterday!!  I don't know how you do it or did it!! 

Pat ~ Do you have a U.S. number I could reach you with in case my internet goes out again?  Email me or something?

Larry ~ I have been taking my coffee and Bible out to my deck in the mornings.  I think a laptop would be wonderful to sit outside in the fresh air before it gets to blooming hot.  And nice to sit in my easy chair in the living room, too.  And to take with me on trips and such.  Been really thinking positive and then an expense comes up...this month Property Taxes that should have been in May but the state didn't get the notices out until last week...due the 30th!!!  Is it costly and hard to do to hook up wireless?

I have been making lists and putting things in the dining room to take back to the woods Friday or before.  At least the weather is saying sunny all day Friday with high's in the 90's!  Great weather for a picnic. 

Tony is coming this evening to check the tire that keeps losing air on the Craftsman and the air compressor that won't hold pressure.  We may go back to the woods to see if there is anything he can help me to do. 

Then tomorrow I have to mow the grass....my new sealed drive looks soooooo nice.  Still stinks but who cares? 

Then Friday, I have to be at my doctor's office at 9am for a blood test.  Will probably go get breakfast and come back home.  I want to fix my side dish in the afternoon and head back to the woods by 4pm!!  Early but I don't want to be late for my own party! 

Oh, yeah!  In case you forgot, the picnic in the woods is for my high school graduating class.....Class of 1960 from Lapel High School.  I haven't heard many who are coming but only a couple that said they couldn't come!!  So that is hopeful!!

Melody - as Pat has said, that's a beautiful province, and I'd love to come visit it.  Right at present, though, I can't do much travelling on account of my legs & hip problem.  Your area is indeed high on my list though, as I also love the ocean, as you'll see by my poem below.

I Care

On barren rock, the lighthouse stood,
The sea, the rain, the wind withstood.
But now it makes no mournful sound
To tell the sailors rocks abound.

No lighthouse keep is living there.
The lights are gone, the moorage bare -
Just barnacles, and nests of birds,
And lonliness too great for words.

The sea cares not for works of men:
The waves will pound, and pound again.
The rain will beat, the wind will blow,
Windows will break, and rot will grow.

The day will come when nought is there.
The sea will win, and who will care?
But I have cared - this view will last,
To help you know what then is past.

Alan R. Moak

To all who wished us a happy Birthday John and I say Thankyou.  It was a quiet weekend, not uneventful though.  The breakline on the left rear break rusted out so we had decreased breaking power.  Fixed now though.

Very busy this week, no time to get on the puter, gotta run will be back tomorrow.

God Bless

Judy & John      A Happy Belated Birthday.

Pat:     What is a bleeding with your lap top.   Sorry I am stupid.

Melody:  I live in southern Ontario but have visited your beautiful country.  When there we would have enjoyed going to Labrador but the ferry had ran unto a rock and there it stayed for the best of 2 wks the length of our vacation. 

Paul & Pat:  Enjoy the new arrival as they are so special.

We have been experiencing trying times but God is in control.

I have just finished making a large batch of meat balls many for the freezer and the rest for our speg. dinner this evening.   Yesterday hubby & I cleaned the chest freezer, more time was used to empty it then to do the cleaning after the frost all fell off the sides. A job well done.

Ruth

Oh, what a day this one has been!  Yesterday, Darrel discovered there was a water line break near the faucet in the back yard.  So today he and I took turns shoveling MUD to get to the line about three feet below the surface.  Of course during the time we were working, we were without water, always an inconvenience.  The mud was so sticky, we had to whack the shovel on a chunk of board to knock some of it off, and in between, used a stick to scrape it off the shovel.    I told him while we were doing that, "We might just get too old for this stuff before long!"  He said he thinks that time is coming soon.  One nice thing, though, since we had no water, and it's hard to cook or clean up without water; we went to our favorite Mexican place and ate lunch.  He needed to pick up a new contact list from the owner for her alarm system, so did two things in that trip.  When we got home, he finished up the repairs and turned on the water again.  But we won't fill in the hole until it dries out some and we see if everything holds okay.

We just reserved that 32 day trip to Thailand and Viet Nam for next year!  We will leave on May 12 out of Denver.  Carol, if you will email me your phone number, I can give you more information on it.

My goodness, Paul!  You got as many grandkids from one of your kids as I got from all of mine!  I envy your having a new baby to love, but we do have the little great-granddaughter.  Just don't see her as much as we would like.

Ruth, I don't enjoy cleaning the freezer, either.  But we have a new method these last few years.  Darrel uses the appliance dolly to move it outdoors (after we unload it into ice chests) and we let it set out there until the frost loosens, then wash it out with the hose, let it dry and back into the garage it comes.  This is an upright freezer, wouldn't work the same for a chest type.  Much easier than the way I used to do it.  Good to see you posting again, and I pray your trying times soon pass.  (((hugs)))

Judy, glad you got those brakes repaired.  Not good to have the brakes fail!

Etta Sue, I didn't get the email about the devotional book.  Would you please re-send it?  Thanks.

Al!  I didn't know you were a poet!  I really liked your poem, good job!

Melody, I am an ocean lover, too.  And a scuba diver.

Scotty, I looked at Courtney's photos--good job!

Carol, I don't envy your moving during the democratic convention.  Goodness!  But maybe you can miss the worst traffic times, I hope!

Larry, you are making me think more and more that I would enjoy a laptop.  I wish I could "play" with one, so I wouldn't worry about knowing how to use it.  Maybe when Curtis comes down again, he will let me play with his.

Time to go get the mail!  And no, I haven't given my notice yet.  But soon....

Janet it may interest you to know that Keith is also a scuba diver. He said he hasn't had enough time to go in ahwile, he does swim every chance he gets.

I have been so tired today and I only worked a couple of hours.  After lunch I laid down and have just gotten up, I still need to get outside and walk the dogs.

Larry how many points are you allowed each day and how  do you calculet the amount of points you are allowed? I have the latest WW cook book and there sure are some fancy recipes in there.

Happy Birthday Judy.

Beautiful weather here on the island.  Nice to see you again Melody.  I live on Vancouver Island, a short drive from Victoria.  Also love the ocean, tho' have not lost my love for the mountains in Alberta.

We get so much wind here now, with so many trees in back gone.  I have been painting the black iron benches and table in the garden.  Wanted to spray paint, not possible in the constant wind.  So doing it with a paint brush.  I like doing watercolors and acrylic pictures....this is much more physical work.  Told my daughter that she best let me know of anything else needing work as my old body is getting much too stiff for this stuff

Nita, I hope your little dog is okay.  Read on Sr. Net and was sad to learn about it being hurt.

My, you certainly do have a nice lot of grands, Paul.  I only have one and she requires my help for misc. things.  The computer prog. for her art studies this fall is so much that it will pay for her to buy the whole computer with it installed.  She uses a Mac laptop, but this will be a desktop model....so guess who is going to provide the new desk.
Also a couple of hundred per month for her gas to get to Victoria.  Any more grandkids and I would have to give up eating!  Hope she will remember old gramie when a famous artist.....

I am glad that you are going to stop that job, Janet.  Will continue to pray for Beth. Sorry that I can't continue with the daily shake...my tummy is being a real pain these days.  Limited to a select group of food items and hope to get things under control.  While everyone else has weight problems, mine has always been trying to not lose weight.  Life is tricky...

Time to try and round up my cat, Misty.  She is enjoying the weather and not partial to coming inside without a struggle. 

Pleasant Day/Evening and God Bless.

Liz

Here is my observation, re Desktop vs Laptop.

I will personally not buy another Desktop because I use my laptop as a desktop! I have a 19 inch led screen connected from my laptop as my main screen and my 16 inch laptop screen as the extention allowing me to use both screens as one.

When we visited Larry in Atlanta recently he showed me how it works!! My regular optical mouse as well as my additional full size keyboard I connect into a 4 way USB extention where I can also plug my camera in for downloading my photos. Since my laptop only has an 80 gigibite hard drive, I purchased a 120 gigabite which also plugs into one of my three laptop USB ports. My scanner plugs in via USB and my HP Printer connects in with a parallel connection and cable to the laptop directly as well. If you have any questions , just ask Larry!!!!

Hi everyone.  My new laptop was delivered as promised yesterday afternoon.  As we had plans for the late afternoon and evening, I had only about an hour to look at the book and start to see what I had.  So far I really like what I see.  When we got home last evening around 9 pm I got the new laptop conencted to my network and got the MS OneCare installed on it so it is protected from virus and other mean things.  I expect to be home all day and evening so should be able to make great progress in setting it set up the way I want it.  If your are interested the following two paragraphs have some details about it.  If you aren't interested just quickly scroll on by:

Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 Notebook PC--The Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 notebook PC– your new home and home office entertainment center that makes your ideas come to life. This elegant and versatile notebook packs a lot of power and performance in a small, highly mobile package. This masterful 6.4-pound PC features a 15.4-inch display, an Intel Pentium Dual-Core T2370 1.73GHz processor, a 160GB Hard drive, and 2GB of DDR2 memory, and a DVD Recordable optical drive -- all running on the Windows Vista Home Premium operating system. This Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 boasts Dolby Home Theater premium audio with four speakers and a sub-woofer, Multimedia Control Center to give you a one-stop total entertainment environment with a convenient Shuttle Key that puts volume and equalizer controls with easy reach.

The Most Advanced Security Features--The Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 notebook PC even offers an integrated 1.3 megapixel camera that combined with Lenovo's unique VeriFace face recognition software, can control access to your notebook by recognizing when you are sitting at the keyboard. It can even lock the system if it determines that you've stepped away!

Janet, that is going to be some trip.  Your digging project sounds like too much work for me.  Hope you both can move about today after all that exertion.

Marilyn, my WW plan allows me 29 points a day plus 35 weekly points.  So far I have not found it difficult to stay within the points and have eaten out three times since last Friday, including last night where I had a nice sirloin steak, salad and green beans and a few peanuts.  We were at Texas Roadhouse and they have very good food.  I did pass on the strawberry shortcake later in the evening.  My wife gave me some of our favorite recipes to put into the recipe calculator on WW to determine the points per serving.  It is really a neat tool.

Etta Sue, putting in a router is not difficult at all and I am almost positive you would love a laptop.  I was figuring up and this is the 5th laptop I have bought over the years. 

Melody, thanks for the information on where you live.  I can better understand your posting of yesterday.  You must have a short growing season as we did when we lived in Anchorage, Alaska many years ago.

Time to get started on my new laptop. 

That was quite interesting Larry.  Actually, I spent my working life working in the computer field and keep in touch with all the various wonders....Personally, prefer the desktop myself.  Find it much easier on my arthritic neck, etc.

My granddaughter is only going to use the desktop for work at home.  She has one of the most modern and expensive laptop Mac's....needs this computer because of the program for her art work and it is as cheap thro' the school, to get the whole thing...rather than only the program.  Guess we all march to different drums!  But that is what makes the world interesting.

Just finished reading Amy Grant's book 'Mosaic' and quite enjoyed it.  My daughter is reading it now.  Also reading a interesting mystery  'Executive Privilege', by Jay Brandon.  I like to have at least two books on the go...spend limited time on the computer and TV.  Find reading much more worthwhile.  Unless doing art, that is!

Pleasant Day/Evening and God Bless.

Liz

Quote from: Al Moak on July 16, 2008, 02:24:08 PM
I also love the ocean, as you'll see by my poem below.

Al:  What a great poem.  As I read it I thought, Al sure knows how to put thoughts into words and poetry...wish I could.  But I'll leave that to people like you.

Ed

Could someone give me a link to Photography Cafe? I haven't been over there yet, and need to check it out.

Scotty

http://www.photography-cafe.com/

Hi, everybody!

I had my swim, in hopes of working out the soreness from our digging project, and it did help, I think.  Darrel says he sure is dreading having to get back down in the hole to connect the new faucet, etc.

Yesterday we noticed a lot of horse's footprints in our yard, right by the windows, close to the camping trailer, etc.  Then this morning, there were more, also piles of horse droppings, and two of our young fruit trees had their main branches broken!    As hard as it is to establish trees in this harsh Kansas climate, you can imagine we aren't happy about that!  These little trees were three years old already!  I decided to call the police and let them check it out.  Two officers came out and looked things over, and found there were lots of cattle tracks, big and small, plus the horse ones; so they think someone's cattle were out and they came in our yard on horseback to round them up.  They are supposed to investigate and get back to us.

Darrel is ready to leave and waiting on me..........Later!

Thank you, Marilyn. Now all I have to do is get permission to go look.

Janet, that sounds interesting! You should write a book, entitled "the Mystery of the Horse Poop"!

 

Janet ~ I sent you another email. 

Larry ~  Interesting....velly intelesting!

I have the yard mowed and the lane mowed.  And the horseshoes are in the trunk of the car.  Tony came last night and discovered what was wrong with the air compressor.  I came in and found the parts on Sears Parts Direct.  So I called the 1-800 number and should have the parts Tuesday.  S & H was $10.99 and probably being shipped from Indy...about 11 miles away!!!  But worth it to me, not to drive and then not get them. 

We went back to the woods and nephew Jeff has been working hard.  Even cut wood to burn tomorrow night.  Bless his heart!! 

It sure was hot out there today.  I don't think I had a dry thread on me when I got in the house!! 

If I am not here tomorrow you will know why.  I have to get a blood draw in the morning and then busy after that.

Thanks to all who have given me such a warm welcome!!

Hey Al this is really a wonderful poem. Thanks for sharing.
I will pray for healing concerning the   problem in your hip and legs .
I will share a picture of the ocean and you will see how picturesque it is here.

Hello Ruth in Southern Ontario.

Janet-Good to know you are an ocean lover, too.  And a scuba diver-know I think that's really great.!!!!

Liz I think -Vancouver Island is beautiful also.
Blessing 's to all

Thanks Ed.  Thanks Janet. Thanks Melody.  And thanks for prayer. My wife and I were walking on a trail through the woods very close to the beach between Canon Beach and Seaside, Oregon.  There was a wide place in the trail where you could go about 10 steps and get a good view of the ocean.  Almost directly out from shore, though not attached at all, was a rock, and on the rock was a lighthouse.  I stood there and wrote down the basics of the poem while there.  But then, as always, I took it home and worked it over very extensively - they do not come quickly and easily by "inspiration."  But it's my favorite poem that I've written.  My wife drew an acrylic of the scene, and I have the poem at the bottom of it.  I don't write much poetry, but I love doing it.

Al Moak-posted a few pictures of our ocean under travel-hope you like.
Hoping those photographers here will help me in sharing tips on how to take good photos.
Will be thankful for any advice!!

Well, Scotty, the mystery is solved!  Our neighbor up the road has cattle on the land across the road, only a one-wire electric fence to keep them in.  At lunch, he walked by our table and Darrel asked him "Hey, Wilbert, were those your cows in my yard last night?"  He said yes, that he had to get them out early this morning.  I told him they did quite a lot of damage and he said "Sorry about that."  When we came home, the police were talking to him and his wife, in their cars, blocking the road to our house.  When Wilbert drove off, the policeman said he told them that probably if they pay for the trees destroyed, we will drop the matter, and we will.  I hadn't even thought about it being their cattle!

I do not like having any kind of disagreement with neighbors. 

I'm going to look at those ocean photos!  They will probably make me homesick, though.

We are in the Denver area after dropping off another load of fragile stuff in one son's garage.  He is the only one who has extra storage in his garage.  Drove here after visisting with daughter and getting her input on paint chips and a few other things I have to think about before we move furniture in.  We can't get in until Aug. 5th but want to hit the ground running.  Too tiring to do much in this heat & we are feeling tired much too quickly.

Melody:  We have been in Nova Scotia and that is as far NE that we have traveled.  Loved it there as well. 

Janet:  We are going to AZ for three months this winter so I don't think I should even mention your trip.  Good grief, we need to stay home in this new place.  If you ever get to Denver - please do call.  We will be getting our new phone number in August but it is tricky to keep the one in FC going before we leave too.  Water troubles - just what you need and cows in the yard.  Oh, joy.

Al:  A lovely poem.  Thanks for sharing. 

I looked up a pastor we had in Texas - we helped build a church from scratch.  It was such an exciting time to first meet in his home then in a school and finally build.  Kinda letdown when the church was built and all these well-dressed strangers came and it just became different and not as close.  But what a challenge and great time to be there at the beginning.  His life changed and he is remarried and in a California church now and it was so nice to hear back from him.  He married our daughter - insisted on premarital counseling for them and told them that they would always butt heads - so right but they love each other.  I feel badly about his first marriage and do understand that a pastor has one of the hardest jobs in that people take advantage and call at all hours and even day off without regard to the family.  You never know......

Carol, I don't envy you the hard work of selling one house, buying, refurbishing and moving into another.  Whew, makes me tired to think about it!  And don't give up on the trip too soon, we aren't going until May of 2009, so you have some time yet.  Only problem is, those fill up pretty fast, because they are limited to 16 travelers per time slot.  Darrel's brother Don's wife is going with us.  She loves to travel, he won't do ANYTHING any more, and she is afraid to go by herself.  It will be interesting! 

I'm posting early today, have to work a long shift.  Only one more day this month, and that is next Friday.  Our fair is next week, and I need to get frames on some painting to enter.  Have to run a couple of errands before I go to work at 11:30.

I wish all of you a wonderful, God-filled day!

Recuperating from a 4 mile walk this morning.  We  are staying at a son's house and almost got a little lost.  My legs are like rubber and the altitude is a little higher than we are used to at home.  Whew

Don is about to make breakfast.  He turned it into his job when he retired and I go along with that idea. 

Melody - thank you for the words about my poem.  Where did you post those photos of Newfoundland?  I'd sure like to look at them.

Al, here are Melody's photos

Hi Folks.

This has turned into a stressful two days.  We have a teacher that is as prickly as a Nevada Cactus.  It is difficult to maintain a smile in my voice.  Tomorrow is another day.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes.  John will be in tonight.  So we will have a quiet night.

Have to run
God bless
Judy