Wednesday, June 23, 2010

A HELPING DAY IN MITCHELL

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DEER PARK LODGE BEACH...All of today's photos were taken by Kelly this past weekend when members of her family were here.  That's Kelly's 2 'Grands' above, on the left.  Kelly's camera is a Canon Powershot A430

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Cloudy gray day with increasing humidity creeping into the air.  Kelly & I headed off to Mitchell this morning to visit my Uncle Harry & see how his first full day went in the nursing home yesterday.  Happy to report that he is taking the adjustment extremely well so far.  We were able to help with a few more things & get his snowy television picture cleared up.  Kelly has handled all the paper work & arranged for his new phone & cable hook up's etc.  All that organizational stuff requires mountains of time & patience but she just seems to be a natural at that sort of thing.  I seem to be more natural at grumping & stewing about stuff.

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IN ANOTHER 12 YEARS OR SO LANGDON'S EYES WOULD BE FOCUSED THE OTHER WAY & NOT AT THE CAMERA......IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN:))

I've had an idea kicking around in the back of my head for the past few years & after reading GYPSY'S BLOG Tuesday I see she has the same idea.  It has to do with one of those mobile audio recorders you can carry in your pocket.  Have often thought how handy that would be when I'm out taking photos.  I've tried carrying a notepad to write things down about thoughts & technical info regarding a photo or a place but it just doesn't work for me.  A recorder would have been of particular value when I was aboard that Coast Guard vessel this past Sunday & members of the crew were pointing out & telling me things of particular interest.  Also easier to keep people's names & job descriptions straight.  As usual, by the end of the day I'm lucky if I even remember my own name some days let along somebody else's!!  Well, not that bad but you get the picture.

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BAYFIELD'S NORTH PIER CAN BE SEEN AT THE DISTANT LEFT WHERE SKY, WATER & BEACH, ALL MEET

Another good use for me having a recorder would be remembering things for the blog.  Often, during the day I will think of something that might make an interesting blog topic or maybe a couple of good lines in the post but for sure these thoughts are long gone by the time I reach the computer at day's end.  Thanks to Gypsy's post I am going to get off my duff & look up some info on recorders......if I don't forget!!

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I'M NEVER TOO FAR AWAY FROM MY CAMERAS

RETIRED ROD'S post this morning also got me to thinking.  He has been trying to track down a capacitor (an electronic gizmo) for repairing a ceiling fan.  Like myself & many other bloggers, Rod comes from a totally different era than we all live in these days.  We remember when things were repaired & not thrown into land fill sites.   My Uncle Fred had a part time business on the side repairing small appliances & electronic things like toasters, tea kettles, radios, etc.  I remember a large work bench with lots of plugs & really neat looking things like radio tubes & testers.  Fuses, 'capacitors,' resistors, plugs, cords, boxes of parts, old radio dials, bicycle parts, & just about whatever else would fascinate a small boy like myself.  It was all back in the 1950's when we were in the final days of a salvageable world.  Folks out here my age & older will understand the different world back then but people of today will not.  I too love all the great new technologies we have now & all the wondrous new developments that surround us making our lives more cushy & comfortable.  But I also feel our brave new  techno wondrous world is a house of cards built way too quickly & carelessly on a bed of quicksand, on a fault line, in a shaky earthquake zone.  It's like we have all been gleefully riding along on the deck of the Titanic for these past bunch of years having enjoyed reveling in the charade of our fast paced & dazzling surroundings.  Problem is, the ice berg has already been struck, & we are now in the very real stages of waking from our bunks saying, "what was that......did you feel a bump!!"

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<<<< BROTHERS:))

Photo Tip!! 

Photo at left is an example of looking for a photo within a photo.  Before you delete a shot you don't like, take a second look at it & see if you can pull something out of it.  I was looking for a picture showing the brother's Keenan & Langdon together & found it in the photo below.  Using the 'Crop' tool in Picasa I simply cropped out everything around the boys & used my 'Medium' setting here in Live Writer for the photo size.  It is easily done & with just a little bit of finiggling using the 'Crop' tool, anyone out there can do the same thing.  And another tip....Notice how I left a little more room on the right side & bottom of the photo for Keenan to walk into.  Oh, & I also used the 'Sharpen' tool to give the photo a bit of crispness as well.  Try it....you can do it:))

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GROANER'S CORNER:((  After 50 years of marriage the couple was sitting at the dinner table and the wife said to her husband: "After all these years of marriage I know that you are Tried and True."
He replied, "What did you say?"
She said in a louder voice: "After all these years of marriage I have learned that you are Tried and True."
He said: "Speak louder!"
She said, in a louder voice: "After all these years of marriage I have learned that you are Tried and True."
He replied loudly: "Well, I'm tired of you too!!"

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UNAWAKENED"

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

8 comments:

  1. I just love the beach photos. And speaking of earthquakes, I guess you didn't get too shaken up?

    I think I'm going to like my little voice recorder, but I'll have to remember to keep it with me and also where I put it.

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  2. I've been trying the Sharpen feature on Picasa. Some of those things take getting used to and I've screwed up a few pics. (so what else is new?) I always read your advice on the photos very carefully and have picked up a few useful tips, Al. If I've never said it before....THANKS A LOT! Still a work in progress here. :)

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  3. Thanks for all the tips on photo's Al, that is something I never throw away even now in this throwaway world

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  4. Al, Kelly's got a couple cuties there, actually cuter than cute! You did a great job on that cropped picture! It turned out perfect.

    When we started reading your Groaner today, I though you were going to talk about Suzy and me, with our almost 50 years. However, the final line changed my opinion!

    How will you be able to carry a voice recorder, when all your hands and pockets are full of cameras?

    Hey -- bought a new camera this week - a Panasonic Lumix. 12X optical zoom, with everything huilt in, inclunding a GPS! It will even recognize faces and put name on them. Who needs a recorder?

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  5. Great idea about the recorder. At Pima Air Museum I just took notes...then I could barely read them when I went to label my photos! I am also still on a steep learning curve with Picasa...Thanks for the help!

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  6. Al, I am familiar with both Olympus and Sony voice recorders. Like a digital phone answering machine, you can keep some messages, and erase others. With a micro-cassette, you have to keep the whole tape, or erase it all. A PC connection is about $10 more, and I would recommend it, as all voice recorders have non-removable memory (might be a couple exceptions to this). If you want to move a fuke to PC for storage, it is a breeze and takes only seconds, vs real time if you don't have a USB port.
    Tell Gypsy that virtually all from Sony and Olympus have voice activated recording,and it is great. The sound goes into a buffer, and when it is activated, it starts with the sound in the buffer. You never miss the sound that activated the recording.
    They also do a great job of recording music, if set to one of the higher recording qualities. If you think you will be recording music, consider a stereo model, from about $75 up. I have several different models, and they all do very well (unless you are an audio snob). I have recorded organ recitals, then come home and burned a CD of good quality. If you (or Gypsy)have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them.

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  7. heh heh .. your groaner's corner sounds JUST LIKE my inlaws!

    thanks for the good chuckle!

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  8. heh heh .. your groaner's corner sounds JUST LIKE my inlaws!

    thanks for the good chuckle!

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