WHY WERE THEY SO STIFF & STODGY?

A TOUCH OF FROST ON THE CLOVER THIS MORNING

Well, my "no news is good news" approach to CNN's morning news (or any other news) is working well & it's been a couple of weeks since I turned my back on that whole repetitive 'doom & gloom' factor.  And 'how sweet it is' to be rid of all those never ending bone jarring loud ridiculous & practically non stop commercials to boot.  I think CNN has been taken over by one big long jumble of infomercials anyway!!!!

Oh Oh, now what did we get.	It's looking like a new Coleman
Yep, burner on left, grill on right	Very compact & storable

(Click on any photos in the blog to enlarge them)

Had a 'LIVE WRITER' question that asked........"I'm using Live Writer  but when I get a picture in my blog post, it won't expand with a click like yours do."

Open up a photo in your live writer & then click on it.  Whenever you see the white dots around your photo it means you can work on it.  Look to the right side control panel & click on the word 'Picture.'  Look down to where it says 'Link to' & make sure it says 'Source Picture' in the little box.  Now, click 'Options.'  A 'Source Picture Options' box opens.  Click arrow & choose 'Large (1024x681)'  Also make sure both little boxes have check marks in them & then click 'OK'.  Now, the important & easy to forget part.......Look over to your control panel at right & go to the very bottom looking for 'Save settings as default' & click that.  If by chance you don't see that settings control just try minimizing or maximizing your screen because on my desktop computer the 'Set categories' bar at bottom left has a habit of covering up my default settings button on the bottom right if the screen is maximized.  That little problem cost me about 3 handfuls of hair before I finally figured it out........

 

Ever wondered why people had such serious faces & never smiled in those old black & white portrait photographs you see beginning back in the 1800's.  How could so many people feel so sour for so long.  Well, the problem wasn't with the people, it was with the camera itself.  Back in those days there was no such thing as shutter speeds, or for that matter, no shutters in the cameras at all.   The photographer had to insert a negative photo plate into the camera, remove the lens cap & count in his head how many seconds (or minutes) he thought would allow enough subject light to imprint itself on the negative plate.  The length of time mainly depended on the lighting situation in front of the camera.

THE MIGHTY MAITLAND RIVER HEADS FOR GODERICH ONTARIO WHERE IT EMPTY'S INTO LAKE HURON

Many portrait studios used available light coming in from large angled windows.  I remember the LEMP STUDIO  in Tavistock (my home town) Ontario was a good example of that many years ago.  The subject in turn had to remain perfectly motionless or else any movement would blur the image.  Now, have you ever tried holding a smile on your face for any length of time.  Maybe half a minute or more.  Not likely, so people were told to just relax their faces in a normal deadpan stare & concentrate on not moving a muscle & especially not any smile muscles. 

THE BISBEE KIDS ARE LOADED UP & READY TO RUMBLE

You will also notice in many old photos that people's heads may be slightly tilted up giving them kind of a royal & regal look.  This also had a practical purpose because behind the subject was a steel up & down rod with an iron hoop on the top of it for folks to rest their heads against for those long exposures.  That resulted in a slight uplifting of the chin, thus the royal pose.  And also notice most portraits were done with people in a sitting position.  This simply made it more comfortable for people & lessened the chance for movement.  Whewwww, thank heavens for the digital age:))

THESE PHOTOS SHOW HOW WE HAVE THE RIG CONFIGURED FOR TRAVEL.  MAX LIKES TO LAY ON THAT FOLD DOWN BED & LOOK OUT THE WINDOW

I have never felt comfortable photographing posed people so you will rarely see that sort of thing in my pictures.  I do enjoy grabbing candid photos of people though.  More natural & less stress for the people & the photographer plus I would much rather catch folks being themselves. Don't care for those phony smiles when in reality they would rather hit the photographer over the head with his own camera.  I tried my hand at a few weddings many years ago & immediately decided that was something I would never try again!!  Also tried some portrait stuff with friends & they all seemed to come out looking like grotesque cartoon characters.  Those friends have never spoke to me since!!  So, I just stick with doing things I like best & Mother Nature offers a never ending array of ever changing beautiful subjects.

WE TOOK THE BIG CLUNKY TV OUT OF THIS UPPER AREA LAST SUMMER. YOU CAN READ THE FIRST BLOG OF THAT RENOVATION HERE

Turned on the rig's propane tank yesterday & test fired the furnace, water heater, stove, & blue flame heater this morning.  Everything checked out A-OK but had trouble lighting the Legacy Blue Flame heater.  Tried repeatedly but no luck so had to call in our resident Top Gun.  Kelly hit the switch once & it was running!!

BOUGHT A FLAT SCREEN TV & MOUNTED IT HERE.  BELTS SECURE IT FOR TRAVEL

Check out RICK'S BLOG to-day if you are confused about air cards, wifi connections, & routers etc while on the road.  He does a good job at de-geeking the confusion.  We have a Verizon air card while traveling & just love it:))  And, if your into Motorhome renovations be sure to stop by BIG BACKYARD & check on Karen's on-going series of posts about changes to their older motorhome.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Why do you press harder on the buttons of a remote control when you know the batteries are dead?

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

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

A BEEHIVE OF ACTIVITY THIS MORNING

FRIDAY JANUARY 11/08
The first time the phone rang this morning it was the installer guy (Grandma's Heaters & Fireplace, Quartzsite) for the Blue Flame Propane heater we purchased yesterday, calling to say he was on his way & could I meet him at the highway. Finding someone out here in the desert can be a real chore because there are no formal roads, streets, or numbers & telling someone your right next to the double Saguaro cactus on the other side of the gulley where the Palo Verde tree is, just doesn't cut it. So, I drove out to the highway & led Glen, the installer back to our campsite. He looked things over, took some measurements down, wrote up a parts list & headed back to Quartzsite to load up the necessary materials.

The second time the phone rang (minutes later) this morning it was the installer guy for the new 16' side awning we had purchased http://www.bestrvinc.com/ a couple of days ago, calling to say he was on his way & could I meet him at the highway. Finding someone out h..........ok, you know the routine.
It sure didn't take the two young guys very long to haul down the old ripped awning & replace it with a new one. Forty minutes start to finish. We went with a solid color acrylic awning as opposed to a striped vinyl one. Acrylic cost a bit more but it is a superior product to vinyl because it will last longer, is scotch guarded, & comes in it's own outside roller which protects it from wind, rain, & harsh sunlight. We chose a "fern" color to sort of match one of the green stripes on the motorhome. While all this was going on, Glen returned with the heater parts & began the installation. Lot more to that than I thought. Top of stove had to come off, copper lines & fittings installed, propane hose under sink leading to an outlet & heater, etc. I am not a mechanically inclined person so things like this have to be done by someone else & I have a whole lot more confidence in a professional persons work than I would with me trying to do something like that. I'm still get confused changing a light bulb.

Alas, the awning was done & the heater hooked up & somehow in this beehive of morning activity we even managed to wolf down some bacon & eggs. The place was a bit upside down by the time everybody left so I was able to con my way out of going to town with Kelly by saying I'd take care of the clean-up. It worked, & as I watched the Santa Fe disappear across the desert headed for town I happily settled back into my most comfortable gravity chair under our nice new shady awning, coffee in hand, & cracked open my favorite Marshal South book. And, there I remained until about 4 in the afternoon, reading & dozing, dozing & reading:)))))

Kelly returned about 4 & naturally had found something in Quartzsite again that she wanted me to come & look it. Of course, being the good husband that I am, (ya right) I gladly agreed to go, but unbeknownst to Kelly I had an ulterior motive. (dollar hamburgers)
We had decided quite awhile ago to replace some of this impractical & uncomfortable RV furniture in the rig, so Kelly (the scrounger) had located a used & workable kitchen table plus 2 chairs at a large RV dealer in town. (Le Mesa) Price was really right so we grabbed them. Then, I casually mentioned something about supper & hey, how about that dollar burger place just around the corner:))))) Minutes later we were gobbling down burgers smothered in onions again. Now, let me see, to-morrow night if we were in town around 4 & just happened to be near tha..........oh forget it!!

To answer a question from yesterday's blog.......that material hanging down the side of the motorhome is a piece of burlap & I hung it up there to cast some shade on the motorhome where the refrigerator is located. Helps keep it a tad cooler thus using less propane to keep the fridge cold.

Whewwwww, sure is warm in here............. I think we're gonna really love our new Blue Flame heater.