A Bird's Story

Ok, the move is officially over.  We had the final walk-through at the old place today and were praised for our cleaning efforts.  A Marine Inspector General would have found no dust on his white gloves had he checked it out. The owner was very pleased.  Later, the leasing agent, who was there, too, made a comment that it really only had to be “swept clean” for them to give us back the full deposit.  I did not want to hear it, LOL!  Back to life as I once knew it.

 

Many commented on my last post that they would like to see pictures of the new house and I promise to post them.  Next time!  Tonight I want to share some pictures that I am quite proud of taken with my new camera that I got for Christmas.

 

I did nothing on Christmas day except to charge the battery that it came with and read the manual cover to cover.  The next day I turned it on and experimented in the house with it. 

 

The camera is a Kodak P712.  You could not buy these in stores before Christmas and it was ordered online for me.  This camera is not an SLR, but has all the features of an SLR and comes with a 12X optical zoom lens.

 

I took it with me to work my first day back after the holiday and found an excuse to launch one of the Marina boats.  I had a mission and I wanted to see if the new camera was up to the task.

 

There is an island nearby that hosts a huge nest high up in an old dead tree. The tree is on the back side of the island away from the boating traffic on the river and is very hard to see if you do not know it is there.  Even on the back side of the island, it is a great distance inland from the bank.

 

 

This nest has hosted osprey families as well as a family of eagles over the years.  This year’s resident is an osprey and I was dying to get a good shot of the nest.  I did not dare think I would be lucky enough to even see the bird on this trip.

 

 

I had tried to get a shot of the nest from the back side of the island, but the sun was in the wrong position, so I motored to the front of the island on the main river.  After I shot the above picture, I looked to my right down the shoreline and something in a tree on the bank caught my eye. 

 

 

I could not tell what was in the tree, but I shot this picture and then tried to get closer at a better angle to check it out.  Applying the great zoom feature, I was able to make out that is was, indeed, the osprey.

 

 

I had to try and get a better shot of the bird.  I wanted a solid background behind it and I wanted to be as close as I could.  I would start the motor and get a little speed, then shut it off and drift towards the bird’s position.  Then I would take a shot and repeat the process. 

 

The osprey kept its eye on me but let me approach much closer than I had any right to expect and that is when I snapped this picture.  I was in a rocking boat and had no tripod with me.  There is no editing except for sizing on any of the pictures shown here… no cropping or anything.

 

 

Shortly after I shot this picture the osprey decided that I had gotten a little too close and flew away.  I sat there in the boat with my heart pounding from the excitement of the experience.  I thought I had taken a good shot but did not realize until later just how good it really would turn out to be.

 

Looking around while I sat there and composed myself, I saw two interesting features on the shoreline that I captured as well.  The first was a fallen tree that caught my eye.

 

 

<FONTFACE=ARIAL size="4" color="#0000a0">The second was a system of roots from a tree long ago fallen and not apparent anymore.

 

 

I just thought it looked interesting and shot it.  Next time I’m back at this location, I’ll try and get into a position where I can shoot the root system without the houses in the background.  The houses, by the way, are a lot farther away than they appear to be in this photo and are not on the island at all.

 

It was a fun little excursion for me and exciting, too.  I’ve had occasion to shoot a few more things on the river since then that I’ll share some of those in future posts.  I’ll also throw in some pictures of the new house next time.  I hope you enjoyed some of these pictures, because I had a blast getting them.  Until next time, take care and be safe!

The Big Move

I figured I’d better post an update just to let everyone know that we are alive and survived the move, well, er… more or less.  At any rate we are in the new house.  One of the drawbacks of not posting for such a long time is that so much happens and one doesn’t know where to start to bring everyone up to speed on what’s been going on.  I’m going to give it shot, though.

 

When I posted last, it was the week before Christmas and the great housing search of 2007 had just begun.  We looked at so many houses, my head began to hurt.  We found and bargained for more than one where we were assured we had a deal only to be let down when it was time for pens to meet paper.  After slap wearing out two different agents, we finally found a place on our own and struck a deal we were happy with.

 

During the great search, Paulette changed jobs, the family desktop computer died a ghastly death and Paulette’s car bit the dust and our kitty, Emmie, became sick.  It was getting her a new car that became top priority, I couldn’t do without my truck and transportation became critical because Paulette has to do a great deal of driving for the new job.  With the kind help of one of my customers at the marina, we were given a deal on a good car that met her needs and did not totally bankrupt us.

 

Due tothe tightened money situation, our only way of keeping costs down for the move was to pack the household ourselves and to have me take a week off and move all the boxes and loose stuff in a least a million trips with my little pickup truck.  We had professionals move the furniture, but moving everything else by me saved a few hundred dollars.  It did not save my back, though, and I am keeping the Ben Gay Company in business by generously applying their ointment nightly to the offended area.

 

All that is left to be done at the old place is to remove the screened gazebo that I constructed, have the carpets cleaned and blow the leaves out of the eaves one final time.  Only one or two more trips over there and I am done with it.

 

We took Emmie to the Veterinarian twice.  The first time was the week before the move.  The Vet found a place on one of her pads that had cracked and did a repair to it and thought she might have a sprain, as well.  He told us to keep an eye on her and let him know in a week if she did not get better.  She seemed better for a day, but became lethargic and seemed to be getting more crippled each day after that.  We knew that we would have to take her in again, but had to get through the big moving days of last weekend first. 

 

Monday saw Sandy and myself taking Emmie in to see the Vet again and this time her temperature was more elevated than on the last visit.  He gave her a cortisone injection in her left hind quarter and gave me some antibiotics to mix with her food twice a day.  I’ve been getting the medicine down her successfully and she has improved dramatically over the last two days and seemed her old self as I left for work this morning.  What a relief!

 

I was able to purchase a computer on Sunday at Best Buy using the generous gift card my sister had sent me for Christmas, thanks Jan!  I chipped in some of my other savings as well.  It is a basic computer on the budget minded end of the spectrum, but will suffice.  I think it will be just fine after I upgrade the Ram memory in a few weeks.  It turned out that the Cable connection for our high speed broadband service did not work in the room where we set the office up.  Figures!  The guy finally came and fixed it at 5 pm on Tuesday and I unpacked the new beast and put it together. 

 

I was very happy with the Windows XP operating system and all of my software is for Windows XP.  Almost all new computers now come with the Windows Vista operating system and most of the software programs I needed to install, (McAffee Security, Drivers for my printer, etc…), would produce a warning that said that the program had known compatibility issues with Windows Vista and warned not to proceed. 

 

The saving grace is that with a high speed internet connection Windows Vista makes it very easy to go to each software manufacturer’s website for the Window Vistas Fix download for their respective programs.  Whew, time consuming, a bit scary, but a life saver and successful, so far.  It took over three and a half hours last night just to get the computer online, protected, and successfully connected to a working printer.

 

To say that I am emotionally, financially, and physically exhausted right now would be an understatement.  I’ll survive, though!  There is light at the end of the tunnel and good living is once again within my grasp by the end of another week.  I received a new camera for Christmas and I am looking forward to telling you about it and sharing some of the shots I took before this whole moving thing took over my life.

 

To those who have been coming to this site from time to time to check for any new posts and were disappointed, I am sorry for the long wait.  I promise that I will post again by Tuesday night of next week and will try to, at the very least, get back on my weekly posting schedule.  In the meantime, I hope you are all well and wish you all the best for 2007.

 

 

 

Christmas Feelings

This Christmas season has been different.  I started out as I always do playing Christmas songs and trying to get more in the spirit as the big day looms. But something was out of kilter. I have read many journals in J-Land where the Christmas spirit seems hard to muster for 2006.

 

My heart goes out to those of you who are having a hard time of it. You will all be in my thoughts this Christmas morning.  My own worries pale in comparison to what others are experiencing and I hesitate to even mention them. I want to keep everyone in the loop, though.

 

We learned about ten days ago that our landlord’s father fell and broke his hip.  His father and mother are in their mid seventies and he feels the need to move them to Savannah so that family and friends can check in on them each week.  He will be renting the house to his parents when our lease expires at the end of February.  We will have to move!

 

So, amid all the rush and hoopla of the season, we have been looking at real estate with more of an eye towards buying this time instead of renting.  Yes, we have decided to start putting down some roots here in the Savannah area.  We’ve lived here ten years now, so I guess it’s about time.

 

With the added stress and time invested in looking at available housing, I have been behind in my shopping and had to play catch up with all my Christmas chores.  Finally, my shopping is all done and I only have to work until noon tomorrow on Christmas Eve.  I’ll finish wrapping all the presents when I get home.

 

Tonight I am going to push all of the thoughts of anxiety out the window and sit down once more with my guitar to share another seasonal song.  I hope you have a Merry Christmas come Monday and may all your prayers be answered.  Peace and Joy to you all!

 

 

Christmas Boat Parade

Are we all in the Christmas spirit yet?  This time of year provokes so many emotions on so many different levels; it’s hard to sort them out sometimes.  I start to miss family and friends I haven’t seen in what seems like forever.  I sit in quiet moments reflecting on Christmas Seasons past. 

I remember my mother, as I was growing up, always trying to provide us with a Christmas to remember for a lifetime.  She liked to get the tree up as early as possible and always tried to find something new to add to the decorations.  We would have holiday music on the stereo as we came home from school each day.  There was the planning of shopping excursions, lists being made, and something special always seemed to magically come out of the oven as we arrived.

I try and capture at least a little bit of that same feeling each year.  Time just seems to move faster as I grow older, though.  There doesn’t seem to be as many days now between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day as there used to be.  Did someone take some of those days off the calendar or did the world start turning faster? 

My mother was the type of person that liked to sing when she was happy in the kitchen.  Not by herself, but along with the radio when an old favorite would start to play.  As I got better on the guitar each year, I would pull out the Christmas sheet music and play while she puttered around singing to the tune I was playing.

Mother has been gone many years now, but every year I pull out the Christmas sheet music sometime around Thanksgiving and start practicing the old songs again.  This year has been no different.  It makes no matter that I am usually alone when I play the favored songs.  In my mind I am surrounded by family and good friends as we mangle our way through verse and note.  I still think about you Mom, and I still play our favorite songs.  God Bless You!

Christmas season on the waterfront is kicked off each year with a boat parade.  The boats are decorated like Christmas trees and, on the designated night, they motor by the viewing area in single file as each boat is judged for Most Creative, Best Overall Theme, Best Use of Lights, etc, etc… 

This was the first year our facility hosted the Thunderbolt Boat Parade, not to be confused with the Savannah Parade of Lights that was held the week before on the Savannah River.  This Parade is held yearly on the Wilmington River and meanders through the waterfront community of Thunderbolt and the surrounding area.  We really had a blast and will probably be hosting the event now for years to come.  I am not very experienced at using my camera in total darkness, so many of my shots did not come out at all and most are rather dim, but I put this collage together to give you the flavor or the event.

This next shot is one I took that afternoon because I did not think this little boat would show up very well in the darkness.  It does put a festive look to the little craft though, don’t you think?

Some of you asked about the crafts that Paulette created that were mentioned in my last post.  Her main endeavor this year has been with scented crystals.  It’s her thing, though and I am just on standby as chief gofer and bottle washer.  If she has any degree of success, you may hear more about this next year.

I’d like to end this on a lighter note and, in my attempt to get you into the Christmas spirit, I may just send you into a fit of laughter.  Let me just say now that I am not a professional singer.  This song I offer up as one of my favorite songs I used to sing with Mom in the kitchen chiming in.  Sister Jan and Cousin Lynn, if you are reading this and listening, I hope it evokes the same good memories for you as well.  Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas, J-land; I will be posting again before Christmas.  See you all then.

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Today is not just about big meals and good food;  It is a day to reflect on our blessings and to remember all that we have to be thankful for.  For me, this has always been a day to reflect on loved ones, family and friends, who touch our lives in so many ways.

 

My thanks today include the many friends and acquaintances I’ve made through this journal.  How lucky I am to live in an age that made this virtual community possible.  J-land has proved to be a community beyond the virtual boundaries where real and tangible friendships have been forged.   May you all enjoy the warmth of family and good friends today.  Yes, Happy Thanksgiving, J-Land.

 

I’d like to take a moment to right an oversight and give credit where credit is due.  When I posted my Halloween entry for trick or treat, I credited Donna at D’s designs for the graphic I used.  I forgot to give credit to Dona at, "Blue Skies and Gentle Breezes," for the Halloween theme colors and fonts used.  The instructions for the J-Land trick or treat series was to copy and paste the instructions into your post.  I was reading Dona’s journal at the time and copied and pasted from her page and completely forgot to give her a mention in my post.  Sorry Dona, it was not intentional. 

 

Just to make sure I don’t pull the same mistake again, my thanks to Donna over at, “This and That and Hockey!” for the graphic I used today at the top of this posts.

 

We have been busy at our household this fall season.  I spent an entire weekend cleaning out one of our two storage units, a holdover from the days when we lived aboard the boat we owned at the time.  I was able, with Paulette’s help, to consolidate into one unit and cut our storage expenses in half.

 

About that time Paulette decided to do some arts and crafts to sell this year.  That meant that I would be involved, of course.  We finished up just in time for the first crafts show we had booked into and have at least one more weekend of selling scheduled in the near future.  Yes, this fall has been a much busier season than I would have normally anticipated.

 

There have been a couple of interesting events at the marina since my last post.  The first one was an opportunity to get a few shots of the Coast Guard Cutter Anvil.  This is the tug and barge the Coast Guard uses to maintain the navigational markings in the Intra Coastal Waterway and in bays and harbors up and down the coast.  This work is critical to the safe navigation of these waters by commercial and recreational vessels.

 

This first shot shows the name on her stern.

 

 

The Anvil passes by here several times a year as it goes up and down the waterway.  I have always been just a little too late to get a good shot of her in the past, even though I really had wanted one.  The other day she stopped right in front of the marina to take some core samples of the bottom of the waterway in this area.  I was off to grab my camera in a flash and got a great series of pictures.  Here’s one more showing her in all her glory.

 

 

I have posted shots in the past of interesting things I have had to pull out of the water at the marina to dispose of.  I will probably never run out of these kinds of things to show and tell here.  A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a tree floating in the side creek part of our marina.  I couldn’t do anything about it that day due to the tide, current, and time of day.  The next day I looked for the tree and did not see it.  Whew, I thought, and started walking my rounds up and down the docks.  It wasn’t long before I spotted this tree again.  This time it was floating towards the dock at a higher rate of speed.  I watched as it hit a portion of the dock and immediately got wedged, half under the dock and half out.

 

 

I launched the tiny club work boat and got a line wrapped on the tree.  The boat was too small to pull the tree out from underneath the dock.  Thank goodness the tree lodged itself under the dock right next to our hoist system.  I was able to carefully dislodge the tree using the hoist motors.

 

 

We loaded the tree onto our work trailer and hauled it off to the back part of the property.  We’re going to let the tree dry out, then cut it up with a chain saw and stack it up for firewood.  Its a black hickory tree and will make fine firewood once it is dried.

 

 

Well, that’s about all I’ve got to share for now.  I’ll try not to let so much time elapse before my next post, but I’ve promised that before and life always seems to step in, presenting me with new situations that keep me away from the keyboard.  Take care and God Bless!  Oh, and once again, Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Halloween Potpourri

I don’t know about the rest of you, but dealing with software issues is scary for me.  With that being said, here is my scary Halloween story.

 

I have been having software issues for a couple of weeks now.  I really enjoy getting my AOL for free these days, but I would almost be willing to pay three or four dollars a month to have that “Live Support” option returned.  I’m sure a few of you have felt the same since the “big change.”

 

My troubles seem to have started small with little annoying things happening like not being able to turn the computer off in the normal way.  Later, they escalated and when I got Emails with those cute video presentations, the presentations would never load and play. 

 

I cannot tell you how many times I clicked on the button that said click here to download the Adobe Flash Player 7 in order to see the video.  Every time I did this, nothing happened.  Well, actually the screen said that the download was successful, but I would click on the play video button in the Email again and got the same message as before.  Each time I would fiddle with my Internet Explorer settings and try again.  I would save the Email as new for days and try, try, try to get the #### video to play, but to no avail.

 

I got a notice on the screen this past week that one of my security software packages was about to expire and I needed to go to the link and pay more than I would at the local store to “renew” my security subscription.   Hmmm, I thought, in view of my other problems, perhaps it was time to review my entire security strategy.

 

I decided that I would no longer piece together a mish mash of different software for anti-spy, anti-virus, firewall, and so forth.  I would buy a total package from one of the major players and cover everything under one umbrella that would all expire on the same date next year.  The price of getting it all bundled together would be less than half of what it would have cost to buy each package separately.  Off to the store I went this weekend and was extremely pleased at the price I ended up paying for this total security package.

 

I spent my free time Monday uninstalling software and installing the new security package.  Everything went well enough and my computer now shuts down in the normal way and in a very timely fashion again.  What was the problem?  Well, it turns out that AOL does not support this manufacturer’s software so the security screen on AOL tells me that the firewall and antivirus software is not detected.  This was the point where I wanted to chat live online with an AOLtechnician or call them on the phone. 

 

I kept with it, though and got a screen up finally that told me that AOL does indeed detect that I have this security loaded and running, but since AOL does not support this manufacturer’s software anymore, it did not know the status of these programs.  At one time AOL offered security protection from this same company, then one day AOL said they no longer had an agreement with that company and that they were going with a different company for their free online security.  I guess the falling out between the two companies was not a nice one, LOL.

 

I finally found a way to verify that my computer was being protected even while using AOL and breathed a sigh of relief.  The next day AOL would not work right.  I could not access other journals and it took forever for AOL to recognize my password and sign me on.  Now, instead of doing the smart thing and asking other journal writers if they were having the same problems that day, I over reacted and uninstalled all of my AOL software.

 

I must have at least ten AOL software CD’s that I’ve received in the mail in the past couple of years.  I grabbed one and loaded it up.  Turns out it was a pretty old version compared to what I was running before I wiped AOL off the computer.  I was able to sign on quickly,but had other problems and AOL was continually sending me downloads trying to update this version for me.  I located a more recent AOL CD and removed the old program and installed the new one. 

 

Things are working pretty well again with all the features I’ve become accustomed to however, AOL is still taking a long time to recognize my password at sign on.  I’ll live with it!  Another day spent in front of the computer uninstalling and installing software.  Another day off burned up faster than one can say Dock Master.  At least I made it to my yearly physical in time Tuesday morning before starting the final round of software battles.

 

The good news is that I am the picture of health!  My cholesterol numbers were some of the lowest the doctor had seen and my PSA reading was right on target.  I have to lose some weight, but other than that I am good to go!  Whew!  I was so happy I even let them give me a flu shot while I was there.

 

The point of this post is to share this experience with others so they may better choose how to react if the same things start happening to them.  Had I asked some of the other journal writers about my AOL problems, I would have found out that AOL in general was having problems that day.  The problem with downloading the Flash Player 7 software was caused by some free software I had downloaded called Download Manager.  The very first time I downloaded the Flash Player, it was successful, it just would not install because of where the Download Manager program had store the installation file.  I was able to ferret it out with my file search tools and got it to install properly, but only after I got rid of the Download Manager program.

 

I ran the disk defragmenter program after all of this was done and my computer is running as fast as it ever has, I now have complete security across the board under one manufacturer with a common installation date, and my computer turns itself off like it is supposed to when I tell it to.  The exercise was not a loss at all.

 

Before I forget, I must tell you that the effort that Paulette and I put into her resume last week paid off.  In just one week’s time she has two interviews lined up both as a result of sending that resume out.  Way to go Paulette, knock ‘em dead and get that job!  I would just love to be a kept man.  Well, one can dream, can’t they?  LOL!

 

I had some pictures I wanted to share and tell you about.  I’ve taken up so much space just writing this time I think I’ll leave you with this pretty shot of one branch of the marina and post the rest the next time.  Happy Halloween everyone and don’t forget to set your clocks and watches back for the time change Saturday night at 2 am.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trick or Treat through J-Land

Want to play? Title an entry "Trick or Treat Through J-Land", then copy & paste these instuctions so others can play.

Visit as many journals as you can that have a "Trick or Treat" entry & leave comments with your links.

BOO!

(My thanks to Donna at D'sDesigns for the graphic I used above.)