Thanks Raymond, First Photos from New Camera

Hey, thanks Raymond.  I don't know what I was doing wrong before but I followed your directions and the camera wizard came up on the screen.  Yeah!!!

By the way I read one of your stories the other day on your blog.  Fun stuff!!!  I'll get over there to comment when I have a little time:)

This is a flash photo from the new camera.  They are both so cute, aren't they?  That is Doggy Daddy and Penny Poo Poo.

The horse shed with roof beams.

Two side rafters are up.  I then rigged it so that I could get the front trim board on.  This is a two ladder job.

Here is the horse shed with all but one rafter in place.  

My daffodils are looking good.  I should have some more coming up still that I transplanted around the yard last summer.  

Camera Problems and Working it in the Springtime

The camera is fine but I have to load a program [apparently] to allow me to get the pictures off the camera and into the computer.  This sucks!  The DVD reader thingey hasn't worked for a couple of years.  Sure, there have been a couple of times when we tried to get it going because we wanted something from a DVD but it just didn't seem like it was worth the time and the hassle to replace the DVD so we haven't gotten around to it.

The computer is probably five years old and I have been thinking about replacing it.  I am even considering an Apple computer.  I need to read up on this stuff.  We mostly use the computer for the internet, blogging and commenting, sharing photos.  I don't know what I will do about that.

In the meantime, I can't download my photos from my new camera because the DVD player isn't working and I need to put this program in from the disc that came with the camera.  Rats!!!

I got some good photos yesterday.  I got the roof struts on  the horse shed.  I put up the Simpson clips.  Then, I put on the two side rafters.  I screwed the front trim piece on [it's another 2x4].  Then I put up the other 2x4's for rafters by shoving them up against the front trim board.  Should come out pretty even that way.  We are ready to roof and put on the plywood siding.  There is also trim work to do.  I think I will worry about painting it in a few weeks.

The wind came up while I was working on the horse shed.  Chilly!!!  It didn't warm up much yesterday.  It snowed just enough to sting your face in the wind.  Fortunately, I fired up the wood stove so I could come in and warm up in between rounds of measuring and drilling and attaching.

I also got a couple of nice photos of the daffodils which are totally blooming in yellow drifts right now.  Spring is here although it was 28 degrees overnight last night.  I am hoping that the trees have been holding off leafing out/blooming and that it won't be a problem.  I'll find out when I walk around the yard later today.

I got 20 holes dug for the asparagus yesterday.  Then I got two wheel barrow loads of compost spread out into the 20 holes.  I'll probably put more compost into the holes as I plant the asparagus.  I got all the drip lines set up but three.  I'll do those today.  I have quite a few drippers [I like to call them bobblers] to pop on still.  I want to run the water today and plant the asparagus tomorrow or Wednesday.  If not then I have to wait until Saturday.  I think the plants are fine.  I put them in a bowl with damp coconut coir on the roots and put them in the fridge.

My artichokes are coming up so I need to work with them today.  The package said to soak them overnight in water.  Then, put them in a jar with peat moss [I used coconut coir] for two weeks.  It hasn't been two weeks but they are definitely sprouting.  I am going to do that right now since I don't want to go out until it warms up a bit.  The tubing is hard to work with when it is really cold.  The good news is there is no wind.

If I get lucky there will be little to no wind this afternoon when I go to see the little horse.  I'll have to take a few camera photos so I can get them on the blog.  Darn the camera problem:)  Wish me luck on the little horse.  I have been looking for quite some time.  I am not in a hurry but I would like to find the right horse at the right price so that I have the spring and summer to play with it.

The quail came through this morning while I was planting seeds.  I need to throw some chicken scratch out there for them.

Gardening Note:  Red Hot Pokers started today.

Cameras and Costco

I bought the CoolPix camera at Costco.  Not because Ashton Kutcher is in the ads for it but because it was a great price in January.  I guessed they didn't sell them all at Christmas.  The darn thing stopped working properly already!!! So, I looked for the receipt since you can return anything electronic to Costco within 90 days with no problems.

I couldn't find the receipt!  Hubby and I had to drive to Carson City today so I  put the CoolPix camera   in an old grocery bag along with the manuals and the charger and such.  I managed to get it into the car.  Then, we stopped at Costco after going to the bank and getting gas for the Toyota.

I stepped up to the counter and said, boldly and with authority "I bought this camera in January and it stopped working right and I can't find my receipt so you probably can't help me."  But he could help me and he did:)  So, I got my money back and Hubby and I cruised over to the camera section to see what they had available.

All the cameras look just like the one I just had to return with the lens that pops out in a series of rings.  I told Hubby, "I think the problem we are having with these little digital pocket cameras is that it has that lens that pops out in a series of rings.  One tiny little piece of dirt and it doesn't pop out anymore and says LENS ERROR."

We had another pocket camera that died on our  hunting trip in November. We didn't get to take a picture of our elk. Maybe it was the freezing temps but it was saying lens error as well so my guess is that it had the same problem as the CoolPix camera.  It just isn't easy being a camera in the desert.  At least that camera lasted a whole year.

Hubby and I looked at cameras for a bit and discussed how expensive a really great camera is and how much nicer the photos were from the old film camera we had. That camera broke after quite a few years of owning it.  We can probably take it into town to get it fixed but you can't hardly get film developed anymore. Film cameras are basically obsolete.  When photos were on film, each photo was an attempt at a work of art for me.  I would frame the photo just right and then snap the picture.  A process I enjoyed very much.

I have quite a few photos [okay, hundreds of photos] in bins.  I go through them every so often.   I started getting rid of photos a few years back and I started with the obviously bad pictures like the photos of the gas pedal and the door trim.  Ooops!  photos.  Now I am   getting rid of a some of the ones that have no meaning left.  Where is that?  Why did I take that picture?  What year was that?  Although I have gone through the old photos a number of times, I still have hundreds of photos in bins.  A lot of them are even in albums inside of the bins.

I think with a really nice digital camera I could still take beautiful photos but...we decided that the cost is too high for a great camera.  So, maybe next year.  This year we would focus on what we really use a camera for:  Snapshots.  Photos of the little things in life like rebuilding chainsaws, documenting the seasons, going hunting,  and other things like that.

The cons of the pocket cameras are that they really don't take as nice a picture as we would like but the pros are many.  They fit in you pocket.  They are convenient.  You can take as many pictures as you want and then just erase the duds.  You can download them for your blog or facebook or sending to your friends and family.  That is the real reason we use cameras nowadays.  To stay in touch electronically.

Hubby found a pocket camera that is water, shock, dust and freeze proof.  The lens is encapsulated inside the camera and does not pop out when you turn it on.  Sounds like just what we need to have a way to document our hunting trips, gardening adventures and the projects and little things that I so love to document.  It is called a Fujifilm XP.  Let's hope it works for longer than our last two cameras.

Grape Mania

Yep, Hubby ordered lots of grape vines this year.
   
Himrod:  Vigorous vines produce large, loose clusters of oval, soft, flavorful berries. Grapes have a honey-like flavor and a melting, juicy texture. Moderate disease resistance.


Einset:  Einset is a red seedless variety with oval, bright red medium sized berries with slightly tough skin that adheres to the tender flesh. Einset has a distinctive strawberry jam flavor.  

Venus:  A vigorous and productive blue-black variety. The medium clusters of Venus ripen early, producing large berries with a mild flavor combination of labrusca and muscat.


Mars:  Mars is a vigorous, blue seedless variety. Clusters are medium sized and well-filled with slip-skin berries and mild labrusca flavor. Vines have good disease resistance and may bear fruit precociously, so production should be controlled on young vines to prevent delays in establishment.


Jupiter:  This early maturing blue variety has large berries on medium sized clusters. This is a great disease resistant seedless variety with a distinct muscat flavor! The leaves can be used for stuffing. Jupiter does require fungicide sprays for successful production.

We got them from:

Double A Vineyards

http://www.doubleavineyards.com/

They are all self rooted.  That means they are ungrafted.  We had grafted grapes and all but one turned into Concord seeded grapes.  Really sucked.  They all came up from below the graft and our fantasies of delicious pink, red, blue and white seedless grapes all fell into the dirt.

Hopefully these will do better.

Hubby dug five large holes.  He also had to string up another set of wires since we apparently didn't have an available spot for one of the grapes.  I helped him place them and then he shoveled dirt while I packed the soil around the roots.  Here's to hoping that we get delicious grapes and raisins with in a couple of years.

No photos.  The #%^@*&# blankety-blank camera is malfunctioning.  I just bought it in January at Costco. It is called a CoolPix camara.  I can't find the receipt and don't know if they will take it back.  Poop!