Sunday, November 4, 2018

NEW TECHNOLOGY



NEW TECHNOLOGY (for me)

I have been talking new cell phone for a few months now. Samsung S7 or S8. If money were not an issue I would choose the S9 Note. But it is and a new S7 out of the box was "rolled back" and cost appropriate. Son has had one for over a year now and loves it. 

One of the reasons to up-grade was for the photos and video. The two photos above were taken on a rainy day off of our front porch. Only editing was the size of the photo for blogging. I could have enhanced in Photoshop, but wanted to see how the cell phone camera grabbed these late fall colors as is. 

I have been a photography buff for over 50 years and to have a multi-use tool that is also a great camera means no lugging camera gear. Another upside is that it is always with me at home and on the road. Good basic photography always at hand is much better than a Canon camera left in the bag at home.
I also like that video has image stabilization - which I need at my age.


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NO ACORNS THIS YEAR


In most years past, the ground pictured around the bird feeder is covered with fallen acorns. They have ripened and fallen, wind helped plus squirrels tripping from treetop to treetop knocking them to the ground. 

But the barren ground, seen here, this season is usually covered to the degree that walking this path would be walking a path of freshly fallen acorns. 

Last year was an abundant year and the squirrel and chipmunk families flourished. What mother nature has provided in years past, she is not providing this year.

Chipmunks and squirrels clean the scraps scratched off from the bird feeder. But due to the desire of these critters to want to nest in our garage, I am not feeding them now.

When snow is on the ground and the garage doors remain down other than our coming and going, I will be the good caretaker and feed the little buggers. But for now, the squirrel and chipmunk rendition program is in affect. Wife says the hardest part of all of this is getting the little black hoods over their heads. 

Squirrels and chipmunks are not being hurt, just relocated using Have-a-Heart traps. In fact, I have not caught one in the garage for well over a week now. Sign of a successful program. 

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5 MINUTE ARTISAN BREAD



Dough keeps for two weeks in the fridge and the flavor of the baked bread increases as the bread refrigerates. 

The dough for this particular loaf was mixed 4 days ago. Baked for 30 minutes at 450 degrees.

Winter is here. If you are not a bread maker or are a hater of warm home made bread smothered in butter, than change your evil ways. 

A warm slice of bread with butter is a meal in of itself. Can you just picture a slice of this in your lunch box tomorrow?


While I am at it!

Ham and Bean soup

I used two cans of pinto beans. One can was blended in a little water using an immersion hand mixer and added at the end of an hour simmer. This is the secret to any good bean soup giving it thickness and flavor. 

I used 4 cups of real chicken broth and a little more water for pot size. 

I used leftover ham and ham pieces from the freezer. Ham is always in our holiday season meal routine. Save your leftover ham pieces and make this soup this winter. Add some cooked elbow macaroni noodles for more flavor and bulk. Even better the next day. 

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BREAKING A HABIT

I have said here several times that it takes about three weeks to break a habit. It works. 

But I cheated the other day and tuned into an NFL game in progress. That lasted 5 minutes before I turned off the TV and went on with other projects and interests. My longstanding interest in watching NFL football is gone.  Erased with no after taste.

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ELECTIONS IN TWO DAYS

Locally and across the nation, this election will be one of the most important in our nation's history.  

Neither a far right nor a far left agenda is good for this country. 

We have stood fast for years and years working peace in our country without world wars on our home lands. Maybe all these years have made us soft and we think that this has always been and thus will always be the way. In truth, this nation and freedom have always been under attack. Always and if you read history, you know this to be true.

My hopes are high but so are my fears. There is currently a lot of talk and actions of violence. Skimming headlines, I am also seeing more and more talk of inevitable wars coming. Also more common now are stories and fuzzy pics of alien space craft.  Absolutely nothing surprises me anymore. 

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HEAVY RAINS AND LOCAL RIVERS OVER THEIR BANKS

This happens a few times a year when we get the heavy rains moving up from the south coupled with a weather pattern that is stationary over our state for a day or two. Over 2" of rain in the past 24 hours. 





River noticeably over its banks and just with in a few feet of the bottom of a covered bridge. 



Photo taken from inside the covered bridge looking west. Banks over flowed. 


Another local covered bridge with river water over flowing into the adjacent flatland's. 














Same bridge and normal river flow earlier this year. 
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Work, play, love and for Goodness sake, laugh often.

Get out and vote Tuesday.   

Thanks for the visit. I appreciate. 











2 comments:

  1. Your words are always kind and wise, well needed on a day like today in my life. I was going to make biscuits for our ham and split pea soup. Bread looks good too. Thanks sir, hi to the misses.

    ReplyDelete