Saturday, February 4

This is February in South Texas

Butch brought me a cold from the pool hall again. I am not thankful. We are both going to live through a very unpleasant few days.


I purchased a new camera. It is an upgrade to my Fuji and this time I have a Nikon Super Zoom S9000. A friend of mine here in the park has one and I have been very impressed with her pictures. The phone pictures are fine but the quality is lacking. My photography hobby has been life long but in my youth it was outside my budget as film and developing and a quality camera were too costly. Besides that, every time I read anything about camera settings and lenses my eyes would glaze over. If you start firing numbers at me my mind goes into rejection mode.
Here is a link to the camera I purchased. There is a learning curve to this camera but these days there is to everything with the least bit of technology.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?N=11127274&InitialSearch=yes&sts=suggestions-pi&typedValue=P900+

Wednesday, February 1

6th grade Barbie Brock

😉

100th day!

Here is a conversation between me and my granddaughter Amanda about her daughter Elise on Facebook

Barbara Brooker This is a joke, right? Or is this the latest fashion for 6 year olds?
LikeReply121 mins
Amanda Sue It was the 100th day of school so they were supposed to dress up like they are 100 years old. It's hard to tell in the picture but her hair was white too.
LikeReply12 mins
Barbara Brooker Amanda Sue Oh shucks! I thought perhaps fashion was finally catching up with me!LOL
LikeReply17 mins
Amanda Sue Lol, on the 100th day it has. I was not dressed up and got asked if I was 100, so apparently the fashion has caught up with me as well!! 😂
LikeReply6 mins


Saturday, January 28

Book recommendation

Here is a book recommendation from my friend Mickey:
"Have you read "See Me" by Nicholas Sparks. Best book I've listened to ever. Hope I can get to sleep. Scary "

Thursday, January 26

Fun with Pictures

I have been preparing a slideshow  for the parks annual Show and Tell day that takes place each March. In so doing I have had an external hard drive connected to the computer that contains older photos not only from this park but way back to other places we have lived...waaaaay back. It has been fun and very time consuming to be looking these pictures over and I thought I might share some with you all on occasion.
This is my sister Jayne with Angel. Taken in 1995

And this is my niece Karla, Jayne's daughter.

Controlling the Zebra (Computer tip)

Now, do I have your attention? What do zebras have to do with computers you ask? Actually, nothing at all. But we wanted a way to help you remember a very important keyboard shortcut that can help you erase mistakes faster than a Mr.Clean Magic Eraser.
This morning, I wanted to copy 22 files from one folder to another. I selected all 22 files, right-clicked on them, chose “Move to” —> My new folder. Voilà! Just like that all 22 files disappeared from the original folder and appeared in the new folder… just like magic. Not so magic. The original folder was empty. Woe. Woe. Woe. But, luckily I remembered the zebra. That’s how I remember it, because that’s how I first learned it.
As soon as I realized I had moved the files instead of copying them, I just pressed CTRL + Z and all those files were back in their original folder. Like magic. So, I had a second chance to do what I wanted to do – copy the files from one folder to another, not move them.
You can use the zebra in most Windows applications. It’s officially called the “Undo command”, but we think you’ll remember the zebra better. Next time you want to undo something you didn’t mean to do, try CTRL+Z.

Tuesday, January 24

Our Jefferson friends

Our Jefferson friends got together at Mickey's house. We miss all of them and the lively conversation that always takes place during these fun times. Mickey took the picture and cooked the food so she isn't in this photo but I thank her for sending it.
.
Left to Right- Dee, Pat, Sue, Dugan, Sharon, Larry, Jack H., Jack L.

Saturday, January 21

Father time and Mother nature

Both of them are up to no good. What used to take me 10 minutes now takes 30 and that is one of the more upbeat things I can tell you about. I have been sorting through pictures I have saved for the past 17 years. I have them all on an external hard drive. I admit I had not sorted and labeled like I should have when I put them on the external drive but I did get them saved at least. It too has been a mixed blessing- always fun to look at old pictures but in so doing something else that you should be doing does not get done.
I do tell people who think their pictures are not flattering, if they wait 10 years they will have a very different opinion. My spare tire is much bigger now than it was 10 years ago!
So for want of something really cool to post I will give you some pictures from an earlier time.
Butch and his sister Marlene at one of the Kelley kids wedding.

I just noticed the photo bomb in the back but I will leave it in.

Butch doing one of his least favorite things to do. This was our mobile home in Cumberland Ia.

Sunday, January 15

Iowa weather report- Carroll and Greene Counties.

Weather Report from Jefferson Iowa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXItYc1glPs&sns=fb

Marlene and Bernard's 66th anniversay

Saturday, Butch and I were invited to help Marlene and Bernard celebrate their 66th wedding anniversary. Bernard related it was a fairly warm January day in Iowa the day they married 66 years ago.
We played several hands of cribbage before going to dinner at Logan's steak house and then several more when we returned. I think the win/lose tally ended up about even. Marlene and I are partners against the guys when we play. We had a very good time and the meal was the best I have enjoyed for quite some time.

Friday, January 13

My oh my!!

I have been so busy just living life, doing laundry, fixing meals etc. etc. and in the process, I have been neglecting my 14-year-old blog. Even I have trouble believing that I have been so neglectful of my baby blog!
I have been enjoying my friends and two walks a day and whatever little pleasures I bump into through the process.
This morning was computer class and we side-tracked to a Netflix movie of "Babies". I enjoyed it as much the second time as the first.
When Butch gets home from the pool hall we have been tuning in to a series that we keep track of on Netflix. Tonights feature was a new "Hell on Wheels" episode. We have 4 more to go till we are caught up on that one. Fortunately there are many more good selections.
 Public television is a life blood for us in Iowa but in South Texas it is a dismal imitation. In fact in the past week they have not been broadcasting at all for 4 days so far out of the last 7.

Here are a couple of blasts from the past that I randomly picked.
Taken in Hillman Michigan 2010 

Taken in Glidden Iowa in 2012? I think.

Tuesday, January 10

Myrla and Tara

My sister Myrla and her friend Tara at Christmas time. Myrla is the short one.

And a chuckle for you.


Interesting to some...

There is a lady in our park whose name is Joyce and I think she has a striking resemblance to our friend Donna who among other things, is also Mickey's sister.
Now to be fair I did not give Joyce any opportunity to Gussie-up as they say. From experience, I am guessing neither of them will see the resemblance.
Donna

Donna

Joyce

Joyce

Wednesday, January 4

Memories...

Mickey ran across this picture of Colleen and me from over a year ago and sent it to me. So glad she did. Brought back many memories of a fun time. The circumstance of the photo was this: Colleen had dropped her computer and we were trying to retrieve important stuff from this ailing computer. Sorry to say we were not successful but we sure had fun trying.
This was taken in the condo Mickey was living in at the time.


Tuesday, January 3

Happy New Year!

So we are into the new year already and the days are zipping by gaining speed with every minute. We have been hanging around doing the things we always do and taking much longer to get them done. I have made several bracelets in the past week, two ISU bracelets among them. I started working on Cyclone and Hawkeye bracelets a couple of years ago and then I lost interest for a while but have picked them up again this season.
These are all experimental but I am getting closer to my own approval rating all the time. Not there yet but the closest one is in the middle of the picture.
Haven't worked on the Hawkeye ones as yet. Black is kind of boring to be honest. I knew I needed to post something to keep your interest so this is it for today.

Saturday, December 31

Things on my mind

I spent two hours straight making this bracelet. It has been a long time since I was so focused and immersed in a project. I did not bring the beads it took to make this bracelet so I have been working with Peggy's beads. Thus Peggy's bracelet!
Other things get put aside when I am having this kind of fun so gaps in the blog are now accounted for.

I have had two instances where people have not turned on their computer for a year. They either were not big computer users to begin with or have switched to their phones for all. The problem with doing that is that they do not function correctly until updates and maintenance have been completed. Turning it on for a few minutes for a specific reason can end up taking hours or not work at all. I remember when I worked on a friends computer she found in the back of a closet while moving. It took a week to get it updated and that was leaving it on all the time and shutting it down and restarting it frequently. If you have a computer that you do not use the old adage 'use it or lose it' comes to mind. You would benefit from selling it or donating it if years will pass before turning it on again. 

I recently read a good article about backing up your computer to an external or internal hard drive and being able to easily choose what is backed up and how often. Let me know if you would like to see the article and I will email it to you.

The propane guy stopped by to see if we needed any propane. It was still on half full but I had him top it off. He said business has been really slow due to the warm weather. He also wished me Happy New Year and said please do not drink and drive. You must leave that to the professionals! Gladly!!

Just finished our walk. Butch, Peggy and I have a reputation in the park as the walkers. You can set your watch by us. 10:00 and 4:00. Our route is 1.2 miles and we times it by two. It is not good for weight loss but is perfect to keep all systems working. Staying healthy in the warmth of deep south Texas!


Monday, December 26

Miss Elise

She has a flare. Elise with her friend Maddox.


And here she is with her new doll, Belle.

Sunday, December 25

Santa Jason

Santa Jason looks cheerful! His lovely wife Laura said she didn't think this picture was suitable for social media because he was in his underwear but who would know! Looks like Santa is nearly ready for the beach!