8/09/2017
4/11/2017
Steam Train and Boats
On Saturday Mark drove us all down to Williton to ride the West
Somerset Railway steam train.
Jessica, Ada, cousin Lola and I rode from Williton to Washford (5 or 6 miles).
We were supposed to get off at Watchit, but we misunderstood the number of stops and went on to the next one by mistake. But Mark drove over and picked us up and brought us back to Watchit.
There is a harbor there, so we got to see lots of boats -- all sitting on the mud in the harbor because the tide was out. The Bristol Channel has the second highest tide range in the world. At the Port of Bristol the mean range is 31.5 feet. So all along the channel, when the tide goes out the boats sit on the bottom.
Jessica, Ada, cousin Lola and I rode from Williton to Washford (5 or 6 miles).
We were supposed to get off at Watchit, but we misunderstood the number of stops and went on to the next one by mistake. But Mark drove over and picked us up and brought us back to Watchit.
There is a harbor there, so we got to see lots of boats -- all sitting on the mud in the harbor because the tide was out. The Bristol Channel has the second highest tide range in the world. At the Port of Bristol the mean range is 31.5 feet. So all along the channel, when the tide goes out the boats sit on the bottom.
3/05/2017
iPhoneotomy
One of our phones had a face plant on the kitchen tile floor. It was still working fine, but didn't look so good.
After searching for help on the Web, it was decided that it was worth the $25 investment to order the replacement display and try a replacement.
The replacement part looked like this. (This is actually the old one, face down.)
Tiny screws were involved...
Lo and behold, the phone looks much better and still works...mostly. It does everything it is supposed to, but throws 'watchdog timeout' error logs. The other phone doesn't do that. It also spontaneously rebooted itself periodically for a while, but it has been stable all day today.
Overall, we're happy.
After searching for help on the Web, it was decided that it was worth the $25 investment to order the replacement display and try a replacement.
The replacement part looked like this. (This is actually the old one, face down.)
Tiny screws were involved...
Lo and behold, the phone looks much better and still works...mostly. It does everything it is supposed to, but throws 'watchdog timeout' error logs. The other phone doesn't do that. It also spontaneously rebooted itself periodically for a while, but it has been stable all day today.
Overall, we're happy.
2/03/2017
Bob is Back
He/she walked up from the creek along our back retaining wall, and settled down under the bushes next to the neighbors driveway.
12/22/2016
Multipadding
Danielle is no longer challenged by using only one iPad...
Naomi and Danielle and Pa made sock snowmen following the pattern Naomi learned.
Danielle's had long hair with gold baubles. And a skirt!
Naomi and Danielle and Pa made sock snowmen following the pattern Naomi learned.
Danielle's had long hair with gold baubles. And a skirt!
11/08/2016
Window Shopping
Thinking about going downtown triggered another memory.
Hanging out at the mall is not a new idea!
My Mom used to take me with her to downtown SA when she went "window shopping". I believe we took the bus downtown (sometimes we
drove our 1940 Chevrolet). She would spend what seemed to me (at age 10 or so)
HOURS walking from store to store to look at things. I wasn't sure what, but I
assume clothing and household things.
One of the highlights for me was Joske's Department store.
It was located across a side street from the Alamo .
(We never went to see the Alamo then. It was just an old mission building only
history buffs cared much about. I didn't see the inside until my elementary
class went there on a field trip -- probably around 5th grade.)
I liked going to Joske's because they had a great toy department.
That's where I bought my Stallion 45 Six Shooter cap gun, with removable
cartridges, with money I had saved up from doing chores. (Probably with a
subsidy from my Mom...)
I had to go to Joske's buy the boxes of little individual round
caps to load the cartridges. They were kind of expensive, so I learned to use
regular roll caps and tear them into small enough pieces to fit down in the
shell of the cartridge. Eventually, it was more trouble than it was worth to
reload the caps, so I just made explosive noises with my voice when I played cowboys
and Indians with my friends. With caps, the Stallion 45 was good for only six
shots. With self-made noises, it never ran out…a definite advantage when you
were shooting it out with the Outlaw from next door or the imaginary Indians
circling around you on their ponies.
http://www.nicholscapguns.com/45pasadena.htm
Cap guns then were kind of like light sabers are today.
Remember the Milam! (Building)
Recently there was an op-ed
article in the McKinney Courier-Gazette (Ken Byler - a real curmudgeon. I like
him.) that mentioned the Railroad Commission as the most mis-named office in the
world. I think it said that 80% of Texans have no idea it has nothing to do with regulating railroads.
A nice little history:
The Wikipedia
article mentions that the TRC offices were located in the Milam
Building in downtown San Antonio .
That was the building where my Dad started his CPA business in the early 50's. I remember visiting his office with him, and also going to the studio of KTSA radio, which was in the same building. I believe he did some accounting work for them.
That was the building where my Dad started his CPA business in the early 50's. I remember visiting his office with him, and also going to the studio of KTSA radio, which was in the same building. I believe he did some accounting work for them.
That reminds me of
the time I went with him on his bubble gum machine route . We drove all around
downtown SA in his Cadillac Coupe (old used - 1941, I think. I kind of remember it was a year newer than our 1940 Chevrolet sedan. It was a kind of
moss green color).
We stopped a all kinds of shops and stores, reloading his gumball machines and collecting the pennies from them. He
would roll the pennies at home in the evening. I believe he used a postal scale
to weigh them, rather than count them. I still have a couple of Indian Head
pennies he gave me from those machines.
I had access to all the gumballs I wanted; they came in boxes that were about 12 inches on each side. (It wasn't long until I was sick of gumballs.) Towards the end of his ownership of the route, he introduced the latest thing - chlorophyll gumballs. They were green and tasted like a sweet plant. It wasn't too long after that when he sold the route.
At one stop, a shop of some sort (maybe a clock shop?) the proprieter took us upstairs where he kept some pigeons, to show us the baby pigeons that had just hatched.
11/05/2016
Acorns
Update 11/19/16 - There are so many acorns the squirrels aren't bothering to pick them up to store for winter.
Our oak trees are having a bumper crop of acorns this year. These are from the red oak in the back yard.
Not as sincere as a field of pumpkins, but notably numerous nonetheless.
Our oak trees are having a bumper crop of acorns this year. These are from the red oak in the back yard.
Not as sincere as a field of pumpkins, but notably numerous nonetheless.
11/01/2016
Technobservation
The only justifiable use for computers is to keep homeless shelters from filling up with programmers.
10/17/2016
5/28/2016
D.A.W.G (Dallas Agility Working Group) Contest
We went out to the Myers Park & Event Center to see a real live Dog Agility contest, sponsored by the aforementioned DAWG. It was fun, in a canine sort of way.
The photos here are mostly blurry images of a dog with a sharp image of its owner. Cheap camera...
Most of the dogs were pretty much engaged in the contest
...but a couple were decidedly indifferent.
The humans, on the other hand, were totally engaged!
This dog was FAST ...
As was this surprisingly spry lady! (The little doglet...not so much.)
We only saw the "jumping" competition, which included a couple of tunnels. We could see some other obstacles, such as pyramid ramps, but we supposed those will be used in later classes.
The photos here are mostly blurry images of a dog with a sharp image of its owner. Cheap camera...
Most of the dogs were pretty much engaged in the contest
...but a couple were decidedly indifferent.
The humans, on the other hand, were totally engaged!
This dog was FAST ...
As was this surprisingly spry lady! (The little doglet...not so much.)
We only saw the "jumping" competition, which included a couple of tunnels. We could see some other obstacles, such as pyramid ramps, but we supposed those will be used in later classes.
11/25/2015
Hornucopia Thanksgiving
We were blessed with a beautiful sunset sky at our stop in Meridian, MS as we followed the storm front from home to Julie and Tony's.
We enjoyed having lunch at school with John and Christopher.
John read a bedtime story to Ada and Christopher.
Arthur seemed to like the house we stayed in for our Thanksgiving gathering.
Mark enjoys reading to Ada and Arthur.
Of course, we had the traditional Cream Chipped Beef breakfast - at least once.
Happy stair climber.
One enjoyable outing was a hike at a nearby YMCA area.
Hitting the trail.
Bridge over the creek.
There was a fun activities area with a giant see-saw. With enough sticks and logs, the two younger hikers balanced out.
Everyone got in the act.
Jenny walked the tight-rope setup... with a little help.
Stalwart hikers.
Happy hikers.
After the hiking, and lunch, there were some new games in the driveway.
Score keeping - who got the most bags in their bucket!
We enjoyed having lunch at school with John and Christopher.
John read a bedtime story to Ada and Christopher.
Arthur seemed to like the house we stayed in for our Thanksgiving gathering.
Mark enjoys reading to Ada and Arthur.
Of course, we had the traditional Cream Chipped Beef breakfast - at least once.
Happy stair climber.
One enjoyable outing was a hike at a nearby YMCA area.
Hitting the trail.
Bridge over the creek.
There was a fun activities area with a giant see-saw. With enough sticks and logs, the two younger hikers balanced out.
Everyone got in the act.
Jenny walked the tight-rope setup... with a little help.
Stalwart hikers.
Happy hikers.
After the hiking, and lunch, there were some new games in the driveway.
Score keeping - who got the most bags in their bucket!
11/07/2015
A Bit of Computer History
(1) The world's first Web Page:
The home page for Tim Berners-Lee's project proposal for the World Wide Web:
http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html
(Interesting that it is still out there, basically unchanged from 1989.)
(2) The first movie promotion web sites.
"Space Jam"
http://www.warnerbros.com/archive/spacejam/movie/jam.htm
"You've Got Mail":
http://youvegotmail.warnerbros.com/
Note that this blog greatly resembles (1)!
The home page for Tim Berners-Lee's project proposal for the World Wide Web:
http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html
(Interesting that it is still out there, basically unchanged from 1989.)
(2) The first movie promotion web sites.
"Space Jam"
http://www.warnerbros.com/archive/spacejam/movie/jam.htm
"You've Got Mail":
http://youvegotmail.warnerbros.com/
Note that this blog greatly resembles (1)!
10/29/2015
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