TO HAT OR NOT TO HAT

MAYBE IT'S TIME TO HANG UP THE OLD HAT & JUST GET A BUZZ CUT

I have never cared much for hats over the years & remained mainly hatless up until about 3 years ago when we began spending more RV time on the road. Seemed everytime I tried wearing a hat I ended up looking like some kind of nerd pickle or something & it was rare to see me under a hat. But, RVing had a way of changing all that. There are very few RV people out there who have ever seen me without a hat. Maureen from the MnMnM's http://www.adventureswithmnm.blogspot.com/ once remarked, "if you weren't wearing your hat Al you just wouldn't look right. I didn't have the heart to tell her I'm not gonna look right with or without a hat anyway!!

So, what's the deal with wearing hats for RVing & not wearing hats while back home. Well, it's all got to do with good & bad hair days. I'm one of those people with a full head of hair that has a mind of it's own. No matter what my hair looks like when I go to bed at night it does not look the same when I wake up in the morning. I don't know what goes on in the night that wrecks my head up so bad but I'll bet if I set up a web cam it would show a speeding freight train rumbling over my skull or a tornado coming in the window & dancing on my head. My hair resembles an uncontrolled explosion every morning. I look like the proverbial kid who stuck his finger in a light socket & there is no comb, brush, or garden rake, that can do anything about it either. My hair has a natural curl to it & those errant twists & turns can be downright scary in the morning's mirror. Not nice!!

Only one solution to the problem.....water, & lots of it!! My raggle taggle moppity hair is one of the reasons for my daily hot morning shower while living here in the stick house. Water & shampoo is the only way to get my head back under control again for the start of another day. Lots of water & lots of shampoo. Now, that's all fine & good when you have lots of water to work with but when boondocking out in the desert there is no such thing as lots of water.....ever!! Showers may have to be stretched out to around the 4 day mark. If I were to stray outside in those 4 or 5 days without a hat on I would scare the barbs right off the cactus, the rattles right off the rattlesnakes, & the Gila right out of the Gila Monster. I am not a pretty sight in the morning!!

There is just enough of that old long haired hippy left in me to prevent myself from getting a buzz cut but I sure have been thinking about it lately. RVing & short hair just kind of make a lot of good darn sense when ya think about it. Might not have to wear so many hats then & I could get back to just simply looking like a nerd again instead of nerd pickle...............................................:))

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

WHY ISN'T A FOOTLONG.....A FOOT LONG!!!!

I ALREADY HAD A COUPLE BITES OUT OF MY "FOOTLONG" BEFORE I THOUGHT TO TAKE A PICTURE OF IT

It's never quite spring each year until I've made my annual trip to the south end of Bayfield for my foot long hot dog with the works. The Woodland Drive-In has just opened for another season & I was there at noon. And, just as in other years, I asked myself the same question. Why isn't the footlong hot dog a foot long?? To be sure, I once again measured the dog with my trusty tape measure from the glove box & sure enough it came out to 9 inches. Why is that!!!! If your going to call it a footlong hot dog then make it a foot long!! Why can't the butcher & the baker get to-gether & agree to match their products to 12 inches. What is so hard about that. Or, maybe the Drive-In should be advertising them as, "9 inchTube Steaks" or "Mini- Footlongs" or "Stretched Dogs" or "Shortened Pig in a Blanket" or "Swine in Nine!!" Or maybe they should just knock off 10 cents an inch or something.

And why is that everytime I go to put an electrical plug into a socket it is never the right way round. The fat prong is always at the smaller hole & vice versa. And since when did extension cords have to have minds of their own. No matter how straight I lay out a long extension cord, as soon as I turn my back it puts a kink in itself & the longer I'm away the more kinkier it gets!! Tangled extension cords can reduce me to tears in seconds:(( And garden hoses.....where do they get off thinking they're so smart. Try & walk anywhere with a garden hose in your hand & it's going to snag itself on something. Even if there's nothing there to snag on, it's going to snag itself anyway just to be miserable. And to add insult to injury, it will kink itself as well. I call that double jeopardy. A kink & snag!! Kinks & snags can reduce me to tears in seconds:(( And how about whenever you bend over to pick something up you have to drop it!! I call that...... pick & drop. Happens to me almost everytime & maybe three or four times in a row on a bad day. Hate when that happens. And why does the shovel, rake, or whatever long handled device you lean against a tree or something, have to fall over as soon as you turn your back. I have leaned garden rakes against things, stood there & stared at it to make sure it wouldn't fall, turned around to walk away......."clunk!!" And how come I can't hit a nail on the head like everybody else. Last week I was nailing up some old pine fence rails with 5 inch nails. No big deal except it would take me 10 swings at that nail to hit it twice. And when I did hit it, the nail would go in crooked or go flying off over the fence somewhere!! Hammers & nails can reduce me to tears in seconds:((

I do have one good thing on my side though. A darn good handy & patient wife. I was trying to put air in one of the Santa Fe's tires yesterday morning. Getting air into a tire for me has always been a major feat. I don't know why but it just has. Had the compressor going full tilt but try as I might the air just wouldn't co-operate again. Kelly walks over, picks up the hose, puts it on the valve & whoosh, all the happy little air particles merrily rush off into the tire. Same thing happened about a month ago on the ranch in Arizona when I was trying to blow up a bicycle tire. No way Jose!! Kelly comes over & whoosh, away go the little air guys again. These kinds of happenings are almost a daily occurrence at our house but instead of looking on the negative side of things & my limited abilities, I have to look on the positive side & be thankful I have a mechanically patient, calm, cool, & collected wife who understands her husband is a bit of an impatient boob when it comes to handyman things. But hey.......I'm still pretty darned good at getting stuck on lids off jars & stuff..............:))

Sorry I didn't have any better pictures than a half eaten hot dog to-day. Maybe to-morrow I'll get some clear shots of a UFO or something. And maybe one of these days I'll get enough photos to-gether to put up another web album again:))

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

A FEW SUNRISES & SUNSETS I HAVE KNOWN

Tuesday was one of those cold, damp, gray, & windy days so it was a good one for doing inside things. Hardly set foot out the door all day. Over the past few years of traveling I have taken a few sunrise & sunset photos along the way & I figured Tuesday was a good time to gather them all to-gether & work on putting the pictures into a separate photo gallery on my Smug Mug site. I have entitled the album, "A Few Sunrises & Sunsets I Have Known." The "Slideshow" button is on the upper right & when it opens you should see a film strip across the top which will go away, but before it does, look to the far left & choose a slideshow speed. I recommend "fast" or else you could be stuck in front of your monitor for awhile:)) Click the link below....................................

http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/gallery/7913561_B426M#507728670_4AUHL


We finally had ourselves a decent weather day with actual sunshine & warmer temperatures to-day. The outside water valve below our unit finally thawed out enough to turn on for another season. We have peeper frogs in our small pond out front & they sure love to get their little peepers going at night. A true sign of spring. And Robins are building nests in our carport. Lots of crocus flowers out. Ducks & Geese on the big pond across the road & Turkey Vultures are back circling on the winds overhead above the swaying pine trees. Truly the second nicest time of the year. Autumn is my favorite:))

Had an opportunity to do a little photo work for an engineering company nearby this morning. I had stopped at the work site to take some photos of the fellows digging a large hole when a man approached me & identified himself as the head engineer on the project. They had just uncovered a pipe & the engineer had forgot to bring his camera which was a 2 hour drive back to his office. It was important for them to have photos taken of that pipe before they covered it up again. I happily obliged & did a series of photos as the engineer placed markers & an identifying clipboard near the pipe. The emailed photos are already on his desk. It's always a nice feeling to be in the right place at the right time when called upon to be of assistance. I like when that happens:))

Might even be a nice enough day to clean up the motorcycle to-morrow..........:)) OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

THE DAY RAN OUT OF HOURS:((

The day just seemed to run out of hours all of a sudden to-night somehow:(( Working on a little photo project but didn't get it finished so hope to have it done for to-morrow night...........................Toodles

A COMPROMISE BETWEEN THE LAPTOP & DESKTOP

INTERNET CAFE IN DOWNTOWN SILVER CITY NEW MEXICO...Saturday November 29/08

Thanks to all the folks for their input on our website photo re-sizing.

This morning I reached a compromise regarding the website photo fitting the laptop & the desktop & it all has to do with the number that is inputted in Picasa's Export menu. The size number that worked for Rex was 945. The number I'm using right now for the current picture is 910. When I first started out a couple days ago working on this little project I was using the laptop & found that by increasing that 945 number I was able to stretch the photo perfectly across within the yellow border parameter lines. Think I was using 1045 or 1200. However, when I checked the desktop the photo had bled off the right side of the screen. This morning I worked those numbers again & got the photo to fit perfectly on the desktop with 910. But, this meant the laptop picture no longer fit the border format perfectly & was smaller with wider gray borders at either end. Figured that was OK & looked better than having it bleed off the screen on the desktop. Therefore a compromise was reached. Also should mention both laptop & desktop screens should be maximized for best results. Now, here's a tip if you decide to work on your blog header picture. I crop a lot of my photos which in turn alters the size of the picture & that's why I had to work with the numbers to make the photo fit. I will probably have to do this most times I change pics. And, I will do it on the desktop next time which will ensure the better fit on the laptop right off the bat. I'm happy we were able to figure this out because the next step would have been a trip to the drugstore for a tube of Preparation X. Would have had to put the oversized photo on the monitor & then smear Preparation X all over the screen to shrink the photo down. Messy, messy, messy!! I would not recommend this procedure if you have small children, pets, or pesky in-laws at home..........:))

The photos I have been using lately for the website header are from City of Rocks State Park in New Mexico just southeast of Silver City. If you are in the area be sure to stop there & have yourself a look around. It's truly a city of rocks & is aptly named. Great place for kids with lots of fun rock scrambling. And it's Senior friendly too. It rained one of the days we were there & that added up to a great photo opportunity with stormy skies & wet rocks holding small desert rain puddles. Great place, don't miss it:)) The following links are to our web album & the photos of our 3 day stay at City of Rocks State Park New Mexico in November of 2008.........................

http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/ADAYATCITYOFROCKSSTATEPARKNEWMEXICO
http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/ACOLDRAINYDAYINSILVERCITY

http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/SATURDAYINSILVERCITYSUNDAYSEMORYPASS
http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/NOVEMBER26

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

STILL TWEAKING THE WEBSITE

TO-NIGHT'S SUNSET AT DEERPARK LODGE ON LAKE HURON....BAYFIELD ONTARIO

I'm still working on that picture format for the top of our blogger website. I downsized the oversized picture to-day. (city of rocks) On my laptop it fits within the yellow borders with a small gray space at either end. But.........on the desktop the picture is still large & bleeds off the right side past the border. The laptop & desktop screens are different sizes so maybe that has something to do with it. I'm kinda stymied again. Laurie from http://laurieandodel.blogspot.com/ mentioned that our site was slow to open this morning so I suspect the larger format photo at the top. Wondering if anyone else is having that problem & does the photo fit within the yellow blogline frame on your computer or bleed off to the right side??? Ohhhhh, the trials & tribulations we bloggers face...............................

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

THE CASE OF THE DISAPPEARING RANT:))

"SMOKIN" THE KEYBOARD!!

Well, some of you may have noticed that last night's blog about CNN kind of disappeared to-day. Don from Manitoba sent an email wondering if someone had told me it was politically incorrect. Well, yes somebody did.........Me!! As sometimes happens after writing a blog, I have second thoughts about either the subject matter or the way I wrote it. Last night & this morning it was really bugging me about some of the words I had used & a couple of phrases were not sitting quite right either. But, I do stand behind the subject matter!! So, after reading some emails from a few more followers I have decided to re-post it. I did change a few words & took out a few phrases. Don't think it's right for me to refer to somebody else as stupid, even if.......well, you know.

And a big thanks to Rex from The Happy Campers http://www.rexandmary.blogspot.com/ for sending along a tip on how to re-size that top photo on our blog. I've got a little tweaking to do yet but basically his tip worked. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I passed it along here........

"I GO TO PICSA3 PICTURE EDITING, A FREE PROGRAM FROM GOOGLE, EDIT MY PICTURE AND THEN HIT "EXPORT" A LITTLE BUTTON AT THE BOTTOM. WHEN THE NEXT BOX COMES UP ABOUT HALF WAY DOWN CLICK RESIZE AND TYPE IN "945" PIXELS. CLICK "OK".
GO TO MY PICTURES, OPEN THE FOLDER PICASA EXPORTS AND THEN UPLOAD THAT PICTURE TO YOUR HEADER."

Ok, now for last night's re-appearing rant................

TICKED OFF AT CNN NEWS!!
Probably all the news channels use this "bait the viewer" ploy in their newscasts but since we mainly watch CNN News my complaint is with them. Like dangling a carrot in front of a donkey's nose to get him moving, newscasts regularly use the same bait ploy to drag viewers through a whole newscast. They will often say something like, "coming up after this" then cut to a million commercials. You end up sitting there waiting for the "coming up after this" story right to the end of the newscast. It's an accepted part of duping viewers on the news channels but to-day they really ticked me off!!

Wolf Blitzer started off the usual 5 o'clock top of the hour with news bites of what's coming up in the next hour. One of those stories was about the Conficker Virus now infecting millions of computers. He indicated that it was a scam & eluded to the fact computer users were being taken. The newscast then led off with all the days news & dozens of re-runs they have been playing all day. This went on for an hour & every once in awhile between endless commercials he would say something like, "and coming up, new details on the Conficker Virus." By this time I was soooooo livid because I knew they were dragging the viewers through the newscast with the donkey's carrot.

Normally, this is a harmless, if not questionably ethical way of doing things and it was 5:57 P.M. before they did the Conficker story. A full 56 minutes after they first mentioned it. Story went on to say that people were being scammed by a pop up on the screen saying they could rid their computer of the Conficker Virus for $49.95. (not sure if that was the exact amount) By clicking on that banner or site or whatever it was, it just spread the virus further. And that's what the scam was. People were unknowingly infecting their computers by clicking on that ad.

Now here's my rub!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why in the screaming hell didn't they lead off with that story in the first place if they had that information in their hands. How many people in that hour fell victim to that scam because they didn't know. How many more computers were infected that didn't have to be. There may have been people on their computers in that hour watching CNN as well. That scam might have popped up on their screen & they may have fallen for it simply because CNN in their "bait the viewer" way of doing business chose to air that story dead last in their newscast. CNN seems to be sooooooooo focused on how many commercials they can possible jam onto the air between their snippets of news coverage. And how many times do you have to re-run the same old clips over & over all day long before the word ridiculous comes into play. And who makes those decisions. And what top paid fancy ass executive at CNN made the decision to-day to put that Conficker warning on at the end of the newscast instead of the beginning. Computer virus's are deadly serious to absolutely everyone & for Wolf Blitzer to stand there for a whole hour with the information he had in his hand to help stop or slow the virus down, & withhold it through the whole newscast was just plain wrong. Either change your tactics CNN or just roll over into the infomercial world.

By the way, I just finished reading Walter Cronkite's book, A Reporter's Life, & I strongly suggest ALL of to-day's news agency's read that book & seriously take to heart & re-learn the ethics of Journalism.

No, I didn't fall for that Conficker scam. I or the public simply do not like being treated as Donkey's, so stick that carrot where the sun don't shine CNN & get on with the business of treating your viewers with the intelligence they deserve!!

Geeeezzzz, gotta go get a fire extinguisher cause my keyboards on fire again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!