RESTING UP AS THE SEASON DRAWS TO A CLOSE

 

I’M THINKING THIS IS A HOUSE FINCH

And as another Christmas slides into the history books I breath a smiling sigh of relief & close the book on another season.  We talked this morning about heading off somewhere on a day trip but just didn't get it pulled to-gether.  Stayed on the ranch just relaxing & catching some rays.  Kelly spent time on the computer looking at real estate properties & prices in & around the Tucson area & I cleaned up some donkey do-do's in the corral.  Them there donkeys sure do do-do a lot!!

<< DOGS, DOGS, EVERYWHERE

Ever wonder how a herd of mosquitoes could hold back a truck??  Check Barneys, OLD FAT MAN'S ADVENTURES:))

Have been asked about that Christmas collage I put to-gether Christmas Eve & posted in the blog.  We had a few strings of chili lights plus a 40' section of rope lighting that we picked up really cheap at Wal-Mart a few days ago.  Kelly strung the lights in an apple tree beside the motorhome in the afternoon.  Plugged them in when it got dark & while sitting in my chair looking out the window I had myself an idea.  Took a few pictures through the screened window & by focusing on the screen itself & not the lights I was able to get that crosshair look with the out of focus lights in the background.  Slipped outside & took a few more unfocused & focused pictures.  Two of them in the collage actually have the night's half moon in them.  A few photos with the rig in the background completed the project.  Opened up my Picasa Editing program, did some cropping, enhanced some colors, threw in a couple special effects & clicked on the Collage button.  A bit of photo re-organizing in there & it was done.  In hindsight I wished I had thought to put our blogsite profile photos in as well.  Oh well, there's always next year.

  

KELLY PUTTING UP SOME CHRISTMAS LIGHTS THURSDAY

Ray had an interesting post on his Monday's QCC blog about photo manipulation & that kinda got me to thinking.  I'm sure there are two schools of thought on this & it boils down to the age old question of, what is art & where & how is it done??  I think there are very few professional photographers out there who do not run their fine photos through their very professional photo programs.  These people are making a living with their photographs & it's an extremely competitive field.  You have got to be the best of the best & if photos have to be enhanced & manipulated to reach the final end product for sale, then so be it & that is what is done.  But, that's the professional guys so we'll leave all that wrangling to them.

   

BIRDS IN OUR APPLE TREE BESIDE THE RIG

Having worked in the photo finishing business for awhile back in the mid 80's I understand a few things about enhancing & manipulating prints because I had to do it almost every day for people.  Now, I'm going back a few years before the digital age when everything was done on film.  Mainly 35mm, 126, & 110 film formats.  I worked for & managed a one hour photo finishing store in Stratford, Ontario.  I spent many countless hours sitting at one end of a large photo processing machine printing thousands & thousands of people's films day after day.  Most of it was 35mm.  If the processing chemicals in either the film or paper processing machines wasn't exactly correct it effected the quality of the prints in the end.  Could be as subtle as a color shift on the cyan or magenta side giving the prints a cool or warmer look than was actually the case when the person took the picture therefore unintentionally manipulating the prints color.  If the color print filters in the printer were not calibrated correctly each & every morning the prints once again were going to be 'off!!'  

 

CATCHING A FEW RAYS BY THE POOL TO-DAY

The printing machine itself was programmed to automatically adjust for each & every negative but in the end it's just a machine & that final decision as the film negative passed in front of the person doing the printing could be overridden by the printer person.  As I sat there hour after hour I would have to make snap decisions on each & every negative whether to override the machine or let it go.  As long as the negative was correctly exposed the machine did a great job but if a light or dark negative popped into the frame carrier I generally overrode the machine to try & compensate for the over exposed or underexpose negative.  In other words I manipulated a lot of prints everyday to make them look as good as I possible could.  Sometimes at the counter when people were picking up their prints they might comment on a particular picture saying how nice it turned out.  They didn't realize that in effect they had over or underexposed it but the person at the printer had caught the mistake & corrected it making it acceptable.

 

CAN YOU SEE THE FIGURE IN THE CLOUDS…..

Out of habit I work with every photo I take.  I crop a bit here, I enhance a color there, add some contrast for a darker effect, maybe add some yellow to warm up a sunset, or put a hint of color into a cloudy gray sky.  The camera cannot exactly reproduce the colors your eye sees.  Many times looking at a sunset I am seeing subtle shades & shadows.  I am seeing either soft or brilliant colors & hues.  Quite often when I load those photos into my computer I am not seeing exactly what I really saw & so begins the work of remembering that photo how I actually saw it.   The free Picasa Photo Editing program although not at the level of the expensive professional photo programs does a fine job for folks like myself who are not professionals but want their photos to look as good as they can with as little work as possible.  You can bring those dull colors to life, add a soft focus, give it a black & white effect or use any of a couple dozen other enhancements.  No, you can't put Aunt Sally's head on Uncle Charlie's masculine frame or drop the grandkids into a dogsled at the North Pole but you can, with a little bit of work, make your photos look a whole lot better.  Picasa is so perfectly suited to the blogger crowd for sure & if you enjoy seeing this beautiful world through a cameral like I do then you will take the time to reproduce your photos the same way I do:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  I've often wondered why Kamikaze pilots ever bothered to wear helmets!!

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

CHRISTMAS DINNER WITH FELLOW RV FRIENDS

CAN YOU TELL JERRY WAS HAPPY TO SEE US TO-DAY

When we first met JERRY & SUZY back in November here at the ranch for the cowboy cookie shoot-out they had asked us to come to their place in Benson for Christmas. So today, we went to Jerry & Suzy's for Christmas dinner. Jerry sent us some excellent directions so of course we got lost & had to phone him to see if he remembered where he lived. He did & once we all got our co-ordinates co-coordinated.......we drove around the block to their house.

Jerry & Suzy live in the Escapee Park just south of Benson. We had driven through there a little over a year ago but we didn't know them at that time. Jerry showed us around outside for a bit & I was able to remember a few things from reading his blog for the last 9 months. It was a chilly day so Suzy stayed inside where it was warm. Just a week ago to-day she had a shoulder replacement operation in Tucson & aside from her arm in a sling she was looking pretty darn good for having gone through a surgery like that. Said she can already feel an improvement in that shoulder.

We all sat around & kibitzed for a few hours, told a few tales, compared blogs & RV stories, & just generally all got to know each other better. Kelly & I don't socialize a whole lot anymore but the few people we do meet we always remember well. Suzy's healing shoulder curtailed her activities to-day so Jerry was the main man in the kitchen. The size of the prime roast that came out of the oven was the biggest one I've seen in years & reminded me of the huge roasts of beef my Mother would make every Sunday when I was growing up. We had a great supper, more kibitzing back & forth, some more pictures, & then it was 7:30 & time to head back to the ranch. We still had our chores to do & we knew we'd have some hungry critters waiting for us. Hugs & goodbyes & off we went into the night. We nearly ran off the road 4 times south of Tombstone while fighting over the cowboy cookies they had given us for Christmas.

There is a chance we may see Jerry & Suzy again sometime in March over around the Borrego Springs California area somewhere. They have a rally to attend in Yuma & then are heading for Borrego. RICK & PAULETTE will be in the neighborhood up around Palm Desert about the same time so there may be a meeting of the minds in the offing for the three Amigos, or D'umigos, or Dumb Egos......whatever applies:))

WELL, IF HE WASN'T SO DARNED TALL I WOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO CUT THE TOP OF HIS HEAD OFF!!

It's late, I talked too much to-day, I ate too much to-day, but I'll be darned if I'm going to blog too much to-day, so to all a good night & to all a day of good to-morrow:))

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Have you ever noticed that grandchildren grow faster than children & did you know a fool is a 27 story window washer who steps back to admire his work!!

OK EVERYBODY.....SMILE:))  >>

<< GARCON' OUR FRIENDLY HEAD WAITER FOR THE EVENING

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))

 

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Credit is a financial process that ensures you will be tired of most things before you actually own them!!

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

MELTING INTO THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT:))

SAND HILL CRANES HEADING FOR THEIR FEEDING GROUNDS WITH THIS MORNINGS SNOW COVERED MULE MOUNTAINS IN THE BACKGROUND

Tuesday's buffeting winds left quietly sometime during the night. We had gone to bed with our slides pulled in to lessen the noise & around 3 I woke up & all was quiet except for a pinging on the sides & rooftop of the motorhome which I just assumed was rain. Figured that was ok as long as the winds didn't come back so rolled over & headed for dreamland again. 

SNOWING THIS MORNING WHEN WE GOT UP!!

It was still dark when we both arose around 6 & when Kelly opened the door to let the little Motormouse out..........the ground was white!!!! Those pinging sounds I had heard earlier was rain transitioning to sleet & then snow. Needless to say it was quite a surprise to see snow all over the ground. We did see snow once before here back in February of this year & there was more of it at that time. The surrounding mountains were totally beautiful in their new white cloaks. Took a few pics & then hustled down to the corral & opened the pasture gate for the donkey's to come in. Had my favorite Christmas Carol playing in my head while watching the snowflakes falling slowly on the donkeys as they came happily trotting through the gate. Johnny Mathis singing, 'Sleigh Ride.' "Just here those sleigh bells jingle-ing, Ring ting tingle-ing too." I even hum that one in the summer time when I'm feeling happy:)) Fixed the donkey guys up a nice fresh bale of hay for breakfast & there were contented Hee-Haw's all the way around. I'm sure they were glad to get in with a roof over their heads because it was still snowing a bit & they looked pretty bedraggled.

I generally have myself a pre-Christmas bluster every year but as Christmas Eve draws closer the little boy in me comes trotting out of the past & puts this old cursmudgeon right in his place for a couple days. And you know what, I kinda like when that happens every year. But, more about that little boy later.

We needed a few groceries plus I was feeling a little Christmassy when I woke up this morning so we decided to slip over to Wal-Mart in Douglas. Besides, I wanted to see the snow covered mountains on both sides of the valley on the drive south.  I  also felt like a people fix & usually a half hour in Wal-Mart takes care of that for me. Kelly said the store was not busy yesterday so I took a chance that it still wouldn't be busy this morning,  And, it wasn't.  Nice to see the Christmas decorations, hear the Christmas Carols, & tune into the Christmas feeling tingling in the air. Not quite the same here in Arizona though when you have been used to over 60 years of gently falling snow on quiet winter nights. Twinkling colored lights melted into snow banks under evergreen trees & the soft crunch of new fallen snow under warm winter boots. Nope, not quite the same I thought to myself as we walked across a snowless parking lot back to the car in the warming rays of the morning sun.

ON THE WAY TO DOUGLAS ARIZONA THIS MORNING

Resurrected our Star Choice television satellite dish this afternoon & after some finagling with the elevation adjustment we were locked back onto the bird. Of course after the first couple sweeps of the sky when the signal was not found I was convinced the LMB was wrecked & was ready to throw the whole set-up in the garbage but Kelly persevered & with a tweak here & grunt there, all was right in AL's world again.

SLAM DUNKED TRIPOD
TUESDAY & SET UP AGAIN WEDNESDAY

Kelly picked up a nice string of cactus/cowboy boots lights a week ago so we have them hanging in the motorhome. I left them on last night when I went to bed because they cast a warm Christmassy glow inside making everything look so warm & cozy. When I awoke in the night & looked around I was reminded of those festive & fun Christmas times so many years ago when I was just a little feller. My first Christmas memory sometime in the late 40's was of being in an old department store in Woodstock Ontario & there were Christmas Carols playing. Large colorful red bells, wreaths, & decorations were all around me & everything seemed so big & so happy. Remember, I was just a little fellow probably only about 3 feet tall. I was with my Mom & Dad at the time. It's the only pleasant memory I have of them to-gether. They were later bitterly divorced when I was about 6 I think. But, I still have that memory & I kept that in my mind last night as I drifted off back to sleep. Despite all my pre-Christmas blusters, the little Christmas boy is still inside me playing happily with his memories of warm & fun filled Christmas's long ago:))

SNOWY DESERT MORNING

GROANER'S CORNER:(( I have a friend who is a real inventor. He took the fender from a Chevy, a motor from a Ford, & the transmission from a Mercedes Benz. D'ya know what he got for that? -- Three years!!

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/  
OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

BIG WINDS TO-DAY FLATTENED OUR SATELLITE DISH AGAIN!!!!

 

AND A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL FROM THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))

The wind came stealing in the night & robbed me a sound sleep.  The first gusts pummeled us about 3 a.m. waking me up & keeping me that way for the next 15 minutes.  I knew it was pointless to try & get back to sleep so I slowly hauled myself out of bed & flopped myself into the computer chair.  I had no more than done that when the wind quit & I heard it skipping away across the valley floor laughing to itself secure in the knowledge that I was now out of bed & wide awake.  And that's the way I stayed for the rest of the day!!

THIS IS OUR IDEA OF CHRISTMAS EVE:))  (Borrego Springs, California 07)

Dawn saw cloudy skies & by mid morning the winds were significantly picking up again & continued increasing that way for the entire day.  Kelly headed off to Yoga & I stayed in working on my Picasa web album photos & reading some more of my, 'Day After Roswell' book, authored by Colonel Philip J. Corso.  Retired & former Pentagon Official. (now deceased)  Well, this has been quite an informative book to say the least & I'm glad Kelly stumbled across it at the Library.  It sure has opened my eyes & my mind up to many unanswered questions I had been harboring for many years.  And, once again, I do believe this book to be totally credible. 

IT TOOK ME A FEW SWOOPS WITH THE FLASHLIGHT & LASER POINTER TO FINALLY GET SOMETHING THAT RESEMBLED MERRY CHRISTMAS

Up to the age of 35 I had read countless numbers of fiction books.  My sobriety in 1979 led to a whole new thought process for me & that pivotal turning point in my life began anew a totally different outlook on life.  It also marked the immediate end of my reading fiction books!!  No more wasting time on things that were not logical or factual.  My interests turned to reality, informational, & educational books.  If it isn't factual, I'm not interested in reading or hearing about it!!  Television is the same for me.  Aside from a few old situation comedies I have little interest in the programming if it is not dealing with fact & reality.  And 'reality' does not mean those ridiculously mindless television reality shows.  Those kinds of shows have to be a total insult to anyone's basic intelligence!!   But, back to books.  Reading books of fiction seems such a waste of valuable time to me now at this age.  There is so much to learn & if more of those smart minds out there were tuned to absorbing reality instead of fiction, maybe we all wouldn't be in this worldly mess we are in right now!!  Yes, yes, I know...........this is a travel blog, not speaker's corner!!

SUNRISE LOOKING TOWARDS MEXICO

Ok, here's a slice of RVing reality.  By 2:15 this afternoon we had clouds of dust swirling in the air & I pulled the slides in as the wind gusts tried to rip open our roof vents.  At 2:25 one particular nasty wind gust slammed dunked our satellite dish into the ground ker-splat.  Despite our heavier than normal tech-mobile tri-pod with each leg spiked into the ground, a heavy water jug suspended underneath & a concrete block on the leg facing the wind......over it went!!  And so it is, the way of the west.  Big skies, big vistas, & big winds.  Oh ya, & some mighty big cuss words to-day too!!!!  Later found out on the news there was a 20+ vehicle pile-up on I-10 near Casa Grande due to the high winds blowing blinding dust & sand across the highway.  Three people died.

SUNRISE BEHIND SADDLE MOUNTAIN

After Yoga class this morning Kelly headed south to Wal-Mart in Douglas.  She wondered if I wanted to go but after my anti shopping words in yesterday's blog I told her I would have to stay home & save face!!  I have been up since 3 a.m. & despite being bored sitting here at the rig for the second day in a row I figured it was in the public's best interest & safety that I not take my lack of sleep & grouchiness to town.

Now, also since having blustered about Christmas cards yesterday I did remember to reach back into our photo archives for a Christmas card of sorts I put to-gether a few years ago with a campfire, a flashlight, & a laser pointer.  It was Christmas Eve & we were boondocked at the Clark Dry Lake Bed near Borrego Springs, California.  We had a nice fire going which illuminated the side of the rig so I set a camera on a tri-pod, figured out some slow shutter speeds, & experimented with painting by flashlight a crude Merry Christmas on the side of the motorhome.  That, along with a self timer photo of us on Christmas Eve 2007 made our official Christmas card.  We still look the same 3 years later except I've gotten bigger & Kelly has gotten younger:))   Oh dear:((

DRAGOON MOUNTAINS

During a lull in the heavy wind storm I did manage to set the satellite dish up again to-night but we were unable to get a signal.  Will try again in the morning & that will give me the rest of the night to stew about the probability of a broken LMB:((

SAN JOSE MOUNTAIN SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS NACO PEAK

And welcome to new blog followers DENNIS & DONNA who I think may be over near Canyon Lake in Texas.  Thanks for dropping by guys…..wherever you are:))

LOOKING INTO MEXICO AT SUNSET

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Did you know that most men are like coolers.  Load them with beer & you can take them anywhere!!

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

OUR DAY WAS SO SLOW WE ALMOST WENT BACKWARDS!!

 

“HEY SANTA”….HIGH 5 FOR ME & GABE’S FIRST CHRISTMAS EVER:))  (Kelly’s new twin Grandkids from Vancouver B.C.)

If our day would have been any slower I'm sure we would have traveled backwards in time.  Kelly had a momentary lapse of reason this morning when she contemplated driving over to Sierra Vista.  I was quick to point out it was only 4 days before Christmas & that place would be totally nuts with chaotic traffic & stressed out frenzied holiday shoppers.  Fortunately she came to her senses & relaxed with her book for the day with the exception of her exercise class this morning.

 

<< KELLY’S PHOTO OF A  BUNNY DRINKING FROM A PLASTIC KID’S POOL LAST NIGHT

Ray, from our Monday afternoon photo group sent an email saying he had to go see the Vet this afternoon for his semi-annul dis-temper shot so I figured that meant our photo group was canceled.  Said he figured I needed a rabies shot too but didn't figure the Vet would have enough serum to settle me down!!  Told him I didn't have my list done anyway.  What list!!  The list of people I carry in my wallet so that if I get rabies I'll have a list of people who I'm gonna go out & bite first!!

SAND HILL CRANES TAKING FLIGHT FROM A CORNFIELD

Not to worry about me putting music on the site folks.  Mentioned yesterday I thought music on sites was a bad idea & only suggested I might put an optional button on sometime if I happened to have a special photo album I wanted some music to go with it.  Not likely I'll even do that though.  Whewwww, close call there!!

 

Only another 4 or 5 days & all this Christmas schmozzle will thankfully be over for another year.  If I have to sit through one more morning Christmas cooking show on television I'm going to up & snort!!  Christmas was a lot different when I was a kid growing up in the late 40's & early to mid 50's.  I remember what Christmas used to be like & it was nowhere near the commercial hype, stress, & mess, it is nowadays.  Why anyone with a lick of good sense would be thrashing & bashing around in a store this week is beyond me.  I began backing away from the whole Christmas thing in the mid 80's somewhere & that included the thrashing & bashing.  Just got bashed by a maddened shopaholics grossly over loaded grocery cart one too many times I guess.  Fortunately when I met Kelly she was traveling down the same track in her life & since then we have stopped all the gift giving & Christmas card sending.  No more credit card mania & no more helter skelter running all over the place trying to please everybody.  And best of all, no more of those horribly boring company Christmas parties.  Yaaaaaaaay!!  Bah Humblebug:)) 

AND ,THIS FOLKS……….IS McNEAL, ARIZONA:))

Want to welcome our newest follower, Renee.  Hmmmmm, wonder if she is from off the coast of British Columbia somewhere.  Welcome aboard Renee & despite my above blusterings I hope you have a fine Christmas:))

Now, without further ado I'm going to back myself out of here & go hum myself a Christmas Carol...........backwards!!

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GROANER'S CORNER:((  The only time the world beats a path to your door is if you're in the bathroom.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.