Photography 101 Day 6: Connect and Tags

Tags are a means of connecting a blog post with others who share a common interest. Merriam-Webster defines connect as:

• to join (two or more things) together
• to join with or become joined to something else
• to think of (something or someone) as being related to or involved with another person, thing, event, or idea

Capturing these concepts in a photography can be easy or challenging depending on how the photographer interprets the definition.

I chose these photos because they demonstrate power in connections.

Safe Harbor Farm, K-9 Rescue, Rehabilitation and Rehoming Center
Maysville, North Carolina

My wife found a connection with the resident cats at Safe Harbor Farm by using food as the tag.

Union Covered Bridge
Paris, Missouri

Union Covered Bridge is one of 4 remaining covered bridges in Missouri that incorporate the Burr Arch design. The bridge connected early travelers with either side of the Elk Fork Salt River. Additionally, the timber connections of the Burr-Arch design provide strength and integrity to the bridge.

200 AMP Transfer Switch
Mark Twain Landing, Monroe City, Missouri

The transfer switch transfers power from the source to the users. Without the switch (tag), there would be no power distribution or connection to the electrical users.

Dam on Mill Creek
Cades Cove, Tennessee

The log across Mill Creek and the flume gate are tags that connect the creek to the water wheel at John Cable Mill.

John Cable’s Mill
Cades Cove, Tennessee

Without the tags (log and flume gate), there would be no power at the mill.

How do you connect?

Thanks for stopping by, y’all come back now.

24 Hours Later

At 4PM today, we finally got it done. We are ready to go.

• Load the truck – Done 
• Clean inside of truck – Done 
• Empty basement to check for more ants and other unwelcome guests – Done, we checked for ants and did not find anything. 
• Reload basement – Not needed since we did not need to empty it. 
• Wash RV – Done 
• Check tires, batteries – Done 
• Lube trailer hitch – Done 
• Other duties as assigned – A work in Progress. 

We started the day at Pop’s diner. Breakfast at Pop’s is always a hit. That is just a cool place to go. They do not always get the breakfast order done right but the best part is the atmosphere and friendly staff.
   
When we got back, I connected a second hose to the water well faucet and got my bucket. All I can say is the RV was really dirty. We drove through rain and wet roads 6 weeks ago. The dirt just stuck like glue. Here is a before and after of the back picture window. Fortunately I did not need to apply too much elbow grease. I am just about out of that.

   

 Before I could get to the front or entry door side, I had to finish packing the garage.

   

With that completed, I was able to get the entry side washed. It is a good thing that I had on a hat. Rinsing under the awning means getting a shower.

   

Now that the RV is washed, Carol helped me figure out where stuff needs to go in the truck. I am not certain that I need all that stuff just yet. When we get back to Texas at the end of the year, I am pretty sure that we will lighten our load a bit.

Say hello to Juliette. She adopted us when we first arrived at Safe Harbor. Of the eighty+ cats here, she is the only one who hangs out on our porch, or in my chair, or on the truck just about every day. No she is not going with us. She likes it at the farm just fine. I would not think about taking her away.
   
Now, about that last item on the To Do list. Carol has been trying to download a book to her phone so she can listen to it on our trip to Blue Ridge. She has had trouble with reliable Internet connections for some time now. I am not sure what that is about but without a reliable connection, she cannot download the book. After all the work done today, we opted for dinner at O’Charlie’s in Jacksonville. We ended up at Starbucks to use their WiFi and get the book downloaded. This is one tech area (downloading audible books) that I have little to no experience. Here we sit in the Jacksonville Starbucks. I connected to their WiFi in a snap. Carol fired up her PC and got no where. She fired up her phone – nope that won’t connect either. How about the iPad – just forget about it. I focused on the task and turned my iPhone into a hotspot. YEA! She is connected and download is complete. Now her PC is reporting “Importing into iTunes.” We can see the book in her directory but apparently something is not quiet finished in the download process. Since this is an area I have no expertise, Carol has to call either of our two daughters who have the technical expertise to help her. And of course, neither of them are available by phone. I think perhaps I should learn how to do this just so I can provide help when needed.

While we sit and wait for Audible to do its thing, the weather has decided to turn nasty. We’ve been watching it rain lightly, then rain like crazy and now it is just plain wet. I take full responsibility for this rain. I washed the truck and I washed the RV. Tomorrow’s forecast is for more rain. I just need about 1 hour of no rain so I can disconnect and stow sewer and water hose and electrical cable. We’ll see what happens in the morning.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to be reporting in from Hagan-Stone Park or somewhere near there.

One More Day

About 7PM tonight, I realized we are not going to leave Friday AM as planned. We spent longer in New Bern than planned and I discovered ants in our basement today.

This morning, I completed the last project that was on my To Do List – installed a solar motion sensing security light in the doggie yard by the dog center. That was an easy task. After that, I started gathering my tools and decided to finished a tool divider I had started for one of my tool boxes. While I worked on that, Lynne asked for my help in moving a couple of used telephone poles. Actually her tractor did the moving, I just helped her get the poles attached to the tractor so she cold drag them into place.

Carol took some time this morning to show a new volunteer how to tend to the cats. Then she finished the laundry and got more packing completed inside. Around noon, I came in to wash up so we could head to New Bern. Lowe’s, Walmart, Petsmart, AT&T Store, and car wash are our targets. Lots to do and so little time to get it done.

The trip to New Bern takes us through Pollicksville.  On the main drag through town is Trent Restaurant. Since we are  leaving the area, we decided to stop for a bite to eat. This is another cool local eatery. No web site, nothing fancy, just simple home cooking and good food.

OK, we made it to Lowe’s. My circular saw bit the dust, The bearing is going out on it so it’s time for a new toy. One of my blogger friends Phyllis from The East Head West commented how men always find a reason to buy new tools. Well, my reason is my old one broke. So I got a good one this time. Meet my new Porter-Cable 15-Amp work horse.
  
Next stop was Walmart. Got everything on the list plus a few other items. Roasted Lemon-Pepper chicken will be dinner tonight. Pet Smart is next. Every time I’ve been in this store, there are hardly any people there. Not sure how they stay profitable. Got dog food and cat litter. Next stop, AT&T Store. This is where we spent a bit of time. Carol and I along with our daughter in Corpus Christi are on one phone plan. By switching ownership of the account, I can get a 15% military discount on the main line. We are experimenting with setting up my iPhone as a hot spot so we have an alternative Internet connection. Verizon has not been very reliable for us.

Finally left AT&T, made a pit stop at Starbucks (in side Target), then headed for car wash. Scrub, scrub, spray, spray, rinse, rinse. The red dragon is finally clean again – at least on the outside.

We got back to Maysville around 5:30. Carol had cat duty this afternoon, and I got started putting things away. Of course I had to find me a piece of wood to cut with my new saw. Lots of power. I’m going to like this one.  It comes in its own case so I had to do some rearranging in the garage to get it in. Then as I stowed my drill in one side of the basement, I discovered we have ants. Sheesh! I found the nest and got it out of the basement. (Note to self – be more diligent in practicing critter/insect blocking techniques.)

As I stated at the beginning of the blog, by 7PM, I realized we are not going to leave on Friday as planned. So, what are we going to do Friday? Task list includes:

• Load the truck. 
• Clean inside of truck. 
• Empty basement to check for more ants and other unwelcome guests. 
• Reload basement. 
• Wash RV. 
• Check tires, batteries. 
• Lube trailer hitch. 
• Other duties as assigned. 

Saturday we leave for Blue Ridge, GA.

Now, on a note of interest. As we have driven around New Bern for the past 4 weeks, we’ve noticed colorful bear statues around town. Below are a couple of these bear statues. Meet Money Bear and Momma Bear.

 

So I did a little research and found Bear Town Bears. This was a public art project that features the work of local artists and was done in 2010 as the city of New Bern celebrated it’s 300th anniversary. Pretty cool.

We should be able to get things ready on Friday for the first leg of our trip. Our plan is to head to Hagan-Stone Park in Pleasant Garden, just a bit South East of Greensboro, NC on Saturday. Then someplace around Asheville on Sunday.

Thanks for stopping by.

Packing Time

Tonight’s post will be short and simple.

Deck project is done. I had a helper today so we were able to get the lattice skirted around the cabin. Then came the task of cleaning up the job site. Trash went to trash, useable scrap went to wood crib, tools went back to our home. Cabin looks pretty good. No photo to post caused I just did not take one of the competed project.

Carol took time to day to start packing the inside. Lots of stuff to get stowed away. She did take part of the day to teach one of the workampers how to groom a ShihTzu. In addition to all that, she found time to get the laundry done.

We went to Andy’s for dinner tonight. Just had to have one more of their good burgers before we left town. I went off the deep end tonight and had chili cheese fries with my burger. That’s OK because I offset the calories with a Diet Pepsi.

Tomorrow, Carol had cat duty in the morning. After that, we need to make a trip to New Bern to visit the ATT store. We are making one minor change to our account and wanted Teresa to get the credit for the change. Also, I need to stop by Lowe’s to replace my skill saw. The bearings are going out on the one I have. It has lasted a long time. Not sure what I will get just yet. Before we head back, the truck is in need of a serious bath. When we get back, I get to stow away my tools and hopefully wash the rig.

Like I said, short and simple. Thanks for stopping by.

Baby It’s Cold Outside

We’ve rather enjoyed the comfortable spring weather. This morning, the temperature dipped into the low 40’s. We are thankful that it was a sunny day. Unfortunately, the sun did not warm the air past 60. Weatherbug reports it is 54 degrees at 8PM EDT. By morning, we will have frost on the ground. Burrrrr! That’s chilly. Tonight we have the FP on and are staying nice and toasty.
   
Guess what I worked on today? You are correct, I worked on the deck. Actually I worked on covering the open spaces beneath the deck and cabin with lattice panels. I also added another set of stairs to the entry porch of the cabin. Tomorrow I WILL have this work finished.

Carol had a day off today so she ventured to the post office, alone. I emphasized “alone” because she has driven very little since we have been here. We are always together. We needed to get a couple of things in the mail to our kids in Texas so this would be a good chance for Carol to escape me. She was gone for about 30 minutes when my phone rang. I knew it was her because I’ve programed my phone to bark when she calls. I thought perhaps she wanted to know if we needed anything from the local Piggly Wiggly store. Nope. She said she was looking for a place to let Qianna out so she could run a bit. She pulled into a parking lot, shut off the engine to the truck, got out and went to the other side to let Qianna out. Uh-oh! The door was locked. Some how she had managed to lock the truck as she was getting out of the truck. Her keys were in the truck. She called to let me know she had locked her keys in the truck and needed me to come to the reduce.

So, Cody and I took off to rescue her. I decided we would walk. She said she was behind the Methodist Church and I knew that was not far away. Maysville is a pretty small town so nothing is really far away. By walking, I would get a chance to clear my head. I was about a block away and she called me again asking if I was coming to rescue her. I told her where I was and that Cody and I are walking. I got there a few minutes later, got the truck unlocked. Qianna got out and ran a bit with Cody. She drove back the 2 miles back to Safe Harbor. Cody and I went back to our work zone. Carol spent the afternoon sewing.

Around 4PM, Cody and I decided it was time to stop for the day. The cabin is starting to look pretty good.

 

Tonight was grilling night. After my shower, I fired up the grill and cooked up my specialty – rib eye. Since the grill was hot, I also grilled some bratwurst that will go to the freezer for later. Sorry no photo of this tasty rib eye. You will just have to imagine it. After kitchen was cleaned up, Carol got back to her sewing.
   
I know, she is not actually “sewing”. Her machine is doing the sewing, she is telling it what to do, then watching it happen. Carol calls it embroidery. Certainly a different type of sewing than my mother did. Her sewing machine was an early birthday present so since she is nearing her birthday, it is good to see her using it.

I contacted the owner of Windy Valley Llamas where we are headed next to let him know our travel plans. I asked him if he could recommend a place to eat in town where I could take Carol for her birthday on April 6th. His response blew me away, His wife’s birthday is April 8th. They decided to have a birthday celebration for his wife and Carol on April 6th. Looks like there will be 4 couples attending including us. What a wonderful feeling know we more than worker bees.

Thanks for stopping by.