Home Sweet Home
What did I do? Not a lota’. Or more of the same. My basic story right now is stay home so as not to spend unnecessary money that I don’t have. Does leave me a lot of time to label and work on photos. Not to mention all the time I waste online. And I messed with the website which might be good and bad.
Sunset view over the Weaver Mountains from the end of the driveway
Still driving a couple locals to town for groceries and doctor appointments. Still volunteering one day a week at the local YRCC community thrift store. Dangerous when I’m there as I always buy something, the deals and stuff are so good.
Last month I sold a print of Sun Sets At The End Of The Line to Sally, a long-time virtual friend. She purchased the print through my Fine Art America (FAA) GLOlmsted Photography website and was disappointed that it didn’t have my watermark. There is actually disagreement over watermarking printed photographs and FAA doesn’t recommend it. In addition, the image is an unusual size at 14×9.375”, not a standard like 8×10 or 14×11”. So that either requires major cropping or custom matte and frame. Something I didn’t even think about until recently. The camera doesn’t typically take standard print sizes. That doesn’t matter much in the webworld, although I’ve seen many sites crop photos. Cropping this particular shot would ruin it IMHO.
So, when Sally decided to add Waiting for the Train to her walls I emailed her a high resolution, already cropped my way one inch from the top to a 5×7 print with watermark.
Then she sent the digital copy to a local printer and easily bought a frame and matte. Transactions were done online between us for payment through PayPal. This is a service I’ll gladly offer anyone. So if you ever see a photo you want let me know. My prices are reasonable.
I didn’t go out much with several days of gray and rain followed by clear and cold. Sierra spends more time inside when the temperatures drop. We want to go outside, but not far from the house. She frequently sits on the sunny stoop, but not for long if a cold wind ruffles her fur. She also spends more time on my lap. Not sure who is keeping who warm in that case. Sometimes I feel like a grumbly ole bear when it comes to the cold of winter, even in Arizona.
First sighting of a Pyrrhuloxia, bottom left, looks much like the Cardinals I see regularly
Maybe these friendly Ravens will nest nearby this year
I’ve spent a lot of time watching the birds. Been too cheap to buy birdseed but get a bucket filled by a friend when needed. Instead of filling a feeder I simply broadcast a few handfuls out in the morning where I can see from my desk. (My desk is a rather make-do folding table situation so I can watch outside.)
Also one hummingbird feeder that I try to remember to bring in over the freezing cold nights. Sometimes I forget and bring it in the morning to thaw out. I read somewhere that super cold water is bad for the little hummers, which totally made sense to me. Could be like an ice cream brain freeze but deadly.
Yesterday morning awoke to a light dusting of snow. Oh joy. Not my favorite weather event especially if I have to go out further than my yard. And sadly, I had to drive to Prescott which thankfully turned out OK. Apologies to those who are experiencing multiple inches to feet of this white stuff but that’s one of the reasons I live in Arizona.
I dressed up for the weather.
What I didn’t do is continue to empty the 5th-wheel. Although it is listed for sale in several places I’ve had no bites. Part of me says to keep it as I may need/want that bigger home someday and in another year it will be paid for.
Looking up at sunset
I’m still asking myself, “what did I do” by deactivating the Jetpack plugin on this blog last week. I’d been playing around, adding some new items to the sidebar. Why didn’t I notice the items that were missing? After a few days I did miss the way Jetpack displayed stats. And then I noticed nobody leaving a comment from the last post. Oops! If you ever subscribed to get an email notification when I post that might be gone. If you’re not getting notifications and still want to I think you’ll have to sign up again. Commenting may be back to using the “Tab” key to move from one information block to another, at least according to one reader. I re-activated Jetpack and had to reset a bunch of things. Please let me know if you notice a difference or any problems. Sorry for the inconvenience.