I spend a lot of time outdoors wandering through parks and natural areas. It gets me outdoors. It gives me some exercise and it certainly does wonders to overall good well being. I lead a bird watching group once a week and sometimes you have to work pretty hard to pursue the little birdie to make an identification.
Now most days you are going to meet someone to visit with. You meet all kinds of different people. Since I carry binoculars , most people can guess what I'm doing.
From time to time you find things. These days the woods are filled with junk from homeless people. Sometimes I report the junk and the city picks it up and if it's small I clean it up myself.
Sometimes you find other things...wallets. Usually there's nothing left. Twice I found wallets and the only thing missing was cash. Then I turn them in to the police.
Yesterday I found something different. I saw a bit of black cord sticking out of the snow. I thought it might be keys so I kicked the snow away. Surprisingly it turned out to be a flashlight. I wanted to see if it worked and if not it would go in the garbage. One of the birders told me how to turn it on and yes it worked.
Now the flash light likely belonged to a homeless person as they use the flashlights to navigate through the bush and also as a bicycle light. They also use them for lights in their tent.
Now when I got home I googled to see what I had. I found out that it was a $50.00 flashlight. I've never found anything of value that I could keep. The light is LED and the beam shines up to 751 feet!
Sometimes you get lucky!
On Sept . 29 the bird watching group went to a 270 acre natural area called Nova Nature Trails. Yes, the Nova, that is a world petrochemical company.
The natural area has a wide variety of habitat so we can see a variety of bird species. There at wetlands, grasslands, brush and a few trees
So I took the opportunity to get few fall photos and give you a general idea of what the area is like.
This is one small part of the plant.
So six km of trails kept us busy for the morning.
I used my ipad for 6 or 7 posts. I did not find out how to post photos on posts I did with the ipad. When I tried photos the ipad seized up.
So now I can post some fall photos. However, tonight is not fall . It's winter. We've had snow for three days and have about 10 cm ( 4 in). I have shovelled the driveway and sidewalks three times.
So posting fall photos takes me back to better times.
Last Saturday Oct. 28 was a beautiful day. Jackets and coats came off as it was about 17 C (65 F). In my last post I shared one photo that I liked so I found out that there was very good light that day for the colors that were involved. So here are more photos from Heritage Ranch.
This is my Saturday afternoon birding group. They know how to have fun!
On the weekend we were out bird watching in a 300 acre area of old growth forest, recovering quarries and open fields. It was a warm fall afternoon. It turned nasty the next day.
It was an afternoon where I took quite a few photos. I was surprised when I looked at one photo and immediately liked it. I'm not a horse person so it's not because of the horses. It's one of those photos where you take a quick look and click. So I didn't think about anything.
So I'm still asking myself what it is about my photo that makes me really like it.
Do you have any ideas?
Alright , it's another computer story!
It seems to me to be outrageous that when you buy a computer, they are ready to set it up for you for a big price. In my case they offered to set things up for $200.00.Now my computer only cost $600.00. We hear all kinds of stories about setting up new computers. Some of them are scary and some say, "No problem . Computers are easy to set up." To my thinking , it should be easy to set up a computer.
Well, here goes. I waited a few days to build up my courage. I read the rather small manual...76 pages. My camera manual is 234 pages.
I started . Things went well and smoothly.
I got to the part where I installed apps. The apps showed up on the screen. I thought there was more so I looked for something to click on to move forward. Nothing! Well then back up! Nothing.
I was stuck with a blue screen with 4 window like squares with light streaming through.
Finally, I shut down the computer. Next morning? It's still there. Well a quick call to Asus should fix this. Two calls to Asus talking to Asus dummies and then the third call he offered to set things up to reset the computer.
Okay , I go through the same thing. Well, I slept on this overnight. It finally hit me that the funny blue screen was my home page. I was finished setting up my computer! The actual time to do this was about 20 minutes. I'm sure a guy from the store would take about two minutes. They would also teach me a few things which I would have to learn on my own.
So that was a rather embarrassing error but I admit it.
Next , I had some challenges with my pass words. All my pass words have a similar key stroke. In Canada our keyboards must have French. Somehow or other that stroke would type the French. I discovered that by looking at my password when I typed it in.
So I had a few errors but I got my computer set up and didn't have to pay the rats $200.00
You know that from previous posts I try to do things myself and it's a challenge but gives satisfaction when it's done.
That tune has been in my head for days. Who wrote or sang the tune?
Well I really did find a new friend. Several weeks ago I told you that I had to get a new computer and that I would be making posts on my ipad. It was frustrating using the ipad as I'm not familiar with Apple. With a whole lot of crashing and bashing I posted a few poorly edited posts. I never did find out how to put photos on a post. I did read all posts and made comments. Along the way I learned more about apple. I still would not choose Apple to work with.
Finally I made a decision about a computer. I bought an Asus. It has a windows 10 operating system. I was worried about Windows 10 as some people, including my son, said it was not easy to work with.. So I've been pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to work with. Yes, I've had to learn some things and have lots more to learn. It seems to be easy to navigate.
It was easy to get my emails and contacts. It was easy to find my blogs. Surprise , surprise! I got most of my photos. I still have some other things I would like to get off the old computer, but not much.
So I did find somebody new that I like very much.
By the way , I haven't got a name for somebody new yet?
Yes, that's right folks. Today is the last timeI I'll ever ever 77 years old.
What did I do on this or less day in my life? I made up my persona directive.
Recently my daughter's mother in law went in for surgery and it didn't turn out well. Her husband is an only child and when his mother became incapacitated, they began looking,
for those important papers.
That's when my daughter made the frantic request as to whether I had personal direction forms and if so where are they.
Now my record on personal directive forms is rather pathetic. About 15 years ago I'd heard of personal directives but didn't have the foggiest idea of their importance and of course like a typical male I did nothing about them.. About 10 years ago I got a little more serious about the issue. About 5 years ago I actually filled out forms but didn't get them witnessed.
So with my daughter's frantic plea , it was time to d something about it.aed out our province has a program in place to standardize personal directives.also learned ed that the all important form was only to appoint someone to be my agent if I became . I was giving someone the legal status to make health and care decisions for me. I also learned the I would fill out another form with my doctor detailing my wishes for care when my quality of life deteriorates.
The province also will set up an advisor to help you fill out the forms. The advisor sees thaat the forms are filled out correctly. She/he witnesses your signature and makes the necessary copies for you. That' s what we did today.
So all in all, my last day of being 77was a rather important one.
