PROMISES

     In 2011 I bumbled into a blog called Out of My Multiple Minds. The title caught my attention. It sounded like a topic I'd be interested in. It was not about multiple minds  but it was a fascinating blog to follow. It was also a blog that influenced my life.

     I think I found Out of My Multiple Minds  on DJan's blog and the blogger Pete turned out to be DJan's brother in law. 

     I found that Pete had a well written and lively blog. 

     Soon I found out that Pete was very ill but he was full of energy and intensely curious. 

     Shortly after I was saddened to find out that Pete was dying. 

     I followed Pete for about 3 months as he courageously journaled the end of his life. Pete blogged until a few days before his death. He dictated the last couple of posts as he was too ill to do the typing. His wife or daughter wrote a couple of final posts. The blog has been since taken down. 

      So on my own blog I wrote a post entitled Polar Bears in My House. This caught Pete's attention and he wanted to know all about the polar bears.  Most of all he wanted to see a photo. I had said that I would try to get photos. However, you know the story...the slides were not scanned and at that time I didn't know how to scan slides. If you read the post you will see Pete's comment...one of two comments I got. 

     Well, I'm scanning slides and the first ones I scanned were of the little polar bears that had been in my house. So because I'd promised Pete the photos , here they  are. 

     

        I do not have photos of the bears in my house . These were taken in the hunter's house. 

    The Inuit hunters shot the mother bear and then found out that she had cubs. They brought the cubs into me as they wanted money for the cubs. I was the local administrator for the federal govt. I couldn't give them money but did alert authorities that the bears were here. 

HEALTHY PLAY

      Somehow or other my kids loved to play outdoors in the winter. They could make up their own activities all based around snow. They had sleds. They also went to a nearby playground and played with other kids. They started this a preschoolers. 

      On a cold day I could recognize my kids from a distance. One had a round red puffy face in the cold. The other ones dark features showed up against the snow. 

     One of my favorite photos of the kids is one day when they had been outside playing. Their great smiles showed that they were enjoying themselves. 

WHAT A CHARACTER!

       If you couldn't love this little peanut, there would be something wrong with you.

    

TESTING, TESTING

       As you know I'm on a project to scan my old slides. 

      So far it's going well. It's a learning process. Many of the slides were of poor quality but anything that was a decent slide is worth having. 

       So in doing the slides we often say, "I don't remember that!" Sometimes we just burst out laughing at what we see. 

       I will use two slides to bring an event together. I've written about the adoption of our son. 

      We had to go a hundred miles away . Somehow things got late and we were leaving the city about 5 in the winter evening darkness. The Micro Manger soon found out that Babe needed some food. What would we do?  Most things were closed by that time.

      We found a recreational dealer ship that was open and popped in to see if we could heat some milk. Yes, we were more than welcome and they were happy to hear our story

     By the time Babe was  fed we'd made a deal to by a travel trailer. So we always joke about getting a new son and travel trailer on the same day. 

      So to show you some slides here's the trailer and the young camper. 

I wrote in more detail about the adoption process in a previous post

SLIDES?

 

     So you wanted to know about slides? Here's an excellent example showing a handsome dude!

     The scan is fairly close to the slide .

     This slide is 50 years old. It's hard to believe that I looked this young at one time. 

DECISION ON THE SLIDES.

       I've finally made a decision on what I'm doing with my slides. 

       In the 60's and 70's and more the 35 mm camera was the best technology at the time. 

       So in 1963 I bought my first camera a 35 mm. I forget the model but it as the low end and was all automatic. As I said it's the first camera I owned. To say the least I didn't know anything about photography

     1963 was the year I left for the arctic and I sensed that I should have more than a decent camera.

      At that time , having to pay for film and development one was careful about how many photos you took.

    My photos have been sitting in trays for about 40 years. I haven't looked at them.

    Then I married the Micro Manager and she had a better 35 mm camera. 

     Between the two of us we have quite a few slides. 

     I sold my 35 mm to one of the Inuit.

    I've been dithering more than two years on how to change my slides to digital. I've looked into things and tried things. All the things I tried were terrible and were not satisfactory.  I didn't want to buy a scanner and find out results were poor. I had tried a scanner about 7 years ago and the results were terrible because of the operating system I was using.

     What did I find out that worked. I use the projector and take a photo of the image on the wall. It turns out to be just about the same quality as the original slide.

    So here we go! Wish me luck!

JUST ANOTHER COMPLAINT

       Well, my last post wasn't really a complaint. Just a little whining!

       Today I would like to register a formal complaint to those who hate seniors. 

       I consider myself to be very fortunate as a senior, in that I have very good health. That doesn't mean that I don't have some senior issues.

       In the last year I have noticed some vision problems.

       Yes, if you see an old guy on his hands and knees, trying to look at a price tag, that will be me! Yes, the price tag is just above my toes. I can back up to the other side of the aisle to get a better angle but that doesn't help. 

       Now you have to read price tags very carefully. So  sale price is large and in color. It's a super good price. But you have to see that to get the super price you have to buy two. Who wants two containers of Beef in a mug?

       The next problem is the price tag on the top shelf. The price tags automatically angle upward. So unless you're seven feet tall, all you see its the bottom of the price tag. While I'm at this one I feel sorry for shorter people who cannot reach anything on the top shelf. I have had to step on the bottom shelf to reach something on the top shelf. 

        After that, much of the information on the price tag is in very small printing. Shall I embarrass the Micro Manager and not only kneel on the floor but bring out my magnifying glass? 

      So while our grocery stores may have some things for the convenience of shoppers , they have some glaring challenges for people. 

     Now on the other hand, grocery stores have things slanted to their advantage. They don't want you to see that you have to buy two to get the low price. If you buy one they make a dump truck more money because the one price is much higher. 

     So there should be much more consideration given to seniors when it comes to making things easier. 

     What improvements would you like to see?