Monday, February 28, 2011

A Big Thank you

I don't have a lot to blog about today, but I do want to send out a big "THANK YOU" to all those who have left comments on my paintings.  I want you to know how much I appreciate your praise and enjoyment of what I do.  You have all been wonderful!


Sadie is getting close to the finish line......
Today I'll be away from my easel and at the laundry and then on to the grocery.  My darling hubby always insist on clean clothes and hot meals......a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do to keep her man happy!!  LOL!

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Sadie 4

The weather here has taken some what of a turn for the worse.  The wind has kicked up and rain is moving in....so....I'll be spending most of my weekend doing what I love....painting!  Here is a photo of my painting of Sadie.  I think she is coming along nicely....and this photo was taken with my new camera!
Til next time....keep having fun out there!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

FINALLY

At last, at last, at last......my new camera and lens are  here and together!  The first company we ordered the camera from proved to be less than reliable and we had to cancel the order.  We ended up ordering from Amazon.  The camera came first and two days later the lens arrived.  
It is a Cannon 2Ti and we put a EFS 15-85 lens with it.  I'm also going to eventually order a telephoto lens as well, but for now this gives me the best "all round" lens for everyday shooting.  My darling hubby, Billy, did all the research on this and told me what to order...bless him!  Now, it is up to me to learn how to use this new camera and lens with all its bells and whistles!!  One of the great things about this camera; however, is that even a novice like me can take great photos with it right outta the box with very little reading of the manual.  That is important as my attention span is very short!  I'll be posting some photos and let you know how my "education" is coming along!!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Hail?

We knew that yesterday and today were going to pretty much be all day rain events.  No problem, I like a rainy day every once in awhile.  It was nice and cozy in the fiver and I watched a couple of good old black and white movies along with working on Rylie's portrait.  I don't know what it is about those old black and whites....but they seemed to have a soothing effect on me no matter what the movie is about.  BUT!  Just as we are all relaxing and enjoying the day here comes the HAIL.  I know several folks saw hail and were just as surprised as we were......

Next thing I know....there is a little thunder thrown in for good measure.  All this and the sun is still shining....peeking out between the storm clouds.  I'm sure there was a rainbow somewhere, but I didn't have the desire to go stand in the hail and rain to find it.  Today is another day of rain, but hopefully the hail days are behind us all.  Looking forward to another day of painting and maybe catching another old movie or two.  If you want to see my progress on Rylie, check out my Art Blog.

Friday, February 18, 2011

New Thermostat Part 2

Yesterday, Billy tackled the installation of the new thermostat.  It went pretty well.....have a look.....
 Here we have the instructions.
Next, comes all the tools.
Speaking of tools....this is our new Weller 100 soldering iron.  I want to get into some jewelry making so I convinced Billy to buy a little better soldering iron for the thermostat project.  
Back to the install......wires from the wall awaiting their new home.
Here we have the completed unit....all the little wires in their respective places with two exceptions.  As I mentioned yesterday, this unit is battery powered so Billy taped off the 12 volt wire and the heat-tape switch (we never used much).  The other item that is missing is the toggle switch for the high/low fan.   Once he soldered the wires to it...we found that for some reason the switch no longer moved up and down.  Don't have a clue why....but for the time being he removed it and the fan for the air conditioner is set to low.  We will get a new toggle switch and try again at some point.  For now....everything works and we are once again "happy campers"!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

New Thermostat

Our thermostat here in the fiver is not working well at all.  We finally decided it was time for a replacement.  Billy found one he liked....which is battery operated as he made the decision to go with a residential thermostat as opposed to a 12 volt rv style thermostat.  
 This is the outside cover of our old thermostat and below you see the inside.
 The really nice thing here is all the wires are color coded and labeled which will make hooking up the new one much easier.  Now, two things we will lose....one is the "heat strip" function.   We won't miss that at all because we only used it a couple of times. I much prefer my little electric fireplace.  The second item is of course the 12 volt power connection.  We will be using the battery power only.
This is the front of the new thermostat.....very simple, which is the way us old folks like it!  Billy did make one modification.  He added a toggle switch so we could still have a high/low fan setting.
There is the little toggle switch....added at the bottom of the thermostat.  Next is the photo of the back side of the thermostat.
So, this is where we currently stand at this point.  Billy needed to get a soldering gun to complete the project and it arrived yesterday.  I'll share how it all goes next post.



Thursday, February 10, 2011

Hughesnet No More

This is all that's left of our Hughesnet system....well, maybe not all.  We made the decision it was time to call it quits with this cumbersome system.  We had it for about 3 1/2 years.  It worked ok, but it was a pain to set up and "point".  Our system was on a tripod.  At any rate, we have been using a verizon air card and love it.  Now, we know our verizon card may not work everywhere...but then neither did the hughesnet.  Actually, we like the ease of the air card so much that we may pick up an ATT air card as well.  Not only will it give us added coverage, but it will also give us another 5 gig of use.  So, Mr Hughesnet you have "fapped" us for the very last time.....LOL!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Oatman

Yesterday was such a wonderful day.  It was warm and sunny and best of all very little wind.  We decided to "break out" for the day and head over to Oatman.  You can click on the link to read all about the town.  The big attraction there are the wild burros that freely roam the street.  You can feed them and they have gotten very used to being fed.  They will follow you and nudge you to see if you are a "carry-in" any edibles. 

He's waiting to see if he is on the "A list"!
If you are anywhere close to Oatman.....I would recommend a visit.  It is a bit of a drive, but the scenery along the way is outstanding.  Do leave your furballs home if you can....the burros don't care for the them and have been know to kick.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Roadrunner and "Dewy" the cat

Not much going on here.....the wind and colder temps have made most folks huddle in their rv's past few days.  I did manage to get out and visit with the neighbors a bit and we had an unexpected visitor.  This roadrunner decided to crash the party!  We were all amazed at how tame he seemed to be....apparently folks have been feeding him...so he will let you get pretty close. 
He seems to enjoy all the attention....here he is "puffing" himself up....."I'm ready for my close up, Mr DeMill!"
Our neighbor's kitty decided he had to get in on the photo shoot as well.....allow me to introduce....."Dewy"......
He's a real "cutie" , don't ya think?  That's about it.....catch ya next time!