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"Nothing is ever achieved without enthusiasm."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Duck photo source: Lisa's Chaos
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Hugs and blessings,

Thursday, February 4, 2010

13 Random Thoughts in my Mind this Morning

Make Time for Small Reflections
Wordless Watery Outdoor Wednesday
is in the next post ...

13 Random Thoughts
1. At last! I planted the flat of pansies (purchased mid-January) on Tuesday when the rains didn't arrive as predicted this week because the dirt was finally dry enough (after the previous series of storms) to work with. I sprinkled the 'coyote urine' granules around each plant and so far, the cats next door haven't dug anything up. Perhaps this unique 'fix' will keep the cats away indefinitely? The rain is supposed to begin this afternoon and continue throughout the weekend and hopefully the pansies won't get drowned out.



2. Yesterday I spent an hour or so deleting a few photos from previous posts (and from Picasa) to free up space to upload more. It seems that posting so many photographs and mosaics (in the LARGE format without resizing them) for the past two years wasn't the wisest choice. Who knew? Live & learn, right?

3. It's a 'short-term' fix, but it's the best I can do at the moment. I appreciate Carver suggesting Photobucket as an alternative and I plan to check into that when time permits. For now, I've discovered I can upload pictures to my WordPress account then copy & paste them here ... and that makes me wonder if I could do something similar with Blogger using a different email account? Methinks I'll explore that possibility too ...

4. Apparently Monday's Digital Media class won't meet due to Lincoln's birthday so we only have one more session. Note to self: Avoid M-W classes in January & February from now on. In addition to Monday holidays, there was a rain cancellation and two Staff Development days. Out of 12 scheduled classes, we met 7 times ... yet paid the same fee that T-Th classes paid. It hardly seems fair does it? Such is life ...

5. Yesterday afternoon I met a friend from High School for a late lunch at Mimi's Cafe in Long Beach and enjoyed 'catching up' with her. We commiserated about turning 65 this month and all the Medicare 'sign-up' challenges ... and we've both got our fingers crossed that there will be no unforseen glitches before our 'cards' arrive in the mail. Her birthday is the 12th and mine is the 23rd.


6. When I turned on my cell phone this morning I discovered a message from my sister (left last night while I was in class) suggesting we get together today ... and since she & her husband plan to hit the road mid-March, methinks I'll do that because maximizing our time together makes sense.

7. Does anyone but me think it's strange that Starbucks doesn't keep 'decaf' brewed in the afternoon? They'll MAKE a pot if you ask ... and they say it only takes 4 minutes ... but somehow it strikes me as odd. I make 'half-cafe' in the morning at home, but switch to decaf after 11:00 or so because I like sleeping at night.

8. While I'm on the subject of Starbucks, I'm frustrated about the changes to their 'Gold Card' system. I liked getting 10% off all purchases ... especially when buying coffee beans and/or gifts. Now they want to provide free internet access (something I'm not likely to use ever) instead and award customers a 'star' each time a purchase is made (not based on what you spend, but on the number of visits). In addition (according to the gal at my local store), unless I 'load' the card with money in advance, the 'swipes' don't register at all! These changes seem wrong ... and methinks I may switch to Peet's in protest.

9. I just called my sister to see what she has in mind for today ... and she's going to call me back around 9-ish after they return from her husband's appointment with the doctor ... so that will give me time to finish & publish this post (if I can keep myself focused), take Molly for a walk, and get myself ready to connect ... possibly for breakfast and whatever comes next. Guess blog visits (and photo upload research) will have to wait until tonight (or tomorrow). Perhaps I'll drop my camera & lens off at the shop on the way home this afternoon?

10. I suppose it may rain today so doing something indoors makes sense ... though the weather forecast was 'off' for Monday through Wednesday so there are no guarantees about the rest of the week's predictions, right?



11. The gardener finally cut back the rose bushes last week (they had already begun to show new growth so this was overdue obviously), irises have sprouted, the Nastursiums are going crazy (as they usually do this time of year) though there are no yellow or orange blossoms yet ...



... and the Johnny Jump Ups (spread by visiting birds) have begun to bloom. Soon they'll be everywhere ;-)



12. I downloaded a 'Vista compatible clone' of Microsoft's 'Power Toy Resizer' for XP and used it to make these last two photos 'small' yet I imported them at the large setting. I don't see any 'visual' difference but suspect there's a huge 'memory' difference ... so methinks I'll experiment with 'resizing' images before uploading them from now on and perhaps (as time permits) go back to resize some of the memory intensive mosaics I've posted in the past to see how much space this frees up.

13.
I wonder if we'll still be able to 'click to embiggen' these images? Guess I'll need to check THAT out too. So ... I've come to the end of the lollipop (so to speak) and it's time to wish you all a wonderful Thursday!
Click for others participating in Thursday Thirteen

Friday Addendum - Check out my Haiku Friday Sky Watch post at Sacred Ruminations for additional info about the Blogger Photo Update issue.
Small Reflections ... Smile Back

Thought for Today
"An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory." Ralph Waldo Emerson

14 comments:

Janet said...

Mmmmm, I adore Mimi's Cafe! none around here tho :-(

And I love that you're putting pansies in! We still have snow on the ground LOL!

Karen said...

Yaay on getting the pansies into the ground!! We're expecting another big snowfall dump this weekend, so it looks like my flower planting days are still well into the future...ah well, at least I have your photos to enjoy.

Ginny Hartzler said...

I'm glad you finally got to plant your pansies. And yes, you can still click to embiggen. It looks much prettier when you click. You are about my age! But you know so much more about computer stuff and blogs! I wonder where I can find blogger's rules about picture limits? How much did they say it would cost you if you paid to exceed the limit? You are very lucky to have a sister you are so close to.

Joy Des Jardins said...

Glad you got those pansies planted...I love them. Cripes...could they predict any more rain Virginia? Yikes. Although, we're expecting snow possibly again in a couple of days...so what am I talking about? We still have some on the ground yet. I'd love to be looking at your pansies frankly. Have a great time with your sister sweetie...I know you always do. And have a wonderful weekend coming up....rain or no rain. Lots of love, Joy

colleen said...

After blogging for more than four years I discovered that when I posted a photo it took another photo away to make room. So now I have all these posts with empty frames. How big can a blog get?

Mia Celeste said...

I love seeing growing gardens especially at this time of year when all around me is snow. Thanks.

soleil said...

I heart Mimi's too. I love eating there for breakfast.

George said...

It's nice to see green growing things. We plant pansies in the fall and they usually bloom through winter and spring, but I'm not sure they survived our storm last weekend. They look pretty pitiful right now.

Carol said...

Nice you got to plant some pansies, we're a ways off from that but before you know it! I don't think I'd like the new Starbucks system either!

Diane AZ said...

Hi, your Pansies, Nastursiums and Johnny Jump Ups look like they're doing great!

Carver said...

So many beautiful plants coming along so well. Great shots and enjoyed your thoughts.

Melissa B. said...

Well, this is often the time of year that our Fall Pansies come back to perk up the garden, but since we're going to have about 2 feet of snow by tomorrow evening, I think I'll have to wait a while for that, huh?

Susan Cook said...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. The pansies look nice, hope the rains hold off for them. Hope you had a nice time with your sister.

Have a great night♥

Pamela said...

"coyote urine." WHaaaaat?

I finally got smart and started saving copies of photos to the web size. I didn't know the difference either. At least we both are capable of still learning!

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