Here I am all showered, dressed, and ready to brave the pre-dawn chill and head to work at my preferred time. I have a small job to finish up this morning and then heaven knows what awaits me. ;) I am definitely "into" the whole house purge, you guys. Instead of continuing the protective measure of averting my eyes from areas of accumulated clutter I've embraced the "refuse to live in fear" motto and I've methodically made a list and begun chipping away at it. The place looks great and I feel great about it. The reaction from the helpmeet is mixed, he likes the cleanliness but is nervous about my ruthless approach to the many tomes that haven't been cracked in over 10 yrs. and my unwillingness to give him any more time to go through them himself. Time's up, baby! When I return from work this afternoon I'll throw some more clothing destined for the thrift into the washing machine and begin systematically going through the Lab.. I have lots of old fabric, items of abandonned clothing (the bane of dry cleaners and alterationists), and old notions that are taking up too much space. I wish some of you crafty types lived down the road, I'd send it your way happily. ;) I want it all pared down for the move across the driveway to the Salon. Idyll Camp has definitely kindled a fire under my hindquarters, you guys. This is one reason I'm not feeling housebound or winter weary, on the contrary, I'm wondering if there will be enough time to get it done before Idyll Camp. :) Wow, Marian, that orchid is just lovely. I smile every time I think of you puttering around with your plants. I've been meaning to ask you how you carry your wood indoors. Do you use a log carrier or do you just carry an armload? I'm trying to come up with a containment system for the Salon that is attractive and efficient. Eyed the log holder on the clearance page of the Sturbridge Yankee site Cynthia mentioned but was too cheap to spring for it, lol. There HAS to be something here that could be suitably repurposed... Its good that the puzzle is out for Nolon to pick at when the mood strikes him. You know, I never had the presence of mind to provide a puzzle for Mum, something I regret now. Loved the shots of Doobie and Ted, Kathy. Anyone who says cats aren't friendly has never known one that is much loved and fussed over. Our's like to chaperone us when we're outdoors, too. And there was a lot of getting into the boxes and bags destined for the thrift this weekend, too. Lots of Kodak moments. Well, time to get rolling so I may return home and continue the progress. Wanna place any bets on how much of the culled stuff actually makes it to the kerb this morning? ;) Cozy up, guys.

Photobucket has changed a bit since this thread first started in May 2006, so it's probably time for an update. I'll leave it to you to open your account at Photobucket (or whichever service you choose) and get photos uploaded from your computer to your page there. (If you have problems, email me at solstice98@att.net). Here's what your photos will look like at Photobucket: Instead of the 3 choices you used to have, now you'll see that there are 4 boxes under each photo. For posting directly into messages, click on the one that says "HTML code". You'll instantly see a little pop-up box that tells you it's "copied". Go back to the message you are typing into GardenWeb and click on where in the message you want the photo to appear. "Paste" it into that spot. You should see the html code (it's just text at this point, not an actual photo) that starts with a 'less than' sign and the word 'img'. Now when you click on "Preview Message" you should see your text as you've typed it and the photo. (If you can't see the photo then we won't see it when you sumbit the message either, so keep trying.) If instead of posting the picture for direct viewing in your message, you want to use the URL link boxes, then in Photobucket you would copy your image by clicking on the second box - the one that is labeled "Direct Link". That works but it forces readers to click on the link to get to your image. It's more fun to put it directly into the picture - instant view & instant gratification. If your photo shows up too large in GardenWeb, then just go back to Photobucket and edit the size. Click on 'edit', then 'resize' once the picture opens. 'Message Board' is obviously a nice size for message boards, but if you have graphic images, logos or little animations, then you can go smaller. Your image will automatically change once the message is posted to GardenWeb so you don't have to change anything there. If you rename, move or delete your photo in Photobucket, the connection is lost in GardenWeb because you aren't really putting the picture there; you are just putting code into the message that tells the computer to pull up and insert the photo there. Hope that help! But don't hesitate to ask questions if you have problems. Kate

Oh my. You've really set off an avalanche of memories with that post, Sharon. Much of it is about my late brother who was far, far more advanced than I with electronics and had a degree in photography as well. He was several years younger, so it was I who initially sparked his interest with my modest sound system and radio projects. He then went on to surpass my electronics knowledge by a huge amount and convinced me to get my ham license. My brother and I started listening to short wave broadcasts on my Grandmothers floor model Zenith whenever we visited. I still have that radio. My brother, who was a private pilot, liked listening to aircraft and also various utility bands such as the shipping ones you mentioned and ones used by railroads. Too bad so much is encoded these days. That takes a lot of the fun out of it. You must have heard those mysterious "number stations" where someone reads lists of numbers in groups of, I think, five numbers. I never found out what was going on with those. Do you know? Some people speculated they were for transmitting information to spies. Whose spies that would be, I have no idea. BTW, as a Canadian you may be interested that I, my brother and one or two of my sisters were dedicated listeners to the CBC. Their programming was far richer and more varied than any U.S. radio at that time. We were always comparing notes on what had been broadcast on various programs. I was very up-to-date on Canadian politics back then. You met your husband via ham radio, eh? That's quite a story. Yes, CQ is still published. I picked up a copy recently to catch up on what has developed during my hiatus from ham radio. I'm glad we met up on this thread. It may be the spark I needed to practice my code and pick up where I left off. I have a nice HF rig which ought to be put back in use and I have a Heathkit HW-9 (hot water 9) for QRP which I acquired with the day in mind I could operate CW. I always thought it would be fun to operate from a beach with a portable mast and solar power on QRP. Yeah, present day transceivers have new, advanced features but I think I can be very happy with what I have. Jim P.S. So as not to be so rude to non-hams, here is a glossary of a few terms: CW - Morse code DX - Distance DXCC - DX Century Club (for those who have made and confirmed contacts with 100 countries) QSL - a contact QSL card - a post card with information confirming a contact (or just reception in the case of SW broadcasts) QRP - low power (5 watts or less) CQ - calling anyone who is listening (also a ham magazine by that name) HF - high frequency SWL - short wave listening YL - young lady (a female of any age) OM - old man (a male of any age) SSB - single side band (one of the modes of transmission, along with FM, AM, RTTY, etc.)

Hello everyone! I walked in the door last night at 11:00 p.m. after the flight from hell. I white knuckled it all the way home on the plane. Usually turbulence doesn't bother me. Charles didn't wake me this morning with his usual rustlings, so, I slept in and I'm well rested. That dough master named Teresa really cracked the whip and had me worn out by the time I got home ;-). I had such a good time and was sorry to see the get together end :-( Everyone at Paney Camp was a joy to be around and I highly recommend the get togethers. Looking forward to PFPP in Novemeber. When I got home last night I had a box from a CF friend on the kitchen island. OMG, I couldn't believe it! I'll start a thread as soon as I can. omg, omg, omg! Maggie is here and we are catching up on our time we spend together every week so I need to keep this short. I will be back tomorrow with a few more pictures. I'm running short on time today.