Thursday, October 30, 2008

The Pigeon

Forgot to tell you about the Pigeon.  It arrived on our deck one evening and wouldn't go away.  Turns out it was a homing pigeon that lost it's home!  After checking several web sites, I was able to determine it's owners.  They lived in a nearby community and retrieved their bird the next morning.  There are some good pictures of the bird and Donna on the SmugMug site.

Just an Update

Donna is working in the Activities Office, setting up the Halloween Party tomorrow, and I'm shopping for supplies for the porch screens.  Rather than paying someone $200 for each removable screen, I'm gonna do it myself (Donna will do all the sewing).  We modified the first screen a couple of days ago - it looks good.  Now I think we're qualified to go on the the larger ones.  We need to have them up before the first RV arrives next door.  The afternoon sun shining on a white RV causes much squinting of eyes on our deck - the screen should help.

The first wine tasting was a little cramped.  We had to have it in a smaller room because the ballroom was in use by the Holiday Rambler rally.  I'm glad we don't have to do that very often.  Much too loud.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Things Have been Stowed

It's amazing how much "stuff" Junior holds.  Yesterday, finally, everything has been stored; the patio has been reconstructed with the appropriate furniture; and the "big house" looks good inside.  Everything has been hidden behind doors and I'm not sure I can find anything - but all outward appearances indicate we are organized.

The home network is running with a Kyocera KR2 router and an Alltel broadband card.  I'm getting speeds in the 1600 kbps range; that's about the best we can expect here until Wiimax becomes a reality. 

Our next step is to purchase a couple of cactus - the front yard needs a little face lift.

The neighbors across the street arrived today, so now we have four couples back on British Columbia.  Let the parties begin!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Ubuntu Discussion Group

We've added a Linux Interest Group meeting to the Park Calendar. We'll meet every Monday at 10 am in the Prickly Pear room. If you're interested in getting rid of that slow Windows operating system and trying something a little faster and FREE, stop by. BTW, we'll be discussing all sorts of computer stuff.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

We're Home

Plans were to leave the North Rim at 5:30 this morning. However ... lot's of wind last night and we lost power about 1:30 am. Larger "things" were dropping on the RV and we couldn't go back to sleep. So ... we left at 3:30 am!!! We encountered several fallen trees on the road, but luckily they were all broken into small enough pieces to easily move to the side or enough smaller pieces that we could drive over them. A little exciting.

We had breakfast at about 7 am at the Cameron Trading Post - biscuits and gravy and hash browns - yummm.

Arrived home at noon and proceeded to unpack junior. Boy, did we have a lot stuff stored in that small space.

Lots of things piled on the deck and inside, but we're so tired, I think most of the restoring will be postponed until tomorrow.

A good summer, but we're glad to be back home.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Kubuntu

Hey guys!  I'm beginning to think Linux (Ubuntu) IS THE operating system !  Boot up and shut down are very fast AND there are thousands of FREE programs to use.  I'm currently in the process of upgrading my older HP to the Kubuntu version of Ubuntu.  Kubuntu looks a little more like windows, so the comfort level is a little higher.  I highly recommend that anyone with an older machine that's thinking of buying a new one, should first update their old operating system with Ubuntu/Kubuntu and try that for a while.

In fact, I'm now recommending that serious users install a dual-boot system so they can switch back and forth between the two systems before they give up on Microsoft FOREVER!

Email me with your thoughts.  I think I'll have an Ubuntu class this Winter.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Ubuntu Update

This OS is working pretty good!  It's very fast, both in booting up and shutting down.  And, there are a lot of free programs to work with it.  I think it's a very good alternative to Windows.  If anyone is interested, I'd really like to show you how it works.

Cold Weather Coming

I thought we'd get out of here before the cold weather -- maybe!  This weekend the forecast is for a low of 31 degrees with a high of 50!!! Sounds like Winter to me!!