Scattered Thoughts . . .

I've been writing about some of the gifts we received for Christmas and another one of the gifts we received was a new wireless doorbell. I must say, this wireless doorbell is good enough to have put together a short video and write about here! Our old wireless doorbell was not all that appealing. The quality of the sound was rather poor. It sounded more like a child's toy than a real doorbell. Every time the doorbell rang, the quality of the sound really bothered me. Of course, those who know me probably aren't surprised by this since everyone knows I probably pay far too much attention to the tiniest of details and I'm a hopeless perfectionist. The sound of that old doorbell was really lousy though. I knew that if I was going to replace our doorbell I wanted one with better sound. The other problem we had with the old doorbell is that whenever the temperatures plunged below zero (which is often during six months out of the year) , the doorbell button contacts c

Quite by coincidence, Sheila and I each received gifts for our home from Monticello this Christmas! Monticello is a home I studied in high school and college as an architecture/engineering student. It has always been one of my favorites. As luck would have it, I also highly respect our founding father who designed and built this spectacular home, Thomas Jefferson. He was a wise man who has shared many of my own beliefs and who understood and has written extensively about the growing pains our country would face in the coming centuries. He is often pushed aside and minimized in history but someone whom I admire, respect and try to emulate. Having gifts in our home from Monticello is a nice reminder of an honorable man. Accompanying these gifts, we received a letter written in the hand of Thomas Jefferson. Here is an excerpt from this letter... "...Although more than two hundred years have passed since I've written this letter to you, through the magic of Christmas and t

Whenever I 'overdo' it, my health crashes into poor or miserable levels quite often delving into dangerous waters that causes a further deterioration of health which includes anaphylaxis. I've had some transient health issues on and off throughout the Christmas season but not anything classifying as 'dangerous'... until now.  Shortly after going to bed last night, my health crashed causing sudden anaphylaxis. My body responded to the drop in blood pressure as it should causing flushing and sudden palpitations. I was already in bed, however... already completely spent... now struggling with bigger issues... and, unfortunately, I never made it to my emergency medications.   I remember the sudden drop in energy levels... I remember instantly having difficulty keeping my eyes open... I had thought I was simply tired. In hindsight, I think these were signs of impending anaphylaxis. About an hour or two later, while still struggling with keeping my eyes open, I rememb

My big O scale Hudson steam locomotive is headed to the shop for some nice upgrades. This old locomotive, by MTH, currently has only very rudimentary control and some generic sounds which, to be honest, aren't that great. This upgrade will be a significant upgrade and will be  very welcomed! My MTH O scale Hudson steam locomotive... This old locomotive runs great but it operates unrealistically just like the old Lionel locomotives... press a button on the transformer and the locomotive jumps into forward... press it again and it jumps back to neutral while coasting to a stop... press it again and it jumps into reverse...  press again, back to neutral... forward, neutral, reverse, neutral, forward, neutral...  So, what if I am going forward and I want to stop at a freight station or passenger station and I want to leave the station going forward again? The next time I press that "direction button", I'll be heading in reverse! I'd prefer to have complete

It's been a quiet week since Christmas. As with any major event in our life, my health needs a long period of rest and recovery afterward. This is especially true after the long buildup to Christmas and Christmas Day celebrations. So, this week has been a quiet week of rest and recovery. Right now, I don't want to do anything else for the next three or four weeks... I'm tired and worn out! There were a lot of great presents this year and a lot of happy expressions as gifts were opened which makes a photographer's job a whole lot easier! I had some time to sort through well over 300 photos and found some from Christmas morning to share here...  Here it is, in the wee hours of the morning, as we wait on Lukey and Kenzie... Sheila is chatting with Adam on Skype as I prepare breakfast... Lukey was excited about this ferry boat with cars... the boat actually floats and can be used at the lake house!  And, this ferry sort of resembles the ferries we

Christmas morning, as anticipated, was very nice... a lot of great presents to unwrap... a delicious breakfast... and, after the kids left for their daddy's house, we got to eat a nice quiet breakfast and then play with all the toys.  This morning, I whittled our 30 minutes of video down to 20 minutes and then rendered it in high definition. That little project required the entire morning... mostly work for the computer, not me... but the results are nice!  Having a separate camera mounted on a tripod while I shot still photography with my usual camera worked out great. I had hoped to get some video clips with the camera I had in my hand to add different angles but shooting video, shooting stills and cooking breakfast all at the same time proved to be more than I could handle. The results are really nice though... It was a magical Christmas morning... and everyone enjoyed it! It is really nice to have video footage to help remember our day. At some point, I'll w

It is a beautiful Christmas Eve... the house is quiet except for soft Christmas music being played on our home theatre... the gifts are placed around the tree... comforting drinks are being served... as Santa makes his way around the globe to visit all the little children of the world, we are relaxing in the warmth of our home decorated for Christmas awaiting the children and our Christmas guests...  We have some gifts from Monticello and a dated letter from President Thomas Jefferson provided to us by timeless Santa... There are so many gifts that they are stacked against the wall, climbing toward the ceiling.... So... where are Lukey and Kenzie???  They are probably wondering when Christmas morning will finally arrive... I'm sure 6am will be here soon enough!   Okay... where is my drink?