Journal: Printers, Game Cams, and Old Photos, Oh, My!

Last Tuesday afternoon I took Loren some food a little earlier than usual, because he called and informed me he was hungry.  He doesn’t usually do that, but he thought he had earlier told me he wasn’t hungry (that had occurred the previous day, so I took him food an hour later than usual) – and then he worried I might not bring him anything on account of him saying that.  And I do always tell him to please call if he’s hungry or needs anything at all.

When I arrived, he let me in the door and immediately said, “I hope I didn’t sound bossy!”

“Nope,” I told him, “Just hungry!” 

He was laughing as we went into the kitchen.

He can’t keep it straight if Norma really died, or if she’s at work somewhere, or if she went for a walk, or maybe went shopping.  Sometimes he’s quite sure she came to his house and washed dishes, and suchlike.  Perhaps he dreams?  Imagines it?  Hard to say. 

I just stay cheery with him, tell him the facts when necessary, repeat them if I need to, and then tell him a story about Caleb and Victoria when they were little.

I try to always tell him something that makes him laugh before I head out the door.

Amy requested a copy of this picture of Norma at age 3.  I found it, and also found this one of Lyle (Larry’s father) at age 12.

Both Jeffrey (almost 12 – Teddy and Amy’s 4^th child) and Jacob (11 – Jeremy and Lydia’s oldest) look something like Lyle, their great-grandfather.  Elsie looks quite a lot like Norma, her great-grandmother.

Here I am on my first birthday:

And this one was taken at 18 months:

This picture was taken when I was 11, in 7^th grade. 

A friend, reading some Bible quotations, asked me why certain words were in italics.

The Bible quotes in the article were from the old King James Version, which is the version we use, as it’s the closest translation from the original Hebrew and Greek.  The translators put words in italics that were not in the original, but which they added to make the sense more clear.  English uses a lot more connectives, linking verbs, definite articles, conjunctions, and suchlike than do Hebrew or Greek.

When I learned that, way back when I was, oh, maybe 9 or 10 years old, I proceeded to plow my way through Psalms and Proverbs, purposefully leaving out all the words in italics. 

When I was done with that, I had to agree, the translators knew what they were doing, and, so far as little me could discern, they hadn’t at all changed the sense (which was what highly concerned me, upon hearing this news, heh heh). 

I’ve always loved (and sometimes been horrified by) the stories from when the Bible was translated.  Men and women completed works in many languages, often at great danger to themselves and their families and properties.  Many translators were killed – burning them at the stake was the favored method.  One translator, John Wycliffe, died of a stroke; but 40 years later, the pope, still raging that he hadn’t gotten the enjoyment of properly punishing that good man, ordered his bones exhumed and burned. 

The amazing thing is that the Bible is still here at all – and nowadays, it’s in such abundance that even the children can have one, from the time they are very young.  Not in all countries is that the case, of course.

I remember sitting in church with a little New Testament, carefully turning the pages every time the rest of the congregation did.  I was not quite three, and I couldn’t read yet.  I sat there and stared at the page, listening to my father preach, and thinking, There’s a story on this page!!! – and I don’t know what it is, because I can’t read!!!  I was sad about that, right down to the bottom of my toes. 

I finished scanning another photo album Wednesday night.  Here are Lydia, Hester, and Caleb playing in the sprinkler, June of 1997.

Onward and forward...  there are hundreds of albums left to do.  I should look at what I have done, not what there is still to do, I think!

A friend asked the following question in one of my quilting groups:  Do you make quilts specifically for your pets?  Or do they get the old, ragged quilts that you don’t want any more?

I posted my answer – complete with pictures – on my blog:  Where the Cats Nap

I don’t make quilts for the cats.  I don’t have enough time (or fabric) to make quilts for all the people I’d like to give quilts to!  

Besides, our cats have plenty of Thermabeds, fleece-covered egg-crate foam, and pet blankets that are supposed to ‘collect shed fur’ spread on the loveseat.  They will get in batting or on quilts if I leave them lying around.  They like the rag rug I made, too.  If we leave duffle bags open when we’re packing, they will be sure to get in.  And of course, there’s always the sink.

But Teensy’s favorite nap spot?  With Larry on the loveseat! 

Thursday, I took Amy a new collapsible clothes basket, since when I picked up one of hers last Monday, I cut my finger on a cracked handle.  And once wasn’t enough; I cut the same finger on the other handle a few minutes later.  So I decided a new one was in order, and a collapsible one would store well, and entertain the kids, into the bargain. 

Indeed, little Warren, who’s four, upon being informed, “It’s collapsible!” inquired with concern, “How do you fix it?!”

As they got it out of the box, I told the boys, “Mind you, this is neither a caboose, nor a train car, nor a truck, nor a wagon!” 

They were laughing – and looking a little sheepish.  (Does Grandma know how the handles on that other basket got broken?)  (Yes, Grandma knows.)

Elsie, 3 ½, gave me several pages on which she’d scribbled with a variety of bright Crayolas.  I think that’s a good exchange, don’t you?

The new printer I got doesn’t work.  I called HP... the tech tried to help... then, when the same error notice kept showing, the lady, whose first language was definitely not English, told me that they would send me a new one, along with a shipping label so I could send the first one to them.  This, despite the fact that I’d gotten it on Amazon.  I told her this several times. 

“Yes, ma’am,” she answered, “I understand.  But we want you to have a good one, one that works the way it should.”

I emailed her my receipts as she requested.  They showed the seller’s name and the cost of the printer.  Since none of this gave her pause, I decided that she must know something I had not yet figured out.  Maybe this Amazon seller was working directly for Hewlett Packard? 

After getting all the details ironed out and bidding each other adieu, I started removing the shipping labels and tags from the box. 

To my surprise, I found one that read, “Professionally refurbished!” 

I had not at all known it wasn’t brand new.  Why, right there in the description, under ‘Condition’, it said ‘New’!  In fact, I think that Amazon seller used photos and description straight from HP.

I did wonder why it had come in a box that looked like the FedEx man had run over it with his truck.  Furthermore, the printer/scanner wasn’t in its own box inside the outer box, with fitted Styrofoam around it as new ones generally are.  Instead, there were free-floating, long, tube-shaped pieces of Styrofoam around the printer. 

This, I thought upon opening the box, is not a good omen. 

And, as expected, the lid over the glass didn’t feel sturdy, and didn’t fit perfectly. 

I sent an email to HP telling them that the machine was refurbished, and I should probably be trying to get my money back from the Amazon seller, rather than from them.  I didn’t get a reply, so I called again the next day and explained the issue.

This time it was a man on the phone.  His mother tongue wasn’t English, either; but he was a bit easier to understand than the lady had been.

Why does every company on the face of the earth hire people to talk on their phones – particularly on their trouble-shooting lines – whom the majority of callers cannot understand?!

But soon the man figured out what the deal was and canceled the order for me.

Or at least he said he did.  Just a little while ago I got an email from HP informing me that ‘my order has been shipped’. 

I emailed them to tell them the order was supposed to have been canceled.  As usual, I have not received a reply.

In the meanwhile, I ordered a really, really, honest-to-goodness new printer/scanner from Nebraska Furniture Mart.  It was scheduled to be delivered tomorrow.

Adding insult to injury, I just got this email:  “Due to supply chain disruptions related to the COVID-19 crisis, we are experiencing longer-than-usual shipping times from some of our manufacturers.  Because of this, the All-in-One-Printer that you recently purchased has been delayed.”

Well, having done what I could, I finished washing clothes, put them away, watered the houseplants, paid the bills, and decided to see if I could get the game cam operating.  Larry had loaded the camera with batteries (it takes 12 [twelve!] AA batteries), set up an account, registered it, listed it with Verizon, bought an SD card – and couldn’t get the camera to format the card and begin taking pictures.

I downloaded the app onto my laptop and began working my way through the steps.  When I held the button down to format the card, sure enough, just like Larry said, it didn’t work. 

I took a closer look at the card.

It was in backwards.

I rummaged up a pair of pliers, pried the card out, and reinserted it properly.  I pressed the button... waited the prescribed length of time – and the little light blinked green.  The card was formatted.

I turned the camera on, set it on the top step of the porch... and waited.

By dusk, it was confirmed:  the game cam was indeed up and running.

Here’s proof:  at 4:48 p.m., it caught the neighbor man’s pickup driving by.  At 5:55 p.m., it snatched a shot of the neighbor lady’s Mustang going past.  And at 8:34 p.m., it gave evidence that there is a clown on the premises.

I continued photo-scanning from the old albums.  At least my old scanner still works.

Here I am with Victoria when she was four months old, and already proving to us that the gears in that little head were in excellent turning and meshing order.

One evening, I heard a whole lot of noisy twittering in the garage.  I went to see if the cats were bothering the barn swallows that have been nesting out there.  When I peered through the high window on the door leading into the garage, I wound up nose-to-beak with an adult barn swallow as she zipped back and forth, scolding and worried.

I slowly, carefully, opened the door to see what the matter was.  And there, right above my head, perched on an electrical cord, were three newly-fledged babies.

I shut the door more carefully than I’d opened it, and scurried for my camera.

Barn swallows can be awfully messy things, but they sure are pretty little birds.  And they fly like acrobats.  I love to watch them.

The next afternoon, I contacted the Amazon seller.  Without question or quibble, I was promptly emailed a return shipping label.

Now, let’s think about this:  I ordered a new printer because my old one won’t print.  I’m sending the new one back, because it won’t print, either.

And the man sends me a label to print.  🤪😵🥴  Oy vey!

I called the UPS Store and told the lady my dilemma.  She laughed and assured me that they could print it for me there at the Store.

I got a few more pictures scanned before trotting downstairs to make Loren some food.

Soon I was taking him macaroni and cheese with chicken.  Newsflash:  Loren is not terribly fond of macaroni and cheese.  I offered to get him a pair of tweezers so he could pick out the chicken, which made him laugh.  I told him, “It’s good for you!”

He replied, “That’s what Mama always used to say.”

“Yes,” I said, “but that’s probably because that’s all she had to feed you.”

He agreed.  I told him to only eat what he wanted, and I’d pick up the rest the next day.  Fortunately, I also gave him potatoes and fire-roasted vegetables (broccoli, green and red peppers, and summer squash), pineapple and mandarin oranges, a couple of pecan sandies, a cranberry-orange muffin, and some lemon-limeade fresh-made from Lucy’s 100% lemon and 100% lime juice.  He really likes that drink.  I also pointed out that he hadn’t yet eaten the ice cream I took him a couple of days ago.

“Oh, good!” he answered, “That’ll make up for this!” – pointing at the macaroni and cheese.  heh

He changes his mind periodically over what he likes or dislikes (which is nothing new, for him), so I just wait a while and then try it again, with a little different spin to it.  He once thought the reason he didn’t like macaroni and cheese was because it often has tuna in it... thus the chicken.  But maybe he really, really doesn’t like macaroni and cheese!  😄

(But the next day, he didn’t want me to take the dish.  It was in his refrigerator, and he’d had some of it that very morning, “And it was pretty good!” he said.  So I left it there.)

After leaving Loren’s house, I took the big box with the nonworking printer to the UPS Store.

I needed someone to carry that huge box with the printer in it!  Whew, it was too big for me.  I went staggering toward the door of the UPS Store, and Helpful Harry (male rendition of Helpful Hattie) suddenly shoved one of the double doors open for me – the door opening straight into me as I approached from the left, rather than the door on the right, which would’ve made things a whole lot easier.  So I had to squeeeeze through the gate, huffing and puffing and terribly late -------- no, wait, those were the hippos as they got on Noah’s Ark (according to my Little Golden Book, way back when).

Anyway, I did have to squeeze between the man and door and a large brick pillar on the front walkway.  Good thing I wasn’t any bigger than I am.

Then off to Pet Care for Teensy’s medicine for hypothyroidism, where people are now allowed in the lobby if they have a mask.  Mine was in my purse. 

“Sure, come right on in!” chirped the perky young lady at the desk.  Then, belatedly, “Do you have a mask?”

I thought about the mask, way over there in my purse.  I considered my aching back, shoulders, and neck.  I looked at myself in the visor mirror, and I clearly didn’t have one on, so I said, “No,” and barely felt the slightest twinge of conscience.  

“Then we’ll bring it out to you!” replied the lady in her bright way.

Yeah, that was devious, wasn’t it.

Well, I can’t help it.  She was younger than me, and I was hot and all worn to a frizzle-frazzle after doing the Boogie Woogie with that big box.  I’ll do a good deed for her another time.

Home again, I went back to picture-scanning.  At least supper was done:  a big pot of macaroni and cheese with chicken, cranberry-orange muffins, pecan sandies, pineapple, mandarin oranges, and a gallon of lemon-limeade (minus the jar I took to Loren and the two tall glasses I gulped down when I got home).  It was 94°, with a heat index of 109°.  The next day would be even hotter.

I’m missing sewing and quilting... but I am having fun scanning all these old pictures.  Gotta keep going... gotta keep going...  Quilting will be the carrot in front of my nose.  (One of these days, though, I just might have to make a pillow or something.  Just to assure myself I still know how to sew.)  Here’s one of those shots that keeps me at it.  😂

Hester, supposedly ‘putting the clothes away, dressed the wooden rocking horse in Lydia’s pinafore and Victoria’s bonnet, and then she slid an unmatched pair of socks on the front runners.

Here’s Victoria at four months:

... and again at about ten months.  Learning to crawl is serious business!

Years ago, I promised one of my online quilting groups that someday when I began scanning all my old pictures and came to the pictures of the Barbie doll clothes I made Hester and Lydia (we called them ‘the little girls’; Hannah and Dorcas were ‘the big girls’), I would post them.  Well, I found them.  

This picture was taken June 25, 1997 – Lydia’s 6^th birthday.  Hester had turned 8 on the 8^th of June.  Look at all those Expressions dolls! 😂

We had just hit the jackpot at a Goodwill store somewhere – we found all these Barbie dolls there, in good condition, and only about a dollar apiece.

Lydia, Jacob, and Malinda came visiting Saturday night, bringing us gluten-free, dairy-free donuts, fresh out of the oven, as an anniversary gift.  Lydia looked through the stacks of Norma’s clothes I have upstairs on the bed in the library, and chose a few. 

Larry took Jacob and Malinda for rides in the electric golf cart, and let Jacob drive.  He let Malinda steer, too, which quite delighted her.

Sunday, a visiting missionary from Mexico City, Tom Montgomery, took both of our church services.  We always enjoy hearing him preach.

I think, after all the promising blossoms and tiny peaches on our tree, there are now only three unripe peaches left.  I have no idea what happened to them all.  The tree has been looking bedraggled for several years, but it still produced very well.  The year before last, raccoons polished off all the peaches just before they were quite ripe enough to pick.

There was a thunderstorm during the night last night.  Some areas around the vicinity got more than three inches of rain.  But although it rained hard for a little while, we only got a little over three-quarters of an inch.

Here’s Larry with Victoria when she was four months.

All these old pictures bring back lots of memories.  Photos in one album of a cabin where we once stayed reminded me of the time we were in a cabin in Colorado, and Joseph, who was about a year old, wiggled and squirmed his way (in his sleep) under one of the beds during the night.  My heart stopped for a moment in the morning when the baby... just wasn’t there.

On another occasion in a cabin, Teddy, about 2, must’ve been exploring in the early morning hours, and then fallen asleep mid-explore – lopped over the top of our big cooler.  It was an electrical cooler, and if it was cooling inside, which it was right then, it blew hot air out the vent.  Probably felt cozy to him.

Victoria once, at about age 4, got stuck between her bedpost and the corner.  Rather than call for help, she just slept there.

Another thunderstorm is rolling through, and the lightning streaks are spectacular.  The big booms are getting farther away; the first wave is passing.  However, more storm bands are moving in.

Bedtime!

,,,>^..^<,,,          Sarah Lynn          ,,,>^..^<,,,