The weather has lightened up, and everyone is enjoying it.
It's sunny, and it's hot. But not stultifyingly humid.
And there's an occasional breeze.
The air is breathable.
Ahhhhh.
Betula had been basking in the sun, but when he saw me walking up from the garden, he got up and walked down to meet me halfway.
LeShodu naturally assumed that I would walk to her.
She is rarely mistaken.
~~~
We had a brief but heavy rain one evening,
and the corn is higher than my knees at last:
The corn - it's organic popcorn, actually! -
still has a long way to go.
But the summer squash is coming along:
~~~
In very "other" news, I'm in the process of switching to a new laptop. It's a necessary step - overdue, really - but now I must get it done because the tiny laptop needs to go away for repair ASAP. I've been switching over for a week now, bit by bit.
I am not going to make you look at pictures of a laptop.
Look, pumpkin leaves! Aren't they glorious?
I'll talk about the laptops though. Two big hurdles are: getting the goatcams talking to the new laptop, and finding a replacement for Picasa, which I've been happy with as an image manager (mostly) and editor (a bit), but which Google cut loose a while ago. Oh, Google. You are a blister at times.
I do so little "post-processing" of images, I have no need of PhotoShop. And I don't want my images in "the cloud" so I'm not even looking at Google's "replacement" for Picasa.
What are y'all using? Any software suggestions will be much appreciated!
~~~
Hurdle 2: the goatcams are critical to my peace of mind; no exaggeration. There's just no calculating how many unnecessary trips to the barns and paddocks they've prevented, especially in the middle of the night. Nor how many times I've gone out with a flashlight because a goatcam let me know there was something genuinely amiss. They've certainly saved at least one life.
After many hair-tearing failures this week, I managed to get one of the cameras talking to the new laptop this afternoon. I have such a headache now, I'm going to rest on that one scrawny laurel til tomorrow, when I'll tackle the second camera again.
And speaking of tomorrow, it's the Giveaway Giveaway! I just discovered that I did not put a time on the random drawing, so to be fair, I will keep entries open til midnight Eastern Time on Thursday, and will draw and post the winner on Friday. That means there's still time to share, so please do...this is just a tiny giveaway, but the more people who hear about Kiva, the better our world may be :)
~~~~~
https://sites.google.com/site/picasaresources/Home/Picasa-FAQ
ReplyDeleteI don't know if that helps. Its a link to the Picasa resource page.
I use IrfanView to edit pictures, and folders to list groups of photos. I don't know if it has a tagging feature.
Thanks, Mayywyn - as I was searching for IrfanView I stumbled upon Zoner and am checking that one out also! Feels like I'm making progress :) If you have some spare time, maybe you can also get my 2nd goatcam working? ;)
DeleteThe problem with Picasa is, Google first made a decision to stop "supporting" it, and then made it impossible to download it direct from Google, period. The last version of it is still available from some host sites, but 1) I have doubts about safety and 2) the last version was pre-Windows10. So my old laptop has it and I can use it, but only until it fails, because when Google dumped it they also declined to simply release it as unsupported freeware or shareware that a bunch of people smarter than me would have voluntarily and happily tinkered with and improved, for who knows how long. (I am a little annoyed about Google's attitude here, and I'm not alone. They decided to suck people into the "better" option of a far less useful app, which also requires that the images be stored in "the cloud." Cue torches and pitchforks.
ReplyDeleteI'll check out IrfanView - thanks for the tip!
Thank you for the info, Quinn
ReplyDeleteI had a not happy with Google moment when I discovered I can't edit Picasa folders. I'm considering going back to using a photo host. I don't like Google storing things they don't own because it feels too much like sharing a copyright I don't want to share.
Lovely shots. I hate having to deal with the technical stuff - but it's necessary, of course. Phot-wise, I use Photoshop, but an entry-level version and even then I don't use (or understand) more than about 10% of what it can do. But at least I control it. I should tag - but never have...woops!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mike. I also used a simple version of PS starting in about 1993, and did not buy a new version until CS3 in 2008 - and then only because I needed to buy graphic design software for a new work computer. If I thought there was still a simple version of PS available, I'd probably go back to it, but like you, only use a fraction of the tools. The only one I REALLY miss is the ability to compensate for parallax!
DeleteTagging is one of those things that becomes routine when it starts to prove how helpful it is. I still have thousands of untagged images, but it's a good option for insomniac productivity :)
I use photos Cape and I like the ease of use. Don't know if it has tagging feature, though.
ReplyDeleteNo help with techie stuff from here - I use what came with my computer and only in a very limited way. I can understand the need for goat cams though and hope you can get it figured out.
ReplyDeleteBetula is simply beautiful!
ReplyDeleteAw, thanks, Kath. I always tell my goats "handsome is as handsome does around here!" but Bet really has a special personality to go with the looks :)
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