White Trash at Flat Rock

It seems like everyone has a digital camera now. They are wonderful for taking huge numbers of pictures of other couples when you travel. For the freelancer, they offer the option of easily including photographs with your articles. Your editor will love you. Even if you are not an accomplished photographer, you should be able to get something useful simply through the number of pictures you can take. These inexpensive, lightweight cameras usually do just fine in as long as the lighting is good and the subjects are static. Taking pictures of moving scenes can be a challenge because sometimes there is quite a lag between when you press the shutter and when the camera takes the photo. Perhaps the camera is thinking. Ever so slowly.

1. Make sure the batteries are fully charged. Some don’t last very long, especially if it is cold.
2. Leave it on the automatic setting. If the picture requires anything but that, it is probably beyond the abilities of the $89.99 special you bought at the box store anyway.
3. Just accept that you will need to take your photos in well-lit areas. It can require thousands of dollars worth of equipment for lighting to take a good photo in less than ideal situations.
4. Download your photos to your computer frequently. Create carefully named folders for each date, topic or locale so you can find what you are looking for at a later time. The camera creates files with names like IMG102556 and IMG103554. Even if you figure out how to preview them, it can take forever to find that shot you were looking for without some clues.
5. Never ever send emails with huge picture files. You’ve received them; those emails that take 45 minutes to download on your expensive broadband and turn out to be 5 blurry photos of your aunt’s cat. Some email programs will reduce the file sizes for you.
6. Consider learning to use a photo editing program like Photoshop Elements. Graphic programs have a steep learning curve in general, but I’ve found the courses at ww.lvs.online to be helpful. They are also cheap.
7. Don’t drop the thing or let the dog get it.

If you read any article about being a successful (fill in the blank – writer, athlete, bar tender, whatever) efficiency and organization are sure to top the list of desirable traits and habits. The two really go hand in hand. Like, do you know where your stapler is?

Dolly the pit bull knows my traits. Her morning goes something like this. We get up any time between 4:30 and 7:30. She gets breakfast and goes back to bed. So far, pretty tough. Phone rings, it’s Ken seeing if the Doll is ready to go to Flat Rock and play with Bubba. By now she is snoring again.

Here’s where the lack of organization on my part comes in. She knows it is not time to leave until I have gone out into the front entry hall at least three times: once to find my boots, another to look for keys and the third to find her leash and jacket. Any of these items may or may not actually be there.

Then she gets dressed and goes out. Usually just as far as the hall while I turn back to look for yet another misplaced item. This morning the keys are missing…

It’s blue moon Sunday here at Flat Rock and I promised a treat. So smile already.

Lately I’ve been noticing that if I smile at someone, they smile back. Amazing, huh? I remember a classmate in college whose natural expression was a sort-of grin. I always assumed we were more or less friends until one day, apropos of nothing, he walked up to me and said, “You are basically evil.” Who knows what I did. Frankly, I don’t really care, but the incident obviously lurks in the back of my mind.

Pit bulls have a wonderful smile. It stretches from ear to ear right across that giant jaw. I hadn’t seen Dolly’s smile and began to wonder if she had less pittie than we thought. Until, one day, she ran full-out at me. Her paws were sending out little puffs of dust, she roared past me with not an inch to spare. On her face was the biggest grin you could hope to see.

I’ve never been able to get a picture of this expression; my camera is just not up to the task. There are some lovely pit-smiles at a website I found. http://www.pbrc.net/ There’s lots of information on the site.

The smiling idea came to me as I drove past the Mazda dealership on my way to Townsend this morning. They park the cars facing the state road, and some of the models have a grill that imitates a smile. I always find myself smiling back. Good design. In the interest of full-discloser, I admit to having an RX7 habit. No longer made, but what a car. I’m enjoying my 1987.

 These are Miatas, not the venerable RX7, but still – a cheery sight on a bleary day.

A row of smiling Miatas

click to see the opposing placement

One of the challenges of working at home is the lack of office supplies located in a central cabinet. That feeling of “Cool, I always wanted sticky notes in tie-dye” is not yours anymore. You and you alone are responsible for your swag. It’s tough if you’re cheap.

 There is one product I wouldn’t want to do without, even though I have to go the office supply store and buy them on my own. Binder clips. The creative mind can find a myriad of uses for these little devils that come in multiple sizes. The smallest can be used instead of a stapler. Larger ones can take the place of the ubiquitous loose leaf binder. It’s just so irritating when one of the holes fails and the papers begin to fall out. Then there’s the whole challenge of making all those holes.

 But don’t let your imagination stop with collecting paper. After all, we were told the advent of the computer meant a paperless office, so it could be the binder clip is an endangered item. Let’s prevent that from happening.

 Use binder clips identify your pet. Choose one that fits comfortable on the collar. Using your hand-engraver purchased in the early ‘70s to identify your bicycle, put your pet’s name and your phone number on the clip before clipping it to her collar. If a neighbor’s dog is particularly annoying, place a binder clip with false information to the mal-adapted animal and set it loose.

Binder clips are useful for advanced overhead doorway cable routing. Choose large clips and run the cables through housing. Place one thumbtack on the molding at the top corner of each doorway. Hang a clip on each tack by one little wing. If your cables are in an advanced state of procreation you can daisy-chain multiple clips together by the other little wing. Be sure to check the weight limits on the thumbtack.

The possibilities are limitless. Please share your ideas. The winner of the best idea will receive a free rss feed to this blog.