early morning pheasant hunt

i just walk along.....to enjoy watching the DOG!  don says, "DODGER - you're the hunter....I'm the shooter".  i don't think dodge has made the connection yet with WHY we're out there in the field yet.  we NEED to take him to a place where we FOR SURE GET/FIND birds (even if we have to pay for them).  he LOVES the gun - very responsive to that...but no linear thought of ....BIRD - BANG - FIND - BRING.

oh - he's brought us a bird (his first grouse was last year)...but - i think he flushed it by mistake.  his M.O. seems to be run around and stomp on something.  he instinctively runs left and right in front of us....but he may be smelling mice and rabbits for all we know....for all he knows....

here's a shot of some LONE OAKS....  have you noticed that a lot of oak groves are dying?  their tap root is SO DEEP....and the water tables are changing....the deep water - disappearing....

TWO essentials

FRIENDS...(those of you who know me - i'm a bit geeky)  YOU NEED TO CHECK OUT:

http://preyproject.com/  PREY.  installing this bit of FREE programming on your mobile devices does this....IF YOU LOOSE YOUR DEVICE...or MORE IMPORTANTLY....IF IT'S STOLEN.  A laptop/phone with a camera on it will REMOTELY ACTIVATE THE CAMERA and GPS tracking on the device...it will start emailing you the location and images of the thief as soon as they go online with it.  even if the device doesn't have a camera - it will still locate itself.

LASTPASS https://lastpass.com/  i've looked at other programs like this in the past - but they've been "bulky". Lastpass is also FREE.  isn't it "convenient" for windows to automatically save your passwords for websites you like?  did you know anyone with a flashdrive and a little "program" would take about 5 seconds to grab every one of those off your computer?  LASTPASS grabs them in about equally that amount of time and encrypts them.  it installs right in the head of your browser...

Friday morning too soon

Friday morning is going to come all too soon. still at work 9:15 pm.

We have a NEW LOCATION (http://dsignsd.com/index_directions.html) The place is finally looking "official". The builder finished up the driveway - widened it - brought TONS of gravel in, dozer, skidsteer, and roller. He also redid the grades on the black dirt around the place. (oy - we're going to have a wet spot in the back of the building though) through no fault of the builder. The dirt "material" just doesn't seem to drain - we need a ton of sand mixed in with it maybe. And as our building is primarily East/West - we're going to have quite a bit of dirt back there that never sees direct sunlight.

We have NEW CAPABILITIES (heatpress, large-format Epson) ohhh and a new scanner too: 12.5 x 17.5 - full tabloid.

BUT...with all this upgrading going on around here.....tonight the issue was trying to install new RIP software (for the soon to arrive Epson)....but mainly to get it running for the EXISTING large-format JV3.

ports, serials, com settings, media, cutfiles, queues, oh my!

uploading this - while I'm downloading software updates.....

HJC Sy-Max II Helmet Failure - webBikeWorld

HJC Sy-Max II Helmet Failure - webBikeWorld

Yes this happened to me...total latch failure!  Returning from a ride...midway the latch would not catch.when I'd gotten home and could examine further...3 screws fell out.

This p's me off to no end...hjc has taken my life into there hands if something had happened.

Their cavalier ' boxed' response is...it's out of warranty though it has very few MILES in it!

MY LAST HJC HELMET...AND ALL MY FRIENDS TOO IF I HAVE ANY INFLUENCE

pilgrimage

so...i think it was 2 years ago now that i asked mom what she wanted for xmas/birthday (they're close together). she said she wanted to go to COOKS CORNER. cooks corner is a big KITCHEN OUTLET kinda store.

between her not wanting to travel unless weather conditions are PERFECT...and me WORKING...we FINALLY SCHEDULED AN APPOINTMENT. yesterday.

so - last week, mom and i were discussing the upcoming trip....and she asked if we could go visit " MARY " ????? there's a little place up in CHAMPION WISCONSIN that the virgin mary has been seen, miracles performed and is SANCTIONED by rome (the only place in north america!)

who knew!!! now - people who know me, know i'm not a religious person...in fact i'm a "bit" ANTI-DOCTRINE. but.....i know that this is important to mom.....she's "gone to mary" many times in her life for strength.

so - a trip to cooks corner was now a PILGRIMAGE!

i picked her up in the dark of morning (6 am)...and we're off. first stop - MARY. though i don't put a name to the goddess energy - i still appreciate it - i picked a bouquet of garden flowers and brought a gift of honey to lay at her altar.

mary was cool. i sat and appreciated the energy of her presence...i thought of life and growth in it's many forms.

for those of you seeking this place - google: OUR LADY OF HELP, champion, wisconsin.



Cooks corner was fabulous - kitchen tools, gadgets, "gourmet" items - that you never knew existed and didn't realize YOU NEEDED! :) ha ha

then....mom asked - is there a "U-BAKE" up here? googled my droid - got directions and off to U-BAKE appleton we went. bought flours for baking bread...and some stick in the oven and bake sweets for my sweetie.

FUN FILLED MORNING....

then off to lapps bee supply in the aft to pick up jars (for my OTHER business - dsbees.com)...and to do some LABEL BUSINESS with mr. lapp (for my REAL JOB - dsignsd.com)

whew!

Cough cough

450 miles away...the boundary waters of northern minnesota are burning and the smoke has made it all the way here.  I closed the house this morning...thinking one off the neighbors was burning garbage.

hazy...nauseating all day.   Down in the ' valley' of fond du lac proper...it was even worse...the ' ledge' trapping it below...

The house

The house still hadn't gotten over the smell of salsa from last week...here's batch number 5...chunky....