A Few California Clouds ...

I mentioned those beautiful California clouds yesterday, but couldn't get them transferred from my camera card to the computer.  I shoot everything in RAW files, which require some manipulation in Photoshop before you can actually see the file image.  You would think that the camera folks and the computer folks would get together, but they live in two different worlds, causing the rest of us big headaches!!  

 I finally sent an email to an amazing photographer Moose Peterson, the Nikon Camera Ambassador (check him out ... his images are crazy good ... MoosePeterson.com).  This is one of those down to earth guys I talk about who's willing to help anyone.  In less than 15 minutes, he emailed a response about what to check.  When I did, up popped a never-before-seen update window.  Two hours later, everything was working!!  I'm sure glad we got THAT figured out, because I would be bored to death with no pictures!!!

The potato salad party was last night ... actually it was a retirement/birthday party for one of my best friend's boyfriend.  I didn't eat any, as I was pretty sick of potato salad by the time I finished off the batch I made by mistake LAST weekend.  Richard turned 60 at a surprise birthday party last night, having retired on Friday.  My friend Diane got everything perfect except the candles ... so she added 5 in front of the 55, stating she did so on purpose so the Fire Department wouldn't show up.

Diane's son and daughter-in-law are home for a few days from his station in Germany.  I spent most of the evening talking to Jennifer about life overseas and how much I wanted to move.  Let me tell you, Germany is NOT the place to move to.  I thought we had it bad in California ... they have to weigh out their electricity daily ... whether they want to watch TV or turn on the heater, because it's SO horribly expensive.    People go out to eat rather than cook at home because it's cheaper.  Restaurants will let you stay at a table for as long as you want ... which people do in order to stay warm for as long as they can.  There's no such thing as a free glass of water ... it costs well over a dollar.  Beer on the other hand, is 70 cents for about 2 pints!!  She said if I come to visit, don't bring a hair dryer because they can't afford the electricity for even one drying session!!!  YIKES ... maybe PG&E isn't so bad after all!!

On one of Diane's trips down south, she picked up a little yellow bird house to match their little yellow travel trailer that looked EXACTLY like it.  When I saw it, I thought it would be cute to hang outside my RV, so she picked up this one for me.  It's really well built ... even has a hitch and a California license plate.  If you see this hanging outside from my side mirrors, you'll know it's me!!  I'm going to add a tray on the side for bird seed!!

For Christmas in February, Jessie and Cooper both got cute toys to play with ... which lasted about an hour.  Cooper goes for the squeaker immediately, disemboweling the poor thing and creating a nice mess for mom to pick up, then Jessie grabs what's left as her property!!  These kids have such different personalities!!!

It's 38 degrees this morning, so I think the puppies and I will just hang out around the fireplace all day.  Since I can upload images now, I may play around with my camera.  By the way, here's a tip I picked up yesterday ... I haven't tried this myself, but it's worth a shot.  When you go to Amazon to purchase things over $40 or so, put them on your Wish List first.  In a few days, check out your wish list again.  This photographer friend says he finds more times than not, Amazon has discounted the price of the item, at which time he purchases it.  Sometimes he saves 10%, sometimes more.  I'm all for discounts so I'll give it a look see!!!