Blogging Tool

For my blogging friends, here is a very cool program. 

Windows Live Writer is a Microsoft program but I think there is a similar download for Mac.  They say on the web page that it will work for Windows Live, Wordpress, Blogger, Live Journal, TypePad, and many more. 

Here are the reasons I like this program:

1.  It does not require logging on to the internet.  You can type your blog entry, including links, pictures, etc. and save it as a draft.  So, if you are traveling and find an internet connection, you bring up the program and hit publish using very little time.

2.  The screen on which you write the blog post is set up like your blog.  You know how it will look when published.  It even has a “preview” button.

3.  If you post on more than one blog, they all can be set up and changed merely by pulling down a menu.

4.  It has a spell check, but not grammar.  Not too big a deal.

5.  There is one negative over writing posts in Word.  It does not have a dictionary/Thesaurus.  I miss that.

Copying negatives

I imagine everyone knows this but me.  I never thought about copying negatives into the computer.  Then my brother gave me a bag full of them. 

First, taking a picture of a negative turns out to be a trick.  Several years ago, I purchased an inexpensive gadget that screws onto the end of one of my cameras.  It is actually made to take pictures of slides. I kept with it until I was able to take a picture of a negative. 

Part of the reason this was so difficult is the negatives are too big for the device I am using.  I had to improvise. 

 

 

Then you send the negative to Photoshop, click the invert and it is like magic.  (I have the basic Adobe Photoshop Elements.  Think it came with a camera.)

This is my brother, probably taken in 1943.  What a cute baby.  I think Evan, the youngest grandson, looks a bit like him.

 

 

It really is simple, once you figure out how to take the picture of the negative.  Many send the negatives off to be printed, but I enjoy playing with them for now. 

Hang on, I'm here

I feel a need to let my loyal readers know I'm OK when there is a lack of communication.

No problems, just sorting things out and got caught up in old pictures--negatives actually. I figured out how to take a picture of a negative and make it into a picture. It is very cool. I'll post a picture and write more about it tomorrow night.

It was a Wild day

 

First, Dr. Chip, our neighbor, stopped by this morning with this mink.  His dog brought it to him as he was walking down by the marsh.  Chip, a biology prof, says minks are not rare in this part of Kansas, but they aren’t common either.  He believes, “the mink was attacked by, and somehow escaped from, a bird of prey.”  Notice the small white patch on the bottom jaw.

Sometime midday, we looked out the window to see three coyotes. It is mating season, so they are out and about.

Finally, Dan walked out the door around 4:00 pm and spotted these eagles cruising overhead.  A little fuzzy—I need to concentrate on being more still.  It is just so exciting.