A couple of days ago I ran into Tim Phillis at Nielsen’s and got an invite up to his race track. His track has moved from the Dillon ranch up to the hills east of Centerville Rd. The new track …
I received the graining tools I recently ordered, so I guess this weekend I’m going to have to start the graining project. I’m a bit nervous about it, but I can always paint over it and try again if I …
One plant I really miss from San Jose is the beautiful and fragrant wisteria that we had growing on the arbor I made. So after erecting our deer fence the poles looks unfinished, kind of like my unfinished fence in …
Today it was another shoot with Katy, whom I’ve worked with many times over the last 5 years. This was our first Victorian shoot since she had her son Julian and she was still able to squeeze into the tiny …
We’re going to be selling off some of the vintage clothing collection so I’ve been trying to get those pieces we haven’t photographed yet documented. Since I have wonderful northern light to work with in the new studio, I thought …
At night, the pager gets plugged into this device which recharges it. There is also a vibrator plugged into it that sits under her pillow, so if any of the transmitters go off at night she is woken up by …
So far I’ve mentioned all of the transmitting devices. Here is the receiver, a pager that Lori can wear when she’s at home. It has four different colored lights for the different transmitters. Red for smoke alarm, green for telephone, …
The device sitting next the alarm clock is a sound monitor. It senses when there is a loud noise and sends a signal. So far this has been the flakiest part of the system. Some mornings the alarm clock sets …
This is a wireless doorbell. I need to make a sign for it to let people know that they need to buzz and knock. Lori won’t hear the knock, and I won’t get signalled if they use the doorbell. We …
Another device that needed to be upgraded was the smoke detector. Originally I was going to get the kind that have strobes in addition to the audible alarm. But that only works if you’re in the room where the alarm …
Our house has had a serious upgrade in the technology department to help provide Lori with more security and independence. First, the amplified phone got replaced with a CapTel phone. This allows her to talk on the phone as the …
While working on Roger Rodoni’s web site, his wife Johanna sent me a CD of photos and included in the photos were some of their draft horses, Ben & Clyde. Taken earlier in the winter when they both had their …
I recently digitized all our old albums that we hadn’t replaced with CDs and loaded them on our iPods. Lori can’t really enjoy music too much right now but she can still recognize some tunes. After listening to Fleetwood Mac’s …
I’ve often said that if you can’t find it on Ebay, it probably doesn’t exist. But this ad that I saw recently online has me a bit worried, what with all the news lately about cloning people.
While doing some Search Engine Optimization for the Aesthetic Design & Photography web site, I came across this site that copied some text from an old version of my web site. I don’t know whether I should be offended that …
A fact of life of living in Ferndale is that on a weekly basis you will either be buying or selling raffle tickets. I’ve often thought it would save us all a lot of time and effort if we all …
The last bit of pink has finally been banished from my office. I still need to do a second coat on the trim and then let that dry for several weeks before I can start doing the graining. But that …
As part of the process of getting cochlear implants, Lori needed to get hearing aids to try out. I guess the insurance companies insist on trying the $3000 solution before going for the $40-60k solution. So today we met with …
Last year during lambing season, I saw the newborns in this field during the week, and planned a bicycle ride out there with Lori to show her. By the weekend they had moved the flock to another pasture and they …
I was just getting warmed up from my ride yesterday when the fire alarm went off for a hay fire in a barn. Naturally one thinks of spontaneous combustion when it comes to hay fires, but this one had some …
I went out today on the Sprint to collect photos for web site. I ended up taking a back way from Garberville to Shelter Cove and came on this scene. I love how the hills green up this time of …
I was playing around on Google Earth today and cruising through San Jose I see that they’ve updated the imagery for our old neighborhood. It’s pretty outstanding resolution now, with the garden layout and other details clearly visible. We also …
If you’ve been wondering why I haven’t been updating Knowlesville much lately, it’s because life decided to throw us a curve ball. For those of you who haven’t already heard, Lori has experienced almost total hearing loss in both ears …
Larry Martin, who grained our parlor and the Main Street Studio, has been busy so I’m going to take a stab at doing the woodgraining myself. First step is to paint the woodwork with the undercoat, which in this room …
After a couple of coats of the Clay Pot, it was time to paint the bottom section which is getting treated with a darker terra cotta they call School House Brick. The picture rail has also received it’s touch of …
It’s not supposed to work like this, but I can relate because last year it happened to me. The guy at the valve is supposed to wait for a signal from the nozzle guy that he is ready for water. …
Those of you who have visited my childhood room know I had a thing for orange back then. I guess in some ways I still do. Although this orange is more subdued than the bright orange the 70s were famous …
Bit by bit my office at home is becoming less pink. That’s a very good thing. Finally got all the walls fixed after removing the old wallpaper so it was time to prime.
The crocus don’t care that the front yard is buried under a few inches of silt. They decided to pop up their little golden heads anyways. That was very nice of them because I always look forward to this moment …
