Tuesday, March 19, 2013

"I Want To Be Alone"


Tech Tuesday-Do Not Disturb
Many of us have sounds and notifications set for incoming emails, texts, and games.
While this is fine during most of the day, it an be a real problem at night. Since 98% of my emails are from stores, I really don't need to hear that ping when I am trying to sleep.  
Plus, I don't need to be awakened by the occasional wrong number at 2:00am that makes my heart start racing.  

The solution?  Do Not Disturb. This is an IOS 6 feature that enables you to stop calls, text, and notification sounds without changing all your settings.  The best part is you can choose which calls can come through, so family can always reach you.  ( you can set this feature on your iPad also. ) 

Here's how you do it-

Go to you settings: 

Turn Do Not Disturb On 

Tap Notifications

Under Do Not Disturb tap by Time 

Then Tap Do Not Disturb







This will give you the option to set times and who you can receive calls, text, emails, etc from anytime.  

The people you want to be able to receive calls, etc, from need to be in your favorites list. To make a favorites list- choose a contact, scroll down and tap the add to favorites button. If they have more than one phone you wish to add you must repeat  for each number. 

Of course, you can just turn all those notification sounds off and not fool with any of this, but how will you know when it is your turn in Words With Friends? 

Friday, March 15, 2013

Our camping trip actually began at Perdinales State Park. We were thrilled that the Esparzas joined us for the weekend.



We enjoyed hiking around the park. Ava was kind enough to take Magic with her.





Lucy found some shells.


But, her favorite thing was the S'mores. When she didn't get to make some for breakfast the next morning, she was sad.


Saturday evening it poured down rain, but we were dry and comfortable in the camper.

Rain boots came in handy for an early morning stroll.


 Lucy was too tired to go for another hike in the morning. She demanded some quiet time.


 She spent some quality time with Poppy and Jama.



Then she was ready for lunch and the Perdinales Falls.

 The Falls were a little dry,


but perfect for climbing.





We were even able to get a picture of all five of us. This could be a first. 


 We hope these little sweethearts enjoyed their first camping trip. 








Thursday, March 14, 2013

An Old Fart and A Foolish Fart



Today you have a double post by Two Old Farts.
By Barry-
You know what Smacks OF Old Fart?  My six month fascination with Porta-Botes. I know we have mentioned the Porta-Bote before but now I am able to tell the whole SOOF version.  I first saw this Porta-Bote, which is a folding (to about the size of large surf board), polyurethane, 12 foot long and 5 feet wide boat. Since it folds I thought, the perfect boat (Bote) for RVing. You can look them up on the internet. Supposedly there are 90,000 of them out there. They are  lightweight, versatile, user friendly and unsinkable (they claim). 

Here is where the SOOF part begins. I just had to have one. Also I thought, if there are 90,000 of them out there, I should be able to find a used one. The first one I found on eBay was in California. Owner didn’t want to ship. Wouldn’t even return my calls or emails. Made me want one more. Found another in Florida. Guy agreed to ship if I paid all costs. I talked with him several times on the phone and found out we had a lot of similar interests. He was recently laid off from NASA. He was interesting to talk with. We agreed on I price and I stupidly (SOOF) sent him a check. I really wanted this Bote. A week went by & I never heard any more from this seller. I called and got his voice mail. I emailed and didn’t get any responses. I was starting to worry I had been scammed. Then Jan received a call for a man claiming to be the seller’s father and he told us his son was mentally ill, had already sold the Bote locally and he would send my check back. I thought I was doomed to lose that money. I quickly put a stop payment on the check which miraculously had not been cashed. Also miraculously the man did send the check back. You would think that this would sour me on the Bote idea. Not me. I found one in Flower Mound (right here in the metroplex). This was in November. Nice older guy that bought the Bote to use as a dingy on his sail boat. However, the Porta-Bote was too long or big to set up on his sail boat deck. He never used it. He also had a 6 HP outboard motor for the Bote. I had my Bote.

Shortly after getting the Bote home I recruited Phil Schneider, Michelle’s father in law who knows a lot more about boats than me, to help with the maiden voyage. We took the Bote out to Joe Pool Lake and put it together. All went well until we got maybe 20-30 yards out in the water and a game warden came up. No registration He didn’t give us a ticket but he did make us take the Bote out of the lake. At least I now knew the Bote didn’t leak. It took me another 3 weeks to get all the information together to register the Bote,pay taxes, get registration numbers on the sides, etc. Now it was too cold to try out again. Until this week.

Went camping to Inks Lake State Park in the Texas hill country. Put the Bote together and this time I recruited Jan to go along for a ride. For the first 10-15 minutes all went great. The Bote was performing well. We got out into a little choppy water in the middle of Ink’s Lake. I probably gave it a little  too much gas & tried to made a turn. You might have guessed what happened next. When I turned the  Bote the back end dipped a little too much. The speed was also too fast. The Bote starting taking on water. I tried to get the Bote to level off but it just kept taking on more water. We tried to bail out some water but it all happened too fast and we didn’t have a chance. No the Bote didn’t sink. It just filled with water & turned over. Jan & I went in the drink, so to speak. I was nervous about hypothermia but it really wan’t all that cold. I think this lake stays at a ;constant 66 degrees. Anyway Bote & motor upside down. Jan and I  hanging on. Luckily a fisherman saw us & came over and pulled us to shore. He said the spill looked very scary from his view. I’d say we were in the water about 10 minutes. Motor upside down in the water too. Jan actually took the incident very well. Other than saying she “would never, ever, I mean never get in that Porta-Bote ever again”. I really don’t blame her. Some men on shore helped me right the Bote & get the water out. Believe it or not the motor started on the 3rd or 4th pull. I felt it was better to run the engine for a while to prevent more damage.I drove the Bote back at a very slow speed, Jan walked back.
The next day I tried the Bote with a small trolling motor my buddy Jerry Berger gave me. It worked fine. If I had never used the outboard with too much power I think we would not have tipped over. Jan would still be On Board, so to speak. But alas, I think I now have the Porta-Bote fever out of my system. Any reasonable offer will be considered.


On the way home we passed this funeral home and tombstones were all ready for Old Farts!




-By Jan
These past few days we have been camping in the Texas Hill Country. Part of the trip was spent at Perdinales State Park where the Esparzas met up with us and had nothing to do with Old Farts. (more on that tomorrow) . 

The other part of the trip was at Inks Lake. If the word lake makes you think of the Porta-Bote than you are on the right track.  

Barry was anxious to try out the Porta-Bote now that he had it registered. As he was setting it up he garnered a lot of attention. 







That was good because he needed a little help getting it into the water. 







Then he tested it out. 




Since he seemed to be getting the hang of it, I decided to go for a ride.  

Everything was going pretty good, but as we got in choppy water in the middle of the lake and made a turn, the Bote began filling with water. Actually it tipped over about halfway, I almost fell out, then recovered, but by that time the Bote had too much water in it. Barry and I made a few vain attempts to bail the water out, but soon we just had to abandon Bote. I grabbed a paddle floating by and started swimming toward shore, but Barry started yelling "Stay with the boat. Always stay with the boat!" While I think that's good advice, I don't think Barry realized I was really hoping that the Bote would just sink to the bottom of the lake.  But, Porta-Botes don't sink. I think that is their one safety feature. 

A kind man fishing with his son had seen us going down, reeled in his lines, and got over to us as soon as he could. I think we really had scared him. He towed us to shore where two other men helped Barry turn the Bote back over and get it all set up again.  One of the men's wives said she had seen a Bote like that on Funniest Home Videos.  
That was the final straw for me.  Porta-Bote, you are dead to me.   

Since I wasn't getting back in the Bote, I left Barry to drive it back and walked to our campsite with what little dignity I had left.  Trust me, you don't have much dignity when you are a Porta-Bote owner.  

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

A Quick Tech Reminder


One of the questions I receive over a over is how to close out applications on an iPad or iPhone. These programs running in the background can drain your battery or slow down your device. Although there was a post about this in the past, I'm going to repeat it here.

Double click your home button
You will see the programs that are active on your device.



Hold you finger on one of the icons until you get the minus sign.



Then touch the minus sign and that program.

Of couse, I am so techy, I accidently erased my Tech Tuesday from last week!

jb



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Friday, March 8, 2013

During February, I celebrated a birthday. My children, husband, and many friends never forget my birthday and of that I am thankful. My daughter-in-law invited us to her house for my birthday dinner.
To my surprise, the table was set in Downton Abbey style. I think the staff had the evening off though. So, Lady Shannon and Lord Brett had to serve. I tried not to frown on that action.


And I am not sure they had balloons back then.



Plus the entertainment may have been more late 1950s.

Ben, Downton heir, was there to wish me a happy birthday. If you don't have a grandson, you don't know what sweetness is.



 Cora postponed her bedtime to celebrate.


If I had known there was a Downton theme, I would have done something jolly with my hair.


Poor Cora, just as the photograph was being taken she heard her mother say, she couldn't have any cake. "WHAAAT", she exclaimed.

It was a grand birthday and there were even presents (although they are all under strict instructions not to get me anything). I will tell you about one particular present later.

Thank you ALL, Everything in the garden was rosy!

Monday, March 4, 2013

My First World Dilemmas

A few weeks ago, I was having lunch with my friend, Becky. I told her that I was going to quit blogging except when we were traveling. Becky asked me why and I replied "How much can one write about themselves?" I shouldn't even be writing about myself, but as you may remember, Barry started taking a little offense that every blog was about him.

Since then, however, I have had a couple of people mention that they enjoy reading my blog. A couple might even be an exaggeration, but I know there is one person out there that said they enjoy it!

In order to make myself feel better about an activity that I have come to feel a little narcissists, I will no longer be emailing the blog to anyone (unless you specifically ask me too.) Yes, in order to get some readers, (like Brett), I had to email my blog to them.

I'm divided about even posting it on Facebook. I have an idea, why don't you just bookmark the blog if you want to read it? I tell you what, I will even post tomorrow about Bookmarking or saving to your home screen on your iPhone or iPad for some of my less tech-y friends. Then, if you wish to read the blog, read it, if you don't...don't.  That will make me happy. If you do read the blog, comments make me even happier.

I would like to thank everyone that has helped me out in the last six weeks after my hand surgery. Barry has been great. He learned where I kept the sheets. I am not sure why those fitted sheets are so hard for him though.  I received many cards and thank everyone for their kind words. My family and friends brought meals and spoiled me rotten. My hand is better everyday. I'm hoping by April I will be as good as new.

Every blog needs a photo and while taking photographs is still difficult to do with my hand, I was able to capture a couple from our recent trip to Houston. While we were there, we took the girls to Edith Moore Bird Sanctuary near Joanie and Jacob's house. We actually did not see too many birds (I knew you would want to know), but we had a great time with the girls.

Ava sported the finest in bird watching attire.




Lucy loves her 'Poppy' as you can tell by her face in this photograph.



and we all enjoyed the beautiful day.
Joanie & Lucy
jb