Panoramic setting

So I found this setting on my camera. It's a panoramic setting. It takes a sequence of 3 pictures and stitches them together right on the camera. It shows a little section at the end of the last picture you took so you can line it up. It does pretty good too. I've been having fun with it since I discovered it last night.

Mulberry Lake Park

View from my work office

Inside my office

Tucker's toys

What can I say, Tucker LOVES all his toys. He can't have enough. And I try to give him new ones periodically so he doesn't get too bored and decide that something more valuable is better to chew up. He hardly has any dog toys, they're mostly stuffed animals from thrift stores. This last batch came from his Grandpa Barry though. He was getting rid of a bunch of his stuffed animals that he had been collecting, dogs and bears and beanie babies. He told me to look through them and take any that the dogs would like. I took all of them that didn't have any beans in them. It came out to be 3 dogs and 2 bears...one was a really big bear. I call it a Tucker sized toy. He really seems to like the big ones. He gathered them all around him and gnawed on one for a second, then moved on to another, until all had been chewed on. But his favorite is the big bear.

He brought the bear with him to eat.

He tested them out for comfort. I think they passed the test.

And then he played some more.

Jasmine and Tucker have been playing tug-o-war with it every time I come home. Jasmine likes the toys too but no one is as thrilled with them as Tucker is. He's just a toy kind of dog.

Homemade sauerkraut

Finally, my homemade sauerkraut is done. I made a small batch because I was afraid of it not coming out right. The unveiling.

It needed to have more juices in it but a lot of it had evaporated. I'll have to keep a better check on that next time.


This first thing I made with it was a combination of apples, potatoes, sausage and sauerkraut. I thgouth it was pretty good. The apples came from a neighbor's tree, the potatoes were free from Lanette because she had bought too many and were going to go bad if they weren't used so I was feeling pioneer like. I bought some pumpernickle bread on sale because it was day old bread. I put homemade (by Adam's Aunt and Uncle) apple butter on the bread. It was a really good meal!

By the way, the counter top in that picture above is contact paper made for lining cabinet shelves. It was Adam's idea to cover the wood "counter tops" with it to make it easy to clean and it was a brilliant idea.


The second stuff I made also turned out to be the last for this batch since the batch was so small. It's called Heluski. It's just potato dumplings, sauerkraut and bacon. It was pretty bland, even with salt and pepper but it was good enough.

I have to make another full sized batch this time because I promised 2 people some of it and there wasn't nearly enough at all. Making it was simple, though time consuming to cut up the cabbage and crush it. After that though, it was 3 weeks of not much more than peeking in at and occassionally skimming it.

my day yesterday

I had an interesting ride yesterday. I wanted to go early but I didn't wake up until after 9. I walked the dog in the coolness(?) of the morning. A lady stopped me to talk with me and I ended up being there for about 20-30 minutes. The dogs were getting pretty antsy so I finally excused myself. By the time we got home, it was already hot and I was still pretty tired. Thursday night I was up till 12 washing the dogs. Friday night I was up till 12 washing all the dog blankets and pillow and our blankets and sheets. So I told Adam I'd go later that day and we could work on stuff together first.

I cleaned up our new to us freezer while Adam tried to diagnose what is wrong with my slowly dying car. I won't go into what all is wrong with it because they are just too many things to list and frankly, I don't understand most of them but it's all computer related. And since car computers aren't like home computers, you just have to replace the whole unit which is more than my car is worth at this point. So I just have to baby it until it kicks the bucket. Hopefully I can hold that off for a while.

Then Adam wanted to replace his cabin air filter in the truck. It was quite the chore just getting to it. But then he decided that he will have to take the dash apart to actually get it changed. So we put it back together and got the freezer in the garage and plugged in to see if it truly did work. (Seems to be working.)

By the time I left on my ride is was after 6. I was hoping for a 30 mile ride but at that point in the evening, I didn't think I'd manage one that long. I was tired when I started out...especially since we had spent a few hours out in the sun. Usually though, I gain energy as I go. I should have started eating the moment I left but I didn't because I was trying to make as much progress as possible. At 7:30, I decided I'd better turn around so I wouldn't be stuck riding in the dark. At that point, I started eating grapes. Too little too late. I quickly started tiring. One hill after the other slowed me down. A woman was waiting to check her mail but I was coming up the hill and there were cars in the lane so I couldn't get over. She waited patiently and cheered me on as I passed her. I think I must have looked like death at that point. I laughed but was too tired and out of breath to respond.

When I got to a stop sign and realized there was a whole section of road I had forgotten about, I ate part of a sandwich to give me some strength, hopefully. I looked for my blinking rear light but it wasn't in my bag. My progress was getting slower and slower and I was getting more concerned about my ability to make it back home before the sun disappeared.

As I was climbing a longish hill, I got to counting the rest of the hills I would have to climb before getting home. I had 3 minor climbs and 2 major climbs (though not nearly as major as the climbs in southern UT...just major for my ability that day). I was really, really exhausted so I stopped and laid in the grass and it felt so good to lay there and close my eyes that I couldn't get up. I don't know that I was actually asleep, I really don't think I ever drifted off but it was so nice. I would have gladly slept all night there at that point. But I heard a car coming very close to me so I opened my eyes to see a cop car in front of me. I got up and told him I was ok that I was just trying to get the energy for the rest of my ride. He told me that he was checking because someone had called in someone laying on the side of the road. I had to laugh at that. At least they called it in, even if they weren't willing to pop their head out of the car to ask if I was alright. I don't feel people owe me the courtesy of checking on me at all but if someone was concerned about me....wouldn't it be easier to ask me? Maybe they thought I was faking it to rob them or something? Or maybe they thought I was homeless and would be camping right there on the side of the road...I don't know.

I figured since I was up I should go ahead and get on my way so I did. But I quickly called Adam to see if he could come get me. He said he was cooking dinner but that he would come get me. I told him to continue cooking because I needed food anyway. So I pedaled on home and once I got past that last major climb I knew I could make it home.

I got home and was exhausted. I fed the dogs while he was finishing up then he fed me. I played a couple games with him on the Wii then my brain and eyes were so fried, I went to bed. I was so tired I didn't even shower. And today, I am still feeling it.

Tomorrow I am having dinner with a friend from the ward. She and I are planning a weekend backpacking trip and a day bike ride. At first I was going to do a 5K with her and she was going to go on a weekend bike trip with me (or possibly a weekend backpacing trip). But seeing as I am not a runner and she is not a biker we have changed the plans. She's got somewhere specific she wants to go backpacking. I've never done it before but I'm wiling to give it a shot since I have all the equipment I need from my bike touring stuff. Well...except for the backpack which she has extras of. And I guess I'll have to give her suggestions of 20-30 mile bike rides to choose from.

Statham & Rock Springs rides

On Saturday, the 3rd, I went for a long bike ride, 30 miles. I drove out to Statham and parked at a church then headed down the road. I had directions to where I wanted to go but the road took a turn that google maps didn't show. So I just went exploring.


some unique yard art along the way


I think this is the Middle Occonee River. There is a rope swing hanging down which looked like a lot of fun and would have been very refreshing but I rode on by.


The largest tree house I've ever seen.


I passed a field with three horses and made a pit stop to pet them. I asked them if they were nice horses that didn't bite or kick each other because I didn't want any of that. In response, this guy reached over and bit the horse next to him. Not the response I was looking for!


I found refuge in the shade of this tree that was in the process of ingesting this old fence.


See, it's eating it. I even caught its mouth on camera!


Downtown Statham


I made it back to Statham but wasn't done yet so I went in another direction. I landed in Bogart, a sleepy little town. This is half the downtown and nothing was open.


I jumped onto a narrow road with loose chip seal. There was absolutely no traffic and I was loving it! I passed this little waterfall on the side of the road and had to backtrack to get a picture of it. These kinds of things are things I like about Georgia. You don't see this too often out West.


I just lved this old house being all patriotic. And I loved how social the porch looked with all that seating.

Then the road deposited me back at the church where I parked. I went home and worked in the future garden for four hours.

Monday was a day off from work so I wanted to take another ride. But we woke up early to help out some friends with their backyard. Then, we had lunch with Lanette and Maria. By then, I was exhausted and contemplated a nap. I finally shoved myself off the couch and went out for an hour.

I rode up to Rock Springs Park. I took Jasmine there once. This time, I decided to try the dirt trail.

It has a suspension bridge over a ravine.


Lots of vines and trees.


But then it gives you back to the bike trail. It leaves you having to climb a steep hill (at least for those out of shape, ME). But your reward at the top is the pond filled with lily pads. Those shower head looking things are what's inside the flowers. The petals have all fallen off. I never knew that before...very neat!


Lots and lots of lily pads.


This sad tree was all alone.


As I was taking pictures of the lily pads, this dragonfly came by. He kept leaving and coming back. I was trying to get a picture of him flying but those all came out blurry...but the ones of him being still came out ultra clear.

Then I had to head home. I would have been happy to continue my ride but since I was so tired, I was just as happy to head home.

After I got home, we went to the hospital to visit a friend who is on bedrest there until September. We were going to play agame but Adam brought one that we hadn't played before and it took too long to organize the cards. By then, I was too tired to think about playing anyway. Then back home to walk the dogs, then we all ate dinner and I crashed in bed.

I had caught up on sleep this week (well, kind of) but last night I was up until midnight giving all 4 dogs a flea bath. Now I'm tired again.