My sites are all back, in case anyone noticed the following message:

This is the second time that the account has been suspended.

Apparently, something in the database gets corrupted and then there is a bit of extra traffic and my account uses up more than it’s share of the server availability.

This is the only problem that I’ve had with Bluehost in recent months. Both times the technical service folks were very helpful. This time, one of the techs suggested a couple of WordPress plugins that would 1) help reduce the loading if, by some odd chance I got a surge of traffic, and 2) keep some of the spambots from even getting to the page.

I’m not going to implement them tonight and I do have more than just this blog to install them on. I’ll post more about the plugins on Exit78 after I’ve looked at them and installed them.

day 18

Washington, D.C.

(no other information on subject available)

1937 Nov.

John Vachon,  1914-1975, photographer.

photo information based on neighboring file images

Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)

hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8a02969

It’s a crinum!

Back in the 90s, a friend who was quite a scavenger had rescued plants from an old yard. I don’t know what the plans were for the yard, but the old bulbs and shrubs had to go.

She also ended up with a  huge bulb mass that she carted around to various nurseries, trying to find out what it was.  This was back before most people had access to the internet, but one place did say they thought it was in the amaryllis famil.

When she split it up, she gave some to us, though we weren’t sure what we would get out of it.

We got crinums.

Crinums are a southern classic and a favorite passalong plant, according to The Southern Living Garden Book. Seldom seen in newer housing areas, they are now found in old home site, country gardens and in cemeteries. Needing little care, “they tolerate adversity so well that some say no crinum has ever died.”

Old bulbs may weigh as much as 40 pounds. They should be divided infrequently as, once disturbed, they may not bloom the first year after planting.

I don’t think you’ll be able to find these at many home supply centers or garden centers.

day 16

There is quite a bit more certainty in my immediate future than there was a few days ago.

The way things are looking right now, there is a very good probability that I will be working next week, based on a few phone calls with the supervisor of the group I’d be working with and with the contracting company I’ll be working through.

The work that I’ll be providing will be very similar to what I did on the last contract, which means a lot of time in the classroom and a lot of time in the simulator.

The accompanying picture is from just before I retired.  I used a art media brush stroke filter to render it to look like a painting.

In a way, it’s ironic to be going back.  I’ve been very much involved in every initial license class since 1992, including the one that was conducted after I retired.  This will be the second, assuming there is no last minute glitch.

Since work will now be a part of my routine for a while, I will have to be making some adjustments.

I hope to be able to post here on a regular basis.  I really want to maintain and improve this habit of posting, commenting and replying to comments.

While I am interested in taking this contract, I don’t need to work, fortunately.  This will help us finance some projects and fend off having to withdraw money from our savings to augment my pension.

day 15

This firewood is all from last week's storm. There's still a little bit to be cut up yet.

One of many lillies in our yard.

Another lilly picture.

This rose plant has been in our yard "forever"

This hole in the ground is where the bottom of a broken section of pine trunk hit. It had broken off about 25 - 30 feet in the air and, based on annual rings, was 33 years old at the location where the trunk broke during last week's storm.

All that's left to clean up of the broken section of pine that broke.

day 14

Mammoth Hot Springs,
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming,
September 13, 2007

from the Yellowstone photo gallery
Around the Upper Loop

(see more photos in other Haw Creek photo galleries)

day 13

Family living on Natchez Trace Project, near Lexington, Tennessee

1936 June

Photographer, Carl Mydans

Photo information based on images with neighboring call numbers

Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)

hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8a01538

day 12

First of all, we’re pretty much back to normal here.  We got power back night before last, with it being off somewhere over 30 hours.  We lost water pressure some time on Saturday afternoon when we went to Little Rock.  Yesterday evening, we started getting water back after 8 PM — just a trickle at first as the whole system in our area had to fill and pressurize.

Even though we live in the country, we are on a public water supply system.  The system serves parts of three counties.  We signed up for it when it first went in back in the 80s.  We had been having problems with our well pump and the water had a lot of minerals, including iron which tended to stain things.  When we went on public water,  we had talked about installing a new pump to make the well available as a backup.  However, I had already pulled the pump once and replaced it and every time I’ve thought about doing it again, I soon forgot about it.  Since we’ve only lost water pressure once in over 20 years, it’s not been an issue.

Earlier, we discovered another problem caused by the storm.  The local television stations are coming in fine over the satellite receiver.  However, virtually nothing else is.  I did a little trouble shooting and it looks like the dish must have moved a little bit.  I’m planning to go up on the roof tomorrow morning before it gets too hot and “re-point” the dish.  While I’m at it, I’ll try to get a really strong signal from both of the satellites we receive programming on.  After I moved the dish up to the roof last year, the receiver seemed to be more susceptible to the signal getting dropped during storms than it used to be.

Yesterday, before we got water back, we drove into town to go to the gym to get showers after spending part of the day cutting wood and moving downed branches.  We took a side trip on the way to town to take a look at some of the damage.  Karen took some pictures on the way in and, then again, on the way home.

Not knowing that we would be getting water back, while we were in town we bought some more bottled water.  It will be needed, though, even with water pressure back.  Until the water company gets satisfactory results from samples sent to the state lab in Little Rock, people who lost water pressure are under a “boil water” order for any water used for drinking or cooking.

We stayed home today and worked on cutting and clearing.  We’ll probably do the same tomorrow.

Pictures:

There really is a house behind and under this tree (not ours.)

A lot of trees went down across roads. In most instances, the trees were cleared off the roads by the public.

restarting the chainsaw to cut some more firewood

Maple firewood

day 11

I’ve been working on publishing this photo gallery for several days, but have had a number of distractions — from having problems with software to a severe storm that cut off our power and, eventually, led to the loss of water pressure.

The Mammoth Cave National Park photo gallery is now up, though, with pictures from our two days visiting near the end of May.

Here’s a few images from the gallery:

Into the cave:

Cave formations

Whitetail deer

Green River Ferry

day 10