Post-processing¹ #6

Leprechaun (rental) and Born Free Class C Motorhomes in Sunset Point parking lot, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, October 7, 2015.

1. Image editing to enhance the photo closer to what the eye “saw.” Images in this series are selected within a day or so of being edited and are either posted at the time or scheduled for posting at a later date.

Post-processing¹ #5

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument – Elevation 9,520 ft. (2902 m), Utah Highway 12, October 6, 2015, 23 miles south of Torry, Utah. Panorama using iPhone 5.

1. Image editing to enhance the photo closer to what the eye “saw.” Images in this series are selected within a day or so of being edited and are either posted at the time or scheduled for posting at a later date.

This morning, 7 meaningless sentiments in one spam comment!

what a great blog post – it was really amazing – I loved to read this one – thanks for sharing – keep writing – do good – stay blessed.

Nope – not approved… into the spam bucket you go!

Post-processing¹ #4

Escape Rental Campervan, Utah Highway 12 in Cannonville, Utah, October 6, 2015, elevation 5918 ft (1804 m).  Escape Campervans has multiple rental locations in the US, with a new location opening soon in Vancouver, Canada.

1. Image editing to enhance the photo closer to what the eye “saw.” Images in this series are selected within a day or so of being edited and are either posted at the time or scheduled for posting at a later date.

When I went to my most recent dental cleaning, I let the dental technician know that I had some inflammation in my gums on the upper right side.  After she took an X-ray and got the dentist involved, I wasn’t surprised to hear that it was infected and that I needed a root canal.

I’ve had a number of root canal procedures done over the years, enough to know that – contrary to what some people think – they aren’t any more painful than more normal dental procedures. All of my previous root canals had been done by my dentist so I was surprised when he told me that he wanted to refer me to someone else – an endodontist.

I had never heard of endodontics before.  It’s a dental specialty that’s associated with treatment of the “living” part of the tooth, the dental pulp, including root canal therapy.¹

I ended up making 3 trips to the endodontics specialist, Dr. Fulmer, in Conway.  The first was for an assessment, where it was determined that I had 2 teeth that needed root canals. The other trips were for each root canal.

There were some interesting aspects to this experience.

I never realized that teeth can have multiple roots.  Apparently the first tooth that they did had 4 roots that needed to be cleaned out and filled.

For this procedure I was literally “under the microscope.” Dr. Fulmer uses intraoral microscopy.  His microscope actually had two sets of eyepieces, one for him and one for the dental assistant.

Payment was different than what I’m used to.  For most medical, optical and dental visits, we usually only have to pay the patient’s portion, whether it be a co-pay amount or partial payment.  For these endodontics visits, I had to pay in full each time. Fortunately, for the two root canals, reimbursement from the insurance company came fairly quickly.

Both of these root canals were in teeth that already had crowns. Now those two dental crowns have fillings where they were drilled through for the root canal.

1. Root canal – a colloquial term for a dental operation, endodontic therapy, wherein the pulp is cleaned out, the space disinfected and then filled.

Sheep and a well pump windmill from someplace and sometime.

Where and when?

Answers to be provided in 2018.

Happy New Year!!!!!

Update 1/13/2018

Since I didn’t get any comments on this, I’ll just update it on this post rather than publishing it in a new post.

The picture is part of a travel poster for China and the South Manchuria Railway Company during the years when Japan ruled over part of China during the first half of the 20th century.

These five blank notebooks were a Chistmas gift from our oldest daughter, Melanie, and her husband Richard. I’m not sure exactly how I’ll be using them.  It certainly won’t be for journaling or notebooking.  But I will use them, in some form or fashion, probably in some way related to my blogging.

All of the pictures here are from Karen’s blog, Quilts…etc.

Most of the decorations are up.  I assembled the tree – an easy four piece affair, including the stand – and added the lights.  Karen did the rest while I was outside putting up the exterior Christmas lights.The packages around the bottom are decoration, empty boxes that my mother-in-law saved.  After she passed, they came home with us.

Putting up Christmas lights, 66°F air temperature before a cold front the next day!

A Christmas wreath that had belonged to my mother-in-law –  now hanging on the door to the sewing room.

Our “new” dining room decorated for Christmas.

Best wishes for the holidays and the season, wherever you are!

• Title: Christmas card with Nisse and porridge

Christmas Eve is the time when presents are exchanged. The gifts are sometimes brought by Santa Claus (called ‘Julenissen’ in Norway). Presents are also brought by the small gnomes called ‘Nisse’. – Christmas in Norway

A nisse (usually Norwegian) and a tomte (usually Swedish) are similar characters. They are both solitary, mischievous domestic sprites responsible for the protection and welfare of the farmstead and its buildings. Tomte literally means “homestead man” and is derived from the word tomt which means homestead or building lot. Nisse is derived from the name Nils which is the Scandinavian form of Nicholas.

A nisse considers porridge his due and is greedy for butter.  The legend When the Nisse Got No Butter on His Christmas Porridge  illustrates the consequences of tampering with his porridge.

One Christmas Eve a servant girl decided she would play a trick on the nisse. She hid the butter for his grøt at the bottom of the bowl. When the nisse saw there was no butter on his Christmas porridge, he went to the shed and killed the best cow. He wanted to show them he did not appreciate them begrudging him a little bit of butter. He returned to the barn to eat the porridge anyway. When he discovered the butter at the bottom of the bowl, he felt so bad that he walked to the neighbor’s farm, took their best cow, and led her back to the stall of the cow he had killed. – Legend of the Nisse and Tomte

• Date: 1895
• Artist: Julius Holck (1845-1911)
• Publisher: J. F.
• Owner Institution: National Library of Norway