9.22.2010

Bird Feeder Potential Source of Great Photos...

Last weekend I put up a bird feeder near the deck where I sit and have my morning coffee. Thought I might be able to get some nice bird photos. After a couple days they began to come around. Yes! Beautiful birds would soon be flocking to my yard...and then I heard the news this morning:

"MIDDLEBURG, Fla. -- Several residents in the Middleburg area have reported seeing a black bear, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

The FWC said a 150-pound female bear was spotted near Live Oak Lane June 25, and near Pinto Lane June 7. Both are near Jennings State Forest."



The maps show how close I live to Jennings State Forest. And the connection to the bird feeder?

“If Middleburg residents will temporarily remove their bird feeders, we are hoping the bear will move on,” said Allan Hallman, FWC wildlife biologist. “Three weeks ago, her activities resulted in some property damage. She destroyed several feeders, looking for the high-calorie bird seed.”

So, I guess I won't be posting pictures of lovebugs, frogs or lizards in the future... FWC Says be ‘Bear Aware’

(Story and bear photo courtesy of First Coast News, Jacksonville, FL.)

9.14.2010

Lovebugs?!?!? OMG!


Florida is NOT the place for a person with a bug/creepy-crawly phobia!!!Let me introduce you to my new "yuck" factor - the Lovebug.

Google says that "Lovebugs characteristically appear in excessive abundance throughout Florida as male-female pairs for only a few weeks every April-May and August-September ..."

Well, excessive abundance is an understatement! And yes, they're doing what it looks like they're doing!

I started swatting them with a flyswatter and I must have looked like I was doing some demented break-dancing out on the front porch. I gave up and came back inside before the neighbors decided to call 911. The "good" news is they only hang around for 4-5 weeks!

9.10.2010

OH NO!!!! Where's Control-Z when you need it?

Last weekend was my day to clean the computer. Since I had a bazillion pictures scattered everywhere, I decided to start storing some of them on DVDs. So, after hours of sorting, deleting, renaming, burning to DVDs, deleting, clicking, deleting, emptying the recycle bin, sorting some more folders, moving files around - eventually I discovered a group of folders on one hard drive were missing. And the recycle bin was empty.

So, after I stopped screaming, I googled "free file recovery software." The first three I tried were very difficult to understand, or so basic I couldn't figure out which files were which. The fourth one I downloaded was named "Recuva." This software is amazing! When it was finished searching, a window opened up that looked like an explorer window - File name, file type, date modified, size and a preview window. There was also a column that lets you know if the file is in good condition or has been corrupted or overwritten. Out of 1100 photos I managed to recover over 700. Had I known to stop when I first lost the files I would have saved many more. But I'm happy with what I was able to save.

Here is a link to the site - http://www.piriform.com/recuva. I was very impressed with the quality of this program and wanted to pass the word. Of course, I know that you, dear reader, would NEVER do something so silly, but if you know anyone who has.... pass this little tip along.

9.09.2010

Remembering...



Feel free to take a copy of this desktop calendar. I created it to share. Just click on it, then right-click and save it to your computer.