Echoes In Time
I haven't posted for awhile because I've been busy working on a new site for myself. Since I've been taking and posting so many pictures, I decided to open a site to keep my pictures on, so I can just provide a link rather than posting so much on the sites I post to, and on my blog. I will still post a few pictures here, but will leave most on the site. Here is the link, if anyone's interested:
Echoes In Time
I've had quite a lot of fun fiddling with the site, although I will admit it's been a lot of work putting the pictures up. First they have to be re-sized, then uploaded, then individually inserted into the photo albums and labeled. It didn't help that the largest album had to be re-done not once, but twice! Ah well, I learned a few things from those bloopers! Even in spite of that, I have been very much enjoying myself. I used one of their templates, as I liked it and I figured it would be much less work. I decided it would be enough work just getting the pictures up!
Of course, as soon as I get one batch of pictures up, Judy and I make another cemetery trip and I have a whole new batch to work on! Case in point - we just went to the old cemetery again yesterday evening. I was going to work on getting those pictures up tonight, but I think I'll give it a rest until tomorrow. I'm quite tired and am enjoying just lazing around. So you'll have to wait to see them! Mind you, I doubt anyone else is as excited about them as I am! LOL!
I have really been enjoying these cemetery jaunts. They are so peaceful, and it's very refreshing to be out wandering around all the wonderful old trees and gravestones in the crisp autumn air. Although when I was laying on the ground getting macro shots of a certain interesting mushroom it was a bit more than crisp, I can tell you! You'll see which mushroom I'm talking about when the Old Cemetery III section goes up in the next day or two.
I've also been playing with Paint Shop Pro more lately. Mostly it's just to re-size the pictures, with the occasional minor cropping job. However, due to the cloudiness in the last couple of visits a few otherwise lovely shots were a little washed out, and I discovered that the saturation tool works wonders. It boosts the colour just a touch to have the picture looking just as I saw the scene with my eyes, but doesn't alter anything like fiddling with the brightness and contrast does.
The only major artistic fiddling I've been doing in Paint Shop Pro is to render some shots in black and white, and some in sepia, for those who enjoy that. I do like the effect, but I prefer the pictures in colour, as that is how I saw them. I will be posting sections for the black and white and sepia in the next few days.
All of this picture-taking has led to me realize that I have to upgrade the old computer. There is simply not enough space on the hard drive. It's a 9.53G drive, which was top of the line when I bought the computer. Putting Windows XP on the computer ate most of that up, and it's very frustrating having to keep transferring pictures to CD in order to free up a bit of space. Of course I need them all archived on CD anyhow, but I would prefer to also be able to leave them all on the computer. Fortunately adding a hard drive and a bit of extra memory isn't overly expensive these days. Since I don't have an extra bay for another hard drive, I will likely go with an external one. I've been doing some hunting around, and today a tech friend of mine told me about the place where she gets all her stuff. I was quite impressed with their selection and their prices. It's also close to home, so I will likely pop in and have a chat with them one of these days.
The only other bit of news I have at the moment concerns the girls. Lady gave me the biggest scare she has ever given me to date. About a week ago I woke up to her having what I thought was a seizure. I jumped out of bed, and she would not respond to me at all, even though her eyes were open. I was afraid she was dead until I noticed that she was breathing, so I just sat there, petting her and talking to her. She suddenly started wagging her tail and licking my face, and behaved like nothing had happened. Until she got up and noticed she had peed, then she got feeling a bit guilty. The vet's office made me an appointment for later that morning, and off we went - Lady behaving as though all was normal, me with swollen eyes from bawling all morning, and very shattered nerves.
The vet questioned me about what had happened, and immediately assured me that it had not been a seizure, but was a cardiac arrhythmia (she also calls it a "heart faint"), where her heart actually stopped beating for a short time. The brain panicked because there was no blood flow, and the panic caused the seizure-like behaviour. She became unconscious, which was her brain and body's way of giving the heart time to re-start. The vet ran some blood tests and took some x-rays, and these confirmed her diagnosis, and showed that Lady's heart is a bit enlarged. So Lady is now on heart medication, and is doing quite well. She's actually quite a bit perkier since being on the medication. She just went for her one week check up on Tuesday evening, and the vet was very happy with her progress. Which made ME very happy too!
Another issue has been that Lady occasionally pees on the bed during the day when I'm at work. I figured she was sleeping more deeply because she's older, and just wasn't waking up when she had to go. I asked the vet about it, without telling her what I thought, and what she said confirmed what I had been thinking. She said it was because she slept more deeply and simply did not wake up. However, she threw a surprising twist into things. She told me that the reason this happens is because older female dogs often have a large drop in estrogen. So next week I will have to start adding a bit of tofu to Lady's food, as the vet said that often raises the estrogen levels. If that doesn't work, then she will consider putting her on synthetic estrogen pills. I'm not big on synthetic medications, for humans or animals, as our bodies are not made to process them properly. So we'll have to do some chatting about that. Hopefully the tofu will do the trick, and that discussion will not have to take place. I have to say, though, tofu would NEVER cross my doorstep for any other reason but this!
At any rate, that episode of arrhythmia was very terrifying, and I hope to never have to go through that again. The news was good in some ways, but of course Lady will have to be closely monitored from here on in, and will be on the heart medication for the rest of her life. For the moment, all is well, and that's the main thing.
I think I'm done babbling for now. I've been very tired this week, and I'm just relaxing and getting ready for bed. I've just made some herbal tea, so I will do a bit of surfing while I drink that, then hopefully get an early night. Take care everyone!
Echoes In Time
I've had quite a lot of fun fiddling with the site, although I will admit it's been a lot of work putting the pictures up. First they have to be re-sized, then uploaded, then individually inserted into the photo albums and labeled. It didn't help that the largest album had to be re-done not once, but twice! Ah well, I learned a few things from those bloopers! Even in spite of that, I have been very much enjoying myself. I used one of their templates, as I liked it and I figured it would be much less work. I decided it would be enough work just getting the pictures up!
Of course, as soon as I get one batch of pictures up, Judy and I make another cemetery trip and I have a whole new batch to work on! Case in point - we just went to the old cemetery again yesterday evening. I was going to work on getting those pictures up tonight, but I think I'll give it a rest until tomorrow. I'm quite tired and am enjoying just lazing around. So you'll have to wait to see them! Mind you, I doubt anyone else is as excited about them as I am! LOL!
I have really been enjoying these cemetery jaunts. They are so peaceful, and it's very refreshing to be out wandering around all the wonderful old trees and gravestones in the crisp autumn air. Although when I was laying on the ground getting macro shots of a certain interesting mushroom it was a bit more than crisp, I can tell you! You'll see which mushroom I'm talking about when the Old Cemetery III section goes up in the next day or two.
I've also been playing with Paint Shop Pro more lately. Mostly it's just to re-size the pictures, with the occasional minor cropping job. However, due to the cloudiness in the last couple of visits a few otherwise lovely shots were a little washed out, and I discovered that the saturation tool works wonders. It boosts the colour just a touch to have the picture looking just as I saw the scene with my eyes, but doesn't alter anything like fiddling with the brightness and contrast does.
The only major artistic fiddling I've been doing in Paint Shop Pro is to render some shots in black and white, and some in sepia, for those who enjoy that. I do like the effect, but I prefer the pictures in colour, as that is how I saw them. I will be posting sections for the black and white and sepia in the next few days.
All of this picture-taking has led to me realize that I have to upgrade the old computer. There is simply not enough space on the hard drive. It's a 9.53G drive, which was top of the line when I bought the computer. Putting Windows XP on the computer ate most of that up, and it's very frustrating having to keep transferring pictures to CD in order to free up a bit of space. Of course I need them all archived on CD anyhow, but I would prefer to also be able to leave them all on the computer. Fortunately adding a hard drive and a bit of extra memory isn't overly expensive these days. Since I don't have an extra bay for another hard drive, I will likely go with an external one. I've been doing some hunting around, and today a tech friend of mine told me about the place where she gets all her stuff. I was quite impressed with their selection and their prices. It's also close to home, so I will likely pop in and have a chat with them one of these days.
The only other bit of news I have at the moment concerns the girls. Lady gave me the biggest scare she has ever given me to date. About a week ago I woke up to her having what I thought was a seizure. I jumped out of bed, and she would not respond to me at all, even though her eyes were open. I was afraid she was dead until I noticed that she was breathing, so I just sat there, petting her and talking to her. She suddenly started wagging her tail and licking my face, and behaved like nothing had happened. Until she got up and noticed she had peed, then she got feeling a bit guilty. The vet's office made me an appointment for later that morning, and off we went - Lady behaving as though all was normal, me with swollen eyes from bawling all morning, and very shattered nerves.
The vet questioned me about what had happened, and immediately assured me that it had not been a seizure, but was a cardiac arrhythmia (she also calls it a "heart faint"), where her heart actually stopped beating for a short time. The brain panicked because there was no blood flow, and the panic caused the seizure-like behaviour. She became unconscious, which was her brain and body's way of giving the heart time to re-start. The vet ran some blood tests and took some x-rays, and these confirmed her diagnosis, and showed that Lady's heart is a bit enlarged. So Lady is now on heart medication, and is doing quite well. She's actually quite a bit perkier since being on the medication. She just went for her one week check up on Tuesday evening, and the vet was very happy with her progress. Which made ME very happy too!
Another issue has been that Lady occasionally pees on the bed during the day when I'm at work. I figured she was sleeping more deeply because she's older, and just wasn't waking up when she had to go. I asked the vet about it, without telling her what I thought, and what she said confirmed what I had been thinking. She said it was because she slept more deeply and simply did not wake up. However, she threw a surprising twist into things. She told me that the reason this happens is because older female dogs often have a large drop in estrogen. So next week I will have to start adding a bit of tofu to Lady's food, as the vet said that often raises the estrogen levels. If that doesn't work, then she will consider putting her on synthetic estrogen pills. I'm not big on synthetic medications, for humans or animals, as our bodies are not made to process them properly. So we'll have to do some chatting about that. Hopefully the tofu will do the trick, and that discussion will not have to take place. I have to say, though, tofu would NEVER cross my doorstep for any other reason but this!
At any rate, that episode of arrhythmia was very terrifying, and I hope to never have to go through that again. The news was good in some ways, but of course Lady will have to be closely monitored from here on in, and will be on the heart medication for the rest of her life. For the moment, all is well, and that's the main thing.
I think I'm done babbling for now. I've been very tired this week, and I'm just relaxing and getting ready for bed. I've just made some herbal tea, so I will do a bit of surfing while I drink that, then hopefully get an early night. Take care everyone!
posted by Fullmoondolphin at 8:24 PM
2 Comments:
I couldn't love those two pups any more if they were my own ~~ which is why I hope you don't get any more dogs ever! LOL It's sooo stressful when they are ill, and I HATE that they must get old and one day leave us.
However I am very relieved that Bugs is doing so damn well now! It's a joy to see her being her perky old self again.
You know I love the new site of yours, it sure sounds like a lot of work though. I still think I'm going to have to do the same thing, especially if we keep making photo-jaunts! I'd like something that is easy to use though.
Hope you're having a good weekend sis! ;-)
I keep saying I won't get any more after Lady and Misty are gone, but knowing me I probably will one day.
Yes, it's a relief that she's doing well with the medication, although the condition is still worrisome. At least the vet is good, and Lady will be closely monitored from here on in, so that's good.
I'm glad you like the site! It is a lot of work, but it really doesn't matter which host you use, it will still be a lot of work. And for something like this, you really have to pay the hosting fees, or you just won't have enough storage space.
This host is really quite easy to use compared to many, and the fees are extremely reasonable. I'm quite glad I decided to try it. There are a few things I'd like to be able to do that I can't - at least not with their templates. But it's nothing major, and overall I'm very happy with what I can put together there.
Post a Comment
<< Home