Farmers Finally Wins a Big One!!

After a decade of yours truly beating Farmers like a bongo drum in Arbitration, young Dean Witten got lucky in the form of a $12,580.76 win.

Although the award is for sums already paid and no money will change hands, young Dean was kind enough to leave a voicemail about it.

Of course, we were already aware of it as we check the Arb site daily, but thanks anyway, young Dean. That is called "Oklahoma Nice".

Now, this only the second Farmers win in two years that they did not have to split with us. Before this win, they had accumulated a grand total of $4,983.47 vs our $93,665.17 in this period, so this is a big deal.

We expect parties and hangovers in Oklahoma City this week.

Why, at this rate, if we lose every single case we file, they could catch up to us in five years. Scary.

On Doing Photography, #1

An apologia on the making of an acceptable photographic file. One hears from lay people and even some photographers a disdain for image manipulation, particularly using modern programs such as Photoshop, and it's ilk. I used to be one of the latter. I was all about the "in camera manipulation", ie, get the composition and exposure as close as possible to the desired result before pressing th e shutter release, then print as-is. This may have been because I had only a primitive darkroom, and depended on commercial labs for prints, with all the attendant miscommunications about the final look. I have since learned otherwise. Since photography was discovered/invented the making of a visible print was the obvious goal. Early photographers had to go through great efforts with bulky equipment and hazardous chemicals to produce an acceptable product. That is to say, from the beginning, there has been no way to make a print directly from the camera w...

Projects Never Sleep...

Lessee, We now have four outdoor video cameras up and running for coverage of the front porch and bird feeders, the carport, the front from the right and the front from the left. We have the feed sent to a dedicated TV monitor on the wall of our "rec room". Next to go up will be a couple-three motion lamps. I now have three citrus trees along the back fence, a red grapefruit, a Valencia orange, and a Navel orange. Also there is a cherry tree off the south deck stairs. This makes a total of twelve fruit trees, nine of which we planted. The canning season is going to be busy from now on: 2 apple trees, 2 lemon, 1 lime, 2 orange, 1 grapefruit, 1 plum, 1 apricot, 1 cherry, and 1 peach. We also have a bay tree we brought with us from San Diego, and it is harvested almost daily for cooking. Of course, the pace is leisurely (no pun intended) because I schedule time for shooting, kayaking, reading, etc....

ManCave Progress

Last month I finally built the metal 8' x6' shed from the kit I bought last year, and had stored in the large wooden shed that came with the house. Up to now the old shed was jammed to the roof with the new shed kit, containers, tools, boxes, miscellanious junk that we brought with us from San Diego in 2010, all thwarting my dream of making a workshop/artist studio of it. Now that the deck was in, and I finished a stone planter out front, I had no excuse. So, I cleared the only space large enough for the thing, attempted to make the pebbly soil level, and began sorting out the dozens of parts. Everything had to be screwed together in precise order, them added to the pieces already done. I soon learned to enlarge the screw holes as they were too small to engage the screws as made, which added days to the time. Finally after a week, what they claimed was a one day, 2 man job, I finished. I could hardly wait to begin unloading the old s...

Hartz Kastle on La Cuesta Enchilada

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