Ray's House of Love (Volume II)

I'm switching the mouse back and forth, clumsy with my off hand but hoping to maintain the improved status of the other.

Last night, goofing around, I tried to pull Mr. Maryn to his feet and something in that sore tendon area went pop and hurt enough to make my eyes tear. But a half hour later it was fine again, at most just faintly sore. So I'm mousing on pins and needles.

Trevor, I can't wait to see your pictures, especially the owls. We have lots of ducks and geese here, enough that my town has a much-copied plan which discourages them from staying as permanent residents. (Walking paths and sidewalks near ponds, along the Erie Canal, and surrounding small lakes get so coated with droppings they're literally as slick as goose shit!) We use an egg addling program to limit the number of hatchlings, and dogs on leash to encourage them to move on. No ducks or geese are harmed.

In our back yard, part of it underwater in a typical spring (which this isn't), we usually have an annual visit of a few weeks from Walter and Dolores, a pair of mallards content to swim in four inches of water. I don't know if we'll see them this year, since it's merely muddy in the low areas. Down the block, there's a pair of Canada geese who stay for a month or so, honking their damned heads off for eight or ten hours a day.

Maryn, who much prefers the wild turkeys

We resisted replacing our 'big' TV with a flat screen for years. The TV still worked, and the picture was as good as it ever was. But Mr. Maryn wanted to, mainly because he was struggling to read subtitles or the rolling text across the bottom of the screen. So for our combined Christmas gifts to one another, we bought a flat-screen that's much bigger.

While it's not perfect--the speakers are tinny and buzz occasionally when there's something quite loud, like characters shouting over explosions--it's really so much better than the old TV that I'm glad we got it. The picture quality is amazing, sometimes to the point of distraction; I notice when male actors are wearing a lot of makeup, for instance, or that somebody needs to trim their nose hairs. (Rarely, thank goodness, and only on real people, not actors.)

I watch a lot of TV, but even if you don't, it might be worth it if you watch DVDs. If you go for it, I'd recommend buying the largest size that fits the space, within reason.

Maryn, who got a Sony

I never read "The Snow Goose" in school, but in looking at this, I realize I've read two of Gallico's other works, "The Poseidon Adventure" and "Mrs. 'arris Goes to Paris." Not that I remember a thing about either one.

Which reminds me, we watched the original Poseidon Adventure movie with The Kid on New Year's Eve, since it's set on New Year's Eve and she'd never seen it. She pointed out a number of things which I'd simply accepted when it was released. Like, the helplessness of most of the women, who needed men to help them any time things got difficult. The foolishness of the ones who kept their long ballgowns and high heels instead of taking trousers and shoes of the dead when their lives depended on physical feats. The passing by of makeshift tools which might prove extremely handy in what amounted to a 3D obstacle course with lots of fire. Oh, and how people's hair got wet but settled into acceptable styles when it dried a bit, and their faces got a smear of dirt but their eyeliner remained perfect.

I can't remember for sure, but it may have been the first of the disaster movies, and I was so caught up in it I didn't let logic get in my way. Of course, the next weekend we had to revisit The Towering Inferno.

Maryn, who used to have disaster nightmares of epic proportion

Trevor, I have a friend who calls me the Luddite whisperer. Not that I'm good with anything tech--I am decidedly 'challenged'--but when I understand something I can explain it pretty well, in language other challenged people get.

Okay, you now have a PhotoBucket account, right? Log in. Seek something like "my pictures." Do you have any pictures there?

If you do not, upload one from your computer or something you've found online. (I'd instruct you, but I don't have a PhotoBucket account.) If you do have a picture there, click on it and you should see various URLs (those long strings starting with http://) for different ways of displaying the image (for instance, direct link, forums, thumbnail).

Pick one that seems promising--direct link?--and copy its URL using Ctrl-C.

Now come to this thread where you can experiment and nobody will give you a hard time. To insert an image here, type this but without any of the blank spaces I'm inserting so it won't be a link:

[ img ] http://www.photobucket. trevorsnewaccount .xyz12345.jpg [ /img ]

Use "Go Advanced" to see a preview of your post, so you can tell if the picture is showing. If it isn't, replace the URL with one of the other ones Photobucket offers.

Let us know how it goes.

Maryn, who suspects there's a FAQ about this somewhere at AW

Yeah, if dumb old Russ can do it... (tee-hee!)

Really, guys, you can do this. It will help us help you if we know where we lose you, so answer honestly.

Can you access your PhotoBucket (or ImageShack, or Flickr) account?

Can you tell if there are pictures in that account which you put there?

Can you get URLs of various ways to connect to any one of those images?

Do you understand how to use your computer's copy function to copy that URL so you can paste it somewhere else?

Do you understand what to type at AW to make image tags ( to open, with a slash to close)?

Do you know how to paste the URL you copied so it goes between the image tags?

If you do know all that stuff yet cannot paste an image, what happens when you try? Obviously, no image shows. Do the [img] tags show? Is there a bunch of white space where the image should be?

I shall now post a picture, and I've only had one cup of coffee, so I'm firing on maybe a third of my plugs.

[img]http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/5134/56880879.jpg

Maryn, still a fan of Mr. Know-It-All

Except those are Canada geese. My town has a bazillion of them.

Maryn, who likes them in small numbers

Nope. Damn, I wish I could see where you're going wrong. I feel helpless.

Luckily, this isn't life or death, huh?

Maryn, pretty sure it's not

I, too, use ImageShack.us. (Not dot.com.) If you want to set up an account there, I can walk you through it. Or Beatrix can.

It sounds to me like you're doing everything right, but for reasons I don't understand, the picture doesn't display. What happens if you click on the pizza box, anything?

Maryn, who needs to be thinking about dinner