Married In Ohio

Now that The Girl is home from school, California Girl and I are no longer empty nesters; but that doesn’t stop us from enjoying or photo session and “associated activities”. We’ve always had our private spaces that were/are off limits to the kids anyway. And, logistically, everything is pretty seamless since we download wirelessly using Eye-Fi (except when we’re making videos which are too big/slow). We won’t be swinging from the chandeliers; but we still have great evenings during the summer. And there is always outside if the weather cooperates. Anyway, here are a few pictures of us doing the empty nest thing as no-empty nesters.

Miscellaneous musings from the mind of Midwestern City Boy (and sometimes California Girl).

• OnStar is way cool. It was very handy in a recent situation. On the other hand, SiriusXM sucks. Lately, reception has been terrible. We’re losing the signal in places that we’ve never had dropouts before. And, their “customer (no) service” is the worst I’ve dealt with.
• My latest music purchase is “With You I’m Born Again” by Billy Preston. It’s an old song, even older than California Girl and I as a couple. Our upcoming anniversary may me think about it. We used to post links to music we mentioned for readers who might be unfamiliar with a song; but the leaches (who weren’t even following or blog) ruined it for everyone.
• I spent three hours outside doing the homeowner thing on Monday. They yard looks really nice; but it was more work than I would have preferred. The only “good” thing is that I don’t have any chores to do for a while.
• I hadn’t realized how much “kids” opened the refrigerator until I noticed how much warmer it is inside now that The Girl is home. I got a couple of cheap thermometers for the refrigerator and freezer last year when we were having problems so we could quickly tell if there were cooling issues in the future. Thankfully, everything is working and the only thing the thermometer tells me is that the kids are around.

Now that the weather is warmer, California Girl is wearing her spring/summer clothes. It is definitely a look I like. We posted a couple of photos of her wearing one of her spring sundresses last week. This week we’re featuring her in another of her summer essentials – short shorts. And, since we were using our infrared remote control, I decided to join her in picture for a little fun. I usually workout on Tuesday evenings before our photo sessions; but, having California Girl around when I get home gives my batteries a rapidly recharge.

P.S. Did you notice our ever-present matching watches in the bottom photograph?

California Girl and I went to a Derby Day party this past Saturday. We won the pool which was sweet! And I learned a number of interesting things (for a city boy) about horses. For example, I had no idea what “live cover” was. I’m not sure that the term applies to humans; but, since California Girl and I are still relishing our winnings; we thought it would be fun to post some photos of us doing our own version of live cover.

Miscellaneous musings from the mind of Midwestern City Boy (and sometimes California Girl).

• After being away from it for a while, I’ve gotten back to sparring. It’s a good thing that boxing is more mental than physical since everyone else is bigger than me, younger than me or both. I never foresaw myself doing anything more than hitting the bag I first started. Sometimes, I wonder what else I’ll end up doing that I said I’ll “never do”.
• I helped California Girl relocate a couple of bushes on Sunday since the root balls were too big for her to manage. So far, they are doing OK. I try not to touch any of the plants since they usually die whenever I do. I’ve got the opposite of a green thumb.
• I am very tired of Windows updates. I know that they are only once a month; but they are a big PIA. This week there were 19 of them and, of course we have multiple computers.
• We enjoyed a few days of good pool weather last week which was good since now there don’t seem to be any warm sunny days on the horizon. It always looks like rain even when we don’t eventually get any.

California Girl accidentally dropped the camera when we were preparing for our photo session on Tuesday. But, as you can see, it wasn’t any worse for the wear and neither were we. Digital cameras are fragile, especially compact ones like ours that has rounded edges which make it unstable on flat surfaces. Since we are empty nesters, we considered leaving it permanently mounted on the tripod; but discovered that didn’t work as well as we thought it would since we also often carry it around for quick snapshots. For example, we’ve got some great photos of California Girl dressed as a southern belle (complete with hat) from the Derby Day party we attended on Saturday. Anyway, here are some not so tame shots from one of its “alternate” uses.

Based upon the feedback we received from Tuesday’s post, larger movies play OK too. So we’re posting another mid-size video today instead of our “regular” (smaller) size. We’d like to find a pop-up video player that works similar to the way photographs appear. That way we wouldn’t be constrained by the width of the column the player is embedded in. Anyway, here is the rest of the story from Tuesday. For obvious reasons, I put the camera down shortly after the conclusion of this video.

Miscellaneous musings from the mind of Midwestern City Boy (and sometimes California Girl).

• Now that we’ve opened the pool, all it seems to do around here is rain. We’re supposed to get some sun tomorrow (Thursday); but I’ll believe it when I see it.
• We still plan on having a photo session in our new vehicle whenever the weather cooperates. It seems like Tuesdays have been cold and/or wet this entire spring.
• The checks which accompanied our tax returns finally cleared the bank last week. Paying by check allows us to keep our money an extra week or so. It really doesn’t make any difference; but we like the idea of keeping our money as long as possible.
• We are definitely going to get a Keurig. We’re considering the Platinum B70 Brewer. Whatever we get, it’s on the sooner rather than later list. We just need a month without any extra bills if there is such a thing.

Since no one had any problems with either of the videos last week, we’re posting a larger one. Technically, it’s about the same size; but since its shorter, bigger (resolution wise) and higher quality it uses more bandwidth. The content is basically the same; but it’s from a new “event”. There is no such thing as to many BJs.

Here is the rest of the story from our weekly photo video session. Or at least what we recorded. Enjoy. And, just as with yesterday’s post, please let us know if it downloads OK for you speed wise.

If the download speed is OK for everyone we’ll increase the resolution and/or quality of our next video.