Housework , if you do it right, will kill you

Posted on January 13, 2014January 13, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Housework , if you do it right, will kill you. This is a quote from Erma Bombeck. Do you remember her? She was a very funny writer. February 21, 1927 – April 22, 1996. She would take a look around her and see the humor in everyday lives. In the course of her career she wrote over 4000 newspaper columns about the life of a midwestern suburban housewife. Her columns appeared twice weekly and were read by 30 MILLION readers in 900 newspapers! She was also the author of 15 bestselling books, most collections of short stories about life in the suburbs.

What made me think about Mrs. Bombeck? Quite frankly, envy. I loved her writings. They always made me laugh. I remember one titled “The Grass is always greener over the Septic Tank”. You know, that’s true. We had a regular jungle of healthy green plants growing over ours behind our house. If only the lawn had looked half as lush.

Her stories were short, humorous and contained a kernel of truth. I never would have given that green grass a thought if she hadn’t pointed it out.

And what about those big holiday meals? For years I’ve been saying I cook all day and the meal is over in 30 minutes! Well Erma beat me to it. Her quote was :Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence.

So here I am staring at the blank computer screen with a major case of writers block. I haven’t been anywhere lately, the weather has been horrible, (it’s raining cats and dogs and pitch black as I write this) and I just couldn’t think of a thing to say. In desperation I thought I could gain inspiration like another blogger friend did from the alphabet.

She wrote a blog post for each letter of the alphabet. Author Sue Grafton is wring a whole series of fictional crime novels known as the Alphabet Series (A is for Alibi, etc. ) so it seemed like a good idea but the only thing that I could think of that started with “A” was Arthritis. Unless you’re a doctor I would think that would be a very painful subject.

That’s when I thought of Erma Bombeck. How did she do it? How could she look around and see something not only worth writing about her everyday surroundings but write it with such humor. She could take everyday events and routines and have wonderful observations. Another example: My theory on housework is, if the item doesn’t multiply, smell, catch fire, or block the refrigerator door, let it be. No one else cares. Why should you?

My hat’s off to you Erma Bombeck. If I can be only half as original and funny as you in my feeble writing attempts I will consider myself a success!

Happy Anniversary Aroundustyroads

Posted on January 12, 2014January 12, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Happy Anniversary to me! I’m glad WordPress keeps good records.

Today marked 3 years since I started blogging on WordPress. I was at BlogSpot before that. Aroundustyroads didn’t become a .com until I came to WordPress. Wow, hard to believe it’s been that long.

Thanks for being with me through all the good and Bad posts

Spamalot

Posted on January 12, 2014January 12, 2014 by Dusty Roads

The Spam issue revisited. I can’t help it. I just want to know how my little blog that is of no major significance, could become the target of so much spam. I think I have it pretty much under control now (watch it blow up on me for saying that) but I just wonder why or maybe how, I became such a target.

I have another blog, www.dustroadsphotos.com and it gets minimal spam. I don’t know about my 2 other online locations. Spam just doesn’t seem to be an issue at either www.dustyroadsphotos.zenfolio.com or www.dustyroadsphotos.etsy.com. I am truly stumped.

I’ve really tightened up the spam filters here so much so that I’m sure I am catching legitimate postings too so for that I apologize but I was getting hit with over 100 spam comments a day!. According to WordPress, Akismet has protected this site from 300,369 spam comments already! I wish I had half that much legitimate traffic!

A friend who recently started a new Blog was complaining about the volume of spam his site was generating.

Everyone knows what email spam is but I really didn’t see how most of these blog spammers were getting anything out of it. Posting a bunch of gibberish as a comment doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to me but then I researched it a bit and good old Akismet, my guardian at the gate for blog spam, posted a short but interesting explanation. You can read it here if you’re interested: http://akismet.com/how/ It’s called 5 things every blogger should know about spam. In simple easy language it explains that these spammers want to get their hooks into your blog so they can advertise or lead your readers to their own sites where they are selling things.

If you inadvertently approve a spam comment you can open the flood gates! I am sure I have approved such comments. I now make it a policy to mark as spam any comments I get on “old posts”. I’ve found on my blog most legitimate comments are made within a week of the post. If I start getting comments on a post from a year ago red flags go up.

In any case, I’m glad Akismet is on the job!

Learning Curve

Posted on January 11, 2014January 11, 2014 by Dusty Roads

“They” say that if you want to be considered a good photographer , only show your best photos. I have a friend that I consider an awesome photographer and I knew him for several years before he ever let me see any of his “mistakes”. When he finally opened up his files to me I was so relieved to see that he has his blurred , out of focus, bad exposure pictures too. That little bit of sharing did wonders for my confidence.

But even more was what he said about them. He said unless you are making mistakes you aren’t stretching and learning. Your photography (or anything else) will get stale and boring. If you are an artist you always need to keep pushing your limits so of course you’ll have some misses.

Last year I was pretty comfortable with where I was with my photography. I’d gotten more confident with my portraits, even taking pictures of people as well as their pets and looking forward to taking more. My landscapes were well composed, in fact I began to miss that WOW I used to get when one of them really stood out.

I wasn’t quite sure where to head next. I began to leave the camera at home because it was bulky to lug around and since I didn’t have it with me I missed opportunities for shots. It was time to shake things up again.

That’s why I decided to try another 365 photo challenge. These are hard, believe me. I did one when I first got the camera. Everything was new and bright and photo ops jumped out at me everywhere and even then I had a tough time some weeks. This time it will be even harder because I don’t want to just take the same old same old.

That being said, expect to see some blunders and misses and mistakes. I’m going to try some new things, mess them up, study them some and then try them again and I expect some of these mistakes (like Bubbles-First Try) will make it into the 365 pictures I will take over the course of this challenge.

Please look and laugh at them and don’t judge me to harshly. I am trying to “stretch and learn” and you’re just along for the ride. Let’s have some fun

When is a Bridge more than a Bridge?

Posted on January 10, 2014January 10, 2014 by Dusty Roads

When is a Bridge more than a bridge? When it’s covered , of course.

Pennsylvania is supposed to have the most covered bridges. It is also supposed to have had the most covered bridges of any state throughout history. Estimates say there was at least 1500 during the height of bridge building. But don’t forget Vermont.

Vermont has the most covered bridges per square mile or at least it did have before the bad weather in recent years started taking them out and turning them into matchsticks. I’m not sure where the count stands now.

New Hampshire has bunch and I got to see some of them on my vacation to Waterville Valley.

The one I want to talk about here is the one in Rhode Island. Up until I started researching this bridge I thought it was the only one in Rhode Island. Most articles say Rhode Island has just the one but there’s a rumor that there’s a newer bridge in Lincoln Woods State Park. I may have to check that out.

But back to the bridge of the day, little Swamp Meadow Covered Bridge in Foster , RI. This little bridge was a real labor of love. A replica of an early 19th-century structure, it was built by volunteers back in 1994. The timber was logged from nearby forests and the 40-foot-long bridge straddles Hemlock Brook, north of the small town of Foster, just off Route 94. It uses the lattice-truss method of construction and was rebuilt in 1994.

It’s officially listed as part of the “leaf-peeper trail. A true treasure to see.

I saw a documentary on covered bridges on PBS and that show mentioned that the Swamp Meadow bridge had burned down. It was determined it was arson and the cuplrits, 3 village youths, eventually were identified and apprehended. But that wasn’t the end of the story. The community banded together to rebuild the bridge. The bridge burned on September 11, 1993 and was rededicated in November 1994 and stands to this day.