Jigsaw Puzzle Update

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The Bird Jigsaw Puzzle Update

Brought to you by  popular demand is my Jigsaw Puzzle update. The Bird Jigsaw Puzzle is proving to be a challenge. As you recall a few weeks ago I was excited to share that I had used my pictures to have 4 – 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles made up.

 

 

For photos I chose a mountain in Grand Teton National Park, A Sunflower with a butterfly, and a seal with a fish. The last photo I chose was of a Bird. A purple Gallinule to be exact taken in the Everglades.

Purple Gallinule

I thought is would have a lot of detail to make the puzzle easier but my friends thought this would be the hardest of the 4.

Progress is slow But Steady

With my friend’s observations in mind I decided to tackle the bird first to see just how hard it was. Of course I’m a little rusty with jigsaw puzzles. I’ve had cats for over 20 years and during that time I gave up the puzzles. My cats were just too helpful. I hated little cat teeth-marks in the pieces. Needless to say things are moving a bit slower than I expected. I got the border done quickly but I’m running into trouble finding the inner bits on the corners.  Still I don’t spend hours working it. Its more like 15 minutes here, a half hour there. I try to spend a little time on it every day but I’m not obsessive. After all, I’m in no hurry.

 

I’m getting lots of little combos so once I figure out where they go the puzzle will start to move faster.

The Felt Mat

I was complaining to my friend JR that the pieces  were hard to identify against the wood grain of the table. He told me about the puzzle mats. I’d never heard of them. They aren’t expensive and they do make puzzle-ing easier. The pieces tend to stay in place once they are snapped together. According to the instructions on the box you can roll up the mat with the puzzle on it and it will keep the puzzles in place. The box included an inflatable cylinder around which you roll the felt with the puzzle. I haven’t tried rolling it up yet. I think I’ll wait until it’s finished before I try that. 

How Y’all Doing?

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How are  Y’all

I know Its been awhile. This Covid thing is taking its toll. How are all my Dusty Roads Friends? I hope everyone is staying well and safe. 

What Have you Been Doing?

I guess the next question is What Have Y’all been doing cooped up inside, sheltering in place? I’ll tell you what I’ve been doing …working and dreaming about the time I’ll be able to travel again.

How Y'all Doing?Work

As most of you know I don’t post much about work. It’s not PC and can easily come back to bite you but I will share that early on in the pandemic my company laid off or furloughed a ton of people. I don’t know how they missed me but I was one of the ones they kept. They expected business to take a steep drop and had to worry about paying a large staff with nothing to do. That was short lived. After a brief dip business came back strong but those of us that were still on board were overwhelmed. On my team they did some scrambling and almost everyone is back on board now. At least we still get to work from home and we’re still busy but its more manageable for now. Needless to say I didn’t have much time for my beloved Aroundustyroads.  

Being CreativeHow Y'all Doing?

When I had downtime I was doing a lot of reading but it was getting hard to find books by my favorite authors that I hadn’t read. I even made a list of upcoming new releases. I was getting desperate. There is nothing on TV these days. My one favorite show is all re-runs because they can’t go out and how many different ghost stories can a person watch? Tired from work my brain needed to just let go, not try to think up things to write about so I as I stretched out in my recliner I let my mind wander and I remembered that I used to love to put together Jigsaw puzzles. I wondered if they even existed any more.

Jigsaw Puzzles

I gave up these table top puzzles when I got cats. They love to bat away the pieces, chew on them and I even had one cat that would take a run and a flying leap. He’d slide across the table pushing all the pieces ahead of him to the floor. Not Funny Rocky! But now I’m  catless although it probably won’t be forever. I figured I’d try the jigsaw puzzle thing again but here’s the twist. I found a web site that would make puzzles from your own photos. I’m always looking for ways to use my pictures besides hanging them on the wall so I gave it a shot. I ordered 4 (they were on sale) and they just got here. I haven’t opened the boxes yet but the outside looks really good, even professional! I’ll let you know how the assembly stage goes. 

How Y'all Doing?

Why aren’t we helping animals?

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Let’s Feed & Care for Shelter Animals Every Day!

Together we’ve donated more than $60 million to causes you care about!
Your clicks have funded the value of 776,693,063 bowls of food. Learn more

When you click, our sponsors fund food and supplies for shelter pets.

Sounds pretty good, right? But what I wonder is why before the pandemic the site showed 80,000-850000 clicks each day. Now when we are all handing on the internet looking for things to do click count is way down. It got as low as 49000. At least it seems to be heading back up. We funded the value of 66,085 bowls of food yesterday. 

Not into pets and animals? This site also counts clicks for hunger, breast cancer, veterans, diabetes, save the rainforest and more.  So when you’re surfing around the web, take a second to swing by and click. https://theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/clicktogive/ars/home

Will you Travel after the Pandemic?Red fox baby on Monday

I’ve been reading a lot about the state of the travel industry and projections after Covid 19. Predictions are more road trips and less flying.  Amazing incentives are expected to encourage the public to get back out there. I like the sound of the road trips. Long weekends exploring local attractions and maybe a longer road trip. A cross country drive maybe? Travel at my own pace. Stop and take pictures along the way? Its amazing what you can see from the road when you take your time.  I’ll have to turn in my leased car and buy a car. Otherwise that pesky mileage issue will come up.

Spring Baking Championship

Ok so being cooped up has had me searching for things to watch on TV. Most of my favorite shows are reruns because they can’t get out to film with the virus. They are shut down too but I happened to come across the Spring Baking Championship on Food Network. Its amazing what these bakers can do but that wasn’t why this episode stuck in my mind. One of the bakers was from Jackson Hole Wyoming. As soon as I heard that I was immediately transported back to my vacation in Jackson Hole. It was a very strange feeling. I remembered the feeling of being there, the smell of the air, the amazing mountains. The essence that I absorbed while visiting all came sweeping back to me. Maybe its time for a return trip once the pandemic is over. 

Moulton Barn with Tetons in the background

A Hawaiian Slideshow

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A Hawaiian Slideshow

Hawaii is a state of the United States of America located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the only U.S. state located outside North America and the only island state.  Distant and exotic it is on everyone’s bucket list.  While travel is at a standstill, I thought I’d share a slide show from my trips to Hawaii. The photos are from Oahu, Maui and The Big Island. They include landscapes, water sports, flora and fauna. There is so much in Hawaii to see. 

 

 

 

 

A Day in The Life in Quarantine

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Life in Quarantine

Another day in Quarantine. The pandemic continues and they say the worst is yet to come. We are all trapped in a bad version of Groundhog Day (the movie) I do the same thing every day over and over. I always thought I would make a good Hermit. But looks like I was wrong. Humans are social animals. That’s why solitary confinement is such a strong punishment in prison.

Pacing 800 Sq Ft

I pace my condo at odd hours. I’m not sleeping well. Probably because I don’t do anything. It just keeps raining so I haven’t been able to walk around the block. Its midnight and I’m up again to wander to the living room. I stay out of the kitchen. I’m not hungry but what else is there to do besides eat. Then I wander back to the bedroom. I tell myself I’m not getting my 8 hours of sleep but my body isn’t tired. I want to go jogging or mountain climbing or anything to just get out. Is this what prisoners feel behind bars? Maybe I’ll finally learn to meditate?

The Phone Never Stops

The worst part of this is that all the other folks I know are feeling the same thing. There is this underlying anxiety. For some of my friends its becoming overwhelming. Where I escape by  reading books or writing blog posts my friends don’t seem to have these outlets. They relieve their stress by calling and texting me. They want me to reassure them and they want me to entertain them. Sorry folks I’m in the same boat you are and you are interrupting my book! On the other hand I get to yell at telemarketers for my stress relief.

Do you Have a Mask?

The CDC says we all should wear a mask if we have to go out. I don’t have any masks. I didn’t stock up when the pandemic started. Its not mandatory yet but it sounds like its headed that way. I bet robbers will be sorry when this pandemic ends. Right now they have a perfect disguise that is blessed by society. Oh, that’s right, the stores are closed! Not much left to rob.

So how is your day in Quarantine?

So how is this quarantine thing working for you? Do you have family or pets to keep you company? I’m going to spend the rest of my day trying to find a mask or two so if the sun ever comes out I can go outside again.

Stay Safe, Stay Healthy. This too shall pass.