Abandoned Vehicles

These are not in a location related to these photos, but I did run across them the same day.

[caption id="attachment_724" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Snow Plow: I couldn't say for certain how long this snow plow had sat here, but the size of the trees surrounding it suggests quite a while."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_725" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Caterpillar: No rubber to hit the road. All steel."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_726" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Engine #5: A fire truck from the town I grew up around."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_727" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Fire Engine: Silent, forgotten, but once essential equipment."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_728" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Hose: Dry, except for when it rains."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_729" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Gauges"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_730" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Feeder line"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_731" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Siren and Lights"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_732" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Rust pitting the wheel of a steam roller."][/caption]

Abandoned Farmstead

I was driving back from making a pickup on Sunday morning when I spotted this house and barn, long since abandoned.

I couldn't resist walking through the fence and exploring.

[caption id="attachment_713" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Red door: This lead into what once looked to be a chicken coop."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_714" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Log Structures: Some of the buildings on the property were the original log structures that probably dated from the original settlement of the property."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_715" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Mow: Traditionally, the mow (pronounced MAU) would have been where the farmer stored his winter hay."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_716" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Hand Hewn: Take a close look at the timber structure. All hand hewn wood, wooden pegs rather than nail, and the joists did not even have the bark taken off."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_717" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Loft: In its day, it would have been stacked to the rafters with hay."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_718" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Water: These basins would have been added much later to the barn in order to provide the cattle with water."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_719" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The House: At many points during its life, it would have rung with laughter."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_720" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Mailbox: No mail gets delivered now, and no one picked up the last of the mail to be delivered."][/caption]

How to: Restore the Sametime Emoticon Palette

Problem

Client reports that they cannot add new emotions to Sametime.

and/or

Client does not have the emoticons palette in the Preferences menu.

Solution

1. Close the Lotus Notes client.


2. Copy the contents of the <Data Dir>\workspace\.metadata\.plugins\com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.palettes\palettes folder to somewhere safe.   This will allow the user to keep any existing emoticons.


3. Delete the contents of the <Data Dir>\workspace\.metadata\.plugins\com.ibm.collaboration.realtime.palettes\palettes folder.


4. Launch Lotus Notes.  The emoticons preferences will be back.

Ice cream day

It was ice cream day at work today.

Cool.

Surgery Update

Surgery was a success.  They removed her entire thyroid gland, but did not need to remove the para-thyroids or lymph nodes.  As well there was no long term damage done to the nerves leading to the vocal cords.

Please people, tell the women you know to check their neck.

http://www.thyroidcancercanada.org/about-thyroid-cancer.php

 

Cancer

I guess I've kind of surprised myself by not doing this earlier.  I'm not sure why I didn't.

Back in the middle of February my wife and I bought a new house.  15 hours later, we discovered that she had thyroid cancer.

We let the house deal fall through, there was no way we were going to deal with cancer treatment and move at the same time.  There is no way that we were going to allow that much stress into our lives.

It was a shock, but I came to terms with it.   It's a type of thyroid cancer called papillary thyroid cancer.  It has a high survival rate of  96 to 97%.

Anyway, her surgery is tomorrow, they will be performing a total thyroidectomy.  Wish us luck.