New Pictures

I have added a few more albums to my Picasa today. Check them out:

http://picasaweb.google.com/dallerding

There will be more to come when I get some time to upload them. It takes a little while.

The next album will be of Sturgeon Bay just North of Cross Village, MI.

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Emmet County Road Commission

I am going to write either tomorrow or later tonight. I am having difficulty focusing on my writing because "Grandma's Boy" is on Comedy Central....

Stay tuned for more...and sorry again for the delays in my updates!

Derek

Quite a storm!

Well, I do not know if we were supposed to get it, but we did! A nasty thunderstorm rolled through our area tonight. The lightning was fairly intense at times. In fact, it was so close that the doorbell started to vibrate, and then the phone rang! That has only happened one other time at this house that I am aware of.

Aside from that, not much excitement around here lately. I have been working on the four wheeler to get it in shape for the remainder of the summer. It was inherited from my wife's family. It is a 2000 Suzuki Quadrunner LT250. Certainly it is not as big as they come but it gets me around the woods pretty good! Earlier in the spring I was riding with some family and the pull start started to come off. All eight bolts magically disappeared at once. So we limped it home and it sat in the garage. I found a great place to buy Suzuki parts in the area so life is good. Brandt's Power Sports in Cheboygan. It is a bit out of the way for me but they are open when I need them to be. They are fair too...they will not try to sell me a bunch of crap that I do not need.

The yard is about 96% done. There is still a bit of wood to pick up from some trees we cut down and the pool needs to be cleaned out...but other than that things are finally starting to calm down around here. A bit more work in the garage for this fall and I will be all set!

I have also taken up another hobby. I have started walking bright and early in the AM. So far it has only been three days but I feel fairly dedicated to it. I know it is in my best interest to continue so I believe I have the motivation to keep going with it. Unfortunately it has been a bit of a bummer summer. Not much time to do anything. I have not had any time to make more knives. I ruined one that I was making and start grinding the other one back down a bit. They LOOKED very nice...but they just would not get sharp. What do people use to sharpen steel from scratch? I have tried grinding it, using actual knife sharpeners, knife sticks, and more. Do I need to buy a filing kit? That would be my guess. I also have not been camping since the Green Timbers event! How disappointing! I was going to take a week in August to do whatever I felt like but we are going down South now. That is not a problem...but it would have been nice to choose what I wanted to do. Oh well, I cannot win them all! ;)

I rather miss the snow now. When it snows I always have things to talk about. During the summer I hibernate. I hate the heat and humidity! If I had an outdoor companion (like my doggie was) I would probably spend a bit more time outside during these months. I have been out a bit to snag some pictures...but I do not have the docking station hooked up to any computer right now. I absolutely hate the fact that this PC does not have more than two USB ports. One is for the wireless keyboard and the other is for whatever device I feel like using that day. Right now, at 10:27 PM, I do not feel like hooking up the camera dock. ;) I keep saying I will upload more...hold tight. I will! If I get a chance this weekend I will upload them to my picasa (http://picasaweb.google.com/dallerding).

Anyway, that pretty much catches you up on my summer so far. We have had a few fires in the pit outside...and we have lit off a few fireworks...but that is about it. I have been working, eating, and sleeping. Please leave comments and start some conversation! It would be much appreciated! Ask questions! :P

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

iPod Troubles

Well, sorry it has been so long since I have written. I wanted to throw a quick note up about how awful it is to try to get songs OFF of an iPod. We just started using our that we had repaired by iPodMods.com. They are based out of Kalamazoo, MI and do a very good job getting gear working again. Ours had a broken screen when we got it. We sent it off and in less than a week we had a new screen installed and everything was working just fine.

So, back to getting the songs off of the iPod. There is NO way that I have found to download yours songs from an iPod back onto your PC. When songs are deleted from the PC you cannot pull them back from the iPod without special software. I wanted to give everyone a heads up on what software I am using and how easy it is to get your music back.

Download a software called ephPod. Just google it. Install the software on your PC, start it up and select your iPod drive, select the songs you want to copy from the list, right click and 'Copy Songs to a Directory'. (I believe that is what it was...) It works like a charm. (so far)

Anyway, that is enough for now. I am going to play disc golf. I suck at it but it is something to do. I will try to write more later tonight...and get some more pictures put up.

Derek

Geez...

How pathetic am I? I am really sorry I have not been writing lately. It is just SO hard to find the time while I am at home. I have been working on the car, the four wheeler, the yard, the house, and much more. When I am at work, I could probably squeak in a quick post, but I would get fired. We are not supposed to waste time on the internet. So that is out. I guess lunch would be a good time to write. The audits are almost over at work. I really cannot wait. They have not taken up much of my time so far but the number of requests for "this and that" have been overwhelming. Just the number of requests from everyone has been overwhelming. Oh well. It is a good job and it certainly pays the bills.

I promise I will post again soon. I have many pictures from some of my projects and trips for the summer so far.

If you want pictures of anything in the area just let me know. I will do what I can to get them.

Thanks for your patience!

-Derek