This, that and the other thing-

This is the fourth or fifth iteration of this web site over the years.  It used to be a place I could put up pictures for friends and family to enjoy and stay informed.  The picture display part of it has been pretty much outdated by so many other options.  I still occasionally put up a page with some event or travels.  It also allows me a place to post my music, files and other interests and projects not seen through this web page.

We have MS Windows on a few computers around here, but we use Linux more than Windows.  Took awhile to fully commit to Linux but once a certain comfort level was reached we haven't looked back.  (I say we as Zoe also runs Linux on her old laptop and her netbook.)  For those not familiar with Linux (Android cell phones and tablets run on Linux) it is a free open-source operating system that equals Windows in most ways and even exceeds it in others.  Almost all software programs (30,000+) are free for the download.  But, it is different and because of that many users will not suffer the learning curve to get comfortable and enjoy open-source software.  Here's a demo that shows multiple desktops and effects.  (Ubuntu is the Linux distribution (version) used in the demo and is what we mostly use here, but almost any Linux distro will perform much the same.)

Our road trips have slowed as Zoe is working summers.  Having a car necessitates income and working has become a priority for her.  I'm sure we still have a few good road trips in our future, but they aren't regular summer events as they once were.

The summer of 2011 was down the Mississippi River via pontoon boat from where the Wisconsin River enters into the Mississippi.  The original hope was to make it to St. Louis and then maybe up the Illinois River to Starved Rock (Utica, IL).  I had been wanting to spend some time on the Mississippi for awhile now.  The Mississippi River trip had been proceeded by canoeing from Wisconsin Rapids down to the Mississippi River (200 miles) via the Wisconsin River back in the late '80s.  I finally borrowed the slides from my friend who was on the trip with me and scanned them into the slide show below.  First try we had too much stuff in too little canoe.  Things smoothed out after that.  Really brings back old memories, but it's one of those things where you kind of had to be there.

And finally-


These pages are produced as easily as possible with no fancy formatting or embellishments other than to satisfy my curiosity. I found that by keeping it simple, I tend to update or post more pages to the site. Some of these pages were first created and posted in the 90s, which is why they tend to have a "vintage" look to them.  I know they need an update and hopefully I will get around to it.  Anyway, thanks for stopping at our little piece of the net.