Well it's a new year and I haven't been on here in a very long time. The above picture reminded me of this site - it's kind of like an empty nest these days.

So, Hello to anyone who still may be on here and I hope you are doing fine.

It's far from perfect, but it's a start. Next time I hope to be more confident when playing with the tilt of the photo

I recently purchased Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 & Premiere 4. After fiddling around for a while I decided some of it would be easier with a graphics tablet. So, I went and got me a Wacom Bamboo!

I also discovered a nice little on line community called Elements Village. It's a great forum where the users help one another with questions or problems. We also are given challenges so we can all apply what we know and learn new techniques along the way.

It has rained so much I could actually canoe in my backyard - and I live on a hill! Three years ago I put a new roof on my house, but I'm still leaking and my roofers phone is disconnected!

I used to gauge a rain by how many bowls I put out. Tonight is a 2 bowl rain - as you can see in the picture above. I start with the bowl on the cedar chest and then it starts to follow the track in the ceiling, I've had up to 7 bowls out for a rain. LOL After I put the roof on it quit, but recently it started back up, although 2 bowls isn't bad, before this much rain would have definitely been 7 bowls! I use metal bowls so I get a little music as it leaks too, different tings and pings as the water drops into the bowls.

The roofer has been out several times and recaulked and put some things around my chimney, to no avail and now the number is "disconnected". This room used to be a porch and was converted to a family room before I brought it. It's my favorite room in the house and it leaks. I'm beginning to wonder if it's the way it's tied into the main house or possible my chimney is the culprit. Anyone know a good brick mason - cheap?

When I was sitting here last weekend and it was raining, I started hearing this funny little sound t,t,t,t,t and then it would stop and then t,t,t,t, again. I go to my fire place and watch, then here it comes a half dozen or so drops at a time, landing in the ashes in my fireplace and then stops, then again. Pretty soon the front of the chimeny has a little waterfall, hence the towel, then a little later a drip from a knot in the pine, starts on the cedar chest and the bowl gauged rain begins.

Now this room has a shingle roof directly on top of it from when it was a porch and then a void area where they built the roof up and added another shingled roof eave on top of it.