Two tech surprises

Today’s guest picture shows Dropscone’s granny’s rocking chair which his son has recently got re-upholstered.

I could have done with a rocking chair myself this morning as it was too wet and windy to be attractive to a cyclist.  As a result I spent the morning watching and waiting as breakfast morphed seamlessly into morning coffee and the crossword and then, before I knew it, it was lunchtime.  The joys of being retired on a wet day.

I did look out of the window to see if the redpolls had come back but they hadn’t and I had to make do with a visit from a brambling.

The chaffinches are ever present.

The ponderer was back (or perhaps his double)

Sometimes they came as composite birds.

Places on the feeder are hard to find.

After an early lunch, Mrs Tootlepedal got a lift to Edinburgh to visit a friend who is in hospital and I was left to my own devices.  A brief burst of sunshine tempted me out for a walk.  I had got to the Kilngreen when a look behind me showed that rain was approaching fast…

…in a moment, it had caught up with me.  The sun was still shining though and I was treated to the lowest and closest rainbow that I have ever seen.  It was faint but fascinating.

It preceded me as I walked along the car park, getting ever fainter as I went…

…until it had virtually vanished like the Cheshire cat by the time that I acme to the Sawmill Brig.

I walked over the bridge and was delighted by the amount of colour to be found on walls and trees on every side.

In spite of its colour, the New Hampshire Gardener tells me that this is green algae

There was moss of many different kinds.

..and liverwort (I think)….

…and lichen.

It was tempting just to stay where I was and keep snapping away but I walked on…

Another brief burst of sunlight lit up my way.

I was using Pocketcam (Nikon J1) for the close up pictures and I have a nifty add on which lets me use my Nikon  DSLR lenses with it.  I hadn’t used it yet so this seemed like a good time to try it.  I had my 18 to 105mm lens in my pocket so I stuck it on to see how it would go.  It increases the zoom factor a lot and the camera can cope with the big lens quite well.

Langholm Castle shot from across the river.

I am very pleased with these first results in rather grey light.  It is an ideal lightweight combination for a walk when you don’t know what you may see.

When I got home I sat down at my computer and got two big shocks.  I switched on my tried and tested desktop Windows XP  machine and got a very brusque message from Microsoft telling me that they were going to stop supporting Windows XP in a few weeks and only a fool would keep on using it.   They suggested buying a new computer and using Windows 8.  What a cheek.  I am of the school of thought that Bill Gates only got so rich that he has to hire people to help him spend his money by using the power of monopoly to grossly overcharge his customers and this was typical of his company’s approach to them.

As I have many useful programs on this computer, I will disconnect it from the internet and keep using the useful programs on it  when the need arises.

I write this blog on a laptop which I basically keep for storing and editing photos but thanks to a set of earlier misfortunes, I do have another laptop in a cupboard which I keep as back up.  This will now come out of hiding and become my machine for day to day business.  It needed new security as it will have to be internet connected and putting this onto it gave me my second shock.

I had downloaded and was installing a 2014 version of AVG internet security when owing to a slight brain fade, I interrupted the process before it was complete.  I was baffled as to how to proceed and in  my despair, I rather aimlessly clicked on the AVG interface on my laptop.

A small pop out notice popped up at the side of the screen.  This sort of thing is always annoying and I expected a targeted ad for dementia treatment.  I peered at it suspiciously. It said, “Do you need help? Would you like to phone us?”  This was hard to take seriously but it even had a phone number on it and when I rang it, someone answered.

I was stunned.  I had to sit down.  He listened to my problem and said I would need one of their tech people.    “Ahah, the old run-around,” I thought but they got me one on line within a minute and she solved my problem in a trice…and in addition advised me of a way to save money on my next order from them.   I felt quite giddy.  This sort of thing just doesn’t happen.  I had to have a lie down to recover.

After some delicious slow cooked venison stew, courtesy of Mrs Tootlepedal,  for my tea, I recovered enough to drive to Carlisle with Susan for a very good evening of recorder playing.

A goldfinch managed to head off the chaffinches for the coveted post of flying bird of the day.