One Thing

Posted on March 29, 2018 by John

I am looking forward to Sunday.
YOU are invited!
The main service is at 10:00 but you ARE invited to all!

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Yourself to Blame

Posted on November 7, 2017 by John

 

Ben Carson‘s mom recently died.  This is a poem that she read to her children when ever they would make excuses.  Enjoy!

Yourself to Blame by Mayme White Miller

If things go bad for you
And make you a bit ashamed
Often you will find out that
You have yourself to blame

Swiftly we ran to mischief
And then the bad luck came
Why do we fault others?
We have ourselves to blame

Whatever happens to us,
Here is what we say
“Had it not been for so-and-so
Things wouldn’t have gone that way.”

And if you are short of friends,
I’ll tell you what to do
Make an examination,
You’ll find the faults in you…

You are the captain of your ship,
So agree with the same
If you travel downward
You have yourself to blame

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How I Add Watermarks To My Photos

Posted on October 24, 2014 by John

20140806_153612Sometime ago, someone mentioned that they would like to add their name to their photos like I do. I do it a couple of different ways, depending on where the picture is located (on my computer, or on my phone).  This is not a step by step tutorial, but rather, a guide to share what programs I use to put watermarks on photos.

First, I created an image with my name in it. I use “gimp” for this purpose, a free image manipulation program. I also need to say that I have “Ubuntu” as my operating system for all my computers. I ditched “Windows” years ago. You will need to use whatever program you have for manipulating images. (Photoshop?)  The gimp does have a version for Windows also.  The file created should be the .PNG type. PNG files are capable of having a transparent background (not white). Otherwise, there would be a square showing up on each picture where the “signature” is located. Once you have that file, send it to your phone in whatever way you do that.

On the computer:
I use a program called “Phatch” (Photo Batch). It can take many pictures and do all kinds of things to them all at once (a batch of them). I use this on Ubuntu. If you use Windows or Mac, it looks like it is possible to get this program working on them, but it doesn’t look easy. Years ago, before I dumped Windows, I used a nice free program called FSresizer. It worked real nice to do nearly the same thing as Phatch. Most of the time, I also resize my photos so they are not so big to upload to the Internet. Both Phatch and FSresizer do this easily.

On my phone:
I have an android phone and use a program called “Photo Watermark App Free“. It is an easy app that lets you add watermarks to your photos. I use the PNG file I created earlier and put it on my photos. “Watermark Photo” does not have a batch mode (to do many photos at one time), but it is easy to use.

That’s about it.  If you have any questions or want particulars, leave a comment. Click the images below to go to the appropriate web sites.  -John.

phatch

Phatch

fsresizer

FSresizer

ubuntu-12-10-quantal-quetzal

Ubuntu Operating System

watermark

Watermark Photo

wilber

gimp

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WordPress Jetpack Update Failure

Posted on April 25, 2014 by John

wordpressWhy am I posting a thing like this on our family blog?  Maybe it will help others that are having a similar problem with their blog.  I use WordPress as my blogging software.  Lately, my software updates have been failing.  Blogging software and other web/Internet software needs to be updated when there are discovered vulnerabilities just like other software.  I also use something called Jetpack that provides statistics and other functions for my blog.  It also needed to be updated and was failing.  OK, I am going to get a little geeky here, so if this is of no interest to you, then thanks for stopping by.

To fix this:

  • First, log into your web site administration control panel however you do it.  For me, it is cpanel. Get into your file manager and find your plugin directory.
  • Find the jetpack directory inside your plugin directory and delete the whole jetpack directory.
  • Do a plugin update if required.
  • Do a WordPress update.  It took quite a while for me.  If it asks you to do a database update, do it.
  • Reinstall the Jetpack plugin and activate it.
  • Have fun.

I hope this helps someone with a similar problem.

-John.

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Hiawatha Rails to Trails Bike Ride

Posted on August 25, 2013 by John

Click the photo to see pictures from our Hiawatha bike ride.

On the week-end of August 23-25, 2013, most of Carol’s family got together for a 60th birthday party for her brother Doug. We rented the Savenac Bunkhouse at a bunk house at Haugan, MT. We then went on the Hiawatha Rails to Trails bike ride. It is a 15 mile bike ride. Some of our group were more adventurous and traveled another 8 miles to Avery, Idaho. John’s Dad and Mom lived in Avery after they first got married in the 40’s when Dad worked on the Milwaukee R.R. At that time there were no roads into Avery, only the train, on the very trail we traveled, through many tunnels and over many trestles.  Click HERE or the picture to see photos from our fantastic week-end.

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C.R. “Mac” McDougall 1926 – 2013

Posted on July 16, 2013 by John
about_dad

Click to see photos of the funeral, reception, and mom’s house.

Can Funerals Be Good? I’ve been to a few funerals that were really good, and Dad’s is now among that list. While we will all grieve at his loss, we don’t grieve as the the world does. 1 Thessalonians 4:13 says “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.” Here are pictures of dads “good” funeral. We love you and will see you soon. -John

Click HERE or the picture on the left to see photos of the funeral, reception, and gathering at mom’s house afterwards.

Posted in Church, Family, Friends, Our Home, Photos | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Super Moon

Posted on June 23, 2013 by John
Super Moon as viewed from Jefferson City, MT. June 22, 2013.

Super Moon as viewed from Jefferson City, MT. June 22, 2013.

Tonight was a Super Moon, the largest moon of the year.  My daughter Katie and I had some fun with the telescope and took some pictures of it.  Here is one of them.  The heavens declare His glory! -John

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Vacation Trip To Seattle

Posted on June 14, 2013 by John

Click the picture to see all our photos from our fun Seattle trip.

As a gift to our graduating seniors (Katie, Desire’ and Terry), we all took a fun trip to Seattle June 1 to June 8, 2013. We attended Terry’s (Desire’s boyfriend) graduation, and soon after the event, we wisked him away for the trip. The trip included: Silverwook Theme Park, Leavenworth Washington, Tour of Boeing, Woodland Zoo, Pacific Science Center, Space Needle in the day and at night, Monorail, Experience Music Center and Sci Fi Museum, Ferry trip to Bremerton, Puget Sound Navy Museum, Tour through USS Turner Joy, Pikes Market, Ballard Locks and fish ladder, Golden Gardens Beach, Argosy Harbor Tour, and Underground Seattle Tour. That is a lot of stuff to cover in a week! We also spent a little time visiting a few relatives. Sorry to all that we didn’t get a chance to visit. We were too busy playing tourists!  Click HERE to see lots of pictures from our trip.

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Katie and Desire’ Graduate From High School

Posted on May 21, 2013 by John

Click the picture to see more from Katie and Desire’s graduation and party.

Katie and Desire’ graduated from Jefferson High on May 19, 2013. They both did a fantastic job and we are proud of them. We had a fun party afterwards with relatives and friends.  Click HERE to see the pictures.

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Desire’ at State Music Festival

Posted on May 7, 2013 by John

Jefferson High School (in Boulder, MT) did fantastic at the State Music Festival on May 3, 2013 in Missoula, MT.  Desire’ received a “Superior” rating for her solo, plus a “Superior” for Women’s Ensemble she was in, plus an “Excellent Rating” in a duet.  Great job Desi, and great job JHS!

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube DirektDesire' at State Music Festival

Here are the stats:
05.07.13

Congratulations to the following Jefferson High Students for receiving State Music Superior Ratings:

Womens Ensemble #2:  Aria McFarland, Candace Lanch, Symphoni Lyons, Koti Watkins, and Desire McDougall

Vocal Solo:  Desire McDougall

Vocal Solo:  Mallory Herzog

Violin Solo:  Christian Peterson

Representing JHS with State Excellent Rating:

Vocal Duet:  Kaela Williams & Desire McDougall;  Mallory Herzog & Kaela Williams

Vocal Solo:  Kaela Williams, Mikal Overturf, Koti Watkins

Sax Solo:  Mickela Mann

Percussion Ensemble:  Adam Clemons, Caleb Holmes, Rudy Preskar, Jordon Riggs, Christian Peterson, Braden Rykal, Madelynn Mann

 

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