Another of the Sunset

Pictures: This is just another shot of the sunset from yesterday’s photo and it is a little closer shot, maybe you can see the bird in this one 🙂 Also one more of the Gambel’s Quail.

Apps: I have run across a app that I like. I am one that hates all the permission that apps ask for so when I see a poplar kind of app that has few or no permission I jump on it. One of the kind of apps that abuse permission is weather apps and I found this one (Klara Weather), it has much less permission than the others, so I’m giving it a try, so far I like it.

I guess accuracy is important so comparing forecast … comparing highs for today and tomorrow Klara = 82/86, AccuWeather =84/86, Under Ground weather, 84/88. So maybe Klara runs a little cool but nothing I can’t live with.

Exercise: I walked 2 miles this morning.

Night Folks

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Lollipop

Lollipop: Updated my Nexus 7 today, that took some time. Taken the update as an opportunity to revamp my apps a little bit and be rid of some that I never use. Redoing apps makes it a lot longer process but I’ll have a nice clean tablet …… for a while. At least till I clutter it up with a bunch of apps again. Many of my root apps are not working just yet, that will take some time. I did a big part of the update on my WiFi and some on McDonalds WiFI but I bet I ended up using more data than I wanted.

Okay, I’m off to play so later.

Night folks

Orientation

Maybe orientation today?: The one thing one must not worry about is being in a hurry if you are dealing with the State or Federal government, all things take time. So it is ….. nothing I am worried with. Like all government systems this one is under staff too. Odd the things uncle Sam don’t have money for vs the things it does have money for. At any rate I hope to get into something today. Tomorrow I am to go on a nature walk with one of the rangers and a group of people, that should be fun.

Ha, I just got a call and the ranger will be by to show me the ropes today, good deal.

Camp Ground: Man oh man, it is so peaceful and quiet here, I do like it. Of course, here in a few days I will have some stuff(tools and such) to work with and I will be getting busy, and I look forward to that. I am one that likes to earn ones keep 🙂
The host site here in the camp ground is the lowest one and I was worried about my internet connection but it is doing okay with my Wilson Directional Antenna connected to the MiFi device. I still have 2 bars of 4G, mind you it is not top speed but it is so bad either. TV on the other hand is just about out 😦 I do get PBS sometimes but that is it. Should I hook this job for next summer I may consider a satellite of some kind for my TV needs, but for the next 6 weeks or so I won’t worry about TV.

By the way , the solar system here is doing great so far and giving me all the power I need. I am running my Refrigerator, Microwave, Hot water heater and computers on it with no problem so far. The real test will be when it starts cooling off and I try running one (or two) of my small electric heaters on it ❓

Pictures: Here is a couple shot just outside my RV.

Here is a Rock Wern that came by for a visit today, seems to be a happy little bird 🙂

Night Folks

More app stuff

Started the day with a walk, short one, two miles. A good start to the day 🙂
I walked with MapMyWalk+! Distance: 2.17mi, time: 43:17, pace: 19:58min/mi, speed: 3.00mi/h.
http://mapmywalk.com/workout/464187785

Trying another app today, SimpleNote. If is a simple notepad app that will sync across devices. I have dropbox and evernote but sometimes I just want a very simple note taker and maybe Simplenote is that app. This one is now owned by the folks at WordPress so maybe it is Okay, we’ll see, the test is on.

The keyboard wars is on going with me, I still think android does a better job with swiping. The Swype keyboard is more accurate if you are, but the android keyboard seems to put up with my not-so-accurate fingers, while still guessing the right words. The Swype keyboard has more editing features that I like. Lucky for me the keyboards are easy to change between with the latest android versions, all you need too do is to pull down the notification bar, tap input, and choose which keyboard you want, quick and easy.

With the temperatures where they are now, I guess one could say we’re on a hot spell, a good thing! 🙂 ! The days are getting up to the mid 70s and the nights are in the upper 40s ……. that is just the sweet spot if you ask me, and that my friends is why I am here!

Night folks

Walk and a app

Took me a walk this morning and I am waiting to see just how the knee feels about it all! Felt good to be out and about.

I walked with MapMyWalk+! Distance: 4.63mi, time: 01:41:19, pace: 21:52min/mi, speed: 2.74mi/h.
http://mapmywalk.com/workout/453847917

There are some mountains about 2 miles away ……. I didn’t get to climb in them but I at least made it to the base of the mountain 🙂 Man I hope the knee don’t fuss too much.

The weather is tops today, sunny and warm, my kind of weather.

Just found me a great app! Another one of these things ” Google why ain’t this a default feature?” LOL. The app is
Swipepad. This is one of those apps that make you wonder why it is not part of the android system to start with. If you are an android user and switch between apps a lot like I do, I recommend you give this one a try.

Going backwards on one thing that I try to accomplish most of the time and that is to run as least background apps as possible. Text to speech app , Avast security , Clipper clipboard, Adblock plus and now Siwpepad are all apps running in the background. One of these days I will figure out which way I am going!

Hey ……. I guess it is almost a new year, so a big Happy New Years to everyone, May all your Resolutions be yours to command 🙂

Night folks

Me and the Knee

Some days I find myself meandering through life, I look up at the clock and the day is gone.

Well I wrote the above line about 2pm and now it is 5pm ……….. yes I am wasting away the day for sure. I sometimes have those kinds of days. I have spent a lot of time browsing the net today.

One of the things I have looked for today is a way to copy and paste from any app I have, with my android devices, but I have not found a way to do that. For an example, I would like to copy from dictionary.com(the app) but that app will not let me do that. Why? Who knows. I find it irritating the copy/paste is not fully integrated into android, regardless of what app you’re using . However android lets app developers choose whether this option works or not. Worried that somebody might lose a dollar on some silly copyright I guess.

No problem, I just changed dictionary, I now use Merriam-Webster. This still don’t help me to copy in any app, but it will this app anyways! So now, if I pronounce a word using the voice feature I can then copy and paste it to where I like. I know, I know it would be a fine opportunity to learn to spell that word 😯 but I like the fast road sometimes. Also I know I could just use voice to put it into whatever I am writing but I like to see it first and read the meaning before pasting it in, as you know I am not all that good with words, best to be sure.

No exercise today 😦   I have a little fear now ……… that the knee may be pushing me into a new reality, but ….. I am still holding out hope. When I blew my real knee about 10 or 12 years ago it felt a lot like this. I worry with it, only being 4 years this February, that I got the new knee replacement. Although I have worked it hard I would hope it holds longer than this! Like I said I am holding out hope on it, even if I do feel like I have given it a lot of rest already. I will be patient, take it ease and give it more time. Man, I miss my nice long walks!

Night folks

Apps and battery power

Either the weather is a tad warmer or I am getting use to the cooler weather, either way it feels better today 🙂  It is warmer.

Tomorrow the host (Elaine) and I, have decided to take a walk and we are just going to wing it. It will more than likely be a nice long walk.

I hope that it is as nice tomorrow as today because I am loving the weather today. Haven’t even had to put on my sweater today. When I get back to Quartzsite I think I will pick up an extra propane tank, the weather is going to cool off far more than I like and I’ll be needing some heat 😦  Having an extra tank of propane on hand will be reassuring.

This area has many boon-docking opportunities, there is BLM land all around, not to mention the area I am in is nice too. I kind of like it here where I am best though, because the truck stop is handy to have around for little things and it gives me a place to go visited  and people watch now and then, just for something to do.

Today has been nice and sunny and I am glad to see it. My solar is purring alone just fine and the batteries are putting away the power for the evening. Just the way it should work out here in the wild west 🙂 where there is lots of sunshine.

About battery power and apps on your device/devices …… If you use any app that measures battery consumption use of other apps, it will worry you some that your favorite apps are the power eaters, LOL. For me it is avast and Beautiful Widgets(which may be kind of dated) that are sucking down lots of my battery, about 30% total. Of course, also in the top 4 are android’s own system software, one the keyboard (I do a lot of swiping on it 🙂  ) and two, is the system ui  itself. I could take out both Beautiful Widgets and avast but I like them both whether I need them or not, and I get by with my battery good enough. It is interesting to know these things though. Anybody know of a weather/clock app that does well on power consumption?  I am sure there are tons of clock apps that don’t use much power but the weather apps may use more seeing as they got to check in more often. However I am looking. LOL, this is what I do when I get too much time on my hands.

Okay, night folks.

Morning

It is about 9 am and I am up and kicking, although not all that high. Life is good. Okay, I am going to get the old dude weather thing over early today : shock:  It is a tad cooler than I like and there is some of that old humidity that I so dislike, all of which gives me a constant little shiver, brr. I always feel cold.

Afternoon 1pm;  Still cool and now overcast, this weather makes me sad! LOL. Say, do you think life is pretty good if all you have to do is to complain about the weather? Okay I feel better now, I can move on to something else in my blog 🙂

I have updated my apps today on Google Play. I had a lot of apps that I no longer used and you can delete them by going to the play store click on show all apps and then hit the x by the apps you no longer want Google to save for you. One needs to do this now and then because after trying out a lot of apps that list gets kind of long. I think I am like most other folks I have a lot of apps but there are only a few that I use a lot.

Also today I have played around with my Android browser ( Dolphin) because the update to Google’s new OS Kit-Kat(4.4) has broken a couple of things in it. Well, let me rephrase that, the Dolphin update for the new OS Kit Kat is what broke the plugins/and other things. One, the pinch-zoom no longer works the same and two, my Lastpass add-on disappeared. Lastpass is important to me so I had to find a workaround. The problem was some old themes I had install for dolphin many moons ago. These where themes I had installed through the Google store and not add-ons, so it took me a while to figure it out. So ….. If you use Dolphin and you have updated and lost your Lastpass addon go to the play store and uninstall any themes for dolphin you have installed, and it will let the Lastpass app work again. The pinch-zoom thing is something I just have to live with because I see no way to get the old way back. After some support help from the folks at Lastpass, they tell me that Dolphin will be getting a new update soon, to fix things.

Exercise; I added a slow walk to my day. I was out for over an hour but just kind of strolling along and taken a few pictures. At least I was moving a bit. I need to move some to help loosen myself up, I get mighty stiff if I don’t keep plenty of movement in my day. I am slowly adding back a little stretching, and it is much-needed. Here is one from my walk.

Night folks

Shinny but cool

Sunshine a plenty, but it is cool today. The next 3 or 4 days will have some pretty cool nights (in the 30’s) so I may have to break out the heater for a while in the evenings. Warmer weather should come back by the first of next week.

I will be taking the day off from exercise, the new knee was a little fussy  this morning and I have not taken a day off for some time now. I may do some stretching later on but no exercise. I also might get the camera out and go walk around a little to take some picture but I will keep that walk short. When I walk a lot my knees do bug me and I have done lots of walking instead of riding the bike, I do prefer walking to riding when it is cooler but the knees had always rather have the riding. I guess it is a lot less impact on the joint to ride. I have broken the golden rule of taking  at least one day off a week, and having a light exercise day once a week. I will have to watch that. If I could only find a little more discipline and do upper body workouts three-time a week that would be prefect. Makes me want to get up and do a push-up ………….. NOT! But I do need to ……. ! Today would be a good day to start ………………… LOL maybe? We’ll see.

I have watched the Windows 8 app store and so far I have not found an app that I like all that much, well not for a Windows computer because I have full programs that are better than the apps. So far every metro app I have play with has a better desktop version or a better full program that can be used. I do have many programs that I run as apps on the Android devices and the desktop both, but see no need for the Windows 8 metro version because the desktop version is just better to me, such as, Evernote, Dropbox, Lastpass and so on. Maybe one day there will be an app that does not have a good Windows desktop style app that runs on devices only  that I will want, or maybe I will get a Windows device and find apps that can go between the two metro machine. Mind you, I still think Windows 8 is a step up and worth having.

Time to get out of the chair for a spell.

Update; Just a few lines before I set in to watching the TV for tonight. I did do about 10 minutes of workout this afternoon, I know, I know, not much but it was a start. I did very little stretching today but some. Tomorrow we will see how it goes. As for the weather this evening, it is cool and clear. I may need a little heat later on, we’ll see.

Night folks

Bills paid

Yes it is the first of the month, time to pay the bills and it is done. I am glad I have few and small bills. I hate paying even these little ones and I could not imagine paying lots of big bills any more. There are some good things about becoming older, wiser and more conservative, it bring peace of mind in ways.

It is windy today and I may take yet another day off from exercising. In the summer I usually exercise 4 days and take 3 off and this winter I have been doing 6 days and one off. I think I will have to slack up just a bit. I have also done a good bit of walking and I need to stay more with riding the bike because it is so much easier on the knees. I would prefer to get out and exercise but I don’t want the knees in a mess so I can’t even if I want to, so I will give them a little slack.

Computers vs Devices;  The speed of apps impress me when compare to computer programs. I am liking the smaller portable devices (Smartphones, tablets)  they are ease, fast and to the point. Computer program are usually always over blown, they try to make them so they have everything that anyone could possible want. That ends up with most of us having way more than we need or want. I hope one day that all apps will easily run on computers because there are a few I would load right now. For example I love the speech recognition on the smart phone vs Microsoft speech Recognition, it is just totally easier, better and faster to use. Maps on the smart phone is much faster. Maybe it is just that there is so much on the computer that it just takes longer to get to it and get it up and running. There are some trade offs that programmers should look at and maybe they will, in the future. Of course there is lots of stuff that I would not want to try to do on a portable device that I do on my computer, one would be blogging and there are many more. I am just getting at the ideal that some things are so much faster and work better on a portable device and I think that they should be just as fast and good on a computer.   Just for the fun of it I am trying Microsoft’s speech recognition again.  It is difficult and not very accurate. I usually end up giving up, it is just too complicated and trying on one’s nerves. Believe it or not it took me the last 10 minutes to get in these last three lines. LOL 🙂  .