A.I. communication...

I found out my car, the little electric one, can talk to me, somewhat like a millennial, through emoji...

I had all out to my car, and thought Husband had grabbed my purse and put it in the car.  I sat down, ready to leave, and pushed the starter button. 

The car gives a small buzz, then an image of a key pops up.  "No Key Detected".  Huh.

Look in the back.  Yep, no purse, ergo, no key.

I look back up front, in time to see an image of the key I should have, and a picture of the button to start the car.

Is it bad when you think your car is trying to wise off to you? 

Oddly, it also sends code for various things.  Door is open?  An "H". (dit dit dit dit.)
Lights on? A "T".  (daaaaaaaah. It's a long t.)
There are two or three others, enough that I wonder if someone was a ham with a sense of humor.  The most common letters I hear are  S, T, H, I.  And without too much imagination, you can see what that word is... 

It also has little tree 'emojis' to tell me how far I've traveled saving fuel.  Some red and yellow warning triangles. (Mostly 'the put on your seat belt' thing...)

So, it's a rather chatty little thing.  All I can think of is if they would actually get a voice on her...

Oh, wait.  She DOES have a voice... Literally, she tells me verbally when the battery is low, and inquires if I would like to find a battery charging station.  She also tells turn by turn directions if I use a map... Along with a DING about a half mile before the turn.

So, it looks like she is actually a bit more aware and polite than many PEOPLE that I know. 

On occasion, including myself...

I haven't taken to calling her Hal. 

Yet...

Hallie?

Maybe...  :)

U is for Unknown...

I don't know if this qualifies as "retro" like some of the other topics, but I kept trying to think of a word for U.  Other than unicycle, this one kept cropping up.

Unknown... When I was a little kid, I was sure I would be a telephone operator, or repair person, or a teacher.  Now, I am a volunteer at the Sheriff's Office (and possibly something more later, hope hope hope...) But when I was younger, that wasn't even on the radar.  Unknown.

I had always been healthy, never had a broken bone, then I had someone hit me in a truck doing 88.  More recently, the universe delighted in irony, having me break a bone while exercising.  I never knew what it took, until I had to learn to recover, to walk, and finally get more or less back into my country living again.  Unknown.

Learning how to find places I don't know, and haven't been to.  Learning skills that I am unfamiliar with, (shearing llamas was NOT a shining moment, boys and girls, but I tried), and just trying things that might not be in the dead center of my comfort zone.  Unknown.

Somehow, these things have all changed me, sometimes for better, for some, the jury is still out.
But still, I am glad for the occasional unknown... (However, could we pass on more broken bones?  PLEASE??!?!?)


And okay, I just have to add this because I mentioned unicycle... Not related to anything, I just thought it was fun.

www.cyclelicio.us

*****

Went to one of our local farmer's markets today.  It is the weekend of Arbor Day, and there were trees all over.  I knew there was a tree giveaway.  I figured, oh, had arrived late, and didn't figure I would get a tree.  

Well, I talked to someone, and they pointed at one of the stalls, and said, oh, well, you sign there, and you can have a tree.  Have?  Wha...  Oh,man, coolwantwantwant!

Now, we aren't talking twigs here, these babies are about 8 footers.  So I hot-footed it to the stall, and signed, as did Mom, and now there is an Elm, and a Maple in my yard, (Mom gave me hers).  Now I just have to get a spot to plant them, (along with several of my OTHER trees I have babied through this last season).  Poor Husband, he had to help me get these monsters out of the back of my truck.  I still wonder what it looked like for folks around my truck, I had all this shrubbery sticking out the back, with a tie-dye red spotted hankie tied on to a random branch, as the trees were sticking well over three feet past my truck bed!  

Went to the market for some cheese I like... Came home with cheese, two 8-10 foot trees, several herb plants, as well as some Kale plants, and carrot cake for my husband.  And saw several of my friends who were taking advantage of free trees and good stuff.

A morning well spent! 

Snow days here...

These are a few pictures from when our area got an unusual blast 'o snow and ice...  Let's see what Rudee's opinion of going out into deep snow for a potty break...

Uh. Yeah.  

It didn't exactly thrill him.  Husband finally dug a trail so Rudee wouldn't slip and tumble, or go in his kennel...

Husband and I had to go out in the snow, which made our hats wet.  Fortune would have it, we had a convenient place to dry them next to the stove.  Doesn't Loopy look fashionable? Heh... 

This Sequoia had about 7 inches of snow on it at this point.  Most of the trees around ended up looking like closed umbrellas...  Amazingly, most (not all) popped right back out again... Except for the ones that played "let's dump massive amounts of limbs.  Nah, we'll just fall over..."  This tree was a nice exception.

My goofball llamas aren't as goofball as I thought.  I saw them digging, then they would sit on the hay under the snow.  I would feed where they were sitting, so they could dine there.  Husband said it was Bed and Breakfast.  I think I agree...  The snow would pile up on the back, they would shake it off occasionally, but it never seemed to bother them a bit.

THIS is when it became interesting.  It's a pretty image, but the ice damaged a lot, even my forgiving bamboo lost several branches...  

See that little tiny yellow dot on the top of the snow pile?  That's Digger, my little yellow rubber duck.  We put him atop the snow pile my Husband made so we could get out, and it took the little guy about 2 1/2 weeks to get down to ground level again.

And that, my friends, is Digger, all cleaned up, and ready for the next adventure.  But he really hopes it involves sunshine!  His tush is a bit cold!

N. New Trees.

I guess this could also be Nearly forgot, as I didn't get this up this morning...

Anyway, I had sent off for some trees from the Arbor Day Society, and just got the chance to plant them yesterday.  I was afraid that if I had planted them earlier, it would have frozen the poor things.  Well, they are still pretty spindly, but they seem to have put out a few little tender branches and leaves, so I will hope for the best. (I have bought these things about twice now, the first were destroyed when my chickens got out, the second batch were mowed.  This batch has been put in pots, the chickens have wing feathers clipped, and I have bright orange flags to let a certain member of the family (cough,HUSBAND,cough) where I planted them...

The one in the large pot is the sole survivor of the last two batches.  I am hoping it might encourage the others a little... Heh.

Oh, and Mom?  Yes, I did forget to put Milton up for yesterday's "M", so for all my blogger friends, here is Milton, the cookie jar in my kitchen. (The photo yesterday is for storage, that I put in my pantry.)

(Ta Da!)