Member pics

[Alelou]

You should probably ask John about it.

[Aquarius]

I think I will.

[Linda]

Uh, I haven't mastered the "how not to send the photo too large" thingy. My photobucket photos take up the whole screen when I put them in the threads here. I haven't a clue how to not send them large, so that is the way I send them unless someone can give specific and detailed instructions.

[Alelou]

When you upload them at Photobucket you can specify the size of file you want -- and if it hasn't changed since I did it last, it defaults to that for any photo you upload for ever after, until you change it. I think the general range of a fairly decent size here without getting overwhelming is something like 400 x 600 but I'm afraid I don't remember.

[Elessar]

I know this isn't too terribly exciting, but I got a new camera and new iron sights for one of my rifles, so:





Also went shooting at a range in BFE about 10 miles north of Collins, MO - near Truman Lake where we were camping & fishing:

[Linda]

Thanks for the tip, Alelou. So here goes an attempt to display smaller photos.

Artistic hallways at Epic company:



More hallway art:



Shayla interacts with ART :



Sign at the foot of the stairway to the treehouse at Epic:



The tree house:



Inside the tree house, exploring its attic:



Alligator rides are not for everyone (fake alligator under the tree house). You can't see her expression too well with the smaller photo, but Skyelar is difinitely not happy to have been placed on the alligator. Is this child abuse? To her it is!:

[Alelou]

Cool. Jeez, is that a company or a theme park? I wanna work there.

Of course, those kinds of places tend to expect you to also live there... (does this one?)

[Linda]

Oh, yeah! Nick is on salary which means he doesn't have hours. Well, it is supposed to be 40 hours a week but averages about 50. He is just out of college and is working hard to do well on his first "real" job, and since he doesn't have a family yet, can devote all his time to this job. They call him Friday night to tell him he has to go to someplace in Illinois Sunday afternoon. (He lives in Wisconsin) He does have a live-in girl friend, a pet rabbit, a cat, and a fish. But his girl friend takes care of the rabbit, cat, and fish while she writes her novels in their apartment which is subsidised by Epic. I think Epic has him by the short hairs...until he discovers more options, that is.

I was jealous of his job, but on rethinking it, I am not jealous, I am concerned.

[Alelou]

Eh well, 50 hours really ain't so bad by contemporary American standards. If he's young and well-paid and has someone to keep the home fires burning, he could be doing a lot worse. I used to actually enjoy business travel and staying four hours late with a bunch of frazzled coworkers to get the annual sales estimates done when I was a lot younger. He should just save every penny he can now for when he burns out or has a kid and begins to realize how miserable and exhausting it is especially in companies with no sense that commitment also should work in the direction, i.e. towards the employees they're sucking dry. (But I'm not bitter. )

[Linda]

Wise advice, Alelou! But do the young ever listen? Now look who is being bitter.

[justTripn]

A treehouse!???

[Escriba]

Every time I see Linda's pictures I feel so good. Your family is so adorable and they seem to like each other

[Linda]

Uh, mostly we like each other but we do have our disagreements at times! That treehouse was great. Nick went there once to work though he only shares his office with one person.

[Asso]

I agree with Escriba.
I feel "glad" when I see some pictures of Linda's family.

[Linda]

Okay, at the risk of overdoing it, MORE photos. I am playing around with sizing of the photos on photobucket, so these will be a little larger but not as big as the half page stuff I used to do. Image (my oldest granddaughter) turned 18 last Saturday. I feel so old when she is like the age of JT's children!

My daughter had a luau birthday party for Image, but it was at my house because we have a private back yard.



My youngest granddaughter likes the elf garden I made for the kids:



Some of the party guests milling around:



Great-grandmother of Image, her dad, a couple of teenage friends, and Image in a grass skirt which goes with the party theme:



The food tables:



The kids kind of break out in age groups - the teenagers eating together and the toddlers eating together:



Next three photos are the kids getting sticky and dirty sliding around in a wading pool filled with jello:







Now it's time to hose the jello off the kids. It didn't work. We had to strip the clothes off them and put them in the bathtub inside the house. Dumped them all into the tub together, what a mess! No bathtub picture though, LOL.



A friend of Image made her a Sponge Bob cake. The toddlers loved it and the teenagers thought it was a hoot because we were supposed to be celebrating Image becoming an adult.



Image opening gifts:



Everyone watching Image opening gifts:



I won't show any photos of the cleanup! Do you know that dumping jello on grass kills it? And stains it the color of the jello?