I've Lost my E-Mail!

Today on my new smart phone (I'm beginning to wonder just how smart it is) I received a notification that I needed to re-login to my e-mail account.  That's weird.  I wonder why.  I've had it since April and it's never asked me to do that before.  So I gave them my password and nothing happened.  So I turned the thing off and powered up again, only to have the same notification.  So when I got home I checked and discovered I changed my password at some point but yet the change didn't seem just exactly right in the note I had written in a little book where I keep such info.  So I went to the profile settings of my e-mail account, thinking I'll just change my password again.  Well, in order to get into the guts of the thing I had to give my password.  No big deal, because I figured if it was wrong I'd get a note and I'd reenter the password correctly.  Nope!  No second chance.  I got shut down immediately!  No secret questions, nothing that I might be able to respond to quickly.  Instead, a request to give the e-mail addresses of five contacts I had corresponded with recently (Do you have a hard copy list of all your e-mail contacts?  I have some of them in hard copy, but for the most part, they're all in my contact list on my e-mail!)  I was able to scrounge up five.  The next question was to list the subject matter of five recent e-mails I've sent.  You gotta be kidding!  I remembered a couple, then a couple more, and I think I finally came up with four.  Then there was another group of five somethings that I don't remember what it was but I do remember I could only think of two!

So I press the submit button, hoping to see a message saying here's a link to access a new password.  No such luck.  I get a message back saying the great e-mail guru who resides in the clouds will review my submissions and get in touch with me at an alternate e-mail address but not at least for 24 hours!  What?  I can forget the password for my bank account and answer a couple of inane questions (like who was my first grade teacher) that only I know the answer to and within seconds be directed to my account!  Not so with e-mail!  So here I am in e-mail wasteland.  I have clients who will be contacting me in the next day or so.  So I try to set up a new account.  You know, those generic e-mail services that say you can have up to X number of accounts.  I try to go to their website.  Can't even get into the home page of the website because they automatically recognize me as crazylady@genericemail.com and I can't get any further.  So I go to a different service (specifically gmail) but I can't get to their home page either because it seems because of Blogger, being a Google product, I'm linked in gmail back to my original e-mail address.  I'm in a maze with no escape.  I suddenly remember that when I got the damned smart phone they set me up with a gmail account, but do I remember what I did with the little yellow stickie that they wrote the user name and password on?  I round up the box the phone came in and there it was.  It took about 30 minutes to figure out how to even log in, for goodness sake, bypassing the old address.

So that's done and at least my clients are notified how they can get in touch with me.  But there's another rub.  When I send an e-mail it shows it's coming from Frances Howard, not Kathy Howard, the name all my friends know me by.  Okay, I admit, my first name is Frances, but only my doctors and my CPA know that.  Now the whole world knows.  And where in the hell did that come from?  I'm convinced:  The Internet has taken over!

The next step is to go to Blogger.  It's telling me I need to log in again.  I can't log in.  Then I notice it has, without any direction from me, changed my login info from my old e-mail address to the new gmail address (the one that says Frances).  How do they even know all this happened?  But no, it won't accept the password.  I get a dashboard but it doesn't look like my dashboard.  I fiddle around here and there and then log in with my old e-mail (the one that doesn't work anymore) and it actually lets me get into my blog and post.

So now you know why I'm not showing you a picture tonight and I'm sorry that I'm ranting and raving and acting like I'm the only person in the world that has been confused by TOO MUCH technology!  I think we've finally gotten to the point where the computers are thinking for us and the artificial intelligence has taken over!

I guess one of the worst things about not having an e-mail address is not being able to read your comments.  I had about 15 new comments that I hadn't read when I made that irrevocable decision to get into my profile and change my password that I've been unable to see.  I could go to each individual post and review all the comments, but that seems to be very time-consuming.  Already I've spent over four hours on this little foray.  So I can only hope that all those answers I submitted to the e-mail guru up in the clouds will be enough to pass the test and I'll be able to get my e-mail back!

The Country Doctor

Last year this statue was erected on the grounds of Nacogdoches Memorial Hospital 

as a tribute to the country doctors who so tirelessly and selflessly, 

often without pay other than maybe a chicken or a dozen eggs, 

served the many residents of rural areas such as here in East Texas.

The life-sized bronze statue is modeled after Dr. George F. Middlebrook, Sr., 

who practiced in Nacogdoches County from 1911 to 1961.

I love how the artist included Doc's black bag and his stethoscope in his coat pocket!

The Conversation

I've named them Edna and Edwin.  

Now you, my blogger friends, please caption this photo.  

I'll announce my top three favorites in Saturday's post!

41/100 Dogs ~ Mixed Breed

This little girl belongs to one of our neighbors, although they live a couple miles away.  

I don't know her name or her breed background, but she's a pretty little thing, don't you think?

But she has a nasty habit of barking - a lot!

Brazos Drive-In (And a Warning)

A couple years ago I read that drive-in theaters were making a comeback.  I had yet to actually see one until my road trip a couple weeks ago in search of historic courthouses in North Central Texas, but as I drove into the small town of Granbury I passed the Brazos.  Although the sun was shining and it looked a little old, it was very obvious that this was a real live operating drive-in theater!  In fact, in was showing two first-run movies, the Bourne Legacy, which had its box office premier just two days before, and Men in Black 3.  Having come of age in the 1960s, all I have to say is:  Mothers, DO NOT let your daughters go on dates to drive-in theaters!

Bosque County Courthouse (Texas No. 22)

Before you get too engrossed, I must tell you that, once again, the Texas pronunciation fairy strikes.  I've given you Texas pronunciation lessons many times in the past (i.e., Italy is it-LEE, Hico is HIGH-koe and on and on).  You might think that the only way to pronounce Bosque would be "bosk."  Not so, dear friends.  It's pronounced boss-kee!  Who woulda thunk it?

Speaking of Hico (scroll down to the August 16 post) you may remember that I mentioned having been greeted in Meridian by two pair of motorcyclists on their way to Hico.  Several of you asked if I met up with them once there.  Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately as the case may be, I did not, because after gassing up I had to stop in town to photograph this beauty.  It is indeed an imposing sight as you come into town, perched on a hilltop towering above the tallest of the two-story buildings.

This beautiful structure has a wonderful and somewhat convoluted history, including being built with a clock tower, having the clock tower removed n the 1930s and then rebuilt in the 2007 renovation.  The courthouse is built of native limestone quarried nearby.  I love that lone star between the clock and Lady Justice.  And by the way, the time on the clock was accurate (not a first in my courthouse visits but most of the clocks I've seen have been inoperable).  I managed to get to Meridian by 8:30 a.m., having left Hillsboro before dawn and visiting another courthouse before arriving in Meridian.

I think it's wonderful that a replica of the original clock tower was rebuilt.  I don't know if the original building has this statue of Justice, but she is the perfect adornment to this Gothic Renaissance beauty.

If you're interested in a brief history of the courthouse, its predecessor structures, the political squabbles which developed over the construction of the $60,000 building (that is not a typo, but remember it was 1886) and how Bosque County got its name, you can find it at this link

Meridian, Texas, county seat of Bosque County - population 1,500
Bosque County - population 18,000
Meridian is located 90 miles south of Dallas

Ben Wheeler's Famous Sign

Ben Wheeler is a tiny unincorporated community in VanZandt County near Canton in East Texas.  This iconic sign has been published in many Texas magazines and is one of the more well-known ghost signs in the state.  The portion of the sign which is not visible advertises Moon Pies.  The day I went through Ben Wheeler, for the express purpose of finding this sign, some yo-yo had his car pulled up in front of the sign and was working on the car, hood up, radio blasting, the works, so I was unable to get a picture of the entire sign.  Maybe next time.

A Walk in the Park

Granbury, Texas

Need to get your vacuum cleaner fixed?

Need to rent a carpet shampooer?

Need to bail your honey out of the pokey?

THIS IS THE PLACE!

Linking with all the other sign seekers in Blogland

to Lesley's Signs, Signs

Prairie Dog

This photograph of a prairie dog was one of four of my photographs chosen by the Nacogdoches, Texas, Photography Association to be displayed in its annual show in July.  The photo was taken earlier this year at the Phoenix Zoo.

Pointing Out the Sights

This carriage driver is pointing out something of interest to her passengers in historic downtown Galveston.  But I don't really think it's the skimpy lingerie in that shop window!

Peaceful Lake

This sweet little lake at the Ellen Trout Zoo in Lufkin, Texas, about 40 miles from my home looks so tranquil.  Until you see the sign at the shoreline!

I Missed the Peach Festival!

Darn it, I'll bet the Peach Festival is a whooping good time, but I was a month too late!  I think it's wonderful that some talented artist was commissioned to paint a tribute to the Peach Festival on the outside wall of a Weatherford, Texas, restaurant.  It shows a lot of civic pride in the town's activities.  I also like how the banner encircles a picture of the Parker County Courthouse, which was just across the street from this sign.

From Hornets to Bridges

My road trip last week in search of beautiful courthouses first took me southwest of my home 150 miles.  I was a little disappointed in the first specimen and the cloudless gray steel gray sky but I had had a nice drive and was looking forward to some real beauties coming up before the end of the day.  After stopping for 15 or so minutes I got back in Truck and off we went, heading north to where I knew we were going to hit the jackpot.  I got about five miles out of town and noticed that there was a yellow jacket - or a hornet - I'm not sure I know the difference; I just know I'm supposed to be deadly allergic to stings from these things and I carry an Epi-Pen with me - that was sitting on the dashboard.  I'm not the type to panic but I was a bit concerned.  Especially when he started flying around all over the cab.  He finally landed over by the passenger window about the time I hit an area that had an adequate shoulder that allowed me to pull over.  I don't have automatic windows in my truck (that's the last time I make that mistake!) so I had to get out, take the key, go over to the passenger door, unlock it, all the while hoping this critter would fly right out and find some friends that were a lot smaller than me.  No such luck.   He flew right over to the driver's window.  So back I go, open the driver's door, and the sucker has vanished.  I mean evaporated into thin air.  I opened the driver's rear door, moved everything around in the back seat hoping to flush him out.  Nothing.  Back to the passenger side.  Front door, back door, no buzzing bugger.  Knowing I couldn't just sit on the side of the road for the rest of the day there was no choice but to get back in and head out.  I drove with my window down for about five miles and decided that wasn't going to work, so I started looking for another place to pull over.  I finally took a right on a county road because there was virtually no shoulder in this area and I was uncertain of the surface of the ground I'd be pulling onto if I just got off the pavement.  I drove down this little road a piece, and look what I found!

A little one-lane truss bridge over the beautiful Navasota River!

I never found the hornet.  Maybe he got sucked into the air conditioning vent and suffered a death by Freon.  Maybe he's still wandering around in there somewhere.  I never saw him again but I silently thanked him for being the cause of making me go down this little traveled road!

The Ghost Signs of Hico

This sign featuring a monkey hanging from a bar advertises Hooper's Tetteremedy, an anti-itch powder.

This building's north wall is long enough for two ghost signs.

Coca-Cola must hold the record for early-day ghost signs.

But Dr. Pepper is also VERY BIG in Texas.

Hico (pronounced HIGH-koe), Texas, boasts several great ghost signs which are kept in tip-top shape by the town of 1,400 residents 100 miles southwest of Dallas.  It also claims to be the "retirement home" of Billy the Kid, who local folklore claims survived the gunfight with Pat Garrett in New Mexico and isn't really buried there.  In these parts people believe that the Kid escaped to Hico and lived here in the early 1900s under the name of  Brushy Bill Roberts.  But more about Billy the Kid, aka Brushy Bill, on another day.  The town has a chocolate store, a cafe which is well-known for chicken fried steak and coconut cream pie (I was through Hico about 8 a.m. so I didn't have the opportunity to indulge) and is a favorite riding destination for motorcycle enthusiasts.  In fact, before arriving in Hico, I had stopped in another little town called Meridian to get gas and ice, and four motorcyclists had stopped at the same station/convenience store.  One of them yelled a "Good Morning" to me and I returned the greeting and asked where their ride was taking them this fine morning.  A resounding "Hico!"  I chimed, "Me too!  See ya there!"

Collin County Courthouse (Texas No. 21)

The Collin County Courthouse in McKinney wasn't even on my list of beautiful Texas courthouses but since I was in the area, I felt compelled to take a picture!  I'm pretty pleased with how it came out and maybe its beauty will eventually grow on me.  Believe it or not this courthouse was built in 1874, but by the 1920s it was crumbling, leaking, had hundreds of sparrows and pigeons in its two towers and the choice was either tear it down or fix it.  It was fixed and reconstructed in 1927 but it underwent a surgeon's scalpel that shaved off its two towers and created what I call the big box shape of 1920s architecture.  It is no longer functioning as the hub of county government but is now a performing arts center in McKinney's very vibrant downtown area.

McKinney population:  131,000 (the 19th largest city in the state)
Collin County population:  782,000 (one of the fastest growing areas in Texas)

McKinney is located 30 miles northeast of Dallas.

Stripes and Spots

It was one of those slam on the brakes, do a quick U-turn moments after I spotted a zebra grazing in a meadow with a group of paint and buckskin horses in Erath County on my road trip last weekend..  The small herd was very uncooperative in posing for photos, even though I yelled and cajoled and did everything in my power to get them to come over toward the fence.  Or even to look at me for that matter!  These two were intent on dancing cheek to cheek you might say!  Erath County is about 100 miles south of Dallas and it has the biggest grasshoppers I've ever experienced!  When I got out of the truck to wade through the tall grasses to go over to the fence, those hoppers looked like small birds bouncing through the air!

Navarro County Courthouse (Texas No. 20)

I returned Sunday from my three-day trip to photograph the historic courthouses of North Central Texas.  I traveled exactly 800 miles and took 540 crappy photos!  I don't know what the problem was.  I just didn't seem to have an eye for composition; the weather was so hot the sun just bleached out the skies into a whitish gray color that I hate so much; for some reason I wanted to take pictures of whole buildings, rather than concentrating on a few good spots.  In addition to getting a hornet in my truck and literally getting locked in my hotel room (I am not kidding!) and in spite of the poor photos that will take me hours with my various editing software programs to even make them decent, it was a good trip and the days away by myself did wonders for my attitude.

So here goes with one of the better courthouse shots.  I did manage to add 16, a few of which weren't on my historic beauties list but since I was there, why not.  I'll be featuring the others on this blog in the weeks and months to come.

Navarro County Courthouse

Corsicana, Texas

1905 Beaux-Arts Architecture

Courthouse Tower and a Call to Arms sculpture in recognition of the Navarro County citizens who served during the Civil War.

I heard a discussion recently from people who are offended that so many courthouses in the South have Confederate memorials.  I do not believe that recognizing those who have served in any war is disrespectful. I know of no one who has ever condoned slavery but the civil war which tore our nation apart is a part of our past and should not be forgotten.  Soldiers from both sides served to protect their homelands and their families.  At least here in Texas I see many courthouses which are reconstructing their veterans memorials to honor all veterans, not just those who served during one particular conflict.

Jose Antonio Navarro

Namesake of Navarro County

(1795 - 1871)

Navarro was the most influential Tejano of his generation. He championed Texas independence from Mexico, then fought for the rights of Tejanos as citizens of the Republic of Texas and the United States.  The county seat of Corsicana was named for his father's homeland, the Isle of Corsica.  If you're interested, this man's fascinating history can be found at the website of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

A monument to the firefighters of the Corsicana Fire Department is also found on the courthouse grounds.

Corsicana is 45 miles southeast of Dallas and 160 miles northeast of Austin.  It has a population of 24,000, while the population of Navarro County is 48,000.

Official Portrait

THE ADVENTURES OF LINDA LLAMA

Linda poses for her official portrait in a pastoral setting

(Note:  I am off on a three-day beautiful historic Texas courthouse trek
starting Friday morning.
I'm hoping to add between 13 and 15 courthouse photos to the 19 or so I've already photographed.
Hopefully there will be some other subjects in there too - like ghost signs, rundown Americana,
some Victorian houses, and maybe even a horse or two!)

Texas Barbecue

Joining with Lesley and other sign seekers at Signs, Signs

Remember When ...

... for just a penny you could get your weight and your fortune told or your character analyzed?

It would probably cost at least a quarter today.  (If not more)

But we all want to know our weight, so if you'd like to invest in three of these machines 

I can tell you where you can get them cheap.  

You might just be on your way to making your first million!

But a service contract might be out of the question!

Trinity County Courthouse (Texas No. 19)

The Classical Revival style Trinity County Courthouse in Groveton was built in 1914.  Trinity County's seat was originally in Sumpter, established in 1850, with its second courthouse being built in 1857.  The county seat was later moved to Pennington in 1874, and then 10 years later in 1884 voters elected to move the county seat once again to the town of Trinity where the I&GN Railroad built a facility.  The railroad actually built a temporary structure to house the county government, but in 1908 the county commissioners, upon becoming concerned about the safety of the county's records due to the safety issues present in its current facility, embarked upon the construction of a records building, which eventually became the eastern end of the current courthouse.  In 1914 the new addition was built onto the records building to become the present-day courthouse.  The Texas Historical Commission issued a $5 million grant to Trinity County for the restoration of this gem.

Trinity County population as of 2010:  14,585
Groveton population as of 2000:  1,107
Groveton is located 120 miles northeast of Houston and 180 miles southeast of Dallas

Tractor Tire

Just Hangin' Around

Sunflower

Slurp