Another Tree Update

Slowly but surely the willow is getting a haircut. Looking a little a little more bare:


Some of the branches in a trailer the tree trimming man is using:


LaRue by the first load of branches:


And a picture of some of the pretty yellow leaves of the apricot tree:

HDTV Fiasco

After upgrading my Dish receiver and switching to the digital output for the HDtv it still wasn't very good. It's like taking a 3x5 picture and blowing it up to 8x10. It loses resolution.
Bottom line - I have put the old tv back and boxed up the HD unit. It goes back to the store Monday. The picture on the old set is much better with my present equipment.
If I could find a new big CRT tv I would buy it instead.

Tree Trimming

We're finally getting the monster willow tree trimmed. Hooray!

Here are some pictures of the work so far. First a couple of the piles of limbs in the yard -





And here's a shot looking up -



"And now for something completely different..."

Our old main tv has been dying by inches lately. First the remote could not turn it on and off. Then the remote stopped being able to control the volume or mute. And, no, it wasn't the remote.
So, I figured it would be a good time to upgrade to HDTV. As a side note, try to buy a big tv at your local "mart" that isn't a flat screen HD type.
A couple of days ago I broke down and picked up a nice new HDTV. I moved the old tv from it's perch and setup the new one. I got all the cables connected, turned it on and.....looks fuzzy. Channels have ghosting around the images. Text is jaggedy.
Well, the problem is my old (10 years) Dish Network satellite receiver. It is only capable of putting out an analog signal.
Long story short - I contacted Dish Network and they said because I have been a longtime customer, I qualify for a free upgrade to an HD receiver. Yep, free with no additional monthly fee. And for now I'm not going to pick up any of the HD channels; maybe sometime in the future. I'm just excited to get a good picture on the new tv.
On a related note, I have a little DVD player (not Blu-Ray) that will up-convert to 1080p. It looks fantastic on the new tv.

October Update

Well, October has been a busy month so far.

It was time to put new plastic on the roof. The new metal roofing will be installed next spring/summer. So, it's another winter of plastic. Gary and Liz plus Andy, Laurie and Asher came out for a weekend to help.

Shortly after, LaRue and I took a 3 day weekend to go to Provo for a doctor appointment and then up to Roy to see Robin, Emily and the grandkids. We took Brighton's birthday presents to him. He was 6 on the 14th. Since he and LaRue share birthdays we celebrated both together.

When we got back LaRue and I had a small birthday celebration for her. We bought her a digital picture frame that holds up to 3000 pictures. It also plays music. We are going to sit down and decide which pictures she wants to put on it to begin with. I also gave her a DVD - The Proposal. We saw this in the theater and both really liked it. I am looking forward to watching it again.

For quite some time Liz has been talking about how she wants to get the old blue truck and take it to Provo so Gary can tinker with it. So, today Gary borrowed a big truck from a friend and came out to pick it up. We bolted a hitch to it and hooked it to his truck. Then off it went.

Here are some pictures of it all: October Pictures