rgbstock
4 Letter Words
1. krayker16 July 2010, 13:45 GMT +02:00
You can only change ONE letter, AND/OR rearrange the letters currently available. The first word is:
WINS
8162. xymonau25 March 2013, 8:34 GMT +01:00
You know I had that same thought when I was in Brisbane and saw someone throw their cigarette out of the car window. It gets washed into the drains then the ocean, and lord knows how it harms wildlife. The
core
of the problem is human nature, I'm afraid.
8163. Ayla8725 March 2013, 9:09 GMT +01:00
I won't be too sorry when the humans will be replaced one day by a more intelligent species to take over what is left of this planet (not much, I'm afraid), there is no
cure
for insanity, so I have little hope left till then...
Do you have your date for the MRI already?
8164. xymonau25 March 2013, 10:21 GMT +01:00
Yes, on Wednesday, but because of Easter I can't get the ultrasound and injection done until the following week. So there's no end in sight for the discomfort, I'm afraid. Now they tell me I have to stop all anti-inflammatories five days before the injection. I don't know how I'll cope, to be honest. Never mind, we get through and it's almost never as bad as we contemplate.
It's wierd - because I haven't been at work, it doesn't feel like a holiday coming up. I had forgotten all about how close it was. Not that I celebrate it, but we have two extra days off work, and I always look forward to that.
Do you and Christa do anything special? Are your families nearby?
And how are your
cute
cats settling down?
8165. Ayla8725 March 2013, 14:25 GMT +01:00
Good that you did get your MRI date for this week, and you'll cope with the rest, too. Keep yourself busy searching for easter eggs those five days and forget about the missing anti-inflammatories.
We don't feel like celebrating either, but it's nice that many of our customers are on holidays already, so it's more quiet here than usual. And we have the same two extra days off work, which is really fine and relaxing.
Christas Family (her next living relative is her brother) lives in her home town, about 8 hours train drive away from Berlin in western Germany, so we don't see them all too often. My mother is on vacation over the Easter weekend, but we will meet with her afterwards, just a week later, which is fine, too.
And our cats are still far from coming to a rest. We have no
clue
what to do to make them really happy with the situation. I think the main point may indeed be that the older cat must have been used to get outside before she came to us. It's a shame that we weren't told that she would miss that freedom so much that it would make her continuously aggressive towards the younger cat (to get rid of her frustration). I have the impression that the guys in the animal shelters sometimes don't honestly tell you everything they know about their fosterling because they don't want to endanger the placement of the animal in the new home. The hissing and threshing still continues will little breaks. So we are now quite decided to give back the older cat which is obviously longing for a home where she can get out. I think we will do so in the next days, and we will still be terribly sorry, because she is still very cute and has tried quite hard to adopt to the situation, but her hunting instincts were obviously stronger. Our vet gave us little hope that things would reasonably improve if we wait longer. The cats are together for four months now, and we can see that the progress they have made is not as great as the setbacks which occurred at the same time. We are all quite unhappy (cats included), so it's time for a change.
8166. xymonau25 March 2013, 15:05 GMT +01:00
Perhaps the younger one needs to be alone for a while. My son's younger cat seemed to be assertive with their older cat, but when they had to have him put down, she really blossomed. She's very happy on her own, eating and putting on weight, whereas before she was a lot thinner. They think the other cat must have been eating most of the food. However, I know she's bored, too, and would like to be a huntress. No chance where they live, though.
I hope it all goes well for the older cat.As a
rule
unless they have bonded with you, they will settle in another home eventually.
8167. Groningen25 March 2013, 18:14 GMT +01:00
Then again some cats can be stubborn as a
mule!
I think you make the best decision by giving the older cat back to the shelter, but it's not easy.
8169. Ayla8726 March 2013, 8:12 GMT +01:00
Christine, this explains a lot. We thought it was a cat, but in truth it is a mule... The lady from the shelter is sick and lying in bed, so we still have to keep the cat for a while. Luckily our rooms are
full
with cat toys in all variations to keep everyone busy. While they play the conflicts have a break, which is nice. It feels hard to know already that you have to say good bye one day soon, because we have come to love this cat. If they would get along better with each other and if we could see that the cat would appear less frustrated (because she can't get out) we would be very happy to keep her here. So our only hope is that she doesn't have to sit long in the shelter and finds a new place where she happily is able to hunt mice again, climb trees and whatever lucky cats want to do. Our young cat will probably best stay alone after this experience. I don't think she would be happy if we'd bring another cat in and she has to defend her rights again. She is obviously not a good fighter, and we don't like all this arguing anyhow. Both cats are not jealousy about food, luckily, but they are quite picky and could put on some more weight, too. All this fighting costs calories, obviously. We will all have to settle down a little bit when this is over... It's really sad, we are sorry that it didn't work out any better.
8170. xymonau26 March 2013, 16:13 GMT +01:00
It is sad. I hope they find do find her somewhere nice. Is it a shelter that puts cats down if they can't find somewhere? It would
pull
at your heartstrings to let her go.
8171. Ayla8727 March 2013, 6:51 GMT +01:00
It is a rather small shelter, so the
plus
point for them is that they still try to give their best for the individual animal and would never put it down even if it would have to wait longer for a new home. We can look online on their website and watch if our little cat is still waiting for a new owner. She is a little bit wild with her claws, but also very cute and playful, so I think her chances are not too bad to win someone's heart soon again.
Now I'm eager to hear of your MRI adventure. Was it your first MRI? I think these machines are quite impressive wonders of technology. You could buy a wonderful house in exchange for one of these. I hope the examination gives good ideas for your further treatment. Great new stock photos anyhow... ;-)
8172. xymonau27 March 2013, 8:39 GMT +01:00
Thanks, Michael.
This was my second MRI. I had one done on my knee a few years ago. At that place, they put nice headphones on you and played music - Enya - while all the clanging and banging was going on.
At this place, the headphones were just padded things that didn't fit properly, so the noise was a bit much - and certainly no music. I had naively expected to stretch out my arm into the machine. Not so. I had to adopr a superman pose, arm expended, lying on my voluminous belly and got pushed into the thing, in great discomfort. I also had to have a canula inserted in my left hand as part way through they inject you with something and do it all again.
It was relatively easy not to move my hand, as they put it under something to hold it down, and then a bag of something on the upper arm. But my left elbow was pressing agains the hard side, and I felt like my shoulders were going to give out with pain. I'm such a crock! I was just relieved no-one had a camera, as my feet were lifted up on a wedge thing, and I'm sure I was doing a perfect man of steel pose! It took about 45 minutes or so, and I was so relieved when it was over. I looked like I'd been pulled through a fence backwards.
The doctor who inserted the canula was really funny. He looked like a smile would crack his face. As he was trying to find a vein, I asked him if he would let me know just before he stuck the needle in so I wouldn't react. He said, "You'll be able to tell by the excruciating pain that will radiate up your entire arm". I burst out laughing, and it was funnier because he had looked so grumpy.
I then drove to find a spot to look at the ocean (I had to go to Hervey Bay for the MRI as my town is too small to have one), but the foreshore is full of trees. Very annoying. I finally parked and walked up a small hill, and it was very pretty. The beach is so long, and Fraser Island is too far away to see. The ocean was quite leaden with only tiny wavelets, but the sun was glinting off the water, and there were a few people playing on the beach with their children. It was pleasant. I took both cameras and took a few images only, as it was all sand and water - hard to get much variety with that. I'll look at the images later. It's a very nice beach, but the Sunshine Coast is definitely much more beautiful. I used to swim at Hervey Bay occasionally when I lived in Bundaberg (a very long time ago). It was a tiny place then, but it's quite big now. Too touristy for me.
It's a long drive and I'm glad to be home. I'm about to
slap
something on a sandwich as I didn't have lunch. I just have to find something to slap.
8173. Ayla8727 March 2013, 11:00 GMT +01:00
Sorry to hear - for such an expensive machinery - they didn't even manage to
play
a little bit of music for your enertainment and distraction. This is certainly one of those places where I'm not unhappy that I'm hard of hearing. 45 minutes in all that noise don't even give you a chance for a little nap during the examination... Not with all that uncomfort...
Good that you had a friendly ocean at hand afterwards to calm down. I hope the images will turn out fine, maybe something like this?
http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/ndnPKt4/
http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/mfjABga/
http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/mfjAvkg/
We still have lots of water on this planet... It's just mostly too salty to drink it, I'm afraid... But good for swimming and feeding the sharks ;-)
8174. xymonau28 March 2013, 4:14 GMT +01:00
Lovely photos, Michael. Were they taken from a boat? It looks like it. No, mine aren't very good. They look okay in the smaller versions, but there's a lot of fringing from the Panasonic - particularly on the zoom ones. The Canon look a bit washed out - but of course the colour is fairly accurate as it was a bleak looking day. I may be able to rescue a few. I can always edit the life out of them.
One of my highest rated pics was originally rejected. http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/2dyXzii/Sepia+Rose
I used a flash and it was rejected because of the shadows. So I coloured it and voila! Frankly, I think it would have been downloaded anyway, as it was a pretty flower.
I've been given another week off - possibly two. I have to see the doctor next Friday after the cortisone injection. He had a trainee in with him today. He was a young, pleasant fellow, and very courteous. I'll have to get back to work soon or I'll have to turn to a life of crime!
8175. Ayla8728 March 2013, 8:27 GMT +01:00
Yes, these photos were they taken from a boat. The Adobe Lightroom software easily helps with some nice sliders to remove purple and green fringing. You should try it out with the free 30 days trial version:
https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=photoshop_lightroom
This saved me a lot of images which would otherwise have been rejected. It is also very very good at noise reduction. I would say even better than photoshop itself. I do a lot of fine-tuning (brightness, contrast etc...) in Lightroom before I turn to Photoshop to do the more intricate manipulations (as far as my patience reaches). Anyhow, if you
plan
to fill out the next wish-list for santa, give Lightroom a look. At first glance it looks like a mere tool to organise and sort images, but there is far more to it, with astonishing features. Here are some videos and more infos:
https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-lightroom.html?promoid=KAUCD
Not very cheap (well, it's from Adobe...), but easy to handle and providing fast results...
Your sepia rose looks heartwarming, you have a great feeling for how to create atmospheric tension in an image. Very nicely done.
Did the MRI results give the doctors some new ideas for your further treatment? The cortisone injection is no new idea, but I still hope it will turn out to be a fast relieve, too.
8176. xymonau28 March 2013, 9:24 GMT +01:00
Well, thank you, Michael.
I will look at Lightroom. It costs $187 here, so it's out of the question right now, considering I give away all my images. But once I have the change to play around with, I might like it. I'll download the trial version when I think I have enough time to play with everything.
I haven't received the results of the test yet. They will send them to my town some time next week. I think Easter has caused a bit of a delay. When I see the GP next week, he is going to refer me to an occupational therapist for help with exercise and a hard splint, I believe. It will be happening all over again if my left hand gets much worse. I bought another splint for it today as it has been hurting more and more, and I find the thumb splint does help my right hand. I sleep in it. They're not cheap, either, but definitely worth it. They sort of hold the thumb in the least painful position.
My granddaughters turned 8 during the week, and they are going to their Dad's for Friday and Saturday of the Easter weekend. They will phone me tomorrow and so I'll have a good chat with them and get to wish them a happy birthday. I don't really have the right to phone them at their mother's place. I was tempted to, but I don't want to make waves. They're all going to the Gold Coast (south of Brisbane, but not far from where they live) for a night, and there are a lot of touristy things to do there, so they should have fun. I will do as little as possible.
Will you have any speacial treats?
land
8177. gesinek28 March 2013, 10:30 GMT +01:00
If you use Linux or MacOS try Darktable. It is the Linux Version of Lightroom and its free.
http://www.darktable.org/
8178. Ayla8728 March 2013, 11:22 GMT +01:00
I give away all my images, too. I'm not any good at negotiating prices, so it's easier to give them away for free and feel good like a samaritan with it. I'm not dependent on that money luckily. For me this is just a great hobby. I'm lucky enough if I earn some free samples (books, CDs, 500 business cards) with my images on them. I must get 1.000 years old and still won't be able to get rid of those 500 business cards...
Tell me one day what you think about it if you have tried out Lightroom. I was really impressed. You should have a
load
of images ready waiting to improve in quality, so that we can see some nice new uploads as a result of those 30 days for no extra costs for you. It is good, for such cases, that you don't instantly delete rejected images.
When you are send to an occupational therapist it sounds as if you won't have to pay yourself for the treatment you will get there. I suppose the hard splints are an really important part of the treatment to give your wrists some rest. But it will still take time and lots of patience to get better. I did overcome the problem with my "mouse-arm", too, after a while.
You see your granddaughters grow very fast. Especially if you see them occasionally only it's always amazing to follow their progress.
I will phone the shelter tomorrow to hear if the lady has recovered and is able to take back our cat during the easter weekend. We will go to one or two restaurants, we will have nice fresh rolls for breakfast crisped up in the oven, which is always a treat for us. And then I have some paperwork to do: my income tax declaration for 2012 has to be compiled, all in all not really a festive weekend. But we are still in no festive mood. When I see the cats I feel very sorry that things haven't gone better, and it will take some time before we feel more relaxed on this topic.
8179. Ayla8728 March 2013, 12:00 GMT +01:00
Interesting, Gesine, but I work with windows, so I have to pay lots of money ...
8180. xymonau28 March 2013, 15:36 GMT +01:00
Yes, I don't have a Mac, either.
Our income tax time is between July 1 and October 31 - the deadline. I have left it to the last day on a number of occasions. When I used the paper forms, I had to take them in directly to the taxation office (in the city), and there would be a line of cars a kilometre long trying to park. Eventually, one year they accepted them in the driveway. You didn't have to get out of the car. It made me laugh. Now I do it all online, and I don't have much to claim. Had to pay them $12 extra last year. Annoying. Still, it's better working than being on the
dole.
8181. Groningen29 March 2013, 19:56 GMT +01:00
I would like to make a
deal
with this winter and tell it to move over and make room for spring!
8182. xymonau30 March 2013, 5:44 GMT +01:00
lead
it over this way. I hate the heat! (So much for global warming, eh?)
8183. Ayla8730 March 2013, 10:07 GMT +01:00
Yesterday I brought our older cat back to the shelter. It nearly broke our hearts, but we are still sure it was the best decision for all of us. We would be very
glad
if she finds a nice new home soon. Our remaining cat still shows many signs of suppression, I think she hasn't fully realised that she's the boss now. This shows us clearly how much she must have suffered under the whole situation. A sad easter, but I hope things will get better from now on.
8184. xymonau30 March 2013, 10:57 GMT +01:00
I'm so sorry, Michael. A lot of gentle handling will be needed. I remember when I got my little blind cat - it took him about two years before he would sit on my lap or not cringe when I went to touch him. It was a gradual process. His owner must have been terribly cruel, and no-one even knew he was blind. What a nightmare for him. But he settled eventually. He never trusted men, though. If he heard workboots there was no holding him. He'd scurry inder the bed, terrified and in a panic.
I hope your cat goes to a place where she can get outside sometimes. It seems to be in her nature.
Is the Easter bunny about to
land
with a bag full of eggs for you? My son took his daughters to Movie World on the Gold Coast today, so they had a wow of a time. http://www.goldcoast-themeparks.com.au/movieworld.php
8185. gesinek30 March 2013, 13:20 GMT +01:00
I'm sorry too Michael. I have thought about taking your cat to Hamburg.
But she is female isn't it? We spoke about your problem but we decided to not give it a try cause we have male cats and in our experience they don't accept a
lady.
Transport and such things would have been easy cause we will drive the autoroute over Berlin in two weeks when we get to Eurospeedway.
But she'll have another home soon I hope.
