The FB Portal

Gosh, there sure isn't much to talk about these days.
We received something called Facebook Portal through the Red Cross for Veterans that are pretty much stuck at home. I learned about it from the VA's Vantage Point Blog.

I was very leery of anything 'free' so I called the Caregivers folks and they said yes indeed the items were free and the promotion was free to the first 7,400 veterans that applied. I applied and then forgot about it.

I got an email from the Red Cross notifying me of a delivery date via FedEx and lo and behold, this was delivered.

It works by using contacts through Messenger on FB [yeah I don't like FB that much, but I have it]. When set up you can activate the voice and camera and ask it to call someone on your contact list.

So we talked with his daughter on Friday with the grandkids using the Portal. There is a 'smart' camera that detects motion so if one walks out of the room and back the camera sort of follows.
The sound is good and the video is excellent.

On Saturday Rich wanted to talk with Kristi from Missouri and see the boys. Kristi is like a second daughter to him. The kids showed Rich all of the lego stuff, talked about their Advent Calendar and Rich was able to see everyone.

On Sunday he wanted to do a Portal call to my oldest son. Again, lots of waving and laughter, checking out Covid Hairdos and holding up dogs to the camera.

The Portal has a slider to put over the camera to shut it off or you can manually shut it off. It will show a slide show of photos and you can connect it to Alexa through Amazon to play music or ask for the weather. 

I use it once in a while to play music while I am in the kitchen doing things. Otherwise I just unplug it and stick it off to the side.
All in all it really put a huge smile on Rich's face to be able to SEE and interact with those he loved. 

The premise behind the Red Cross effort with the VA was to put isolated veterans in touch with their friends and family. Sure most people can use zoom or a smart phone or duo...or they can be like Rich and not have a smart phone or computer. This is perfect for him.

Last night I loaded photos from my FB feed onto the Portal and let it cycle through while we ate supper. Rich enjoyed looking at the photos of old hound dogs, Morris, mules that had passed on, and the grands when they were little. 

After we 'hung' up with Eddie, he leaned back and smiled. "Boy that was fun, I sure like that a lot!"

I have read mixed reviews about the Portal and some people hate it. All I know is that it is making one Veteran very happy. And that is good enough for me.

Great Weekend!

I had to wake Charlie up and ask him if he'd like to do chores with me. He likes to spend early mornings buried in blankets on the couch. Should I say he is a spoiled dog?

Okay. He is a spoiled dog.

After chores we decided to take the forest detour to the mail box to pick up Saturday's mail.
He flushed up 3 rabbits and gave chase.
Thank goodness for that beeper collar. I can call him off track when he gets a bit too far for comfort. [Think tiny dog snack to coyotes]

Rich is feeling a bit better now that the meds he reacted to are finally out of his system.

Saturday we had a short visit from my friend from CrossFit. She stopped by and was telling me about needing a 'pet taxi' or crate for her daughter's little dog and she was flabbergasted as to how expensive they were. I straightened up and asked her to step into my Pickers Shed! I found Morris's old crate which was in perfect shape, but very dusty. I asked her if she'd take it off my hands.
Talk about a win win situation!
Now I just need to finish fixing up the truck and haul the other 8 crates into the animal shelter.
My friend Kristi said she would love to bring her kids out to hike this week while they are out of school. Two of the kids are getting pocket cameras for Christmas and she said that I'd inspired them when I'd visited their farm last month to take family photos.
Another Win for me! I adore hiking with kids and teaching them about cameras!

My neighbor's boy received a hand me down pocket camera of mine. You should have seen Carson's face when he realized what was in the box! We'll go hiking later today. Color me tickled.
Allison, my little bug gal, wishes to be an Entomologist when she grows up. I found an amazing book called Bugopedia for her. The youngest boy adores rabbits and has 3 pet rabbits. I found a book called Rabbit and Me for him.

I dropped by the nursing home to take some hand made Christmas cards from the neighbor children to MIL. She loved them so much that she passed them around her lunch table for everyone to admire.
I decorated her room some more and hung her cards that she received.

We've had very nice weather for the past few days and a lot of sunshine. I think that has to be why everything feels that much nicer.

I end this with a shot from this morning. I could see the sky just barely beginning to show light when I walked out into the chill with a camera and tripod. This was a 37 second exposure done in Live Time with a ground fog moving through.
I think it is my favorite sunrise photo of the year!