I just noticed that my writing goes in cycles when it comes to typing skills. For a while I made no spelling mistakes, and no typing errors (but I did use a few homophones, or did autocorrect put them in there, I will never know). Lately I have been typing past words, leaving out appropriate words like “a” and “the”, thinking them, but not typing them onto the page. This is very annoying!
During the huge windstorm a week or so ago, the birdhouse in our back yard blew off its pedestal and lodged itself in the Lilac bushes. Attila retrieved it, and it was in a very sorry state. It has probably seen twenty or more summers. The cedar shake roof was sound, but the plywood used for the floor boards was rotted away into splinters. Tonight Attila began to renovate the bird house.
The rotted plywood sections were replaced with cedar boards, which should last much longer. At some point next autumn I would like to take it down again, give the siding a good coat of white paint, repair some of the shutters, just to spruce it up!
The house was meant for Martens. It might be described as a Marten Hotel. But not one Marten has been seen since Mist Cottage was purchased in 2010. The birds that have been using it are tiny and quick, like chickadees, but not chickadees, and they have been hanging out on the bereft metal platform at the top of the 15 foot high pedestal, returning frequently to see if their nesting spot has been reinstated.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
13°C
Date: 7:00 PM EDT Monday 7 May 2018
Condition: Sunny
Pressure: 102.2 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: 13.2°C
Dew point: -0.1°C
Humidity: 40%
Wind: SW 15 km/h
Visibility: 24 km
Quote
“The elevation of appearance over substance, of celebrity over character, of short term gains over lasting achievement displays a poverty of ambition. It distracts you from what’s truly important.”
Barack Obama
1961 –
I don’t think it’s us, Maggie. I think it’s our computers. The same thing happens to me — a word gets skipped or misspelled — and I really do think it’s an auto(mis)correct thing that’s going on.
Looks like a chickadee but isn’t. Hmmm ….
Kate
I’m looking at email before turning off the laptop and climbing under the covers with my cellphone nearby to listen to a podcast and fall asleep but, seeing a notification that you’ve posted an entry, I can’t wait till morning to read it.
Now that I have … goodnight!
-Kate
I find myself eliminating (unnecessary ?) words from my typing, as well. It’s the shorthand generation. Short on good grammar and long on careless presentation. I’m very guilty. I love the quote from Barack above. If we ever were going to have a president-for-life (like Vladimir is trying to be) I wish it were B.H.O.
Kate, I hope you slept well! 🙂
I do think it is the computers! Whatever the algorythm is, it is evil and not meant to improve my quality of life, or anyone elses. When I write with a pen and paper none of these errors occur, not the spelling errors, not the skipping of words, not the surprise homophones peppered into the paragraphs. But it seems constant on the computer. I have every autocorrect and spell checker that I could locate turned completely off, and still it persists.
Bex, you too, it is an epidemic, but perhaps not completely down to user error. How would we ever know, the underpinnings of our devices are so complex and coded that lay people, and even highly skilled technical people, can’t monitor everything. Perhaps it is only targetting the most literate members on social media, those who display writing skills above a grade school level. That is not impossible, they have the technology, but why!?!