I know that before they moved out of their house in the city my parents did a massive purge of slides & negatives - I have no idea what they got rid of. I still have literally thousands of photos to scan, yet I also wonder what's missing.

& I know from having grown up since the 70s that different cameras produced different quality results - & then there's variables like the photographer, & who developed the images - stuff like, did the photographer know about things like shutter speed & exposure? Did the developer over- or underdevelop the original negative?

Speaking of, the negatives are gone, I have no idea where they went.

I do note that paper surface is different for all of them, depending on what photo tech was available at the time the images were taken, & how they were developed. Some are on matte paper, some have a gloss finish, for instance.

But the older photos, from the 1970s & earlier, scan beautifully. Details are picked up clearly, the color is pretty good, lighting & contrast need little if any adjustment. The black & whites are exceptionally crisp.

Same scanner, same settings. I'm not sure what the difference is.

I've started the immense project of digitizing a literal century's worth of family photos. I'm noticing something interesting: scans of the newer photos, from maybe the 1990s & later, are *awful*: the color is off & the contrast is a nightmare. They all scan dark & garish, requiring some adjustment before saving.

It tickles me absolutely Barbie pink to learn that a lot of conservatives are having a flaming coronary over the Barbie movie. I may have to see it just for that reason.

Gotta go for it, life's short.

When my dogs died, I had ink prints made of their paws. For years I've wanted a tattoo of the old girl's paws just above my right knee, where she'd jump up on me. The pup I lost this January, I think I'm going to have his pawprints inked on sort of the outside-ish of my L elbow/forearm, because that's where his paws rested when he snoozed on me.

Welp, I'm doin' it: I made an appointment with a tattoo artist to start pet memorial tatts I've wanted for a while now.

Whatever the Bird site was many years ago, when it started, it's a lost, decaying cause now. Best to just stay away.

& the kind of wormy right-winger that hangs out on places like Twitter or Truth Social isn't just delusional, they're also *mean*.

Mean, petty, abusive, awful human beings. & they're *proud* of the damage they do to other people.

That can really wear on your soul.

The place is an utter abysmal mire of rank depravity & genuine insanity. It's a cesspool of truly delusional... I dunno, conservatives? Authoritarians? Trumpists? I don't know if there's any single word that sums up the entire knotted worm-ball that is US right-wingers today.

I figured out this week that my depression tanks hard whenever I go back onto Twitter. Seriously, it gets absolutely awful & it doesn't let up until I take a break.

All the more reason why I've finally given it up permanently.

@Halcyon Totally agree. Some things you really do just have to kill with fire.

Yeah Tree of Heaven is awful. I'm so relieved that the tactic I used is working. I reported the ones in my yard to the state noxious weed board too.

I know there's another Tree of Heaven plus a TON of invasive blackberries along the property line at the side of the house; those need to go. I know the blackberries like to grow up under the house siding, & the ToH sends out roots EV.'RY.WHERE. I don't need that shit in my foundation.

There's probably an opportunity to prune a bit more, remove some problem ivy, & kill another noxious tree or two before the season is done.

Oh, & the hornets' nest is gone.

I wish it could've been safely removed for antivenom development, but that wasn't the case.

@Chex Ooh that's not a bad idea!

& I'm happy to report that the Tree of Heaven I murdered is in fact dying.

I'm not a big fan of using a lot of herbicides or pesticides in general, but for Tree of Heaven I'll willingly make an exception. That shit is insidious.

This season I got to killing the grass in the front so I can plant flowers & bushes there next season. I also got some good basic yard & garden tools (like a strimmer, shovel, wheelbarrow, etc.), started serious weeding, & started pruning/trimming down some of the bushes in the yard.

It's August, probably too late to really plant any stuff in the garden this season, but that's OK. Turns out this season is better for prepping the yard & garden for next season.