somebody’s got a new scanner

And somebody has also taken several days off because she has, oh, 382,984 vacation days built up and needs to use them. So here I am, up till all hours, scanning old photos like a total loon! At one time I had a bunch of my old family photos scanned, but I stored them on Picturetrail and when I moved to Flickr I let my Picturetrail account lapse – and I somehow completely neglected to move my photos over. And although they were also on the old scanner program, of course I can’t access it now with the new computer. Oh, well, I don’t think I scanned them at a high enough resolution anyhow so I’m just starting a New Scanning Project. It will only take the rest of my life. But it’s fun. And this scanner is WAY faster than the old one, too, which will help.

When my aunt died several years ago, I ended up with the old family photo album. I’m not really sure exactly how that happened. It’s one of those big upholstered ones with cardboard slots you slide the photos into. There are a bunch of REALLY old pictures in there, but unfortunately I don’t know who most of them are. I need to see if my father knows.

The man on the right is my grandfather. The one on the left may be his cousin – they have the same last name. And the picture is glued into the frame, so I just scanned the whole thing.

This one is also my grandfather, during World War I. It’s dated 1917  on the back. He looks very industrious and ready for combat, while the horse is looking a little over the whole thing. Sadly it’s kind of wrinkled. I guess that’s to be expected of a 91 or so year old photo, though. It was also more sepia, but the scanner made it too pinkish when I scanned it color. It’s actually a little clearer as a black and white picture, oddly.

I have no idea who these guys are, or if they are related to me. On the back of the picture, which is actually a post card that’s been cut in half, it says "Garret, Gordon Harold, and Fred." I don’t know if that means Garret and Gordon are brothers whose last name is Harold, or if Gordon goes by two names. I’m pretty sure Fred is the dog. The postmark didn’t get cut off, and says Oct 30, 2 PM, 1908. The town is missing, though.

Cousin E, do YOU know who they are?

This is Betty Something, whose last name looks like it starts with a W and kind of looks like Wots. It really doesn’t look like Webb, which was my grandmother’s name and would make sense. Maybe it is, though – it’s very faded. It also says Cairo Georgia on the back, and then underneath it, says, "Remember me."

The little boy is my father, and that’s his brother who seems to be dressed up as a boy scout. HL was 7 years older than Daddy, and looks a little old for scouts but I think it’s too early for WW2. That’s the house they grew up in behind them. It’s still there, and is the source of much worry by my father who bought it when his sister died and is renting it to my nieces. Having a mortgage is driving him nuts and he’s trying to get it paid off. The house is considerably updated now.

Daddy and the cows. I love this picture, but it also brings back great trauma. When I was maybe 8 or 9, my aunt gave me a copy of this picture to take to my mother.  My aunt just lived two houses down from us (in the house in the picture) so I took the picture and went on about whatever I was doing. By the time I remembered the picture that night, it was all wrinkled and crumpled and just a mess from being in my back pocket. My mother was very upset with me, and I felt  horrible about it. I loved photos even then, and didn’t ruin it because I didn’t value it – I ruined it because was an airheaded forgetful child, just like I am now.The good thing is that as it turns out there were about a million copies of that picture. I think I have three of them. They’re always turning up. So it had a good ending.

And I’m starting to nod off over the keyboard, so perhaps that’s enough for tonight. This morning. Whatever it is.