We have a stack of stuff with lots of paper towels inserted. About 5 rolls.
We have photos drying. And a dehumidifier going.
We have the misdirected sprinkler head re-aimed.
We will caulk the window before fall rains.
And (the day’s original project) we stripped down the faithful Mantis, changed the air filter (black with crud) and the wormgear gasket, plus added approved grease-gunk-in-a-tube to the worm gear well (the little slot for the cogs that drive the tiller tines round and round); changed the sparkplug, cleaned up the machine in general, put the tiller tines back on, and we are crossing fingers in the hopes it does not hold it against us when we try to start it tomorrow morning. Plus we now have gasoline/combined-with-oil for it. I say “we”. I helped down to the worm gear step, and Jane did all the rest.
Scan everything you want to keep, make DVD (or CD) copies and
pass them around to people you trust or who are interested.
I had to bite the bullet myself because for some reason I was
passed the records of mother and grandmother. It took awhile to
get everything scanned and transmitted to another branch of the
familys’ website. I also made DVDs for the kids. So there is
another copy stored offsite.
While loss of the originals would be tragic a separate digital
copy somewhere would lessen the blow.
Some of the stuff accumulated hurts to look at, but there’s a lot
of good things too so the task isn’t as bad as it seems.
And regularly back up the backups. Some DVDs live to 100 years, some don’t even survive 3 months. Also keeps abreast of data/tech formats, not that that the DVD is readable, but no system/device knows how to do it.
I am transcribing my great uncle’s 1st world war diary at the moment, mostly because his handwriting is so indecipherable. he was an engineer officer on a (new)destroyer in the Royal Navy, and at Jutland. sadly the diary stops just before Jutland.
we have masses of his stuff – he was quite a character, a keen photographer and stationed in Hong Kong in the early 20’s. he had no children, and my mother was the only person in the family when he died who was interested in keeping it all, luckily. a lot of the photos are tiny and faded, except for those he had enlarged – he had a panoramic camera in China! some amazing stuff.
but what I get from the war diary is mostly the boredom. and huge frustration. the navy did not do a lot, except keep the German fleet mostly in. he was lucky his ship was not torpedoed or blown up.
I suppose eventually we’ll give it all to the naval museum at Portsmouth … so far it has been kept in dry places and quite well preserved – my parents’ roof mostly.
It’s quite a responsibility. I took on the task, cuz I had the scanner and the photo manipulation software… then life (moving…twice, CC, etc) intervened and I just haven’t had time to sit down, scan, correct and send copies to all the sibs. It has achieved a new priority, believe me!
But thanks for all the advice.
Scanning photos and documents for preservation is labor intensive, and my hat is off to anyone trying to digitize their family’s records. Scanners are also one of the trickiest pieces of hardware to get to play nicely with a computer setup (printer, fax, other peripherals); if there’s a scanner involved, 75% of the time it will make some software conflict that needs to be resolved.
Looks as if ePub’s winning the final stretch. Not surprised. But .prc/mobi is still a good standard.
So… were you able to fire up the Mantis again? If it’s a 2-stroke engine, and you have any ethanol blend in your local gas, make sure you empty the tank and fuel lines before putting it away, or the leftovers will gum up the gas lines and carburetor and give you no end of grief.
Well, Jane woke up not feeling so well and a houseguest arrived, so it didn’t happen. But it needs to!
So sorry to hear of the water damages. Do you have any idea how long the window was leaking. Hope there was no damage to the house itself.
My Mantic finally passed out after more than 25 years of use. I’m thinking of replacing it with an electric model.
Condrite-ji, you have explained my battle with gas lines, cleaning replacing etc. I *never* thought of ethanol!
It’s good to be back! Many things have happened. 😉
I found out about it from a local repair shop — I took my weed whacker in to look for parts (same problem, gummed up fuel lines). The clerk told me they were seeing a rash of clogged carburetors and fuel lines. The first people to report it were the guys who use little putt-putt outboard motors to get out to their sailboats at anchor in the harbor. They back traced it to when 15% ethanol started to be required locally as a gas additive. People who bought their gas from a certain gas station not on the regular distribution had no problems, because their stock had no ethanol. I gave up on small gas powered tools at that point.
The window had been leaking for about 2-3 months, but we now have it secured and we’re not detecting any floor creaks, etc. It’s going to take some time to dry out, but that dehumidifier is pretty fierce: it’s pulled a gallon out of the ambient air in the basement within 24 hours, and that was set on ‘low’ rate because i forgot to re-set it. I had it down there to protect the books (library) from the other, non-finished side of the basement (all my marine tank water cycles through a sump down there) and be sure things stay at a nice humidity. Good idea, as it turns out!
Jane’s still having troubles with her leg, probably ran short of vitamins and minerals on this diet of yours (you HAVE to take your vitamins!) and is getting better, but slowly. Meanwhile we’re losing this gloriously cool weather and headed for heat again.
As mentioned by others – SCAN SCAN SCAN. Not only to preserve, but the courts have accepted scanned documents in certain cases.
SCAN and send to relatives etc.
I even scanned in slides taken by my Father in the middle fifties of our trip to Brazil. Priceless.
NosenDove (great name!), how do you “scan” slides? I have several thousand of my father’s slides from all over the world (he worked for the civil aviation branch of the UN and traveled constantly). I want to scan the slides for the family as no one bothers with slide projectors now. I thought you had to get a very fancy, expensive special scanner which I haven’t felt I could afford yet. Can you do it more cheaply?
AND——————
Remember to upgrade all your records when the media format changes! We’ve been from floppy to stiffy to CD to DVD to flash drive, not to mention the tape drives, etc, and just make sure all your precious records do not repose on punch cards or Victrola!
I was just looking at some floppy discs, wondering where I could find a drive to read them! I do have quite a lot on zip disc, from 11 years ago, which I can still use ….