1/17/23 – Happy New Year!

Oh boy, it has been crazy here… I’ll skip whining about all the negative and get to the positives. Ruby Chin has gained a bit of weight and is getting more friendly. Smokey old kitty is hanging in there. Actually, all the critters and Max are doing fine.

I was given an Owltron security camera to review and I love it. So much that I recently purchased one. Now I can check in on the animals when I’m at work and even speak to them. It’s encrypted, motion detection & tracking, 2-way audio, supports a micro SD card or cloud storage, night vision, panoramic patrol, takes photos or video. I’ve been setting it for local recording of events (motion detection) and then continuous video. I wanted to make sure Ruby was eating but it doesn’t seem to recognize the chin’s movements even though they are about 8 feet from the camera. Whereas my Stealth wildlife cam outside can detect a mouse at that distance. Sometimes the cats don’t trip it either but but the other day I was at work and got one ding after another. I looked at the notifications and all I saw was Tigger kitty sleeping on the couch. Perhaps he rolled over or perhaps Lil Bun was running around his cage. Not sure. It does better in the daytime than in the IR mode. Maybe it’s better at picking up movement from a dog than a cat. It sure picks up my movement! I’ll be creating a video this weekend after I check out a few more features. Downside… no user manual. There’s instructions on how to set it up and that was easy but nothing about what icon means what on each screen and how to use it. They have a couple videos and FAQs that you have to find time to ask the right question for the right answer. I’m not a techy kind of person, so it takes me a bit longer to learn stuff. Plus, I’m busy and it would be more useful to have an online user manual that I can flip through and learn all the stuff. I mean it has a “siren” icon… what the heck? I’m not touching that! BUT it’s a peace of mind for me and I can check in on my home & animals. I mentioned to my contact that they should consider creating one for outdoors. Guess what? They are working on it already! Ok, now I will be able to spy on Max! Although, he sleeps all day. By the way, the videos and photos on the SD card are encrypted and no way of transferring them to your computer. I guess that’s a good thing but what if I want to share? Well, when I playback a recording, I just record it using the app, and then it’s saved to the album on my phone. Yay. Same goes for the photos of events (motion detection). Like this butt you see… Theo 😂 Video: Wildlife Bernie’s little Owl(tron)

And in other news… Remember I told you that I wanted to do another version of Max’s book? I should say, another format. I’m working on the abridged version but it’s taking me longer than I anticipated. I had cancelled my Adobe software for editing pdf files and lucky me they offered me a lower monthly fee. So, I reinstated it for a year. Though, before the end of last year, I published another format of his book. Yes, it’s a softcover with standard color on lighter paper, and identical to the first. The best news, $22.92 (USD) in cost. So, his premium hardcover is still $49.95 but this is more affordable for his fans if they aren’t particular about the quality of the photos. Standard isn’t bad. They are still beautiful photos, just not premium on glossy thick paper. The abridged, of course, will be less than $22 since I’ll be downsizing the photos. That’s the tough part… deciding on which photos to delete. I love his photos! And more good news, my cousin Genevieve’s sister wants to translate his book into French. So, there’ll be a premium, standard and abridged in French. How exciting is that? I had to purchase 10 ISBNs but will need them. Every time you change the format, even if it’s just the cover from hard to soft, you need a different ISBN. Both books can be ordered on Lulu.com. This is what the page will look like when you search for I am Max. They use “paperback” but I prefer soft cover as it sounds more professional. I will update Max’s website with this information shortly.

Lastly, as it’s getting late and I really need some sleep and I rarely get to bed before midnight anymore… here’s a photo of Max from 1-2-23. My camera has been repaired and is on its way back to me. I can’t wait. I’ve missed it. Hoping to get some good shots of Max. Although, the old one has been suitable.