Barbara Parkins

            Friday was a very rainy day pretty much all day, so I spent a lot of time inside getting caught up on my journal. I had just finished my account of Tuesday and finishing building my bike, and I wanted to take a photo of my new ride without going outside. I took out the Kodak digital camera that I bought with some of the money I got from winning the William Waters academic award back in 2008, but it didn’t work. I’d just recharged the batteries so I concluded that the camera that I’ve enjoyed so much for the last few years had died.

            I had never used the camera on my phone, but judging from some of its settings it looked like it might be pretty good. I took a few shots of my bike in the kitchen where the light seemed a little stronger than in the living room. The cord that I use to recharge it has a USB end that detaches from the electrical plug. I stuck that in my computer but no new drive showed up in my menu. I tried various things like changing settings in the menu. I looked in the instruction book and tried to do what it said. I went online and followed some instructions in forums, but nothing worked.

            I went over to Freedom Mobile, since that’s where I bought the phone. The clerk said that if I go into the notifications list on my phone I’d see instructions about the USB to ask if I want to connect with my computer. I went home but there was nothing in notifications. I went back and the other clerk told me I had to unlock my phone. I asked if there was a way to permanently unlock it, so he did that for me. I went home and plugged in the USB but unlocking hadn’t been the problem. I’m lucky that Freedom Mobile is so close. I went back and this time the clerk plugged my phone into one of their computers and tried a few things but finally concluded that as far as uploads are concerned, my phone doesn’t work, since it’s supposed to show a drive on my computer as soon as the USB is plugged in.

            When I got home I decided to try one more thing. Even though I’d recently charged my rechargeable batteries I figured that they might be getting near the end of their life. It happened before to another set a few years ago. I charged them again and after an hour my camera worked. I took some pictures and even went out on the deck in the rain with the camera under an umbrella to shoot a full portrait of my bike.

            I watched an episode of Leave it to Beaver from the fifth season that guest starred Canadian actress and sex symbol Barbara Parkins at the age of 19. Two years later she would begin starring in Peyton Place and after that Valley of the Dolls.

            In the episode she played a baby sitter that was hired for Beaver even though he thought that he was too old for one. She was quite striking as soon as she walked on screen. In that scene Wally was on his way out for a date but as soon as he saw her he forgot where he was going.