FLOGGING THE DEAD EPSON HORSE

Epson I'm gone. I think I'm going back to Canon. I don't even remember why I switched from Canon years ago. I think it was because I wanted a laser printer, and ended up with a Samsung laser printer that turned out to be garbage. Then we got an Epson because Epson can churn out nice prints.

Admittedly I seldom used the printer so there were bound to be problems. It worked great at first, and then after some time the printhead became easily clogged despite running maintenance (which probably compounded the problem). However my first DIY cleaning was a success, I got the black to work perfectly for around 5 months. I happily inserted packing slips into my packages and printed government pdfs. The CMY colours didn't work though, as the cartridges were almost empty so I printed exclusively monochrome. Then I really wanted to print brown lines and thought to clean the other coloured nozzles. Big fat mistake. Now the black doesn't work at all. The printhead and nozzles are completely kaput for some reason. I wondered what I did different?

Anyhow gave it another try today after spending 4 hours of a failed attempt yesterday. By now I'm ready to throw in the towel but have spent good $$$ on new (yes GENUINE) cartridges and already fitted them in.

My rationale was concluding maybe yesterday's fiddling loosened the pesky dried ink overnight. Maybe I inadvertently introduced air pockets in the delicate mechanisms or something. Well, the printhead is squeaky clean now. I used a 27gauge needle and syringe to make sure the nozzles came out clear when flushed with Windex. 150 paper towels and tissues & 100 cotton bud q-tips later I am quite confident the printer will finally work.

Plugged it in. "CARTRIDGE NOT RECOGNISED - BLACK. REINSTALL CARTRIDGE".

What and why?! It was recognised just fine just now?!

Tried the alcohol on contact point trick, tried the eraser on chip trick, tried the 'relax and come back later' trick. Didn't work!! I'm done now.

8 hours of my life wasted and an added sense of frustration, thus this blogpost. I could've finished my illustrations. I could've primed my two canvas that's sitting in the corner collecting dust. I could've cleaned my room. I could've written a symphony. But nooooo, was flogging a dead heap of black plastic that is certainly self-aware. It doesn't want to be helped despite my sincere intentions. I gave it my best shot really. Maybe I was too rough with it? Well then, enjoy your time in the trash heap.

In fact I could've posted about my March Field Air Museum trip from last year which I have procrastinated for a while. I'm going to do it now and schedule it for the day after. So see you in my next post and apologies for reading my rant if you made it here ;)

HEART ROCK FALLS CRESTLINE

We decided to head to the Heart Rock Falls (Seely Creek Falls) near Crestline for an easy hike, while I was in California last year. Neither my boyfriend nor I had ever known about it all these years. Have to say it is a lovely little hidden gem. Only knew about the Heart Rock through one of the recommended sight-seeing spots on my AirB&B booking (it was a family trip that lasted till end Oct though I stayed on till mid-November).

How to get there:
Take the 210 freeway, then onto CA-18/N Waterman Ave, then Highway 138 towards Crestline. Pass a few junctions and when you reach a brown sign 'Camp Seely' & its barricaded carpark, follow left on a narrow single-lane dirt road, yes you can drive through this although we had doubts at first. At the end of this road you will see a small parking area straight ahead (maybe good for 5 cars) and a barricade that starts the trail.



The drive up the mountains are always nice. The general consensus is that there is nothing much going for San Bernardino, although the national forests and surrounding mountains are totally worth checking out.

This is the start of one of the trail heads that is just at the end of the parking lot, past the barricade. I came here on two separate occasions. At the end of the post I will show the other trail.

This is the easier trail if you'd like a stroll first, it is evenly paved, nicely shaded, sometimes the wind gets gusty and cold.

The other trail is towards the bottom of the hill (right).

After about a mile stroll, you will come to this sign that directs you downwards right.

This hike is about 1.7 to 2 miles round trip. There is a bit of a slope and slippery areas (because of all the fallen loose leaves) after this paved area to get to the rocks so you can bring a hiking stick or wear proper shoes if you are not used to it. If you have climacophobia or bathmophobia or vertigo, please bring those and tell the phobias to pipe down and not disrupt your fun activities (at least that's what I do).

This is the descending slope, after that you will see some useful graffiti to know you're on the right track. It is probably a bit steeper than it looks in the photos.

The Heart Rock is after this rock ledge. A couple was ahead of us, walking their cute puppy.

I gingerly climbed and peered over the edge of the cliff. Aw it's dried up! It did rain last week though but I guess there was just insufficient water.

Sweet. I plan to come back when there's a waterfall going.

Wanted to go down there, but don't know how high we were up here, but yep it may spell death if I slip.

Oh yes, there was an incident at this spot. I saw an animal foraging in the high forest on the opposite bank but thought it was the couple's huskie puppy, but something wasn't quite right in its gait. So I asked boyfriend to look again for me as I have pretty bad eyesight even with my glasses. He said 'Yeah? It's their dog.'. Then I thought it was strange they were comfortable letting the puppy roam in the wild without supervision. And then I looked again at the couple and saw they were holding the dog. Hey..... if that's the puppy down there, then what was that I just saw?!

Turned out it was a bobcat. Both grey, and similar sized. Bobcat has bigger hind legs. Dammit... By the time we figured that out, we missed our chances to take pictures/ film it! I mean what if I'd just spotted Bigfoot lol. Trust my gut instinct the next time and snap first, ask later!

 Ah well. We didn't want any trouble with wild animals so finished our food before climbing down.

It's nice. Granite I think? Unfortunately there are some graffiti and litter around.

Wondering how I was to climb back up later? Well the same way I climbed down sorta.

The creek was almost dry.

I do not recommend going in the water but I know some people do, um leeches, folks. The water's pretty stagnant at this point and the leaves are rotting. We've had experience with leeches in the stream near Waterman Canyon, which may be linked to this. Not fun. Traumatised for life lol.

After that it was getting late so we climbed back up where we came from. This is the nice view driving back to civilisation.

****

Okay I mentioned the other lower trail closer to the creek, from the parking lot you go down the slope, past the swimming pool at Camp Seely.

The view will look something like this after a short walk. It is a winding dirt path,  and rather uneven terrain. It goes uphill and downhill with some treading on small boulders and rocks. It is less windy. You can choose this way but I felt it was a bit more tiring.

We went further down the valley for this 2nd trip but came a bit too late in the afternoon so had to turn back shortly after.

Just to note I left one of my walking sticks (it was just a long branch I found in the stream) propped against a tree for whoever wants to use it. 14th or 15th November 2017, and you're most welcome lol.

Thanks for reading and see you in my next post.