The Daily School Bus: we wait in line at McDonald's before I drive Margie to Anchorage to babysit

The daily school bus: we are in line at McDonald's drive-through getting ready to take Margie to Anchorage to babysit. The parking lot next door is full of schoolbuses. It is wonderful.

(Note: I managed to Instagram this image while we were still in line at McDonald's and the above text is from that Instagram. It does not reflect the fact that I ordered two Egg McMuffins meals - one for Margie, one for me - plus an extra Egg McMuffin for me and paid for the same. Alas! When we got onto the highway to head for town, Margie dug into the bag and discovered the extra Egg McMuffin was not there. A grave injustice has been wrought. I am still hungry, but can't eat again until lunch time, 49 full minutes away!)

Text added at 11:11 AM

I do find a Saturday school bus – stuck in a tree

I did find a Saturday school bus, after all. Right after I posted the Tuesday school bus I heard the excited sounds of boys playing in the yard. I went outside and this is part of what I found. "Look, grandpa!" Jobe squealed. "The school bus is stuck in a tree!"

Text added in at 1:26 PM.

The Daily School Bus: not from today – it's Saturday; from Tuesday

Update, 1:28: With the exception of the aforementioned failure last night, I have been having good success using the email workaround to publish the picture only, as long as I leave out the text. I have now made 13 accidental, test and real posts using this methond and 12 have resulted in a successful picture post, for a 92.3 percent success rate.

This by no means lets Squarespace off the hook, as it still represents a 0 percent success rate in making a full post, picture with text.

But, it is something I can live with for awhile. So I will continue to post pictures alone in this way and then come back and add text later - just as I am doing right now.

But sometimes, I won't even add the text. Sometimes, as in the previous two posts, the picture with title is quite enough. In fact,the picture with title would have worked fine with this one, but I do want both readers and Squarespace to know what I must do to keep blogging in the time that this Squarespace nightmare continues.

The Daily School Bus: one passed by The Metro Cafe

Sent from my iPhone

Update, 4:49 PM: Exactly one hour has passed since I posted this with no text using the email workaround method Squarespace provided me due to the collapse of their once functionable iPhone app. Including accidents and tests, the workaround method has now successfully posted a picture when entered without text five times in a row. I am cautiously beginning to believe that this just how it works. For some reason, the workaround method cannot reliably post text and image together. When they are posted together, Squarespace favors the text and so most often strips out the picture. At least, this is how it appears.

I think I am going to try a new method of blogging. Most days, I will post maybe five pictures, sometimes fewer, occasionally more, without text throughout the day. Then at the end of the day, I will come back and fill in the text. I will continue this until Squarespace fixes their app or until I give up on them entirely - which I should have done years ago. It would have been easier on me before I had built so much content into their troublesome framework.

Another school bus, as I sit and sip my coffee at Abby's Home Cooking

Who says there can only be one daily school bus? I have finished my breakfast, but I am still at Abby's, reading the news on my iPhone, sipping coffee and watching schoolbuses pass by as the day slowly dawns. Well, at least this bus. Probably others too, if I had paid less attention to my food and more to the road.

I realize that Squarespace will probably strip the image from this post too, just as it did the last one, the one before that, the one before that and so on. But I have decided I can't let Squarespace defeat me. It can and has hampered me, slowed me down, set me back. But I can't let it defeat me. If Squarespace does strip this image, then I will just add it back in along with the previous one once I return to my office at home - pretty soon.

I just want to spend a little more time sipping on my coffee first. There are few things I love more than taking a little bit of time in the morning to pretend I have no responsibilities and I can just sit and sip coffee forever and all will be good and right in the world.

Sent from my iPhone*

*This post as been sitting picture-less for 56 minutes. Things have settled down here now. Jim is keeping his paw off the trackpad, even as he rests right next to it. Late this afternoon or early evening, I will pick Margie up in Anchorage. Little boys will be coming back to the house with us.