Sunday, July 13, 2008

My WOOHOO Post!!

I am happy to report that I now have a working printer!!!! The replacement printer arrived from Kodak quickly, but I haven't had the time until tonight to set it up. It didn't take very long and worked like a charm!!

I printed a few copies of price lists that need to be sent out tomorrow or the next day. I was able to scan and then copy, print from my laptop and tomorrow I will connect to the phone lines and then try to fax from it. I also want to try out the photo printer option. I did print the calibration sheet that you need to do when you set up the printer.

The only remaining problems are to figure out how to situate the printer so that the printed pages don't fall on the floor when they are completed, how to situate the printer on one desk so that I can print from my laptop on the other desk and keep everything straight that I need to print, repackage and return to Kodak. But that will have to wait until tomorrow. I am too tired right now and must get some sleep! Though I am tired, I am doing the HAPPY DANCE!!

Dawn, where is your woohoo post? Are you still painting???????

Friday, July 11, 2008

Warm Weather Update

I am happy to report that although today is supposed to be the warmest one yet this summer, we have been blessed with southerly winds that are helping. It doesn't seem as muggy with with warm (not hot) winds. The cattle are now in a paddock with shade which helps. The fans are keeping the chicks and turkeys cool till we can get them to their more permanent home this weekend (hopefully).

I have been checking on everything every couple of hours and eveyone seems to be content and doing well. The kids are staying cool by playing in the pool this afternoon (2nd time today). I love to hear them squeal and giggle playing in the water. I need to do a little more house cleaning. I'm very thankful for air conditioning today, especially since 9 days ago it wasn't working.

Stay cool! I am looking forward to the cool front that is moving in this evening. The weather for the weekend looks much more comfortable.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Nutritional Merits of Organic Food

While I have believed what this article is saying for many years, it is nice to see that journalists are starting to see the research and other articles that bear out the merits of eating organic food, for the sake of improved nutrition.

Of course, there are always those who say that eating organically is too expensive. My answer to that, is you can pay it now or having higher health care costs. Our medical expenses are virtually nill since we went to a traditional (still working on moving farther on that continuum) and organic diet. We do routine chiropractic care and other natural things, like homeopathy, but as far as going to see a doctor, that is a pretty rare occurence.

Enjoy reading: Organic Foods Really Are Better

Some Cool Chicks.....

How's that for a catchy title?

With tomorrow's temp forecast for 90 and Friday for 93, with high humidity, I decided to put a box fan in to give air movement and keep them cool, while still protecting them from the cats.

As soon as we are done eating supper, I will put it up and then we will have some cool chicks!!!!

Chores

While DH is gone, I am in charge of all the chores for 4 days, which isn't difficult itself. He has things set up well for me, so all I have to do is open a gate and the cattle pretty much move themselves to the next paddock. I just need to make sure that the calves follow their mamas into the new paddock or stay relatively close, so they can find her. With only one hot wire, the little guys can walk under the wire and find her as long as their nose works...

We are also brooding turkeys and chicks (for broilers). Since we were out of chicken, we needed to start brooding them earlier this year than we had hoped. Turkeys you pretty much get when they are all hatched because they take several months to mature to the proper size. So we ended up with both sets coming a week apart. Our plan to brood them in the same location went out the window.

The barn cats (ie. resident rodent catchers for the farm) quickly decided that the chicks were an easy lunch, so we proceeded to tighten up security for the chicks (ie. blocking all access in and out of the trailer they are in, with both hardware cloth and then a tarp to keep the rain out (and partially for additional protection from the cats. The first couple of weeks, it was decent weather during the day with cool nights (60s). If you have brooded chicks before you know that you have to keep them warm for the first couple of weeks. As they gain weight, add more feathers, etc. you don't need to heat it anymore.

Hubby is gone for training for a few days or we may have put them out, but time constraints and their size (plus the weather before he left) prevented us from moving them. This week the weather has turned incredibly warm and extremely humid. I am now trying to figure out how to keep them both:
1. cool enough so we don't lose them to heat
2. secure enough so that we don't lose them to cats (for lunch).

Always fun! I keep lots of fresh cool water in front of them and hope that tonight, MIL and I will be able to come up with something that accomplishes both objectives. One idea was to move their location to a shadier spot. What had shade at 11:00 a.m., didn't have any by 2:00 so moving really wouldn't have helped for more than an hour maybe. I will just keep a close eye on them through the afternoon and pray for some cooler weather.

Chores aren't hard, it is just coming up with solutions to the challenges that come up (when your in charge and hubby isn't here to bounce an idea off of).

Monday, July 7, 2008

I Had Forgotten....

How muggy it could feel! The last couple of days have been nearly unbearable with humidity. Thankfully we had a cold front move through and it is supposed to cool down for most of the rest of the week. DH is off to Nebraska for 4 days of Holistic Management Training (leaving this evening), so I helped him get packed and out the door.

Will be moving the cattle, though sweet DH set all the fence for me, so it shouldn't take more than 15 minutes to get it all done. Then we have the brooding turkeys and chicks to take care of.

The summer is flying by, so with nothing much else on the calendar but the chores for the rest of the week, I am hoping to get at some things I wanted to do this summer (before it is over).

1. Cleaning up and reorganizing the school area in the unfinished basement
2. Prep work for painting DS's bedroom and the main living areas of the main floor
3. Work on some scrap booking
4. General decluttering. I got started and haven't made it through everything I have wanted to.

May not get to all of that this week, but at least there is a goal, right? Now that my air is fixed, I am hoping to work hard at these amongst chores and mowing/yard work.

The Saga Continues.........

So time got away from me. What with houseguests coming, not one but two houses to be cleaned and an unexpected delivery to Omaha on Thursday, by the time 4th of July rolled around, I was more into taking pictures and creating memories than trying to get them printed.

We attended the Battle Creek 4th of July parade in the morning, had lunch and then worked with the horses in the round pen before doing chores and grilling hotdogs and brats for supper. When we were thoroughly stuffed, we popped popcorn to take to the fireworks. Thankfully, we only drove 5 miles.

So today (Monday the 7th) I finally got back to trying out the new printhead that Kodak sent me for the printer. I installed it and lo and behold, we still have the same problem. It seems the mechanism that pushes the paper up to the rollers is not feeding it, so I am now waiting for Kodak to send me a brand new printer. If this one doesn't work, I am not going to be a happy camper!!!

If I ever print again, I will be elated!!!! I look at it this way, at least I am saving on printer cartridges!!!!!!!!! It seems a lot of things don't need to be printed afterall!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

It's here!

Happy to say that my new printhead arrived today (and didn't need a signature for delivery), so not sure why they called. Been busy all day, but now that the kids are in bed, I plan to install it. Will let you know if it works or not.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Woohoo! It'll Be Here Soon!

Received word that the replacement printhead for my brand new Kodak printer will be arriving tomorrow. Can't wait to start using it. I am especially excited that I will be able to print photos at home. I won't use it for all my photos but for quick projects, and kids stuff it will be perfect.

I am getting ready to create some pages with some of the scrapbook kits I have so may try out the photo feature for that. Hope this new part is the solution to the problem.. I was really bummed to have a brand-new out of the box printer that didn't work.