New Laptop Has Finally Arrived

I had a super high at 11:30 when FedEx delivered my new laptop.  By 12:30 I was at a super low.  My desktop and old laptop had Vista operating system and this laptop has Windows 8 operating system.  To me it's like speaking English to speaking a foreign language.  The only thing I was able to do on my own was set it up, connect to wireless and install MS Office Software.  Ian helped me the best he could and he has it functional right now and my son Ron will be over Wednesday afternoon to help me and to transfer the needed things from my old hard drive to this one.  It sure is a learning curve and feel better tonight about things. 
I need to play around and explore more on it and find all the those hidden gems. 
The laptop itself is beautiful, have a 17' screen, number keypad, nice shinny black and of course it is a HP the only brand I will purchase.  In a couple of weeks I will be sailing very smooth but right now the seas are a little rough.   

Catching up

It's been a while since I had time or made time to sit down and write.  Two weeks ago I finished up dehydrating shredded potatoes and have 3 half gallon jars full.  That is a lot of potatoes and should last until next year.  Went to a nice auction the first of the month and picked up a lot of nice linens that I need to get listed on Etsy and eBay.
My corner of the living room: reclining chair, end table with light and a wooden tray where I keep my laptop next to my chair. Last Monday night I was getting out of my chair in the living room and picked up my tea glass that has a handle on it and tapped it on the edge of the wooden tray and the bottom of the glass just sheared off and tea went into my laptop.  I dried it, took the air hose and blew it out, and put the fan on it and my laptop is fried.  It is about 5 years old but was in excellent condition because I took good care of it.  I was devastated, we were leaving the next morning for Indiana and Ohio and I always travel with it and also the thought of buying a new one was pretty upsetting.  I have a desktop but it is in the back of the house and not convenient to use.
The trip went real well until Friday morning when Ron was turning around in a parking lot and a loud bang and out went the power steering.  We drive a super crew F 150 and no power steering is a bad thing.  He looked under the hood, power steering fluid OK, belt OK and could not see anything wrong.  Across the street from where we were in this small town was a little mechanics shop and we went over and asked if someone could look at it.  They came over and made the same observations as we did.  He said it needed to be looked at by a Ford dealer and told us where 2 were.  Now we had a big decision to make, go to the dealer to see if they could look at it and if so if a part was needed would they have it in these 2 small towns or just try and drive it home or as close to home as we could get.  We decided to cut the vacation short by 1 1/2 days and start home.  We had a truck with 7 totes and over a dozen garbage bags full of Amish and Mennonite clothing and if we got stuck who would be able to come and get us; no one.  We drove until dark Friday night and then got up early Saturday and we made it home.  On the way home Friday I called the Ford dealer where we get service and made an appointment to drop it off Sunday night so they could look at it today.
In August we had it in for new tie rods and other front end things.  The problem was when they put in new tie rods they also put in a new power steering gear box and it was defective so it did cost us anything as it was covered under warranty.  Good for the no cost but still a little upset that we didn't get to all the places I had planned.
Our son Ronnie hunted for the best bargain he could find for a new laptop and placed the order for it Thursday night.  Now it's just a waiting game.  We should be able to get the hard drive info transferred from the old one to the new one.  Ron had Blossem pick up what ever it is so he can do it.
So for now I am stuck in the back room in the corner all by myself if I need to use the computer and with well over 1000 items to get listed so I can sell them I can see I will be spending a lot of time here.  :(

Sign's of God's Promise

Canning Potatoes

Today Ron and I canned 67 pints of red potatoes, just a little over 50 lbs.  Ron said he thought he was in the Army and on KP duty.  Next I will dehydrate hash brown potatoes and then can potatoes, carrots and onions together for when we have roast.  We bought 100 lbs on Saturday afternoon at 50 lbs for $8.99.
We canned about 100 lbs last year as plain potatoes, roast mix, vegetable soup mix and potato soup mix.  I have a few of the potato soup mix left and a a few of the vegetable soup mix left so I won't be making those this year.  Tomorrow I hope to get the hash brown potatoes started and that will take a couple days to do.  Dehydrated hash brown potatoes come in so handy and take so little space.

That Mole Will Never do That Again

Living out next to a field and woods we have moles all the time.  We've tried the stuff you put on your lawn and mole traps.  Traps are the best answer if you use them ALL the time but I am too lazy to put them out and try and catch them.  It's a never ending battle when you are the only one in the neighborhood who tries to get rid of them.  I've come to terms with it over the years, live out in the country and you have to put up with something.
If I see the ground moving which I have several times I have no problem grabbing a shovel and waiting for the right time to plummet it into the ground.  I have a 100% kill rate going doing this.  Today when I was out making my rounds checking on the chickens and turkeys I saw something gray out of the corner of my right eye.  I walked over to it, tapped it with my shoe and there he was a huge mole.  Before I could bend down to get him he was digging his way back into the ground.  I pulled him by his back legs and was successful in getting him.  Before I could make a plan on how to dispose of him he bit my finger.  I told him "OK buddy it is all out war now, no peaceful demise for you."  I threw him in the burn barrel, piled some dried garden items on top of him and the rest is history.  

Forty Three Years and Counting

Forty three years ago Ron and I said "I do".  We celebrated and had turkey burgers for supper and spent our day and night just like any other.  Out of 3 children 1 remembered it was our anniversary and Ron didn't remember until just this morning.
Maybe I should start forgetting the kids birthdays and anniversaries and see how they feel.  Do I sound a little disappointed with my kids, darn right I do.  Usually 1 or 2 forget my birthday, the same for Ron's birthday and as you can see it's that way with our anniversary.  Kids!!!!

Re Purposing A Wooden Ironing Board into a Corner Shelf

We have re purposed 2 wooden ironing boards and have a couple still in the garage.  I asked Ron if he could take one and make a corner shelf for the kitchen and the below is what he came up with. The shelves are made from a wooden ironing board that was unusable for anything but parting it out. So the whole unit is made from old wooden ironing boards 50+ years old.  My idea, my husbands skills and now I have a very nice shelf to display some of my chicken stuff.
We have 3 more wooden ironing boards and Ron is going to make some more and I am going to try and sell them in my Etsy store.

http://www.fresh-eggs-daily.com/2013/09/from-farm-blog-hop-and-how-to-make.html

http://www.myrepurposedlife.com/2013/09/catch-as-catch-can-136.html