Hi! I haven't visited here in a while because I was awaiting my new computer! It arrived on Tuesday and so I'm up and running well again! (my other computer was simply getting slower and slower)

(I get to enjoy this new one because I had to have it because of writing for both newspapers.)

I scanned down the threads and read several! I envy you who are still raising families and homeschooling! Our last homeschooler graduated in 2000. But in a way it's nice to be kid-free after so many years! I will be 50 this year and had my first baby at 19, another at 21, and my last at 29. I also have a step daughter that fits exactly in between my two oldest. We currently have a total of seven grand kids! but I am not a granny who gets to see them very often but they enjoy our 13 acre farm when we do.

Lots of people around here just assumed that Nathan, who will be 21 in March, is our only child since the other kids were 10 years older and some people didn't know about then! Then I come around with all the grandkids and they are amazed! it's so funny!

I also stopped dying my hair this year and am letting in grow back in salt- and-pepper! It's so funny because evidently lots of folks thought I was about 15 years younger! oh well!

I am still LEARNING with all my animals! We have new Angora babies that were born two Sunday's ago so the bunny total is now 26! It is such a MIRACLE to see those little ones and watch in their stages of development! No matter how many litters we have, every new one still excites me and makes me even more aware of the miracle of birth and the miracle of life!

(Can you imagine how excited I will be when we get our pair of breeding sheep sometime hopefully this spring???? New baby lambs will be wonderful!!!)

well, anyway, I'm glad to see you all are still basically doing well and hanging in there on your homesteads whether you are stuck in the suburbs and homesteading as much as possible or on a 100 acre farm!

Homesteading is a state of mind and attitude and beliefs! love to you all! suzy in bama

-- Suzy in Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), January 18, 2002

Answers

Oh, Suzy, I would love to have some Angora bunnies unfortunantly they give me nosebleeds.....Do you spin? I wonder, with angoras and sheep. I would really love to raise sheep but hubby says no. After the goats, I kind of see his point but I still want them. Thats ok, we are doing other things now, and eventually, I'm sure I will get my sheep. Glad your back.

-- Kelly (homearts2002@yahoo.com), January 18, 2002.

Suzy, that old puter can be upgraded or there might be a problem with the settings. Did you run the defrag program? My puter gains about 200% more speed after defragging.

For those of you who are not familuar with defragging, when you delete anything it leaves "holes" in the flow of info which reduces speed greatly. Cure this by (off line) clicking the start button, click help, locate defragging, procede as instructed; also empty your temporary files often and run your security system upgrade at least once a week. Defraging your "C" drive can run 3 or 4 hours while your puter is cleaning house.

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), January 18, 2002.

Mitch:

can you delete everything in a temp folder??

thanks.

-- Cat (catcrazy@somewhere.com), January 18, 2002.

Cat, meow, I believe yes but I am not an expert by any means, ask others. My puter is set to dump everything at shut down; if I find something I want to keep, I put it in favorites or a file.

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), January 18, 2002.

Meowwww...

thanks Mitch, I'll check with others.

-- Cat (catcrazy@somewhere.com), January 18, 2002.

SUZY! What a coincidence..I was thinking about you the last few days, wondering where you went to, how you were, etc.....was going to post and ask about you, but now I don't have to! Real nice to "see" you again!

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), January 18, 2002.

Welcome back Suzy, hope you are enjoying that new computer! and the angoras!

-- Melissa (me@home.net), January 19, 2002.

Glad you're back, always enjoyed your input.

-- Cindy (SE. IN) (atilrthehony@hotmail.com), January 20, 2002.