…not to worry. your Texas kin have a plan. we are heading to higher ground well ahead of the storm… our house is not in the 100 year flood area, nor are we in the “zones” that are expected to get storm surge from the Gulf, even under the worst case scenario (although, truthfully, we are fairly close)… anywho, we know God is in control, and we’ll be well outta dodge before any such thing is a possibility. we’ll keep you posted here when possible…

love ya!
andi

Hi all -
Andi just asked about including images in the blog post - can be done, somewhat simply!

a few steps…

1. find the image you want to include in your post - it can appear on any website
2. right click over that image and select “copy shortcut” from the menu that pops up
3. come to the blog and start writing a post just like you usually would
4. when you want the pic to show up, click on the “img” button in the write post toolbar (the row of buttons just above the box you write your post in)
5. a little window will open asking you to enter the image URL, which is what you just copied when you right clicked.
6. hit ctrl-v on your keyboard, and the shortcut (URL) you just copied will be pasted in there. hit okay, then enter a description.
7. You’ll see a bunch of code is inserted. wherever that code is inserted is where that picture will appear. For example, right now in my write post window, the code is just below this line, which is where Mary should appear.

• When you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
• You spend half your life on your feet and half your life in bed. Buy expensive shoes, and good bedding.
• Say Please and Thank You.
• If you can’t sleep, just pretend to be asleep. (You will, in fact, fall asleep).
• Your birthday is a very special day. Especially to your mother.

Born in 1957!

Are you kidding me? Joe & I were at Lowes on Sunday grabbing some knobs and whatnot for our fixer upper home project at the Ranch. And the big aisle right in front where normally there are important things like mosquito foggers, mosquito zappers, Off Skintastic (oh it IS skintastic) was devoid of these important items, and filled with Christmas Trees, and Tinsel, and Ornaments. This has got to be a joke. It was 95 degrees outside. We were drenched in our own sweat from walking the 15 feet from the truck to the door. Hello? It is SEPTEMBER. Halloween is 6 weeks away. Christmas is 100 days from now. See, there are 365 days in the year… Christmas is 100 days away… fast math fails me… but that’s nearly 1/3 of the year from now. I can remember a time when Christmas shopping did not even start at Thanksgiving. But a week after Labor Day? Has the world gone mad? Anyway, gotta run. Better start my shopping.

Hi all - I’ve managed to find a photo manager that works very smoothly with the new site. Still tweaking, but it’s available, with all the photos that Andi has mailed me so far. I plan to get Andi up to speed on how to manage these (haha - you ready for that?!) but in the interim, if you’d like to see more photos up, just let me know! shellyd at gmail dot com!

Jeanie suggested this recipe [click here]. Can make ahead and cook tomorrow…

Some of you may remember the great “Peach Pie Emergency” of 2005, and you may even recall the “Rhubarb SOS” of earlier this year (thank goodness for Aunt Mary Finding Grandma’s Aledo Rhubarb Festival Cookbook… or I don’t know what would have happened?!)…. but this is for real guys. I have to have a great recipe to make for 7 adults, 2 toddler boys, and two babies who like to nibble on things under the following conditions:

- it is for tomorrow night!

- it needs to be a crockpot or other slow cooking all day type meal or something that takes about 8 seconds to make, because I’m not getting home from work until about 45 seconds before these fine folks arrive.

- there needs to be something that the babies can chew on

Can you help me?

Hi all -
I’m screwing around with the frieden farm today! I’m taking a few steps toward making things work so that you can all submit recipes and manage the cookbook on your own. If you’d like to visit the site as it was yesterday, you can - it’s all still there. But please also stay tuned to the new changes and let me know what you think!

shelly

Oh Andi
Your misdirected anger
Breaks my heart
You swat at me
And shoo me
And spray me
And smash my face
But I am still here
I am always here
Do you know why?
Ask a native Texan
When last he’s been bitten
Today? Yesterday?
The day before?
No.
I leave him be.
He is nothing to me.
Only you and your ilk
With that sweet, sweet
Yankee blood
Can sustain me
I love you.
And I will be here
All
Year
Round.

Love,
The Swarm