shaddy- What it sounds like he did was to take your perfectly good -- but almost full -- old hard drive and transfer everything from it onto the new drive. That was a good thing. This should mean that your computer looks and functions just like before and you don't have to do anything differently. You basically went from a small hard drive with maybe 70 GB used and 10GB free to a larger drive with 70 GB used and 930 GB free. You didn't lose any info and now your computer should not be slowing down due to an overcrowded hard drive. In the future, if you got a new computer, the contents of the large hard drive you have now can be copied onto another drive. Or you could possibly choose to buy a computer without a hard drive, and just have your current one installed in the new housing. Or you could even have the current new hard drive installed as an additional hard drive alongside whatever is in a new computer (it would be sort of like having an external hard drive, except it would be inside the housing and out of sight). The only thing to remember is that at some point all hard drives fail, so you should always have critical files, photos, etc., backed up in another location. In addition, even if you kept transferring the contents of your hard drive from one computer to another to another, at some point you will want to have a newer operating system installed. But that is something to worry about some time in the future. For now, I hope you're set for a good long while.

I'm so far behind I cannot catch up. Yesterday was a fire department day all day long, and I fear that much of today will be the same. I'm not complaining, as our participation in the VFD is a choice we make and all the firefighters in all the FDs are our brothers and sisters. We may be 14 separate departments in this county, technically speaking, but we also consider our selves one big family---one big department---the Love County Fire Department. I never knew I'd be part of such a huge family of people who would, literally, walk through fire for one another. Yesterday was our Christmas parade in town. How did it go? I have no idea. At two minutes until parade time, our VFD and two others got paged out to a grass fire slightly east of Marietta. Two of our firefighters grabbed their bunker gear, jumped out of the engine, and raced to our station in someone's personal vehicle to pick up a brush truck and respond to the fire. The rest of us were going to follow as soon as we got through with the parade, which start to finish, only travels a few blocks through town and takes about 5 minutes. Since we were near the start of the parade lineup, we knew we'd whizz through town quickly and be on our way. And we were. Our truck seemed to please the children---tons of lights and a loudspeaker playing a song they loved and danced to as we passed them. That's all that matters to us---that the kids were happy. As we were making the short trek down Main Street, our pagers went off again because the grass fire was igniting a home, RV and there were other structures (like sheds, etc.) in danger. As soon as we could turn off the parade route, we stopped, removed a couple of large decorations that couldn't handle the fast response to a structure fire, and removed our decorated firefighter (so wrapped up in lights, he couldn't move) who had been setting on the firetrucks large front bumper throughout the parade. We unwrapped him, got him into the truck and took off. I did have to laugh at myself---once we knew we needed to leave to go to a fire, we still were trapped in the parade lineup---with side streets blocked by crowds of people there was nothing to do but follow the route to its end so we could leave. I found myself waving faster and faster at the crowd, as if the faster waving would someone make the parade vehicles move more quickly so we could go to the fire. I am here to tell you that waving faster and faster and faster didn't speed up anything. Amy, I am hoping for the best for your dad. I know all of you must be exhausted and no one more than him---it is so hard to rest in a hospital (that's ironic, isn't it?) with all the lights, the people in and out all the time, etc. There's no place like home and I hope he gets to return home as soon as possible. Nancy, You have a seed problem! I know a seedaholic when I see one because I am one, though I am attempting to reform myself. I totally understand about Make-A-Wish not being for everyone and certainly respect your son's viewpoint. There are many different ways to deal with cancer, as I know myself, and I think every family has to do what is best for them and particularly what is best for the person most affected by the cancer---the person who has the cancer itself. I know that Russell accomplished his mission in life, and at such a young age! He certainly was a handsome lad. I have had HJ in my thoughts this week as well, as I know the anniversary of her son's death was this week and I cannot imagine how hard that must be to endure. Saturday usually is our big shopping day---we make a list and try to make the circuit of the usual places and gather all the supplies. Sometimes it is complicated---getting two baskets at Sam's, for example, with one filled with fire supplies and one with stuff for us at home, and then paying separately to keep the money and receipts separate. Tim is so bad when he has a shopping cart in front of him and a fire supply shopping list. I fill the basket with food and drinks we need to take care of the firefighters. Tim then thinks of odds and ends they need---fuel cans, a box of red shop rags, bungee cords, zipties, fuel additives, extra pairs of leather work gloves, new chains for the chain saw, etc. etc. etc. and before you know it, the VFD shopping cart has 39 items in it, though our list only had 20 items on it. He's as bad about impulse shopping for the VFD as I am about impulse shopping for the garden. (grin) I think he forgets about that nagging little list of odds and ends that they need until he is in a store shopping, and then he 'needs' everything he sees. Unfortunately yesterday was all about fire dept activity from start to finish so today is going to be our shopping day. I'm so tired from yesterday that I wish we could just sit around at home and do nothing, but we can't. I just hope we make the shopping/errand run, get everything done and get back before any fires break out. Yesterday wasn't to awful in our county until very late in the day, but the adjacent county (Carter County, also under a burn ban) had a lot of fires. Tis the season for that, unfortunately. For items only available from fire supply companies or whatever, there's a constant stream of vehicle parts, supplies, etc. arriving in various ways---often in our mailbox or as a package left on the porch. It is a logistics nightmare trying to keep old, often-used fire trucks running on a wing and a prayer, but thankfully our VFD has several incredibly accomplished mechanics (it is their career and their hobby as well) and welders. Sometimes the UPS guy or the FedEX guy cracks me up---he'll say "this is a big heavy package, be careful...." and I'll reply "yep, it's a radiator for our fire engine". (grin) Kim, It is your home for as long as you're there, so make it what you want it to be. I feel like my soul always needs lots of flowers and ornamental plants in order to be happy, no matter how much I also enjoy growing the edibles. There's nothing wrong with that! Bloom where you are planted, girl! I rejoice over every bloom I see on any given day, even the tiniest little wildflower blooms that often appear randomly in winter on nice days. For those of you wondering if your garden needs to be watered, In winter, depending on the soil moisture level in your area, you may have to water, but not as often as in summer because the temperatures are cooler and not as much moisture is evaporating from the soil nor is it transpiring from dormant plants like it does during the growing season. One thing you can do is look at the attached map. Keep in mind it reflects conditions at your local Mesonet stations, so soil moisture levels at your place may be different. Anyhow, if the number on the attached map is less than 0.50, your plants probably need to be watered. Amy, I think you mentioned asparagus? Mine is well-established and I don't water it in winter ever for any reason. I just don't think it needs it. Asparagus is bulletproof---it won't die and you cannot kill it. If your plants are less than 3 years old, you might want to water them---but not too much at once and not constantly. Maybe once a month in a dry winter. One-Day Plant Available Water (Updates each morning) Gotta go. I'll try to check in on the new Week 2 Thread tonight. Dawn

Oh, Frosted! Be careful! I know, it's too late now, you've already messed up. Just kidding, so sorry about your back. Man you have to be so careful. I hope it resolves quickly. Back pain is no fun. I like that floor lamp and hope, in due time, you get it together and it does just the trick. My hubby was doing some "work outside" items and man he scared me. I told him, we don't want a trip to the ER because the shovel hit your toe or some such thing. He just doesn't get he can't do what he used to do. Yikes! I am praying our above degree temperatures down here will help kill this doggone virus. So far, our immediate area doesn't have much at all. Of course, we have our share of "stupid" people who make it hard on everyone else! grrrr! Stay safe everyone. Happy Day!

My favorite color expert is Mother Nature. If your husband looks good in greens the browns should play well with his wardrobe and the combination should send the right message based on your assessment of his work. Make sure to get the appropriate lighting for his face. My office has great over head lighting over my desk (300 watts of 5000 k lighting). Does wonders for my concentration and innovation - similar to think tank lighting, but is awful for video conferencing - throws downward shadows and is way to harsh - washes me out (fair skin and dark hair). I resemble some sort of ghoulish Disney witch. I work with data quality control and data analytics and am usually just sharing numbers and data visualizations during meetings, but there is a push at work for people to use video conferencing. The company just sent me an independent camera after I explained that I keep my laptop closed and under my floating desktop and just have multiple monitors on my desk. I guess I will need to address the lighting. Thinking I may also have to update my wardrobe . . . the executives may not be impressed with my large collection of pajamas.