Well, I work on BIG daries, I own my own beef cows, and my past is in beef operations of all sizes... I can say that producers of all sizes are against the NAIS in any form they choose to present it. For my big dairy customers: It is all they can do to get employees who can write down numbers acuarately enough to use a simple numbered eartag system with any accuracy much less reporting the results to the USDA. No matter what I am trying to look at when I deal with records on big dairies I expect to see a ten-percent margin of error due to employees making mistakes... The USDA has not come up with a way to overcome that and their system won't work until they do. As far as my small beef herd: The hassles of just having the herd itself are almost not worth it. It would just take a little bit of government to get me to throw up my hands and tear out the pasture and plant citrus. As far as my past with beef operations: Ain't no way in **** the USDA is gonna track those animals! I used to help on a ranch whose strategy to control inbreeding was to ride out into the backcountry and shoot every bull over three years old that didn't have a brand... The country was so tough that they couldn't even gather all of their cattle to work them. There are more ranches like that than we realize and they can't survive if they are expected to track every single animal.

i hope you got my send-to list kym? i sent it a good few days ago ok onto my pictures (because someone said how to do it LOL dont think they have watermarks? please excuse if they do they ARE older pictures as well) thats my angel i easily have TONS more pictures of her from me messing around with the flash and such i love taking pictures of her but shees just soo camera shy! --if anyone knows what breed she is im ears all i know is to me shees like perfect soo kind soo loving the first cat to llike me and really aware of her claws was taken according to its statistics (the website these are all on is an art site) in 04 i know this was before "taming" her at the time i think i took a step closer and she bolted so its OLD--anywho thats buffy who my mom thinks may be a coon and theres harley that was the first picture i took with that camera it was literally "har can you come? can you sit?" and took the pic he is OFTEN on my wing watching out and just being a good pup i think hees a border collie mix and overall i think great pup --oh lol aand GOOFY! ok that ones not a photo of my "pets" (lets face it you dont "own" them you care for them and if they dont respect you then youre theere servant as well--ill stoop my possible rant there as well) but its one of my many art projects it was hand drawn (1/4th of it) then scanned cleaned up colors inverted with the pattern put together on illustrater and border added on illustrater then saved as pdf and resaved as a jpg on shop (ok it SOUNDS a lot worse then it was) but i had fun and its been too long sence ive drawn too too too long this waas done in fall 07 i think its prolly been that long sence ive really drawn also in fox on 7 i right-click "copy image location" to get the url it works on xp and vista i think it also works on mac os (may require a control click on the thing in question an image here) yes i am geeky oh! lol aas for orniments i dont know yet i have hemp paper some atleast basic skills could prolly make something from them alone (thinking a square knot variation of a bead thing i made at the camper was the only 3d option ive done bead things and tho most were like gekos or so fairly common to find) hmm if i can find some wire thats soft enough i could prolly hammer out some design and all from there --hint the JOKE with me in high school was which art classes i HADNT been in so i think i understand the basics of some few things --ohh! ohh! i need to get our blowtorches over here! i could make real glass orniments (we have stuff for glass beadmaking which i rarely get to use) what does everyone concider "basic" matereals? (oh plus i have ALLL my 2d supplies and i think i could dig out some paper machet paste/powder/stuffs some add water and let dry sort of thing) thinnk ill start basics try to go from there? know theres an oragami star that i could make for the top i think it uses 4 like "strips" of paper and i did have the pattern to make it memorised at one time

Here's what happened: Yesterday, I called the phone company bright and early and explained the problem. The guy said "We'll call you right back." And he did, claiming it was fixed. Alas, it was not, and I called him again to let him know it still wasn't working. This time, they tell me "we'll get a guy working on it, and call you back." (I guess the little Brownie that lives in the office wasn't able to figure it out, so they needed "a guy"...) Later that afternoon, I called my ISP and found out that four of their customers in the my area had no service. Four customers doesn't sound like much, but you have to remember the town has about 370 people. It's a rural area, not exactly booming economically (KWIM), so if you have 10% of the people with a computer online, you're doing good. Out of that number (let's round up and say 40), over half half are going to sign on with the phone company because they don't know enough about computers to even look for another option. You could divide the remaining twenty in half again, for wireless service, with the remaining ten divided between satellite and the only other dial up ISP with a local number for this area. So, four is about right. Yes, there are only two companies in the entire world that offer local dial up service to this area. Lots of companies *claim* to offer a local number, and it probably would be if we had service with another phone compnay, but we do not. It is what it is. My ISP tells me that if the routing has changed, it might not be a localnumber anymore, and if they can't fix it to call accounting to see about a refund. I call the phone company back to see if this is going to be permanent, and he said they were "tracking the lines", which I recognize from past experience is a swell technical sounding phrase meant to placify the customer. He asked meexactly what was going on, and I explained that although this had been a local number for over a year, as of yesterday it stopped working. I could dial in using the area code, but the number wasn't supposed to be long distance. He thought that was curious. I didn't think it was curious so much as irritating, still, I realize it's not this guy's fault, so I don't get upset. We continue chatting and he says "You know, I think we have DSL available in your area." (Technically they do, but despite that big fat cable buried right out in front of my home, the actual service stops two miles west. I called about it a month ago and was told that at this time there isn't enough "customer interest" to activate it further east anytime soon.) Bless his heart, not knowing that, he said, "Have you thought about switching to our DSL? We're running a special, only 69.99 a month plus tax plus..." (I'm thinking, Oooo, what a deal! That's only three times what I'm already paying the company that can't even keep a basic land line operational for 60 days in a row. I'm completely underwhelmed.) I politely cut him off saying "Uh, You know, right now is probably NOT the best time to hit me with a sales pitch to upgrade my service for an even *more* expensive plan..." He laughed and said "Yea, I know, but I'm supposed to..." I said "Hey, I understand, it's like, 'would you like fries with that?' We both laughed, and he promised to give us a call when it was fixed. He really *is* very nice, even if he can't help. Later that afternoon, I discovered that my ability to dial in using the area code had also gone pffffft. When I called the number direct, I got a "This number is no longer in service" message. Of course, that's not true, it's working number for everyone but us. When I called using the 1 plus area code, I got the recording that says 'We're sorry. It is not necessary to dial a 1 or the area code for this number. Please hang up and try your call again." With any other company, this might be discouraging, but coming from these guys it's means they're doing *something*, so that's progress. LOL This morning, the 13th, I call and tell the guy what's going on with the line today and he says "We're aware of the problem". (I get the impression the other three customers might have beat me to the punch with the status update.) Then he tells me, "We'll get someone working on it." I'm thinking, excuse me, but wasn't someone supposed to be "working on it" since yesterday? I'm sure there's a three dollar word for this kind of thing, but all I could think of at the time were the four letter ones. Not good. Instead, I tell him thank you, and go outside. The deal is that my DH works on a pipeline, and they've been laid off for most of the winter. They just started a job this week, but the budget is a bit pinched for me to run out and order a more expensive internet service even if it were available. We're talking dialup or nothing. I just walked around in the yard admiring the crocus and quince and was telling God about it. I mean, he already knows, but it makes *me* feel better to have someone to listen to me rant. ;^) So, I make my rounds inspecting the yard, finish my whine about the internet and said "and Bless my phone company". Now, that is the *first* time I have ever said that. Usually, if I think of them at all, my thoughts immedietly go over to the Dark Side. But there you go; here I was getting all warm and fuzzy over a utility company. I guess all the fresh air and sunshine went to my head. On a whim, I came in, sat down at the desk, tried to connect again, and voil Here I am. Which means the line is *still* local. Looks like God really was listening. That, and someone just had that coffee maker plugged into the wrong outlet afterall...

Shannon - best wishes for a smooth recovery! I almost passed up this thread, thinking "I check mine every month" but you have prompted me to call to schedule my mammogram - I haven't been in a year. I felt a lump in the tail of my right breast when I was in my mid-late 20's - we had moved, I didn't have a gyn, was going to PP for exams and BCP. Nurse there said it was probably from my underwire. A year or 2 later I found a practice with a midwife, she didn't notice it right away but one year (I think I was about 30-31) she did, I told her what PP had told me. She sent me for mammogram, then when nothing showed (too far to side - on ribs) she still sent me to surgeon. He removed a fibroid tumor and a fatty tumor that had grown one on top of another. It could have been much worse! But I have grown complacent about getting mammograms done every 12 months, and never thought about questioning radiologist. I have also b'fed 2 kids, but was in my mid-30's and early 40's then. I also have a family (both sides) history. Thanks for the nudge!