A Kindle Named Violet

For some unknown reason I happened to log in to my blogger account tonight. I was surprised to see that my last blog post was on 08/28/2010. So, it has been exactly one year since I have posted. It is strange that I would check in here tonight after being away for so long.

The reason that I have quit posting and writing altogether is because I have started some serious reading. You see, I bought myself a Kindle 3G and for the past year, she and I have been inseparable. I love her, her name is Violet and she is the Graphite model.

I currently have nearly 850 books on her and I get more free books almost every day. I have read or have had Violet read me around 80 books since last October. I get my free books by subscribing to Free Kindle Books Plus a Few Other Tips right on my Kindle. I let Michael Gallagher sort through the free books and suggest only the best. You can also access his blog for free on your PC here: http://fkbt.wordpress.com. You can spend money and buy eBooks too, if that is what you want to do.


Violet's face is so lovely and easy to read without a back-lit screen. I can read her anywhere without any glare or eyestrain (back-lit screens make my eyes tired). You do have to have a light in order to read in the dark or low light situations. I have a Kandle for my Kindle. But many other Clip-On Lights are available.

There are games and apps available for the Kindle. I have a Calendar and Sticky Notes on Violet. My favorite game is Monopoly, but there are lots of free games and apps.

The thing that I really love about Violet is that she fits in the pocket of a vest that I have and she reads to me through headphones while I am working around the house. She can read nearly all books. I can even put Audio Books and Music on her if I want to. She can read in a woman's or man's voice at slow, medium or fast speeds. I prefer the woman's voice at medium speed.

There are many ways to dress up your Kindle. Skins and Covers of every design, material and color. I no longer have a skin on Violet, but she is decked out in a JAVOedge Heritage Flip Case. This case protects, looks pretty and also stands Violet up like a picture frame, so I can read while having breakfast or lunch.

Violet will also check my email, Twitter, Facebook, weather, etc...for free using 3G. What more could you ask for?

Summer Returns

The cooler weather didn’t last long, the heat has returned today with a vengeance. I remember a few years ago when I first got my first swimming pool that the water was cold all summer. I had to get a solar blanket for it, I didn’t think that having a pool was worth the cost of the chemicals because it wasn’t used that much. Some friends that I know got rid of their pools after that season because it was never warm enough to swim comfortably.

I got the pool for my Grandkids because I wanted them to learn to swim. It worked well, my oldest Grandson can swim well and my two oldest Granddaughters are floating, dog paddling, and swimming expertly underwater.

This year has been the best year ever for owning a swimming pool in southern Indiana. The girls have lived in the water this Summer. They are dark brown from the sun and their hair is a couple of shades lighter. But today the water was cold after a couple of cool nights. They were shocked in more ways than one when they jumped in because they are used to nice warm water. They keep getting out to warm up in the sun.

It’s hard to believe that it is almost September, this Summer has been just one long, super hot, steamy blur. It started out stormy with lots of rain and is ending up dry and dusty. We have gone from grass that wouldn’t quit growing to grass that is drying up and not growing at all. I wonder what this Winter will be like.

48 Degrees

Cool enough for a sweatshirt this morning while I milk. Now if I can just find those sweatshirts.

Calico has fallen into a great milking routine. She is giving more milk now than she has in past years. She has fully recovered after having mastitis in late June. It was my first experience with mastitis. It was my first experience with a single kid, she had always had twins before. He was getting enough milk from just one side and was not nursing the other side. I was milking her once per day but I guess I should have been milking her twice per day. 

Collette is due to kid on September 8th, so we are getting close. I don’t think that I have to worry about a single with her unless something goes wrong. She is surely carrying multiples, not sure how many. She had Triplets her first kidding but I didn’t see her before she kidded so I don’t know how big she got. I need to get some pictures of her now for future reference.

Windows Live Writer

Finally got a new computer and am in the process of setting it up. It had this blogging program on it, so I thought that I would give it a try. Since I am still on a dial-up out here in the wilderness of southern Indiana, I thought it would be a great idea to be able to blog when I am offline. It seems to have lots of bells and whistles, so far I am impressed.

The unrelenting Summer heat has relented today and it was just in time for us to get our first load of hay in the loft. I didn’t think that we would be putting any square bales in the loft this year because reasonably priced, good quality square baled hay is a thing of the past. I thought that we were going to try to get by with just big round bales but we fell for it again and this hay is another disappointment. These bales are half the size of the hay that we got a few years ago for half the price. It is so light and loose that it won’t stay on the elevator.

In this tough economy everyone is trying to get rich by ripping off their neighbor. Small farmers or hobby farmers have to have their own hay equipment and their own hayfield in order to survive anymore. We can sit and reminisce with the Grandkids this winter about how you used to be able to buy good clean hay without weeds in heavy, long, tight bales for $2.00 per bale.

Now let’s see how Windows Live Writer publishes to blogger.

How Do Eggs Get Contaminated?

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say:

The bacterium salmonella enteritidis silently infects the ovaries of healthy appearing hens and contaminates the eggs before the shells are formed.

The hen encounters the the bacteria in its environment. The bacteria invades the hen's reproductive and digestive systems.

Most types of salmonella live in the intestinal tracts of animals and birds and are transmitted to humans by contaminated foods of animal origin.

Stringent procedures for cleaning and inspecting eggs were implemented in the 1970s and have made salmonellosis caused by external fecal contamination of egg shells extremely rare.

The current epidemic is due to intact and disinfected grade A eggs.

Although most infected hens have been found in the northeastern United States, the infection also occurs in hens in other areas of the country. In the Northeast, approximately one in 10,000 eggs may be internally contaminated.

In other parts of the United States, contaminated eggs appear less common. A small number of hens seem to be infected at any given time, and an infected hen can lay many normal eggs while only occasionally laying an egg contaminated with the salmonella bacterium.

My questions are: If a small number of infected hens (at any given time) only lay a contaminated egg occasionally, then why are so many people getting sick? Could it be that they have $$ in their eyes?