Small Farms Blog

 Gavin and Jenny Harrison live in a large city where there is a wide variety of homes available for potential buyers. However Gavin and Jenny are looking for something truly special. They want an old farm house style home, with an open floor plan, large windows and a decent porch. They also want something that offers all the amenities of today. Their realtor had the perfect place, Sutton House.
 Sutton House is located on the outskirts of the city and was originally built in the early 19 th century. The home was originally built for Andrea Sutton. Andrea was a famous painter from the 19 th century. She created paintings such as Mysterious Ocean and Children Fishing, which are now located in the city’s’ art history museum.
 Sutton House was remodeled by its’ previous owner. The architecture of the home is representative of a 19 th century farm house. It is two stories, with large windows and a porch that encircles the entire home. However the home also contains newer amenities.
 The large kitchen boasted a small breakfast nook with a bay window. These windows were covered with faux wood blinds. The window coverings allowed a brilliant view of the front yard of the home without letting in an over abundance of light. The kitchen also contained modern amenities. Such as matching stainless steel appliances and a double sink.
 The living room (or family room) had to large windows that expanded floor to ceiling. One window gave a breath taking view of the front yard, while the other offered a view of the near by woods. These windows also had window coverings that allowed a spectacular view of the land, or that could be completely closed for privacy. The previous owner had again chosen faux wood blinds by American Blinds for this room. There was a large fire place in one corner of the room. The fire place was adorned by antique wing chairs from the 19 th century on either side. These chairs were facing the center of the room. In front of the chairs was an antique rug. There was also an old American Federal sofa in the room.
 The dining room was rectangular in shape. The front wall had a large window looking out onto the flower garden. The window coverings in this room are by Hunter Douglas. There were vertical wooden blinds in the window of this room. The blinds pulled away to one side allowing a generous view of the garden. The dining table was also rectangular in shape and was set close to the window. Opposite the window and dining table there stood an antique sideboard. Displayed on this sideboard was a set of crystal dishes and silver flatware.
 The second floor was made up of three bedrooms and two full baths. The first room was the master bedroom. It had a large window facing the back of the property. The window coverings in this room were faux wood blinds by American Blinds. There was a large antique sleigh bed in room. Opposite the bed was an old armoire that consealed a twenty inch television. This room also featured a master bath with a jetted tub, double sink and a large Victorian vanity. The window in this bathroom was small and placed close to the celeing. The window covering was a roller shade in a rose pink color. The roller shade afforded occupants privacy while still allowing some sunshine to filter through.
 The second room on this floor was set up as a guest room. It also had a large window facing the backyard. There was a large four-poster bed in this room. Opposite the bed was a long dresser with a vanity mirror. The window coverings in this room were wooden blinds made to match the wood of the bed and dresser.
 The third room was setup as a home office. It contained an oak armoire with a computer and two metal filing cabinets. The window in this room was medium in size and the window coverings were vertical wooden blinds, made by Hunter Douglas.
 The last room on this floor was the second full bath. In one corner of this bath was an antique clawfoot tub. In the opposite corner of the bathroom stood a modern cabin shower made of glass. This bathroom also contained a single sink and small vanity. The window in this room was again covered by a roller shade to afford privacy and filter in outside light.
 After walking through the home Jenny and Gavin decided to buy it with all the furnishings included. They felt the old farm house combined antique and modern aspects nicely.

I know, you’re already about to dismiss this suggestion. But, please … management experts have been crying themselves hoarse for years about how ambience plays a huge role in shaping our approach, attitude and commitment to work. They say a snug and cozy ambience can cast a magical spell on employees – much more than the most cleverly conceived incentive plan can ever achieve.

You must appreciate that your employees spend maximum time in their office chairs other than of course the time spent in cafeteria or near the water cooler in catching up with the latest gossip! Go ahead and provide them with ergonomically designed office desks and office chairs suitably complimented with modern office equipment. You’ll find a never before surge of enthusiasm in your employees. They will love to be in the office much after 5 and, more importantly, become self motivated. As an employer what more would you want?

Just bring in a few of those modern computer desks and extremely convenient and easy to access computer furniture. Those poor souls who pare their fingernails tapping on keyboards and end up with headaches peering at screens bristling with formidable figures will paint the town red with ecstasy. You’ll rarely be pelted with any complaints ever. And, productivity, well, you’ll sure laugh all the way to the bank.

Psychologists claim that humans attach a lot of importance to the outward trappings which signify their position in the pecking order. So, be clever enough to create subtle gradations in furniture so that a manager and his subordinate can easily be identified by even the most casual outsider. This creates a sense of possessiveness among the superiors and they try to work out of their skin to protect their exalted position. This creates a craving in juniors too. They tend to go out of their way to prove their worth. All in all, you have with you a super charged workforce straining at their leashes to take on the world.

Reception is the first interface a visitor has with your organisation. So, the office reception furniture should be chosen in such a way that it sends an unmistakable signal that your company means business and is not interested in idle gossip. Chairs at the reception should be brightly colored and comfortable to sit on. There should be a smart and professional ambience at the reception.

By the way, have you ever seen a king without his throne? So, how could you, as a CEO, do without leather office chairs and matching executive furniture suite with possibly a leather cocktail ottoman thrown in to add that finishing touch? Just sit in one of those high backed super comfy swiveling black leather chairs and look ahead. You will feel the flow of adrenalin slowly creep through the arteries and fill your entire being. Your confidence and calm in face of crisis will automatically increase and people will start looking up to you as a natural leader.

If you are one of the lucky few who can afford to work from home, choose a proper set of home office furniture. Please don’t try to replicate the cubicle you had at office. The company had paid for all those fancy furniture. So, avoid the lure of glamor and go for the moderately priced ones which guarantee comfort and durability.

We were startled to be called to the Emergency Room at the Philadelphia hospital by a nurse who asked us to come as soon as we could. She spoke the name of our granddaughter, Lizzie. I can still remember the feeling of the blood chilling in my veins. This can’t be our little Lizzie, I thought. Lizzie had graduated from Notre Dame Girls High School just months before with a good grade point average. She was a smart kid – we knew that – but she didn’t always apply herself as much as would be required to land a college scholarship. Her parents, both of whom were working, felt that a break from studying, and namely, a job, would help her to bridge the gap into adult responsibilities. And did she get a job! This was the time of the dot com explosion. She was offered $28 an hour with a startup company whose president, officers and staff looked like young teens to us. The story came out bit by bit. We heard that when these young entrepreneurs and the employees were in between tasks or just needed a break they went skateboarding in the almost empty warehouse! Lizzie had been taking one of these breaks, was skateboarding down a ramp built of boxes and boards when she fell, and the sharp pain took her breath away.

Lying on a gurney completely immobile so as not to feel that stabbing pain in her arm, she was pale and very subdued for her. A young intern stopped by and gave her a quick checkup. He told us that an orthopedic specialist would be by “soon.” As we talked to her to distract her we stole thoughts about how much this would cost – did she have health insurance? Did this young company think about this when they hired all these youngsters? Did they think to provide some kind of at least low cost health insurance or maybe something as comprehensive as a Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan for their young employees? How much would this hospital room cost? How long would she have to be hospitalized – what would an orthopedic specialist cost? Did my daughter and her husband have insurance? A cell phone call to my daughter helped to calm our fears. They had purchased Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield health insurance for the whole family some time before and she thought this would still be in effect for Lizzie. What seemed to be hours dragged by as they always do in emergency rooms as we waited for the doctor. We held Lizzies’s hand and kept her talking about her new friends in her new job, and about all the things that are so earthshaking when one is eighteen.

Eventually the doctor came. In one quick movement he saw what we couldn’t – she had dislocated her shoulder! No wonder she had so much pain! I held her hand and talked to her, trying to reassure her as the doctor gave the injured arm a quick jerk. A sharp stab of pain – a quick scream and it was over – the arm was back in its socket. Amazing how quickly relief can come with such an injury! As soon as the arm was back in place she was back to normal.

Afterwards we found out that the dot com did have group health insurance for their employees. These young entrepreneurs weren’t such bunglers after all, we thought!

As we walked out to the parking lot with Lizzie, bright and chatty again, my daughter showed up. That was one big group hug that time!!

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Sometimes we do not think about what we would do if unpleasant events happen in our life or lifes of our near. In this particular case we were lucky that my granddaughter had got a family health insurance. I am so thankful to www.lowcostpahealthinsurance.com for providing the Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield health insurance in Pennsylvania. The insurance did not make Lizzie’s pain lesser, but it helped all of us to go through the rough times with no major stress.

As children, we delighted in fashioning simple costumes and then acting out a movie we may have seen. The lid of a garbage can and a sturdy stick became the sword and shield of Zorro. This play acting, using mostly imagination, was a healthy way for a child to learn to interact with other children. It was also fun.

Girls were often given paper doll sets to use to act out imaginary scenes or try different dress combinations. This early training in dress up helped the girl develop a fashion sense. By trying different clothing styles, colors, and accessories with her paper dolls she learnt to develop her own lifetime look. It was safe, inexpensive and temporary. It was not necessary to cut or color your own hair to see how that new hairdo would look. Just try it out on the paper doll. Paper doll sets are still available on the market.

Imagine my delight to discover that this wonderful interactive way of using our imaginations is now available on the internet. There are several free sites where a girl, adult or child, can click hairstyles, make up colors and accessories on any one of a dozen models. Pick a model with your face shape first. Dress up to see how you would look with curly or straight hair. Color your model’s hair; shorten it, and then move on to different make up combinations. An hour or two playing online dress up games is very instructive and costs no more than your time, as opposed to the expense of an actual salon.

Using one of these free sites can be a good time for Mother and Daughter to play together while learning about each other’s fashion tastes. Daughter can experiment safely with hundreds of fashion looks without committing herself, especially if Mother reacts strongly to some of them. Mother can stretch her own fashion sense using the computer without actually spending a lot of money at a salon to possibly end up looking ridiculous.

Dressing up will probably always be a fun way to connect with your inner child. That explains the popularity of Mardi Gras, historical re-enactments and renaissance faires. This adult dress up gameactivity that temporarily suspends life in the real world is very healthy. For a few short hours it is possible to be anything at all. While these festivals are not strictly limited to adults, they are primarily for adults. When the children see their parents entering into the same kind of dress up games they do, it builds bridges from one generation to the next. When the child is lucky enough to accompany the adult to one of these festivals they will see a whole new fun dimension hidden within the adult. Participating in imaginary dress up game activities provide safe ways to relieve stress, have fun and cope with the unpleasantness of some of the real world. Whether on the internet playing dress up games or in real life, it is important to have beneficial outlets for play to balance all the seriousness.

       Concrete is an amazing material used for centuries to build homes, office buildings and statues that can withstand the test of time. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have outdoor furniture that could also last through winter storms, rain and harsh UV rays while still providing a beautiful outdoor setting? Unfortunately for most people they don’t think of beauty when they think of concrete site furnishings. But we can change all that, for there are many new innovative ways to build concrete furniture and manufacturers are paying more attention to design and the practical everyday use of things such as recycle bins, planters, and other types of concrete furniture.
       The production of concrete furniture has taken a big turn in the last few years from bulky looking, cold and grey, to lighter colors, sheik designs adding a warmer atmosphere to your outdoor environment, plus you have the added bonus of it lasting through the changes in weather. From recycle bins to outdoor concrete tables to planters that can house your ever-changing floral creations, concrete site furnishings can provide the atmosphere you are looking for.
       So where can we use these new designs in concrete furniture? In the past we have found concrete furniture widely used for communal office outdoor gardens or had seen a recycle bin at the entrance of a large corporation. Maybe even concrete tables in the lobby or indoor garden. Concrete furniture has and will always be a hot item when designing your office space. Frankly speaking, corporations can afford it and also benefit from it’s long lasting design. But what about smaller businesses or family homes?
       Well, they can also benefit from concretes lasting nature and the prices are getting more and more reasonable everyday. Plus when you imagine how many concrete tables you will buy in a lifetime (one), and how many metal or plastic patio furniture sets you will buy (definitely more than a one), than it is even possible to justify the cost.
       Now of course there are some benefits to buying a cheaper set of patio furniture, for example you can change the design every few years to suit your needs, you can move a metal or plastic table around a lot easier than moving a concrete table, or a concrete planter. But lets be honest how many times do we actually move our patio furniture around. The only time we seem to move our patio furniture, is in the winter to an indoor shelter so that it doesn’t fall apart during the cold season and hope we still have functioning furniture for the next warm season in which we will move it all back out again piece by piece. In this case, with a concrete table and chairs you wouldn’t have to move it at all. This furniture can handle the colder harsher climates and when the sun comes back we can just enjoy the comfort of having our outdoor furniture exactly where we like it.
       But of course we do change our landscape once in a while and there could be need to move this furniture around, fortunately there are new and innovative ways to lighten up this historically heavy material, in some cases up to half of the original weight. And if a new design is your desire than you can always choose from classic designs and colors that are easy to work with and never go out of style.
       So when designing your new garden space this year or your offices new outdoor patio or maybe if you are in need of a simple recycle bin to help clean up the space outside your office or business, definitely consider the long lasting nature, practicality and beauty of concrete furniture, recycle bins and planters.

For an easy way to have a spiritual experience, try going to a balloon race festival! We read about one in the early fall in Reno, and since it was close by we opted to see what it was like. There is something so magical about those great brightly colored globes gliding silently by that captures everyone’s imagination.

We arrived in a campground near one of the big parks in Reno and spent the night so we could be ready for the takeoff, which was scheduled at dawn. Walking toward the field where the official race was to begin we started to wonder where the balloons were. We looked where everybody was pointing, but there was nothing there! Undaunted, we kept walking when all of a sudden we heard a hissing sound, and immediately this giant balloon of green and brown and blue stripes started rising, literally from the ground beside us. In just a few minutes it towered way over our heads – not only that, a few more airy giants were rising magically, then more and more until the whole field was a forest of bright balloons, all making a soft hissing sound. One by one the giants rose into the air to the majestic musical strains of the theme from the movie 2001. It literally took our breath away to watch as these huge giants rose and then became small as they floated into the sky. What seemed like hundreds of them rose out of the ground and flew away, becoming smaller as they drifted into the distance toward goal marker miles away.

The creativity that went into these balloons was outstanding. Some of them were fairly standard cartoon characters and teddy bears, but many of them were genuine artistic creations, the colors and designs, lighted from within by the gas jets that propelled them, were breathtaking. There was even one that depicted a huge statue of Jesus with long brown hair surrounded by puffy white clouds and angels! At the end of the day the balloons started drifting back to the starting point. The prevailing winds cooperated and none were lost.

Balloon racing is apparently quite an art, but the success of the races depends in large part on the weather and the prevailing winds. The incidence of balloons getting lost doesn’t seem to be great, from what I have read, but the idea of riding the winds into the mountains and back seems a little daunting.

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The article is provided by www.rmtracking.com. Read life stories of others and share your stories at www.rmtracking.com blog.

Please remember your website will be as effective as your web host. You might have the most innovative and brilliant website but of what use would it be if visitors can’t reach it easily? So, without in any way slighting the importance of a superbly designed website, we have to admit choosing a proper web hosting company is equally important.

There are numerous web hosting companies and obviously all claim they are the best in business. But don’t get fooled by numbers and testimonials – more often than not, these are doctored. There is another word of caution here. As an average user of the net and looking for a reliable company to do your business hosting, where would you go looking for those companies? Naturally, your first preference will be those web hosting review sites which rank these companies according to various criteria. But, are you aware that a large majority of these review sites are actually run by the web hosting companies themselves?

However, these sites are indeed useful in a certain way. You can get the basic details about various hosting companies from these sites. After comparing the basic data you should be able to narrow down your choice to only a few companies and then begin a thorough comparison in real earnest.

A stable, highly robust network infrastructure is an absolute necessity for any web host to function efficiently and this depends among others on capacity, peering, DDoS mitigation, WAN redundancy, LAN redundancy and network topology . Though it might not be possible for an average client to confirm all these technical details, he may very well ask about the number of own antonymous system numbers the web hosting company has. Obviously, the more numbers it has the more robust the network would be.

Data security is an aspect we often tend to overlook in our hurry for comparing facilities provided by competing web hosting companies. But the distressing fact is that many of them have been forced to down their shutters on account of data loss due to fire, flood, power failure and even physical intrusion. Please confirm whether the company has state-of-the-art fire prevention facilities installed in buildings hosting the servers. Also enquire about the backup which is in place to cope with unscheduled power outages.

In your hurry don’t forget to check out the systems which are installed to guard against vandalism and physical intrusion and whether these are reasonably secure.

Support is another basic issue which needs to be sorted out before the final choice is made. You need to talk to human beings when in need of support and not to some automated answering mechanism or emails. Find out whether the web hosting company imparts sufficient training to their support assistants and they know their P’s and Q’s of web hosting. Otherwise you may end up with the frustrating realization that perhaps you know better than the “parrot” at the other end who is senselessly mouthing a few irrelevant technical jargons. I personally had such an eminently forgettable experience and know how helpless one feels at such times.

Carefully weigh all these aspects before you choose a web hosting company which suits your purpose.

 High tech equipment has gotten to be the name of the game for companies looking to have conferences with far flung offices and/ or suppliers. Teleconferencing has gotten increasingly sophisticated. Most companies who use teleconferencing to have meetings, training sessions or other group get togethers over a distance use various forms of conference calling. It is a little surprising and maybe comforting to know that these are just beefed up forms of the good old fashioned kitchen table technique you and your family used when you would call home on Sundays? The whole family, including Grandma and Grandpa would gather around the kitchen table and all talk at once. Trying to be polite, you would strain to pick out an intelligible thread from the cacophony and respond to it. The love was there, but it was a little bit bewildering to know who to respond to. Now there’s a better way. Well, actually, there has been a better way since the late 1800s, when the telephone was new. Author and futurist Jules Verne was a forward thinker. He had an idea whose time was soon to come He wrote about a meeting by telephone that included separate lines from the host phone to a telephone in the home of each participant. This was very soon after the telephone had been put into operation! People just love to look for ways to get together and communicate !

Equipment for today’s get togethers in the business world varies widely and most of it requires at least some expertise in the electronics field. Because of this, companies are vying for the attention of the business owner looking for an inexpensive yet efficient way to conduct meetings over distance at a favorable conference call rate. Historically, communication took place via the stand alone receivers – remember those? They were the kitchen table variety Grandma used and they picked up every sound in the room. Nowadays, separate devices can connect incoming lines to the host’s line and the host can speak to all and hear feedback from everyone. These are small black boxes, flat or triangular which have a varying number of input ports With these the host of the conference can talk to his audience and also get feedback.

For entities wanting more ambitious conferencing, with many participants, in sometimes several locations at the same time, there are companies offering a number of services. They use various models of conferencing devices, sometimes called bridges that can accommodate many call participants and can make life much easier for the company’s own personnel, who often aren’t trained for these increasingly complex applications. Service providers have come into being that offer high quality audio and interactive features, where the conference host can receive feedback on the material under discussion as in web conferencing. These companies often own a state of the art bridge with complex capabilities that connect the host with conference participants in often far flung places. This technology saves the host the time and trouble of acquiring and learning how to use a bridge. There is a variety of groups who often need to get together to talk over things, these are sometimes government offices, or medical groups.

The bewildering problem of how to make the connections work for these companies or groups is handled by these hosting companies, who provide effortless high tech connections, dedicated operators to smooth the way, and sometimes save the day by making the arrangements with participants, so that they are all there, on time and plugged in. How easy is that!

A Website host is actually any computer that has a permanent
Internet connection with a way for those wishing to view a site to get around a firewall to see it. If you’re thinking about getting a server on steroids, a few co-ax cables and a permanent connection to the Internet to save money, you’re already losing money.

Website hosting is not for the do-it-yourselfer. You wouldn’t take out your own appendix, so don’t try to set up a Web server. They have a funny way of crashing for inexplicable reasons. That means that you have to keep a beeper on you 24/7/365 and a way to restart a server immediately from a remote location. If it doesn’t start remotely and the host is an hour away, he’ll lose customers in droves.

The smarter thing to do is to save the expense of buying a server and all the software, a beeper and a remote hookup is to take your site to a pro, a large windows hosting provider. They usually have the right types of servers that run roughly 99% of the time. They understand all of the software used by designers, developers and
Web masters. And they know exactly what you need to accommodate not only what you want on the disk, but how to partition that drive just for you with a VPS server.

No, VPS does not stand for “very pricey service.” Granted, it is more expensive than some of the other packages offered, but if you have a big site with lots of traffic, this is the best option for you, save renting out a whole server, which is prohibitive.

VPS stands for “Virtual Private Server.” It’s also known as a Virtual Dedicated Server. This, short of renting a whole server, provides myriad advantages over conventional packages, especially for a complex site that uses: .asp, .php, .net, Web Sphere and other high-end programming. If you have a big site now, you probably have someone who takes care of it. To them, upgrading to VPS is analogous to moving up from a 100 square-foot into a new 8,000 square-foot house.

What’s important here is equipment and support. The better hosting companies set up VPS on enterprise Dell (or other powerful PC), Dual Dual Core Intel Xeon and Dual QuadCore Intel Xeon Hardware with a minimum of 16GB of RAM and offering a 99.9% uptime guarantee.

When you go host hunting, it’s important to make certain that they offer an uptime guarantee. Uptime means your Website is available. To many ecommerce sites, downtime of just a minute could cost them not only a great deal of business, but traffic, as well. Those of us who use the Web are an unforgiving lot. We rarely return to a site that is frequently down.

To gauge their support, you can always ask for a customer and contact information who can share his or her technical support experiences. Reliable support is critical. That’s your business on the Web and you need to have it up and running.

Finally, compare prices at different hosting services by matching what you get with each package between the hosts you’re evaluating. Just remember, uptime is key. What you pay has no bearing on that. Servers will crash just ‘cuz, so make sure you choose a service with a high uptime percentage.

Countless management experts have on numerous occasions laid great emphasis on the ambience and its impact on productivity. A well arranged office creates an ambience which helps employees to concentrate more on their work and this automatically increases quality output. So, it should be every management’s serious duty to try and find out how the furniture in the office can be overhauled and arranged so that employees start loathing the idea of leaving office.

Put in a dozen of those brightly colored mesh office chairs in the Human Resource department and see the difference. It’ll no longer remain a department which no employee likes to visit. Instead, all other departments will start clamoring for those chairs. If you go ahead and indeed give in to their demands, with a couple of designer office chairs thrown in to provide a counterpoint, you’ll be giving such a boost to the enthusiasm of your employees that no scientifically designed incentive or profit sharing plan will ever be able to match. Don’t you think this is a far easier way to charge up your brigade?

What about the reception? Put in a cozy large leather sofa in a corner with the edges fitting snugly along the mutually perpendicular walls and it’ll speak volumes about your taste. Put bistro furniture elsewhere with a low wooden table right in the middle of the hall. The professional crispness and alacrity of the ambience will automatically enhance your goodwill by bowling over any visitor who drops in.

What about your managers? They need some sort of extra recognition, don’t they? Provide them with designer leather office chairs and matching wooden tables. If you really want them to feel special, add a leather adjustable height footrest to complement the set! They will not stop smiling and work out of their skins to achieve the targets set for them.

The kings and emperors of bygone days had their thrones and scepters. Those were the marks of royalty and signified the authority which flowed as a consequence. Modern day CEOs need high backed leather recliners and footstools to add to their stature. Don’t deny yourself a richly upholstered set of furniture. You deserve it!

For those who have decided to be on their own and work from home, the choice of home office furniture is a very crucial decision which will determine their productivity and efficiency in the long run. However, before settling for a particular design or brand, don’t forget every penny spent on furniture will come from your pocket only. So, go for those moderately priced ones which guarantee comfort and durability. Prefer those which have multiple use and can be equally comfortable while you are using the computer or jotting down an important idea on paper.