Been a Bit Out of Touch...

On a personal level that is. After all, there have been posts of various things.

Butch and I went to Boone on Thursday to fix Jason and Laura's electrical issue. Turned into a very long day but all is up to snuff now. Enough to say it was a problem with a 3-way switch, knob and tube and an older home. I am married to an electrician, but the knowledge does not transfer. While in Boone we had lunch at McDonalds and I had my first 'old person experience'. I was very plainly speaking to the McDonalds employee so they would not screw up my order. The ponytailed young man then raised his voice and repeated it back to me as if I were deaf. Jason said, "You better dye your hair Mom cuz that kid thinks you are old and cannot hear." That, my dear friends, is the first time that has ever happened to me! I did not like it!

And then the next day was rain free and I decided it was time to get some of our outside stuff done. I was hoping to get it done on my own, but it proved tougher than I thought since I am now old so Butch bailed me out. Seems to be a theme for the poor guy. We cleaned out the gutters, an absolute necessity and then I washed down the front of the house. I still need to get the back side done.
Butch went to play golf with Colleen's grandson after the gutter cleaning. Taylor wanted to play the three courses his grandpa played here in Jefferson so Butch is glad to be his guide. Butch says Taylor has the demeanor of his grandpa, quiet and laid-back and can hit the ball a country mile. Taylor and Butch are playing Lakeside today, the second of the three courses.
I planted some flowers I have had lying around here for a while. I do not know if they will "take" but at least they have a fighting chance. I had harvested some seed from Keri's balloon flowers, somebody had given me some larkspur and I purchased a columbine plant at the Master Gardeners Plant Sale. So now the rest is up to them and Mother Nature.
And now I am going to go through my pictures and see how many I need to post and then I will be caught up somewhat.
The Head! This is a fibre optic light my mother bought in the 70's. I am sure she paid less than $50 for it. They now sell for in excess of $300 on Ebay. We enjoy it very much and the new plug-in Butch installed works well for it.

 This morning I rode to the Raccoon River Bridge and back and this caught my eye.

 I have learned a thing or two about deer and I have a system for taking their picture. I spotted this deer when she was still some distance from me and she was headed in my direction. So the first thing I do is stop and get my camera/(phone) and then I simply stay as quiet as possible without moving until I see the shot I want. Right after I got this shot she turned left and off the trail into the trees. I watched a film about deer last winter. They are almost blind and that is why they get frightened easily and run blindly into trouble. They detect motion so if you stay motionless they do not detect you until they get close enough to smell you or you give yourself away with motion or sound.

Creamy Burrito Casserole

I wasn't going to post this recipe because Mr. Pickypants only gave it a so-so review. I should have known better. Last night we were at Jason and Lauras and we ate the remainder of this casserole and Laura wanted the recipe.

Creamy Burrito Casserole

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef

1/2 onion, chopped

1 package taco seasoning

6 large flour tortillas

1 can refried beans

2 -3 cups shredded taco cheese or cheddar cheese

1 can cream of mushroom soup

4 ounces sour cream

Directions

Brown beef and onion; drain.

Add taco seasoning and stir in refried beans.

Mix soup and sour cream in a separate bowl.

Spread 1/2 sour cream mixture in the bottom of a casserole dish.

Tear up 3 tortillas and spread over sour cream mixture.

Put 1/2 the meat bean mixture over that.

Add a layer of cheese.

Repeat the layers.

Sprinkle cheese over the top and bake, uncovered, at 350°F for 20-30 minutes.

Google Chrome Tips

Old dogs can learn new tricks and this old dog thinks (#2) drag-a-tab is really cool and useful.

Barb

Three handy tips for Google Chrome

1. Show recently viewed pages with a click
Did you know you can show a list of recently visited pages from the current tab? You can. All you have to do is right-click on the “Back” button and you’ll see a list of recently visited pages. And as illogical as it sounds, this also works with the “Forward” button too.

2. Drag-a-tab
Did you know that Chrome lets you detach a tab and open it in a new window? It does! All you have to do is drag the tab outside the active window. And you can also add it back to the original windows too. Just drag it back and drop it.

3. Drag your downloads
When you download a program using Chrome, you will see it on Chrome’s status bar (the bar along the bottom of the browser window). Did you know you can drag that download tab out of Chrome to your desktop or any folder on your computer? Also, you’ll note at the far right edge of the download tab (which shows the file name) you’ll see a little down-arrow. If you click that arrow you’ll get options such as “Show in folder”. “Run”, “Always open files of this type” and “Cancel”..

Back in School?

This is a terrific test.

  

And it shows results in a number of ways. 

It surely indicates that a large number of Americans don't know what's going on.

  

It's astonishing that so many people got less than half right. The results say that 80% of the (voting) public doesn't have a clue, and that's pretty scary.

  

There are no tricks here -- just a simple test to see if you are current on your information.

This is quite a good quiz and the results are somewhat shocking.

  

Test your knowledge with the challenge of 12 questions, then be ready to shudder when you see how others did: 

  

Click here: Test Your News IQ - Pew Research Center  

  

Computer info

Wendee is nervous about password managers

Hello,  I have considered password managers several times because I figure they are probably safer BUT I don't know how they work.  I read that we have to have ONE password to remember and the manager does the rest but where do we use that one and when does the manager take over?  It makes me nervous that I am not in control. Maybe more of us would use managers if you could explain it a bit for us. Thanks for all the help over the years!   

Our answer

Every password manager we know of stores passwords in encrypted form, and the only way to decrypt the passwords is with your one, all-important, master password. If you forget your master password you lose your key to all your other passwords. However the plus side of this is that you only have to remember one password, no matter how many passwords you use.

Most password managers automatically fill in your user name and password when you go to a site that requires you  to log in. Most password managers give you the option to type in your master password once (not recommended) so you don't have to  type in your master password every time you need to log into a site. Some, like LastPass, allow you to sign in with your master password for a limited number of hours (recommended) so that you only have to type your master password every few hours.

As far as you being in control, you're in complete control. RoboForm, LastPass and most of the others, will not be able to retrieve your passwords if you forget your master password. Your master password is the key that opens up all your passwords, without it, they're useless to you and everyone else. You are much more in control with a password manager than you are if you allow your browser to save your passwords or if you write them down on a piece of paper.

The password manager never "takes over" anything, All of good passwords managers give you a choice of auto-logging in to a site or not. You are always in control. And you can always access your own passwords with your master password.

And if you get a new computer or have to re-install Windows, and you're using a password manager like LastPass, just reinstall LastPass, log in to your LastPass account, and type in your master password and you'll have instant access to all of your passwords. If you allow your browser to store your passwords, if you get a new computer or a have to reinstall Windows, good luck.

Password Managers are a necessity now. None of us can afford to use one password for all sites anymore. And we can't afford using simple passwords like betty58 or 12345 anymore.'Passwords Managers do not control you, you control them. Consider Password Managers your ally in the fight against cyber crime and identity theft.

www.lastpass.com

Great Grands at play

Miss Elise

and little Leo

This Mornings Chuckle

Cold Spell

Going through a cold spell. It seems to be something we live through at least once a month and it does not matter if we are in Texas or Iowa. Grrr.
At any rate, today Butch and I managed to get quite a list of things done. Butch installed a  new outlet on our new patio and at the same time adding one inside where we had developed a need for it. It involved at least two...hmm I think 3 trips into the crawl space. Not a place he goes willingly.
In the meantime, I did several loads of laundry and made a casserole for supper. So it has been a full day.
Our car is in the hospital getting mostly cosmetic surgery from the deer encounter in Florida. We should have it back tomorrow. Fortunately, we live in a town where we can get everything we need within blocks. Leo and Keri offered a car, but we are getting along fine. I looked at  a recipe this morning that sounded simple and appealing and as luck would have it all the ingredients were in the house. Didn't even have to send Butch to the HyVee that is only 3 blocks away!
Maybe by Thursday we will have warm enough weather to walk/bike the trail. And after that we can get to some of our outdoor to do list.

At Jason and Laura's house

Yesterday we went to Jason and Laura's in Boone as we have promised them to do some things around their place for quite some time. Been a little preoccupied with our projects the past few summers.
Jason has placed his metal sculptures  and I snapped a few shots.

Jason's neighbor had a wind decoration that was broken. Jason rescued it from the garbage pick-up and added it to this piece. I think it adds an extra pizzaz.

 Colleen has turned my boy into a stacker of rocks!

 Miniature Iris

A trail walk...

Colleen's friend, Jackie came to Iowa with her and we had to show her what fascinates us about the trail and here is your view of what we saw... Jackie likes the trail.

Layers of color

Colleen

Want a Tree?

I went to the Master Gardeners plant sale yesterday and there was a lady sitting outside the door giving away sycamore trees for free. They had ordered 5 from a nursery in northern Iowa and they sent her 100 so she called them and they told her to keep them. That was why she is giving them away free.
They like damp soil. These are native to Iowa and were started here.
I have at least 5. Anyone interested?
I took a picture of a tree in Ames awhile back and come to find out it is a sycamore! So this is how these trees will look when mature. This picture was taken early in April. I understand they get their leaves late.