Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls

It is what's for supper. This picture was taken a few minutes ago. As a matter of fact it is still on the stove and Butch is still eating. This recipe is easy and simple and simply delicious! Cabbage is abundant right now too.
I think I have posted this recipe before but here it is again.

Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls

Ingredients:

1 1/2 to 2 pounds lean ground beef

1 tablespoon oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 small cabbage, chopped

2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes

1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon sea salt

Preparation:

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the ground beef and onion and cook, stirring, until ground beef is no longer pink and onion is tender.

Add the garlic and continue cooking for 1 minute.

Add the chopped cabbage, tomatoes, tomato sauce, pepper, and salt. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until cabbage is tender.

Yield: Serves 6 to 8

Problems Solved-sort of

 Computer problem
The culprit is Google Chrome which I love by the way. It not only freezes up the browser it freezes up the entire computer. But when I use Firefox all works as it should. The online helpers suggested disabling chat in Chrome, which I did but it didn't work. Other advice was changes in the registry which I shy away from because I do not have any confidence in that area. One guy said his worked fine in safe mode with network which indicated it was an extension problem-also beyond my range of knowledge. I would not know which extension or how to change it. Every time I try something and it doesn't work my computer freezes up again so I hesitate to be too aggressive with repair attempts. I recently had my computer cleaned out and except for this issue it works very well.  Oh also, I guess this problem is only on 64 bit computers and that is what I have. As long as I know it is a Chrome problem and I stay away from Chrome, it and me will be okay.

And then concerning credit card compromising...
I am now using secure online numbers for online shopping. I will paste a little ditty in here from Discover card that explains how it works. There a few merchants that it does not work for such as Amazon, Facebook and Ebay.  I use Amazon quite a bit but rarely use Ebay and NEVER would I use Facebook to purchase anything.
I have recurring bills from Verizon, Time Warner and Netflix and they are all now set up with different numbers. And when I make any online purchase from here on out I will use a newly generated number from Discover. If this doesn't stop this compromising business I do not know what will.

Here is how it works...

What is a secure online account number?

Secure online account numbers is a free online service offering you added security by protecting your account number while shopping online. When you make a purchase with a merchant using a secure online account number, the number is assigned only to that particular merchant. Once a secure online account number is assigned, the merchant can use it for your future purchases with them unless you specify otherwise. Some merchants, such as Facebook, Amazon, and PayPal, will not be able to use the same secure online account number multiple times. When shopping with those merchants, you will need to use a new secure online account number each time.
When you use a secure online account number instead of your actual Discover Card number, your account number is not revealed on the Internet or stored in an online retailer’s files. Or course, you also always receive $ Fraud Liability Guarantee so you're never responsible for unauthorized charges on your Discover Card account.
Note: You must be logged into your Discover Card account in order to generate and use secure online account numbers.

Computer issues and Tomatoes

I am having computer issues and have been trying to get them resolved without purchasing new. It freezes up on me and I am unable to make anything work forcing me into a manual shut down. Not good. It seems to be working for the minute but I am working in a different browser (Firefox) than what I usually work in (Chrome) so maybe there is a glitch in the browser. These things are much like a compromised credit card...who the heck knows who, what, where or when!
So what I am saying is if you do not hear from me on the blog, or facebook, or word with friends for an extended period of time it is most likely because of computer issues. I can use Butch's (but he wouldn't like it) or I can use my Kindle Fire but I like a bigger keyboard for computer work so that would be a last resort.

Anyone need any tomatoes? Leo has a whole bunch and he would like to have them off his hands.

The Cutest Little Website

Lots of cool ideas and tips for homeowners and RVers.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Fix-It/

More news of the negative kind.

My online credit card, the one I use only for online purchases has once again been compromised. I am so glad that we have two. Butch uses the one for all other purchases not on the Internet and we have not had a problem with that one. So what to do now??? Hmmm. I found this out because I had set an amount to be notified by email if a purchase was over that amount. $500. And sure enough I received an email that I had purchased Facebook ads for the amount of $500! I called Discover right away and they will be sending me new cards. But what to do about it is perplexing. So now I am associating a different email account with the new credit card. I will use it only for this credit card. I have had our keep.movin.on email for many years and I am thinking perhaps this may be how they are getting my info. Heck, I do not know, but I do know I will not give up the convenience of buying online. I will add as many precautions as I can and hope for the best.

Big News Day!

Not necessarily in chronological order.
When I returned from my walk this morning I noticed something bright pink in the yard. Our survey has been done!! And we are well within our lot lines on all counts!! We have heard the last from the smart mouth neighbors. We called their bluff the big old bullies. Father and son can now cease and desist. Leo suggested I get a whole pile of copies and hand them one every time they want to talk about it. I took pictures: The little pink things might be a bit hard to see but they are there and that is what counts.

 A little hard to see the pink flag in the back yard but it is on the left side of the toys in the yard beyond

The orange flag is marking the fiber optics work but it is very close to the actual property line.

In this shot you can see the actual pins they use .

front yard pin

It is well to the south of our driveway.

And now onto other news. We went Best Brand chair shopping while in Spencer for the fair. Found my chair at Matts Furniture. Of course I did not buy it because we were not in the right situation to do so and they wanted too much money. I paid $324 for my last chair. The best deal I could get with them was $569. Not good. And then Leslie suggested we try Nebraska Furniture Mart. So Butch needed to do a small bit of electrical for Emily and Joe who live in Omaha so we combined the trip yesterday. Nebraska Furniture Mart had only one chair on display but that did not matter because I knew what I wanted. This chair was a butt ugly color and they wanted $289 for it. Butch asked if we buy more than one chair will the price be lower. He said, "Absolutely!" We bought 3 chairs in my fabric choice for $315 a piece. By the time they were stain treated and delivered to us the total for 3 chairs was a bit under $1200. The negative for this is that we may not be able to get them delivered until Nov 7th. So we may be staying in Iowa until we get our chairs. We will cross that bridge when we get to it. 

We enjoyed our trip to Omaha and back and listened to our audio book "The Potato Factory". We stopped in Oakland Iowa to see Dick and Leslie's new house. It is a beautiful one to say the least.

Dick painted a family tree on the wall and then they added family pictures. Well done!

See the little yellow butterflies on Leslie's flowers?

These were taken near Adair Iowa. They are firmly entrenched on the Iowa landscape.

3 days without Internet

3 days without Internet puts me way behind. We went to the Clay County Fair as we have in years past to meet up with Magnolia Park friends the Cooklin's and the Cleaveland's plus others. We had a great time and wore ourselves out. The weather was hot and my feet were aching big time but it was fun in spite of my feet.
Marlene and Bernard came down on Saturday night to share a meal with us and it was fun catching up on family events as well. (Marlene is Butch's sister)
My photos did not do as well this year as in years past but I still like to participate. I had one second place and two third places so I did not strike out completely.
We came home to a big surprise- Leo was doing some yard maintenance for us! Thank You Leo!! Also I am not certain I have shared this info with you but we plan to have our property surveyed because every time our name comes up with anyone our neighbor speaks with, he feels it is necessary to inform them that we are infringing on their property. Same was true as Leo was working on our lawn. So Leo told him we were going to have our place surveyed and he said, "Oh no, you do not need to do that, I can show you where the pins are!" Leo told him it was too late as we already have it scheduled...and we do. The neighbor thinks it is an unnecessary expense but I am sick of hearing him flap his mouth about it. My thought is that he protesteth too much and it has been my experience when someone keeps bringing up the same info all the time it is themselves they are trying to convince. So we will see...and either way we all will know the truth of it.
Here are some 2013 fair pictures:

Butch is going to buy our tickets.

Norma, Dale and Leslie are shucking sweet corn.

I left my camera with Butch.

Norma received an outstanding on her painting.

This fellow spent a great deal of time preparing his tractor for the fair.

Baby Alpaca

Miniature Donkey.

Getting Ready

We are getting ready for our trip to the fair. What could we possibly have been thinking? Our life used to be so simple- when we were ready to move we did our countdown moves, brought up our leveling legs and we were on our way. Now it takes 2 to 3 days to load the motorhome and we are thoroughly convinced we have missed some major items. We have no idea what they are-but we know we will get up to Spencer and one of us will say, "Guess what we forgot?" and the other will say, "I do not know, what?" "We forgot ----"  So here we sit the night before take off, trying to remember everything.

The truth of it is that no matter what it is that we might forget we can most likely get along just fine without it.

Butch's Doctor appt.

Butch had an appt today to find out the source of why his arm goes numb. The test consisted of his arm being shocked. Let me tell you he didn't like that even a little bit! Well, the bottom line is that he has mild to moderate carpal tunnel in both arms. His doctor the other day gave him braces for each wrist and it has helped tremendously. The doctor today was fairly certain his other doctor would probably not recommend surgery at this time. So that is good news!

Great Grands picture updates

Elise plays hide and seek

Ethan looks at his pumpkin

Blowing bubbles with Papa

Helping Papa with his chores

How the Internet began...seriously!

My friend Colleen sent me this and it was something I was unaware of. Thus I am posting it here because I thought it might interest others as well. If you do not give a rats patootie just walk on by...

From Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back by Andrew Zolli & Ann Marie Healy. The internet was created by the U.S. military as a way to preserve communications to missile silos in the event of a Soviet nuclear attack:

"From its inception as a U.S. military funded project in the 1960s, the Internet was designed to solve a particular problem above all else: to ensure the continuity of communications in the face of disaster. Military leaders at the time were concerned that a pre-emp­tive nuclear attack by the Soviets on U.S. telecommunications hubs could disrupt the chain of command -- and that their own counterstrike orders might never make it from their command bunkers to their in­tended recipients in the missile silos of North Dakota. So they asked the Internet's original engineers to design a system that could sense and automatically divert traffic around the inevitable equipment failures that would accompany any such attack.

"The Internet achieves this feat in a simple yet ingenious way: It breaks up every email, web page, and video we transmit into packets of information and forwards them through a labyrinthine network of routers -- specialized network computers that are typically redundantly connected to more than one other node on the network. Each router contains a regularly updated routing table, similar to a local train sched­ule. When a packet of data arrives at a router, this table is consulted and the packet is forwarded in the general direction of its destination. If the best pathway is blocked, congested, or damaged, the routing table is updated accordingly and the packet is diverted along an alternative path­way, where it will meet the next router in its journey, and the process will repeat. A packet containing a typical web search may traverse dozens of Internet routers and links -- and be diverted away from multiple conges­tion points or offline computers -- on the seemingly instantaneous trip between your computer and your favorite website.

"The highly distributed nature of the routing system ensures that if a malicious hacker were to disrupt a single, randomly chosen computer on the Internet, or even physically blow it up, the network itself would be unlikely to be affected. The routing tables of nearby routers would simply be updated and would send network traffic around the damaged machine. In this way, it's designed to be robust in the face of the anticipated threat of equipment failure.

From Papa Gary and his favorite granddaughter Elise.

It's been a while. It is activity like this video that keeps me from getting a bunch of cute Leo video. He is quick with a smile and his giggle is very infectious.

http://youtu.be/XtqDZxdHwEo

From me:

Not to worry, I have told him I am expecting a Baby Leo video as well.

Today's Pics

We went to Des Moines today to the Habitat for Humanity Restore. Butch is not fond of the place but Jason, Laura and I like to poke around there. We enticed Butch there because they had some air compressors for sale and he has been in the market for a small portable one. He also had one spotted on sale at Menard's and that is where he ended up buying one. It was a fun day with the kids and when we dropped them off in Boone I took some pictures of their grapes and one of their not yet ripe pumpkin. This is a volunteer pumpkin by the way and it certainly hasn't had much rain.

Munchkins

I have been wondering how the greatgrand munchkins were faring these days but knowing that their mom is a busy one I did not push and then today when I signed in to Facebook I am blessed with some recent photos...and here they are!

Miss Elise (age 3) in her princess dress with her hair straightened for the first time. She is usually a naturally curly girl and her great gram likes it both ways.

And Baby Leo who is now 5 months old.

Early morning ramble

I was up early this morning...early for me that it is at 5:00AM. I remembered that I had not watered my flowers yesterday. They worried me as hot as it has been. I had to wait till 6:30 for it to be light enough for me to see them and they were fine. These flowers need dead headed really bad and I want to give them a good soaking before we go to the fair next Thursday. I have been amazed how well they hold the water they do get.
It is such a relief to have the sewer fixed. Like the song says, "You don't know what you got till it's gone". So true and it always amazes me how your life gets suspended when there is an issue with it. It is like holding your breath. But we are breathing much easier now and I am caught up with the laundry and Butch has emptied the holding tanks in the motorhome without any problem. All systems go and yes, I do catch the double meaning.
In a few minutes I will be meeting Colleen for our walk. We have missed a few days and we will be missing a few more coming up. We have been very fortunate all summer that nothing has prevented us from getting our walks in. We both miss it when we do not get it done. We do not feel like we walk quickly at all and really considering our age I do not think we do walk quickly but Colleen has had some guests this summer who tried to walk with us and couldn't stand the pace. So perhaps we do better than we think. I am aware that the bike runs I have made lately were much easier than the first ones.
For now, I am out the door....

More to come

Butch had an early morning appointment with a doctor in Ames for a tingling in his arms and hands under certain circumstances and a loss of dexterity in his hands. I think today was the first of many appointments. Two are on the calendar already. As he would say,"Its a long way from my heart." Or maybe it is me who would say that.
The sewer issue is taken care of... that is everything but the bill. Not knowing where the sewer was in the beginning was our mistake. As it turns out in putting the sewer connection to the motorhome we cut right through it. How it worked for the two years it did is a complete mystery. But the situation has been repaired and altered to be satisfactory now.
I took a few early morning photos the other day and here are some of them.

Sewer in process

They are working on it and we are going to make some adjustments to our system while we are in the process. In the final analysis it should all be better than it was before and that is the silver lining in this big old pile of stinky stuff. I always look for that silver lining even in a pile of poop. It is our own poop after all. It is nice there are people out there who are willing to help us deal with our own poop.
Another part of the silver lining is that our 3 season room has yet to be built. Sometimes procrastination can also be a blessing. I am hoping tomorrow we can do laundry. Tonight I hope we can take a nice long shower without mysterious gurgles and burps.

 The one above is there because Butch may want to consider it the way his game is going these days. And the one below is because I thought you could all use a little chuckle and it also ties in a bit with our sewer problem..

We have hopes the plumber is showing up tomorrow and that we will be repaired before evening. Hope is all we live on, right? If that indeed happens I will be so happy to have our normal routine returned. Sometimes being in a rut looks pretty darn good.

We went to Ames for my annual eye exam this morning and all is well. I think I will get some Mexican glasses this next winter. They simply want way too much money for them on this side of the border. I am so tired of the constant search for glasses so I had the doctor write a prescription for ones I can wear all the time.

We are watching Breaking Bad on Netflix. Anyone else out there hooked on that series?

A ride through Paradise

This morning I had a very early appointment for a hair cut. 7:15AM. I know. I was surprised too. But Marcia asked if I could make that time and I said "Yes" so there you go. It cut into my walk time with Colleen but I found a new hairdresser in Jefferson that I like. That only took 3 years. So after my haircut it was still fairly cool outdoors so I decided to get a bike ride in.
It is hard to put into words what it feels like on the trail in the early morning light with a light southerly breeze. There are places along the trail that give me the feeling of entering a cathedral with all that can entail. The quiet serenity of the tall trees forming a peak above, shafts of morning sunshine finding its way through the leaves. The quiet, oh the quiet is so hard to describe. It simply can't be done. It has to be experienced and it has to be experienced alone. If I were with you I would have to tell you how wonderful it is...and that would break the spell. Here are the pictures from this mornings meditation.

Many places along the trail have steep sides where you are looking down on the river valley floor.

 I have the thought in some places where I find it doubtful a man has set foot on the ground for many years if ever simply because it appears so undisturbed.