Back It Up!!!

A few weeks ago I tried to log into my computer and got a message saying my “User Profile Service service had failed to login”.  I tried several more times making sure I was typing in the right password, that no caps were on, and so on.

 

Nothing.

 

 

So I called the computer repair shop we use (Dog House Computers - http://www.dogg.com/ ) and was told I most likely had a virus.  I dropped my laptop off on my way to MO and a few days later got a call with the bad news… I did have a virus and my computer was “pretty jacked up”.

 

Even though I have well known anti-virus program and get regular updates, it seems to have let something thru.  They told me that often something can get in thru Java or Adobe or other such programs if you don’t keep the immediately updated cause the hackers or whatever you call those despicable who make viruses will find a weak point and use that as an entry.  (Can you tell I’m a tad irritated?)

 

When I picked it up I got the further bad news that my Outlook had been completely corrupted… DOA.  I lost everything I had saved in my emails.  All of it.  I was sick.

 

 

The worst of it is it didn’t have to happen.  If I had known how to back up my Outlook to our external hard drive (a Seagate Free Agent), this wouldn’t have happened.  I know how to do my photos and documents, so those are safe. 

 

They explained to me that I just needed to go to ‘files’ in Outlook and click ‘Import/Export’.  Then ‘export to file’.  From there click to save as a ‘pst’, then check personal folders and make sure you have ‘subfolders’ checked too.  The next window has the choice that includes ‘Replace with export’.  Make sure that is ticked.  Then you get the location you want in and click ‘finish’.

 

Now I’ll put in a disclaimer here… this is how it worked on MY computer. 

 

I feel a whole lot safer now that I have gotten everything backed up on both my computer and Himself’s computer.  I’ve also switched to a professional monitoring plan that maintains our computers both electronically (anti-virus, firewall, and other stuff) and physically (quarterly cleanings)…at a price cheaper than the anti-virus company charged.

 

I recommend at the very least you purchase an external drive and copy your important items over to it.  It could save you a lot of grief.

 

*******

 

Addition:

 

Since writing this blog, CNN has posted about Adobe's security woes.

 

http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/08/technology/security/adobe-security/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

Zucchini Recipes

My CSA baskets this summer had an abundance (perhaps an OVER abundance) of zucchini.  So I’ve tried a lot of new zuke recipes.  I’ve found a couple that I’d make even if I have to buy the zucchini!

First is a quiche that is a bit different.  The crust is made with brown rice.  I like the change up very much.  

From http://www.closetcooking.com/2009/08/herbed-zucchini-and-feta-quiche-with.html  This site is a treasure of great recipes.  Well worth looking at.

Herbed Zucchini and Feta Quiche with a Brown Rice Crust

(Makes 6+ servings)

 

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked brown rice

1/4 cup gruyere, grated

1 egg

4 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 cups zucchini (grated, squeezed and drained)

1/4 cup herbs (such as dill, mint, parsley, chopped)

2 green onions (chopped)

1 cup feta (crumbled)

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Mix the rice, cheese and egg in a bowl.

 

2. Press the rice mixture into a pie plate, about 1/4 inch thick.

 

3. Bake in a preheated 450F oven until the edges and bottom just start turning golden brown, about 5-7 minutes.

 

4. Mix the eggs, milk, zucchini, dill, mint, green onions, feta, salt and pepper in a large bowl.

 

5. Pour the egg mixture into the pie crust.

 

6. Bake in a preheated 375F oven until golden brown and set in the center, about 30-35 minutes.

The second recipe is for oven fried zucchini sticks. 

From http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2011/07/28/baked-zucchini-sticks-and-sweet-onion-dip-that-bloomin-zucchini/   The blog is full of photos on how she did it.  Plus she has a recipe for an onion dip to go with the sticks.  Her recipe directions are in a folksy “this is how you do it” sort of way.

Crispy Baked Zucchini Sticks

First, find yourself 3 medium-size zucchini, about 9″ to 10″ long. 

Cut each zucchini into 3″ sticks about the diameter of your finger. Cutting each zuke into 9 sticks lengthwise, and then cutting into 3″ lengths, works well. 

Place the zucchini sticks in a colander over a bowl, and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of salt. Let them drain for 1 hour or longer. 

Rinse them thoroughly; you want to get rid of any excess salt. Then pat them dry. 

Next up: the bread and cheese coating. But first, preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment, and spray the parchment with olive oil. 

Combine the following: 

1 cup Panko bread crumbs

Scant 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon Pizza Seasoning or mixed Italian herbs  

[I used lemon Panko crumbs and didn't add any other seasoning.  It was quite good.] 

Mix until thoroughly combined.

Beat 2 large eggs; or pour 1/2 cup egg substitute into a dish. You’re going to dip each zucchini stick in the egg…

…then roll it in the crumbs. 

Warning! Warning! Do as I say, not as I did here.  I figured, heck, just lay ‘em all in the crumbs and toss ‘em around, right? Never mind this coating one-by-one stuff…  WRONG.  About midway through, the crumbs had gotten so much egg splashed onto them they were sticking together in a solid mass. So I had to add a lot more Panko, and that still didn’t really help.

Place the sticks on the prepared baking sheet. 

Bake the sticks for about 12 minutes, until they’re starting to brown. Remove from the oven, and turn them over; you may actually need to do this one by one, or you may be able to turn several at a time using a spatula. Bake for an additional 12 to 16 minutes or so, until golden brown and crisp.

These baking times don’t match those in the recipe; I realize that. Bottom line, bake until the sticks are a speckled golden brown…

Teri's Note:  After I rinsed the salt I realized I was out of eggs.  Not wanting to go to the store I laid the zucchini sticks on several layers of paper towels and rolled them up.  I then placed this in an open plastic bag in the fridge.  Next day when I had more eggs I finished the recipe.  The sticks had lost quite a bit of moisture but I decided to cook them up anyway.  They turned out fantastic.  Very firm, not a bit soggy as I have had zucchini sticks come out before.

The Color of a Memory

Places you travel to leave memories with each of your senses.  To hear.  To taste.  To smell.  To feel.

 

To see…  A flash of color can carry me back through time and space on a memory that will make me smile.

 

 

Red takes me to the savannah of Kenya.  Himself and I spent 30 days in Kenya for our 25th wedding anniversary.  The highlight of our trip was spending time with the Maasai children we sponsor.  The men wear bright red plaid wraps which are strikingly bright in the African sun.  Red takes me to the boma of N’tikoisa and the incredible day when I became a Maasai elder.

 

 

Yellow brings the scent of salt air and memories of gentle rocking.  Himself works as a medical officer on a fish processor ship in Alaska.  When I’ve gotten to travel with him, I’ve spent contented hours sitting or standing on the ‘bitt’ with memories flowing into me.  Gull squawking, eagles soaring, the pong of fish smell.  Unique memories of a unique world. 

 

 

Green, green, and more green; that is the color of my memories of Costa Rica.  Gliding down a river the guide says “Look!  A large iguana!” 

 

“Where?”

 

“Right there!”

 

“Okaaaay…  OH!  There he is!”

 

A bit of Jurassic green among the leaves.

 

 

Blue is a boat being paddled across Lake Victoria in Kisumu, Kenya.  Paddled long the edge of a country through waters that have created civilizations as it became the Nile.  Paddled into a group of hippos.  Creaks of the boat.  Grunts of the hippos.  Look towards the horizon…blue boat, blue paddles, blue sky, blue water. 

 

 

White is cold and snow.  On Adak Island an eagle has landed, making an impression in the snow.  At home I run to the deck when an eagle happens to fly down the river.  Here, on Adak, eagles are as numerous as robins in spring.  As I sit on a rock that is the only non-snowy area along the beach, eagles are all around me.  Landing in the snow.  Flying past snow covered mountains.  Swooping to snatch fish out of the ice studded bay.  How many photos did I take that day?  A hundred?  Two hundred? 

 

This post is written as an entry to a contest at Travel Supermarket (http://www.travelsupermarket.com/default.aspx ).  For “Capture The Color” we are to blog about favorite travel photos featuring the colors red, yellow, green, blue, and white.

 

Also for the competition, they asked for 5 bloggers I follow to be ‘nominated’ to take part.  I follow some pretty incredible photographers and it was hard to pick just five.  I decided by thinking of those who’s photo continually blow me away.  In no particular order:

 

Hillary at http://thesmittenimage.blogspot.com/ 

 

“SFT” at http://sftandthe101challenge.blogspot.com/

 

http://sftandthe101challenge.blogspot.com/ 

 

Jill at http://jillsmithdesign.blogspot.com/

 

Lili at http://fearlessnesting.blogspot.com/

 

Autumn Fireplace

As I mentioned earlier, after I finished decorating my hearth I moved on up to the mantel. 

 

It was decorated mostly with items from our travels.  And while I liked it, I did want to go with seasonal themes that I could change out. 

 

So everything came off and I started over again!

 

This is what I came up with. 

 

 

The step ladder is the one I found alongside the road a while back.  The ‘wreath’ is a frame wrapped in burlap.  Ribbon and a leaf garland added some color to it.  I filled the candle holder and lantern with acorns from my parents oak trees.  The boot planter is a recent project.  The large pumpkin is new from Kirkland’s. 

 

 

Here is how the fireplace looks now.  So cozy. 

 

Now if the weather would just get a little more autumn-like!

 

 

http://organizeyourstuffnow.com/wordpress/september-point-view-link-party-mantels

 

 

CSI Fall Organizing Challenge: Ladder Drift Board Rack

Work on my studio makeover continues, with some of the projects spilling out into the garage area.  One area that needed organizing was how I stored my drift boards.  They were such a jumbled mess that I could never find what I was looking for.

With all the great ladder ideas I see on blogs and Pinterest, I’ve been grabbing them up whenever I find them for a great price ($5 or under) at yard sales or the ReStore. 

I used a $3 yard sale find to make this rack for my drift boards.  I had to add two rungs to the back of the ladder to make it work.  All that took was a 1x2 cut to size and 4 corner braces I pulled out of my stash.

I’m quite pleased with how it turned out.  It takes so much less space than what I had been doing and every board is visible. 

http://thecsiproject.com

Photo Album 2 Oct '13

One of those many spider webs I spoke of earlier.  This one is out on the deck. 

 

 

The early morning mist caught on it looks like silver beads.

 

 

A tiny web.  It’s maybe 2 inches across. 

 

 

As I said… they are everywhere!

 

 

Goldenrod came in really early this year.  Perhaps it was because of the cooler summer we had. 

 

 

These are in the field above our house. 

 

 

Backlit by the sun. 

 

 

What Queen Anne’s Lace turns into…

 

 

…’beggar ticks’!!  I hate pulling these out of my socks after a walk!

 

 

Don’t they look like little Velcro balls?

 

 

Saw this handsome fellow (yes, he’s a boy…male box turtles have red eyes) on a walk with Little Bird.

 

 

Dad and Mom’s new under-the-shed boarder. 

 

 

A Favorite Charity: Operation Christmas Child

Himself and I are involved with several charities.  One of our favorites is Operation Christmas Child, a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse. 

Here’s a little bit about how it started from the Samaritan’s Purse web site: 

Twenty Years of Joy

Twenty years ago, Franklin Graham made a promise to collect a few gifts for boys and girls in war-torn Bosnia. Today, Operation Christmas Child has become a year-round, international project, delivering millions of shoeboxes to children in nearly 100 countries each year. 

In July 1993, a man from the United Kingdom named Dave Cooke reached out to Graham because he needed help collecting gifts to send to children in Bosnia. Graham promptly agreed, then—as he tells it—just as promptly pushed the project to the back of his mind and continued focusing on various other projects at Samaritan’s Purse. 

Later that fall, Cooke called back asking when Samaritan’s Purse would send the gifts they collected. With the last-minute help of several pastors, Graham was able to deliver on his promise and sent 28,000 shoebox gifts for the children of Bosnia. 

Twenty years later, more than 103 million shoebox gifts have been collected and delivered in more than 150 countries, each one representing an opportunity to proclaim the Gospel. 

Whether their needs are physical or spiritual, the millions of boys and girls who have received shoeboxes have experienced powerful blessings through these simple gifts. Each gift is not only filled with toys, hygiene items, and school supplies, but also with the power of prayer. 

“We ask people to pray as a family as you pack the boxes,” Graham said. “Pray that God would use them. And He does. We have seen miracle after miracle of how God has used a box.” 

Twelve-year-old Dulce Maria lives in extreme poverty in Honduras with her father and four siblings. Her mother committed suicide in 2002 due to extreme depression over the family’s difficult financial situation. Her father takes her to school every day and then goes to do janitorial and maintenance work in households that hire him for a day. 

Dulce Maria always wanted a doll, but her father couldn’t afford to buy her one. Imagine the surprise and delight she experienced when she received a shoebox gift, opened it, and saw a doll! Jumping for joy, she said it was the most beautiful one she had ever seen. 

But her joy was not yet complete that day. The Gospel was shared during the distribution, and she learned more about Jesus through a children’s storybook offered with the shoebox. Dulce Maria went to her teacher and told her that she had received two gifts that day: the doll and eternal life in Christ. 

No matter who packs them, from three former U.S. presidents to the family down the street, each gift-filled shoebox throughout the past 20 years represents the joy of one more child, like Dulce Maria, who has been reached with a tangible expression of God’s love. 

“We are just getting started with Operation Christmas Child,” said Randy Riddle, director of the project’s domestic operations in the United States. “The potential is so great to reach more and more children.” 

Our goal is to collect 9.8 million shoebox gifts from 11 countries this year. The gifts will be delivered along with your prayers to places such as Argentina, Zimbabwe, Angola, Vietnam and more. 

And after 20 years delivering shoeboxes to 75 percent of the countries around the world, the motivation for sharing the gifts has remained the same. 

“I want the children of the world to know, I want their parents to know, that God loves them,” Graham said. “He cares for them, and He wants them to be with Him in heaven.” 

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/article/twenty-years-of-joy/ 

Each year we send 6 boxes… 4 are for older boys, since they are the ones least packed for. 

Then we send a box to a little girl ‘from’ Little Bird and one to a little boy ‘from’ Little Hoss.  This year will be the first year we actually take the kiddos with us to shop for these boxes. 

Of course I’ll share how that went!