Furnace flame-out no match for Milford woman

My sister-in-law’s almost 113 year old grandmother is feisty! Ya gotta read this! From Rick’s brother Jay:

Hello,

Thought you might be interested in an article that appeared in the Sioux City Journal yesterday about Lori’s Grandmother.  The author has written nice articles about Letitia in the past. 

Jay

The site

Okay. Here’s the deal. And I want feedback!

When I first started the blog, it was to address the overwhelming job of keeping What’s New up to date. Each new item required rearranging, redesigning. Jason sold me on starting a blog. Not only would it make updating easy, but the archive and search features were added bonuses. And so my blogging journey began. I love the blog. I think lots of you do too!

The transition you’ve been witnessing the past week is being done for several reasons, including taking advantage of the latest in technology. Web 2.0 is interactive, so to speak. For more than a year, I’d been noticing websites – net necessarily dog sites – were becoming more interactive. Or communal, as Bryan said. Curious about that, wondering how in the heck that stuff could be incorporated into my sites, I went on a learning quest. To cut to the chase, modern sites are being run with Web 2.0 technology. Blogs run with that technology; I just didn’t realize it.

There were other things that led to the switch. The software I use to maintain the website is almost obsolete. It hasn’t been manufactured for several years. In the past months my server has had several issues because of this outdated software. I wanted to run live news feed into the website. Okay, so maybe this isn’t something you guys are interested in. But I thought it would be cool to open the site each morning, see who’s commented, check out the headlines over my first cup of java. The type of feed is call rss, shows up with a little orange box and if you hover your mouse over the headline a little box with a sentence or two pops up. It seems so easy now that I’ve figured it out, believe me it was a major coup for me!

It’s going to take lots of time to get all the content of the old website moved to the new website. It took all last weekend just to get the ‘skeleton’ designed. It’s going to take longer to edit the content of each page, including the graphics. Graphics are set up in tables on the old site. There are things called plug-ins for the new site that should make displaying graphics, including photo albums and video, really, really cool. Another learning adventure!

In the meantime, you should have access to all content within the old site. As you navigate through the new format, I’ve provided links to the old site so the information is available during this transition…which could take several weeks. If you’re having problems or can’t access an area, let me know.

One last thing. Two, really. Julie had some great input about the layout of the widgets (those are the areas like the calendar, search bar, live news feed, etc.), but she really liked the photos on the home page of the other site. She also prefers the blog buried within the website. I prefer it right where it is; just below the static introduction. I told her for what she’s paying me…it’s gonna stay where it’s at. 🙂 Besides it’s all part of keeping with the times. We’re not old ladies, right?! Right?!

She’s got a point about the photos. The header, which includes the FleetFireTimbers banner, remains the same, no matter which page you’re on. That’s suppose to be good integrative design. It’s also how the templates work…at least to the best of my skill level. The banner I tossed up last weekend was made quickly, sized to fit the template. That can be changed easy enough. As I edit each page, I’ll place photos – lots of photos – prominently.

Before I close this long From The Administrator post, please let me know if you have requests, comments. Is there an rss feed you’d like to see?

And, Julie, here’s one for you…

:Debby on…mirror, mirror

Mirror, mirror
On The Wall

For years – it’s probably still there – atop my sister Lori’s dresser is a doll standing in front of a mirror. She’s probably ten, dressed in braids, a plaid shirt, rolled up denim jeans and tennis shoes. Old-fashioned tennis shoes. No Nike swoosh for her! In her arms, looking into the mirror, she’s holding a wedding dress.

When Fernando – and Dante and Sadie and Ling and Khamma – were five months old, Vickie, Julie and I met in Rapid City for dog shows and a puppy exchange. Vickie brought Dante home to Colorado. Julie somehow got Ling to my sister. It was fun to watch the puppies that weekend. Among the many photos, here’s my favorite. Fernando looking in the mirror.

Both of those images jumped into my head when I received this…

Cadence is Lori’s grand-daughter. Lori’s daughter Shanna is Cadence’s mother.

Kelly wrote:

Me again.  I received this picture of our Great Niece Shanna’s daughter Cadence.  I think it’s a really cool picture!!! 
Love the mirror idea!  This is her Christmas dress.

Mirror, mirror
On The Wall
Who’s the fairest
Of them all?

:Debby writes…don’t flip out!

I’m jumping in! Web 2.0. I finally understand what I’ve been seeing for months. Web 2.0. Understanding it might be going a little too far, but there’s only one way to learn. Jump in! So, if you see weird, wacky things over the next few days, don’t worry. I’m integrating the blog with the content on the website and doing a bit of a design change. Here I go!