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Just wanted to stop by and say HELLO to all my Elk County friends!  Everything has been going well for our family since moving to the Salina/Brookville/Ellsworth area.  Josey is growing like a weed and crawling all over the place!  No teeth yet, but I'm hoping it will be any day now!  Chuck really enjoys his new job on this ranch.  He enjoys the laid-back atmosphere and being able to spend more time at home.  He has also got orders for 3 (maybe 4) saddles, so he plans to keep busy in the evenings and weekends for a while.  Work is going well for me, although I did end up hiring a local teen to be our part-time babysitter for the summer so I can get more done during the day. 
Although we love our new location and get to see Grandma and JoePa and my sister's family quite often, we still miss our Elk County friends and activities!!!
We wish you all a wonderful summer! 

It is with great sadness that I type this post to all my friends here in Elk County.  Chuck has taken a job around the Ellsworth/Brookville area and we will be moving from Elk County mid-December.  It was a difficult decision for us to make; to leave our friends and communities.  Chuck has been here 6 years and I have been here 5 years and we have formed lasting friendships with many people.  We have also been involved in many community projects and groups, and are saddened to leave this behind.  We both see Elk County as having great potential and hope everyone involved continues to persevere and GROW this area!  We will still stay in touch (and you'll still see me on the Forum often), as well as visit, too!

Happy Halloween from the Norris family, and our sleeping skeleton!

With all the rain and cold weather, the snakes are taking advantage of the warmth today.  Someone killed a big FAT one at the end of my driveway (I think the thanks goes to my mailwoman), and I saw a couple small ones stretched out on the road on my way to town.  So, if you go out and about today and this weekend, keep a watchful eye!

So, in another life I'd like to be involved in either marketing research or doing marketing for companies.  It's interesting to me to see commercials and wonder "what the heck?" or "wow, that was cool".  I get it from my dad.  We over-analyze every commerical that comes on when we watch TV together.

So, my question for you is... what TV commercials do you either LOVE or HATE?

I can't think of any I LOVE right now, but usually beer commercials are pretty creative, especially the Budweiser ones.

The two that really annoy me are:
1)  The Geico commercials with the money stack with eyes.
2)  The new Pistachio commercials

I didn't want to pollute the other gun discussion, even though these questions are similar, they would probably get that discussion too far off track.

So my question is, those of you (us) who agree with our right to have firearms, what are your thoughts on:
1)  Registering firearms
2)  Waiting periods to purchase firearms

So, I was strolling around Dillons and realized that they had more different varieties of apples than I realized!  I have lately been buying Fuji apples (I like the crispness and the tartness), but also enjoy Braeburn now and then, too.  I used to only like Granny Smith, but they are a little too tart for me now.  I do NOT like the kinds that are soft, either.  I also remember that one time my family did an "apple taste-test" to see which apples we liked the best.  Of course, like all "research" my family does, we can't remember the outcome!  We get too wrapped up in the fun of testing (kind of like when we tried to see what would happen to a marshmallow if we put it in a vacuum sealer). 

So... out of all the different types of apples out there, which is your favorite?

Hey, thought I'd share this information with everyone.  There is a very nice website where you can create your own "family" website to share news, pictures, and keep track of birthdays and other special events.  Both sides of my own family uses this website, and it's really fun and easy!  www.myfamily.com
I believe they even have a version that is free, or you can upgrade to a certain storage size for only $30 per year (so you can post LOTS of pictures).  It's completely private and you can invite people to join the website, so you have control over who is on it and who is not.  Like I said, it's really handy to keep track of birthdays and anniversaries.  Posting pictures is very easy to do.  And if you belong to more than one "family" site, then you can post a picture (or news) and choose to post it on all the other sites at the same time. 
One side of my family is very large (7 children, 20 grandchildren, and up to about 10 or so great-grandchildren) and this is a fun way to keep track of what everyone is doing.  The other side is pretty big, too, but they just mostly use it to post pictures. 
Anyway, I know a lot of you enjoy the Forum, so this is a great way to get your family involved, too.
(No, I don't own a stake in this company.  Just thought some families who have people spread all over might like something like this.)

Yes, I almost missed it!  But never fear, I will once again post the newest Stars that will be Dancing again this season!

Aaron Carter - singer, actor
Ashley Hamilton - (son of Geroge Hamilton) actor, songwriter, comedian
Chuck Liddell - Mixed Martial Artist and Ultimate Fighting Champion
Debi Mazar - actress (GoodFellas, and HBO's Entourage)
Donny Osmond - Singer, actor, TV presenter
Joanna Krupa - actor, model
Kathy Ireland - model, actor, author
Kelly Osbourne - (daughter of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne) Singer, actress and media personality
Louie Vito - professional snowboarder
Macy Gray - R&B singer-songwriter
Mark Dacascos - host of Food Network's Iron Chef America, actor, martial artist
Melissa Joan Hart - Actor, Producer, Director
Michael Irvin - ESPN radio host, Former Dallas Cowboy (won 3 superbowls)
Mya - Singer, songwriter, record producer, actor
Natalie Coughlin - Olympic Swimming Gold Medalist (she's won 11 medals in 2004 and 2008 Olympics in the 11 events she entered)
Tom DeLay - politician

Last night (Monday) the guys danced 2 dances; one individual and one "relay" group dance.  Tonight, it's the girls' turn.  Wednesday, 2 stars will be eliminated.

I would be shirking my duties to my favorite TV show if I didn't let you know that Tom Delay is on Dancing With The Stars this season!
(Just wanted to add a little fun to the Politics section)
From his bio:
The former House Majority Leader is a prominent Republican and conservative firebrand. He was first elected to Congress in 1984, and when Republicans took control of the House his colleagues elected him Majority Whip, and later Majority Leader.

His leadership was characterized by his aggressive "Grow the Vote" method of party discipline where he never lost a vote, leading the Washington Post to nickname him "The Hammer."

Wow, lots of work being done on the road ditches around the county!  I really have high hopes that this will help the drainage and thus help the potholes issues. 

(Maybe this should be posted under Natural remedies, but Teresa can boot it over if she wants.)

Has anyone heard of this and does it actually work???  Pasted from e-mail.

We went with some out of town friends to Sweety Pies on Sunday for breakfast, and we sat in the enclosed patio section beside the house.   We happened to notice a couple of zip lock baggies pinned to a post and a wall.  The bags were half filled with water, each contained 4 pennies, and they were zipped shut.  Naturally we were curious!  Ms Sweety told us that these baggies kept the flies away!  So naturally we were even more curious!  We actually watched some flies come in the open window, stand around on the window sill, and then fly out again.  And there were no flies in the eating area!  This morning I checked this out on Goggle.  Below are comments on this fly control idea.  I'm now a believer!  More comments not included here were about pet dogs and fly problems. 

  Zip-lock water bags

Sue says:
Many people swear that a zip-lock bag filled half-way with water and attached over entry-ways will repel flies. No one yet knows how or why it works, but there is speculation that it has something to do with the way the moving water refracts light. If you have tried this please use the comments form at the bottom of the page to share your results with the rest of us.

ann Says:
October 5th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
I did tried the ziplock bag and pennies this weekend. I have a horse trailer with full LQ. The flys were very bad this weekend while I was camping. I put the baggie with pennies above the door of the LQ. NOT ONE FLY came in the trailer. The horse trailer part had many. Not sure why it works but it does!!!!!!!

Danielle Martin Says:
September 20th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Fill a ziplock bag with water and 5 or 6 pennies and hang it in the problem area. In my case it was a particular window in my home. It had a slight but significant passage way for insects.Every since I have done that, it has kept flies and wasps away. Some say, that wasps and flies mistake the bag for some sort of other insect nest and are threatened by this.

maggie Says:
June 7th, 2009 at 11:40 am
I swear by the plastic bag of water trick I have them on side porch ( our house entry) and all around the basement door. We saw these in Northeast Mo at an Amish grocery store & have used them since. They say it works because a fly sees a reflection & won't come around.

Just DJ Says:
May 16th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Regarding the science behind zip log bags of water? My research found that each of the millions of molecules of water presents its own prism effect and given that flies have a lot of eyes, to them it's like a zillion disco balls reflecting light, colors and movement in a dizzying manner. When you figure that flies are basically prey for many other bugs, animals, birds, etc., they simply won't take the risk of being around that much perceived action. I moved to a rural area ant thought these "hillbillies" were just yanking my city boy chain but I tried it, worked immediately! We went from hundreds of flies to seeing the occasional one, but he don't hang around long.

Lunch today:  ham sandwich with sliced homegrown tomato warm from the garden, and homegrown cucumbers cool from the fridge (picked last night).
Yummm.

This probably won't do the same for a lot of you as it did me, but for those of us who grew up in the "wheat side" of the Wheat State, this gives me thrills and chills!  This video was made by a friend of my siblings.  Turn up the volume!

(Don't tell my hubby I posted this...)

I don't understand the infatuation with Chuck Norris jokes, but we received a package in the mail the other day from a "unknown" source.  In it was a t-shirt that said "What you should know about Chuck Norris"...

Chuck Norris is the only man who can actually punch you in the soul.

On undercover missions, instead of bombs, the Air Force drops pictures of Chuck Norris flexing, and everyone on the ground dies of fear.

For Halloween, superheros dress up like Chuck Norris.

When you think fear is gripping you, it's not fear, it's Chuck Norris.

Chuck Norris doesn't do comedy because no one has ever laughed at Chuck Norris and lived.

Did anyone else find that there's a "hole" in Elk County, according to the newest Rural Directory?  Something happened at the printers, because Union Center SE is missing!  It also looks like the end of the address section at the front, and the beginning of the land ownership section at the front are also missing (not printed).  Guess I'm living in no-man's land... or no-print land!   

Yes, I am.     And tomorrow at Crazy Days I'll be wearing the t-shirt that says so.   
The whole Eastern part of the state is in an "excessive heat warning" until Saturday night at 7 pm.
At least the humidity is a little lower than earlier in the week, though.  I think tomorrow it will be back up; enough to steam things up and cook up some good storms for Saturday night.  Weather Bug says that the heat index will be around 109 tomorrow.

Luckily, after Chuck's out in the heat all day long, he likes the house COLD.  Last summer I about froze, but this summer it feels pretty darn good.  He says, "that's why I work hard to get paid; to pay for things like A/C".

I hope everyone else is staying cool.  I bet the pool has been busy.

And so it begins (I was hoping to bypass this part of pregnancy!)...
Anyone know of any natural remedy for heartburn?  So far, I just have been getting it a little in the evening after I eat, but according to friends... it may turn into all-night misery soon!  I know there are non-natural things like Tums, but these same friends say that they didn't help them much during the heat of battle.
Thanks!

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers, grandfathers, and greats on this forum!

I have a question that's been bugging me...
Two nights ago, we had hundreds if not thousands of bugs flying around our yard light.  June bugs, lightning bugs, etc.  Last night; not a single one.
I did not spray, the weather was just as humid out (although no storms brewing last night compared to Tuesday night), and the wind was not blowing either night.
Anyone have an answer?