Other than the prenatal visit and the face of nasty we did have the pleasure of sightseeing throughout Nashville and neighboring areas of Tennessee. We stayed at a cheap Red Roof Inn Saturday night and had linner at Whole Foods that day (linner is a combo of lunch and dinner. A un-word N uses for fun).

We were both really beat by about 5pm-6pm that day. After all we did wake up at 5am to make the trip out to Summerfield. So we checked in to our hotel after our linner and then we laied down for a nap after the prenatal appointment. I got to put a hot compress on my spider bite before napping and we also got some natural cortizone type cream for the bite at Whole Foods.

We have no Whole Foods in Evansville (or any decent natural food store for that matter) so hanging out at the Whole Foods in Tennessee was a treat for us. We also stocked up on my favorite breakfast item, Strawberry Hemp Granola! 2 pounds wont last long but it sure is a great treat!

Sunday morning after a good nights sleep we awoke and headed out to sight see. We took a guided tour of the Carnton Plantation in Franklin, TN and had a blast. For some reason we enjoy guided tours of old historic places. While in Flagstaff, we attended a tour of the Riordan Mansion in Flagstaff, AZ that we also really enjoyed.

Anyway the Carnton Plantation is not only cool because it is an old plantation house with tons of history. It is also noteworthy because it was a civil war field hospital during The Battle of Franklin and is now a final resting place for 1,481 men who were killed during the Battle of Franklin.

Carrie McGavock, wife of John McGavock who resided at Carnton Plantation was in the midst of The Battle of Franklin on November 30th 1864 when the Army of Tennessee passed around her home headed toward battle. Carrie took in hundreds of wounded and dying Confederate soildiers during battle and the day following battle. The florrs of the home are still stained with the blood of those who were treated there.

It was a very educational and historic place for us to visit and we had a great time learning and reflecting upon the history of our country. We even kind of like the outlying areas of Nashville and would consider living there.

It was an amazing place for us to visit because as natives of the west coast we never really got to visit and take in all of the sights and locations that played such a huge role in civil war history. Sure we are well aware of the way Native Americans, Cowboys and Hispanics have shaped the west coast’s history but we’ve never been face to face with civil war history so we really enjoyed the day.

Oh and I got the stress cracks on my MacBook fixed up at the Nashville Apple Store. We didn’t have an appointment with the genus bar because no appointments were available during the time we were going to be there, so we talked with a concierge about the cracks and explained we were from out of town. They were nice enough to out us on a waiting list, in case someone was late for or failed to show up for their scheduled appointment.

We waited about an hour in the store but they managed to squeeze us in and they even fixed my cracked MacBook at no cost, right there in the store. It only took them 15 minutes! We figured I would have to send my Mac out for repair and that they couldn’t fix it in store. Amazingly they did and were super friendly about it too!

So all in all the trip was lots of fun and also a great success. We found a place to have our natural birth, got to have some fun while learning about civil war hisstory, got the MacBook fixed and we may have even found the place we want to live after N’s 3 year contract is up here in Evansville. Productive don’t you think?

The post Some insect ate my face and we had fun sightseeing in Tennessee! appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

In October we love to pick our own apples and make all kinds of yummy stuff, we even have preserved our apple creations for future enjoyment in past years. This year we thought it would be yummy and fun to get a ton of apples and have some fun in the kitchen.

We paid $8.00 for the 20lbs of apples, that is not a bad price at all. Plus we got to pick all the apples ourselves which was fun. I was woozy and overheated but that didn’t stop me from climbing a tree to pluck some apples.

Tonight I made a batch of pumpkin apple soup that was so yummy. I also washed the remainder of the 20lbs of apples in preparation for this weekends preserving madness and now we are seeking out fun apple recipes.

So, what do you do to get in the fall spirit? Do you have any fun apples recipes you could share?

—————————–

* Updated to include pumpkin apple recipe

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a medium saucepan, add 1 chopped onion and 2 cored and peeled green apples. Saute onions, apples and butter over medium heat until soft.

Next add 1 tablespoon of flour to the sauce pan, stir and cook for 2-3 minuites.

After cooking flour and sauteed items gradually whisk in 4 cups of chicken broth.

Then stir in 3 cups of canned pumpkin, 2 tablespoons of packed brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of nutmeg and 1 teaspoon of ginger to the mixture. Bring to  boil, reduce heat cover and simmer for 25 minuite.

Next transfer to a blender, food processor or take a blending wand to the mixture. The goal is to puree it until smooth.

When all is pureed return to pan, add 1 cup of apple cider (or apple juice), 1/2 cup of half and half, and 2 tablespoons of garlic salt. Mix and warm on stove, taste test and add salt and pepper as needed.

This made us about a 12 servings of soup that we transferred to jars and froze for later enjoyment. Yum!

The post Getting in to the fall spirit… appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

Key Strokes/ Different strokes for different folks platforms-

The first thing I had to learn is that the ctrl A (to select all), ctrl, c (to copy selection) , ctrl v (to paste copied stuff) and the ctrl t (to open new tabs) are a bit different on a Mac. Instead of the ctrl key you use command key. This is true for both Safari (the Mac web browser) and mozilla firefox.

Doing print screen on a mac is also different. On the MacBook keyboard there is no print screen button and many wonder how print screen can be done. There are many programs out there for the mac that have this ability but with a simple key stroke you can still print screen on your mac without downloading any programs. Press command + shift + 3 (all at the same time) and a screen shot will be taken and saved to your desktop! Try it, it works.

How do I navigate without a mouse? Track pad differences on MacBook-

The other thing that I had to learn about was the right click ability on the track pad. I read a post about this today. Basically under system preferences you can enable double clicking on the track pad, under keyboard & mouse select the track pad tab. Check the box that says “for secondary clicks place two fingers on the track pad and press the button” and you are all set for right clicking on your MacBook! Oh, and the two finger fast scroll thing is great also!

Find Mac compatible programs for your computing or use dual platforms-

I am trying to get an appropriate versions of Windows XP (bootable, 32 bit with service pack 2) so I can run “bootcamp” on the Mac and get the dual platforms installed. That way I can also run my “NOT Mac compatible programs” like Microsoft Money, Frontpage and all that good stuff. Anyone have an old one they want to donate to me?

I did find some free software that helps me get stuff done on my mac that I normally did with “NOT Mac compatible programs” on my PC. Here is the run down:

How to accomplish photo editing- Seashore

I needed a way to watermark and scale down my images before uploading them to my blog. I found Seashore, a freeware program that allows me to do just that.

Need to chat with friends? – iChat

Oh, iChat (jabber), which came with my MacBook is compatible with google talk, but you can’t video chat with the built in camera on the MacBook. I guess you need an AOL account to use the video chat. I am okay with just typing my chat messages back and fourth for now. I would rather give myself paper cuts between my toes rather not install AIM.

Sending and reading emails – Mail

The Mac mail program, called Mail, easily sets up your mail accounts for you and works just fine with multuple mail accounts. I haven been wanting to set up mail folders and filters for my messages and have not found a way to do this yet. Mozilla Thunderbird is compatible with Mac also, I have just stuck with Mail for the time being.

Building and editing web pages without of MS Front page- Nvu

I read about the Mac webpage builder application, called Nvu, and have begun learning about it and playing with it. Not sure how I like it just yet.

Do you have any MacBook insight or tips you care to share with a new Mac user? If so leave them in comment below and enjoy this puzzle!

Create your own puzzles at PuzzleBee.com!

The post What is different on a MacBook (a pc user converts) appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.