Monthly Archives: October 2014

8 10, 2014

What is COURAGE? – One Word Wednesday

By |2014-10-08T06:00:16-05:00October 8th, 2014|one word Wednesday|0 Comments

courage-2Courage — confronting a difficult, frightening, painful, or disturbing situation when our first instinctive reaction is to flee.

The word courage comes from root cour or coeur, which is French for heart. The essence of courage lies in our heart.

We find courage portrayed everywhere – in the Bible, in fairy tales, in books, in movies, in the news.

Courage is depicted as physical bravery, but being courageous also encompasses much more than physical strength and endurance. Courage involves mental stamina and innovation too.

Melanie Greenberg, Ph.D., identifies six different ways we are courageous.

  1. Feeling Fear Yet Choosing to Act
  2. Following Your Heart
  3. Persevering in the Face of Adversity
  4. Standing Up For What Is Right
  5. Expanding Your Horizons; Letting Go of the Familiar
  6. Facing Suffering With Dignity or Faith

cowardly lionThe Cowardly Lion in the classic film The Wizard of Oz learned courage must ultimately come from within.

If you find yourself confronted with a difficult, frightening, painful, or disturbing situation or you feel threatened, weak, vulnerable, intimidated, or terrified, call forth your inner COURAGE.

And remember what Mark Twain says:

“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”

6 10, 2014

Social Media Etiquette and Guide

By |2014-10-06T06:00:42-05:00October 6th, 2014|Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

Social media has become a popular tool for presenting your agenda or product thanks to the trend set by Barrack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 political campaigns where he employed the use of sites like FB and Twitter.

Social media sites provide “A seamless communications network that has the power to cross cultural barriers and capture the attention … more effectively than ever before.”

Entrepreneurs frequently use SM as an incredible FREE marketing tool. Personally, I use most of the SM platforms to entice readers to buy my books. It’s a fantastic means for  promotion of products.

As a means for getting your message or product out there, social media is priceless.

HOWEVER, social media also comes with red flags.

Stories about stories about social media gaffes by people and businesses are commonplace. The way you and/or your public relations team conducts itself on social media can have a lasting effect.

Online-Reputation-Management-Reputation-e1399499113531If we use SM, we must guard our reputation as this Lakota American Indian proverb reminds us.

Our tracks on social media sites are embedded forever. No ocean waves can ever erase their presence.

So how do we do we guard our reputations when we don’t have an Emily Post etiquette book to guide us?

You can find 10 very specific tips to protect your web presence here

You also have to remember that management of your presence varies based on which social media sites you’re using — Youtube, Google Plus, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or Facebook.

Don’t mistake the different social medias platforms as being the same. Each site has its own personality and its own unique platform for various audiences. It’s important to learn the right etiquette for each individual site whether you’re posting for pleasure or business.

SocialMediaEtiquette-2 lrg versionIvan Serrano, a business journalist and infographic specialist, has created this incredible pictorial guide to the most popular social media sites.

CJ Lyons shared Serrano’s infographic on her site along with suggestions for guarding your reputation here

Vocus.com blog also posted an in depth guide to social media etiquette along with Serrano’s infographic here.

Click on the graphic to view a full-sized version of Serrano’s infographic. You may have to click twice to get the enlarged version.

 

3 10, 2014

All in a Day’s Work – Miller Farm Friday

By |2014-10-03T06:00:52-05:00October 3rd, 2014|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

By Guest Blogger Chicken Wrangler Sara

Our son Matt has a project car. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t exactly what he wanted when he bought it, but he has learned a lot.car repair

The latest lesson involved the slave cylinder. I don’t know much about this part except that it is necessary to drive the car. Matt bought a new one and put it on the car.  Shortly thereafter, there were pieces of slave cylinder and brake fluid all over the driveway. I’m not sure exactly what happened, but Matt was frustrated enough that I didn’t ask and let Matt drive my truck to work.

When Beekeeper Brian got home, he was equally frustrated with the situation and when I left for Bible Study driving his car, he was sitting in the driveway looking at the collection of slave cylinder parts.

After Bible Study ended, a classmate told me she had seen Brian and he told her to let me know he had switched cars but had parked in the same spot.

Part of my brain wanted to ask questions about how he’d come to have my truck. I just ignore them, as I usually do. Sometimes you just don’t want to know the answers.

When I got home, I noticed a lack of car parts in the driveway. Matt explained that Dad had used a magnet and copper wire to retrieve parts from where they were not supposed to be and put them in the correct spot. Then he had driven Matt’s car to the pool where Matt was working, picked up my truck, brought it to the church, and took his car to get gas.

Once again, Beekeeper Brian’s ability to fix things amazed me and thrilled Matt. Brian had already put in a full day’s work at the school district and overtime as a mechanic. Exhausted, he headed for bed, but the day was not over yet.

As I was checking my e-mail, I heard a scratching sound coming from behind the wardrobe in the living room. A quick look around confirmed that all dogs were put up for the night so I went over to the wardrobe for a closer listen.

When we remodeled our bathroom in Canton years ago, there was a similar scratching coming from under the floor. It gave me nightmares. Twenty years later, I simply walked into the bedroom and told Beekeeper Brian that something was scratching the wall behind the wardrobe.

After a brief examination, he said, “Go get my pellet rifle.”

The questioning part of my brain went into overdrive, but the rational part didn’t really want to know answers just yet.

I calmly handed him the rifle and returned to my computer.

His next question: “Do we still have those mouse traps?”

After some searching, I located one trap. He set it and said, “At least it is just a mouse.”

“As opposed to what?” I asked hesitantly.

“A squirrel or a rat” was his answer.

I was suddenly glad that our reptile days were long gone until I remembered snakes don’t have fingernails. It couldn’t have been a snake.

This morning Beekeeper Brian checked the mousetrap. Success!

Now he wants to repeat the process to see if the mouse had any friends. Next, he’ll fix the hole the mouse chewed in the wall. A renaissance man/beekeeper’s work is never done.

1 10, 2014

The Hills are Alive with COLOR

By |2014-10-01T06:00:22-05:00October 1st, 2014|one word Wednesday|0 Comments

Today’s One Word Wednesday is COLOR.

Julie Andrews sang about the hills of Austria being alive with the Sound of Music.

???????????????????????????????This fall the hills and mountains of Western Colorado are alive with color. Streams of yellow flow down the mountain sides like veins of gold. ???????????????????????????????

My husband and I loaded up a picnic lunch and our two four-legged boys and headed out for a day trip of leaf viewing.

We always did the same day trips every fall when we lived in Connecticut to see the canvas of color on those hills.

On this trip, the rich yellows and reds and oranges and all shades in between were so vibrant that it almost hurt our eyes to look.

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red mtn

 

Bethany's tree

 

 

 

 

 

After our little excursion, I have to agree with Poet Leigh Hunt.colors quote

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