Choosing the Hardware

An embroidery digitizing program is image editing software capable of converting a digital picture to stitches and saving it in a format that can be read by your embroidery machine. And, like any robust image editor, a digitizing program is resource intensive. The program’s packaging will state the manufacturer’s recommended minimum computer system specifications to operate the software. Let’s take a look at just such a recommendation and see how the ‘minimums’ stack up. (I won’t mention the program or the manufacturer but these are actual recommendations from a popular digitizing software. Yours may vary but probably not by much.)

The Computer

Manufacturer recommends: IBM-PC or compatible computer originally equipped with a USB port.

I recommend: The same.

Operating System

Manufacturer recommends: Windows(R) 98, ME, XP or 2000.I recommend: Windows(R) XP Pro with the latest Service Pack and updates. You might be able to get by with an antiquated operating system but not for long.

Mouse

Manufacturer recommends: N/A

I recommend: Any comfortable, optical, non-rollerball mouse. When doing imaging you cannot attain the precision you need with a rollerball. And an optical mouse means there is no ball on the bottom to catch or jerk at a critical time.

Processor

Manufacturer recommends: Pentium 500 MHz or higher.

I recommend: Pentium class 1 GB or higher. The faster the processor the better. We’re imaging, not typing a letter.

Memory

Manufacturer recommends: Minimum 64 MB (256 MB or higher is recommended.)

I recommend: Minimum 512 MB. Memory is cheap and more is always better. You can never have too much.

Hard Disk Free Space

Manufacturer recommends: Minimum 100 MB

I recommend: You’ll need 100 MB free to install the software but you’re going to need a lot more than that to store your creations. Purchase a hard drive with a minimum of 40 GB, 80 GB or higher is better. A hard disk is like a garage: It collects junk and you rarely clean it out. Give yourself plenty of room for storage.

Monitor

Manufacturer recommends: SVGA (800×600), 16-bit color or higher.

I recommend: 17″ SVGA (1024×768), 32-bit color. You’re going to appreciate the extra screen real estate from a large monitor, and you’ll need to be able to easily differentiate your thread color choices.

USB Port

Manufacturer recommends: USB Ver. 1.1 or higher.

I recommend: USB Ver. 1.1 or higher, 2 or more. Some programs will run only if a card reader/writer is installed. That’s one port taken. If your machine accepts input directly from your computer you’ll need another port available to send your finished file to your machine.

Printer

Manufacturer recommends: A graphic printer that is supported by your system (only if you want to print your images).

I recommend: A graphic printer. You will want to print your images and the associated thread color data. As a side note: I’m not sure why anyone would have a printer that was not supported by their system.

CD-ROM Drive

Manufacturer recommends: Required for installation

I recommend: The same, but with a minimum twenty-four-speed (24x) drive speed. A higher speed drive is fine, it transfers data faster but it’s also a little noisier.

CD-ROM Recorder Drive (RW)

Manufacturer recommends: N/A

I recommend: Once a year or so when you’re in the cleaning mood, you’ll want to burn your images to CD to reduce clutter on your hard drive and reorganize.

Deciding to purchase machine embroidery digitizing software is just the first step to truly creative embroidery with a personal touch. Get the most out of it by making sure it is happy in its new home.

Digitizer Deb Schneider offers her machine embroidery designs on her website, WindstarEmbroidery.com.

You’ll also find Embroidery Thread Conversion Charts and information about embroidery digitizing.

You can email Deb at: dschneider(at)windstarembroidery.com

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Where are the wise men?

WOW - The wise men are MISSING! What kind of Christmas is this anyway?

Are you caught up in the “season” with this Christmas thing? Do YOU know where the wise men are?

For over 200 years we have celebrated Christmas and all of the joys and festivities that go with the “holidays” in this great country of ours. Christmas was declared a federal holiday in 1870 by President Ulysses S. Grant for the purpose of celebrating the “philosophy of good will toward men.” What’s changed?

And, where are those wise men?

The Associated Press reported last Christmas that in New Jersey the sixth-grade class of the South Orange Middle School planned a field trip to see the play, “A Christmas Carol.” However, due to pressure from some of the parents the field trip was “re-routed” to a show, “The Great Railroad Race”!

Why? Because of the concerns from parents that the play, “A Christmas Carol” might have something to do with CHRISTMAS! The school principal told the AP, “There is a great sensitivity to putting students in awkward situations.”

Jesus is just not acceptable! Nice…

The school board in Covington, GA last year voted to “remove” the word Christmas from the school calendar!

Hundreds of towns across the US have banned placing nativity scenes and even poinsettias on public property. It seems that the ACLU as well as other organizations have threatened lawsuits and instilled the fear of God, uh, that would be the fear of “a greater power” because we have these “sensitivity concerns” and need to suppress any kind of religious display!

Why? Because Jesus Christ is involved in Christmas. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Jesus Christ, the great philosopher who believed that all men should love one another!

DOWN with all the happiness this national holiday brings to old and young alike. DOWN with tradition. DOWN with peace on earth and good will towards men. OH, and forget about that love one another stuff! Our world is in such GREAT shape this Christmas that we really don’t need any of that LOVE stuff, right?

And just how do we take Christ out of this season, out of Christmas? And WHY would we want to?

Our founding forefathers saw fit to utilize much of Christ’s philosophy in drafting the Constitution of the United States, a document that is the rock of this country reads…”One nation under God…”

Where are the wise men? We need them and I hope they show up pronto and start hanging out with us. This US would be WE, mis-guided and very confused Americans!

In the precious name of Christmas and all the wonder, magic, peace and love that it holds, please whisper a prayer that the “wise men” will show up in the nick of time for the world!

Wishing you all the love and happiness of this great Christmas season and abundant blessings of peace,

Copyright 2003, Jan McCracken

http://www.LowCarbcookin.com

Home site of Low Carb Christmas Cookin’ The FIRST Low Carb Christmas Cookbook! Low Carb Christmas Cookin’- with an Old-Fashioned Cook! 224 fun-filled, sometimes hysterical pages!

About The Author

About the author: Jan McCracken is author and self-publisher of 39 gift books and cookbooks. Born in the Midwest and former owner/innkeeper of a country bed and breakfast in Branson, MO, she has been cooking since she was seventeen years old (she won’t tell us how many years that is!

Jan has been living the low carb lifestyle for almost eight years. Her long-term goal is helping people understand that food is truly the great medicine, prevention and healer of disease.

jan@lowcarbcookin.com

You may publish this article in your newsletter, on your website, or other publication as long as the article content is not altered and the resource box is included. Add byline with active link. Notification of the use of this article is appreciated. Thank you!

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The most patriotic symbol for any country is the flag, and in the US is no different! The American Flag is the most patriotic lapel pin that a citizen can wear. Fortunately there is no shortage of pins to be had! There are cloisonné, die cast, sequined and any imaginable variation of the American Flag on patriotic lapel pins. After 9/11 the sale of American Flags in the form of flags, pins and signs skyrocketed from the shelves, and today that patriotism is still evident with the American Flag everywhere, including on lapel pins. An American Flag lapel pin is a simple way to declare your feelings of pride in your country. Many of our politicians and celebrities have begun to wear patriotic lapel pins every day as part of their normal dress. American Flag lapel pins are elegant, and come in a variety of designs. Many people who travel internationally take American Flag lapel pins along on their travels to exchange with people from other countries or to hand out as small tokens from America.

Of course, there are many other patriotic lapel pins including military pins in support of our troops, pins remembering the 9/11 tragedy and the police and firemen heroes also from 9/11. A patriotic lapel pin gives recognition to those who have sacrificed to protect the nation’s freedom and rights, and shows that you are aware and thinking of that contribution. The commemorative Olympic lapel pins are also patriotic and among the most sought after pins by collectors. So, dig out your Lake Placid Olympic lapel pin and wear it with pride!

Many patriotic lapel pins can be purchased in 14karat gold and sterling silver, which make great gifts. Be sure to shop carefully and purchase a pin that truly reflects your patriotic enthusiasm. Most of all have fun, enjoy your lapel pins and wear them!

Lapel Pins Info provides detailed information on lapel pins including many lapel pin options such as custom, military, cloisonne, Christian, and patriotic lapel pins. Lapel Pins Info is the sister site of Lanyards Web.

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“They also made it harder for the scientific worldview to be received with equanimity by other sectors of culture. Indeed, since the reducing impulse undermines fairly huge tracts of experience, people like Wallace, who feel deeply about protecting phenomena they regard as existentially important, frequently conclude that they have no alternative except to embrace spiritualism, and sometimes even to attack the scientific worldview itself, if that is the only way to protect important spheres of experience that have been ejected from science’s confining Eden. In response, scientists and philosophers who feel strongly about the liberating potential of a spare, materialistic worldview began to patrol the borderlands between the high-grade knowledge scientists have of natural systems and the low-grade opinions that in the view of science’s most ardent defenders, dominate other spheres of culture and lead back toward the superstitious and authoritarian world of yesteryear. ‘Demarcating’ science from other, less cognitively worthwhile forms of understanding was already a major feature of Darwin’s world. A line beyond which the Newtonian paradigm could not apply was drawn at the boundary between physics and biology. We have seen how hesitant Darwin was to cross that line and what happened when he did. Twentieth-century people are sometimes prone to congratulate themselves for being above these quaint Victorian battles. They may have less reason to do so, however, than they think, for the fact is that throughout our own century, the same sort of battles, with emotional overtones no less charged, have been waged at the contested line where biology meets psychology, and more generally where the natural sciences confront the human sciences. Dualisms between spirit and matter, and even between mind and body, may have been pushed to the margins of respectable intellectual discourse. But methodological dualisms between what is covered by laws and what is to be ‘hermeneutically appropriated’ are still very much at the center of our cultural, or rather ‘two cultural’, life. Cognitive psychologists and neurophysiologists are even now busy reducing mind-states to brain-states, while interpretive or humanistic psychologists are proclaiming how meaningless the world would be if mind is nothing but brain. Interpretive anthropologists are filled with horror at what would disappear from the world if the rich cultural practices that seem to give meaning to our lives were to be shown to be little more than extremely sophisticated calculations on the part of self-interested genes. Conflicts of this sort would have given Darwin stomachaches almost as bad as the ones he endured over earlier demarcation controversies.

The rhetorical pattern of these battles is still depressingly similar, in fact, to Huxley’s confrontation with Wilberforce. Hermeneuts ridicule scientists like Hamilton, Dawkins, and Wilson when they suggest that nothing was ever known about social cooperation until biologists discovered kin selection. Reductionists in turn criticize hermeneuts, now transformed largely into ‘culturists,’ for bringing back ghosts and gods, just as their nineteenth-century predecessors were taxed with being ‘vitalists’ every time they said something about the complexity of development. Humanists identify scientists with an outdated materialist reductionism. Scientists insist that hermeneutical intentionality is little more than disguised religion.

Perhaps, a way out of this fruitless dialectic between the ‘two cultures’, can be found if each party could give up at least one of its cherished preconceptions {Or just give up the science that rejects certain facts in favour of convention or the ‘Toilet Philosophy’.}. It would be a good thing, for example, if heirs of the Enlightenment would stop thinking that if cultural phenomena are not reduced to some sort of mechanism; religious authoritarianism will immediately flood into the breach. They should also stop assuming that nothing is really known about human beings until the spirit of scientific reductionism gets to work. Students of the human sciences have, after all, been learning things alongside scientists ever since modernity began. Among the things they have learned are that humans are individuated persons within the bonds of culture and cultural roles, and that as recipients and transmitters of cultural meanings, they are bound together with others in ways no less meaningful and valuable than the ways promoted by strongly dualistic religions. By the same token, it would be helpful if advocates of the interpretive disciplines would abandon a tacit assumption sometimes found among them that nature is so constituted that it can never accomodate the rich and meaningful cultural phenomena humanists are dedicated to protecting, and that therefore cultural phenomena ‘ought never’ to be allowed to slip comfortably into naturalism. Humanists seem to have internalized this belief from their reductionist enemies, whose commitment to materialism is generally inseparable from their resolve to show up large parts of culture, especially religion, as illusions. These opponents, we may safely say, take in each other’s laundry.” (7)

Ego and protecting territory abound in the internecine warfare that academics who seldom DO anything, often fight over. Meanwhile the real DOERS explore the boundless and awesome ‘waves of the marvellous’. (8) We should accept even the ridiculous possibilities that come to mind as having merit or avenues to understand, rather than constantly fighting to make black and white answers that support our ego and limit the people who put forward possibilities. The real rule should be something along the line of ‘if it hurts no one, why not enjoy the possibility? There are ample evidences that every supposed correct point of view or paradigm is short-lived unless backed by force and some kind of authority that limits rather than supports god and his/her purpose. Then an open-mind obtains new insight and finds the templates of reality even in exploring what first appears to be utterly absurd. I admit I often have found the idea of creationism absurd, and yet as I said at the start of this entry I am now on the side of creationists through evolutionary forces with intentional creative inputs in the Intelligent Design or Interventionist mode. The next entry will seem absurd to most people and few will think it deserves inclusion in a segment purporting to have anything to do with science. I must include it in honest presentation despite the ridicule most people will attribute to it, and me.

EXORCISMS: - No, I don’t believe it has anything to do with devils and those who project such evil images and intents. These people are the ones who claim only they can exorcize the very devils they manufacture, in the hallucinatory and delusional or vulnerable people they treat.

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Digital video cameras are extremely simple to use. They are lightweight and compact. Also, the transfer of video data to your computer for editing is extremely simplified in a digital video camera using todays Firewire cables.

So, now the question arises that how does one go about choosing a camera for himself/herself?

Before you go shopping for a digital video camera, it is essential that you answer a few questions. These will help you to pick up the best camera which is most suitable to your needs.

Since voice clarity is critical in a digital video camera, you need to know whether you will be shooting indoors or outdoors.

Also, what kind of videos do you plan to take ? are they going to be of people shopping around in a mall or mostly of officers giving multimedia presentations in a conference room?

What is the kind of lighting that you are going to get? Is the weight of the camera an issue?

What is the battery life of the camera that you will need? Do you plan to shoot for a couple of hours together or only a few minutes? Do you plan to use any special effects while shooting?

Once you have answered all these questions, you will be able to get a basic idea of the kind of camera that you need.

Let’s go over the types of digital video cameras for consumers and hobbyists. First there is DV, HDDV, Mini DV. Handheld palm size cameras, larger full featured cameras with great audio options, and finally cameras that rival professional quality and can be used to make some very professional looking video products.

It is also important that you have the correct software for enhancing the images once you have loaded them onto your computer. These will help you to edit your work in the best possible manner and also easily load them for video conferencing, emailing etc.

Many software programs for NLE editing (non linear editing) exist for the consumer and pro alike. Adobe makes it Premier line of editing software which has proven to be quite popular and effective over the years. This is more of a mid level software and is relatively expensive. I use it for my corporate editing needs. Other mid to high level software packages include Final Cut Pro (on the Mac platform), and DV Express (from Avid). Final Cut is an awesome product if you use the Apple computers. Hollywood uses it to edit movies nowdays, and it has tons of amazing features to it. However it is not user freindly to the novice. The learning curve is steep. On the cheaper side of things you can use the Imovie software on the Mac side of things, Pinnacle Studio 9, Ulead Video Studio 8, and My DVD5 from Sonic. These products will get you editing your DV in no time.

Hence, if you do your homework in advance, you will be happy in the end. So, go and check out websites and shops for information on what you need, talk to shop keepers, and then simply zoom away! There are so many wonderful things you as a consumer can do today with digital video cameras. Don’t wait for the next wave. Jump into digital video today and have some fun with it.

Kevin Rockwell worked as a network TV cameraman for 20 years shooting news and sports. Now a devoted fan of digital photography and video he works to gather information, tips and news for digital camera users. Oh and he loves to shoot pictures of his kids playing sports. http://www.great-digital-cameras.com/gdcj.html

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The Treasure of Catalina Huanca

Written by Dennis L. Siluk

There, by the lofty mountains fair

Hidden under the earth by Huancayo In San Jerónimo de Tunan-

Is Catalina’s treasure of gold!

Whereupon, the Spaniards killed

Atahualpa, the Inca King–; Hence, Catalina turned around to seek

And found-her new, sacred ground!…

And, a glutted stream swept-

This little adobe church Called San Sebastian-ever since

In the lofty mountains by Huancayo!…

Spanish Version Por Dennis L. Siluk

Translated by: Rosa and Minerva Peñaloza

Note: Escrito después de visitar la pequeña iglesia San Sebastián construida de adobe en el siglo 16, en San Jerónimo de Tunan, por las montañas de Huancayo, Perú, después que ser tomado allí por el Peregrino Quechua guía, Enrique (4-13-2005)

El Tesoro de Catalina Huanca

Allí, por las altas montañas

Ocultado bajo la tierra de Huancayo En San Jerónimo de Tunan-

¡Esta el tesoro de oro de Catalina!

Por el cual, los españoles mataron

Atahualpa, el Inca Rey-; De ahí, Catalina giró para buscar

¡Y encontró - su nueva tierra sagrada!…

Y, una corriente saturada barrió-

Esta pequeña iglesia de adobe Llamada San Sebastián - desde entonces

¡En las altas montañas de Huancayo!…

Mr. Siluk in an International Poet and Author, his web site is http://dennissiluk.tripod.com

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Because it was Sunday and Loretta did not have to go to work at the electric company, she was dressed casually in a white sweater and a pair of periwinkle blue slacks that matched her eyes. Loretta was an assistant bookkeeper at the electric cooperative that supplied electricity to our farm and to many of the rural areas in our county. I could still smell the perfume that she had worn when we went to church that morning. The bottle said it was called Lily of the Valley.

As Loretta spread the fabric on the kitchen table, I stood as close to her as possible, practically breathing down her neck.

When you live on a farm and the next-door neighbors are elderly and no other neighbors live on your mile-long stretch of road with children for you play with, and in fact, no other children live within several miles, what else is there to do on a Sunday afternoon in December except pester your big sister?

"What’s this stuff for again?" I asked, taking a sheet of waxy paper out of an envelope.

"That’s tracing paper," Loretta said. "I use it to make lines so I know where the seams should go."

I picked up the tracing wheel. "And that’s what this is for, right?"

In a way, the tracing wheel reminded me of the spurs worn by all the cowboys in my favorite Westerns on television. I would have given almost anything to be a cowboy.

My sister glanced at me. She was busy pinning the pattern to the fabric.

"Yes. That’s the tracing wheel."

I watched for a moment. "Can I help? Pleeeeease?"

Loretta smiled. "Sure. See how I’ve got the pins put in on this side? You can do the same on the other side."

I happily started pinning the pattern onto the fabric. The pins were the kind with little colored balls of plastic on the end: blue, green, white, yellow and red. Pinning the pattern was easy. Push the pin through the sheer pattern paper and the fabric, and then angle it to come out on top again. Push the pin through the fabric and angle it upwards. Push the pin, angle it up.

Everything went along just fine-for about the first six pins, anyway-until I bumped the pin container and knocked it onto the floor.

I never knew pins would scatter so far when they fell from the kitchen table and hit linoleum.

My sister looked at me, looked at the pins on the floor-and sighed.

After what seemed like a long time, we managed to retrieve all of the pins.

"I’ll just finish this part," Loretta said. "It’ll go faster that way."

Then it was time to cut out the pattern. As my sister expertly wielded the scissors, I couldn’t help but think it looked like tremendous fun.

"Can I do that?"

She paused. "Ummmm-why don’t you find the white tracing paper for me. That would be a big help."

I considered her suggestion.

"How come it has to be white?"

"Because it will show up better on this red fabric."

"But wouldn’t blue be all right?"

I thought the blue paper was very pretty.

"No, the white is fine."

"Yellow?" I asked.

Loretta shook her head.

"Pink?"

"Just get out the white. That’ll be the best."

I pulled the white tracing paper out of the envelope, and then, as Loretta continued to work, I kept right on asking questions: What happens if you don’t pin the pattern? (It won’t stay in place when you cut the fabric.) What’s that funny scissors for? (A pinking shears; it keeps the material from unraveling around the edges.) What are you going to do with the scraps? (Cover the buttons.) And on and on.

Finally Loretta was ready to sew the jumper. She moved into the living room to set up the sewing machine, and as she started to sew, I stood right by her elbow. Since this was going to be my dress, it seemed to me that I ought to keep an eye on the entire operation. And if I was going to keep an eye on things, then I had to ask more questions. Didn’t I?

When Loretta had finished the first seam, she pulled the fabric back?and discovered that her finger was sewn to the dress.

I was horrified.

My mother was disgusted.

"I’ve been sitting here in the living room all afternoon, listening to you," Mom scolded. "It’s no wonder your poor sister ended up sewing her finger to the dress. Your incessant talking is enough to drive anybody crazy."

Loretta finished snipping the thread. "No, no, it’s nothing. See? Just a little bit of skin."

As I watched her pull the thread from her finger, my stomach did a small flip-flop.

"Maybe you’d better clean that up and put a bandage on it," Mom said.

A little while later, with a bandage securely wrapped around her finger, Loretta began to work on my dress again.

"How come??" I said-and then I remembered that I shouldn’t talk.

Loretta paused and looked over at me. "How come what?"

I shook my head. "Nothing."

I watched Loretta sew for a few minutes, and then another question popped into my head.

"What happens if?"

Loretta reached for the scissors and glanced over at me. "What happens if what?"

I shrugged. "Nothing."

Somehow I managed to make it through another five minutes without asking any questions.

After a while, Loretta looked over at me again.

"What’s the matter?" she asked.

I shook my head.

"You’re so quiet, I thought maybe something was wrong."

Loretta looked at me closely. "You’re not mad at me, are you?"

I felt my eyes widen. "Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you?"

She shrugged. "You’re never this quiet."

And without warning, tears filled my eyes. "I’m s-s-sorry I made you sew your finger. I didn’t m-m-mean to?"

Loretta shook her head. "You didn’t make me sew my finger."

"Yes, I did. Mom said."

"No, you didn’t. I always thought it would happen someday. And today just happened to be the day."

For as long as I could remember, Loretta had been making clothes. Sometimes she sewed outfits for me, sometimes for herself, and sometimes for Mom. She even had a couple of skirts she kept in a trunk upstairs that she had made when she was in high school.

Loretta reached for the scissors again. "So, come on. Ask some more questions."

"Why?"

"Because it’s not normal when you’re this quiet. And besides, how are you ever going to learn about anything if you don’t ask questions?"

In the end, Loretta finished the red velveteen jumper without further mishap. I wore the dress for the Christmas programs at school and at Sunday school, and for Christmas day, too, and for school when Christmas vacation was over.

But every time I put the dress on, I thought about Loretta’s finger pierced with red thread. And about how she had said that it wasn’t my fault when I knew, deep in my heart, that it was.

Maybe that’s why I loved her so much. Not because she sewed clothes for me. And not because she wasn’t angry when I spilled pins all over the floor or chattered non-stop when she was trying to concentrate.

But because, no matter what, I knew that my big sister always had time for me.

**********************

(From the book: Christmas in Dairyland - True Stories from a Wisconsin Farm; August 2003; trade paperback; http://ruralroute2.com

About The Author

LeAnn R. Ralph is the author of the book: Christmas in Dairyland (True Stories from a Wisconsin Farm) (trade paperback; August 2003). Share the view from Rural Route 2 and celebrate Christmas during a simpler time. Click here to read sample chapters and other Rural Route 2 stories - http://ruralroute2.com.

bigpines@ruralroute2.com

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While many people will choose to purchase an already made humidor, for those who are more inclined, the art of making one’s own humidor can be a very appealing idea and lend bragging rights at the same time. By making one’s own humidor, the cigar aficionado can choose the materials, the size, the design and the specific humidifier for his or her own personal creation. The only limit is the imagination of the individual. Whether one chooses to make a simple, rectangular box design or one decides to be more elaborate, choosing to tool the wood with intricate designs, there is no wrong approach.

Performing a simple search for a humidor plan, one can find a wide variety of designs and plans, some for free and some for very inexpensive prices. If one so chooses, there are even plans on the internet for making a humidor out of Tupperware®. One can make any humidor from the traveling humidor to the glass top humidor to the cabinet humidor. The biggest question one must ask is how much time and effort does one want to invest in the finished product.

The major materials for starting ones own project include: -Cherry or rosewood (for external sides of the humidor) -Spanish cedar (for the interior finish) -Hinges (for the top) -Hygrometer (mounted externally for monitoring) -Humidifier (for maintaining humidity levels) -Propylene glycol and distilled water (to maintain humidity levels) -Weather stripping material (to maintain a tight seal)

The basic process for making a humidor from wood with the hygrometer and the mechanical humidifier is as follow:

-Cut the cherry wood to make a bottom, the four sides and the lid -Cut the Spanish cedar to fit inside the cherry and to be used as the internal lining -Drill a hole in the front wall of the humidor to receive the hygrometer -Place weather-stripping around the hole where the hygrometer will be inserted and mount the hygrometer -Attach the walls and the bottom of the humidor according to the design. Usually, with smaller cases, simple wood glue can be used with small brad nail for support -Insert the humidifier according to the instructions for the specific humidifier purchased -Mount the lid hinges to the lid and then mount this to the back wall of the humidor -Attach weather-stripping along the lip of the humidor where the lid will sit -Turn the humidor on and allow it to run for at least 24 hours to test the operation and to ensure that the humidifier maintains an approximate 70% humidity level -After checking, place your cigars in the humidor and enjoy

There are many variations of humidors, affected by taste, requirements and funds available. However, the above plan describes simple steps for building an effective humidor.

Humidors Info provides detailed information on cigar humidors, travel humidors, and humidor plans. Humidors Info is the sister site of Cigars Web.

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I would like to share with you many Pagan crafts which we will cover from creating your altar,to making candles,wands,athames,hemp jewlery,bath salts,walking sticks,spirit sticks,medicine bags,divination articles such as runes, scrying mirrors,pendulums and much,much more.

I would also like to include crafts for the children,so that it would be educational for them as well as fun to do.While making these crafts the children will learn the traditions and paths that Pagans and Witches travel in their life time.

There are eight celebrated Sabbats throughout the year and the year is called The Wheel of The Year.The four major Sabbats are,Samhain,The Witches’New year,October 31st/November 1st,Imbolc/Candlemas,January 31st/February 2nd,Beltane,April 30th/May 1st,Lughnasadh/Lammas,July 31st/August 1st.The four minor Esabats are,Yule is the Winter Solstice,on or about December 21st,Ostara,on or about March 21st,Litha/Midsummer,Summer Solstice on or about June 21st,and Mabon/Harvest,on or about September 21st.Each and every one of the Sabbats have many crafts that can be made to celebrate and honour them.

So gather your glue,scissors and thread,and I hope to share with you the crafts I’ve mentioned.

Many Blessings, )0(

My name is Lady Ameasha and I am a practicing Pagan Witch. My chosen path is Celtic/North American Indian (Cherokee)which is my ancestory.

I live in Southwestern Ontario,Canada, in the Country along the Nith River, where nature surround me. At almost any time of the day I can see a rabbit or two,a deer running in the pasture, racoons playing along side the river bank,and birds of all kinds.

I have lived in the country for over twenty-five years and thoroughly enjoy every minute and thank my Lord and Lady for blessing me with such pleasure. I have been crafting for as long as I can remember and enjoying each and every one of my projects.

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In a recent poll, over 45 percent said that they dreaded the holiday altogether. Not everyone seems to see the light that Christmas brings, and if you look harder into the eyes of this joyous holiday, you may see why. More people kill themselves around Christmas time than any other time of year. "Well," Khayeni Sanders, a fellow Christmas lover states, "I think you should make a club, or a house, for those people. It’s like an equivalent of a homeless shelter! Wait, what’s the question again?"

There are several reasons why people just don’t like Christmas, one is that spending Christmas alone is a very depressing situation for anyone. The couple theme that constantly exists with this holiday is not easy to hide from if you are single. For people who are already suffering from depression, the Christmas season only makes it worse. Another reason is the belief that Christmas has become too commercial. In fact, over 50 percent of people polled said that they think Christmas should be toned down a bit. "It definitely has become too commercial with people putting out decorations two months in advance, but the spirit behind it has generally stayed the same for most people" declared Sarah Geiger. A third common reason why Christmas isn’t favored by some is that there is often a feeling that everyone else is having a better time than you. The constant belly-full-of-jelly laughs around the company water cooler may have you thinking, "Did I miss something? Am I being left out?!

What’s going on?!" Other more common dislikes are the constant money spending, the overeating, and the Christmas parties. Christmas time can also remind people of a lost one, which could make anyone, have a miserable Christmas time. All of these horrible things that tag along with Christmas could make even Satan cry a tear of sympathy for the people who just can’t see the joy Christmas can bring. It’s a shame not everyone can be happy during this time of year, but being depressed on Christmas is completely understandable. These poor saps seem to miss the Christmas bliss train every year, but who knows; this year maybe, just maybe, they’ll catch it.

About The Author

Daggi Pulz is co-webmaster at http://www.links2see.com an online family directory. She can be contacted at Daggi@links2see.com

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