Lost Pet Prevention

Lately I've been a worry wart. We're taking a trip in the next few months and taking our beloved dog with us. I always have near panic attacks when I think about losing her, or any of the pets I've had over the years. Thankfully this has never happened, but it could. I never forget that just because I've never lost a pet means that I never will.

I don't want to, EVER. It will be like losing a child and things do happen.

So! I've been doing some research. There are a number of ways that you can fix it so that pets can be recovered, but there is no full proof way. The best way, from what I can tell, is actually several ways.

Gimp Review

One thing I love about the web are its amazing free resources. In this day, there is really no need to pay for most software because there is almost always a free alternative that is just as good, if not better.

I'm going to compile a list of my favorite free software, but for now I want to focus on one piece. It's called the Gimp.

Gimp is your free alternative to Photoshop (PS) or Paint Shop Pro (PSP), although I will admit that I did use PSP for many years. I finally made the switch to Gimp and what it can do is really amazing. It is a powerful piece and though professionals would still claim that it's not as good as PS, the average user wouldn't know the difference.

Now before I get to the glowing review of Gimp, and even the cons of using Gimp. I must say that I am a very nit-picky person. This can be a good thing though, because it makes me a great reviewer in that I point out all the things that bother me. It also may be a bad thing because a lot of what bothers me is usually quite trivial. My point is, just because I list annoyances does not mean I don't like it. I understand that there is nothing in the world that is perfect.

Fred's like false advertising.

Last week I saw an ad for a Bissell Power Steamer in the Fred's sale paper. I went down there and guess what? No Bissell Power Steamer. What I should have asked, but never imagined that I should have asked, is if this was something that they actually carry. Instead I asked the manager if I could get a rain check for the sale price. "Sure!" he said and directed an employee to write me one.

She was very nice and explained that the trucks deliver on Wednesdays. "Just call after 1:00 to find out if our delivery arrived."

For me, that sounded like, "... it WILL come, I'm just not sure if it'll be before 1:00 or not." How silly of me to have believed that.

So I call today, figuring that the delivery is definitely there. I speak to a girl who said that they don't have any. "That's not something we normally carry," she explained. "Maybe it'll be on the next truck."

I seriously hoped that the "next truck" would not be another week, but my hopes were dashed when she told me it would be next Wednesday. "We don't always carry what is in the ad," she tried to explain.

Excuse me? Then what is the point of the ad and the rain check? My understanding is that the ad IS what you carry and it IS supposed to be on sale, except for "disclaimers" which I address below. I am reminded of the Jerry Seinfeld rental car.



My rain check is sort of the reservation. I have reserved this Power Steamer, but this is even worse. What if Jerry went up there and though he made a reservation for a mid-size car, he was told that they don't even HAVE mid-size cars at this rental place? How is this any different?

In any case, when you publish an ad for a product at a price and you don't have that product at that price, does this make it false advertising? You are advertising something that is false. Right? There was no "disclaimer" saying that it was only "participating stores" written anywhere. I checked. It's not there.

Add this to the list of stores with terrible customer service.

PriceGrabber STINKS!!!!

I'm not a seller, only a customer. A very, VERY aggravated customer. What attracted me to PriceGrabber was the ability to set what they term, price alerts. Their FAQ defines this as, "You can add a Price Alert to make sure you know when it hits your target price." In better words, I can pick a price that I'm willing to pay. PriceGrabber is supposed to check this and email me if any of my saved alerts match the price I'm willing to pay. Sounds simple, yes? No!

Let's take a look at some of mine. As you can see, I have two DVDs that have alerts, which are met (the red blocks).

So why wasn't I notified? Obviously the alert exists, or it wouldn't be in red. I know! Let's check the settings.

Well I'll be! It looks like I DO have it set to email me when my price alert is met? So what's the problem? Let's find out. Let's go to the help section of the page.

Hmmm. I don't see my problem listed there, do you? I know. Let's see if there is a support forum for me to post my problem in. That's a great way for users to report issues and see if they're not alone.

Hmmm. Well that's obviously not it. Let's try the site map.

Hmmm. I don't see a forum for users, do you? Well there is the Feedback thingy. I guess I'll use that. Naturally I won't get a reply for ages, when all I want to know is WHY I'm not getting them. Also, all they're going to do is send me a form letter saying how price alerts work. How do I know this? Because I've been through this over a year ago. They still haven't fixed it!

Now do you see why I hate PriceGrabber? The only reason I'm there is to set price alerts, but I never get them. There is no point in having it then, is there?

Other Annoyances:

• You cannot Ctrl+click to open alerts in a new tab.
• The pages take absolutely way too long to load.
• The font is absolutely too small and there is no way to set a default setting.

I just hate that place. I don't know why I even bother trying it again and again only to see it's a failure.

FOXNews.com - L.A.: $111M in Stimulus Saved Just 55 Jobs

FOXNews.com - L.A.: $111M in Stimulus Saved Just 55 Jobs: "'I'm disappointed that we've only created or retained 55 jobs after receiving $111 million,' said Wendy Greuel, the city's controller. "

Excuse me?! That's 2 million per person! Are we to understand that they're paying 55 people 2 million each? WHERE THE FRICK IS THIS MONEY?!

Obamanomics is the worst in history.

Michelle Obama thinks life is 'Hell'.

FOXNews.com - Life is 'Hell' for Michelle Obama? So Reveals French First Lady: "Michelle Obama says life in the White House is 'hell' and she 'can't stand it,' dishes French first lady and former fashion model Carla Bruni in her new tell-all book"

Just more proof that the White House is loaded with idiots. The Obama household are a bunch of numskulls.

Checking online sellers, merchants or whatever you want to call them.

I buy a lot of stuff online these days. In fact, outside of groceries, cars and major appliances, I can say rather honestly that I buy everything else online. From auto parts to clothing to DVDs and books, they're all online to be had and you can comparison shop on prices. The web is just an amazing resource!

The only problem is whether or not you can trust these e-merchants that you find a great bargain on. The old adage, "If it's too good to be true, it probably is," applies here. While you can find good bargains, you risk getting ripped off. So the question is, how can you be fairly certain it is really a good bargain?

DIVISIONS WITHIN PROTESTANT CHRISTIANITY: Further information

DIVISIONS WITHIN PROTESTANT CHRISTIANITY: Further information: "One must first be 'saved' before the Holy Spirit will help you understand the Bible. Otherwise, the Bible is totally confusing."

I am always amazed to see what "scholars" believe Christians believe. Where do they come up with this stuff?! Of course there are "references" for the article, but no specific citations. Figures.

Obviously this person is no Christian, or at least, not a protestant. Clueless is the only word to describe the writer(s).

FOXNews.com - EXCLUSIVE: WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Fights Calls to Step Down

FOXNews.com - EXCLUSIVE: WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Fights Calls to Step Down: "'A provable outside smear campaign, a fraud from top to bottom, designed to destroy our effectiveness, by discrediting our leadership, splitting us off from our supporters and donation base -- the central pillars of any effective organization,' he told FoxNews.com."

What a freaking baby! Did he really believe that there wouldn't be mud slinging after what he did? Did he even think for a split second that the world would just slap him on the back and tell him what a good job he did?

This guy is crazy and has some screws loose. I call on all to continue the smear campaign. He opened the can of worms, now he must deal with it.

Liberals are losing it.

FOXNews.com - The Liberals Are Losing It: "Liberals have become hysterical. Who can blame them? Just when things were going so well, their beloved leader has done the unthinkable – he has flopped... Even more unsettling to those who still adhere to Obamanomics, the people—those unruly, pesky, ill-informed, racist, uncaring and misguided hordes who so recently embraced the message of unity and hope that swept an inexperienced youngster into office – have rejected policies that are for their own good."

Very well said! Too bad there isn't a poster big enough to carry this around, or a T-shirt.

What to do when you hate doing yard work?

Gardening can be fun, but also a hindrance. I love the way a nice manicured lawn looks, but I don't want to do the work myself. I mean seriously. Work? ME?! Get the heck outta here!

On a more serious point, it's not that I'm lazy, but I have rather serious neck and back problems. I'm not supposed to bend at all, but hey, life is full of don'ts. The thing is that if I do bending at all, I can really only tolerate it for short periods and when you have 2/3 acre of lawn that needs work, then it's impossible for me to keep up.

Additionally, I have plants that I hate. I have some cacti on each side of my driveway that refuses to go away. I've had a number of people actually ring my doorbell asking if they can take the blooms. "Blooms?!" I say. "Take the whole plant!" To my chagrin they never do.

I finally paid a drifter to dig them up and the following spring, I had new cacti growing. UGH! Those bad boys simply will not die.

Then I have the elephant ears and banana plants that I also hate. Yes, I live in a tropical area and yes they do well without any help, but I hate them. They also tend to be rather invasive.

You see, it is my belief that if it isn't beneficial in some way or another, then it's useless. They don't produce fruit (food), flowers (beauty, fragrance, etc.) and so forth so what is the point? They're not nice to look at, in my opinion either. I don't want them.

Cacti make weeding impossible. Why on earth does anyone want them as plants? Ours came with the house when we bought it, but really WHY?

Then don't even get me started on the bamboo that is taking over my yard. This one is at least beneficial, but spreads like wildfire and there is just no stopping it. It grows instantly overnight. Bam! A whole yard full of bamboo when the night before it was grass. I think that must by why it's called bamboo. Bam!

So for years I've tried different things to keep these things at bay and guess what? Nothing works. I've tried the sheets that you lay over which supposedly prevents weeds and things from growing; it doesn't. I've tried Roundup and while it does kill off the weeds, it doesn't do so for any length of time. Now when I just looked for a link to Roundup, I found one that is Extended Control which is different. Still, it only lasts 4 months. I guess I could try it.

Anyway the point is that I've tried digging up, sheets, weed killer and a variety of other things and I still have plants I hate. What does one do?!

Any advice out there? Whatever the answer is, it needs to involve no heavy lifting or bending. I cannot afford a landscaper either.

“Mr. President, please read the NY Times editorial today” « Gretawire

“Mr. President, please read the NY Times editorial today” « Gretawire: "The New York Times endorsed President Obama and heavily lobbied for his election - both in the primary election and then the general - and is now realizing that Americans are really hurting, things are getting worse economically, and that the President needs to act. You know things are bad when your chief cheerleader is slamming you."

The funny part to this is that us smart people, Republicans, knew this all along.

Message to NYT: You reap what you sow. Obviously intelligent choice is not your strong point. Learn from it.

Canton Man Wins Flagpole Lawsuit

Canton Man Wins Flagpole Lawsuit:

"I got a letter saying, 'Take your flag down. You can put it in your backyard' and I just refused to do it," Tripodo said.

Ha! It's nice to see someone fight for their rights and WIN! I am so very happy for him and he cracks me up. Sounds like a real pistol. The homeowners association misjudged this man and came out looking foolish.

GOOD!

Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » Death of the Movie Star: We’re Sick of Being Lectured by Lightweights

Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » Death of the Movie Star: We’re Sick of Being Lectured by Lightweights: "

Celebrities want attention, but they also want credibility because they typically don’t have any. Environmentalism is an easy cause for them to promote to get attention and at the same time appear somehow thoughtful and even educated because it is allegedly based on science. Of course none of this has anything do with reality, but this is the entertainment business. Reality is not important at all. Image is everything. Talking about recycling, stopping offshore drilling, solar power, and electric cars is a lot easier than really trying to do something for people in the world like feeding the hungry, helping abused children, or building houses for the homeless.

It also deflects attention from the obvious fact that celebrities are often some of the most wasteful, energy inefficient, materialistic, shallow, and superficial people in our society. A classic recent example was James Cameron, who talked about how his film, Avatar, was a shining example of environmentalism. Obama echoed this praise. This was the most expensive movie ever made about a war on an alien planet. What exactly about this movie helped to conserve resources or save our planet? The answer is absolutely nothing."

OH MY GOODNESS! I worship the ground that Pam Meister walks on. Okay that quote is from Christopher Grey, but the article is one in a million.

Gee, I can't even name a favorite part! It's all just so amazing.

Well done! That's all I have to say. Goodness I'm totally in love now.

Obama: An Example of Dictionary Failure

Does Barack Obama want to be re-elected in 2012? - Telegraph: "Obama does not suffer for self doubt. He has long seemed so convinced of his own virtue that to question his motives is illogical. Increasingly, his pronouncements carry the tone of one who believes those who disagree are stupid or bigoted. "

Boom goes the dynamite! Obama is the epitome of failure, insensitivity and lack of any real vision. He is a waste of any real human being.

The really pathetic part to this is that many of us saw it all along. Liberals have had to face the reality that they (as so many times before) are terribly out of touch with the real world. Most of the news media (with very few exceptions) fawned all over Obama, elevating him to such an extraordinary level that they were bound to be disappointed. Idiots, all of them. Their only saving grace is that even they are now admitting the mistake.

Too little, too late.

Another Research Scientist Fakes It

Harvard professor found guilty of scientific misconduct: "After a three-year internal investigation by Harvard University, researcher Marc Hauser has been found 'solely responsible' for eight counts of scientific misconduct.

This is actually more upsetting than the article tries to make it. We get climategate and now this? You know, this means that there are TONS more that are doing the same thing at this very moment and are not getting caught, right?

It just makes me sick. Our society is a ME world now and not a moral one. It's absolutely disgusting and you can thank liberals for that.

Annoying News: Georgia archaeologists find Confederate POW camp

This part interested me most...

The Associated Press: Georgia archaeologists find Confederate POW camp: "'What makes Camp Lawton so unique is it's one of those little frozen moments in time, and you don't get those very often,' said Dave Crass, Georgia's state archaeologist. 'Most professional archaeologists who ever thought about Camp Lawton came to the implicit conclusion that, because people weren't there very long, there wouldn't be much to find.'

Okay, so how arrogant do archaeologists have to be to just assume there is potentially nothing at a site? Do they want to find artifacts? Or are they more interested in the draw of the money?

This one sounds terribly suspicious that money deterred them from ever looking there.

Disgusting.

Mobile Sites You Simply MUST Bookmark

I know I owe another article that's in the waiting, but I wanted to first touch on this since it came up today. With all the hoopla over phones such as iPhone, Android and Blackberry, there still remains a few of us using pretty much a plain 'ol phone that just happens to still be web enabled. This means that we can use the web, but not the "mobile apps" that everyone is always bragging about.

That said, people like me are often pushed aside and forgotten about during the excitement of such cool web apps. There is still a lot one can do with a web enabled phone that is NOT a "smart phone". I call them "dummy phones" which are just plain phones.

Let's go over some of the essential sites.

You can't have your low calorie and eat it too.

Okay, well maybe you can. It would have been a bit more correct had I said, "You can't have your low calorie, low fat and low carb, and eat them all too."

That much is certain. In these pishy United States, we hear people preaching at us about how we should be eating better. Nevermind that if I were to preach to them that they need to save their souls by accepting Jesus Christ, they would sat it was offensive, despite it being a fact. They're pishers, all of them.

Now all that said, I personally want to eat better, but not because the pishers say I should. It's only because I want to.

I decided to do a bit of research and found myself chuckling. Even the pishers can't make up their minds on what is best. No, really. What is sad is that you can't have low calorie and low fat while keeping flavor. You can't have low carb and low fat while keeping flavor. It makes you want to just throw in the towel. You can pick one of the three and get flavor, but no mixing and matching.

Bob Riley's Endorsement

Well it looks like I've settled on who I'll be voting for. I was really tied up in knots because the runoff election is tomorrow and even after creating a spreadsheet, I was still uncertain as to who I was going to vote for. One I could easily eliminate but the other two were neck and neck.

Then I remembered something. Governor Bob Riley would have gotten my vote. I had a problem when my daughter tried to start college. I won't get into all the details, but to summarize they were slacking on the paperwork for my daughter and they even told her that she would have to come back next year, this after everything was complete. I called the President of the school who assured me he'd take care of it, only for him to not do a thing. I contacted the governor's office and the very next day the President called me and personally escorted my daughter to the office who refused to see her. He asked me not to call the governor again (which I did not tell him I did) so this was proof that the Governor helped us.

Phew! That was only the brief explanation, can you imagine if I added the details? Anyway, the point is that I would not care if Bob Riley robbed a liquor store, he will always get my vote in any election he ever runs in.

That said, I couldn't believe I had overlooked his endorsement. Why oh why had I not checked on that? Today when I was looking to see who Sarah Palin endorsed, which I never found, it dawned on me. I needed to check on Riley's endorsement and then that settled it.

I am now voting for Byrne without a shadow of a doubt. He was neck and neck on my list (my spreadsheet) alongside Bentley, but now I know for certain and feel good about it.

Many thanks again to the Governor Bob Riley for his help in my daughter's education and I look forward to tomorrow's primary runoff.

I'm keeping my finger's crossed.

Why I hate Walmart

Last Updated 12/17/2011

It is possible that I've touched on this subject before, but in an effort to fully "inform" the public, I'm going to begin an updated list here on why I hate Walmart. My primary concern with Walmart is the way it functions in relationship to its consumers. This list will grow, over time, I'm quite sure. Is it going to be nit-picky? Absolutely, but there are so many reasons I hate Walmart that in order for readers to get the full picture you have to see even the tiniest of reasons.

I suspect that management has a lot to do with each store, so I will point out that I'm speaking here of two main stores that I frequent. Those being store numbers 866 and 853.

If I am mistaken, and you are absolutely positive that I am, post a comment and I'll look into it.

Before we start, let me list all the reasons why I like, and actually shop at, Walmart:

1. Low prices.

Yep, that's it. That's the ONLY reason.

So here we go with the bad and these are in no particular order.

SUPER Update:  Sorry, just one more moment. I have had a very bad experience recently on the website that I felt needed sharing. Wait until you get a load of this!

I also am going to even post screen caps because if Walmart sees this (and yes, they've been here to read this blog page) they'll take it down.

Now consider this little tablet. They are (or were, they are suspiciously saying it is 'out of stock' now) falsely selling the wrong product.

This deserves it's own entire entry, so here you go! Click here to read it.

IMDb's weird formatting (UPDATED 2018)

This is an older post and happens to get a lot of hits, so my guess is it's found when Googling how to format IMDb's text. Well, this old antiquated way is over. There is a newer much easier way to do this.

Isn't it odd that IMDb is so very outdated? Their formatting is just plain awful. I see messed up links to movies and names all the time. Here is how they do it:

It really doesn't matter now what you're linking to. You just need to replace the entire thing with a link. So let's say you're linking to Alfred Hitchcock. Go to his IMDb page and you'll see this as his url: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000033/

You'll copy the part that starts with nm so in his case it's nm0000033. So copy that text and write it like this: [link=nm0000033] and you're done!

nm stands for name. tt stands for title, so if it's a movie or a video game title, it'll begin with tt. Foreign Correspondent would be tt0032484.

If you are using an episode, it will still have its own title. So let's use I Love Lucy's "Job Switching". The series is tt0043208 but Job Switching is tt0609243.

In any case, you no longer type the name nor title. You just type [link=tt0609243] and that's it. It'll auto show up correctly. Just remember that it has be an equal sign. That's it!

---

Old way...


To link to name(s):
'Cary Grant' (qv)
'Alfred Hitchcock (I)' (qv)

To link to a movie:
_Foreign Correspondent (1940)_ (qv)
_You Can't Take It with You (1938)_ (qv)

To link to a TV show:
_"I Love Lucy" (1951)_ (qv)
_"The Golden Girls" (1985)_ (qv)

To Link to an episode:
_"I Love Lucy" (1951) {Job Switching (#2.1)}_ (qv)
_"Dallas" (1980) {A House Divided (#3.25)}_ (qv)

To Link to a TV movie or one particular show without episodes:

_Stagecoach (1986) (TV)_ (qv)


What a pain in the neck that is. Anyway, for anyone who wants to help and fix all the qv's, this is hopefully a helpful guide.

The official help page, which is nearly impossible to find, is here.

Spices and Seasoning container volumes

I get so annoyed with spice containers. They measure them by weight, which is all well and good, but how much is actually in those stupid little bottles?!

I have begun measuring them myself. The problem is that there is no x-oz size to explain them with, since each spice or seasoning weighs differently. The best example is McCormick's regular sized containers. They're all the same size and hold the same volume, but one container of ground cumin is 2 oz and one container of chili powder is 2.5 oz. You see the problem here?

This gets to be a serious hassle and especially when you make your own mixes and you have a recipe that calls for something like 1/3 c. garlic powder. How much do you need? Well here I go with my explanation and if you know any yourself, I beg you to post in the comments. I'll in turn add them here so others can benefit.

Also note that this is not a review for which ones are better or the cons of using ground or dried herbs. Keep comments on that to yourself. Anyone can Google pros and cons of dried/ground herbs and which ones are better. I just cannot stand people who try to push off their beliefs onto others.

Life's Annoyance #6

Bicyclists! They are rude and inconsiderate road hogs. They ride two by two and sometimes in threes and expect cars to go around them during dangerous curves. They should ride single file, just like cars do.

I cannot stand them!

My Favorite Windows XP Tips

Every now and then, I run into a problem. It's not often, but just every now and then. The best example is installing new software that absolutely insists on running at startup, even if I only use it once a month. It's VERY annoying.

That said, I am always having to go back and search for fixes because I often repeat the same ones, but the space of time since its last incident was too long and I have forgotten. For that reason I thought it would be a good idea just to post my favorite tips here so even I can come back and refresh my memory.

Keep in mind that this isn't a tutorial, just reminders. If you do not know what they are already, this probably will not help you. If there is interest in this, I will write tutorials but you'd have to request it in the comments.

Using the Run Command

Start > Run is probably the best thing since sliced bread. It is very valuable in helping me fix things quickly without trying to figure out where it is on this computer. Here are a few commands on how to get to certain things. My frequent commands are:

• winver: Displays what version of Windows one has.
• msconfig: Allows the enabling/disabling of startup items.
• regedit: Runs the registry editor.

A bigger full list is here, but that is really for developers.

Getting Rid of Windows Messenger

I ran into this problem when I updated IE (which I only use for one thing; I'm a Firefox and Chrome kind of girl) at Microsoft. They had the nerve to install it on my computer without my permission. I was livid when I found out!

A search far and wide across the internet told me that there was "no way" to completely get rid of it. How dare Microsoft! They have taken up valuable space on my itty bitty 70 GB pc.

I did finally manage to find this article which at least stopped it from slowing up my start up/boot time and is an official Microsoft tutorial.

It worked, sort of. I had to also follow this advice, which finalized the whole thing.

That's it for now, but as I think of things I'll update this post.

Life's Annoyance #5

Software that, when installed, insists on running at startup. Example: Windows Messenger. That sucker is never EVER used. I was really angry that Windows auto installed it without my permission during my last update.

See also this post for my favorite XP tips.

London Can Take It!

Being an American, I can certainly say this through experience. American's can be annoying as all get out. We are a selfish people and today everything is about me.

It is all about what inconveniences me. It's about what I want to do and not about what others think or feel. It is about me not being offended but definitely not about Christians being offended nor overweight people. The government needs to take care of me and make companies spend tons of money every year to prevent anything and everything that could happen to make me unsafe. It is not my responsibility to take care of myself.

Now consider the following video. Just take a few minutes to watch it.





What would today's Americans do in that situation? I can tell you! We would - today - surrender to Germany to avoid the inconvenience. We would blame the president, or if Obama were still in office the "previous administration" that Obama so very frequently likes to blame.

Disgusting, isn't it? It truly makes me ashamed to be an American and I never EVER thought I'd say that in a million years.

Life's Annoyance #4

"Money Saving" blogs that tell you to use coupons to cut your food bill. Well duh! I figured that one out on my freaking own.

Life's Annoyance #3

Camera tutorials for point-and-shoot cameras that say, "learn how your camera works and know the macros." Well duh! They must take point-and-shoot users for morons.

Life's Annoyance #2

Already I have another.

Driver's who swing left to make a right hand turn. It is completely unnecessary, unskilled and incredibly stupid. Where did they get their driver's license? Walmart?

The only ones who need to do that are bus and truck (big rig, not pickup) trucks.

Life's Annoyance #1

I'm going to begin a Life's Annoyance [whatever it is] as a vent here. I could use twitter for that, but I'm not. Feel free to add your own in the comments and it just might get used here.

So the very first one is going to be....

Life's Annoyance #1: Videos that autorun. That is a serious violation of my computer and should never, EVER, be allowed. Even Google is guilty of this with youtube.

Farmville Tips

I have noticed that there are a lot of folks out there who play, but do not see the things which makes playing the game easier. Here are a few tips to help those along.

Speeding up the game

To make the game faster, block in your farmer. The trick is blocking them in where your farmer is standing when you first load the game. Your farmer is always standing in the same location (unless you upgrade, see next paragraph) when the game loads, this is where you must block them in. You only need four bales of hay to block them in; one in each direction.

A problem with this is that when you upgrade, the default standing location of your farmer will change so you'll need to block them in again in their new location.

It only takes a minute of your time, but you'll soon see that your productivity increases something like 75%. Of all the tips, this is the A number 1.

Building a stable

If you click on your stable, then select Look inside. You will see a list of supplies that you need. Underneath each item is a button which says (in caps as quoted) ASK FOR MORE. Click one of those buttons and type in the pop-up message box how many you need of each. Once you post it, it will be visible on your wall.

The problem is that if you cancel the message to double check you will lose that post for the day. Zynga (the company who owns Farmville) hasn't fully thought through that sometimes glitches happen and should allow you to still use those buttons if it was never posted.

Gifting the generous

Most of us have what we call deadbeats as neighbors, meaning that they accept all the gifts you so very kindly send, but they never send you one back. This makes for a pain when you're sending Free Gifts because you have to remember, as you check them off, which are the deadbeats and which are not.

One workaround is using what we call thank you gifts. When you go into your requests page you click on someone's gift to accept it and to the right is a button that says, Send [name] a Thank you gift. Click that and you bounce a gift right back to the generous neighbor that sent you a gift to begin with.

The drawback to this option is that it is the very same gift that they sent you. So for example, let's say that you need a horseshoe for your stable, but your neighbor is done. So when Neighbor sends you a horseshoe and you use the thank you gift to bounce it back, your neighbor will get a horseshoe that they didn't need. On the other hand, all gifts can be traded for coins, so they can at least get something out of it.

Got more tips?

Suggest them in the comments!