News Release: Give Me a Home Where the Dairy Cows Roam

Written by LeAnn R. Ralph


October 2004 For Immediate Release…

Give Me a Home Whererepparttar Dairy Cows Roam

COLFAX, WISCONSIN — Did you know that since 1969,repparttar 110872 United States has lost 85 percent of its dairy farms. And did you know that since 1969, Wisconsin has lost nearly 70 percent of its dairy farms?

"I lived away from my hometown in west central Wisconsin for 15 years. When I returned inrepparttar 110873 mid 1990s, I expected to be living in a farming community again. Instead, I discovered that many ofrepparttar 110874 small family dairy farms likerepparttar 110875 one where I grew up had disappeared" said LeAnn R. Ralph, author ofrepparttar 110876 books Christmas in Dairyland (True Stories from a Wisconsin Farm) (August 2003) and Give Me a Home Whererepparttar 110877 Dairy Cows Roam (October 2004).

Figures fromrepparttar 110878 Census of Agriculture and fromrepparttar 110879 American Farm Bureau Federation indicate that in 1969 more than a half a million dairy farms operated inrepparttar 110880 United States, but byrepparttar 110881 year 2000, only 83,000 dairy farms remained. And according to statistics fromrepparttar 110882 U.S. Census of Agriculture, duringrepparttar 110883 last three decades ofrepparttar 110884 twentieth century, Wisconsin went from 66,000 dairy farms down to 20,000 dairy farms.

"That's why I decided to write stories about growing up on a dairy farm. Our farm was home-steaded by my Norwegian great-grandfather inrepparttar 110885 late 1800s, but small family farms are a thing ofrepparttar 110886 past. They have pretty much disappeared fromrepparttar 110887 landscape," Ralph said.

"My dad milked 20 cows and knew all of them by name. Nowadaysrepparttar 110888 trend is toward corporate farms that milk hundreds of cows," she said.

Ralph's new book, Give Me a Home Whererepparttar 110889 Dairy Cows Roam (192 pages; $13.95; ISBN 1-59113-592-3) is a collection of 20 true stories that took place on her family's farm 40 years ago. Story titles include "Takingrepparttar 110890 Bull byrepparttar 110891 Horns," "Spring Cleaning," "A Different Sort of Cow," "Dad's Favorite Recipe," "Popsicle Blues," "On Top ofrepparttar 110892 World," and "Better Butter."

Camera Cell Phones -- More uses than you could have imagined

Written by Elizabeth Edwards


I was shopping inrepparttar large superstore with my five-year-old daughter, perfectly unaware that inrepparttar 110871 next few minutes I would be living through every parent’s nightmare – in an instant my child would disappear from my side. She had been looking throughrepparttar 110872 little dresses right beside me and, when I called her to go try one on, she was no where to be found. I loudly called out her name, trying to keeprepparttar 110873 panic from my voice, as I frantically looked all around.

I rushed torepparttar 110874 front ofrepparttar 110875 store to inform security andrepparttar 110876 first thing he asked me was, “What was she wearing?” Wearing? What was she wearing? We had dressed quickly that morning, looking forward to a Saturday spent shopping for clothes she would soon wear to kindergarten. Next Tuesday would be her very first day of school. In my panic I couldn’t remember what I had pulled from her closet that day. Was it her blue shorts set…no, she had worn that yesterday. I simply couldn’t remember.

As I fought backrepparttar 110877 tears of an anguished parent, I saw my precious little girl walking toward me, holdingrepparttar 110878 hand of an alert clerk who had found her wandering towardrepparttar 110879 back ofrepparttar 110880 store. When I asked her why she had left me, she innocently explained that she had seen someone who looked like her grandmother and she had simply followed her.

As I hugged her through my tears, I noticed that she was wearing her purple checked shirt and green shorts, and that I had braided her hair that morning before we left home. In my fear over not being able to find her, I had forgotten all those little details about her appearance. And, even worse, I had left my large purse at home with my other wallet that held my most current picture of her.

Later, as my husband and I were discussing what had happened, he mentioned one of his customers had told himrepparttar 110881 last time he had taken his four children torepparttar 110882 theme park, he had lined them all up atrepparttar 110883 entrance and taken each one’s picture with his wife’s cell phone camera. That way if one of them became lost, he could instantly show security his child’s picture, complete withrepparttar 110884 very clothes they were wearing atrepparttar 110885 time they disappeared.

The day of my ordeal, my camera-equipped cell phone had been in my bag around my waistrepparttar 110886 entire time. It had never once occurred to me to snap my child’s picture inrepparttar 110887 parking lot as we walked towardrepparttar 110888 large store. Honestly, I hadn’t usedrepparttar 110889 camera feature that much, and had purchasedrepparttar 110890 phone more for some other features thanrepparttar 110891 fact that it could take a picture.

Camera cell phones were first introduced inrepparttar 110892 US about two years ago. Since then, their popularity has skyrocketed. Industry officials estimate that 12% of all cell phones sold in 2003 were equipped with a camera and that figure is steadily increasing. The camera cell phone may well berepparttar 110893 most popular electronic device this holiday season.

Concerns over picture quality are diminishing rapidly asrepparttar 110894 digital electronics in cell phone cameras become more and more advanced. One and two megapixel models are readily available and, according to an independent study released this past summer, pictures from these tiny cameras make “significantly better” 4” x 6” prints than those from both digital and traditional film “one-time-use” cameras.

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