flat-footed

I have had "update farm website" on my list for quite a while now. I even received this book for Christmas to help me out:



But of course, I just never got around to it. I started to read the "Dummies" book a few weeks ago, reasoning that my website was going to get a little traffic thanks to me plastering the address all over my receipts and farm brochures. Then I got into my little dyeing production line and I was too tired at the end of each day to try and decode all that gooble-de-gook in a meaningful way.

Then someone linked to the website in a blog post about my fiber and reality came rushing in on a tidal wave. When I clicked on the link, I realized that my website was oh, about three years out of date. And most of the information was incorrect or missing. And it was just plain ugly.

So forget the "Dummies" book. I needed a quick, cheap solution. I looked into getting someone to design it for me but the farm budget is pretty limited and didn't really justify the expense. So I managed to come up with a reasonable website using Microsoft Publisher in about 15 hours, plus it was free!

The fun and games started when I tried to upload the blasted thing to my website hosting service. I think there was one of those cartoon clouds floating over my head with a bunch of "*&*%&*@#&*@" characters as I tried... and tried again... and then the whole website crashed and all I had was a "Page Not Found" sign up there... and live chatted with several people in tech support (who were more or less unhelpful). And then I finally figured it out on my own, after I stepped away from the computer a few times.

So here it is. Let me know what you think: the good, the bad, the ugly. Then again, maybe only if you find any typos. I don't think I can stand to look at it for a few days.