Jon, it took a lot of comparing on this printer to get the least expensive of the higher-end models. Epson-8500 ecotank uses six colors (there was a less expensive Canon that also had six, slightly different, colors, but only a paper tray on the back and no duplex printing). And then to find one in stock - looking through Dell's offerings you see a high percentage of them faded out with the "currently out of stock" message at the bottom. That's your supply chain in action.

I think with this I will be less tempted to use the knock-off ink, but with the pricey little cartridges it becomes a personal challenge to get the cheap ones to work.

Before setting this up I must resolve a dead external drive problem (it has all of my videos on it - gah!) and copy (or rescue from the backup) to a new drive I bought for this purpose a couple of months ago. And there is the scanner for slides, still looking nice on the shelf but not installed. It seems all of this other work was simply waiting for the new printer to arrive. I also need to look at calibrating the monitors (there are two each on the two desktop computers).

In the garden I trimmed a half-dozen of the tall stems on the okra where they had completely exhausted production. No flower buds or tiny pods there after the last pod was cut. I expect this process to accelerate, but I have enjoyed watching the plants go through the entire life cycle. The poblanos have been tiny during the summer but now they're growing longer and heavier and as shiny as can be - such beautiful peppers! They'll keep this up till the first frost. There are small fruits on the tomatoes now also.

Digging ahead on the beds. We had rain last week, but it will require supplemental watering ahead of working on each bed. Last week wasn't enough by itself to set the fall digging season into motion.

Charmion, did you go to the funeral this week? Are you driving a loaner while your car is in the pricey repair shop? Dorothy, are you enjoying a fireplace or outdoor chiminea or other source of radiant heat? We still have the air conditioner setting on here, but a family member posted a photo of a pretty chiminea fireplace up in Seattle. I scrolled through some of LilyFestre's posts from earlier this month, she's posting beautiful fall color photos and some interesting farm-yard shots that involve dogs, sticks, and mud. And chickens on the porch, and her healthy beautiful self. Nice! Haven't heard a thing from WYSIWYG for a while now.