And while I was there, IвЂ™d stock up on blue and yellow and black. I decided, instead, to wait until the next day to get my red ink cartridge from the office store. Or, I could just ask a clerk, вЂњHey, can I borrow your printer?вЂќ But I didnвЂ™t think I could get red ink from ketchup and Cheerwine. That left me with fast food restaurants and gas stations. I drove a little farther, went into the store and asked an employee. Then I wondered if, since drugstores carry ink cartridges, maybe grocery stores would as well. I tried another drugstore a bit farther up the road. So, I wondered, do drugstores carry ink cartridges? I went to one just up the road and found that they do. He said they were out of everything but black, but the colored cartridges might be on the next truck вЂ¦. So I tried the box store again, this time asking a clerk for help. The door was locked and a nice young man stuck his head out and said they would be open again in the morning. I rushed to the office supply store to get the red cartridge. I checked into the setup and found that the red toner was low, therefore not allowing the printer to do its job. The pages came out a whiter shade of pale. I took it home, replaced the old cartridge and tried printing the documents. They had the blue cartridge, which I promptly snatched up. So I went to the store that specializes in office supplies. They appeared to be out of everything but black. But then I needed to print out some documents in color, so I went to the box store to get a blue ink cartridge. I had just about decided to buy a cheap, black-ink only printer. вЂњBut anyway, the printer wonвЂ™t print if any of the ink cartridges are showing empty.вЂќ вЂњYes, but the printer uses blue to help make black.вЂќ вЂњBut I have the printer set for black-and-white only,вЂќ I replied. вЂњYour blue toner needs replacing,вЂќ he said. He identified the problem within five minutes. Jimmy checked my printer, going through the setup. Not gonna happen.ДЇinally, I asked for help from my son-in-law Jimmy, whose knowledge about technology makes me look like a caveman whoвЂ™s still using a flip phone. You know what they say about trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I tried adjusting the printer to black-and-white only. I could see ghostly images of sentences, which, had they been written on the wall, Daniel couldnвЂ™t have interpreted them for King Belshazzar. The paper came out looking almost as white as it did going into the printer. I brought it home, installed the new black cartridge and tried printing. Then a few months ago I had to purchase a black toner cartridge, which you can buy separately from the colored toners.

A set of color ink toners is almost as expensive as what I paid for the printer. But I must admit, for someone who rarely uses the printer, keeping ink in the thing seems comparable to feeding a football team. The two worked together fine for the first, oh, three years or so.

I bought my printer - a fine device, I must say - four years ago, the same time I bought my latest desktop computer - also a fine piece of equipment. I shoulda been in printer and ink cartridge sales.

Printer without toner