Day: June 4, 2013

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Hung Out To Dry

C&C stopped in with a gift for me. They spent the afternoon at an old house that is being demolished grabbing reusable materials for their addition. Under a pile of stuff, they saw something that made them think of me:

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That is a clothesline! I need to restring it and find a way to anchor it into the ground. This will do nicely until I can put up a proper one that can hold more than a small load of items.

Now, I won’t have to risk decapitation the next time I do laundry.

We also firmed up our plans for next week. I’m leaving on Friday the 14th for Stettler to visit with Donna and Ken, and then going from there to Kelowna for the RV Lifestyle Seminar. I’ll be gone 11 days total.

Miranda is in no shape to go anywhere, needing new tires, so I’m heading out in the truck only. Neelix is going to stay at C&C’s while I’m gone. They have an adorable one-year-old cat and the two of them should get along great.

Taking the truck only will slice my trip budget considerably (I’m estimating $600 for fuel instead of $1,500 – still OUCH). I’ll be very comfortable in Stettler and will be fine camping in the truck in Kelowna.

I’m looking forward to the seminar, but am continuing to regret what a mess it is making of my finances. I’m just not able to get ahead. and there are more expenses coming up as the summer progresses. And there’s the fact that the truck needs work before we can go. Yes, I’m working, but I sure could use another contract or two. Anyone know anyone who needs a transcriptionist? How about a French/English translator? 🙂

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A Sad Parade

Yesterday, I noticed a big mechanical shovel being carried by a flatbed truck along the road I face from the office. I didn’t think too much of it.

Today, I failed to notice a long line of cars going north on that road, but the parade out was unmissable. I didn’t count, but there had to have been at least 30 cars.

The answer to these strange sights was quite obvious, but I still did a quick Google search to confirm. Just as I got the expected results… the hearse drove by, returning from the cemetery at the end of the road.

It’s rather sad that the only business still active in this community is the graveyard.

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The Best Morning In Quite a While

I cannot believe how cold it was last night. I should have just plugged in the electrical blanket, low batteries be damned. Neelix spent the night under one layer of blankets huddled against my spine. I can’t believe it’s early June!

Neelix did something last night that made me a little sad. He kneaded my back before settling in for the night. He’s never done that before, but Tabitha did it all the time and it’s probably what I miss most about her. Cats who were weaned too soon usually knead. It means that they see you as a parent figure. I miss my girl.

It’s still cold this morning, but there is SUN. Now, my property sucks for boondocking of the solar variety (trees plus hills means very little direct sunshine), so I’ve conceded that power needs to happen soon rather than later (and would likely be cheaper than getting a generator). But I’m getting a charge, albeit a small one. Truth be told, I’m sick of boondocking and look forward to running water and power.

As for the internet, it is WORKING. I had another huge job waiting in my folder this morning, broken into three parts. I downloaded the smallest file while I made coffee, then started working on it while the other two downloaded. The big one just finished. No frustration, no rebooting the Mifi 50 billion times, no running outside to adjust the antenna. I just turned on all my equipment and got to work. I am so pleased.

Sun, good coffee, working internet, and loads of work. Sounds like a perfect morning to me.

I don’t want to finish at 11PM again today, so I’m hunkering down to type.

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I Feel Like Jinxing Myself

I don’t think I’ve ever written explicitly about how much I hate getting online in the U.S. with my Verizon phone. In fact, I think that will shock some of you since I have always expressed satisfaction with internet in the U.S. Well, the fact is that the Mac version of VZ access manager, the app that lets you dial the phone and establish a connection to the net, is the demon spawn of the dude who wrote the coding for Windows 95. I have never seen such a buggy piece of software. In fact, it is so bad, that it truly crashes Mac in that it freezes everything and requires such a hard reboot that it breaks the hard drive. I can normally go months without having to repair my hard drive, but I need to do it once a day in the States because of VZ access manager. It is just a crappy piece of software and the developer is unreachable. Verizon can’t do much about that. More sophisticated Mac users have come up with roundabout ways of connecting without using the software. I plan to read up on the methods and try a different route next year.

All that was to say that dealing with VZ access manager was better than the internet connection I’ve had here for the last few weeks… until today. I’m hoping that’s clear enough context to illustrate my frustration. I could deal with the VZ access manager mess because it was predictable and I knew how to fix it and that I’d be back online shortly. Not so here.

Once I got online this morning after bringing the antenna down closer to ground level, I had only one major drop all day and one very minor drop. By major, I mean the internet, being sentient, shut down once I realized it needed to if I was to get any work done and came back at exactly the moment I was honestly do for a break. If that’s not proof of sentience, I don’t know what is. And then the Mifi went dormant a few minutes ago, but the connection started immediately after I rebooted. I was even able to seamlessly stream an episode on Netflix during a raging downpour! In other words, this has been my least frustrating day on internet since Dallas, where I was using Ms. Cinnamon’s connection. Things are looking up!

I’m taking bets that I’ll be posting from the hill tomorrow morning. 😀

And with that, I’m off to bed. It has been a very long and cold transcription day and my finger joints hurt.