SAND HILL CRANES
Well, here we are at the last day of the year. After reading BIG DAWG & FREEWAY’s reflective post on the past year this morning I thought of doing the same thing but after sitting here awhile with a blank mind trying to compress the past year into 300,000 words or less…..I had to give it up. It was just too big a challenge for Mr. Blabberfingers………
Our nasty winds have abated but we never got much above the freezing mark today & the outside water hose remained frozen as did the doggy’s & birdies water dishes. Had us a batch of sleety snow in the afternoon. Needless to say we were once again confined to barracks for the day. And don’t even mention the words, 'cabin fever’ to me!!!!!!
YEP, THAT’S SNOW ALRIGHT
The annual Snowbird rush from North to South is well underway as evidenced by Randy at, THE ROADRUNNER CHRONICLES. Thousands upon thousands of RV’ers are happily heading South for sunshiny days & warm temperatures. And, RICK & PAULETTE are having great travel weather so far as they make their way South through Oregon heading on down to sunny California.
THIS SUMS UP OUR DAY
For anyone out there thinking of a new RV & has a couple extra dollars to spend, have a look at this set up….
First order of business this morning was our plan to move ahead with our new Verizon Mifi set up. In the end we decided to stick with Verizon because their tech support is good & we have a track record with them. Figured it might be a smoother installation as well. We also have 30 days to return the Mifi if not satisfied. Of course that meant the uninstalling & change over of our current Verizon Cradlepoint Router setup to the newer Verizon Mifi way of doing things. With the new Mifi modem firmly in hand Kelly charged into battle at precisely 7:22 a.m. It proved to be very unfortunate that ‘no installation instructions’ were included & within minutes Kelly was under heavy fire from the always present Gremlin squad launching heavy artillery type error messages at her. A strategic withdrawal was finally called at 7:49 & our Cradlepoint Router was reconnected (we hadn’t uninstalled it) as Kelly had to call Verizon headquarters for further instructions. By the way, my contribution to all of this was to offer lots of good old Cursmudgeon grumbling from the Peanut Gallery:))
OK, LET’S GET THIS MIFI SHOW ON THE ROAD!!
First, let me say congrats to Verizon for having a totally North American person on the other end of the telephone. Thank you for making Kelly’s morning much easier!! Kelly’s time on the phone (Skype) lasted 15 minutes & armed with new instructions & orders from Verizon headquarters she quickly regrouped. First thing we did was to charge the new Mifi battery up to optimum.
THAT’S ALL THERE IS TO THE NEW MODEM
Operation Mifi commenced once again at 10:14 a.m. with the 8 minute downloading of Verizon’s new Access Manager. Next came the crucial ‘point of no return’ as Kelly nobly rode into battle once again, wielded her sword & with one fell swipe….uninstalled our UMB175 Modem. We were now officially dead in the water somewhere between the 2 systems. At 10:46 Kelly placed a cell phone call to Verizon at which time they began the enabling process for the new 10 Gig Mifi system. I could hear the lady tech on the other end of the phone giving Kelly step by step instructions. It sounded like a critical surgical procedure underway in an operating room. I was soooooo glad Kelly was handlng all this because tekkies on telephones always seem to talk a whole lot faster than what my brain is able to comprehend.
THEY SENT EVERYTHING…..BUT THE INSTRUCTIONS
No rocket launching Gremlins reared their ugly heads during the 23 minute tekky call & Kelly sailed through the online installation process with no problems. Not even any problems from me sitting unusually quietly over here in the Peanut Gallery. At precisely 11:09 we were successfully online with our new Mifi system & the battle was officially over with Kelly once again emerging victorious in the never ending computer Gremlin Wars. Seconds later, with the addition of a typed in code number we had the second computer up & running too & all was once again well in Computerville. Ya-houie Louie:))))) If it wasn’t for Kelly I would likely still be back in the dark ages somewhere looking at an old 19” B&W television with a snowy Buffalo test pattern on the screen. Come on guys, ya just gotta love these Gals, eh:))
Our little family of Wiggly Piggly’s (Javelinas) showed up this morning for a refreshing drink from the water cooler I leave out for them. They first had to break a layer of ice on the surface but they poked away until they finally had water. If we didn’t have a fence separating them from us we might not be as enamored with the wiggly piggly gang but we do enjoy watching their affectionate family antics towards each other when they are here.
Finished my Apache Wars book today & I must say it was an educational read. The book doesn’t just deal with the Wars but also the camp life of Indians & barracks life of Troopers. The book traces the history of weapons, clothing, wagons & just about anything else regarding that time period including soldiers wages, food, tactics, & day to day routines. Many personal stories as well.
No sooner had I finished ‘Apache Wars’ when I started my next ‘homegrown’ book entitled, ‘Pioneering From The Aravaipa To The Chiricahuas.’ Written first hand by local Pioneers, Miles Wood, Jim Hancock, Irene Hancock Kennedy & Rosalie Kennedy Gilliland. I have already read about Miles Wood’s first encounter with Cochise near Fort Bowie. I really enjoy reading these books because we have been to many of the places the people in the books talk about & that keeps everything in perspective & real for me. It is a real history of real people, places, things, & events.
Today’s blog title sums up our entire day but before posting my last post of 2010 let me just say thank you to all the folks who have inspired me to keep this blog going through thick & thin. Without all the readers, comments, emails, personal visits & readers input this blog would probably have petered out a long time ago. I thank everyone for the inspiration, confidence & courage to pursue my hobbies of writing, photography & travel. On behalf of the Bayfield Bunch I wish everyone all the best in the New Year……..10-4:))
GROANER’S CORNER:(( Boudreaux and Thibodeaux worked together and both were laid off so they went to the unemployment office. When asked his occupation, Boudreaux answered, "Panty Stitcher. I se da elastic onto ladies' cotton panties.
The clerk looked up Panty Stitcher. Finding it classified as "unskilled" labour", she gave him $300 a week unemployment pay.
Thibodeaux was asked his occupation. "Diesel Fitter," he replied. Since diesel fitter was a skilled job, the clerk gave Thibodeaux $600 a week.
When Boudreaux found out he was furious. He stormed back into the office to find out why his friend and coworker was collecting double his pay.
The clerk explained, "Panty stitchers are unskilled and diesel fitters are skilled labour."
"What skill?" yelled Boudreaux. "I sew the elastic on da panties, Thibodeaux puts dem over his head and says: Yeah, diesel fitter."
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