My internet provider has been having a hell of a week. I tell them we’re out. They tell me they’re going out for repair. We’re almost on a pattern of nighttime outages, with service coming back at 8 or 8:30 a.m. This happened -- when? last year about this time? They were tearing their hair trying to figure out why. My theory was that wires were crossed somewhere. When someone went home at night and turned out the lights, it turned off the internet, too. Or a timer somewhere was going off, shorting us out. It’s the pits. Things had been going so well -- internet-wise -- recently.
The venerable old oak, which looks almost dead in winter, has a soft green haze of new growth flowing out the tips of its branches. |
I’m sure I’ve mentioned: I’m a night owl. This nighttime internet
problem is messing with my posting. I’ve had photos ready to go since Friday. I’ve
been writing the text directly in the Blogger software online lately, and then uploading
the photos. I realize a disadvantage to this. A few of the blogs exist only on
line. Yikes! I need them in hand so I’ll know what I’ve said!
So, I’m composing in Word and this will come to you when
it comes to you. ‘Tis nighttime, and my internet is down.
The seven day period from Friday to Friday went from the
drive home in a snowstorm from Yosemite the earlier Friday to temperatures in
the upper 80s this Friday. It was a run-of-the-mill J
busy week, with a haircut, a Soroptimist meeting in a new venue, a computer
club meeting, a manicure, NeedleCrafts, a walk in lieu of the Jane Fonda
exercise DVD on one day, meanwhile trying to cram for the visit to the DMV.
Thursday was a good day for a walk.
Every spring this blooming bush looks so beautiful as I trudge up the hill, but turns out rather scraggly in photos. |
I tried this close-up. These are very complicated little blooms. |
Does anyone know what this bright red flower is that the deer haven’t eaten? |
There were watchers on this walk.
One blue eye and one gold eye |
It’s also election season. |
Thursday was also a good day for knitting at NeedleCrafts. |
Very intense! |
Lots of little infant hats and other baby items being made as donations. |
I’m not sure whether this is the Fair Isles sweater or not.
|
I suddenly remembered that my driver’s license has a
motorcycle endorsement and it was likely that I’d have to do a written test for
that in addition to the automobile one. Luckily, I thought of it at a time when
I was able to download the manual for that and this gives me a chance to
demonstrate the wondrous Long Reach Stapler. It’s only reaching 5½ inches here,
but has the capability for 12 inches. And then there is the Senior Guide for
Safe Driving.
My brain was scrambled by the time I read all these. “Back
in the day,” the handbook was shorter and consisted of the laws, the rules,
the regulations. Something that had answers that were right or wrong. I got a
speeding ticket when I was a teenager and was apparently the first female
juvenile miscreant the judge had ever come up against and he didn’t want to
send me to drivers’ school with all the roughneck boys. He pondered, then
assigned me to read the California Vehicle Code (think an inch-and-a-half thick
of fine print). My dad was assigned to test me on it.
The handbooks now have a smattering of laws, rules,
regulations and lots of discussion of best practices. A lot of the test questions are like shopping
for products at Sears in the old days: you could choose from Good, Better and
Best quality. In other words, a wrong is not necessarily wrong, just not the
best. Knowledgeable people could disagree on some of these.
My heart was in my throat as I watch the DMV clerk
marking lots of red circles on one of the tests. More than three red circles,
which I thought was the limit. Phew! The motorcycle test allowed four misses.
It was the general driver’s exam that had a three limit. And wouldn’t you know,
I missed a question of law for my one miss. I got the
blood alcohol limit wrong. I think I gave them an old timey answer. I think I glossed over those discussions in the
handbook because I don’t drink and am not in danger of exceeding the limit. (Memorize those more recent limits, people.)
You also need to see a few of my large weekly supply of
kitty pictures. Here Jean-Luc is watching me with his usual casual intensity.
Jean Luc |
Henley sees me taking Jean-Luc’s picture and doesn’t want
to be left out. “Here I am,” he says.
Henley |
“Just a darn minute here,” chastises Jean-Luc. “You’re
stealing my spotlight.”
Now I relax and at last get to Thursday’s puzzles. By Thursday, the
Sudoku puzzle has reached a level of difficulty I don’t get very far with. This
Thursday’s was a little excessive in its assistance however. I mean, I didn’t
get to fill in one number. On the other hand, I did quite well on my own with the Jumble.
Here’s my new hat from Yosemite. My old one is missing
somewhere. I’m convinced it’s at my son’s house, if I could only focus someone’s
attention on looking for it. I have not mastered the art of the self-photo. I
wanted more hat against a nice background of the wet-plaster bush. I call it that
because that’s what it smells like. We moved into our house at the beginning of
April and I kept wondering why the wet plaster smell lingered so long,
especially since we have dry wall, not plaster. Each year, I’m reminded of our
move here when the wet-plaster bush blooms again. I think it’s really called buck
brush, although deer of all sexes munch on it without discrimination.
See you soon. (Or not.)
*
Red flowers look like rhododendron- at least the leaves do.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a good candidate. Have we ever looked them up on the deer-proof list? They look so flashy for deer-proof!
DeleteI'll take the grey cat and one deer please :) Oh wait, can I not order them here along with some knitted stuff? Darn.
ReplyDeleteAshley (backyardprovence)
Jean-Luc can be sweet, but also such a brat that sometimes I'd be happy to send him to you. You should see the Jean-Luc he's named after! Oh wait. You're too young to swoon over a gray-haired Frenchman.
Delete