Computers Ate My Day

I had many things to do Tuesday but in the end only one of them got finished: backing up all 3 family computers. Boring, right? I don’t know why it is, but before I can back up I start tidying up stray files. Yes, it’s tedious but I find it kind of fun! Really. Creating folders and organizing and deleting duplicates and other junk. And then the important stuff from little Bluet (my baby laptop) and T-Man’s PC (aka Media Centre or The TV-Substitute) gets transferred by flash drive to my Big Computer upstairs. That one has the backup external hard drive, the printer, the wireless router and the cable modem attached so it had become the repository for everything that we don’t want to lose. Believe me, I’ve had disasters in the past so I’m very happy to have several copies of everything I think might be important spread all over the place. You just never know.

Since the Big Computer has my iTunes on it, I spent some time copying podcasts on to the SD card for my Palm in preparation for some serious spinning and knitting time. Up to now I didn’t have an iPod so I used my Palm with earphones and it works just fine. I say “up to now” because yesterday T got an iTouch (free with a gajillion Visa points!) so now I can have his old iPod. But it can’t do all the other things my Palm can do. (The iTouch can though!) So I’m not sure how much I’ll actually use it. Maybe when I want to listen to music instead of podcasts?

I’ve never installed iTunes on Bluet because her speakers are totally crap, even with earphones. Sounds like someone is speaking from the bottom of a well. This is the only complaint I have about my little Acer Aspire One. Otherwise she’s been wonderful and I use her much more often than the Big Computer these days. Sitting in bed reading her screen is nearly as comfortable as holding a book. You can’t do that with a desktop! Or even with one of the larger notebooks. Even typing on the 3/4-size keyboard is not at all awkward once you get used to the slightly different layout. I’ve even learned to use my USB mouse on my chest, the bedcovers, a handy magazine or wherever I can find a spot! (Have I mentioned how much I hate touchpads?) However I tend to forget how much more visual real estate there is on a 19” monitor as compared with Bluet’s 7.75” X 4.5” screen! Guess you just can’t have everything, hey? At least not yet. I’m still holding out hope though. I would like to have everything. Wouldn’t you?

So the weather remains lovely and sunny so I really should get some planting done. T has been busy putting together the gutters for the garage on the lower deck. They’re nearly 20’ long so that’s the only workspace big enough to accommodate the assembly process. But I need him to clean some of the planting flats for me. Yeah I know, but I’m sensitive to bleach so I stay far away from it. Because I reuse them until they disintegrate, without sterilizing the flats at least somewhat they can transfer diseases to my tiny little vulnerable seedlings. Even then I’ve had problems occasionally likely because the starter mix isn’t as sterile as it should be. It’s a lot of work to start my own seedlings but I get much more variety than is available in the nursery. And even with the price of seeds and soil it’s a whole lot cheaper. Besides it’s kinda fun. My kids call it Mom’s Grow-Op! And then ask me for tomato plants and parsley for their own gardens.

BTW my garlic is growing fast now and is nearly an inch tall in just a few days! All of the cloves I planted survived the hard winter just fine. I can hardly wait for this year’s scapes! The walking onions are growing also and will soon be usable for green onions. We saw some in tiny packages in the garden shop for like $6 for about 4 bulbs! And, silly me, I throw them in the compost when I have too many. I could be making the big bucks here! Sheesh. Anybody want some? My parsley which was totally flattened and squelchy from the snow is coming back up. There’s only 4 skinny leeks left in the garden now and we had some in the soup I made for dinner last night. It always makes me smile to eat stuff I’ve grown myself. I call it the 50-Foot Diet.

So back to the spinning today. I’m hoping to get enough to start plying soon. Spinning extremely fine white fibre is getting old fast. I want some colour and texture! I can’t wait to dye it. I’m going to use natural dyes but haven’t quite decided which ones yet. I’m heading for a red or red-orange anyway. I have some sandalwood in the stash that I haven’t ever tried. Could be fun to see what colour I get. I have a weavers guild meeting this evening plus the long-hoped-for delivery of my new-to-me drum carder! Yay! I’m so looking forward to finally getting to see it even if I don’t have time right this minute to start a new project. Sigh. Maybe computers ate more than just one day?