Oh my. I have been so distracted! You have to know that October is the time between our birthdays (Thom & I are only about 5 weeks apart in age) and to celebrate we have been happily buying ourselves some presents. Well, it’s always best to buy your own because then you get exactly what you want, right? And besides, we’re officially old folks now (or he is and I will be shortly) so we spoiled ourselves.
Anyway it was mostly about the digital items. First we had to buy a new printer because the old one broke. The new one has a built-in scanner and is so smart that it can order its own ink. So cool. We can print wirelessly from any device anywhere in the house too. Yowsa. Progress has been made since we bought the last one obviously! But that’s not all. Thom got a new iPhone and I got an iPad Mini 4. (Her name is Corbie because she’s black like a raven.) And still that’s not all! We replaced our cable modem which also replaced our old router. However the downside of all this was Several Days of Setting Up and Getting Functional. We’re still trying to figure out a few things but progress has been made. Good thing we’re both pretty good at troubleshooting, especially Thom since that’s sort of what he used to do Before Retirement. I hate to think how difficult setting up new hardware and software must be for the muggles.
Corbie the iPad Mini is pretty cool but it’s going to take me awhile to get her all comfortable and sorted. Meanwhile my ancient (in computer years) netbook, Bluet, upon which I am typing these words is not going anywhere soon. I’m saving up for a new computer but not until XP finally runs down to the seriously annoying point when I’ll be forced to replace both Bluet and Damselfly (the even-more-ancient big desktop) anyway. It’s already slowing somewhat after a year of no longer being supported. And you can’t just use an iPad for everything. Or at least I can’t after 30 years of using a home computer. It’s just too limited even with all it’s fancy apps. And even the iPad Mini is so big that you can’t easily tuck it in a pocket to listen to podcasts so tiny Ruby the old iTouch still has a job to do too.
Seems like I just keep adding gadgets instead of subtracting, doesn’t it? Not so. Besides eliminating the router, I’ll be gaining a whole lot of computer desk real estate after getting rid of the honking huge scanner we bought sometime back in the 1990s for as much as a whole computer costs today. It’s been a workhorse and still functions but the SCSI connector is past history. We won’t even discuss the Zip Drive. Oy! It was still plugged in but not used for so long we don’t know if it still works at all. And then there’s the corded phone. I originally needed it for a dial-up modem. Who remembers those? Anyhow I haven’t used it in about 10 years. Yeah I was in denial about these things. At least I’m trying with the premise that when new things come in old things go out, aren’t I? I count 4 for 4 so I’m calling it even.
But we aren’t done yet. There were even more expenses and distractions. I’ve had appointments to get my scratched glasses replaced and my hearing aids checked. The weather has been fabulous for the last few days and the garden is calling loudly. I got my garlic planted and about 1/4 of the beds cleared and ready for the fall rye cover crop. I still have to dig up my madder to harvest the roots and replant the crowns. Then I get to do my once-every-three-years home-grown madder dyebath. Very special!
I haven’t had time to even touch my sewing and the latest knitting project isn’t going anywhere very quickly. Definitely distracted, huh? I was going to finish the Smoke & Mountains saga but this post got away from me. Very soon, I promise! Then you may get some weird stuff while I try to post from the iPad. Don’t know if it will work but it’ll be an interesting experiment anyway. Corbie has a fabulous camera if I can figure out how to post the pictures.
Out to the garden, Damselfly!
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