Return From Blogcation

If anyone is still out there looking at my blog, you know that I’ve taken a little deserved, but much appreciated computer/blogging break. I’ve mostly read the blogs I follow and have sometimes commented, but for the most part, I’ve stayed computer free for a little over a month. This little sabbatical started as pure laziness, but was extended by phone line problems that have had me offline for more than a week.

For what it’s worth, I still don’t have a dial tone on my home phone. I have to say that I haven’t missed the phone at all…but that’s easy to say since my cell phone has gobs of available minutes. I’m now questioning whether or not I actually even need a land line. In fact, maybe the phone company should consider the effect of just such epiphanies on their primary line of business.

I first reported my phone out Saturday before last (over a week ago), they promised that it would be repaired a week and a half later - today at midnight. As of right now - about 6:30 PM - still no dial tone. That’s a week and a half with no dial tone folks. No there has not been a storm in the area or any other reason for widespread outages. There’s only an automated line to call. I did try to hold for a customer service person once, but after 50 minutes gave up. Didn’t want to waste any more of those precious cell minutes holding for the phone company since the rep likely was going to tell me to buck up a and tough it out…they’ll fix my line when they’re good and ready. I’ve gotta ask myself, if I can get along for over a week with no phone, do I need one at all?

Anyway, haven’t missed the phone, but I do find that I miss the internet. No map quest, no quick orders from Amazon, no online bill pay, and no reading up on the exploits of my fellow bloggers. I do have limited ability to surf on my cell phone, but it’s very slow and a PIA. My DSL connection does go up and down (mostly down), so I’m writing this off line with the hope that it will post at some point in the near future. It’s kind of been my week for utility problems. My cable also decided to go on vacation last week. The cable company managed to show up a couple of days later though and run a new line from the street to my house. I called, talked to a real person, and scheduled a time to meet the technician when I could be at home. Works like a charm now….

The point of this post was not to gripe about local utility service (though I managed a pretty good rant), but to comment on the extra time I’ve had on my hands while computer free. It’s amazing…I had time to tackle a couple of closets that have needed cleaning out for quite some time, and even had time left over to read a book.

The pups and kitties are great. Nick is sacked out on the couch next to me “supervising” as I write this post. Rosie is stationed on the couch looking out the window toward the street. She’s perfectly positioned to alert me of any intruders…or people walking down the street… whichever happens first. I’ve attached a pic of the grancy greybeard tree that’s directly in Rosie’s sites at the moment. It’s beautiful this time of year with its big fluffy blooms and will always remind me of my father-in-law who died three years ago. He gave us this tree soon after we moved into the house and he, Rob, and Wheeler planted it. OK Wheeler was still in preschool and didn’t really help…he managed to get in the way though. Anyway, I always think of him in the springtime when it blooms.