Life without a computer

My computer went crazy about four o'clock last Friday. The cursor took on a life of it's own, darting all over the screen and ignoring my mouse efforts, both remote and on the laptop. If I did manage to coax it into position, clicking on the close sign did absolutely nothing. I called a friend's computer guru who recommended a shop that seemed halfway to Weatherford to me. Took it in Saturday--and there, oh sob! was a weekend without a computer. I literally live at my computer when I'm home and not doing household chores; I read with the email on; if I eat alone I do so in front of the computer. I start my day with emails and Facebook. OK, I'm a junkie, but this was pretty tortuous.
I made do with the iPhone and the Nook, emailing and reading Facebook on both, and spending a lot of time reading mysteries. Finished Julie Hyzy's wonderful Affairs of Steak, the newest in the White House chef series, and started Lucy Burdette's debut novel, Appetite for Murder, about an aspiring food critic--and a murder--in Key West. Hoped the computer would be back Monday but no such luck.
Monday night, the Nook and the iPhone both ran out of battery at the same time; the Nook takes 15 or 20 minutes before it can power up again, and it had the book I'm reading on it. Five minutes later the TV in my office went out. I was stranded in an electronic wilderness!
Today, I got a great review by Terry Ambrose at http://www.examiner.com/crime-fiction-in-national/skeleton-a-dead-space-would-be-realtor-s-nightmare and I could't print it, etc., a friend emailed to be sure I was not sick (nice that people notice when I'm missing) and another, by phone, said, "No wonder you were so quiet all weekend." I got an email that I have a guest blog due in two days. And I had by today compiled a little list of things to clear up once I got the computer back on.
Hurray! this afternoon Jacob and I drove in one of those cold drizzles all the way out Camp Bowie past Cherry Lane. With my back-roads routes, it was a bit of a journey and a cold one because it's one of those days when the car fogs up and you have to defrost with the a/c. Besides, Jacob complains about the heater, says it smells bad.
There's always, for me, a bit of trepidation when I first re-hook my computer, but all is in order, except of course my GoogleSearch history is gone, there's no list of recently viewed files. Oops, I have to see if all my stored email addresses are gone--so far I've just been replying.
But I'm back in the electronic world and happy about it. Tomorrow, I'm staying home and talking nice to my computer all day.

Thanksgiving, a day late

What to say after a Thanksgiving Day filled with so many reasons to be thankful--most of all a gathering of loosely related famly of thirty-one people, all delighted to see each other for the once-a-year gathering. Everyone talked at once and half the time I couldn't hear what anyone said, but it was all joyful. There were ten children, ranging from nine (she doesn't consider herself a child anymore) to seven months., many at that one-to-two shy age, where they view you with some skepticism if they don't see you every day. My own family of sixteen was all there and delightful.
Many blogs I've read list the things the blogger is grateful--I have so many and some that are so personal that I won't do that, but I will say I am most grateful for family and friends, for my brother and sister-in-law who put the whole day together and worked hard doing it. John arranged a hayride for the kids, and believe me, we were all there on time so none would miss it. I stayed to help Cinday in the kitchen, having ridden in the mule over the ranch several times. But it was a hit with the little ones--and the big ones. Everybody brought some of the food--they had deep-fried three turkeys and a breast the day before--and pitched in with the prepration and the cleaning up. I cannot think of a more perfect day. So my love and gratitutde to John and Cindy. John gave a brief talk which called up old memories of Thanksgivings past and made me teary-eyed, and then he asked Maddie, the oldest grandchild, to start us in the traditional prayer.
Today I realized--surely I've learned this before but forgotten it--that organizing a family of sixteen is like herding cats. What I have learned better than in the past is to roll with it, letting them all go their way. When the bunch at my house proved disorganized and slow, I went to Jordan's house, where they were just as disorganized and slow. At one point I found myself sitting alone in the living room reading the Neiman-Marcus Christmas book and thinking, "Gee I'm glad to be out here." I'd been there less than an hour when they all left for Chucky Cheese, one of my lelast favorite places. I came home, ate lunch, had a good long nap and was like a new person.
My neighbors came for happy hour--another way I'm blessed--and then we went down the street for Mexican food. Then Maddie and I got a great start on decorating for Christmas--I may have to refine it a bit, but it's a start.
They all leave tomorrow--some in the morning, most in the afternoon, and perhaps Jordan and Jacob will come for supper and help me finish deorating. Even after this busy three days, there's a busier week ahead, and I am tired.
I hope everyone had as blessed a holiday as I did and is as happily tired as I am.
I'm laughing. Jamie and Melanie and Colin have all asked for the passcode to my new AT&T wireless system--they like it that they can log on at their own computers. So here we are, late at night, each at our own computer. What a family! My computer refused to turn on today--when I finally got it on, it was weird. Luckily Brandon is the computer guru in the family, and he got me back up and running, while diagnosing the problem as a dead remote flat-screen monitor. So it's weird--I'm typing on a remote keybord but have to turn around to see what I've typed. I'm ordering a new flat-screen, maybe tonight!

Ah, Sundays

It's been a long, quiet, but not lonely day. Sometimes on days like this I have to gear myself up to do the little things that need doing. But I planted the cyclamen I bought for the window boxes, pulled up the sweet potato vines that obviously do not like these chilly nights, watered plants, and did a lot of little chores like that. My yoga session was much much better than yesterday, and I experimented with a new routine that Elizabeth tried to teach me. By myself, with no one watching, I do better at new poses.
But it was also a day of mess-ups. I baked peanut-butter cookies this morning, following my mom's recipe. I really did freeze all but the two I'd smushed getting the pans out of the oven. Jordan is on South Beach and so has made me very aware of sugar content--do you realize how much sugar is in old-fashioned peanut butter cookies? One cup brown, and 3/4 cup white. Good golly. And somehow I measured out too much white, and while trying to put it back in the carton--it now comes in something that looks like a milk carton--I spilled it all over the counter and the floor. Sugar is not the easiest thing to clean up.
Then I tried to replace a ceiling flood light in the kitchen. You have to use one of those extenders that wrap around the bulb. I tried and tried last night, decided I was getting frustrated and would try again this morning. First try: I somehow broke the bulb, shoved the screw-in part of it right down into the bulb. So then of course I had to vacuum so the animals wouldn't get glass in their paws. Wywy, the cat, has been acting weirdly the last couple of days--she (he, it) who wouldn't touch dry food, now won't touch canned food but does eat the dry. Still doesn't seem as ravenous as he used to. Maybe the dry has more bulk.
And then, trying to clean green beans, for my stir-fry supper, I spilled salt all over. I clean them by rustling them around in salt water and then rinsing--another of my mom's tricks. Fortunately I rinsed them well enough that they weren't salty--I stir-fried scallops, grape tomatoes, green beans, two bites of broccoli left from last night, and mushrooms. Last week I served poached scallops when I meant them to be sauteed. I learned a lesson--do the scallops first, and dust them with a bit of flour. Remove from pan, saute the vegetables, and return the scallops until all is heated.
But my biggest mess-up was a computer one. I am reading through the edited manuscript for my cookbook (due out in Feburary--everyone hold your breath!) It's one of those deals where you have to position the cursor just right and then click either accept or reject. With recipes and quantities, there's a lot of that, because the editor standardized my haphazard approach to cooking.By late last night I had gotten through the preface, one and a half chapters. Toward the end of the evening I hit something which highlighted eveything in yellow--very annoying and I didn't know how to undo it. Went to bed and was almost asleep when I realized that I might not have saved it. Ever since the installation of U-Verse, my computer has been going to sleep if I leave it for long at all. So I stumbled up and saved eveything. This morning it had the strangest formatting I've ever seen, and I had no idea how to fix it. Fortunately I had the email with the original edited mss. so I had to start all over. I am now well into the third chapter, and I'm quitting for the evening, before I get so tired I goof it up again. It's very repetitious, mechanical work--and yet addictive. You think, "I'll just do one more recipe" and you keep going.
The book--called Cooking My Way Through Life with Kids and Books--is a memoir cookbook and has a long, funny story behind it. But I'm saving that story for when I am, I hope, asked to talk about the book.
I've re-charged my Kindle and found a mystery on it that I'm really enjoying, so that's my project for the rest of the evening.

A technological genius--well, sort of

Like many people of my generation, I'm not super smart about computers, remote control programming of televisions, and the like, though I think I do better than some. Still, I've had a spate of disasters--don't they say bad things happen in threes? The other day my TV in my home office, where I religiously watch the news, told me the smart card was not inserted correctly. What smart card? Nobody had touched anything since I turned it off the night before and it was fine. A lengthy phone call to the tech people (I have DISH) determined that the receiver had gone blooey and they would send me a new one, for only $14.95 shipping (isn't it their fault?). It arrived yesterday, and I took one look last night at the directions and threw up my hands--okay, it was late and I'd had a glass of wine. But I'd wait for Brandon, my son-in-law with a graduate degree in computer software, to arrive for dinner tonight. First big glitch: Brandon had a mandatory work meeting at four and they didn't get out of Austin until five or worse. So today I decided to be bold, and I actually disconnected the old receiver and got the new one hooked up. Only two problems: I have one cord left over that I don't know what to do with, and there's no picture. But still, I'm pretty proud of what I did do.
Then last night my wireless mouse stopped working. Not a big deal--I've changed the batteries a hundred times. Only this time, it didn't start working with new batteries. Talked to Brandon, who told me what to do--it didn't work, and I told him I'd wait till he got up here. Well, the poor thing does not want to be hit with all my problems when he walks in the door. I tried his solution again, and then I rebooted--it worked! So that's back in business.
Third one: this afternoon I was fixing lunch and decided to change channel on the kitchen TV. It told me to choose a favorite. Well, my favorite is 5.1 which is the Channel 5 High definition channel, but you can only choose 5, not 5.1 on the remote.5 comes in fuzzy. And every time I try to change it, the TV makes the new one the "fav." I honestly don't want a "fav"--I want all the channels. I've fiddled with it but can't do that one.
So I figure it's win, lose and draw for me and technology.
I had planned a great dinner for the family that won't get here untiil 9 tonight--hot German potato salad (my very favorite), Kosher hot dogs, and three bean salad (already made). I went ahead and made a smaller potato salad for me and had a wonderful dinner. Who knows what I'll feed those boys tomorrow night when Megan and Brandon go to her 20th high school reunion. Jordan and Jacob are coming over to play with the boys and have dinner. Another nice weekend of grandchildren.

Computer troubles, index problems--and good friends

I've decided that computers are my enemy. I'm sure it's only a temporary decision, but wow! Sunday morning, my computer had turned itself off and wouldn't turn back on. I finally babied, coaxed, and did everything I knew--and it booted, albeit with a message that my battery was low and I should plug it immediately into a power source. Of course it stays plugged in, so that made no sense. Then my internet kept dropping off, coming back on mysteriously. My son-in-law Brandon, the computer guru, gave me a vague, "I don't know what's wrong. Don't worry as long as it's working." Well, the internet went down again today, then up, then down--I ran diagnostics on it, and kept getting told it's a network problem. Of course calls to my service provider involve lengthy stays on the phone that make me long for a speaker phone at home like I have at work--30 minutes last night. But tonight I got a helpful man who spoke clear good English and offered to call me back rather than make me wait. He did, there's a short in my wiring--the good news is I have "inside line insurance"--and a repairman will be out tomorrow. It's sort of hard to take an online course when you're internet connection keeps dropping out.
To add to my list of non-serious complaints, I spent the weekend checking final proofs of a book, which wouldn't have been a bad chore, except that the pages re-flowed and threw the index all off. So I had to check lots of index entries individually. Took me all weekend, and as I worked I thought about Carol, the indexer, who was off for some "R&R" at a cabin somewhere, and Melinda, our production manager, who was partying in San Marcos. I rained unpleasant thoughts on their heads.
But there were bright spots that proved to me that friends always save the day. Saturday night Jeannie and I went to the Star, the restaurant where I used to work, to celebrate Betty's birthday (she and her husband own it). About ten of us gathered around the back table and had a jolly time. It was good to eat that food again. But I missed some of the familiar faces from when I was there. The restaurant is much busier these days and I was not sorry I'm no longer helping out.
Sunday night my neighbors and Jordan and Jacob came for supper. I had made a large batch of crockpot barbecue--an experiment which came out well--and some homemade "northern-style" beans. I've been lazy lately, buying Bush's Original because they taste so good. But these, with bacon and molasses in them, reminded me how good they are when you make them from scratch. My neighbor Jay, whose wife is out of town, made a double fudge chocolate cake with Dove bars melted in the middle of it--talk about rich! We had a good jolly time, and Jacob was sure we'd all gathered for his amusement and to entertain him--we did. Sue's son, Hunter, at seven, was cute with him and so thrilled that he thought Jacob was glad to see him.
As always, life is good.

Thunderstorms

'Twas a dark a stormy night--that's really the way it is in Texas tonight. Last night there were severe tornados to the north and west of us, and tonight we're under flash flood and thunderstorm alerts--"some may be severe" they say. That does a lot of things to your psyche. For a couple of days I've not been as upbeat and happy as I usually like to think I am, and I remember a psychiatrist whose wife said when barometric pressure fell their phone rang off the wall.
But I am also reminded of my friend Charles, 90 years old, who announced the other day that he had changed his attitude. I asked how he'd done that, and he said he'd had a talk with himself. I said I often had talks with myself and they were usually neither as effective or quick acting as his seemed to be. His reply? "I had a very intelligent listener." Today I'm wondering if my listener is not as intelligent!
Storms really bring two complications to my life: Scooby, my dog, and my computer. Scooby is terrified of storms. When I got him, an abused dog from the Humane Society, he literally went ballistic during storms. The first storm after I had him he hid under my desk and pawed at my legs until I had bruises. He's gotten better over the years (four now) and I think it's because he feels more secure. But he's really unhappy tonight, even bolted inside when I put his food outside--and he never overlooks food! Just now I explained he had to go potty before he came in for the night, but he went reluctantly--and only because I put a leash on him.
And then there's the computer. I'm terrified of losing it--partly because of the information stored on it and partly because it's such an integral part of my routine. I sit at my desk and work in the evenings, and I always have one ear listening for new emails. Without a computer, my days would be empty. I view that as sort of a deficiency confession and wonder if I should give up the computer for a week, as some people give up TV. I'm not ready for that, though, so I unplug and disconnect it every time I hear near thunder--I dismiss distant thunder--and then hook it all up again. A royal pain! But tonight I've gotten lots done--several writing projects--and I'll turn it off before I go to bed. And of couse I'll let poor Scooby in so he can sleep next to my bed.
So far we've had gentle rains, really good for gardens. But I keep moving some potted plants under cover that I think might suffer if we got a heavy rain--always a threat. So my pencil tree, cilantro, and new pot of chives are under the porch roof. My old pot of chives that comes up remarkably year after year is so hardy I never worry about it.
Tomorrow I must take my car in to see why the brakes groan when I back out of the driveway and then never make another noise all day. Nuisance, nuisance, nuisance.
I would say my outlook is not positive tonight, but it will be better tomorrow--even though storms are expected.