Move Along - Nothing to Read Here

It's been that kind of time, I fear. I have been absent from the blogosphere, have done no knitting, no stitching, have absolutely nothing concrete to present as the product of the past several days' endeavours, and am being harassed by unco-operative electrons 'til I'm ready to scream.

It all started, you see, the morning after I posted the last missive here. I woke up, and stumbled to the computer to check the mail. "Unable to find server" - not cataclysmic, or even uncommon - everyone's servers go down now and again. So I proceeded on with the morning, which involved running a bunch of errands. Imagine my surprise, to come out the side gate from the back to discover that the phone line from the pole to the house is in two pieces! One piece is attached to the house, and the other to the pole, and there's this gap betwixt the two. This might explain why the computer couldn't find the server? I did the assorted errands, and came back to the house. Fortunately, MSTC (My Son, The Chef, who provides the roof under which I reside) took that particular morning off, and was home, so I could borrow his cell phone - mine has fallen victim to having one too many cats dump over a glass of soda into it, and works fine, except that I can't talk and be heard, nor may I hear anyone else talking to me. I am reduced to texting! Gah...

Anyway, I then inaugurated the frustrating process of Dealing With the Phone Company. I called the toll-free number for service (sic) and explained the problem, and was asked if I had a dial tone. I say "No, this phone line is a DSL line for the computer. I do not have a voice land-line." The operator says "Please hold for a moment". Many minutes of elevator music. Then "This is Ms. W____. How may I help you?" So I explain everything again. "Do you have a dial tone?" "No, etc." "Oh, it's DSL! You need to talk to their service" and she gives me another toll-free number. I call and explain the problem yet again. "Do you have a dial tone?" "No, etc. But since the line is cut into two pieces, I wouldn't expect to. Isn't there some way you can check it from your end?" "Please hold." More elevator music. Same person comes back on the line, and explains they really need to know if I have a dial tone, because I don't have a maintenance agreement, and if the problem is in my house wiring, it will cost me $80 just for the service man to come to the house. I tell her that since the cut wire is between the pole and the house, I really don't think that applies. Then the thing which proves conclusively that people do NOT listen - "You mean the phone line is actually cut?" "Yes!!!!" Well, I'll send the service man out, but it would still be helpful to know if you have a dial tone. I said too bad, I have no way of finding out. She then tells me that the service man will arrive the next day, sometime between 7 AM and 9 PM. Futilely I enquire if it would be possible to narrow this down some. "No, sorry..." And so endeth the phone company communication. If I hear the question "Do you have a dial tone?" one more time, my interlocutor is going to find a blunt object of some sort buried in his frontal cortex!

The next morning, I'm sitting at the computer doing not much of anything, when all the electrics go out. I look out the window, see the electric company truck, and realize that once again MSTC has forgotten to pay the *(&^^&%*( electric bill! He informs me that he's going to pay it that morning - and shortly thereafter leaves the house with this intent. I'm wondering if the phone company guy is going to need the electric in order to do his thing, and hoping that the electric guy will arrive to turn everything back on before the phone guy arrives. As it happened, they arrived simultaneously, full of gossip regarding an apparent murder that had taken place down the road about a mile. They both do their thing, and amazingly enough, as soon as the phone wire is reconnected, the DSL is back up. And the service guy never did check to see if I had a dial tone, bless his heart!

Today, as I was returning from doing some shopping, my Rascal scooter suddenly decided to quit running. I texted MSTC, and he was able to get free after an hour to come and rescue me. I'm sure glad I didn't have any dairy or other meltable stuff in the shopping! It was hot and miserable waiting. I am so tired.

I came home, collapsed for a while, then came back to the computer. The clouds were thickening up, so out of curiosity, I checked the weather forecast. Tropical Storm Barry is coming late tonight for the weekend! It's supposed to bring a lot of rain with it, and I surely do hope it does. Might even be enough to put out the ()*&^*( fires, though possibly not, as they're only forecasting 2-3", which normally isn't enough to do the job. They did say that some places might get as much as 6", which probably would do it. Cross your fingers!