Lately we've been having a string of mishaps, failures, and mini disasters here at Casa Tipton-Kelly.
Just yesterday, after Bill's iPad failed him (the battery is dying), I complained to Bill "I would like to have a week or two when nothing goes wrong." Alas, it is not to be.
This morning, after I got Bill's new iPad working (adding his e-mail, deleting mine - I don't use an iPad anymore) and other settings changed, I was having my breakfast whilst watching TV.
BLIP!
There goes the electricity. It blipped off for a second but just enough time to throw my DirecTV signal on the blink. I get the message "Can't find the server, try again". Here we go.
I'm getting to be the regular tech guru around here. Bill can handle the old fashion problems like the toiled keeps running or one of the fuses goes out in the switch box (which we've had happen in the past month). Dealing with the digital problems, his brain is just too full to figure out solutions to those 21st century problems. Thus it is me. I'm reasonably smart (sort of) but by no means does all this come to me naturally. I have to really give my brain a work out. Through diligence and perseverance I was able to figure out Bill's new (my old) iPad setup. Got him going on that, he was panicking because he spends most of his day on his iPad, mostly checking the weather (radar screen).
Another problem I discovered yesterday was another mouse (or mice) have taken up residence in our garage, aiming to get into our kitchen and our pantry food supply. If you'll remember, I discovered a mouse this past winter (through the little mice turds which look like big peppercorns but they ain't peppercorns, believe me) accumulating on the floor to the pantry, then the telltale chewing into food containers. Yuck! Had to throw out all that food. Perhaps a good excuse to clean out our pantry with old food that should have been cleaned out but still, a big waste and the yuck factor knowing that a mouse was in there. I set the trap and almost immediately caught one. Squash! Then I caught another one in the Have-a-heart trap! Ah ha! Mr. and Mrs. Mouse getting ready to start a family. I took her down to the end of Oyster Rocks Road and set her free. This was past winter.
Now I'm surprised that evidence of a mouse in the house is back. I set the mouse trap with peanut butter and within the hour I caught the intruder last Friday. But I still see evidence of new "peppercorns" in the garage. I set out the Have-a-Heart trap last night with two crackers in it. This morning I check the trap and the crackers were gone but no mouse. Okay. I put the old fashion Victor mouse traps out this morning, the ones that break their neck or squash their head, bugging their eyes out, this morning. Let's see if that take care of the mouse invasion. Hate to be so brutal but I'm not sharing out domestic bliss with mice leaving turds all over the place and chewing into our food. I'm not sharing.
And yet another problem, our local resident rabbit is eating our impatiens flowers. Not the whole plant but just the flower. Nice! Where is a fox when you need one?
Another problem I have is I can't get in touch with the guy (Fernando) who trims my twenty-one holly trees. His son Alfredo (who speaks English, Alfredo doesn't) phone number doesn't work anymore. It's been disconnected. I have other guys (Raul and Juan) who have offered to trim my holly trees but Fernando (who is tall for a Mexican) does the best job. Juan's guys have trimmed some of my neighbors' bushes but not as good a Fernando. Now I have to not only worry about getting my holly trees properly trimmed but I feel bad for Fernando and his family during this reign of terror that The Predator (Trump) is inflicting on our country by threatening to deport all undocumented immigrants. Give me a break. Whose going to do the yard work and work in the chicken processing plants we have down here in southern Delaware? President Pussy Grabber has to shore up his base so he's terrorizing people who only want to have a better life like our ancestors did when they moved here however many years ago. Someday this nightmare will end, I hope I live long enough to see it.
Okay, so I put out another few campfires today, let's see what the new day will bring. I would LOVE to have a week or two without ANY problems. Just smooth sailing. But like my pal Pat says, all these problems are "first world problems." Just think of all the people who have REAL problems. In a different life I could be one of those immigrants just trying to have a better life. My life now is pretty good, even though it seems I am confronted almost daily with these annoying problems. Having an iPad battery fail is nothing like being holed up in a "detention" (concentration camp) center on our southern border. Sometimes I think American has lost its heart and soul. This is not us folks. At least it's not me and many people I know. The Deplorables have always been with us and always will be, hopefully someday their champion of cruelty will be out of power (and his enablers) and America can regain its conscience.