What 'a' Week . . . Cool

It started out on a positive note -- Mother's Day! Phone calls and visitors for Gail of course and several packages culminating with a super dinner and a "show" -- the show being of a sports nature.

The day was pleasant and we both enjoyed it. The Giants won their game and came off a losing streak as well. We couldn't help be reminded of all the Mother's Days in the past AND of all the mothers.

The above pretty much describes the day in it's simplicity. And a week later we still can "smell" the rose.

As far as the week is going -- it is the best weather -- we did not need either the heater or the a/c. We have been able to open all the windows and most of the doors and just enjoy the breeze as it flows throughout. Unfortunately we know that this won't last, so we enjoy it while we can.

Incredibly, I happened to be in Hawaii exactly 48 years ago to the day that the volcano began it's current eruptions.

I can't imagine being a tourist there at this point. The time that I spent there was some of the most enjoyable ever in terms of pleasant weather and conditions.

The scene of the lava flowing across the road is almost unbelievable if it were not for the fact of pictures.

There are thousands of folks right here in Sonoma County that are currently trying to get back to some normalcy after the horrendous fires last October. What will be the process for the folks near Kilauea that will eventually begin their struggle to get back to some sort of normalcy.

I remember walking on the "black-sand beaches" not realizing really how they happen to be that way.
We have a little bit more of a sense of that now. It will be a long lava-covered road to recovery.

Late yesterday Gail and I drove over to Windsor to see if we could see any of the upcoming preparations for the big event.

We live just 5-10 minutes away from Windsor and there is always something going on -- just not the Royal Wedding.

But now -- in the land of the "real" Windsor the Duke & Duchess of Sussex are celebrating, I'm sure.

In a year or so, will there be little ones added to the ever growing Royal Family -- we'll see.

What will be the next Royal event . . . it is nice to realize that most of us in the family tree do have a connection to the Royal family. We weren't invited to the recent Royal events -- maybe in the future.

It has been a week of technological turmoil here -- last post I mentioned that I had almost been driven "around the bend" due to seven hours on line with tech support.

This is a current picture of my desk -- today. Last night I set up my new computer -- an HP Envy.

The monitor screen on the right is the new one and it is 34 inches wide. The monitor on the left of my desk is 27 inches wide.

That means that I have at the moment 63 inches of computer monitor screens to look at. A bit over 5 feet worth -- amazing.

Now, if they only worked as well as they look. The problems that caused the 7 hour long tech call are still with me to some extent and rather than spending more hours and money fixing the 5 year old computer -- the decision was made to purchase a new one.

Of course now the issue is -- moving all the files, programs & apps and other items from the old to the new -- a process that last time took me months . . . I am going to take my time doing it and hopefully I'll get it right -- I may need assistance though, we'll see.

If the above was not enough to deal with, also yesterday we switched satellite services -- from DirecTV to Dish.

We had had DirecTV for several years but recently their equipment was demanding reboots almost every week -- resulting in lost shows and partial shows.

Also, a few weeks ago, their system started automatically setting up several shows for recording whether we asked for them or not -- after calling I was promised that that would stop -- but it did not.

In addition, several sporting events were messed up with they way that they were recording them. I was continually getting more and more frustrated. The straw that pushed me to make the decision to change services happened two days ago -- they redid their entire menu system and display -- some of which was a good thing. But they also did away with a feature that I used almost everyday -- that of listing telephone calls that came into our home.

They still had caller i.d. but it only appeared on the screen for a short bit and then disappeared. I could no longer go in and see what number called and when -- when I called about that change they just said that they eliminated that feature -- two or three hours later I contacted Dish Network -- they had a tech out to our home the next day -- which was yesterday, Friday.

So today, I find myself learning the Dish system -- it does have better features and better equipment and as a newbie -- it is cheaper at least for the next two years.

So besides the change in computers (and printer) we are working on learning the satellite system as well . . . I'm not sure how many more times I can deal with such technological turmoil and for sure I best not have any "router" issues . . .

Just some random snaps of "around the house" this week. Gail, opening Mother's Day gifts, working on her needlepoint while Dino naps nearby AND lastly enjoying one of the best dinners that we have had this year -- freshly made potato salad, freshly picked sweet corn-on-the-cob and slow cooked baby back BBQ ribs . . . it was a bit of heaven, a summery delicious treat . . .

And so -- that is a bit of our week. See you all "in a few" !  👨👩