Beyond Belief

Arrrgh...the computer gremlins had me in their sights again this morning.  In the past week Facebook and then email went away...and then came back.  Connection with the internet today was totally lost, and it didn't have to do with the snow (what Linda refers to as Dogwood Snowfall) coming down before daylight.  Fiddling frantically, kind of like Charlie Daniels at a hot gig, I tried every fix I could think of to retrieve that which had been lost, to no avail.  Fine.  Just fine.  My poor daughter called just about then to ask how I liked the new phone (explanation to follow).  I think she's sorry she called because I spewed like Vesuvius, epithets and apologies for same flying everywhere.  Tech support was not available and so I went on down to the goat barn, thinking a little physical exercise would cool me down.  The new phone (explanation to follow) has a pedometer!  Morning chores took one-thousand, one-hundred ninety steps; of vital interest to no one but myself, but, hey, if the phone can count 'em, the least I can do is read 'em.  The gremlins, having had their laugh for the day, took compassion or else got bored and gave me back the internet when I got back to the house.  Thank you, gremlins.  I will not ask "what's next?"

Yesterday the planets and stars were in alignment and the Kids and I arrived in P'ville within minutes of each other.  I am on their family plan for cell phones and, according to them, mine was due for an upgrade so we met at the phone store...a whole store just for phones!  Telephones have come a long way since I was a kid back in the Dark Ages.  Phones were black, period.  They were heavy enough to be used as deadly weapons, and the cords (all telephones had cords) were cloth covered and had no curls.  There was no such thing as an area code, and prefixes were real words...ours was BUdlong, and there were only six digits total.  If we needed to call long distance, we just dialed "O" on the rotary dial and the nice lady would help us, the same lady who looked up phone numbers and asked how our day was going.  That was then...this is now.

Deb and Craig got me my first cell phone for my security and their peace of mind nearly six years ago, and I adapted pretty well.  I never leave the house without patting one pocket or another to make sure I've got it with me.  It was a pretty basic flip phone I could text, etc., with the best of them.  The new phone is a different breed of cat.  It has a touch screen and a true keyboard...they take some getting used to.  While the Kids and I had an absolutely delicious Mexican lunch, I missed three calls because I couldn't figure out how to answer the darned thing.  It has beautiful "wallpaper" and I kept wanting to look at it instead of holding it to my ear.  I just love new technology, and I'm ashamed to admit, loving being in the Kids' company as I did (and always do), that I could hardly wait to get home and read the manual and find out exactly what this new toy could do.  Suffice it to say that the manual (grammar errors notwithstanding) left a lot to be desired.  It was mainly trial and error, and I was still playing with it at eleven-thirty last night, but I've got a pretty good handle on that sucker this morning.

Rain, hail, snow...still coming down; what do I care?  I've got firewood.  I've got internet.  I've got a really fancy-schmantzy phone that I can work.  I talked to all my Kids (new phone or old) and had a wonderful day with Deb and Craig.  Birthdays don't get much better, and mine was beyond belief.