Well, apparently someone crossed the bridge, because here I am!
"Where on Earth did you go?" you may ponder. We we last posted in early May, we were still far from the trials of the end of the school year, planting was still just a pipe dream, and Ellie had just hatched out some seriously cute puffballs.
Then my computer died. She didn't go quietly either. She started making some odd grumblings, which became screeching, and the clever Boy backed up the whole mess on an external hard drive for me before the screeching became screaming. Oh wait, that was me.
One morning Blanche just would NOT turn on again. She had processed her last photo, laughed her last at my horrific spelling errors, posted her last blog entry, and spun her last whirl on her hard drive. She went dark, and never returned. RIP old Blanche.
Now if you know me, I loathe relearning technology. I dread getting a new cell phone. Heck, I dread it when the cell phone just updates and slightly changes. At the Station, we call that shaking mom's snow globe. I learn something, or where something is located and I don't even have to think about where things are, I just do it. When it changes, it rattles my brain and my world and I kind of just shut down. Now my whole computer was gone. It was just too much to think about. I didn't NEED a new one at the moment, so I put it off. After all, I do have a smartphone and much of what I need to do can be done on that. So that would do for a bit.
"BUT WAIT, you have a surface pro!" you exclaim. I DID! The Boy figured out he could use it for his calculus class to take notes and do math problems with the stylus instead of the keyboard, and it disappeared down into his techie cave, like the island of misfit toys, or maybe more like Sid's room from Toy Story, never to be seen by me again. So.....
A little bit turned into a while, which turned into a fortnight, then a month. I watched The Boy researching bits and bobs for building his computer for University from the plug up and just froze. I watched him researching models for his own laptop and just about went into a panic. I distracted myself with chickens, The Boy's graduation, company, farm projects, more chickens, art projects, and June's Mulberry season. I certainly couldn't be expected to go into Best Buy and shop for laptops with Purple Hands and FINGERS, now could I? The rains came, the pasture grass grew and needed constant mowing. Then there was the 4th of July, Doc retired and went on leave and his office needed cleaned and packed, more mowing, and company, a mind numbing heat wave, practice for the Cornhusker Games, participating in the Cornhusker Games. Time was just flying.
By this time, my affair with my smart phone was drawing thin. Don't get me wrong Dear Samsung phone. You are handy as an alarm clock and for checking my email, twitter, and glimpses for what passes as news now as I am out and about. But when it comes to long postings, reading books, or uploading photos to email or the internet I was calling it quits. My eyes were tired. My arms were taking on the pose of an internet savvy T-Rex. Something had to be done, and quick!
A glance at the Sunday circulars online for Dorm supplies for the boy, and something caught my attention. Something I had not yet considered in my quest to save my eye sight and re-enter the digital world, a Chromebook. A SIMPLE solution! I can get to the internet. I would have a large screen. I'd be able to get my photos from my cameras to the website and work on the blog again. PLUS, I'd have storage to the cloud and could work online and off. DEAL!
A quick to trip Best Buy with price matching from Amazon and I have a brand spanking new internet accessing box thingy, with a big screen and BIG keyboard. So I am back readers! I'm not sure you're out there reading, but if you are, the post are about to begin again!
Thank you for checking on us via email and for your patience!
Good to see you back Caryl. Excellent photos.
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