P.I.C.N.I.C.

If you are a "techie" you'll understand that title. If you aren't, I'll explain in a minute. I am NOT a techie, although some think I may be; at least a little. When I was working I was considered the Technology person for our school. If there was a problem with teachers' computers, I was the go-to person. Unfortunately, that wasn't because I really knew what I was doing. As one person put it, 15 years ago, when our school was trying to decide who would be the designated Tech person, "Connie, it should be you! You know more about this stuff than anyone else, here!" To which I replied, "If I know more than anyone else, then we are in trouble!"

I learned a good bit while I was doing the job, but mostly I was the first level tech person who solved the simple problems. One thing I learned is that when you check the troubleshooting part of a manual for anything the first thing on the list is "Is the (fill in the blank) plugged in?" That question is there for a reason. It made people like me look smart. I plugged in the printer, and VOILA! it worked!!! Amazing.

Well, this week was a chance to harken back to those days. First, someone hacked my email. Hundreds of people on my contact list (yes, there are that many) received invitations to try Viagra or Cialis under the multitudes of misleading subject headings like "I Did It!", or "You'll Love This!". I changed my password, but alas, Hotmail decided to teach me a lesson while protecting their system. I was locked out of my account for a day while the whole thing was sorted out. So Techie thing #2 was to fix my account and get it back. Today I had to deal with Techie #3. My wireless printer went off line and none of the traditional fixes (meaning turning it off and then on again) worked.

The problem with all this is, as I stated at the beginning, I am NOT a techie!! Therefore I made a few missteps before I figured out what I should have done and ended up re-installing my wireless router, and then I had to reconnect my printer and two computers. 2 hours wasted.

There is a fun side to being a techie. Techie's have code words they use to describe problems to one another. My favorite is the "IDtenT" problem. It sounds very 'technical' but when a Tech Support Person tells another Tech Support Person, "the problem was an "IDtenT" it is not a compliment. I won't spell it out for you, but grab a pencil and write it out, supplementing the actual number for the word. It means you probably forgot to plug the printer in.

One guy who does phone support told me he uses the "Pin3ErrorCode" with people over the phone. One key tip to solve any problem is to 'check the connections'. This doesn't mean jiggle the cable. It means unplug it and plug it back in to make sure a lost connection has been re-united, so to speak. Most people would assure the phone tech they had checked the connections. This techie told his clients it 'sounds like a Pin3 error code' and had the client unplug a few cables and then reconnect them, frequently solving the problem.

So what does P.I.C.N.I.C mean? Code for "Problem in chair, NOT in computer". Another version of the IDtenT code. The problem is: user stupidity; not computer error. So back to my problems this week. As for the email Hacking: true. My password was too simple, and not changed frequently enough. Problem in chair.  Blocked out of my email????  Let's change that to "Problem in COMPUTER, NOT in Chair!" (even if maybe I originated the problem). And then the wireless router? Definitely, problem in chair. As I said, I was a Level 1 tech support person at my school. I only looked good because I had great 'behind-the-scenes-support'. Greg, I mean YOU! I had people I could call who would walk me through more complicated fixes. It's one of the things I miss most, now that I'm retired. So after fiddling around, make that fumbling around, I finally solved the problem and got my printer back on line

Being the Tech Support person is one of the things I don't miss, now that I am retired! But having those people I could call?? Oh yeah, I miss them ALOT!

Christmas Rush

"Christmas is just over a week away and it seems as though there just isn't enough time in the day to get everything done." That statement applies to almost everyone at this time of year. I've noticed I don't have time to blog. It seems as if there are so many more pressing needs. I'll be walking the dog, or shopping in the mall and think of things I want to blog about, but when I get home I 'have to do ........ first'!

A few weeks ago my daughter texted me:  'my Christmas Cards are done, but I still feel like I'm behind'. 'Are you kidding?' I texted back. 'I don't even have my TREE up yet!!' Then I looked at the calendar. It was Dec. 1! Her card arrived in the mail the next day. It was the first one of the season. And that got me worrying a little bit. My cousin has always sent the first card, usually right after Thanksgiving, (for the last 40 years!). I hoped she was OK. I was glad to see her card arrive a week later.

Ok. So what's the rush? I am just as guilty. Until my cards were out and my tree was up, I felt as though the season was running away without me. I started thinking back to when I actually had a job and 2 kids at home that had to be chauffered here and there. My goal was to get the cards out and delivered by Dec. 24. If the tree was up 2 weeks before Christmas we were doing well. As a teacher, a scout leader, and a part of other groups, my focus was on getting packages mailed to relatives first, making Christmas gifts for scouts, buying gifts for other teachers,  and getting things done before school went on break. We usually went on break about 5 days before Christmas and that's when I started my family shopping!

Now I'm retired. My kids are raising their own families (and in some ways emulating the habits they saw in their mother). I don't usually have packages to mail any more and the kids are coming here. Ordering a Christmas card photo with a holiday message and printed signature has taken the writer's cramp out of all the cards with personal messages added on.The pace has slowed considerably. But not the sense of 'the rush'. December 1 and I already was wondering when it was going to get done. In the old days I never had time to worry about it. I just pushed through each day and tackled the next 'this has to be done tonight' project.

1 Week out: the lights are on the house, the tree is up, the cards are out, and most of the shopping is done. The house is decorated with all my favorite tsotchkes (is that how you spell it?)--Hey kids, that's a local word for KnickKnacks. I feel much more relaxed about the whole season now, but I've learned, until all the decorations are up and the boxes tucked back in the closet I will still feel the pressure, even if I still have 3 weeks to go.

I hope you and yours are all able to enjoy the holiday season whether it is rushed or relaxed. (And if you can be relaxed my guess is that you are one in a million!) Enjoy a cup of hot chocolate while you put up the tree and a glass of wine when it's done. Or Vice Versa! Or wine both times! Whatever makes your day a little lighter. Tis the season ... For a Reason.  So savor the moment. What's the rush? You still have a week to go!

Hey Mother Nature! Who's Fooling Who?

Long, long ago there was a popular commercial that ended with the words "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature!" The purpose of the commercial is irrelevant, but it came to mind yesterday. I was out working in the gardens, cleaning out the last of the leaf debris that had built up under the bushes. We've been here 5 years already, but this is the first fall we've had to rake. I told Larry last year we didn't need to plant anymore trees! Right now it seems just about right. In a few years the trees will be big enough to really add character to the yard. They will be beautiful in the spring, add shade in the summer and be gorgeous in the fall and then..... I'll be huffing and puffing, sweating and groaning, as I rake up the clutter and trying to capture it all in the leaf bins our recycling center has given us.

Oh well, that's projecting into the future. Back to yesterday. As I pulled back the matted piles of dead leaves in the garden I was surprised to see tips of green shoots poking through the soil. There were unmistakable signs of bulbs popping up! Even the chrysanthemums were sending out new shoots! What is this? It's December! What's up with my plants?

We had snow in October, but November was warmer than usual. It has actually been in the high 50's, lately. How optomistic of these plants to think that spring must be on the way!

I decided I want to be like my plants; ever optomistic that spring is right around the corner. The temperature will plummet to freezing tonight and will stay there for several days. It may rebound later and give me a taste of spring or I may be stuck with subzero temps. I know something my plants don't. It's ONLY December! The snows are coming. But when they do, I'm gonna look out from the comfort of my house and say....

Hey, Spring is just around the corner! The tulips told me so!

Karma

Karma, What goes around, comes around. I love Karma...usually. There was a sweet story in the news a couple of weeks ago that gave that great feeling of Karma.

A Saint Bernard was found abandoned, starving, and dehydrated. The pet rescue center that received the dog was unfortunately not a No-Kill center. The day before the dog was scheduled to be put down a couple connected to the center took the dog home to keep for a few days in the hopes they would find a new home for him. As they were returning to their home, the dog pushed through the door and charged ahead of them, barking and growling. He chased an intruder out the back door! The couple decided THEY were his new owners! Karma.

I recently had my own bout with Karma. Men are not often known for their finesse. My husband will never be accused of handling things delicately. It is a common practice of his to grind his coffee beans and then pour them into the coffee maker. As easy as this task may seem he has yet to succeed without leaving coffee grinds sprinkled all over the counter, stove and into the burner pans.

The other day he was busy getting his coffee ready when he knocked the coffee grinder spilling grounds all over the counter and floor. I gave him my usual exasperated look as I checked the floor to make sure it was all cleaned up. Then I proceeded to fix dinner.

Half an hour later I took a dish of rice out of the oven. As I set it on the stove the hot mat slipped, the rice bowl tipped and I had 2 cups of rice splattered across the stove top and through every burner pan. I even had to scrub it out between the coils on the burners.

Karma. Sometimes it works for you. Sometimes...not so much.

#1 Wild and Woolly

Fall is winding down. As I headed out today, I noticed the last of the pear trees, the final hold out around here, have shed almost all of their leaves. The pear tree has become my favorite since we moved here. Covered in white blossoms it is the one of the most showy trees in spring. In fall it holds on to its green leaves until the end, finally turning a bright burnished gold before letting them go.

This isn't a pear tree, but it has also become one of my favorites. I watch it outside my window for its signs. It is the first to get green in the spring, and the last to change in the fall. Often the gold leaves turn red, but this year they stayed gold. I took this picture about 5 days ago. Today the leaves are gone.
The chrysanthemums are hanging on, but most of the other flowers have withered in the first frost. The fields are wild and woolly. They aren't what one would normally describe as pretty, but to me they are.

It took me awhile to notice it, but last year I really did. The fields had grown up. The grasses had dried. The wildflowers had lost their colors and now wore hats of feathery white seed pods. The bloom of youth was gone. They had aged.

Just as a photographer can take a picture of an aged and wrinkled old person and you see the beauty within, the life that was lived, so the fields in late fall look beautiful to me. It does mean the fall season is nearing an end, but Thanksgiving is at hand! We'll be putting up Christmas decorations next weekend. It's time for change. Time to embrace the next season. And Seasons are one of the blessings of living north of the temperate zone.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

#2 Crunch, Crunch, Skuffle

It's been awhile since I've posted. As usual life has gotten away from me, but I'm ready to catch back up to it!

Today feels more like winter, but the good news is that fall isn't over yet. The air was more cold than crisp as Maggie and I took our walk but it got me to thinking of other walks on fall days.

As a child I remember skuffling through the leaves on my way to school in the Fall or jumping into freshly raked piles. When we moved to Florida there was a part of me that missed that. Florida trees don't lose as many leaves in the fall. There were a few times when walking in the woods brought back that memory but it is more dramatic here. I think it is because so many leaves have come down at once. The bigger the leaf the better the shuffle!

When my father was in the hospital one year, my sisters and I gathered at the hospital. It was early November and we went out for a walk. The sidewalk was buried under layers of dry and bright yellow poplar and maple leaves. The sound of the crunch, and the smell from the sun warming the leaves was old and familiar and comforting.

Our pear tree is holding on to its last few leaves, but the yard is polka-dotted with the rest. The leaf fall is almost over. The shuffle, skuffle, crunch will last for a short time, but that too will pass. I'll enjoy it while I have it!

# 3 Crisp Air

Don't you love waking up in the morning to that crisp clear air? Or looking up at night to see thousands of stars glittering in the dark? I have yet to meet someone who doesn't appreciate a crisp, cool Fall day. Even those summer fanatics can't help but succomb when the mugginess clears. The forecast of a "Cold Front" might chill the heart of a summer lover, but when the morning dawns cloudless and clear even they (and I) find their step is lighter and quicker.

I am one of those people. I am a walker and so is Maggie. Maggie has gotten too old for those hot summer walks, but I am still up to the challenge. Maggie waits at home while I go out each morning and she greets me when I walk back in dripping with sweat, face mottled from the heat. Summer heat has been gone for awhile now, but we both are enjoying the cooler days. Her step is perkier and at the end of our walk my body is warm, but the glow on my face isn't threatening heat exhaustion.
Not everyday is crisp. Later this week itwill be cold and chilly. But right now we are having some gorgeous days and I want to be sure to enjoy them! Fall has more crisp, clear days than any other season and it is one of the things I really love about Fall.