Honey's Deer

 

Honey's deer came to visit several times yesterday. 

We only saw one of the twins, but it showed up with and without its mama.

They look so much alike that there's no way to be sure, but we think we  were visited by the same one throughout the day.

Oh Canada

 

I've seen several news stories in the past week or so about the closure of the US-Canada border due to Covid-19.  Stories that mention a grocery store on a small US owned island that is going broke because they are surrounded by Canadians who are prohibited from entering the US - stories asking why the Canadian border remains closed while illegal immigrants (undocumented visitors - or whatever the politically correct term of the day might be) pour across the Rio Grande.

It was beginning to tick me off, and I was blaming the idiots in Washington until I did a little research.  

While the border is closed both ways, and will be until at least July 25th, It is Canada that is insisting on the closure.  With some exceptions, you can't board a plane to Canada without a negative Covid test, even if you've been vaccinated, and anyone arriving in Canada is expected to self-quarantine.  Failure to comply can result in huge fines, being thrown out of the country and banned from reentry for a year.

Travel is even restricted between some provinces.  If you're from Quebec, you are not really welcome in the Maritime Provinces.  At the least, you'll have to self quarantine for a minimum of 14 days.

Twins

 Anyone who knows my wife knows that she has a soft spot for deer.  On our travels around the country it became a sort of superstition  that any day she saw a deer was going to be a very good day.

This afternoon fit that in spades, and she didn't even have to leave our back yard!  

She went out about 2 o'clock and she saw twin fawns and their mother grazing just outside our back fence, less than 50 feet away. She very quietly sat down to watch them and when I came out about 2:30 she signaled for me to be quiet so as not to scare them away.  We watched them until about 3 - wanting to go get a camera or at least a phone to get a picture but unwilling to take a chance on spooking them.

 They finally ran off into our woods, but she got to watch them for a full hour.

Johnny Horton

Back in the late 50s, Johnny Horton was one of the hottest names in country music.  Even folks who were not country fans will probably remember songs like "North to Alaska" and the "The battle of New Orleans."  

The one I'm posting here was not one of his biggest hits but it is probably my personal favorite.

In the early 60s, I worked at KTLU in Rusk, Texas.  Johnny had died in 1960, and his mother lived in Rusk.  When she visited the station, Emmet Whitehead, the station owner, gave her our entire collection of Horton records.  That was fine until the next week when she called in to request one of her son's songs.  Even though we no longer had any of his songs in our library, she continued to call once or twice a week.

It got so sad, so uncomfortable telling her no that I finally went out and bought a couple of his albums so I could play a Johnny Horton song when she called.

The Great Q--Tip Adventure

 

By now, everyone should know that you shouldn't stick Q-Tips in your ear - they've even put a warning on the packages.  That being said, it is still the most common use of Q-Tips.

My mother used to say "Never put anything in your ear smaller than your elbow." That never made any sense to me, but maybe now I know why. I was swabbing out my ear with a Q-Tip yesterday morning and when I pulled the stick out that's what I got - just the stick - the cotton stayed in my ear.

I called Honey, and we tried several things with no luck.  She finally told me to go to the doctor.

I went to my doctor's office, checked in and waited for just over half an hour - they still require masks in the waiting room, but that's another story.  Then the receptionist called me up and said the physician's assistant on duty did not have the necessary implement and that I should go to one of those "Doc in the Box" emergency places a few miles away.

I did, and got seen much quicker.  The doctor first tried flushing it out then broke out a strange looking set of forceps.

After a few tries, he was able to grab the cotton and pull it out.  

I got a mild lecture, and a prescription for an antibiotic.

I got home no worse for wear a little after two o'clock.  That one little dab of cotton had cost me over half a day.

The Other Shoe

 

We just got our bill for flood insurance.  

For years, the premium was $250 a year, then it went to $400.  This year's premium jumped over two thousand dollars!

We did have a claim after Imelda, and I know there's no such thing as a free lunch, but DAMN!

Fraud

 

In just the last two weeks, I have had to have two credit cards cancelled and new ones issued because of two unrelated cases of credit card fraud, then yesterday Facebook Security informed me that someone claiming to be me was attempting to access my account.

Enough is enough.

 

The LONG Way Around

 We recently ordered something on line that was supposed to get here last week.  When I first accessed the FedEx tracking page, it showed it in transit and due here last Thursday.  The next time I checked the page it just showed pending.  This morning, the page looks like this:

If you can follow that, you'll see the package made it all the way from Minnesota to Houston, then back to New Berlin, Wisconsin. And it show it arriving in New Berlin TWICE - Saturday morning and Monday afternoon.

 When I asked, I got a prepackaged reply that said " Sometimes our waystations may not appear to be the most direct route, but rest assured your package is on the way."

Grand Old Day

 

Today is Karen, my little sister's, birthday.  It is also Flag Day.  Back when we were in elementary school, I convinced her that all of those flags were for her.

Take That, Skeeters

 A few days ago, I treated our back yard with Cutter brand mosquito controller applied with a hose-on sprayer.  The skeeter density went from way too high to count to one or two seen over fifteen minutes. We were actually able to enjoy sitting on the pergola, even after dark.

Then, last night, the county got around to spraying.  

You may have to be old as dirt to remember, but it reminded Honey and I of running behind the truck spraying DDT when we were kids.

Generator

 We have an automatic whole-home generator that we have had for a dozen years or so.  Honey will tell you it was one of the best buys we've ever made.

Ours runs on propane, this one....

Skeeter Diet

 I was sitting at our pergola slapping mosquitos this morning when a thought occurred to me.  With less than 93 people per square mile in the US - a lot less in some places, a few more in others -  the chances of a mosquito finding someone to bite are really infinitesimal.  

What do the little vampires eat when they can't find somebody to bite?

Here's the best answer I found on line - Mosquito Food Pyramid 

Shanna

 

“My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—
It gives a lovely light!”

― Edna St. Vincent Millay, A Few Figs from Thistles

Remembering our daughter, Shanna Leigh Couch Robinson,

June 5, 1973- February 15, 2006.

A life well lived, but much too short.  

We miss you every day.

Windows 10 Update

 

I haven't posted in several days.  Mostly because I didn't have anything to talk about except the rain - we have had rain - anywhere from a quarter of an inch to two inches of rain - every day for the past two weeks.  I didn't want to post about that, didn't even want to think about that, especially since there is no end in sight.

The only other thing worth mentioning was a Windows 10 update my computer is been telling me I needed to do for the past month.  Every time I tried, it would show loading until it got somewhere over 90%, then say unable to install.  I tried it a dozen times or so, and finally today contacted the Geek Squad.  I gave their agent remote control over my laptop and he worked on it for almost an hour.

Once he was through, he sent this note:

Today I performed a computer tune-up on your device. I first determined unnecessary software or programs and optimized the hard drive space. Manually removed temporary files to save up a lot of hard drive space, checked the login or startup items and enabled the firewall to keep your computer protected against malicious activity. I have also check your antivirus software and it is actively protecting the computer. I also installed the necessary OS X & software updates including Java and then rebooted your system. If you need any further assistance, please feel free to reach out to any of our Agents 24/7/365! Thank you for choosing Geek Squad Remote Support today. 

He was flashing through screens way too fast for me to follow, but whatever he did seems to have worked.  At least Windows isn't asking me to do an update it won't let me complete.