Sunday 3 February 2019

First Sunday in February

I posted on the last Sunday of January, so I might as well post on the first Sunday of February.
Yesterday we watched two basketball games of our son's highschool tournament. It was at his school, so at least we didn't have to travel. They play very well together as a team and won both games.  Yesterday was also groundhog day here. Wiarton Willy predicted an early spring, so take that for what it is, a weather prediction from a 'domesticated' albino rodent. Yesterday was also my brother's birthday. I guessed his age wrong by one year. I'm quite terrible at birthdays. I texted him. As a whole, our family doesn't really do frequent big birthday celebrations (among the cousins, aunts, uncles, etc.). We don't all live within close proximity to each other. Many of the cousins would only see each other at Christmas, maybe Easter, maybe Thanksgiving, or some other special occasion. Myself and my siblings are spread quite far apart in age. I wasn't even at highschool with my sister who is closest to me in age, as we are five years apart (and didn't even attend the same highschool). We seem to carry on separate lives. It is what I am used to. I'm also a terrible phone caller. I really don't even like to talk on the phone. It's just who I am.

Today is much, much more mild than the past week with the polar vortex and skin freezing temperatures. It is actually above freezing! I took the opportunity to do some 'farm work'. I shoveled enough out of the chicken run so I could open the gate a bit more and provide some even ground for my flock. I opened up their little door and out they came, happy with the old grapes and ends of romaine lettuce I laid out for them. I then closed off their door and started a decent clean out. They got fresh water, their various places where they roost were scraped clean, manure was dumped on the compost and over the snow under which is my vegetable garden. Fresh shavings in the nesting box and  a topping up of food, and it's practically the Taj Mahal. However, I was almost dying slogging through the very deep and now heavy, wet snow to the garden and the composter carrying full loads of chicken manure, and then back and forth with full buckets of water. Ahhh, good exercise.

I've been enjoying Ann Cleeves as an author. I had watched the entire Shetland series on Netflix and loved it. Then I was on somebody's blog (sorry, can't remember which one because there are a few that recommend books) and her name came up and I made the connection that she is the author of the Shetland series. I read a couple of those and then picked up another Ann Cleeves only to discover it wasn't a Jimmy Perez mystery (Shetland), but one featuring a detective named Vera. I liked it just as much and then discovered it had been made into a television series. This morning before anyone else was up (as usual), I went looking for it and found I could watch full episodes on You Tube (which I can view on my tv). I've watched one from season one and am eager to work my way through other episodes. They're very good, but sometimes I really have to strain to catch what some of the characters are saying. I do love a mystery series, whether I'm reading it, or watching it.

One last thought... how long do most of you have a properly functioning computer? I am working on my Asus laptop which I bought somewhere around four years ago. It is certainly not top of the line, but it should suffice. Recently, my cursor has been freezing up, so I do what one does, I turn it off and turn it back one again, I get booted off my wifi (which may or may not have to do with the laptop), when I pick it up in an open position and I've just been working on it, it goes into sleep mode... and the list continues. I really, really don't want to buy something new, nor is it in my budget right now. I google how to deal with some of these problems, or I just sigh and put up with them and do a whole lot of  'hard restarts'. Anyone else experience limited life spans of their computers? We also have an old computer with the separate hard drive and monitor and keyboard, etc. that is as slow as molasses and doesn't have all the upgrades so some things aren't compatible with the windows 10 that we were convinced we should install on it. I can't actually load photos into blogger on it. I can make comments, read blogs, etc., but can't write a blog that involves any images or pictures. So, this laptop is the one I use for work things if I'm not on my work computer, and for any other things I wish to do like watch a video, write on my blog, look things up, save items into favourites, etc. I suppose I could take it to someone to have it gone over, but I'm not sure what they even charge these days. Good lord, I've rambled enough about that...

I'm off to get caught up on your blogs now - no doubt with posts of far greater interest! Have a good Sunday.

28 comments:

  1. I like Vera better than Jimmy, hope she writes more. We're going to be in the 70's this week.

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  2. Vera is a great TV series, I love the actress who plays Vera. All the episodes are on either Acorn or Britbox, I forget which, and that includes the current season too. I read many mystery series, including Ian Rankin, Louise Penny, Anne Perry (the husband and wife series), etc. Like you my extended family lives all over the USA, while my sons and I live in the same town.

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    1. I don't have either Acorn or Britbox, but YouTube is working out well! I'm a big Louise Penny fan, too.

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  3. My desktop computer is 10 years old and long past receiving any software updates. But it's an iMac so it still functions adequately enough, at least for my limited purposes of surfing the net and blogging. The biggest problem I have is that it's too old to buy a printer for it, so I have to print off anything I need on My Rare One's printer using her new laptop. I'm waiting for Apple to bring out its latest desktop and then I'll buy a new one. But Apple is taking its sweet time about doing so because desktops are not big money makers anymore. Everything is laptops, iPads and iPhones.

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    1. I would never be able to type anything of any great length on a phone!

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  4. Ha ha on me, I know you live in Canada, what I meant was our extended families live in different parts of the countries.

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  5. Funny, we tried Vera and just didn't like it, although we love Shetland. Waiting for the last season to be on DVD and affordable. As for the computer, about once a year I take my laptop in for a cleanup. I've learned the hard way that this will keep it clean and running well. This one is about 5 years old, I think, and still ticking along pretty well. Costs about $50-60 but worth it for the peace of mind.

    Warm here today too. Loving it! Doors open, balmy breezes...ahhhh...

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    1. Hmmm, it might be something we should do, take it in and cleaned up.

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  6. We haven't gone above freezing yet . . . still in the upper 20s (Fahrenheit). Must get a chart printed out that shows the comparison of Centigrade and Fahrenheit temperatures. I don't know the conversion.

    We've had darn good luck with our computers lasting 'bout as long as one could expect. Can't tell you just how old . . . hubby would know that but he's out for a snowshoe hike right now. Our daughter is enough of a computer guru that when we have a problem she just shakes her head, does what she can to get us operating again and tells us our old relics are NOT going to last forever!

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    1. It must be so nice having a computer whiz in the family!

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  7. My laptop is about five years old and very temperamental. Paul wants me to get a new one but I've kind of got used to its idiosyncracies and slowness. It's a bit like me really.

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  8. Love Ann Cleeves. I've ordered all of the Shetland books and Detective Vera series. Hard back books and discontinued library books are the ones I order. Haven't seen any of the movies but have read half of the Jimmy Perez books and 1 of detective Vera. Really enjoyed them. Also, love the Debra Crombie series of Jemma James and Dunkin Kincaid. Read all of them and there were 2 that I found okay but enjoyed the others. Another writer I enjoy is William Tapley. He is no longer alive but off amazon have purchased his Brady Coyne series. Enjoyed all of them. Patty McDonald

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    1. I've read many Debra Crombie's. William Tapley is a new name. Thanks for the suggestion. I've found good authors from other bloggers.

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  9. I've been watching a couple of good Acorn series which I got from the library. "Line of Duty" and "Trial and Retribution". I use the subtitles option as I often miss what they are saying.

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    1. Do you subscribe to Acorn? I didn't think of subtitles, but is that even possible on YouTube? I've not heard of those series. Something else to find out about!

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  10. You should love the tv series "Vera" if you like "Shetland". Bleak landscapes and gritty, no nonsense policing without the shiny, city-ways investigating. Brenda Blethyn is terrific in the lead role.

    Can't help with the computer-chat. Up until recently I only ever got my husband's hand-me-down work laptops as I found the whole notion of looking for something to suit me incredibly tedious. He's an Apple nut so I have only been using old Macs so, like the slowly boiled frog, I know no different and am now entrapped into servitude. That said, it's not difficult at all to use blogger on them.

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  11. I always find your posts fun and interesting! So there it is :)

    My computer is a few years old. Not sure how many but at least 4 or 5. Maybe more. I will keep it until I have to change it. The thought of having to look for a replacement feels exhausting!

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  12. I have watched "Vera" on AcornTV streaming. It's a monthly or annual subscription and I bought the annual at $50 USD. I really enjoy many of the programs and since we don't subscribe to any cable service, it's way less costly. My laptop is nearly 7 years old and while it's working fine, I am planning to upgrade to a newer unit, but not the most current model. Apple sells slightly older refurnished PCs and that's how I may make my next purchase.
    Thanks for the birthday wishes and to answer your question about the bedroom TV. We don't really watch it that much, but sometimes when we want to snuggle up comfortably, particularly in winter, it's nice to do so there.

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  13. Jenn - Thanks for your kind comment on my blog.
    I loved my ASUS laptop but it was getting hard to type on. One of the cats had pulled off several of the letters leaving a rubbery dot that I had to really pound to get it to type. It was 5 or 6 years old, so I treated myself to something new. I went the cheapest route and bought an HP Stream - I think it's a notebook rather than a laptop. Not a great move. It doesn't have a lot of memory, and I had to buy an extra memory stick just to get a Windows update to run. It also tends to change the size from 100% to 50% to 200% on a whim when my cursor is nowhere near the control. If I turn my back, one of the cats always walks across the keyboard and steps on a key that turns airplane mode on so it drops the WIFI. Next time I'll pay a little more and get something more substantial. It is fine though for watching Netflix or Amazon Prime movies and TV shows. Love all the info on mystery series. I received my first Louise Penny book and have just started it.

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  14. At this time i make blogs on my iPad ...O my O my...it is not easy to do.....not enough space to get pictures in it...when you make too much text there is no space for pictures ..i always use 5 or 6 pictures but tegen i must do a minimum of text...i hope my computer wil be back soon ...hihihihi....love from me happy week Ria x 💕

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  15. Hey Jenn :) We have freezing rain and balmy temperatures for the next few days then back to the deep freeze, sigh. Oh...I had a Toshiba laptop I bought in 2003 that lasted me ten glorious years...then died. Alex bought me my current Dell laptop in 2013 and it's already on the verge of coughing up it's end. We are trying out best to hold out buying new laptops until 2020...I hope we can make it. Formatting helps every 6 months though it's a pain in the butt. The problem with laptops is that there is only so much memory you can add to it. As the "updates" increase the the sizes of the apps too, you run out of hard drive and RAM...everything slows down and crashes constantly...then you have no choice but to upgrade if you want to use all the programs you use.

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  16. I'm glad to know Vera is on youtube. I haven't watched Shetland yet but it's on my watchlist and I saw one Vera in England and liked it a lot.

    My laptop is about the same as yours and seems to be doing much the same. The curser freezes. I think it might be the USB ports, but not sure. Can you replace USB ports in a computer? Then it freezes a bit, then fine. I can't cope with the concept of learning a new computer!

    Warming up here too, at least today (it was 51F). A few days ago we started the day at -10. We'll probably all have dreadful colds! Hang in. Glad the chix made it through.

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  17. I feel your pain with the old computer woes. My laptop and desk top are getting really old and are very slooooooow. I will have to update to a new laptop soon, but I'm holding out as long as I can. You have a wonderful day, hugs, Edna B.

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  18. Wasn't it fabulous having a little warm up to get some outside work done? We were doing well until the ice storm landed today...sigh. And ps, I hate, hate, hate talking on the phone too!!

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  19. Hello from Texas...sorry about your computer problems. I use CCleaner.com
    It has kept all of my computer’s registries clean and organized for years. The Registry of your computer is it’s brain. If you clean it, it’ll keep working.
    Hugs

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