SETTING UP A NEW COMPUTER AND UPDATING AN OLD COMPUTER - OYYY!

 Computers – can't live without them and can't live with them!!

And they DO need to be kept organized!

Computers are important to keep organized also.  In addition to each having a desktop computer, we each have laptop computers (and I keep my old ones so I have 2 Windows XP latptop computers, a Windows 7 desktop computer, and my latest – a Windows 10 laptop.  (I am using the latter as I post.)  My Win 7 and my Win 10 computers each have a virtual Windows XP machine in them.  (This allows me to run old XP software in them – mostly my Lotus Organizer.)

My husband I do not keep our data on our hard drives.  We keep them on thumb drives (originally on 5.25” floppy drives, followed by3.5 inch floppy drives, then zip drives, and in the years since – thumb drives (aka stick drives).  This does several things  - most importantly if our hard drives die we still have our data and it is easy to move the data from one computer to another.  We also each frequently back up our hard drives to external hard drives to prevent loss of data on same.  

This all comes to mind as my husband has just bought a new laptop computer.  He has vision problems from when he had cataracts despite having had surgery for same – mostly problems seeing to read small print.  He has been struggling more recently to read items on his laptop as it is a small one, so we discussed it and he bought a 17.5 inch laptop.

He bought it Monday.  Yesterday (Tuesday) he took it out of the box and started setting it up.  First, of course getting rid of some of the newer features which he did not want and finding features which no longer come with them which he DOES want.  

In doing of all this (so far) he noticed that the hard drive on our network did not show up on his new laptop – he checked my laptop and it was missing there also.  So tonight he dealt with this problem and got the hard drive to show on his laptop.  He then moved to my laptop to fix it also.  Why?  Because he needs to do so, so mine will be able to access that hard drive.  Have I used it?  Maybe – once – or twice.  

In fixing this on my laptop the computer decided that “Whoopee! She is letting me do things!”  “I am going to update – whether she likes it or not!”  So I lost over half an hour of my “me time” on my laptop (which I get in the evening as opposed to using using my computers for work related work or house related work).  

Understand – I am not against computers.  My first use of a computer was a main frame IBM computer back when programing and answers were by punch card (programming in Fortran) in high school.  That was followed by a main frame computer which used various stations around our college campus to enter things (programming in Basic).  But each version of the software to run current computers seems to make more and more problems.  And they do help to keep one organized and cut down on paper clutter.

DEAD COMPUTER PROBLEMS LIVE ON

 We had telephoned about my dead computer Tuesday afternoon, eastern US time.  The box to send the computer to them was to come 2 day UPS.  The company is located in California, so it was even earlier in the day there when I was told it would be sent so I expected it to be here on Thursday - 2 days later.  The weather here was a rather nasty on Thursday - raining and windy due to Hurricane Zeta down south.   I have mentioned (ad nauseam) that we have problems with delivery of items by every carrier ever used.  We kept looking out of the front door and windows for the box - hopefully it would left on our steps, but often packages are left at the foot of our (short) driveway next to the sidewalk -nothing there.  As the day grew later we became more concerned that perhaps it had been left and had blown away so I telephoned the warranty company and got the tracking number (which I had expected them to email to us when the package went out).  The box was enroute through the worst of the area Delta was coming through and would be here on Friday - it was still rather close to where it had started its trip.  Taking a chance that the box would be left on our front steps rather at then at the foot of the driveway and knowing the remnants of Delta would be coming through our area all day Friday we left a large note on the inside of the glass storm door asking that it be left inside our side door (on a small porch) with arrows showing where we meant.  I checked when we woke and dressed on Friday -nothing in front of door, in porch or on driveway (as far as we could see) - if the box was left outside it would drenched and unusable.  When we went to cook dinner we found the box in the side porch (I had the curtain on the window next to my desk open the entire we were in the office and had not seen it delivered).  At least it was finally here and dry. 

We had hoped to turn it around and send it back by Friday - first as we wanted it back as soon as possible and also because the return shipping label had time limit - but that was not to be.   When I had set up the claim I was told I could not call for pickup and had to bring it into UPS - I had asked as we REALLY did not want to go out for this (or basically anything) and I explained that to the employee.  Since these days we don’t normally open “mail” until 4 days later we did not rush to open the box as it would not be going out until Monday anyway, the first time it could be sent.  When we opened it Sunday night to pack the laptop it said we could call for pickup - oh, well, that would delay it another day.  We packed it up - we made 2 plastic tape labels for the computer and two for the cord - one label on each had our names and the other had the case number we were given - if the computer and/or cord was separated from the paperwork we wanted to make sure it would be obvious whose they were.  We were extremely concerned about going to UPS - last time we had to deal with something there the place was wall to wall to people waiting and took hours - not a situation we want to be in right now.  Luckily it was empty when we went there.  We checked today (Wednesday) and the computer is still enroute.  Hopefully they will actually have it tomorrow.

I still cannot sign into the newspaper to read it on my laptop.  I can sign in my desktop and husband can sign in on his cell phone (latter done as a test as he does not read the newspaper and gets annoyed when I read him “tidbits” from it - he is a TV news person.  We figured perhaps the problem is that this laptop is Windows XP, so husband brought down and tried to sign into his Win 10 laptop and could not sign into the newspaper either.  Makes no sense to us.  I am reading the newspaper on my desktop when I have a chance during the day. 

My embroidery club has been holding its meetings online - show what one has made (yes, show and tell) discuss business - such as needing a larger room to meet in next time we meet in person so we can space out, etc.  I had forgotten that the meeting was today until I heard from the group president.  After I heard from her I was going to use husband’s desktop computer (mine has no microphone, speakers or camera - it was custom built for me by husband and other than Zoom meetings, which were unheard of by us until Covid-19 stay at home started, have no use for them.  But as I was using my little, old laptop I noticed it had a camera and a symbol for microphone, so making sure that they both turned on I planned to use my laptop for the meeting this morning.  Husband showed me where to plug in his microphone and camera on his desktop - just in case.

I woke up this morning, dressed and turned on my little laptop.  It worked!  I signed into the Zoom site and got into the meeting and saw everyone - m o v i n g  v e r y   s l o w l y - okay, I can deal with that.  I said hello.  I then realized that I could not hear them - something was wrong with the speakers.  (Husband later reminded me when I told him of my adventure that I keep my speakers in my laptops on mute - oops, my fault.)  So I plugged in his camera and his microphone and turned on his desktop computer.  I then had to sign into my email address to get the invitation to the meeting - an email address which is not in his computer (I checked in case it was).  I put in my email address on the appropriate page and entered my password as I remembered it.  Nope.  Tried again.  Nope.  I then turned on my desktop (so at this point I now have 3 computers turned on trying to sign into Zoom and join the meeting) to get the password as it shows there - I had the correct password.  Time kept passing. We get a 40 minute free session from Zoom, sometimes extra minutes are given - I looked at the clock and the 40 minutes had run out.  So I shut everything down and went back to bed.  I later sent an email to the group explaining what had happened.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK-

Make sure you have good lists of current usernames and passwords.  If you are going to use a device or a feature of your computer (or any other electronic device) when time will be of the essence to use it - and you don’t want to look like an idiot that doesn’t know what you are doing (especially since they consider me the computer “expert”) make sure you do a trial run before you actually need to use that feature or device to make sure it is working , turned on and that you know what you are doing.   As we go along with the Covid-19 situation we are using computers and other devices differently than normal and may need a bit of practice doing so.  Yeah, I had thought of doing a quick Zoom session with husband to make sure the laptop would work and run fast enough - but never did get around to it.

I hope that all who have been in the path of Hurricane Zeta and their families and friends are safe and well and the same to those in the paths of the various fires and other weather problems. 

TO BACK UP OR NOT TO BACK UP, THAT SHOULD NEVER BE THE QUESTION!

 A late post, my apologies.  Today I will point out the importance and urgency of backing up one’s computer.  Yes, these two subjects are related.

I normally write my posts using my laptop computer. It is relatively new - bought in December 2018.  It is Windows 10 and I complain about a lot about it.  But over the almost 2 years I have had it I have “moved in” and gotten used to it more or less.  

I have a desktop computer upstairs in our office (which just to mention, no real need to do so, is Windows 7).  I don’t like change and often say that change, especially unwanted change, is never good.  I keep my laptop in the kitchen to use in the evening and I use it also when going to out to clients for work - it’s intended purpose, but has been rare use of it this year due to the Covid 19 shutdowns and limitations, as I went to my business client in January and February only - she has been closed since then and taxes were prepared by having clients mail their information to me.  

I am VERY good about backing up my computers and my data.  Husband usually thinks I go overboard.  When he realized I was backing up my laptop also he sort of gave me a “yeah, well, I guess so” about it.

I keep my data on flash drives - you know, those little stick things. I back up the data after each session at the computer onto alternating additional flash drives - I call then A and B to keep track.  At the end of each week I do another data backup onto a weekly backup flash drive -this one I have 6 of each the data backups and overwrite the oldest one each week - I do this because i had a problem with my calendar data once and did not realize it until I had overwritten both the A and B backup drives with the bad data.  

In more recent years, and more important to this saga, I started backing up my entire computer completely to two external hard drives in addition to my data backups. I back up around the 15th of the month (too many things to do at month’s end and start) onto one of the external hard drives. I will back up, say February 15, 2020 for the month of January in a file labeled as 2020 Q1.  I will then back up by updating that file on March 15 and again on April 15, starting a new file for second quarter on May 15. I do this with both my desktop and my laptop computer.

I also make a backup onto the other external hard drive quarterly - so at about the same time I make the monthly backup on April 15 (and so on) I also make an all new backup for the quarter to the other external hard drive. My husband thinks that all of this overkill.

And now the reason I mention all of this -

This past Sunday I used my laptop computer as normal to read the newspaper (we normally get the print edition, but, due to the Corona virus, we did not want the physical paper in the house each day, and are entitled to the online version, so I have reading same - I do not particularly like reading it this way, but as I have learned, at least I was able to read the paper), and I was able to start reading my Monday comics early, play a bit of Solitaire (I swear the computer cheats) and then shut it down to go to bed.

Monday evening after dinner I set up my laptop to read the newspaper.  It would not turn on.  The power indicator light was dark.  The light next to the power button did not come on when I pushed it (over and over again).  Nothing - dead - D E A D - dead. Battery should have been fully charged and even that did not help.  Husband took it upstairs to see what he could do.  He tried a variety of things.  Unlike my other, older laptops it does not have removable battery - normal thing for them would be to remove the battery, while it was not plugged in  and see if doing so and replacing the battery restarted it.  He found online a way to do this with my computer and it did not work.

So on Tuesday I telephoned the store I bought it from (store gives a second year warranty included so it is still covered) and the information was taken and I have to send it to them for repair.  Scares the heck out of me both because of our general problems with deliveries to the house (normally would have it come back to our PO Box, but since we are not picking mail, I cannot do that) and the fact that all of my passwords, appointment book, etc are in it and not on separate data due to the need for them to be on the computer itself and will be available to them to see when they get it running again.

Now, I understand that there is a check list for the employees to follow, but some sense is needed. My computer will not start - she told me I should make a back up - how the heck does one do that when the computer will not start - I pointed this out to her and said that I did have 2 backups about a week old.  (And my data is backed up daily so I have that as my last session on the computer.)  We then received the list of photos we had to take of the computer and email to them - first one, as well as several of the others requested was to be taken with the computer turned on?  A photo of the problem - well here it is a blank screen - and we also took photos of the power lights not on.  My husband had checked the electric cord with a voltage meter, so we know it is not the cord.

We were told that the box they were sending to us for us to use to send the laptop to them was coming by UPS 2 day.  I sit here on the night of the second day after I called and still do not have it.  It should come tomorrow by 9 pm.  Today it was pouring and windy here.  Tomorrow the remnants of Hurricane Zeta will passing through - presuming the box is dropped on our front steps or driveway as is normal it may blow away as well as possibly getting soaked.  

In the ensuing time - I went to sign in on my older laptop (a Windows XP) to read the newspaper on Tuesday night.  Uh oh!  I have never done so before on it - and my password list from my laptop is ..... in a notepad file in the computer!!  I finally found a piece of paper on which I had written down the sign in and password and tried to sign into the newspaper - it does not work.  It works on husband’s cell phone and it works on my desktop computer, but not on my old laptop!  

Last evening when I should have posted to all of you, I could not - as I did not the password to do so.  Today, I copied out the passwords from my desktop computer onto a flash drive and will make a copy of them - and here I am.


THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
If you do not do so - start backing up your computer as soon as possible.  One never knows when one will need it, as I so recently found out.  We have also used backups in the past when something has gone wrong in one of our computers.  And back up your data also and more often.  More than one back up, as I do, is a good idea -just in case.

AN IMPORTANT REMINDER -

If you are able to vote in the U.S. - VOTE!!  It is a privilege to be able to do so and this year more than ever, a few votes one way or the other can make a big difference. I say this not knowing if those of you out there lean the same way as I do and I very well might be sending more votes to the candidate I do not choose, but it is everyone’s right to choose and to vote and voting is a right which should not be taken lightly.  

While speaking by telephone with my 91 year old mother a week ago, after we greeted each other, she told me that she had gotten her vote by mail ballot (she can not go out of her assisted living this year to vote) and her residence had an employee assigned to collect the completed vote by mail forms and bring them to their local polling place for the residents. She then made sure my husband and I had plans to vote - we did so already - as she knows the importance of voting.  (And I am not sure that her national votes will not offset mine, but we all have the right to vote and should exercise that right.)






       

PREPARING FOR HURRICANE ISAIAS AND THE AFTERMATH

Well, like those of you along the east coast of North America we had an add on to our Corona virus fun yesterday – a visit from Hurricane Isaias.  I hope any of you affected by it are okay – personally, your home intact and have electricity, etc again.

We were each about to run out of one medication – husband's last pill of same would be Thursday.  Sunday night I called our pharmacy (at a local regular Walmart) and reordered what we needed on their computer.  We did not need refills of everything as husband is taking less of his medications due to our eating less to stretch our trips out for food and I stop taking one pill in summer as my blood pressure drops too low in summer otherwise, but there was a good number of pills. 

We also had to call and change our RV park reservation – due to the Covid - 19 situation we do not feel comfortable going – and add on not knowing what would happen from Isaias, we decided best to postpone as it had to be done by yesterday – the day of Isaias here.  I left a message Sunday night for them to call us Monday.  We have changed the reservation to be our July 4th trip next July – we hope.

Saturday we went out and took in the loose items.  We have two small solar lanterns which hang from iron posts – took down the lanterns and posts.  Our “Betsy Ross” flag is also on an iron stand – took that down also.  We have 3 iron stands that hold pots of flowers – normally we buy 3 pots of geraniums in spring and they through the fall (and for Christmas we put artificial poinsettias, which we potted and we reuse annually in them) – they came in also.  Also our garbage pail – all went into the garage. 

Monday night I put 2 ice cubes in each of 2 small plastic bags and put one bag of cubes in each freezer – if one loses their electricity and the ice is still frozen, then the food is okay to use.  We charged our electric lantern and took out candles in holders.  We plugged in our cell phones (even the old ones with no service – they can still call 911 in an emergency) and our laptops – normally our cable company's wifi which runs through the wires in the street will work when electric out and we can use the laptops with it.  I also dropped a very small flashlight in my jeans pocket – during and after Hurricanes Irene and Sandy they were of great help.  (The ones that Harbor Freight used to give out free with coupons before they switched to the blue plastic lights they give out now free with coupons.)  We went to bed Monday night, hoping we would not need any of our preparations. I also cleared the walkways in the house -  so that we could around without tripping on anything.  In the 18th century rooms were used for multiple purposes.  Furniture was kept against the walls and what was needed for the purpose at a time was moved to the center of the room and used – then put back against the walls.  In semi-darkness to darkness one could walk through the room without needing a light.  I work with this idea making sure that one can walk from room to room and around the room where one needs to be without a light when there is a possible blackout coming.

Isaias came in overnight – sounded terrible.  News and weather reports had said it should be out of our area by around 3 pm and headed further north.  So when we were getting ready to make lunch at 2 pm, we felt better as there was only an hour or so left before it was gone.  Then the lights went out and the TV went off.  I called our electric company and gave our information.  (Our electricity poles, generating facilities, etc are owned by a non-profit which contracts with a regular utility company to run the system.  The company that was doing so, and had been doing so for a long time before, when we were hit Hurricane Sandy did a terrible job of not getting everything going again, but also there was a major lack of communication and a new company was brought in to do run everything for the non-profit – following I will be talking about the  new for profit company which runs it all for them.) 

We expected to hear back from them at some or several points as the message had asked what phone number to call us back with updates – which I had figured would be recorded messages.  For lunch we had peanut butter sandwiches – from an unopened jar as the opened jar was in the fridge, while I eat mine plain, husband likes jelly on his – he put some honey on it instead and I used disposable plates so I only had to wash the utensils (we leave the drinking glasses out on the table from lunch through our prebed snack).  We found one of our battery operated radios and put in batteries.  Not knowing how long the outage would be, we turned off our cell phones and did not turn on any of our laptops (old ones were also charged).  We opened the front door (left the glass storm door locked) and husband sat on a chair to read on his tablet while I read BBC History magazine sitting on the staircase.  After awhile I went upstairs to open the mail which had been sitting for 4 days (to kill any Covid-19 virus on it) – I opened the curtains and put up the shade to see what I was doing. I then went back to my reading on the stairs.  It was bright and sunny, but still a bit windy outside at this point.  The NYC (am)news radio stations would occasionally mention out here on Long Island, but not much info.  The few Long Island radio stations (also am – radio does not have FM) just kept playing music.  So no info.  No calls from electric utility.  Internet in street was not working.  This was extremely annoying and frustrating.

One of our next door neighbors came walking on our driveway.  We opened the front door and yelled back and forth as we socially distanced.  She has a friend at the electric utility.  A tree was down on a wire.  It was affecting 2000 customers on the circuit (in my mind – good thing – more customers affected, the sooner they repair – fix a one house outage and the number of customers restored goes up 1, fix an outage affecting 2000 customers and that one repair makes the number of customers restored go up 2000.  But she was told by her friend that we would be back on – Thursday PM!  She was walking the street making sure that everyone had called in their outage so the utility would be aware how many were out on this circuit. I told we had – and she shared the info above about the outage.  Her young daughter was with her – we both said hello to her also .  Then they went on their way to talk to the other neighbors. (We have no children, when one has children one knows other people on the street with children, due to the nature of living on a main road, it is not a small street where everyone knows everyone else.)  I thought husband was going to break down and cry or pass out when he heard Thursday pm – I managed to talk him out of either.  Just because we are 18th century reenactors, does not mean that we like to live in the dark and without air conditioning on a hot day.

Dinner time was approaching and I knew we needed more than sandwiches.  I went looking through our supplies - lots of cans of soup.  I should mention that our stove is electric – no electricity, no stove.  But we do have our other stove – in our RV.  We have used it before during Hurricanes Irene and Sandy and some other electric outages.  It is small, but it does have a 2 burner propane stove.  I have actually only used it for situations like this – when we travel in it, we eat out.  I had another thought – see if the Chinese take out place we use was open and take out dinner, but figured that husband would be upset at going out.  I mentioned cooking the soup to him.  He brought up the Chinese takeout, so we went with that.  The place has only been taking orders online or in person – no telephone orders, but I called, explained and asked (and they know us) and they took the order and our credit card info by phone.  As we were about to walk out to pick up the order, our telephone rang.  Since the answering machine is not working and being concerned that there might be a problem with our order, I answered it.  (We answered the telephone several times during the day – we now know who the hangup calls when they get our answering machine are from – all spam calls.)  This call was not spam nor the take out place – it was my mother – who I have been trying to reach by telephone for a week!  I explained that I had to talk very quickly and what we were about to do – she was surprised – she had known that we had a hurricane go through – and she lives where it is was the worst!  Mom is in an assisted living so they always have electricity due to a generator (something we really need to get, a house generator which comes on automatically, but the price scares us) but I would have thought she would have heard the winds or seen something about it on TV?! 

We picked up dinner and came home to eat it.  I was using real dishes for dinner as did not want to deal with smaller paper tableware.  I had tap water.  Husband was drinking iced tea from mix and tap water (he hates drinking “warm water”).  We had our soup and had started our main courses. I was figuring out in my head how I was going to see to wash the dishes – I had figured to bring over the battery lantern to the sink and leave husband with the candles.  Mid first plate of food – the electricity came back on!  How wonderful and lucky.  We could use the air conditioning again – husband had been terribly warm – and lights – and TV!  We did not open the fridge for cold drinks or the freezer for ice and left them closed until we had our nighttime snack, as we wanted them to get colder inside again.
The house has been put back together again.  Seemed it was all behind us.  Tonight shortly before I sat down to write this post however, the electricity went out again.  I heard husband heading towards crying and wailing.  As I calmed him down, I started calling the electric utility again – but in less than time than it took me to find, pick up, and memory dial them – it came back on again.  I am figuring that they gerry rigged something yesterday to get our circuit back up and this was our transfer to the normal system we are on as it was so brief – as if it was turned off and then back on. 

I should mention that we were lucky to reach the utility yesterday morning when we lost our electricity.  Per the local newspaper people could not reach them by phone (apparently their phone carrier was having problems in addition to their own problems) or by their app.  So now they are in the same problem as the former company. 


 THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Problems like this will happen.  Plan ahead so when it does YOU know what you need to do.  Know where your candles, electric lanterns, flashlights (last two being safer than the first) are.  Charge your cell phones (and remember, as I mentioned, old cell phones with no service can still call 911 in an emergency so charge them also and leave them charging as long as you have electricity.  Charge your laptops or tablets (even if you have no wifi available as we did not this time, they still can serve as a diversion) – but use your cell phones and laptops as little as possible in case you need them later.  If there are children who are old enough – have a flashlight for each of them, it will help keep them from being frightened.  Obviously have spare batteries for everything.  A battery operated radio is a good idea for information. 

I have an “accordion folder” (one of those large folders with sections) as my “grab and go”.  When I reconcile a bank account the statement goes in it – and the last matching statement comes out and gets filed.  I have copies of my computer data on DVD in it and update it monthly.  Most recent paid bills for all our insurances.  Copies of our small amount of stock info.  Copies of house deed and car titles.  Copy of marriage license.  If we had to leave home in an emergency, I just grab this and go. 

Water is rarely a problem here as our water comes from municipal water towers here.  Having said that  - we used to keep 3 gallon bottles of water in the basement and also some cans set aside for emergencies (apparently they were last changed before 2005 as we came across them in the early days of stay in place and that was the use by date on them, we are not using them, but husband made me keep them  for now - “just in case”.  When Hurricanes and Irene and Sandy were coming, we filled our RV water tanks (30 gallons of water) just in case.  We did not do so this time. 

Where my family lived we were relatively near the ocean and needing to live home in a large storm, in case of flooding in the area,  became more and more common after I left home.  If you live in an area where this might happen make sure you have a plan for what to take and who will drive what and know where to evacuate.  (We live near the evacuation center so we are far enough inland on the Island not to need to do so.  My mom did need to do so during many storms in more recent years (did not need to do so other than one time when I was still living there 40 years ago).  I would tell her to come here, but she liked going to the evacuation center – “I see everyone I haven't seen since the last evacuation”.   Make sure in advance that you have enough of your medications (as we picked up ours on Monday to be sure).    If you have a pet, find out where you can go with them and have their things also. 

Yeah, I know we have all heard this so many times – but DO you have a plan and know what to do?  If not, start planning now – when you need to do so, it is too late.

Stay safe from storms and stay well from Covid- 19 all!

COPING WITH HUSBAND IN PAIN

We ended up going to the doctor on Friday and husband’s pain is muscle related.  Doctor felt a “knot” in husband’s back. Since the hospital had taken X-rays of husband’s back, the doctor would have access to them - he was not sure why he had not received the info about the visit as we had specified him as the doctor.  He did send husband for X-rays of his neck.  He called in prescriptions for husband to our pharmacy.  (By law in our state there are no longer written prescriptions allowed for people.)  He had the Xrays taken.  We had lunch on the way home at Wendys that we passed, so it would be the most like a normal lunch for him - although it was a terrible Wendys, not like our regular wonderful one, I settled him in at home and picked up the prescriptions.

One is an anti-inflammatory and one is a muscle relaxer.  He was also to take extra strength Tylenol with them.  The former drove his blood glucose up high (doctor said it would).  And between the other medication and his pain, he could not drive - which meant he would be staying in the house.

Until Saturday night he sat in the kitchen at the table watching TV.  At my suggestion, I brought him his laptop so he could go online.  His chair (well, the chair I brought him to use instead of his) blocks the way to the bathroom, the pantry, and the door to the basement - especially if he sits back from the table which he was doing.  So, little got done.  I still have one load of laundry from last week which has not been brought up and folded yet - and I just started this week’s laundry - but at least as of Saturday night he felt well enough to go upstairs to his computer.

Through Sunday night I was picking up lunch for us and bringing it back (Wendys, of course) and picked up dinner Saturday night.  Sunday I made him hot dogs for lunch and then we had Wendys - picked up by me - for dinner.  Thank goodness the big "Dr. Who" season start was Sunday afternoon and gave his something to watch.

Monday he decided that he was going out for lunch and drove us to, of course, Wendys.  I ordered and picked up the food as he normally would and he got the table as I normally would.  We did the same yesterday and today (Wednesday) also.  I have been cooking dinners that are “soft”as he does not want to use a knife to cut - it hurts too much. I had been going out and running errands without him.  The weekend and Monday (a holiday here) the post office was closed, but yesterday he decided that we would go, as normal, on our way to lunch to mail what I had to mail out and see what was in our box.  That went fine and then I left him at home and went to the supermarket as while running errands I found that some items we normally buy were on sale (who had time to look at the circulars received?) and I wanted to buy them.  Today we went out for lunch, stopping at the post office on the way.  Afterwards I had to go to the bank and he wanted to buy a new remote reading thermometer as the one he has in our holly tree to let him know what the temperature is outside, broke since all of this started.  Walmart has discontinued the thermometer, so he has to find an alternative.  Walmart and the supermarket next to were both too cold for him and it made his shoulder hurt more.  I knew I should have left him home.

Strangely I did manage to get a lot of things that needed to be done finished.  My cell phone won’t work with this (or my other) laptop and I wanted to transfer and organize photos that I took so I don’t buy (any more) duplicate bears.  While at my desk I always feel that I should be doing work, work or household books and such so I don’t get to it - so I used this opportunity to sort the photos and copy them. While he was upstairs I got the downstairs bathroom cleaned - I hate to admit to being “at least”a month behind on this - now I have to do the upstairs bathroom.  I made some phone calls that needed to be done.  I did an IRS form for my embroidery club (I am treasurer of same). 

I always said that I needed more time home and more time driving - unfortunately it took his injury for me to have more of both.

He feels better than he did - although when today started he felt worse.  I can see from how he moves and how interested he is in things that he is doing even better than he thinks he is.  One problem is that he is afraid that cold air will make his arm hurt worse.  One theory on where the injury came from is that I had turned on the a/c for him when I left for the meeting as it was hot in the room and his shoulder got cold - so he is trying to avoid cold air.  Unfortunately we are having temperatures which are more summer than fall and we are both sweating and hot and I think the discomfort from same is keeping him from feeling better.  It is also making our bedroom smell like a gym locker room - I have changed the bedding and keep spraying with Lysol.

I was to go to a client this week - I called and told her what happened and I would call next week for an appointment.  I need to do the work and I also get paid quarterly and need the check.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

“Stuff” happens. 

One has to figure out what to do to keep life going as normally as possible.  One has to take the time to take care of one’s loved ones - and one’s self.  Time and money have to be reappropriated when needed.  I am glad he did not have a heart attack and can put him with the 4 year old child that he is when not feeling well.  If driving out and picking up his regular lunch keeps him happier, that is fine with me even if it would be easier to make him lunch at home.

If organizing falls a bit further behind, well, that it is how it is. 

LISTS FOR REPETITIVE TASKS

Husband has spent the last week and a half with cold - which we are guessing he caught from me.  I had been feeling fine and was doing things he would normally do concerning food - such as when we went to Wendys for lunch I would order, pay and pickup the food instead of him - this intended to keep me from catching back the cold.  Well, it worked for a while.

I had planned to be telling you about our being in our little RV and dealing with the problems of organizing it for the trip.  We had planned on leaving this past Monday and coming home on Friday as the weather was suppose to be nice there all week.  As the trip date came closer, Monday and Tuesday were to have RAIN there.  Wednesday would be okay there, but there might be some rain on the drive down.  Since one cannot cancel RV park reservations this close to a trip, we waited to make same. 

Our idea was that we wake early (for us) today and call and make reservations.  During the night I started having cold symptoms again - bad and heavy ones.  I had trouble sleeping.  When we woke earlier than the alarm, husband was concerned about reaching the RV park to make the reservations as the office opens at 9 am, but it is hard to speak to someone before 11 am usually and we had to be on the road by 9 am to try to avoid the dreaded Belt Parkway and the construction along the entire length.  I was trying to breathe.  We sadly decided to not go today.

As we thought about this during the day - and I started to feel a bit better (amazing what 2 little aspirins can do in getting rid of a headache) and able to breathe again.  We decided that I would call the RV park and make reservations for tomorrow night and Friday night and have a 3 day trip.  We tend try not to be in Lancaster, PA on Saturdays - especially in summer - as there are too many tourists.  (Yes, I know we are tourists also, but we are polite ones who try to blend in, not act rudely as many of our fellow New Yorkers and those from New Jersey do.  We go there not for the novelty of the visit, but because it feels like a second home to us.)  I was only able to get a reservation in a space that we know (and know it will be level) for tomorrow night, so we are going for just 2 days - and will hope that along the way there will a space we like for Friday night also. Oddly the 6 spaces that they had available for the 2 nights in the section we like, were all ones we have had problems with in the past - maybe others know that they are not level?  (For those who have never stayed in an RV or trailer, if the RV or trailer is not level one feels off - walking uphill and down, the cabinet doors either swing shut or swing open, most of the refrigerators for same need to be level to work, etc.  Most units have automatic levelers; ours does not.  So we will go and see what happens as to how long we will stay.

Yesterday I packed the RV.  As I have mentioned before, we keep basic items in it so we don’t need to remember or pack them - toothpaste, soap, dish soap, shampoo, an electric razor for husband, cleaning supplies, office supplies (pens, pencils, paper, stamps, clear tape, stapler...), dishes, pots, tableware, blankets & bedding (bed is still made up from last time as we only used it two nights then - covered the pillows on the bed with the blankets), towels - hand & dish, flashlights, sun hats, rain gear and the like.  It is much easier to buy extras of these items than to have to remember to bring them each time - and then remember to put them away when we get home. We filled the water tanks on Monday - this gives us 25 gallons of water for drinking, cleaning, flushing, etc.  Yesterday I packed clothing for us for 4 days (we always bring an extra days clothing on a short trip, 2 days worth on a longer one) into the shelves in the RV “closet” (a small cabinet).  I packed snacks for us into plastic boxes which snap lock closed and put them into one of the “kitchen cabinets” - two thin shelves one about a foot long and the other about 18 inches long which have doors that snap closed.  When we first got the RV we would fill both of these cabinets. Now I use only one for food as we have learned that we do not need as much as thought we did.  (Heck, there are supermarkets and farmers’ markets everywhere there - including 24 hour Walmarts.) The other cabinet gets used to hold items such as plastic shopping bags, sweaters, whatever.  The refrigerator gets soda - a big bottle to use at night and some cans in case we have lunch at a farmer’s market - which is common - or such, we will not have to buy something to drink.

Shoes were brought in and stored - I bring or wear sneakers and bring leather shoes in case of rain.  We keep slippers in the RV.  I have a pair of slip on sneakers that I keep in it - in colder weather I might be wearing shoe boots and if I need to run outside, it is easier to slip on these sneakers.  We also each keep shower slippers in the RV. 

I put the batteries in the thermometer for the fridge - better to find out I need new batteries then, rather than find out when we are leaving.  I also put the toll reader into place in the front window.  I bring in the store coupons from our car. 
   
How do I keep track of all of this - what needs to be put in the RV when.  I have a list of course.  I have it memorized in my computer in a spreadsheet.  I have a “Do Ahead” section  - put water in the tanks, fill bottles of water to bring in the fridge, fill our travel medication boxes and such.  I also have a “Check Ahead” section - this is for items which get used up on trips - paper plates, cups, bathroom cups, napkins (well, okay generally these don’t run out as we end up picking up some at different places as we travel) is there enough paper towels, toilet paper and tissues; soaps and related items; did the towels go back in after laundering after the last trip; and such.

I then have categories of what to pack -
    What clothing items we need; what snack/food items we need/want.
    Items to take from our car and bring - sunglasses, glasses.
        Electronics - you know, tablets, laptops, extra or old cell phones as backups (we would not forget our current ones of course), camera if it is touring trip.
        Household items - laundry bags (we bring our clothes into the RV in 2 laundry bags to unpack them. One is stored away until the end of the trip and is used to take unworn clothing back into the house.  The other is used as a - well - laundry bag and then the dirty clothing goes back into house in it and tossed down the stairs to the basement. 
        I have some coupons which were picked up on earlier trips or came in the mail related to where we are going and I keep them in an envelope that I bring (it’s on the list of course).  Also for our regular main trips (well they used to be regular and main) I have an envelope for each that labeled on the outside on a edge with the name and approximate date of the trip.  For example - Labor Day trip- September, Fourth of July trip, etc.  I keep them in date order with the next trip in the front of the stack in the same 3 section holder on the wall next to my desk as I keep our unpaid bills (the travel coupon holder is mixed in the same section as these envelopes.  If say we pick up coupons for the Kutztown festival in advance - they are put in the envelope for same and will be there when we need them.  I also have backpack
        Things to do - magazines, my embroidery, etc.  Generally they are not touched while we are away, but I always bring them. Husband gives me whatever he wants of same.
        Finally, our “last minute bag”.  This contains items we might need at home until the   moment we leave.  I have 3 plastic boxes in the bag. One has OTC medications - if we our stomachs feel bad at home, we take the pill out of the box.  If ditto while on a trip, well, ditto.  I don’t like to buy these items special for the RV as we use them so rarely, that even the one bottle is not used up by any stretch of when the expiration date is or beyond that seems safe.  One has a bit more of same and our thermometer - one can get ill even on a trip and again, we did not want to buy 2 of them.  The last box has items we will need on the trip - prescription medications for example - and will taken out of the bag the first night of our trip and stored in the cubby that has our personal items needed for the evening and the morning.  We add other items as we use them for the final time at home before the trip.  Much of what is in the bag will stay in the bag for the trip and it is stored where it can be more or less easily accessed.       

The list also has a section for what we need to on our return to make sure that everything that needs to be is out of the RV and back into the house - and there are always items that we bought on the trip in addition to what we brought.  I have a pattern for taking everything out of the RV - but don’t worry I am not going into that now.  The list for our return reminds me of what needs to come out and that we need to shut off the refrigerator, air conditioning, inside light,  and the RV battery - and put a towel into the refrigerator in case there is any leaking from the small freezer section.  (There is a quick version of what absolutely has to come out/be done in case it is raining.       

So, everything but the last minute bag, this laptop, and the rain jackets we might have needed for the trip is packed in our RV.  Tomorrow we will bring these items, turn on the RV batteries, start the refrigerator in the RV, back out of our driveway and be on our way. 

Oh, that sounds so easy. To back out into 2 lanes of traffic on our side of the road involves me standing in the road with a walkie talkie and telling him when he can pull out - talk about needing planning and organization!

I also have a short list, kept on a little clipboard that we use to check off each day of the trip that we have done everything we need to do before pulling out.  We would not want to forget to unplug the RV from the electricity so the system is not broken or to lock a cabinet or the refrigerator door and have everything in it go flying when we drive.  A common thing that we husband forgets is after we disconnect from the camp’s sources he needs to open the curtain at the back of the RV so he can see out same - good thing it is on my list and I turn around see that it is open and if not send him to open it.  Even odd things are on my list.  We have an outside light next to the side door. (Same as the light next to your front/back door at home.)  We don’t turn it on.  One day after driving around much of the day I realized it was on - it must have gotten turned on by accident the night before - I turned it off of course and I added it to the check off list.  This short list has several columns so that on a trip up to 4 days can be marked off on the same form. 

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

If you do something that has many steps or many parts as a repeated thing, make up a list on your computer for what you need to do.  Print it out each time you are doing to do the task and actually cross the items off the list.  If needed I list the items that are going to be done at the last minute on the side as I see them - and circle them on the list.  If I find that there is something that I need to add - I list it on the back of the page and add it when we return home.

BACK TO HOUSEWORK - PREPARE FOR POSSIBLE TRIP

After 2 weeks husband has decided that the tail end of cold is too much to deal with and I am back to cooking and cleaning on my own as of yesterday.  So tonight I am catching up on 3 weeks of laundry backed up.  I washed the clothing, he put in the dryer and then in the laundry basket.  He then pulled out his clothing and put it away and left mine for me.

 I think the final blow was yesterday was “change the bed linens day”.  Last week we only changed the pillow cases.  Last night I figured I would change the sheets, I would change my pillow cases, he would change his, and I would change the sheets and remake the bed - other than him dealing with his pillowcases.  So yesterday morning, I pulled off my pillowcases, folded the blanket and pulled the top sheet off the bed.  I would normally have pulled off his bottom pillowcase in the morning. I pull the top pillowcase and the bottom sheet off when we are going to bed at night and remake the bed then.  (I used to pull everything off in the morning, but a couple of times he was dizzy and ill during the day and I had to quickly put his side of the bed back, so this is our compromise - he can lie down as the bottom sheet and his top pillowcase are there and then pull the top sheet - lying on the bed - on top of him if he does not feel well. ) So last night I put the last (of 3) set of clean sheets on the bed and put the blanket on.  I went to pull 2 pillowcases for my pillow and he would do his pillowcases afterwards .... but there were only 2 clean pillowcases!  We each took one. 

I went down tonight to start the first load of laundry and did so.  I was also going to run our “Packtite”, a device intended to heat suitcases and their contents when one returns home from a trip so that if one has picked up bed bugs they will be killed by the heat.  We set it up with a laundry basket with holes in it and I heat anything coming into the house we are concerned about.  Normally I run it when it when I do the laundry as it is near the washer and dryer in the basement and the timing for a load of laundry to wash or dry and to check the temperature on the thermometer in the Packtite is about the same. There is a small number of things to heat.  I noticed that the thermometer reading for the Packtite was the same as last time I used it .  (We have an indoor/outdoor reading thermometer and the dohickey for the outside is in the Packtite so I can see the temperature and make sure it is high enough, long enough, but does not go to high.)  No new reading - or a blank reading - for the dohickey means that it needs new batteries.   I walked up 2 flights of stairs to the office to get new batteries and then back down the same 2 flights.  It still did not work.  I texted husband to help me.  (Yes, we are lazy enough to text each other in the house - much better than running up and down the stairs to tell each other something, especially in summer when doors are closed to keep air conditioning in the room and the ac units are running and making noise.)  We spent over half an hour playing with it, but the dohickey still does not work.  My solution?  We have the same setup on a thermometer in the kitchen to read the temperature in the refrigerator, I brought that set up downstairs and took the working main thermometer from the basement and stuck it in the refrigerator and read it by opening the door.  Tomorrow I will switch the setups back - and we will look for a new thermometer for the basement.  (I pause here to run down and switch laundry loads.)

Okay, I am back.  Over last weekend I reset the number of days for my Quickbooks to remind me of memorized transactions (mostly bills to pay, some direct deposits to come in) to cover everything through the end of the month (normally it is set for one week).  I wrote checks for all the bills and calculated how much we needed to transfer from savings (which is a holding account for money for bills) to pay all the bills to the end of the month.  I transferred the money yesterday and today mailed out the bill payments. Well, everything but the cable/Internet bill which will not come until the last minute at the end of the month - and the money for it plus a bit more is now is now in the checking account.  Why did I pay it all at once?  Husband REALLY wants to go on a trip of more than a day or two.  He keeps checking the upcoming weather in the several places we might go and it continues to follow the pattern of a day with no rain - maybe two days if lucky -and then two or three days of pouring rain and thunderstorms.  (Although the weather is not as bad as it is in some parts of the country - I hope none of you are in the areas of the wildfires or the flooding.) When we prepare for a trip we pay any bills that need to be paid while we will be away and need to transfer money for same and then mail the payments.  This way we do not even have to think of the bills until the cable bill at the end of the month.  We can leave with a just a quick stop at the bank for cash for the trip.  One less thing that has to be dealt with.  Actually the only other problem is the newspaper - if we go at the last minute there will be a paper sitting in the delivery tube while we are away - I guess one paper will look like that day’s paper so it is not bad.  Most of our mail goes to our box at the Post Office and we put in a large locking mailbox at the house so that we do not have to stop the mail that does still come to the house.  Clothing can be washed and dried and then packed the night before and just tossed on the RV bed when we go.  Food, etc can be stuck under the RV bed in a holder that is there.  It can all be unpacked when we get where we are going.  So if he finds a place to go we can leave the next day.

He has had another project he has been working on and frustrated with, which affects me.  He has been trying to convince me to stop using this laptop and buy a new one.  I have some problems checking posts on some websites - the laptop runs Windows XP.  We have been looking and have found some laptops at the price we can pay - actually more than we can pay, but we can stretch the amount another $100 or so t buy.  I am still resistant as there are only one or two websites which are affected and I have software I like which may or may not work with Windows 10 and at least one I know will not work with same.  Yes, it can take up to 20 minutes for the laptop to boot and takes awhile for programs to open, but I am used to.  The alternative he comes up with is installing Linux on this computer to use when online.  He has found and set up about 5 versions of same on USB stick drives and DVDs in the past week or so.  The latest version on DVD actually works - but one of the sites I have a problem with only partially opens.  I have not have my laptop at least part of each night as a result as he loads the new try.  (Notice I made sure to write and post on time this week since I was late last week, but some friends on an embroidery site and some friends on a comics site will not hear from me - and I normally am on the comics site on Monday nights.)  I am guessing that I will be giving in and getting the new laptop - but not until after the cutoff for the credit card bill this month, so we won’t have to pay for it until October - the house insurance is in September, plus any travel bills if we go away.

Oh - I did finally vacuum up all the shreds of paper from my big shredding of 2008 last week.
                               
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

One may fall behind due to illness or other reasons.  Don’t panic.  One can always catch up. 

BACK TO SCHOOL SUPPLIES - AGAIN

First, my apologies - somehow I forgot last night to write and post to you.  I had finished the yearbook (next year meeting program guide) for my embroidery guild chapter and on Tuesday I had taken it to be printed - yesterday (Wednesday) we picked it up and in the evening when I normally would be writing and posting to you, I stapled, labeled, and stuck stamps on the yearbooks to be mailed out today.  Somehow my mind then wandered off and I never did get back to writing and posting.  So I am doing it today. 

Last year I wrote about back to school supplies - http://wheredidileavethat.blogspot.com/2017/08/this-week-back-to-bit-more-normal.html

Today is more about back to school supplies.  As I wrote last year, even as a child I loved office supplies and back to school was actually fun for me - the promise of a blank notebook, not scribbled on or in was the promise to me of a year that I would stay organized and all assignments would be done ahead of when they were due.  This, of course, was never true for me or I would not be writing this blog.

As I mentioned last year this is the time of year to buy supplies that might be needed as they are discounted.  Do you have pens and pencils in your house that you can find?  If not this is the time to get them - and a box to keep them in.  The same with basics such as scissors and tape.  Good time to find plastic boxes, crates, and file storage boxes.

Growing up I thought everyone went to back to school the Wednesday after Labor Day unless they lived in New York City - since NYC rarely needed a snow day (subways always ran until more recent years when even they had to close sometimes for weather) so the schools in NYC started on the Monday, a week after Labor Day as the did not need to have the 3 snow days the rest of had built into their schedule.  I have in recent years learned that schools around the country start and end on all different schedules.  (Around here schools close at the June.)  Some school districts close for a 2 month vacation -some for a 3 month vacation.  Even around here there is now a movement to start schools earlier - in some districts even before Labor Day (although many districts have union agreements against same).  The local change is the result of adding holy days of additional religions as days off during the year and the need to make up those days in the calendar. 

But right now is the time for school supplies.  I wanted to add this second posting about school supplies as there are some that people (as least old timers such as me) do not think of as back to school items.

Electronics.  Laptops, tablets, and so on.  Stores are running sales now on these for back to school.  I was reminded of this as my husband has for some time (years) been pushing me to replace this laptop - to say it is not new is an understatement, you know those stickers on the laptops that show what version of what is included in it - well, the newest copyright on any of them on this laptop is 2004 - that make it around 14 years old, and yes, it still runs Windows XP.  It was my work laptop when it was new.  I bought a newer work laptop since then and rather than toss this one, it became my kitchen computer - where I go online at night and write and post my blog.  It still works - mostly.  Some websites are too fast for it and therefore run very slowly on the computer.  But for most things it is fine.  Husband has been pushing me to get a new laptop.  My desktop - main - computer is Windows 7 and not all of my software runs on it - it is even harder to get me to get new software.  I tried using his laptop which is Windows 10 and I was not happy with it - and probably even more software will not run.  He has been showing me back to school ads for laptops and pushing “Look what great prices they are.”  I start to think what a great idea - that website that takes sooooo long to open will work quicker, but I know it is hard for me to switch and it will involve screaming and yelling - on both our sides.  (Husband is a dear and puts up with my wanting everything to remain the same and be able to use my old software and goes to great lengths to “make it so” but even he cannot do magic.)  So, it reminded me to mention it to all of you.  Now, don’t run out and buy a new computer just because they are on sale - but if you have been thinking of getting one - it is a good time save a few bucks.

Another school supply that I don’t think of as being one is casual furniture.  Back to school includes going to college and stores that carry casual furniture - small pieces for storage and the like - are having sales and also have a larger choice of them in stock.  Shelving units, small file cabinets, the doored cabinets with shelves in them are readily available now.

Of course clothing including shoes for adults (remember back to college) as well as children, of course, are in stock now. 

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

While one should not go out buying items willy nilly and only buy what one actually needs, if one is need of office supplies, clothing, electronics, casual furniture, etc. now is the time to look for bargains. 

Obviously one should not buy stuff just because it is on sale - that just adds to the clutter and having too much stuff, but if items are needed it is always best to buy them during the time they are on sale.