Wednesday, February 28

DSL repeater

I mentioned yesterday about a technology the telcos could install at the 3 km mark in their trunk line called a "repeater". Well, today I typed "DSL repeater" into Google and this is what came up on the page about 3/4 of the way down of the Wikipedia page

DSL repeater

This is a very new technology which allows DSL to travel longer distances to remote customers. One version of the repeater is installed at approximately 3 km (10,000 ft) intervals along the trunk line, and strengthens and cleans up the DSL signal so it can travel another 3 km (10,000 ft).

Now of course the problem as I see it, is to get the telcos to install them for us more rural customers who can't really afford Satellite Broadband. Nor can we just pick up and move closer to a connection point.

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Tuesday, February 27

Doctor apptmnt. Shopping. DSL. Qumana

If you remember, I mentioned a few entries ago that I had an appointment with the doctor. I told my e-group how that went, but I neglected to tell my blog friends. Sorry about that, you four. *smile* There might be more than that, but not that I'm aware of.

Anyway, I needed to talk to the doctor about changing one medication completely, and changing another so the capsules would have a different amount (changing from two 1.5 mg capsules to one 3.0 mg one). Plus I wanted to see if he could prescribe something for my lack of energy. Unfortunately he didn't prescribe anything for my back pain (and I didn't think to push it). Probably because it's not constant, it's only when I bend over a few times too many or lift something heavy, or do a lot of walking. Looks like Ibuprofen is going to be my painkiller of choice. I was happily surprised that he was perfectly okay with prescribing a different antidepressant (unlike my ex local dr.), upping the dosage to put in the capsules of the other med, and prescribing something to help give me more energy. So, all in all it was a good visit and got everything accomplished that I hoped to. I see him again in six months for a check-up.

Now that that is out of the way, I'll move on to more current stuff. There was a scheduled homeschool meeting today with our local group, but we didn't attend because we *needed* to do some shopping for the chickens/ducks and ourselves, and the food was in two different cities. By the way, if you live in or close to Buffalo Missouri, there's an an e-group. Got that done. While in the store where we buy most of our groceries, we got a few semi-needed things, like a pair of pants for the kids and I and a skirt for Rain. We also got me a ball to squeeze to help keep my hands a little more limber and possibly help then gain a little strength. Getting all of that done took from 10 this morning until 3 this afternoon, but we shouldn't *need* to go to the store until payday, which is only a few days away.

I've been obsessed with getting a high speed Internet connection again because it seems like everyone that I know has one except me. *sigh* Especially since I read the other day that SBC sometimes uses something that extends the distance from the DSL connection point from 3 miles to 5.5 miles, and I can't find the sight I was on :-( I did find other sites that say that telcos can get DSL further out by just putting "repeaters" on the lines. Canada does it up to *10* miles from the connection point. I also read that it's not a technology thing (the distance), it's a political / phone company thing. *sigh* Okay, my pity party is over and I've spent WAY too long making this entry (over an hour and a half). Bye.

P.s. Qumana has updated their software to work on the new Blogger, and also fixed it so there's a 'subject/title' once you upload to Livejournal.

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Qumana 3.0.1

Just testing to see if, after I upload this, there's a 'title/subject'.

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Sunday, February 25

Pics of Some cats and a dog

yahoo! Photos

Some cats and a dog 2007


Check out my photos


Rambleman has invited you to view a photo album on Yahoo! Photos Some of these you may have seen before, but I'm guessing you haven't seen most of them. All but one is of the cats, the other is of our couch potato.

View Some cats and a dog 2007


Saturday, February 24

Welcome to america, need a place to stay?

All of these were found at http://www.democracynow.org/ I just cannot believe how low the u.S. government has gone into xenophobia :-( And these are just the ones in Texas, there are more throughout the united States.

Human Rights Groups Call for Closure of Texas Jail Holding Undocumented Immigrants

Human rights groups are calling for the U.S. government to shut down a jail in Texas where about 200 immigrant children, some only infants, are being detained.

"I Want To Be Free": 9-Year-Old Canadian Citizen Pleads From Texas Immigration Jail

Majid and his nine-year old son Kevin are Iranian immigrants currently being held at the Hutto detention center.

Raymondville: Inside the Largest Immigration Prison Camp in the US

The largest immigrant prison camp is in Raymondville, Texas. Some two thousand undocumented immigrants are currently being held in the prison awaiting deportation.

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Friday, February 23

Nice weather, yardwork, bowling, evening with friends

Well, I really didn't plan to write right now, but there ya go and here it is. It's been absolutely GORGEOUS weather the last few days. Yesterday we *finally* got the whole family outside to start cleaning up the downed branches from the ice storm, together. I was in charge of the chainsaw :-) Rain was in charge of feeding me the limbs to cut. She used the wagon to prop one end up, then slid it across so that the end that needed cut was in the air. We got the kids to use the branch/twig loppers to get the tiniest bits and small branches off so we didn't have to pull them off of the logs. *smile* Once we had enough to fill our shallow wagon (4 inches deep), we did so and the kids took the wagon down to the wood shed and dumped it. We cut enough to fill two wagons, the largest "logs" were only about 3-4 inches in diameter. We've still got a *lot* more branches to cut-up and stack, plus a few trees that we want to take completely down. So we'll have plenty to do this Spring and Summer. I'm tired just thinking about it. *grin* But like we told the kids, by the end of Summer we should *all* be in better shape! :-)

Wednesday we went to the park and met with a couple of families that also homeschool. We had a good time. I had taken these balloons that you blow-up, They're long and when you let go of the end it goes flying around squealing with delight for being set free, I guess. LOL. Anyway, I had a pack of 6 I think, so the 4 kids that were interested had a good time with them. At one point they were trying to see who could catch theirs when it came back down.

Today, Friday, we went to the bowling alley and bowled with a few homeschool families we know. That was definitely a good time, also I still just *suck* (my score: 81). I just could *not* get into a rhythm. *sigh* That's okay, it was still fun. We're going to be having one of the families that were there over for supper and a board game this evening. Really looking forward to that! Plus, their son is about the same age as ours and he's going to spend the night tonight. My son is *really* looking forward to having his friend stay over and play video games and talk with him. Hopefully they won't stay up all night. *smile*

Other than that, today I need to finish two loads of laundry and vacuum before they get here. Shouldn't take too long, but I want to get it done, after my email of course. *smile*

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Tuesday, February 20

Friends and doctors

Really enjoyed chatting with our friends this afternoon for a couple of hours. Of course the visit was WAY TOO SHORT, but hey, it's like 'they' say, "Always leave them wanting more!" *grin*

As for the doctor, that appointment went really well too. We covered/discussed everything with the nurse and the doctor that we had thought of before going. I got a couple new prescriptions; one for fatigue and a different antidepressant. I had been on the newly prescribed antidepressant back in '97 then again in '00 after we moved, but I stopped because I thought it was the culprit of an MS exacerbation, which it wasn't. Ever since though, I've been trying others with some success. Well, now I'm hoping the third time's a charm! *crossing fingers*

Well, it's almost time for American Idol, so take care.

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Sunday, February 18

Morning shift, afternoon delight

It a beautiful Winter day today, it's in the 50's :-) And to think, just the other day it really *felt* like Winter (20's/30's w/wind). I hadn't been outside until about an hour ago because, well, didn't feel like it. LOL. Got up this morning at approximately 10 after 7. After I got a drink of water and woke-up a few minutes, my and my DD went outside. She carried a water jug to fill/top off the chicken/duck waterers and I followed. I stopped at the shed and got them some food while she let them out of the coop. Then we came in and she came right back to the 'puter, while I got a fire started, to take the chill off. It was about 63*F when we got up. Then I watched TV for a while, while keeping an eye on the stove. Once the fire was burning well enough that I didn't have to be *right* there with it, I made my DD and I each a hamburger for breakfast. Eventually Rain got up. I had started the water boiling for some tea so she could have some while waking up. The tea was done about 15 minutes later and we each had a cup while we watched TV. Shortly after drinking my tea, and after she changed the channel, I eventually dozed-off. After I woke up around noon I guess, I took a shower. YAY! LOL. Later on Rain read some email while I watch more TV (yes, we do that a lot). Around 15 after 4 we went out and fed the birds, checked for eggs, and split some wood. Not sure if we'll need to make a fire tonight, but just in case we do, we have the wood inside. We're getting pretty low on wood, so we need to start being more frugal on the frequency of having fires. Not so frugal that we freeze of course. Ah, what am I talking about, we'll start fires when we need to. We'll have the wood when/if we need it. This week it's supposed to be warmer than last. One day this week will be in the 50's, the rest will be in the 60's and Friday it's even supposed to be in the 70's, and the lows in the 30's and 40's. THAT is the kind of weather we like! *grin* I'm thinking it'll be a good week to get some of those fallen limbs cut into firewood and stacked in the wood-shed. Yeah, I think so, I really think so. *smile*

Well, we plan on visiting some friends on Tuesday before my appointment with the doctor. Looking for to visiting with the friends, not so much with the doctor. Ah well, it's got to be done.

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Morning shift, afternoon delight

It a beautiful Winter day today, it's in the 50's :-) And to think, just the other day it really *felt* like Winter (20's/30's w/wind). I hadn't been outside until about an hour ago because, well, didn't feel like it. LOL. Got up this morning at approximately 10 after 7. After I got a drink of water and woke-up a few minutes, my and my DD went outside. She carried a water jug to fill/top off the chicken/duck waterers and I followed. I stopped at the shed and got them some food while she let them out of the coop. Then we came in and she came right back to the 'puter, while I got a fire started, to take the chill off. It was about 63*F when we got up. Then I watched TV for a while, while keeping an eye on the stove. Once the fire was burning well enough that I didn't have to be *right* there with it, I made my DD and I each a hamburger for breakfast. Eventually Rain got up. I had started the water boiling for some tea so she could have some while waking up. The tea was done about 15 minutes later and we each had a cup while we watched TV. Shortly after drinking my tea, and after she changed the channel, I eventually dozed-off. After I woke up around noon I guess, I took a shower. YAY! LOL. Later on Rain read some email while I watch more TV (yes, we do that a lot). Around 15 after 4 we went out and fed the birds, checked for eggs, and split some wood. Not sure if we'll need to make a fire tonight, but just in case we do, we have the wood inside. We're getting pretty low on wood, so we need to start being more frugal on the frequency of having fires. Not so frugal that we freeze of course. Ah, what am I talking about, we'll start fires when we need to. We'll have the wood when/if we need it. This week it's supposed to be warmer than last. One day this week will be in the 50's, the rest will be in the 60's and Friday it's even supposed to be in the 70's, and the lows in the 30's and 40's. THAT is the kind of weather we like! *grin* I'm thinking it'll be a good week to get some of those fallen limbs cut into firewood and stacked in the wood-shed. Yeah, I think so, I really think so. *smile*

Well, we plan on visiting some friends on Tuesday before my appointment with the doctor. Looking for to visiting with the friends, not so much with the doctor. Ah well, it's got to be done.

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Friday, February 16

Cold wind a blowin while we went to town

Brr! It's frikkin' cold out there with the wind blowing! We had to go into town today and pickup my prescription, get lottery tickets, and eat lunch. It wasn't TOO bad as long as we could get parking spots fairly close. *grin* But we also needed to do some of our weekly shopping at the Wal-Mart Super-center in another city. While there we needed gas. THAT'S when it was REALLY obvious that the wind chill was, well, chilly. *smile* I don't know what the actual temperature was, but it *felt* like it was 20 or blew. A few minutes into pumping the gas, I had this fleeting temptation to shut the pump off and get back in the van. I even had gloves on and the hood on my coat over my head, but the wind was blowing right passed the rear of the van, into my hood so that it was like I didn't have the hood on. 'course my ears didn't get cold, so that was a plus, but the rest of me did. And I couldn't just set the nozzle to click off when it was full, because even while I was standing there it shut off before the tank was full. *sigh* So I stood there freezing while the kids sat in the van listening to music and Rain waiting in the store to pay. Lucky, lucky people! Oh the things I do for my family. *grin* Then we went and got a few groceries (not many, we bought enough cat & dog food, and wife-cigarettes at the beginning of the month to hopefully last the entire month), but we did need milk and a few other 'essentials'. Other than that, been up to pretty much what we're always up to, nothing earth shattering. Bye for now :-)

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Tuesday, February 13

Long Lane weather, what I watched, and what I plan on watching

I opened this program earlier to write, but closed it because I didn't think I had anything to offer to the blogsphere. I still don't, but feel like writing anyway. It's a cold day outside. Been right around 30*F all day, but it's been windy, so of course it's *felt* cold outside. That is, the one time I went out, it felt cold. LOL.

What have I done all day? Been on the computer, mostly. I watched part of a show about people who survived where nobody thought they would. For instance, one guy decided to go on a walk in Hawaii on the lava fields to get closer to some volcanic lava flow and got lost. He spent 4 days in an area he just happened to find after wandering around all day that was covered by plants that grew out of the lava. Someone in a helicopter just happened to catch a flash of light off of a mirror he had for his camcorder, and got the pilot to go lower to see what the reflection was off of. Then there was another segment of a couple of guys who went ocean fishing and something happened to their boat and they were floating on the ocean for a few days on just a lid from a cooler. One guy died before anyone spotted them. The other guy was passed a couple of times by people on boats that saw them and went on passed. The jerks. How can someone do that? But finally another boat saw him and took him to a hospital. Then there was yet one more episode of a guy that was snowboarding in an area of Keystone where he wasn't supposed to be, got into some trees that were too close together to board through and had to take his board off. Once he did that, he was stuck because the snow was way too deep to just walk through. He was there, in the trees where nobody could see him when they flew over, for about 3 days and nights. He covered himself with limbs he broke off of trees, to stay as warm as possible, which wasn't enough. I believe these were all episodes from the show "I shouldn't be alive".

Other than that, I got a couple loads of laundry done. I made breakfast for my son and I this morning (a hamburger for each). Plus I ran the dishwasher, which is now waiting for the kids to unload because it's one of their daily chores. *grin*

Tonight we'll watch "American Idol", "House", "Miami Ink", then whatever else we can find.

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Monday, February 12

Commercials, electric cars, global warming

One "beef" I have with automobile commercials is that I see more of them for SUVS and Pickup Trucks than I do for cars, let alone cars that get good (30's or above) gas mileage. And even with the car commercials, most of them don't mention what the gas mileage is. This day in age with the alleged coming shortage of oil and the "peak oil theory", you'd think there would be more of a push to sell "green", or at least green friendly autos. But no way, it *seems*, as always, that the auto sales industry is worried more about the bottom line than it is about people choking on polluted air or running out of heat because they can't afford oil because so much of it is used by gas guzzling cars and trucks. What is up with that? I saw a thing on television just yesterday about a car that has been built in some other country that is *fully* electric and can go as fast as over 200 MPH using a 100 horse-power motor. Of course, to purchase that particular car they said it was over $200,000. *sigh* It was made by some company that caters to the ultra rich, in some other country. My point is, if they can build cars like that, why can't they build similar cars for the "average" person?

Speaking of "green" stuff, I also heard that scientists have concluded that even if we drastically reduce greenhouse emissions right now, that it's too late to make any real difference before severe damage from global warming happens.

And has anyone but me noticed that there are very few new commercials lately? I mean, why is that? Is it because the u.S. economy isn't as strong as the government says and companies can't afford to make new ones? Is it that the old ones are working so well that they don't need to make new ones? Just something I've noticed.

Well, it's raining, so nothing is going to get done outside by me today. Ah well, there's nothing out there that can't wait to be done anyway. *smile*

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Saturday, February 10

"No new messages" Eudora, Thunderbird, and Penelope (email programs)

Well, I'm not surprised (that's there's no email messages), as I *should* be busy doing *something* outside since it's a sunny day out there. And just why am I *not* outside doing something? Well, because I've been messing with the computer. Oh, don't worry, I'm NOT changing any files. LOL. So Rain still has all her "favorites" and "bookmarks". *grin* Mostly I have been messing with Thunderbird-2 (beta). I was using Eudora-7 in the free mode up until today. The only reason I was using it was because of that 'reply' feature that automatically moves the highlighted text to the reply message where you add your comments. Right now my wife and I are using two separate email clients. She's using Outlook Express, and I'm now using Thunderbird-2. When I wanted to check on the blogs I'm subscribed to I had to switch from Eudora to TB to do so. I *finally* decided that I didn't *need* to being using an email client separately from our blog-reader when I could get both my email and blogs with TB, so I've discontinued Eudora. Hopefully, when Mozilla gets TB and Eudora combined into what they're calling "Penelope", they'll have the one feature that I was using Eudora for. If not, I'll stick with TB. Anyway, I was just looking for cool add-ons for TB and found one that allows you to read your RSS feeds in the same folder as your email (as opposed to having separate accounts) called "Forumzilla". I'm not sure if I should re-create all my blog-feeds in that, or keep them where they are. Probably the 2nd option as I was only having problems getting one feed downloaded.

Well, enough of that. I'm just started blabbing about 'things' because I was tired of *just* messing. I've got other things on my mind, but I'm getting kind of tired of being at the computer, so I'll write them another time. Bye-bye :-)

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Friday, February 9

Herbs and things

Did a few loads of laundry, drove to the herb shop to get some redman's salt and black walnut powder to get into the cats and dog to get rid of their worms. Other than that, have just been watching tv, splitting wood, and playing video games. Hope your day is going well.

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Wednesday, February 7

Getting started. Trees, branches, Firewood. Letters. Survivor

Well gosh, not much really happening today, at least not around here. Although we did get a few things done, after noon when I got tired of *trying* to nap on the sofa. I don't know why I was surprised I couldn't fall asleep even though I felt lazy though, because I had taken a couple of those "Energize" pills that you can buy (and we did) at Wal-Mart. LOL. I have only been taking them on days when I get up early (7-ish a.m), which has been every day this week so far. Anyway, once I got off the sofa and kicked my butt into gear, I went out and brought the step-ladder (painter's ladder?) in from the shed so I could change the light bulb in the bookshelf room. Got the bulb changed and decided that the bulb cover needed to be washed, so I put it in the dishwasher. LOL. Gods forbid that I wash it by hand! *grin* So, the ladder has been standing there all afternoon. Not much longer though, because the dishwasher just finished :-) I get the cover put back on and take the ladder back to the shed.

We also did a walkabout around the front 5 of the property and looked at the damage the trees sustained by that ice storm. That and we just wanted to enjoy the above average temperature and sunshine before it cools off the rest of the week. And no, I still haven't turned any of the fallen branches into firewood. Been too cold out there, and when it wasn't yesterday and today, I didn't want to spend the nice days working. LOL.

Speaking of downed branches, we've decided that when we do finally get around to putting the chainsaw to work, we're going to cut down 6 Poplar trees. 3 in the back yard (2 that are by the pool), and 3 in the front yard. Why? Because they're NOT good shade trees, and when it gets hot in the summer, they drop their damn leaves, and we especially don't like leaves falling/blowing into the pool all the time. We're going to put nut trees in their places. One of the trees in the front yard we're going to take down is an Elm tree that broke in half last year and that half fell on our house. Luckily, it hit right on the edge of the porch, so it didn't do much damage. Then the ice storm made the tree look *really* bad, so we're going to put it out of our/it's misery. *grin*

Plus I got the log droppings cleaned up from where we stack the wood when we bring it in. I just couldn't take tracking wood bits all throughout the house anymore. So rather than bitch and moan about it, I just cleaned it up. While in that mode of clean (carpet), my wife vacuumed the stove room, living room, computer room, and cat food/litter box room. YAY! Then later we brought some more wood in, after splitting it of course. *smile* Speaking of firewood, we're getting low, and we don't think we'll have enough dry wood to get us through March unless we're *really* frugal, which we are usually anyway. So yesterday I called our wood guy, and he told me he only has "green" wood. Well, that wouldn't do us any good this year, plus we can make our own "green" wood by cutting up those branches, so I told him "thanks anyway". Now I need to look in the paper we'll be buying tomorrow and see if I can find someone else selling dry wood. We only have $60, so we're hoping to find a half cord for that (we paid 120 for a full cord last Fall). Wish us luck! :-)

Oh, and remember me saying I felt obligated to write a letter to my mom and day because they wrote us one? Well, got that done yesterday and mailed it out today. *smile*

Other than that, not much happening. Don't forget... "Survivor Fiji" starts tomorrow night!

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Saturday, February 3

Dragon pose. Homeschool group. Letter from mom. Pay day trip into town

kilala.dragon.jpg

This is Kilala doing his dragon pose. *smile*

My excuse for not writing as often as I once did this time is... my homeschool e-group has picked-up the pace, so I've been spending a lot of time reading and participating in the conversations there. It was already a fairly busy group, but after being joined by 5 members from a list I was on *years* ago, it *really* picked-up. And I must say that I, for one, am quite happy about it. *smile* Now all we need is for some members that used to be heavy contributors to somehow find the time to join in once again. I'm sure they will in their own time.

I got a letter from my mom earlier this week. She is home from the hospital and says that there is still pain, but it's not too bad. She sounds like she getting her sense of humor back too, so I'm happy to report that I'm feeling confident that she'll make a full recovery and be able to walk without the walker in no time flat. She also mentioned that the feeding tube has been removed and that she's happy about it. It was really touch n' go there for a while. I hadn't gotten a letter from her in *several* months, so just that fact alone means she's doing pretty well, although now I feel sort of obligated to write back. *smile* I was thinking about doing that a couple of days ago, just like I was thinking about blogging a couple of days ago, but there was that whole thing with a certain e-mail list's mail coming in fast and steadily that kept me from both. *grin*

Not much is happening. We got some snow the other day. Not a lot, but enough to turn our road into a snow-packed one, which means we can only get out of the neighborhood one way, because the other way has a huge dip that our van won't be able to navigate without getting stuck until the snow-pack melts. So, yesterday we ventured out, nerves in our throats and white knuckles on the steering wheel, and went into town and had our "pay day meal-splurge" at Pizza Hut. It was YUMMY! *smile* After that we went to the gas station and put $30 worth of gas in and that brought the gauge to a little over 3/4 (from a little under half a tank). Then it was on to the feed store to get some chopped corn for the chickens and ducks. We told them we wanted 3 bags, paid for said bags, and went out to open the back doors of the van, only to have the boy that would normally load the bags into the van for us tell us "we don't have any chopped corn". *sigh* So we went back in and asked when they would be getting some, he called the shop and relayed to us that it would be there in about 10 minutes. No problem, we could wait. Waited about 10-15 minutes, saw a truck with a bunch of bags pull into the parking lot, went back out to the van. The loader of bags then comes out and says, "There aren't any bags of chopped corn on that load, sorry". *sigh* So we went BACK in, and when they saw the look on our faces, told us that the second truck would be there in 5 to 10 minutes. *shweh* (wiping forehead) Yes, we finally got the bags we paid for, and headed back into town to get a few things at the grocery store (like chocolate for instance. lol) and then stopped at another feed store and got some rabbit food (pellets) to use as litter for the litter boxes. Plus I got another pair of muck boots. I desperately needed them too. I had patched as many slits as I could with duct tape and the duct tape had all about fallen off. It was quite pathetic really. LOL. But now I've got boots I can wear in the snow and mud without worrying about my feet getting wet. YAY!

So there ya go. That was our day. After we got home we just did "the usual" stuff like watching TV, kids played a video game, read email, fed chickens & ducks, split wood, ran the dishwasher, etc.

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