technical difficulties

Critter Pics and… sadness

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I only have a couple of critter pictures for you today, and both were taken with my phone camera.

I took many photos using the digital camera we keep on a tripod by our living room window, but then the camera died.

Then it worked again.

Then it died again.

Then it started doing weird things, like the viewfinder going completely black and the shutter getting stuck open.  Not being able to focus.  Error messages showing up.

My husband is the camera guy, and he opened it up, did some cleaning and checked it out.  The cleaning seemed to have helped a bit, but then the problems all started up again.

It looks like the camera body is on its last legs.  We hadn’t used it for so long, then suddenly we were taking probably an average of 150 photos a day.  It may not have handled that well!

When I uploaded the memory card onto the computer, there were only a few photos, taken later in the day.  Everything I’d taken before then was gone.

Our older daughter has offered to lend us hers; she has a Nikon D80, too.  I’m now paranoid that if I start using her camera, it’ll end up like ours.

Something else to add to the list of expensive things we’ll need to replace.  As much as I love my phone’s camera, it still can’t do as well as a good DSLR and some quality lenses.

*sadness*

We did get one deer visit today.

20180129.white.tail.deer

This is Barbecue.  Hungry Girl didn’t show up today.  At least not that I saw.

I later saw that my brother’s dog had come out to check on his van, and that may be what has the deer’s attention in this photo.

The van is parked in front of the main entry, outside the kitchen window.  It was when I noticed the dog that I also saw this…

20180129.cats

Nasty Crime Boy and Rolando Moon were checking out the dog – and me! – through the window.

The Re-Farmer

 

 

Data Vampire

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We’re still figuring out our internet out here.  Back when we had unlimited data, we averaged about 300-350 gigs a month, between the 4 of us.  This is not surprising, since we not only had our desktops online all the time, but our phones were using WiFi, as well as other devices occasionally.  Between actual productive stuff, there was also gaming and whatnot.

With our satellite internet, the maximum data package available is 100 gigs.  I figured, since doing things like World of Warcraft and watching videos is pretty much out, it wouldn’t be too much of a problem.  If we reached our data limit, we still had internet.  It would be extremely slow, but we could do things like check our email, and we wouldn’t be charged more.

Except that didn’t work out very well, so my husband talked to our provider about being able to keep our speed and pay extra for the data overage.  At a rate of $2 a gig.

That should also have been fine, but it quickly added up and we ended up with an almost $300 bill.  Almost 3 times what the basic package costs, and almost double what we were paying for our internet/cable bundle before the move.

Next month in, we quickly hit our data limit again.  Which is where we ended up getting a second account.  It was cheaper to have a second satellite dish installed with a second account.  There are other advantages to that option that will be of benefit in the future, too.

Well, 50% of that got used up real fast, too.

Now, part of that can be explained away by various downloads that were done.  It took my husband 3 days to download his Star Wars game.  It’s not that big of a file, but it’s just how it is with satellite.  Once installed, playing that game uses almost no data at all, but with his desktop dead, he installed it on his laptop.  It took some doing for various other technical issues.

I just had a conversation with my daughter about our data usage.  She and her sister had gone into their settings to look at their own data usage for the past 30 days.  She only used 25 gigs, and her sister’s use was almost non-existent.  And yes, they have been playing the Star Wars game, too.  The biggest drain my older daughter was seeing in her computer was labelled “system”.

So I looked at my own settings.

I found this.

useage.details

What in the heck is going on here???  Why is my system using more than 80 gigs in the past 30 days?  I don’t even have my desktop ON as much as I used to.

There’s nothing that lets you break down into more detail.

My other usage is negligible.  Even my WiFi usage on my phone is barely more than 10 gigs over the last 30 days.

WTF?

I went through some other areas in the the settings and found one thing I could turn off; all notifications.  I’ve got the metered thing set, but that only applies to WiFi, and I’m hard wired into the router.

So I’ve got some sort of  data vampire in my system.

I am curious, now, what my husband’s laptop’s data usage is.  If my desktop system alone is using over 80 gigs in 30 days, if his is going the same thing, no wonder we’re screaming through our limited data so quickly.

One of the things we will be doing is resetting the usage stats at the end of the month, when our data plan rolls over.  Then we can start monitoring both and compare.

If you have any thoughts, suggestions, feedback or personal experiences on this, please feel free to comment.

The Re-Farmer

 

 

Testing Macro

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Years ago, when we were more able bodied and had more discretionary funds, we were all quite into photography.  With changing technology, my husband acquired lenses for his smartphone camera.

The lenses are held in place by a magnet that holds it to a metal ring adhered around the phone camera lens. Last night, he placed a spare on my phone and this morning, I tested the macro lens.  This is one of the results.


I later tried to test the larger telephoto lens on the birds at our feed. Unfortunately, the weight of the lens was too much for the adhesive holding the ring in place, and it fell off before I could even zoom in to try for a photo.

I will have to figure something out for that, because I can see myself using at least two of the lenses, regularly.

I rather miss photography.  It would be good if we can get back into it, now that we’ve moved.  Our old equipment still works fine and is more than adequate.

The Re-farmer

Some updates

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So, in between unpacking and rearranging, cooking with sourdough, feeding the critters outside and taking pictures of our deer visitor, other things have been going on.

First update: I did get an email back about our claim to the moving company.

Actually, I got two.

Continue reading →

Wasted Day 

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I suppose I should at least be glad I emptied three boxes yesterday.

Today feels like a waste.

I have been using the Keurig more often, to try and go through all those boxes we have a bit faster.  I noticed it seemed to be having a harder time of it and, considering how hard our water is, I figured it was due for a descaling.

I’ve been fighting with it for hours.

Basically, after a few cups of vinegar water, it stopped spewing water at all, though it was still trying to.

I’ve cleaned those nozzles with a paper clip so many times, it’s ridiculous.  After I do, it’ll run a single mug of vinegar water, then get clogged again when I do the next one.

I’ve noticed it also only half fills a mug, when on the “large” setting.

I’m going to just let it sit, off, for a while and try again later. Let the vinegar do it’s work.

Meanwhile, I will end this on a more positive note.

The jade plant is recovering quite nicely.


Plus, I’m getting a decent amount of progress on a shawl I’m making, in between fighting with the keurig.

So not a completely wasted day…

The Re-farmer

The lengths we go to…

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Okay, so having an internet connection was a necessity for our living here, for a variety of reasons.  We had to settle for satellite, which is better than nothing, but has limitations.

As the router is in my office, my desktop is hard wired.  Everyone else is on wireless.

That, too, has limitations.  These range from sporadic connectivity (I get that even with my hard wired desktop) to slower speed. Even with the use of a wireless booster, which we had handy because we needed them even in the townhouse we lived in before the move, it’s still an issue in parts of the house.  Whether that is due to wireless issues, or our satellite itself, there’s no way to know for sure.

My husband’s desktop still isn’t working, so he’s using his work laptop.  Due to space restrictions, he’s set up in the living room.  That gives him the added bonus of using the big screen TV left behind for us as a second monitor.

The wireless connection, however, is causing him some problems. Continue reading →

Well, Crud

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Today was supposed to be a bit warmer – the high was to be a balmy -20C this afternoon. After that, it’s supposed to scream back down again for the next few days, so I thought I would try again for a trip into town.

The van started no problem, but after about half a minute, it started making noises.

Different noises. Continue reading →

Didn’t quite make it

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My older daughter and I were going to make a run into town today.

We decided against it.

The van started fine and we let the engine warm up before we started, but as I backed out of the garage, I was just not comfortable with how the engine sounded.  So back into the garage it went and I plugged it back in.

We depend on that van too much for me to take any chances.

This is what we’re looking at for the next while. Continue reading →

The Hot Water Saga continues…

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Well, that sucks.

It looks like we’re back to having hot water in the morning, but not for the rest of the day.

We got two showers in before it was gone.

It didn’t come back.

So the top band is working, but the bottom band isn’t.  It seems.  If that’s how it is, we’ll have hot water again in the morning.

Which we can put up with until we can come up with the money to have a new tank installed.

The list of things we’ll need to pay for, on top of catching up on things because of how much the move cost us, is getting very long.

The Re-Farmer

 

We Have a Door – and Hot Water!

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My brother has pulled off another miracle for us.

Two of them.

We had plans to go into the city around noon to finally take care of the Costco/pharmacy mess, then a Christmas dinner with my husband’s family.

It was also the day my brother booked to come fix our van door and the hot water tank. Because of our plans, he came much earlier.  Amazingly, he started the day at 5:30 am, took three hours to prepare for everything he could think of (because, once here, there is no alternative if something is missing), then drove the hour and a half or more in freezing rain to our place.

Then he lugged a 150-200 pound door down the stairs into the new part basement to work on.

Our door had a broken latch and couldn’t stay closed.  It happened because of a loose hinge that caused the door to drop.  When closing it, the latch would hit the bar it was supposed to catch on to stay closed.  Eventually, it simply broke. I’ve been driving with a bungee cord hooked onto the window frame to keep the door closed, ever since.  Our garage had tried to find a used or salvaged part for me, because a new one would have cost an insane amount of money, but they were unable to find a salvageable part.

My brother managed it, salvaging the hinge pieces as well as the entire door.

Long story short, he ended up McGyvering the two together.  The frame of the replacement door now has the inside shell of our original door, plus the outside handle of the original door – with the key lock in it – got transferred from the original door, to the replacement door.

This is the original door, with the broken hinge, as well as the broken latch.

It took him something like 5 or 6 hours!!!

Then, as soon as he was done, we headed to the city, while he switched to working on the hot water tank.  It turns out he got the last two of those bands left, not just in North America, but the world!  They haven’t been made in decades, and they were still in the original box.  He wasn’t sure if replacing them would fix the problem, but he was going to try.

We got home less than half an hour ago, and found we have hot water!

Which means, in the morning, instead of sending hours heating water for several people to have baths, we can take 10 minute showers, and get on with out day.

I love my brother.

Update: I just got off the phone with my brother. Turns out only the bottom band needed to be replaced, but the new one was several inches too short. He had to gerry-rig it.  He also found the schematics for the replacement thermostat was wrong, which likely explains the breaker going.

We shall see how the hot water is, tomorrow.  In the end, it’s still a temporary fix until we can get a new tank.

The Re-farmer