Silence is Golden

 Shhhh, do you hear that? Silence. Even the birds aren't up yet.

I know I'm not the only one who gets up while it's still dark out to enjoy the first steaming cup of morning coffee. 

But it's been a while since I've outwitted this bunch. Seriously. It's not unheard of for my foot to hit the last step only to discover dear hubby already at the table waiting.... 

Today, that's just what I've done. : ) 

I don't want to waste a precious minute. I'm gonna get right to it. Dottie has found herself in the kitchen of an old farmhouse still equipped with a wood cookstove and tin percolator. No simple press of the button here; just a box of kindling and a stack of faded newspapers. She remembers her grandmother whipping up some of the most memorable breakfasts ever on a stove just like this one. 

    Breakfast began with building a fire in the kitchen stove which looked like it had once belonged to Caroline when she lived on the Prairie. A huge black iron stove was centered along the back wall. It contained several round lids of different sizes she knew were the burners. A basket of kindling was kept underneath a table nearby. Certain she could handle making coffee, Dot removed the largest steel burner plate using a lid lifter already in place. Next, she crumpled a few newspapers, stuffed them into the stove, and placed some of the kindling from the basket. It required several matches until she had a rosy fire.

    She sat down to wait, her gaze going to the glass. 

The thick sheen covering the window wasn't dust but soot. 

Instead of offering a fresh start to a new day it 

resembled a sad leftover from days before, the sunlight struggling to 

break through. Footsteps from the stairway alerted her that she 

wasn't the only one up.

    "Why are you using that old thing?"  

Nothing much is happening yet. I'd better get back to it before my house starts to wake up. 

Here's to a lovely day! 

 

 

3/4 finished - been sitting on this fence long enough

Hello!

I'm just heading out the door to my little she-shed. Since my hubby's retirement, I've been at a loss about where to write. I'm not one to pack up and leave home to do something so personal (to me, anyway) as dive into another person's drama. 

But I've missed making any progress, and I'm so ready to get back to my manuscript. I adore the characters- Earl and Dorothy, aka- Dot, because as Earl put it, she was the end of his search. They're celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary. Toss in the fact Earl's fully retired now- write what you know.

I've got a feeling stuff's about to get real. 

Fingers crossed it'll be entertaining.  

Hubby and I are getting the garden ready for planting. Looking forward to tasty tomatoes!

Here's to a beautiful Spring! Enjoy! 

Oh, the woos of pc trouble

Technology- don't ya just love it?

So, I spent the better part of November trying to recover from an update that didn't go right. Seems like with everything else forced on us, unsuccessful downloads are just one more. Of course, I did my best to fix the problem myself, but first, you have to know what that might be.

The keyboard on my new laptop wasn't working. I could login, and select a search engine because I have touchscreen. But from there I was unable to actually type anything. No matter what I did.

The trouble started when the new updates were rolled out, it stands to reason that my problems started there. 

Since my repair guys went strictly to commercial, they pointed me in the direction of another repair shop they felt confident could handle any pc troubles. Needless to say, I don't share the feeling. I took my laptop to the new shop, which, mind you, is 30 miles away from me. He said to bring it up, and he would do a fresh install. That meant I lose all my current content (unless its backed up in the cloud) and would need refreshing.  After several days, I get the call, it's ready to be picked up. I paid a hefty fee and left thinking all is good, the laptop works now - they brought it up and I was able to type, so I'm ready to go. 

No such thing. It was hit and miss; working when it wanted. 

Not one to give up easily, I called a few tecs and got one who actually seemed to know a thing or two about computers. He suggested I press and hold the power button, then restart pc. Once I did that the problem appeared to be fixed. The tec said that indicated to him the problem was a driver problem and not a hardware issue. However, when I shut down the laptop and came back to it the next day it would require the same trick, press and hold, reboot and type. Not the way I wanted to use this laptop, especially after saving my money for a year to purchase this top of the line computer. 

Lucky for me, I have other ways of googling besides my laptop, using my iPad. With a few short searches, I came across a helpful article on what to do if your keyboard doesn't respond. This is the scary part...it tells me to uninstall the keyboard. (Gulp) 

Yep, I'm supposed to hit that uninstall button and remove the keyboard. Then reinstall after a complete shutdown. Well, I read several claims that this really is the proper way to fix this problem. Seems once a keyboard is uninstalled, next time it's brought up, the pc will search for and install the required keyboard, complete with proper driver updates. 

I debated for about a day or two and realized, since I absolutely couldn't use my laptop in its current condition, what did I have to lose? Giving the family strict instructions I am not to be disturbed, I set about the task. And wouldn't you know it? Wha-la! Perfect O! Works every time! 

I'm so happy and wish I had done this sooner. Like, I'm still in need of a good pc repairman, but at least I know where I am not going.