Friday, September 30, 2016

The Saga Of The Noisy Phone

September 30, 2016

Good morning.  Well, the weather hasn't changed at all.  Tis still gray, gloomy, damp and in the 50's.  I'd love to be able to say that it sort of grows on you after a while, but it doesn't.  Rather, it saps a lot of your energy and makes you tired.  Of course, I'm only speaking for myself.

Folks, have you noticed?  Today is the last day of September.  Tomorrow will be a brand new month.  Where has all the time gone?  Want something else to think about?  There are only 86 more days till Christmas and Hanukkah.  Actually, Hanukkah starts at sundown on Christmas eve.  Wow, talk about time flying by!!!

Well, yesterday, I didn't really stick to my proposed schedule of chores.  (what else is new?)  Instead, I chatted on the phone for a while with my friend Beth, and then with my Aunt Lucy.  Once I thought that the new phones had charged enough, I unhooked the old phone and hooked up the new one. 

So, take a guess.  Did that get rid of the static and other noises in the phone line?  Absolutely not!!  Oy vey!  Will I ever have a clear phone line again?  So now I called the cable company again to see if I can talk to a technician.  It must have been my lucky day, because the first person to answer my call (after several minutes of very annoying recordings) was located in the United States.  She was in Texas, to be exact.

There are several branches of the cable company located near me, all within three to forty five minutes by car.  But in order to get technical help, I have to speak to someone in the Philippines or Texas.  I guess this is what they call progress nowadays.  Ah well, at least the nice lady said that she would try to help me.

So, for a few minutes, she was doing all sorts of things that were making the static get louder, then much softer, then gone, then louder again, etc. etc. etc.  Next, my internet went out.  Good grief, Charle Brown!!  Then the phone line went totally quiet, I mean like dead!  I held on though, and finally I heard a dial tone.  Excuse me?  Did she just hang up on me? 

By now I was really down hearted.  I really don't want to have to call back because there's no telling what country my next call will be routed to.  So, I waited a couple of minutes, took a deep breath to calm myself down, and pressed the "call" button  to call the cable company again.   

Wait, the phone is quiet.  No noise, no nothing.  In fact, it is suspiciously quiet so now I don't even know if it is still working.  I may as well try to call someone to try this thing out, so I called my daughter Deanne and SIL Eddie answered.  Woo Hoo!!  My phone works!

After all that, I'll have to keep the user manual handy all the time until I have this new phone all figured out.   That should keep me busy for a few months.  I keep wondering though why that technician couldn't stay on the line long enough to tell me that she had fixed the problem.  Do you suppose that's how she gets back at us crabby callers?   She just leaves us dangling till we figure out that we are done?  Aye yi yi!!

Yesterday I promised to take a photo to show you where my little birds sit outside my window.  I've drawn yellow arrows pointing to the two braces where they sit.


I also took a cute photo of Pogo in his favorite spot every weekday afternoon.  He's waiting and watching for Joe to come home from work.  He's very patient, and will wait there as long as it takes for Joe to get here.


This morning, I got up to make a cup of coffee, and I just had to grab my phone and take a photo of my little guy.  As I've mentioned before, the nights are rather cool now, so last night Pogo curled up on his little sofa, all wrapped up in three of his fuzzy blankets, and slept the whole night through.  He was still asleep, so I had to be very quiet.  Folks, this sight makes my heart so very happy.


In a little while, I'm going to get dressed and head on out to Walmart to do a bit of grocery shopping.  Joe does not want to go shopping this week, so I'll go this morning and get it over with.  It won't be crowded there yet, so this won't take me very long.

On this happy note, I'll take my leave.  So, till Sunday, Y'all have a fantabulous weekend.  See you in October!!

Hugs, Edna B.

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