Pellet heads!! What's up today?

The plow guys vacation guy (it is the start of school vacation week here) came so the driveway is clear there was no way I was going to replace that shear pin today no get up and go left in the bear after having been up and doing the weekly cleaning and my primary bp meds hadn't kicked in yet I was running hot. Things are much better now. Daughter and mother are going to a Natale McMasters concert. Bear is on his own. I just finished a nap and chow down, now watching Comet Tv drival,

 

Good thing for you that you didn't end up getting lost or blue papered. Glad you are safe at home

 

My pups and my sons pup !

 

Awesome Doggy

 

Hey Doggy are the pups good and noisy?

 

So cute. they are a lot of fun to play with. I bet your son is fascinated with them. It all happens so fast. Are you going to keep any of the pups?

 

Ya at times. They sleep most of the time. When one wakes up, they all wake up. One has learned to bark. Momma Daisey is spending more and more time away from the pack and we can get a few new pics.

Doggy

 

When your 91 yr old Dad is a total internet newbie

As my Dad slowly recovers from his near fatal bout with pneumonia, his hearing loss has gotten so bad he's clinically deaf. It has been getting bad for years, he refuses to go spend the $$ for hearing test or get hearing aids. So for my brother & I, trying to talk to him on the phone is useless and him trying to deal with doctors and pharmacies gets him frustrated as hell. Now he lives alone (our Mom died in 1997), likes being alone but we need a way for him to communicate. He only has a flip phone (which texting on is a pain even when you know what you're doing) and when I tried to give him one of our 3 yr old smart phones, he just said no (touch screen, swiping, etc, just not for him). There are phones that convert voice onto a text display but those require a land line AND internet access (preferably wired).

Now he had a 3 month trial on Earthlink (remember modems & dial up) back in 1999 and gave up, so essentially he's never used the internet. Now he has a computer he plays games on but it's running XP. My brother works about a mile from my dad's house so he stops in most days on his way home but it's a pain having to go physically stop by to get info or see what he needs. And for me it's 2hrs one way to his house so I only go over on weekends usually.

So I figure as everyone who lives around him has Comcast/Xfinity (I can log in to the Xfinity wifi hotspots when I'm there) I will get a wifi repeater/booster to get a stronger signal into his house and get him a Chromebook so all he has to deal with is click Gmail for email and Hangouts (chat) if he needs to get a response from one of us right away. We setup a Comcast email account for him on our account so he'd have his own email to log in to the hotspots. Simple, right?

My brother & I go over there yesterday, get the booster setup (Hawking HW2R1, works great), try to get him to look through the Chromebook For Dummies book and get him familiar with the Acer 14" Chromebook ($250 at Best Buy). 5 hrs later my brother and I are mentally exhausted. My Dad finally got past the fact that "it's running Chrome OS" and that the Chrome browser works just like any Microsoft Windows program window. I had even made even more dumbed down instructions on the Chrome browser, Gmail and Hangouts and it took 5hrs for it to start to sink in. My brother is going over today and me on Mon to work with him with it. We're hoping that with my brother going over after work weekdays that by next weekend he gets more comfortable with it.

Was funny watching someone discover how you type what you want to find out about into Search and it finds stuff on the web. Or how instant messaging is so much easier than yelling into a phone.

One thing I did notice is everything I could find on books or articles/instructions for seniors using the web, browsers, etc., were obviously written by 20-somethings who have grown up being online and expect everyone, no matter their age , has been too and has some knowledge of what to do. I downloaded some PDF files from Google on Chrome, Gmail, Hangouts and had to really edit/dumb them down to make it so my dad could understand. Had to change a lot of terms we would know to words he'd understand, edit out sections of stuff he's never going to try, etc.

I also installed a wireless doorbell set up for him. A transmitter button at each door to the house and 3 receivers placed round the house in the rooms he's in mostly (LR, bedroom and kitchen). Very loud and they have flashing LEDs.

Going to be an interesting week.

Sam

 

WOW I was exhausted just reading that , you guys are good sons and did a wonderful thing

 

Summer will be interesting when he has the windows open and all those receivers go off when the button is pressed. Neighbors will all be looking out trying to figure WTF is all that noise

Sam

 

I'm at peace in the woods SM but thanks for the kind words, I spent quite a few years in the foothills and in the catskill mountains and it is second nature for me to be wandering through the woods at night. I remember the first time I spooked turkeys roosting high in the trees at night and it startled the chit outta me and then there was the time I walked up on a Whip-poor-will oh dear Lord it rocketed straight up in front of my face and scared the living daylights outta me.

On my farm in West Park I was walking the fields and made my way to the windmill that use to pump water to the turkey coop and when I looked up there was 2 of the biggest coyote's I have ever seen, looked like a 80 lb Wolves and they were healthy massive beast and I have to say I was glad to have had my badass dog at that time which went about 105 lbs. Dida was her name and she was a Mutt but such a beautiful one at that, her father was a half Lab and half Pit Bull and her mother was a Purple Ribbon Doberman Pincher, and she was one badarse dog ! Still the toughest thing I have ever done in my entire life was to put Dida down as she had cancer and after 6 months of battling it I was not going to let her suffer, she was to proud to let that happen.
Never saw another dog that challenged her as she was a bitch God forbid anything should ever threaten her Mother or Father (me and the first wife) I did not have a sidearm on me at the time but I did have my knife but Dida started her primal growl and the two of them looked at each other and ran off with a few yelps on there way.
I've quite a few stories about my night wandering in the woods of the beautiful Hudson Valley and the Catskill mountains, it was a pleasure to wander through them as they are astoundingly beautiful as I am sure Imacan can attest. Ok I'll stop my rambling now ....
Thanks again SM

 

Thanks for the Birthday wishes!

 

Schoondog: How old are the pups now? You keeping any? Are they spoken for?

 

Your a good man Sam keep on keeping on as it is an honorable task you and your brother have taken on, I wish you the best and it reminds me of dealing with my 80+ year old parents and their computers which I built for them. I have it easier as my father is pretty dang Savy when it comes to working with computers and OS, the only thing is you cannot tell him something or anything actually as he is who he is and knows what he knows and can't deviate from what he knows is RIGHT !
Hope you the best Sam and remember to Breathe brother

 

Saw a Craigslist add for some Vermont's in the next town over, actually a stove sale and they had 21 bags of Vermont's as well so I emailed them to ask them if they would sell the Vermont's without the stove and she responded yes. So hopefully I will pick them up tomorrow.
Cleaned both the stoves today and helped the wife with some projects after getting rid of the white chit at my house and the neighbors. Talked briefly to the neighbor who is trying for the first time to cook some sap, I usually or use to make about 5-6 gallons of syrup each year (would do us for a year)while I was burning wood but now since I am roasting pellets I did not make any but told him I would show him how to finish his syrup when he was ready to as he borked his first batch 30 gallons of sap DOH ! This will suck as I will have to now buy syrup as we don't use white sugar have always made my own maple sugar or used my maple syrup as the only sweetener for everything including baking, cooking, coffee, and the likes.
Gonna chill tonight with the wife tonight as I DON'T have to go into Hellvard tomorrow Yessir Thank God !

 

View attachment 157203

 

My folks are both long gone, but I understand where you are Sam. I also know why your dad wants nothing to do with touch screens.

 

I dont follow Nascar but watched the last 15 laps. WOW

 

Yes we are going to keep one, (not my idea ) sire is going to take one, wifes sister is coming from Reno to get one. 2 more are spoken for and there is a long list of folks who want the last one but haven't totally committed. They are 3+ weeks old. (1/24/18)

Doggy