My Luck Runneth Over

 I awoke this morning to roosters crowing, dogs barking, tires squealing, sirens wailing and some other noises I couldn't identify.  Oh yes, I live in the QUIET countryside.  Can you say SNEEZE TEN TIMES?  It's going to be a bumper almond crop year when the trees look like this.  All this rain has helped tremendously, but that means a very low price for the product.  

I tried to log on this morning, only to find my computer telling me my hotspot could not be located.  Ok, I'll try the Verizons MiFi.  It said my SIM card was locked.  WHAT?  The next message said it would burst into flames and die if I put in the wrong SIM card ID number.  Thankfully AT&T finally decided my phone hotspot would work just fine.  I guess there's a trip to Verizon in my future.

As much as I like to lounge around the morning after Bingo, I was off in minutes to Home Depot.  Jonathan needs some sticks to chew on.

And of course the resident plumber needs yet another set of guts for the guest bathroom since the cheap plastic stuff breaks at the drop of a hat while trying to make adjustments.

I hit up Chase Bank to cancel a bank account I no longer use ... which was a breeze to do ... before heading to Harbor Freight.  I've used rope lights under my RV's in Arizona since forever to keep the rats away.  You know the saying, while the cat's away the rats will play.

Sadly, they don't have the same kind.  My old ones were simple, easy to throw out and flashed.  I don't know what these are going to do, but they were my only choice.  Patsy will recognize my new bread slicing gizzy underneath the box.

Another present came in the mail.  Not my choice of brand, but paying $350 for a tiny handheld Cannon camera was not in the books.  Driving down the road trying to use my phone for pictures is a really bad idea.  This works one handed ... and hopefully will keep me from crashing into something.

All that good luck with fun purchases went right out the window the minute I got home.  This was on my TV screen, and then it said refreshing.  Stand by - refreshing.  It did that for 30 minutes.  I turned it off, turned it on and messed with it for an hour before I screamed.  My bad luck began to runneth over.  

I called Dish, where upon we went through 30 minutes of testing and checking, to no avail.  It all worked fine, but my TV screen was black.  They finally said they would send a technician out in a few hours.  Okay ... that's good service I guess.

I sat on the couch staring at it ... getting mad as a wet hen while missing my favorite rodeo.  Surely I can fix this.  I finally unplugged everything from the fancy dancy surge protector, turned it off and on, then plugged everything back in.  It worked ... sort of.  At least I had TV, even if none of the other features worked.

The nice young kid arrived and I explained the problem.  I think he knew less than I did because he kept calling his boss for help.  Eventually he gave me an entire new box.  We laughed over that one because we both know Dish lies to you.   Let's face it ... none of these are NEW boxes.  They have all been refurbished, as proven by all the scratches on the top when it came out of the "new" box.

Thirty minutes later, between the two of us, we got it working like it should.  I did miss the rodeo I wanted to watch, but YAY I have TV again and several of the features that didn't work at all before, now work.

The afternoon and evening didn't get any better, but I'll relate that story tomorrow.   Right now I need at least THREE cups of coffee to get my brain going.  

The good news is Bingo is having their volunteer appreciation dinner.  For the first time in about five years, the King said he would wait to have the castle celebration until I returned from Arizona.  WOOHOO!!  How lucky am I!  

Until then, I'll be on the couch with my coffee .........