Monthly Archives: March 2003

Faster internet at the Meints household

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The time has come when we finally have faster internet service.

We were driving in another part of the county over a week ago, when I spied a little sign low, near the ground, on the side of road. It announced DSL service, via our local phone company, being now available. Well, we’ve been told before that it’d not be coming to where we live. A few weeks before this, someone at our church, who lives near us, said he has DSL. Well since then I’d been after Frank to call the phone company and inquire. So, now that we saw the sign on the road-side, a phone call was directly made. Frank left a message to be called back.

We found out then that indeed DSL was available at our house. Hmmm. We had no way of knowing. We’d bugged the company in the past to find out stuff like this, but were told nothing was going to happen. Really. So it was the fluke of chatting with the person at church, and driving that way that day the other week, which led us to finding out that we can now get it afterall.

So, on Monday “Brown” drove up and dropped off a box. Our DSL modem. It’s been sitting waiting patiently for DSL to be active on the phone line. We were told a few different things about turn on dates, and finally it was settled that Friday, today, was the day, but it wouldn’t be until after 5pm “probably” since they were so busy with new accounts. So, Frank was on the phone, working out of the house — so this was a “business” call, and someone broke in and said “Mr. Meints?” and it ended up being our phone company, the service guy turning on DSL, he was waiting for the phone line to be dormant, and so he ended up breaking-through Frank’s phone call finally :) So, nearly needless to say, Frank was fine to hang up for 10 minutes if it meant DSL was being turned on.

So then the fun of installation began. I’d run the program a few times in the past week, just to do it. So today, of course, with DSL right there, it wouldn’t install. Ugh. Finally it did. Then the fun began. Fast blazing internet on the desktop. Nothing on my laptop. Dead in the water on my laptop. I configured things right and left and up and down. So I’m then on the desktop reading HTML pages for help, and I heard the soft — da, dah — music of my laptop recieving email. Hmmm … yup, it’s working now. Made nearly no sense, but that’s how it is when you are networking with just two computers and ethernet cable, and new funky DSL modem installations.

For y’all still on dialup, I have pity for you. That was me just yesterday, even earlier this morning. It’s painful, but endurable. DSL is pure fun! Pages load fast. Pictures fast. Download 80mgs? No problemo. Snap your fingers, yawn a bit, get a cup of coffee, it’s nearly done, go outside and look at the trees blooming in the early Spring, come back in, and it’s done!

I’ve downloaded movie trailers today, that I could only dream about before.

Well, we are “always on” now. For real. Not just, on dialup for way too long, and tying up the phone line. I can now set my email to “check” for mail by itself. It’s a dream, but will be just “normal stuff” by tomorrow. Sorry to y’all dialup folk. I was one of you just awhile ago, knowing I was stuck as one. Turned out not to be so. Isn’t life funny?!!

Pink, pink, pink!

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Light pink blossoms are opening up on the Yoshino Cherry trees out front. If all goes well, there will be clouds of white/pink from a short to far distance when viewing them. The trees are bursting with blossoms on nearly every inch of their branches. It’ll be raining, supposedly, often the next five days. I’m wanting to take some photographs of the trees with brilliant blue sky behind them … in full bloom, of course. We shall see if that will be possible!

Nest box built

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On Saturday Frank and I got the nest boxes built. We still have to mount the thing on the side of the pen, we’ll be hanging it on the side so that the roof of the pen is roof of the nest box, and so then the egg collection will be easy. As well, the ladies won’t be able to roost on the top of the next box walls.

Saturday night I went out to check on the hens, and half of them were on their normal roost, and the other half were atop the walls of the box. I shooed them off, and they were on the normal roost the next time I checked. :)

Last night, I didn’t check close-up, but from the kitchen window it LOOKED like all the girls were on the roosting rail.

In the daytime they’ve been sitting on the front edge of the box on occasion, and I let them be, as I want them to get used to sitting in the box and being comfortable there for egg laying. Egg laying ain’t at night, so I want them on the roosting rail, where they’ve always been the happiest at night. It’s still a temporary rail, we’ll get something better rigged up for permanent use.

The nest box is divided into two parts. It was so nice to get the first egg in the nesting box. It was CLEAN! One egg after that was layed on the ground, next to the box, but on hay. They are getting the picture, the ladies that is.

We have our first egg!

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We have storms moving through, last night and this morning there was lots of rain, and now it’s quiet, but rain still threatens. This was our first real thunderstorm of the year … tons of lightening throughout the night. It’s balmy now, in the mid 60′s, and very humid.

So, I sloshed through the yard to the hen-pen, and re-arranged things, giving them fresh grass without moving the pen, as I can’t move it. Every OTHER blade of grass was under mud, it’s been very wet lately. The hen-pen should have been moved the other day, but it didn’t get done. So it was nice to see the hens attacking the fresh grass I unearthed by moving the box that holds the beam that is their roosting place. I moved that whole thing back further, closer to the “wall” that is solidly covered.

When, doing the above job, I moved the firewood pile at the other end of the roost, I found … a perfect little egg! It’s beautiful, pale brown and I’d classify it as a small egg, grocery-store-speak.

So this leads to my confession: The nesting boxes haven’t been built yet. It’s just been kind of hard to get that done, when Frank has the supplies in the van, and the van isn’t around the house all day long, with Frank at work. ;)

So, with the find I had today, Frank has promised to get the boxes banged out tonight. We have hay from our goat man, so the ladies will have happy laying space soon! [now that #1 has actually produced an egg!]