A cold start to the day

See that blazing fire? That has been pretty common here at the cabin for the last week, especially in the evenings. It has been cold...with sleet, hail and lots of rain. This morning we awoke to lots of fog over the lake and 33 degrees. Yes, it is mid-August. Now, the sun is out and it should be a beautiful week with temps reaching the upper 70's.

The one advantage of cloudy weather with rain is that our one TV channel, NBC, comes in excellent. Now that the sun is out, nothing again comes in. Talked last week to a guy at Radio Shack and he said that the TV's need to be within 23 miles of a transmitter and where we are, we are 27 miles out. Therein lies the problem. Many, many people are affected by this switch to digital TV. Those in power probably didn't give much thought to the little guy, did they?

Back a couple of weeks when I went ballistic about an antique dealer selling my family pictures at an outrageous price...well, I have gotten over it. Had a talk with my brother and he convinced me that we both have memories and they are more important than holding a picture in our hands. Bless his heart, he even offered to pay half of what it would cost to buy them. This man/woman is not getting a cent from me. Yes, I have my memories and that just suits me fine.

It's a Sunny Day!

It's a sunny day, so I dropped the Trout off at the lake to go fishing and I drove into town, which is about a 25 minute drive. Picked up a few groceries and stopped in a favorite gift store I frequent every summer when I am here. I normally do not shop for myself, but this morning I could not resist. A pair of Montana-designed flip-flops that had been on sale for $26 were marked down to $15. They are called "Marilyn" and the owner of the shop, who was wearing a pair, raved about them. It is too dang cold for me to wear these in Montana, but they certainly will have lots of use, and I bet, comments, when I get to Florida.

Last night turned out to be exciting. At about 8 p.m., I looked out the window and saw a black bear, about 200 pounds worth of bear, walking through our backyard. He was looking for garbage and found some at our neighbors. He was lying on the ground like a dog and chewing away on something. When he saw us, he took off. Watched him get on his hind legs and bat at a bird feeder and then we got in the car and followed some more. He walked onto the deck and to the front door of a house up in the hills. No one was home. He was very brazen and bold and we were just a bother to him. I doubt I'll take many walks near the woods anymore, and as for the little white fluff that lives in our house, BEWARE, little Kippy, BEWARE. This guy was hungry.

We have a Verizon broadband device for our laptop while in Montana. Otherwise, we would have to go to a nearby restaurant or the library to use Wi-Fi. We have 5 GB per month that we can use and we were getting close to the end, so waited until our new month started today. Going over the 5GB, which by the way is a lot, it costs us 25 cents a minute. This broadband is the greatest thing and I thank Lena over at "Tales from Frostbite Falls" that told me all about it last year.

Got Password?

Just how many passwords can one pull out of a hat? Once you own a computer, you quickly enter the world of 'passwords.' This is good, because you do want the security that no one is allowed into your private sites except you. Once you start to do banking on line, it is even more important.

It is suggested that you keep changing your password on a regular basis, for safety and security reasons. But, when their system screws up, you have no choice but to change your password. This happened to us this week. But, the system kept locking us out, so we ended up trying at least 4 different passwords before we were allowed in. Are you kidding? At this age, it is even difficult remembering your phone number AND your cell number. We have the large 'cheat' list of all the passwords, but we are running out of ideas of passwords to use.

I'm thinking we need to start using passwords such as flower names, or how about cooking terms such as braise, broil or poach. You almost need a theme because it can be very difficult when you are on the phone and asked for a new password. And then, of course, some of these sites want a number or a symbol such as an asterisk. And, what would happen if this master list is lost?

So my advice is plan your theme ahead and when at an unexpected moment you are asked to change your password, make sure you are ready with your 'poach1*'.

What's happening

I have been having some troubles with this blog disappearing and then showing up only half-way in the last couple of days. Will work on it this afternoon. Oh, this darn technical stuff.