The Old Homeplace

No internet for 24 hours!!!!

As Ike's winds blew through Kentucky on Sunday they took out my internet service. I waited until Monday afternoon to call tech support because I knew they would be very busy. I got instructions telling me how to reboot everything so the modem could synchronize its self. I tried that several times to no avail. The recording told me to hang on for assistance if that did not work. I knew I would be waiting a long time and when I did get someone they would be in India. I was right on both accounts.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with my tech support guy! I was thinking, "An old woman with little computer knowledge and a south eastern Kentucky accent trying to communicate with a tech guy that has a heavy Indian accent just cannot go well". Thankfully, I was wrong! He was very patient and stayed on the line for a good half hour repeating things to me. I let him and his supervisor know that I appreciated the job he did. I found out he was a new employee-what a time to start a tech support job-during a hurricane that damaged a huge part of Windstream's coverage area!!! I bet they have an interesting week!

Unfortunately, about 15 minutes after I got service back I got some nice malware because I left my Internet Security off. I spent the rest of the evening trying to figure out how to get rid of it!

Let me just warn you that if your wallpaper disappears and you get a pop-up window warning you that your computer has been infected by a virus or 2 and you need to run a security program to take care of it (BTW- one will conveniently pop up for you to buy-don't fall for it! It is all part of the scheme!) you are indeed infected with a fairly dangerous and hard to get rid of malware program.

I searched for a free software to get rid of it but it seems as though something was keeping the sites with programs that could get rid of it from opening, hhhmmm. I was finally able to download the free version of Malwaresbytes' Anti-Malware software and it seems to have taken care of the problem.

I do love my internet and I am very thankful for it....and the tech support people...and the people who develop and make available free software...today!!!

My new to me car!!!

We got a car last week. I got to try it out a little yesterday. We had quite the storm here and a part of rotten pine tree fell on our driveway. I drove over the end of the tree on my way up (during the storm!) and was able to stop the car on the steepest part of the driveway and back it up without moving a gravel on my way down!!!

Here's the car, a 2004 Subaru Outback with ALLWHEEL DRIVE:

At first I did not want to get a vehicle at all but since our kids live out of town and we really like to see them occasionally we decided it would be best to purchase one. My goal is to keep this vehicle as long as possible! I would like to get 200,000 miles on it. Dh can do routine maintenance and I will do the washing and cleaning! Keeping it clean will be somewhat of a challenge. As you can see we have a gravel driveway and there is plenty of yellow clay mud when it rains. I have been researching car care products and haven't decided exactly what to use yet. I know I need to wash it, use a wax or polish and a tire polish on the outside. I need to keep it vacuumed, dusted and the vinyl protected on the inside. I may look at purchasing a shop vac so I can do it all at home.

Simple Blessings

I am trying to learn to be more thankful.  I thought of these simple things I am blessed with today.  These, of course, are not my only blessings but since I tend to forget the "little things" I thought I would start with a few of those.

1. A warm bed with a quilt made by my husband's grandmother.

2. The smell of dinner cooking.

3. The sound of my husband's old truck coming up the driveway after work.

Thank you Lord for these simple pleasures that bring so much comfort and joy to my life.