THE PHONE

 I think Apple purposely makes their products to last only a certain amount of time before they die.  That way we have to purchase new phones and computers even if we don't want the newest and fanciest model. The last 3 Apple phones I have had all started having problems almost 2 years to the day after I purchased them.  One day the phone is working fine and the next day people can't understand me because the phone is " breaking up".  Guess it's time for a new phone.

The last 3 phones that I bought were all purchased at the AT&T store in Escanaba, MI.  Why ? Because the thought of going to the Apple Store in the mall in FL gave me visions of waiting hours to see someone and then paying a zillion dollars for something I really didn't want.  Up here the AT&T store is manned by 2 young ladies who really know their stuff and are willing to put up with the "old lady" who shows up every 2 years.  There is seldom a wait and the chairs are comfortable. 

And so when my iPhone 11 started acting up just before we left Florida my first stop in MI was at the phone store.  Sure enough, a huge collection of sizes, shapes and colors awaited me. The salesgirl suggested I not get the newest phone because Apple changed how the iPhone 15 is charged.   I didn't feel like having to buy new power cords when I have a LARGE amount of the old cords.  We decided the iPhone 14 would be perfect for me and all my needs.  

Now that the phone is purchased the fun begins.  There is the necessity of taking all the information in my old phone and transferring it to my new phone.   2 years ago when I bought my last phone it took the AT&T girls HOURS to get the damn phones to sync.  But they finally got it and I was good to go for 2 years.  This time it was even more fun.    It seems that phones no longer have SIM cards. I know very little about this topic I just know that there was a little computer chip that you could remove.  Apparently this chip/card held all the information that is in the phone.  Well . . .   God forbid things can be left alone because some genius got rid of the need for a SYM card and replaced it with I HAVE NO IDEA !  All I know is that trying to transfer my information from my old phone into the new phone took a WEEK. I would go to the phone store in the morning and the girls would take my phone for the day. When I picked it up they would assure me it WAS working.   NOT !!!!   And so I would return the next day and on and on it went for seven whole days.   FINALLY . . .  someone figured it out and I was good to go.

Now if you are an owner of one of these cell phones you know how sleek and slim they are.  What you may not know is the little suckers are SLIPPERY !!!  What ever they are made out of it must be part jello because that phone will slip out of my hand every chance it gets.  I learned years ago to get a good phone case to keep the phone from cracking the screen when I drop it.   Un fortunately I did not do my homework and the phone case I bought for my new phone was not very good.  

The new case came with a case that went over the back of the phone but for the screen in the front there was just a piece of plastic that adhered to the screen.  That was supposed to protect the screen. Fast forward about a week after I purchased iPhone 14 and The Man and I are sitting at the kitchen table having dinner.  My phone is sitting on the table minding its own business when The Man says, "Is your phone cracked?"  WHAT ???????   No no no no, it can't be.  But he insists that it is and I look closely and sure enough there is a large crack going from one corner diagonally to the other corner.   I was not happy with myself.  

I lived with the crack for a couple of weeks until I realized I that I had insurance on my phone !!!  Back to the AT&T store. The poor girl working there saw me coming and ran out the back door.   No, not really.  But she probably wanted to.   She listened to my sad tale, looked at the phone, agreed that it was indeed cracked. She then gave me a number to call to register a claim.   Home again, make the phone call, speak to a very nice person who said they would replace the phone. They sent me a new phone within 2 days with instruction on how to transfer my information into the new phone and how to return the old phone.

Having had the experiences of trying to transfer information I decided to go back to the store and have my new best friends set up the new phone for me.  

I walked in and asked the girl if she would help me transfer and wipe out my information.  She had taken pity on me way before this so she said she would be happy to help.   I handed her my old phone, she looked at it and took it out of its case and proceeded to peal the plastic screen saver off the face of the phone.   

MY SCREEN WAS NOT CRACKED !!!

Who knew the plastic adhesive screen saver could crack ????  Boy did I feel dumb.  But I wasn't alone.  The sales girl felt twice as stupid as me because she never REALLY looked at the phone when I had brought it in last time.   

I am now the proud owner of my iPhone 14,  a new and better phone case and a brand new, unused iPhone that I need to send back to AT&T with hopes of them understanding they should not charge me $200 deductible for replacing my phone. 

I see another blog in the making. 

COMPUTER CRAP

 O.M.G.     If I don't loose my mind over this summer I never will.   The Man is doing well but driving me nuts as usual.  We can catch up on all his doings in the next couple of months.  For now I am being driven crazy by my computer AND my phone.  DOUBLE WHAMMY !!!

It all started before we got to MI for the summer.  My laptop was giving me problems for a couple of months but I was putting off doing anything until I got up north. Two reasons for that decision:  1.  I didn't feel like spending an entire day in the Apple Store in the mall when I have a great tech guy up here in the UP and, 2.  I just didn't want to deal with anything else before making the long drive to MI. Instead I chose to stuff the computer in my bag in the car and worry about why it wasn't charging properly when I got settled in my Happy Place here on the farm. 

The computer was quite happy to have a small vacation while we traveled but once we arrived here and I plugged it back in it started up with its "ISSUES".   It seems that for whatever reason the stupid thing was determined to set fire to my lap.  Sometimes it charged, sometimes it didn't but either way the laptop would heat up so much that I was getting a first degree burn any time I sat with it on my lap.   It got so bad I thought it was going to set fire to the house some night if I left it plugged in.  

Time to call Jessie the Computer Guy.

I found this guy 2 years ago and he is great. He now has quite a little business going for himself and has even gone in with a another guy who sells internet services.  They have a small store in Escanaba and seem to be doing quite well.  Jessy was glad to hear from me and said he would be happy to take a look at this burning Mac Book.  I dropped the computer off and went home to await his call.   A week later I got the news I was expecting . . .   The Beast was DEAD !!!!  I had killed my computer and it was not able to be repaired.  There was something about a "mother board" and soldering "components" to the mother board so you can't replace parts.   Well done Apple !!!!!!  It is a plot to make us have to buy new gadgets every so many years.   I'll tell you about my phone debacle in the next blog.

Jessie found me a great deal on a used 2023 laptop that had only been powered up 12 times.   It sounded to good to be true but HEY, the computer guy knows what he's doing.  Right?    The price was right so a week later I picked up my "new" laptop.    We plugged it in at the shop. Got it all set up and ready to roll and home I went all stupid and happy.  

Funny thing is this new computer, which I am using right now, works great when it is plugged in. Pull out the plug and the laptop dies.   It will NOT HOLD A CHARGE !!!   Maybe that's why it was only turned on 12 times ?????????????

Today I took the stupid thing back to Jessie and he confirmed I was not crazy,  the computer will not hold a charge.   Sort of defeats the purpose of having a laptop so you can work anywhere. 

AS LONG AS IT'S PLUGGED IN !

We decided I would take it home and use it until Jessie is able to get in touch with the seller and we can hopefully get a satisfactory solution to all this.  Until then I just have to sit near an electric outlet so there will not be any blogging from out side under the Maple tree.

I'll be back tomorrow to tell you about my phone adventure.  That's a good story !

HANG ON

 Just a quick message to all my fans,( all three of you),

I am alive, but my computer has died. It went belly up a couple weeks ago and even though I have a genius of a tech guy up here in Michigan, of all places, he can do nothing with it. I guess it just got old. I know how that feels. So I have  purchased a new, slightly used computer but I will not get that until this coming Monday. 

My fingers are itching to get writing. I have so many things in my head, but of course you know as soon as I sit down with the computer, I won’t remember a single one.

So just hang in there I will be back I promise !

THE PRODUCTION

 In case you are wondering if I have finally written and produced a show think again.  I would like to chat about productions but not ones that you find on Broadway.   The productions I am referring to issue from You Know Who when ever he decides he NEEDS to do something.  It can be as simple as making a sandwich to building a new barn. No matter what the size of the job it IS going to become a production.

First and foremost what comes to mind is the bird feeder, of which we have two.  Both of them hang outside the kitchen glass door so that The Man can watch the birds as he sits on his red Naugahyde throne at the kitchen table.  We have hundreds of birds. All shapes and sizes and colors.  And all of them love to visit the bird feeders.  As with most things I am the one in charge of buying the bird seed and keeping the feeders filled.  I have written about trying to please The Man when buying bird food but it's a lost cause.  

Do you know how many different types of bird food is sold at the Tractor Supply store?????  For as many different types of birds there is just as many different types of food.  We have food for song birds, food for migrating birds, food for sparrows and food for cardinals.  There is food that woodpeckers like, (I guess it tastes like wood), and food for tiny little finches.  Some food has sunflower seeds in it, (which The Man does not like because it get stuck in the holes of the feeder). Some feed has fruit and nuts in it.  Some has peanuts and some look like dried up vomit.  

I am sent into the store to get a bag of seed and no matter what kind I buy it is not exactly what The Man wants.  It becomes a production.  Then once we find just the perfect food I have to fill the feeders out back so that I can be supervised as to the proper way of filling the feeder. (Take the top off and pour the seed in.  Not really brain surgery.)  I will admit this production has gotten less intense as the years go by and I have proven myself to be capable of managing such a delicate task on my own. 

As for washing the kitchen floor I have had to buy a text book and attend 32 sessions of" How To Wash a Floor 101".  It goes from me not putting the Swiffer wet pad on the Swiffer in the proper way to what cleaning product to spray on the Swiffer pad.  (I have always been under the impression that the "wet" pads are wet because they have some sort of cleaning solution on them.  This apparently is not the case with the pads that The Man buys. His WET pads need to be sprayed with Windex when cleaning the floor) 

                                                   DON'T ASK !

But all that is small potatoes compared to the big projects.  Or at least what becomes a BIG project.  I bought The Man a new seat for his lawn mower as a birthday gift.  The seat on his old mower was shredding so when you sat down on it you were poked by random pieces of hard, cracked plastic and when you got off the mower there were all sorts of flakes of rotting foam stuck to your butt.  It was time for a new seat.  I did not mention this purchase to The Man but went ahead and got the model number off the old seat and sent away for a new one.  The new seat arrived this past week in a HUGE cardboard box.  There was no way I was going to hide it until The Man's birthday in 2 weeks so I brought in the box and wished hime a Happy Birthday.  He seemed happy with his gift but it left it in the box in the middle of the kitchen for about 5 days.  Each day I would ask if I could help him put the seat on his mower and each day I was told, "not today". (I don't know what we were waiting for.). Finally by Friday I brought the seat outside and asked if I should install it.  That lit a fire under the old guy and out he came armed with three screwdriver, a hammer, two wrenches and a Partridge in a Pear tree.  I knew what I was in for but God is good.  God apparently did not want me to kill The Man or end up in the state mental hospital because just as the production was about to begin who should motor bike up our driveway than the kid from down the road who helps us when we are in need of an extra set for hands and a brain.  Tanner was just stopping in to see if we needed anything done and sure enough he prevented a murder suicide.  The seat was put on in a matter of minutes and it works great.    The Man did NOT put his tools away!  They are still sitting on the picnic table out in the yard.