Crazier few days

Friday after breakfast Larry's new Acer laptop locked him out, it was a nightmare and he had to wipe the entire thing out and start fresh......twice.  In the midst of that our smart phone,  the second phone, Galaxy s4 was still acting squirrely over the SD card, it kept unmounting itself.  I said bye bye to Larry, saddled up and took it and myself down to the store in Placerville.

Playing with the camera features on my phone.

Well, manager "tech" bozo decided that I might be having an app conflict and factory reset my phone.  He was convinced that would fix it.  Weeelllllll, of course it did not, but now the phone was wiped out and like Larry's computer I had to reload and rearrange everything, but something told me to just do the basic as it didn't seem "fixed".  Larry said, never let them do that, well, live and learn and Larry couldn't be in two places at once, so I just had to deal.  I just wanted the danged thing fixed.  So Friday, we were sucked into tech stuff all day.

Saturday morning Gracie got her year exam and shots.  Saturday afternoon I spent with a friend visiting two of our local wineries.  Both had lovely wines and nice people and we had a wonderful relaxing day enjoying the different locations.  Jose Caves is perched on top of a hill and had incredible views.

My view from the table at Hart 2 Hart winery

Sunday morning Larry and I headed back to the Verizon store for their class.  We didn't need it but the guy that was teaching it was the one that had made the exchange for us to the second phone that was giving us problems too, and he told us that something had to be set on the phone so we wouldn't have one of the problems we were having with the SD card unmounting when we would hook it up to the computer.  It needed to stay "awake" and because it wasn't, the computer would disconnect from it.  The other issue, he figured was....um hmmm, the phone.

Hoping the third time would be the charm we had our phone exchanged for a second time, so phone number three.  The phone did a long update at the store, our kind young man remembered to turn on the thing we needed for the phone to stay synched with the computer and viola, we were in business.

Now, Monday we figured out that our contact list was messed up and spent hours and hours, all day really, figuring out how best to get it configured and where to back it up to.  The backup software that is always saying everything has been synched doesn't do a danged thing we want it to.  Then we had to make sure that however we set up the contact list in the phone is recognized with the Fusion's system (our car) so it would place the phone calls properly with voice commands.  You need to know whether to say first name last or first and all that to get it to dial the right person.  We kind of have it figured out, but still haven't had the time to get it right.

Caught the last rays of the sun as it sunk away
and a doe and a fawn came through.

That would be because on Tuesday afternoon I met Ian's paternal grandparents in Grass Valley for the grandson handoff.  Why I?!  I forgot to mention that throughout all this other stuff over the weekend our internet kept dropping offline.  Oh my, oh my!  It is all coming back to me now.

Monday Larry was on the phone with Hughesnet for over an hour because the hour long phone call he had with them three weeks ago to SHUT off and CANCEL us meant lets keep sending us a bill/debiting our account.  ACK!!!  Listening was painful.  I wish I had kept a chronicle of all the calls he has made in the last several months to all these different places and how horrible it has been and with the passage of time I could write a black comedy of the whole thing.  Now of course after that grueling phone call, where he finally had stuff confirmed that it was all taken care of BUT they would NOT send any kind of written verification but to TRUST her, it had been done.  Larry told her, thanks but that is what the last person said, so he wasn't holding his breath.

Then he was on the phone for an hour to ATT about the stupid internet and they sent another tech out Tuesday morning and that is why he didn't go with me to Grass Valley.  He was hanging with the tech to discover what the problem was.  A woman tech showed up and was determined to find the problem, she was from the Rocklin office and they don't have a lot to do, she likes to work and was all about getting this fixed.  There may be a couple of problems, but so far we seem to be working and to get one of the issues fixed would mean another go 'round with someone on the phone.

View from Jose Caves Winery

So back to Grass Valley, I tried to use the car to make a call and ended up calling Larry's Aunt in Nevada...I couldn't make it stop!!!!  LOL!!!!  At least I was parked.  I finally got it disconnected, but they called several minutes later and we had a good laugh because Uncle Robert has the same thing happen with his car.  I'll say right now, sorry if we do it to you!

The weather is cooler for August, but I love it.

Yesterday was a very weird day...no tech issues, we stayed online and the phone is working.  NO ONE BREATHE!  Ha ha ha.  It was nasty, all this tech crap.  We were cranky, got snarky with each other a few times and we were both ready for a tropical island with no tech, mai tai's in coconut shells and smoke signals for communication with the outside world.  Getting this stuff set up takes SO MUCH TIME.  Fixing stuff takes SO MUCH TIME.  Listening to Larry go on and on about how business is now run in this country and that all us sheep just keep buying the products and putting up with it all took up SO MUCH TIME.  Ha ha HA!  He's right, but how do you fix it?

More of the view

Good thing everything has fallen in line because as it usually works, Larry got called out to his first fire job of the season up near Willow Creek on the Six Rivers National Forest.  Ian says with the drama of a kid, "how come whenever I'm here Grandpa has to leave?".  Only in the summer, boy and not every time, but to kids it seems like it I guess.

Wow, I was just rereading what I wrote and realized I forgot a chunk of Sunday's adventure.  After getting the new phone and hanging in the parking lot to make sure it was all working we headed to Folsom Costco so Larry could return something. All good there.  Then we were hungry and I picked a Chili's; I had a hankering for their grilled tilapia with mango/avocado salsa.  We were part way between two, I knew this because I used the new "smart" phone.  We headed for one in Folsom but after a bit decided to just head for the one that was "on the way home" in El Dorado Hills.

We are relaxing, we order, the waitress brings us our food, I take a couple of bites of the edge of my fish, but go to get "into" it and the fork doesn't penetrate it.  WTH?  Tilapia flakes with a fork when cooked.  Well I scraped the salsa and sauce off and tried again, but it was sushi.  Larry goes and gets the waitress and she asks me "isn't it hot"...hot doesn't mean cooked chickie.  She was either new, or poorly trained but everything out of her mouth was worded so that I was the idiot.  After that comment she takes the plate to the back.  THEN, she returns, holding my plate and makes a comment about the sauce being pink...like that was the issue, just the color of my fish being pink from sauce not from being raw.

Now, my problem is I just play things out.  Right then and there we should have left...next time, and I'm sure somewhere there will be a next time, I will remember and act accordingly.  She asks me what I want, do I want something different, I say okay. Then she says do you want another plate of this, I say okay, if it comes out cooked (this all took longer and I'm shortening).

So, Larry sits there with his meal cooling, while we wait for mine to come out, she sets it before me and says would I like to check it to "see if it is how I want it"???!!!!  Um, yeah, you mean COOKED?!  Then she practically whacks me in the face with the bottom of the pitcher that she tipped up over my plate and in my face to fill my water glass.  Larry was livid by now.  He says I am talking to the manager, who never showed up at our table I might add, though half the price of my entree was being comped.  I said to him, what he always says to me when I tell him he should write a letter of complaint somewhere, I said, what difference will it make?

I stood outside after we were finished, no tip for chickie, and I facebooked our encounter while Larry was inside having a conversation with the manager.  She said all the right things, comped our entire meal and said she hoped we would be back.  NOT EVER.  The people behind us didn't get their food (steak maybe) cooked the way they wanted and declined getting it fixed because they were half way through their meal...so BIG problems at this one for sure.

AND the bear was back Sunday night, garbage night.  The first time it has come to the cans for two consecutive garbage nights, maybe it has gone high tech and is carrying a calendar.  We were in bed and heard the can thunk to the ground so we went out to see for sure and it was back in the trees, was the BIG bear and slowly moved away.  Only our can had been tipped, but the next day by the debris left by the bear we can tell that it had come back and gotten the neighbors can or just ripped up their recycle bag because there was a dog food can in the meadow.

Wow, I bet you weren't expecting a book!  I'm having typer's cramp!  I'm off for food and then I have to come back to upload the pictures for today's entry.  Sorry for any glaring typos or errors, but with the boy here, I need to get off of here.

Ian and I making zucchini bread.  He grated
the giant zucchini without grating his fingers.