The Little Things We Take for Granted

Yes we're still here ... I apologize for not posting anything last week. We had a few small set-backs but are recovering. First we lost power last Sunday morning. It was only for a few hours and Central Maine Power was very quick to respond. There was a tree on the line about a half mile from the house so we were the only ones affected but they came within hours giving me hope for future outages. While they did a great job getting us our power back, they didn't feel it necessary to actually clear the tree out of the roadway after they got it off the power line. We were able to get around it but we are now in the market for a chain saw.

Then on Tuesday, the nice satellite installer drove an hour and a half in order to help me with my computer problems. He determined that the issue was not his equipment but the viruses contracted from some 'graphic' websites. So, I got socked with the service call but even worse was finding out how I could fix the problem ... re-format the hard drive (loosing eight years of precious Quicken data which brought tears to my eyes) or buy a new computer. Against his advice, I attempted to purchase virus software (better late than never???) and it crashed the computer. Of course it took me until three in the morning to do all this as I was forbidden from using the satellite dish and had to download the software using dial-up. Eventually I was able to recover it but I was back where I started ... with less sleep.

Plan B ... drive to Bangor and get a new computer. I got up 3 hours later to get the kids to school early for Math Team practice (which starts at 7:10 am ... 18.5 miles away) and planned then to go on to Bangor. That was until I went to start the truck and ... it was dead. Garrick rode his bike to the bus stop ... there would be no Math Team practice for us ... and I called AAA. Believe it or not, they actually do tow trucks from remote dirt roads in the Northwoods ... it took four and a half hours by the time they came and then got it to the station but they did show up. That was Wednesday, 7am. I got my truck back Friday, 10 pm. Three days in the woods with no way out AND no computer!!! The closest store, if you'd call it that ... it is really just a gas station 'mart', is almost 8 miles up the road. I wasn't even going to attempt to ride Garrick's bike that far. Luckily, we had started stocking up for the winter so we had plenty to eat. Talk about stir crazy though ... it could be a very long winter!!!

So, now we are back in civilization again ... we have transportation, electricity (more importantly a well pump that works) and a computer that connects us to the world. Can't imagine having been a Native American Indian living up here a few hundred years ago ... I know I, for one, would not have survived!