My internet has been very poor over the past few
months. Provider claims it has to do with in-home work & online
student use. But I have had problems early in the year. I got very
frustrated with waiting on hold for an hour and a half, just to be
disconnected. Happened many times...so I wrote a letter to BBB in their
city...and seems someone heard my complaint...after six months of being
ignored. I bought a TV in late June (first large screen TV, only 32")
and spent more time buffering than watching! Also, my laptop froze while
I was online many times and I had to take it for repair. I wrote a
letter to the CEO of the provider company, I'm sure he got it...but no
response from him either...I need a replacement battery for my WiFi hot
spot, can't find it online, and was told that the internet provider (who
also provided the WiFi hot spot...cost me $80.00) is responsible for a
new battery. I can't find one on line...so I am pulling the battery out
of the WiFi hot spot every time I leave the house. Battery is swollen
and the unit gets hot, I 'm afraid of a fire!
One week, I spent ten hours on hold...my phone
service provider, Apple Care & pcsforpeople. The phone provider got
back to me and suggested I need up upgrade my iPhone...at a cost of
$350.00. Apple Care said I have an older phone and that might be the
reason for
my phone issues. But I am not in the mood to spend that money on a phone right now!
I bought a TV in June, the Father's Day sale. I had to
wait two weeks for delivery. I set up the TV but had serious issues with
my internet. More time spent buffering than watching. I have complained
to my internet provider (pcsforpeople.com) without results. I called
Sprint, the manufacturers of the WiFi hot spot. They were very helpful
and said the swollen battery was probably the reason for the bad
internet. They put in an "incident report" with the provider. No
response from the provider. I have emailed the provider with the need
for a replacement battery, I have called, waited 1 1/2 hours on hold to
be disconnected...this happened on several occasions. I finally wrote a
complaint to BBB in their city last week when I had better internet. Seems the internet provider is NOT a member of BBB but I was able to read some of the other complaints lodged against the internet provider. All but one was unsavory. Seems BBB contacts the provider with complaints and issues the provider's reply. Interestingly enough, a few days after lodging my complaint with BBB, my internet has improved immensely. But still no replacement battery for the WiFi.
I
have been doing OK, we have had extreme heat waves here. Dry for two months, we are now having a few cloudy,
cool days and some rain. A relief for sure! My garden has needed
watering almost every day...and it's hard on me b/c the hose is about
150 feet and I have to drag it then pull it back and recoil it. And I am
working with soil that is mostly carbon and doesn't absorb water...or
absorbs it into the top few inches (like a sponge) and the water doesn't
get to the root zone.I will buy in 40# of greensand this fall and turn it into the garden soil. That will help with the carbon issue...then hope to gather seaweed from the beach and top off the garden for the winter. These things should help with the lack of tilth in the soil. Too much carbon can be addressed with greensand...and the seaweed will decompose and help. Soil is an ongoing project.
If you remember, I replaced my soil
(about the top 4 - 6") with "organic soil" which was chopped up wood and
not completely composted. I dealt with termites last year and had more
this year. They ate all my radishes in the ground! The termites were
eating as I pulled the radishes up! I didn't do an early spring soil drench and
had too many beetles...Japanese, Asian & Oriental...chewing off the
tops of any new sprouted seedlings. That's where my basil & cucumber
plants went. I bought in started cukes & basil to replace the eaten
ones. The beetles were so hungry, they were eating my horseradish
leaves!!! It will be interesting when I dig horseradish to see if the
termites have eaten the horseradish roots too!
Again this season, there is petty theft of veggies in garden
areas by some who are too lazy to grow their own. My cucumbers are doing
nicely but need constant water. With the next few days of cool. cloudy and rainy weather, I hope the need for watering is less.
I had a homeless house guest for three weeks. She has been living in the nearby park and with all the extreme heat has been suffering. I brought her to my apartment. She showed a lack of social abilities in that she wouldn't follow some basic house rules. I was firm about washing hands when entering the apartment...she felt running water was enough. I stressed that my health was at risk since I am older and have breathing issues but she just didn't want to comply. She is a heavy smoker and I didn't want all that smoke in my house, so she went outside...and spit all over the walkway! I had spoken to her about the spitting issue...but again, she didn't seem to feel there was anything wrong. I suggested spitting in the grass rather than on the walkways, but she wasn't interested. I helped her get some paperwork done...she lost all her papers to a thief in the park. So I got her a medical records release form and a housing application for city housing. But it came out that she had been tossed out of city housing for some issue or another. She makes bad decisions that affect her and then she blames others. So, some underlying condition exists here. I did all I could for her and she is now back in the park. And I was called into the office and reprimanded for having her here!
I have been visiting with my cousin for several months now. She and I grew up together, she lived two towns over from us after we settled in Acushnet. I was 11 then. Her mom was my favorite aunt and I was always at their house when we were kids. We are very alike in many ways. She has been taking care of her aging, ill husband who died two years back. She has a 150# rottweiler who is her personal body guard. She was fearful that he would attack me...but I have the best cookies in the world...and he is now my best friend. He's like a two year old...wants to be noticed, must be the center of attention and loves to play. We are getting along just fine. My cousin is happy since he needs more than one person in his life. I am also concerned if something happens to her and she needs emergency help. The EMT's could never get to her without killing the dog. He will let me into the yard or house without any trouble. This is a good thing!
Household projects are mostly cleaning up after the house guest. Nothing is selling, at least not much. I did sell my drafting table and made a friend of the buyer. He is an antenna guy and is working on making me an antenna for my TV so I can get PBS. With a Roku TV and Amazon Prime streaming, I do have choices but no PBS. If the antenna works, this will be a bonus!!!
I hope all of my readers are well and staying safe. Numbers if infected people have increased last week, as some folks are careless and not taking precautions. The younger folks are convinced that COVID-19 is just a joke. However, our election is at risk...and the donald won't assist the post office with funding to handle the voting mail in ballots that might clog the UPSP system.
We cn only hope for the best outcome for our election and our population.
Thanks for reading!