Technology is…..

Well, we arrived in the big smoke of Toronto safe and sound. Our GPS, James (we have James Bond’s voice guiding us) took us on a route that we have not been on before so more colored lines on the map. Anyway, traffic was light until we zipped past Kitchener then into Toronto. We had a little kafuffle when we arrived at Terri’s – both cars were parked in the driveway so that we could squeeze in but not disconnect, so a call to Mark. Oopppsss, he forgot to move the cars. Oh well, nothing too serious so we tried the TV satellite again and again could not acquire the signal! Now, I am really puzzled! We have replaced the receiver, the coax cable and tried a LNB that was working on a neighbors system at Lake Huron Resort. So we made a call to Bell to have a professional come and solve our problem.

Since Roebuck would not allow us to wash the rig or truck, they were truly filthy and deserved a good wash down so I set to do that on Thursday while waiting for the Bell TV tech! Barb was busy making apple and pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. We waited all day and no Tech, I’m sure you can see a little frustration here!

Well, that was Thursday and it was not fixed until Friday evening! Let me try a ‘readers digest’ explanation – they sent a tech to our mailing address then cancelled the order, next order couldn’t find the current location, the phone number, our calling card, didn’t answer them and they couldn’t get their heads around that our system was in an RV! Of course, when I called originally, I made sure the service rep understood that the system was in an RV and that it was not located at my home address and that the contact number would be our cell phone! But when it came to the poor service tech, he was just given the info off the ‘official’ service record, not the tidbits of info from the customer like where he is and what number to call! Anyway, we finally got a nice repair tech to solve our problem – he replaced both coax connectors on each end of the cable and we have TV again! Since we had tried another coax at Lake Huron Resort last Monday, I don’t understand why that didn’t fix the problem then! Oh well, electronics, it can be a mysterious animal!

The weather for Thanksgiving weekend was wonderful so Barb & I decided to borrow Terri’s Mini convertible and take it over to Corrie’s for our family Thanksgiving dinner! We felt like kids again and I’m sure the other cars that passed us thought – look at those old coots in their second childhood! I would like to say that my hair was blowing in the breeze but I don’t have enough! It is great that our family and my brother’s family all get together every Thanksgiving, this was our 26^th year. We all have diverse and busy lives, so staying in touch and seeing all the kids grow, catching up on each others lives also reminds us of how lucky we are! With the weather being so beautiful, we were able to enjoy Corrie’s yard and have a very relaxing day. The kids played in the tree house and had fun being kids!

On Thanksgiving Monday, Barb & I took Kasey (the dog) for a 3K walk and then kicked back in Terri’s back yard and enjoyed the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing! Ahhhh! Terri has a Butterfly Bush in her front garden and the Monarchs are migrating south but they stopped off to get some nourishment! What a site, 6-10 of these orange and black beauties flitting around the blossoms of the bush!

We haven’t done much all week, fed and walk the dog, fed the fish and cut the lawn. Oh, we also did some winter garden prep and cut down some plants for them. On Friday, we went to Mack’s football game in the rain! Mack is a tight end on the defensive line. He’s a big guy and will do well, he understands his job out there and played great. It brought memories back for Barb & me, watching high school football. I was too chicken to play but we went to most games to cheer our playing friends on!

We picked Terri and Mark up at the airport. Terri participated in the Deloitte Habitat for Humanity Adventure in Brazil. After, Mark joined her in Peru for a vacation. The flight was, of course, an hour late so we didn’t get out of the terminal until near midnight! Back at the house, Barb had a cheese and cracker tray ready thinking that they would be a bit hungry and too wired to go straight to bed when we got there! So, a few glasses of wine and browse through their pictures and listen to some stories and whoa, look at the time, after 2AM when we said good night! We hung out on Saturday and took in a movie and dinner. All in all, we had a great time house sitting – except for the Bell service call screw up!

Our nephew was running in the half marathon in Toronto so we decided to go to the half way point to cheer him on. The four of us drove down and got parked and situated ourselves along the barrier at the turn in hopes to spot him when he turns to head back or maybe at the least, he’ll be able to see us! Well, he ran faster than we anticipated and missed him by a few minutes. It was interesting anyway, watching some of the participants as they made the turn for the half and full marathons. Some runners looked fresh and as if they just started while others were dragging a little. You know which group I’d be in! On Monday, the news reported that a 100 year old gentleman completed the marathon in just over 8 hours! Wow! After the race, we all had breakfast and we hitched up and made our way over to my brother’s driveway north of Pickering.

 

After was a warm reception, we got parked and set up – all except for the satellite TV! We have the same problems again! The Bell repair guy mentioned the age of our system so maybe we need to get some new coax! Off to WalMart for a 25 foot roll! As the skies were darkening, I hook up the new coax and Barb says “hey, we got a signal”! How about that, didn’t have to move the dish very much too fine tune for the best signal! I guess 11 years of being hooked and unhooked and suffering in the UV all day, the coax deteriorated beyond being useful!

That is the excitement we have had so far! We hope all is well out there and y’all drive safely……