Life in Weyers Cave

As I write this, I am reloading the operating system on a computer in the kitchen after spending three hours trying to clean it first. I returned a computer this morning with viruses that I was able to clean off. And I just read the article saying the April 1st viruses are supposed to kick in and destroy some computers tomorrow. So here is the low down on virus software. My opinion only. I don't like Norton and McAfee. I paid the forty bucks for a subscription to Norton a couple of years ago, a virus came in anyway, and I had to reload the operating system just a month after buying Norton. Dang if Norton didn't want me to spend another forty bucks for another subscription since I had reloaded the OS. McAfee had the same policy at the time. I'm not sure if they are still like that, but I won't buy from either again. Besides, they both slow down the computer significantly. I used to love Panda because, heck, who wouldn't love pandas? They are so cute. But I have seen ...

Literally! I played at the Marie Antoinette Masquerade Ball at JMU last night and it was a lot of fun. The costumes were great. Several of them had gone all out, wigs and all. The Dance Master was outstanding and they all learned how to dance a number of English Country dances. He would teach, then we would play a quick, lively dance on and on and on until all of the couples had gone through. I played the tenor which gets heavy after a while! It was quite a workout for us, plus when we were playing AABBCC (which means repeating sections of music) it was easy to get lost. Did we play this once or twice? There was a small stipend as well. But not enough to pay for the dress that didn't work out. Bummer.

Yes, from the men I love. Okay, two of the men I love. Second only to my husband. In fact, I got letters from Allen AND Bryan today. The tears just streamed down my face as I read the letter from Allen. I'm very proud of both of them. I can't imagine what the huge empty hole in my heart would be if they weren't my kids. I'm working on an 1800's dress for a performance tonight. Not sure if it will be done. I never used a Burda pattern before and it is very poorly done. There is a backup if I don't get it finished though. ****** Note to Self: Do not ever under any circumstances attempt to sew a Burda pattern again. Despite careful measuring, checking and rechecking, when completed the fit is very, very strange. I am sad. I can't for the life of me figure out what kind of person this dress would fit!

There was a young man who listened to his Fuhrer's call to serve. His parents would be told they would roll over Europe and be home by Christmas. Instead, he was serving in Versailles when the American troops freed Paris. In his haste to leave, he left his ID papers in the barracks. They were picked up by an American soldier. Fast forward 65 years. While cleaning out his attic, the American soldier finds the papers in good order and allows me to scan and peruse them. After having been to Germany and Versailles, I can only vaguely imagine the significance of the life these papers represent. Did he make it home or become just another casualty of war? He has with the papers a newspaper from his hometown, telling of some of the glories of the Third Reich. I send the scanned pictures to Allen for translation. His response: Name looks like Karl Hense. he is an aircraft radio crewman, i think. after his initial training (in '42) he was assigned to "occupied territory" in s...

It is always a good day when I hear from a child I haven't heard from in a while. Allen is at least alive and sent a nice answer to a question I sent him. He will be in Africa another six months. Dianna has a special lesson to teach us all -- LABEL YOUR THUMB DRIVES. Especially if you are a student. I use the address labels the non-profits send me. Label your camera and cell phone as well. Of course, don't put personal information on a thumb drive unless you have it on a string around your neck. I also learned that if you have a computer in the laundry room, it might be easier on the hard drive if you have something under the computer to absorb the shocks. And that Norton doesn't like IE 7. Boss wants me to get a Blackberry. I think it is an expensive unnecessary extravagance, at least for me. And I don't like talking to something in such a klunky shape. I would like my cellphone except the sound quality is horrible. Does anyone know of a cellphone with good sound quali...

I bought some material for an 1800's dress today for the new recorder group. We perform Saturday night at JMU so I guess I need to get going on it! I had a sincere compliment from someone I just met today. It really made my day! I love my customers.

What a full day! I visited four different customers today. One virused laptop, one needed something to run MIME files, one speed problem and needs Adobe, and one printer install on a loaner while I replace a crashed hard drive. David took me out to dinner at a BBQ place where I was full before we got the meal! Leftovers for two meals. We have our first daffodil blooming, but my daffodils are always the last.

It was so nice to wake up with an empty schedule for the week this morning after being gone for a little while. Not for long! I already have a virused laptop in tow, another desktop awaiting a new hard drive, and an appointment with a new client for Thursday morning! I have to make a dress for a concert on Saturday. Two appointments tomorrow. Dinner for 50 on April 9th. I spent two hours on the phone to Belgium (two calls) this morning and talked to Raleigh and Salt Lake City, with an email to Alaska, and IM's to Oregon and Idaho. I haven't heard from Africa in two weeks and am anxiously awaiting word that Son is okay. I called but got no answer. I start getting nervous if I haven't heard from a child in more than a week. Particularly when he is involved in an occupation where people throughout the world would like to kill him.

A couple of months ago, David noticed two additional 19.95 charges on our phone bill. It turns out that (child's name intentionally omitted) took an IQ test on Facebook and entered his/her home phone number at the end and didn't notice fine print authorizing voicemail service on our home telephone. Hmmmm. Okay, a couple of hours on the phone to Verizon solved the problem. This month, two more charges for 19.95 each. I received an email to Debborah saying they were activating the voicemail service I had signed up for. Now Debborah is a name that I used ONCE five years ago when I filled out a form that something in my gut would distribute my name around. I was obviously right, and five years later I still get a junk email here and there for Debborah. But this one just signed me up on my phone for -- voice mail! No, I don't need or want voice mail! Also the same month, we got another 19.95 from LDB Services on the phone. For what? Who knows! The telephone company can only tel...

I seems that Faraday has either pancreatitis or inflammatory bowel disease, but either of these are manageable and she probably will be okay for a few more years. The cortisone is working and we will taper her off of it and keep her on her food. She is feeling much better.

It has been four days since I've written. Sunday I went to a HUGE Methodist Church with my niece and nephew. Robyn was part of a recitation on "stage" with ten other first graders and they all did very well. I was so glad to have Forrest with me though, because it was confusing with all the different places to find out where you were and what to do. But it is always great to be in a big church with professional acoustics and fun to sing out. There was a beautiful bell choir and singing choir as well and the sermon was super. My sister and her husband got home later that afternoon. They just built a new beautiful cabin and of course the sump pump backed up and flooded part of the basement, so I am glad they stopped there on the way home! Fortunately it looks like it didn't do a lot of damage. Monday I took off for Raleigh. I stopped for gas and realized that the key wouldn't come out of the ignition. Not your typical it's-stuck-because-you-need-to-jiggle-the-st...

I am having a good time with Robyn and Forrest, but it sure is easier when they are your own kids! Your own home, your own rules, and you all know what to expect out of each other. 7 year old Robyn is so adept at arguing "Mom says I have to sty up until midnight every night", "You were supposed to buy me candy/doughnuts/etc." and other sweet little "fibs" that I finally am making her drop and give me five for each one. That is a LOT of pushups for her. It may not be "real" pushups, but she DOES know she has been caught so we'll see if it makes a difference in asking for things we both know she can't have. She is really, really smart, though and we went through a book today that taught how to draw cartoon characters. She did well and later on when she was mad drew an angry rabbit! Forrest made spaghetti with sausage sauce for dinner and it was outstanding, along with a spinach salad. Then he cleaned the kitchen nicely without my asking, ev...

It was a long drive yesterday and I was grateful to have my GPS because the detours didn't get me back on the roads I wanted. I stopped in Dalton GA to have dinner with an old college friend and made it to my sister's at a decent hour. Today we did some shopping this morning, had lunch at a haunted restaurant (but didn't meet the ghosts), and then they left around 3, just as Robyn (age 7) got home. We read, studied, ate, played, watched tv, and kept going for hours. The girl is the energizer bunny! Anyway, she is finally down and I have a chance to get on the computer.

Tomorrow I get up bright and early and drive to Georgia, see an old friend for dinner, then on to sister's to watch the house for a few day. Older nephew Forrest plays Magic: The Gathering so I dug out my 15 year old set of cards. And younger niece Robyn will read and do some crafts. I have a special one for her. Then up to Mom's (tomorrow is her birthday) and I fly out from there to Salt Lake for a few days with some great friends there, tidying up some business for Cathryn. Altogether it is a long trip for me, and I really am a homebody so it will be tough! Today I spent all day going through a few the hundreds of old books we have around here. I barely made a dent, but I have three boxes of them ready for David to take down to a Mennonite relief fund that sells them on the internet. I kept pulling out special ones, and old ones, and ones I want to save if I EVER have grandchildren. I feel bad for what I saved, but I gave away nine for every one I kept so I have to be happy w...

&nbs At my house the kids will tell you when they were little that Leprechauns were all over the place playing tricks on St Patty's Day. They turned the water in the toilet green, turned a lot of the foods green, even the milk, and left little kisses (that looked surprisingly like shamrock stickers) all over the place. I caught two of them the other day and made them pose for a quick picture.

In my last post, I talked about children running wild in houses. I seldom have children in my house anymore, but I do teach them on Sundays, so none of the comments were directed at any families I know right now. I have noticed a trend that obviously didn't apply when my kids were growing up, and that is the assumption that people and their kids can use your computer when they come to visit. When people tell me their kids should play on my computer because they "are careful" or "know how to use one", it doesn't help. Sometimes I have one that is okay to trash, and that's fine. But not always. And yes, my computer with two screens may look awesome, but computers are personal. I am not too possessive of my computer. People use it all the time, but they are people I trust and there is usually a need involved. I keep a loaner computer for people when their breaks down. It is gone right now at the home of a couple who had a power supply failure. David uses mi...

I am preparing my primary lesson and realize that the children need to be taught how to act in another person's home. Too often children don't get the chance to visit as much as when I was little and I have noticed many don't seem to understand how to act in another home. So I am preparing the following "rules". Any little pet peeves I should add? -- Wipe your shoes off as you go in the door (or if you see a pile of shoes, ask if you should take yours off) -- Food stays in the kitchen -- Feet stay OFF the furniture -- Don't go into a room without being invited -- Don't open a door, drawer, fridge or cupboard unless you are told it is okay -- Don't ask or hint for food or drink other than perhaps water if you are very thirsty -- Leave the bathroom as clean as you found it -- Don't touch anything without permission -- Be very gentle if you do touch something -- Don't make loud noises, particularly around older men -- If you do get to play with to...

hal⋅cy⋅on    /ˈhælsiən/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [hal-see-uhn] Show IPA –adjective Also, hal⋅cy⋅o⋅ni⋅an  /ˌhælsiˈoʊniən/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [hal-see-oh-nee-uhn] Show IPA , hal⋅cy⋅on⋅ic  /ˌhælsiˈɒnɪk/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [hal-see-on-ik] Show IPA . 1. calm; peaceful; tranquil: halcyon weather. 2. rich; wealthy; prosperous: halcyon times of peace. 3. happy; joyful; carefree: halcyon days of youth. 4. of or pertaining to the halcyon or kingfisher. –noun 5. a mythical bird, usually identified with the kingfisher, said to breed about the time of the winter solstice in a nest floating on the sea, and to have the power of charming winds and waves into calmness. 6. any of various kingfishers, esp. of the genus Halcyon. 7. (initial capital letter) Classical Mythology. Alcyone (def. 2). Aren't you glad I actually look it up FOR you rather than just post the word like SOME people we know? I learned this word from Allen who sometimes has referred to the halcyonic days of his yo...

First of all, WHY is that in Firefox I can no longer click on a link and go to it? And Firefox doesn't close correctly so when I want to use it again I have to go to Alt-Ctl-Del to make it stop running first before it opens. I couldn't add pictures to my blog in it. IE is problematic as well. I have Google Chrome on -- some good things but it's a little awkward and overall I just don't like it. The others, Safari, Opera, and Netscape if it is around -- are they any good? I have more and more calls from people that can't get something in one browser and have to switch to another. Firefox doesn't size things well. IE hangs up a lot. I've had to take TWO customers off of IE in the last week because of hangup issues. They are doing fine with Firefox. Yesterday I was back at the bank first thing in the morning (an hour's drive) and stayed all day and the printer STILL isn't fixed. I get paid by the job, not the hour, so ended up making squat for the work ...

but I like this picture better...

Yes, it snowed this morning. Because of the drifts, it is hard to say how much. Two inches? Five? Everything was closed down. I was supposed to go back to the bank in Luray but will go tomorrow instead. My goal in LIFE right now is to get the pile of papers on my desk totally filed. Not moved, filed. I got a lot of it done today, maybe half. I have a computer back, one of the ones from last week, because it is supposed to run an embroidery program and XP sp 2 is incompatible with the dongle. (I love that word: dongle!) I worked all day and continue to hit brick walls. $1000 program, you would think they could make it work with XP! I really want this to work because I want to play with the embroidery machine! David will no doubt blog about it, but he shoveled and snowblew a bunch of driveways today, I wouldn't dare venture to guess how many. He is sore all over. My friend M was telling me how irritating it is trying to referee her kids fights. Oh, how I hated that, but guess what? ...