Monday, June 11, 2012

Birds, Battles, and Bras

When I set things up here after arriving at Defeated Creek COE campground,yesterday, I also put out one of the Hard Rock Bird Café feeders.  It wasn’t long before a couple of tufted titmice came to visit.  It always surprises me that in some locations it only takes a little time for avian visitors to appear.  All of the numerous pictures tonight were taken from my rocker in between rain storms.
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The reason there are so many pictures is part of my battle that I’ve been going through with Sprint.  In my last post I mentioned that I had cancelled that air card service.  I found their customer service profoundly lacking.  So this morning I headed out to Lebanon, TN, and signed up for Verizon.  These pictures are part of a four pronged test of their coverage.
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When I got back to the rig, I immediately set up the laptop, and quickly had two bars of service on the air card.  I checked my email from the last few days, and then went to check some of the blogs that I follow to see how the download/upload time would be.
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I haven’t been able to read or comment much for more than a week.  When I checked Rick’s blog, I noticed he had included a short video.  With Sprint, I’ve clicked on very few videos because if I do I only see a second or two before it stops to reload.  Today, I saw the entire video of his dog, Rylie, romping along the trail without interruption.  Granted, it was only an 11 second video, but that’s the first time even a short video has loaded.
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Then it was on to Bayfield Al’s blog.  I haven’t even tried to read his blog lately because he usually posts a gazillion pictures, and that just wasn’t going to work for me.  Wouldn’t you know that he only had one picture on his last post!  So, I went to some of his older posts, and Bingo!, everything was there instantly.
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The third thing I tested was the “Weather in Motion” feature on the Weather Channel website.  It didn’t load, but two out of three isn’t too bad.  The final test will be to see if I can publish a post with numerous pictures in under a half hour.  Some nights it has taken me many hours to publish a post with pictures using Sprint.
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Since there are only two bars here, I think I’ll wait to try to publish until the latest downpour is over.  We’ve had some good rain here yesterday and today.  Lots of thunder and some lightening, but no severe winds.  I can deal with that.
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As I made my way to and from Lebanon today, I noticed one of those outlet places along the way.  I decided to stop in for a purchase that always gets my ire up.  Why is it that bras cost so much?  They may be a necessary evil, but how come men can get three pairs of underwear for $10 or so, but a good Playtex Bra runs $30 for one? 
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I’d try going without, but you ladies know what age and gravity do.  Reminds me of my old Girl Scout song once again, “Do your boobs hang low, do they wobble too and fro…”  Surprised smile
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I have a little adventure in mind for tomorrow, but it will depend on the weather.  I’d like it to be sunny with blue skies, but the forecast doesn’t seem to agree.  I may have to wait until Wednesday. 
Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy