Day 3 of Val's Home Confinement

Tuesday morning, Day 3 of Val's home confinement due to would-be hip-shattering ice and sleet covering the grounds of Backroads and adjoining communities, was off to a good start. I had soaked two pounds of Great Northern Beans overnight, and thawed out the Thanksgiving ham bone and remnants. The Pony thinks that the bone means it was from last Christmas. I think maybe from Easter.

Anyhoo... I got a large cauldron (don't have a small cauldron) and a saucepan of beans and ham simmering. I added some minced garlic, sweet banana pepper rings with their juice, and ground black pepper. It smelled great while simmering.

I sat down at HIPPIE at the kitchen table an hour earlier than normal. I was perusing the news when HIPPIE refused to load more comments on an article. Huh. I moved on to another site. But I didn't. Because I HAD NO INTERNET!!!

Of all the shenanigans for The Universe to pull to make Val's third day of home confinement even more Not-Heavenish, lack of internet was the worst. Well. Except for maybe breaking a hip, or being attempted-murdered by Hick. I tried disconnecting and reconnecting. A shut down and new start. An actual restart. Nothin'. I resolved to play some solitaire after stirring the beans.

Mmm! I could drink that juice with a straw! Good thing, because Hick will drag the ladle through the pan, scooping up all the ham, with an occasional stray bean, and tilt it against the side of the pan until he just has solids. How's he gonna soak corn muffins in THAT??? Anyhoo... this is the small pan. Plenty more for the rest of the week. That white stuff is sinew that cooked off the bone. I fished it out. Not trying to attempt murdering Hick. Really.

I went back to worldwide-web-dead HIPPIE, the time-consuming actual restart finished, and resigned myself to wait until Hick got home to attempt any further fixes. The last time (not even a week ago!) I lost internet, I had to actually call the DISH people. I knew there would be a wait, and then they'd tell me to disconnect and reconnect the electrical connections. If I wanted to hobble down 13 rail-less basement steps for that, I might as well take my chances on the ice outside and a trip to town!

Shockingly enough, after I puttered around writing a check for the annual homeowner's insurance for our hillbilly mansion, though it won't be mailed until after the roads are cleared... I gave my internet another try, and it was working again!

Speaking (or typing) of the mail, The Pony hitched a ride to work with Hick again Tuesday morning. The mail trucks still hadn't made it through, but Amazon sure could drop off packages to be re-delivered. 

"No mail made it in today either. Just packages Amazon dropped, and hopping out magazines to like, every fifth house today."

By 11:50, a time by which The Pony had already clocked out on Monday, he had another report.

"Good deed accomplished! Older woman on my route was de-icing her car. I let her use my de-icer spray."

Shh... no need to tell anybody about that misappropriation of government equipment by such a sweet and caring Pony.

Hick could have used such a product, in a can that shoots 18 feet like wasp and hornet spray, when he tried to get into his SUS2 and SUS2.5 on Monday.

The SUS(s) are side by side. I guess Hick is preventing a terrorist from driving into them, with those big blocks he paid for. More likely, he doesn't want to risk a smash 'n' grab burglary. Anyhoo... you might wonder why Hick couldn't get in. It wasn't from fear of breaking a hip.

It was the coating of ice from the freezing rain, preventing the doors from opening. Bill-Paying Town was hit with more ice, and also with power outages. Hick said his SUS(s) didn't lose power. He gets an email from the electric company when that happens.

As I sit here typing away, wallowing in A CONNECTION TO THE INNERNETS, my third day of confinement is only half over. I can't imagine anything more eventful will occur. Perhaps it's best that it doesn't.