So much to do!

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    And so little gets done some days! The last few weeks have been busy. Every time I turn around the phone is ringing or there is stuff to do and I don’t get it all done. Or, there is a burst of energy and it is all done and I sit on my arse. I could really go for some nice consistant something! The other thing is that if I have stuff to do at the office, I’m at the house, and visa versa. Aieeee-ya!

The other thing that is going on is that we finally have the billing system up at the Budget Host hotel. Huzzah!!! Aguilar goes live with billing later today. Right now everyone has been enjoying free internet. 3 terabytes so far. I have to write some documents today so that we can give out instructions and such for people. Wheee!  off to the salt mines!

Windy yet again!

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I know it is suppose to be in like a Lion, out like a Lamb or visa versa for March, but… It was leonine weather at the start of the month and today too! In fact, the wind woke me up at around 4am.

Yesterday was a busy one. Tried to sleep in, but the phone kept ringing! Phonus Interupticus too! sigh…Oh well. 😛 Finally got up, bathed and cooked breakfast. Made cheesy scones. Yummm….

Finally got Dan moving and we headed to Aguilar town hall to finish up the wiring job there. Jimmer was in and we had some fine giggles. Got everything done except the meeting room cable and the final linkage to the T-1. Hopefully, that will be done today or tomorrow.

Dragged home late and cooked up lambchops and ratatoulli. It came out heavenly. While I cooked, Dan worked on the phone system. It is having hickups. sigh.. Even though it was late, we watched Man of the Year. Wonderful movie and it was worth staying up late to watch it. I am just glad that we have Spring Break this week and I didn’t have to get up and take the kids to school. Got to sleep in till 7am! Wheeee….

Today it is a semi-busy day at the office. Dan is working with the software vendor, Karen is repairing Pc’s and I’m answering phones and trying to gird up my courage to tackle makeing work forms. yawn…. I really don’t want to, but the alternative is going home and doing laundry. Hmm…. Maybe forms isn’t so bad….

And how fast does that Nissan go?

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    Well, pretty damned fast. I think I saw 96mph at one point yesterday. Dan and I did a run to Denver for computer parts. We have been having issues with our systems for the hotel and Aguilar. Finally find out in a telephone conversation that the software is specific to a certain type of hardware! Aieeee-ya! I wasn’t sure which one was going to leap down the phone line first, Dan or Karen. However, I have to admit that this week has been a “comedy of errors” as we are all a little stressed, tired and in general just worn out from going too hard for too long. We all need some downtime, but that isn’t going to happen any time soon. :<

However, Once we realized that we needed different computer parts, we talked to the software guys who also sell the hardware. Downside is that it would take until Tuesday or Wednesday for the stuff to get here. As it is, we have been losing income for a month trying to get this stuff working. So, the idea of waiting was not what we wanted. Karen discovered that there is a company in Denver who also carried the parts we needed. They’d be open until 6pm, and they had the parts in stock. So, we told them to put them on hold and we would be there. Dan and I jumped into the Nissan and headed north at breakneck speeds. It was 2:39 when we left. We got to the business at 5:15pm! Talk about flying! We had just come over 160 miles in less than 3 hours. I am surprized that the Nissan hadn’t melted.

The rep had all of our stuff in a box, and then gave us a tour of the warehouse. Lovely!!! I know it sounds daft to think of computer parts as cool, neat, or lovely, but it was. All these antennas, routers, wire, cable, Rohn towers just waiting to be used! It was almost as much fun as heading to Home Depot or Lowes. Yes, I’m weird, but I like the DIY shops!

We left at 6pm, and then headed across Denver to a mongolian bbq place we found down on Wazee street in LoDo. (lower downtown Denver) Heavenly food! We loved watching the guys cook on the big grill. One of them was a real ham, playing with the food and the “swords” they use to turn the food. A lot of the staff is gay, which is fine by me. However, this one guy, a customer, just ‘swished’ in with his big oversized drink in one hand, wrist at the flop, ascot scarf and cordury coat just as we were about to leave. I had to bite my cheek not to giggle. He was just sooo over the top! Dan and I giggled all the way out the door. Of course, Dan forgot where we parked. I hadn’t. We joked about not needing GPS when I was around. I can’t help it I have a good memory for places. Especially ones I walk to! We drove home uneventfully and arrived at about midnight! Had a cup of tea and then dumped my head on the pillow!

Today, we have components to build, systems to augment and then test the systems. Later tonight, we plan to sit back with a movie and relax!!! Better do it now, because tomorrow we go finish the wiring at Town Hall in Aguilar.

Three days!

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    Without long underwear that is! Yesterday it was nearly 75 in my office! What a treat from months of cold nasty weather. Granted, it is suppose to snow tonight, but I don’t care!

Tuesday, Dan and I went to Pueblo to do the shopping. The car had issues about 5  miles outside of Pueblo. We got it working again, but there is still an issue. Dan thinks it is the coil pack.  It took us a bit longer to get things done, but it still was a nice day. However, we got home around midnight and after I got groceries put away, that meant I didn’t get to bed until nearly 1am. Yawn!  There are days I really dislike the early alarm clocks. I am looking forward to Spring Break and a whole week of no 5:45am alarms.

Wednesday was really scattered. Lots of one step forward, slide back three moments. things at the NOC in Aguilar went wonky. A bird hit the window and destroyed it. Karen and Dan had to go to Pueblo to pick up plywood and other parts for the business. Dan had to program a new router and we had the T-1 down in Aguilar fired up. Oh, and Jill arrived with the kids on their way to the Grand Canyon to visit Mom and Dad.

Today has been a slow start. I got the kids up and out the door so that Dan could drive them to school. Meanwhile, I got a shower and dressed so that I could leave at 8am with Jill. We headed out to Trinidad so that they could catch the train. I have her car for a week while they are gone. So, now I’m at work, and don’t have a damned bit of interest in actually working today. I want to curl up with my book, read and blow my nose because my allergies have kicked in. Oh, and nap to catch up on all the sleep I’ve missed this week. Yawn!!!

Where did this week go?

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    I’m not sure, but it went by fast! Monday after the kids learned that they had the day off, I started getting some work done around the office. Dan, Karen and Carlos went off to Colorado Springs and Pueblo. Around 5, I headed out to a set of back to back accountability meetings at the high school. Wheee….. sorta. I think I scared them with the laptop. :>

Tuesday, Carlos left for New Orleans and warmer weather. Dan and I had a client come by for some computer work who looked like Santa! Complete with belly, beard and white curls on his shoulders. Very sweet man. He left, and we started out the door when we got distracted by deer!

deer!

Earlier, they had been being stalked by the little orange tomcat that lives next door. He had been doing the “I’m a sabor tooth on my grandma’s side!”. They finally got tired of him and headbutted him off to one side. It was a riot.

Tuesday night, Dan and I went to Trinidad to do the Ostara shopping. We also got the kids some clothes as they both said that they were being squished by their undies, etc. It was a riot watching the little old ladies watch Dan and I shop for Little Morgan’s bras.

Wednesday, the Ostara Bunny came for the kids with candies. Wednesday afternoon, we went to go talk to the City about a contract for wireless connections in town. Whee… Plus, Logan got sick and his parents ended up taking him all the way to Colorado Springs to be told that he had some sort of infectin and a bottle of amoxicillan.

Thursday, we got bits and pieces done around the office. Daniel came by and worked on the yard, so it would be Oscar or Brandy proof. He fixed two gates and started on the third. Then we headed out to Gardner School for parent teacher conferences. Matt is doing alright, but not the best. He needs to apply himself to his work. Oh, and turn it in.  Morgan is doing very well, especially since she started applying herself better. She is very happy with herself and it shows in her work. Afterwards, we went to Andy’s for dinner. It was a small riot as Dan was being as big a cut-up as the kids. After we dropped the kids off, we were off to Carl Holzhauer’s to do some computer work. He is an older gentleman who has computer troubles as well as just wanting company. So, he really enjoys Dan’s company. We were out there for about 3 hours. I had a nice chat with his wife while Dan did the work. Even got invited out for dinner. :>  By the time I got home though, I had the headache from hell. I crawled into bed and slept till nearly 8am.

Today has been a series of small bursts of productivity. I was a bubble head this morning from the aftermath of the headache. We went out to Mike’s house to see if we could put a tower out there for Wireless service. We saw some good spots, but need to plot them on the maps. Then it was lunch and back to the office to work on the city proposal. Wheee…..

Tomorrow won’t be much better, as we have to go work on the NOC in Aguilar in the morning and wire Aguilar Town Hall in the afternoon.  Wheeeeeeee………… gads… When are we going to get a day off???

School carnivals, drives in the country and Snow….

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Friday night was the Gardner school carnival. Morgan had spent the night with a girlfriend and so Dan and I picked up Matt and headed up to the school. Now imagine 75 of your closest friends, their families and all the siblings that ever graduated coming to a huge dinner and then playing games for 3 hours. Everyone knows each other, inspects the latest boy/girlfriend, new baby(ies), new tattoos, etc. They catch up on all the gossip, tell all the latest grandbaby/kid stories and pet/livestock stories. This is Gardner school carnival.

Dinner was pizza, salad and cheesecake. Dan was happy. I’m allergic to milk, so I didn’t eat. Then it was off to the gym and the games. Ball toss basket ball, airzooka blasts with teacher targets, basket ball shoots, face painting, car racing, darts, bean bag toss, and the pistol range shoot. We walked around, chatted with friends and watched Matt and Morgan do their thing. Then I gave the kids and Dan more tickets and went to chat with my friend Jolene. She was running the table sale. Lots of junk for a donation. Meanwhile, Dan went to the pistol shoot. He took his turn, then took over the booth while the teacher took a break. Fun bit was that he stood behind the smaller kids with another pistol and was hitting the targets when they couldn’t! What a riot! Then he went over to talk to Bruce, who is also the local sheriff and Jolene’s hubby. We finally headed home around 8pm.

I got about 8 miles down the road when the headlights from another car clipped me just wrong and zapped me. I get migraines almost instantly when this happens. Luckily, I could see enough to drive to a safe place to stop. The road is very narrow at that point. Dan drove home, and I went to bed. Awwwggghh…… Of course ten minutes after I got home, I tried to go to sleep. Not that anyone could keep quiet. Just what I needed with a headache that was light, scent and sound sensitive! I nearly threw up. So, while I went to bed by 9pm and didn’t get up till nearly 7:45am, I think I only really slept about 6 hours.

Got up Saturday morning and felt a bit better. Sort of wrapped in cotton wool. After I took Daniel out to Pauline’s so that he could house sit, I planned to take a nap. Reason being that in the afternoon, I was suppose to play friendly native guide to our business partner Carlos. Wheee…. However, the work on the Aguilar NOC took longer than we thought. Plus, the phone kept ringing! So, I got no nap and the drive got postponed until Sunday.

Sunday we got rolling about 11am. We drove up HWY 12 from La Veta to Trinidad. Then out to Hoehne, up to Gardner, Redwing and past up the Huerfano Valley. Then out to Wolf Springs Ranch. It was about a 200+ mile drive. I had fun, and Carlos got to see where we want to put in WISP service. After we got back, I picked up Daniel from Pauline’s, did a bit of laundry and then went to bed after watching HellBoy. Odd movie, but funny too.

Today, we woke to about 4 inches of snow. It was still snowing hard at school time and I decided that it was better to not drive in the snow. We probably would have been fine, but I decided to play safe. The kids aren’t going to keel over for missing one day of school. Dan, Karen and Carlos headed off to Colorado Springs and Pueblo for the day. They are going to the big gun store up in the Springs. I’d have gone too, but I have two meetings tonight and don’t want to miss them. If I had gone, there is no way I’d have been home in time. I’ll get to hear all of their adventures when they get back. Wheee……

Meanwhile, I’m catching up on paperwork, writing things for the meeting and taking it easy for a bit. Oh, and it is still snowing… Gads!

Sunshine!!!

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    Wow it was wonderful! I actually went somewhere without 3 layers of clothing and a coat! I think it got up to about 60 today. Happy dance!

The day started out a bit hectic. After my car being “ill” for the last 10 days, Dan finally got it working enough for me to drive it. There are still some issues, but… I can drive. So, I took the kids to school, went to the office and promptly got sent to bed. I had a headache, and Dan recognized it. So, I got aspirin stuffed in me, and me stuffed in bed so that I could sleep it off. I managed 3 hours before the phones just kept waking me up. Ah well…

My parents got here yesterday to work on their house some more. John and I had lunch with them at the Huerfano Cafe. It’s a nice little hole in the wall greasy spoon. Decent food. After lunch, Mom and I went to the local healthfood store. I got some things I needed and Mom got Wasabi peas. :>  Then we headed to the office where I did a bit of paperwork and got my new phone all set up. I finally traded mine in as the battery wouldn’t hold a charge. This one is an i710. Very sleek.

We headed over to Mom’s house and I helped her put shelf paper in her cupboards. Then it was off to pick up the kids and take Mom to the bank. Right now, I’m catching up on all the bits I missed earlier and waiting on an ebay bid. Wheee…..

Wet stuff falling from the sky… again.

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All together now, can you say “snow!”???? Well, it is doing it again. Snowing that is. I left 520 last night and it was warm. 45-50 degrees. I didn’t grab my snowboots, because with clear blue starlit skies, I didn’t think I’d need them. Silly me.

Instead, I woke up at 6:15am to see that it was white outside. White with about 6 inches of snow covering everything. Sheesh. I had to chase the two kids back downstairs to put warmer clothes on. Silly gits had nothing but teeshirts on under their coats. I have to admit though that our weather has been fickle.

Saturday, 75 degrees.
Sunday, 24 degrees. 6 inches of snow
Monday, 40’s.
Tuesday, Windy and 50’s.
Wednesday, 32 degrees so far and 9 inches of snow. It’s 1pm, and still snowing. It is a heavy powder snow.

Yesterday was also fun in that Dan lifted a battery wrong out of the back of the truck. He thought he was ok, until about 10 minutes later when he went to bend over and pick up a towel. <insert crackling noises, screams of pain and a whimpered “Jaye…. help!”> His whole back spasmed and it took us ten minutes to cross the living room so he could sit down.

When I got to 520 today, he was still in bed, and didn’t get up for another hour. Now of course, he is the invalid in the chair complete with hot water bottle and snacks. Oh, and he is playing with frequency harmonics. Uuuuhhhhh…….. Come to find out that I hear things much lower than the “average” human. 10 hertz. Hmmm…. guess dog whistles are out of the question eh?

And the adventure has yet another chapter

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Ok, I’ll be the first to admit that I am not always the most organized individual, and work has gotten me a little scatterbrained. However, I have had enough.
We ended up driving to Trinidad to get the snake for the sewer. That was Thursday afternoon. Since we were heading out so late, I asked John to pick up the kids. No problem, I dropped my car off with him and then we headed down to Trinidad. We picked up the snake and went to Walmart for some things that Karen needed. Half way through the store, John calls to say that my car has died on him. sigh…
We finish our shopping, and Karen drops Dan and I off at 203 to clean out the sewers. The short version is that 4 sewer clean outs and 4 hours later, we finally had plumbing again. Our neighbor was helping us out as two of the sewers were his. Old plumbing, and ours is linked to his. Dan and I were exhausted. Dan showered while I made dinner and then after a quick trip back to 520, I came home and had a shower.
Friday, we returned the snake to Trinidad and grabbed a quick bite for lunch. Granted, we had a waiter that was so new, he still had the shrink wrap on! Oh well… When we got back in town, we picked up Karen and headed up to the Aguilar NOC (network operation center). We were trying to work on the tower and install equipment to turn on the internet. However, the building had been vandalized. Window shot out, door kicked in, etc. They even left a real good footprint of their size 9 skater tennis shoe on the door in mud. Luckily, the thugs were about 36 hours early if they wanted to do real damage. There was no real equipment in the building yet, and only 1/3 of the antenna up.
So, while we waited for the sheriff to arrive, we worked on the antenna mast, grounding cables, etc. By the way, this is the same sheriff that I have spoken of before. The overweight, ass shooting, tobacco chewing ‘Barney Fife. sigh…. He came up,took some pictures and left. We finished up when we couldn’t see any longer and then went for supper at the local Truckstop diner. We made sure we spread the word that the NOC had been vandalized and that this act would keep us from turning off the internet in Aguilar for an unknown period of time. After that, we drove home. I wrote an article for our local paper the Huerfano Journal and then went to bed. Oh, and because we are an ISP, we have to contact the FBI. The Patriot Act makes attacking ISP’s a terrorist act. Not something those vandals thought about.
Today, I got up early and while I fixed breakfast, Dan looked at my car. He couldn’t find anything wrong with it. So, I figured that while Dan and Karen went back up to the NOC to work, I’d take Matt and Morgan to Pueblo. I needed to get Daniel a birthday prezzie as he is 18 tomorrow.
We headed for Pueblo, and right about mile marker 85, my car died. I called Dan and let him know what was going on and then called AAA. We waited outside the car in the verge, because the cars were going by so fast that I was afraid that one of them would actually strike the car.
AAA called the state patrol, and they sent out a car to stay with me until the tow truck arrived. I had to laugh when I saw who it was. It was Dennis Halverson, a dear friends ex-husband. A real jerk. However, I chatted politely and thanked him for stopping. I also teased him a bit when we were talking about my “new work” with computers. Told him just enough about the computer in his car to make him twitch. It was so worth it.
When the tow truck got there, I just shook my head. It was the same chicken that wouldn’t pull our work truck out of the mud earlier this week. No way I was going to let him work on my car, so I had us towed back to Walsenburg.
After the tow truck left us at the office, I went down and sure enough, my car started. We think there is some sort of electrical short, and Dan will look at it tomorrow.
So, now I am trying to relax. Refill my energy/emotional bucket. It has been a long hard week and I think it is time to curl up with a good book. Oh, and last but not least, the sheriff thinks that he has caught the 4 kids that did the vandalism. We shall see…

What an Evening, or How I spent the last 24 hours

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     After I dropped the kids off at the house last night, I went back to the office at 520. I knew that Dan and Karen were out with the Qwest guy doing work on the T-1 install and so wasn’t too worried about them not being back.  Knowing them, they’d go have a meal and then come home.

Well, dusk rolled around and they weren’t back. In fact, my radar was pinging off the wall. I tried calling them, and got no answer. Granted, that isn’t unusual, as cell phone coverage is rather spotty around here at the best of times.  At 6pm, Daniel called looking for Karen. I let him know that they weren’t back yet and then tried to call them again. No answer.
By this time, I am really beginning to fret. At 7 I started some tea and a few burritos, as I was hungry. Just as the microwave went off, the phone rang. It was Karen. They were on foot as the truck had gotten stuck in a snow bank up in Black Hawk Ranch. Shit! Black Hawk Ranch is a lovely area, but when the roads are bad, there is no going in or out. Heaven help you if you go off the road.
So, I grabbed my coat, phone and tea and headed out the door to drive to Pryor exit, which is the last point where you can get cell phone coverage. After a few moments, I got Dan on the phone. They were on 4 mile canyon road. I knew where that was, and said I’d come to them, but Dan was afraid that the road was too rough for my little car. Plus, he and Karen figured that they’d find a house to call from and that would be easier than trying to find them in the dark. (HA!) I tried to convince him that I’d just head up the road, but he didn’t want me out of cell phone range. I understood why, but it didn’t make it easier to wait.

This was very frustrating as I:

  1.   Knew the road, and understood that there were very few houses to call from. Most don’t have phones.
  2.  That the minute they moved off the ridge, that they’d be out of cell phone range and wouldn’t be able to call.
  3. It was getting very cold.

However, I waited. Drove up at one point to see if I could find a spot with cell phone coverage. No luck. Drove back and sat until nearly 9:30pm. Dan called and told me to meet them at the T intersection on the road. The same one I had mentioned meeting them at 2 hours earlier. grrrr….. They had the laptop with GPS, and had only just figured out where they were WITH cell phone coverage to call. So, I drove up and met them about a quarter of a mile past the intersection. Had I not listened, I would have picked them up much earlier. I understand why he wanted me to wait where I had phone coverage, but… Oh well.  Men.
So, they had walked 5.16 miles in the dark. Karen and Dan were exhausted because of the cold. I dropped her off at home to deal with the puppies and then brought Dan home. Got warm clothes for him and some dinner. Then stuffed him in bed and headed for bed myself.

This morning I got up and tried to get Dan to get an early start… He was so sore and stiff that it took forever to get him moving. And of course, the temps were up in the 60’s today. I wanted us to get there before the road he was on turned to a muddy slush puddle. Plus, our sewer at 203 was clogging and we needed to get to La Veta so we could rent the sewer snake.

So, we went down to the local AAA provider and got the big truck to go pull us out of the snow. Or so we thought. We got to within 1/2 a mile of the truck when the guy stopped. “It’s too muddy. I can’t go down there. I’ll get stuck.” grrrr…. So, we walked down in the slush and mud and could not convince the guy to try it. Drove back, got some lunch and then went to the “edgier” tow company. Father and sons grease monkeys. Dan and the one boy headed out to try again. This time with a 4W drive Bronco.
They got there and it was muddier and slushier, but they were able to get to the truck. Right as they were getting ready to pull the little truck out, the big one died. Dan and the boy (ok, 20 something) started to check the engine. They finally figured out that it was the fuel pump. A big rip in the diaphragm. Dan did an emergency repair on that and got the truck started. The battery on the little truck was dead, so they towed it to the highway exit. Karen hobbled to her car and brought them a battery charger to fix that. She is sore and trying to deal with the fact that she walked so far at altitude after living in New Orleans most of her life.
So, the truck is home and we will fix the sewer at my house tomorrow. It is after 5 and Dan has only been home about 20 minutes.