Did some more work on the computer, then went into the theatre at about 12:00 to shower and to prepare for the performance at 2:00. Alas, the showers were turned off, so we had to quickly arrange to have our RV tank refilled. Cut it pretty close! Made it just in time! About 150 middle school and younger students attended the matinee, and they were positively rapt for the entire 75 minutes. A small group had to leave early, but they filed out quietly during a break, and we extended the blackout so they could get out in plenty of time. Afterward, we rested in the afternoon in anticipation of our second performance. Likewise, the evening performance at 7:00 drew well over 150 people, including the president of the college and most of the upper faculty and staff, and the audience was very responsive. Many people stayed afterward to talk with Hubby once he changed out of costume, including some students, which made our host Randy very pleased. A good day all around!!
Archives for March 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010 – Finally, a Rest Day
Slept late, and did nothing today except unhook the van in preparation of tomorrow’s load-in, watch movies, read, sleep, and get caught up on this blog!
Saturday, March 27, 2010 – New Back Yard
Ran up to the Farmers Coop in Abingdon to pick up some more oats for the horses, and dropped it off at the barn before heading down to the college for next performance. Met the Technical Director, Will, who was great in assisting us get settled in behind the theatre. Once done, I went over the Fine Arts Building to find a wifi for one last attempt at solving my problem. No matter what I did, I couldn’t seem to find how to get on XP with this new program, and even concluded that I needed a different computer, as this one apparently didn’t have “hardware virtualization” capability, which was necessary for Professional to work properly. That would have been nice to know before I downloaded the dang thing! Anyway, I decided I had run out of time, and I would have to do whatever is necessary to solve the problem, so I hopped into the pickup truck and drove to the Best Buy, begging for help, promising that I wasn’t leaving until I had a functioning computer, even if it meant buying a new one. Well, I have to say, that Geek Squad was great. They were the best of all of the previous ones I had tried to get answers from. They went online and found some software on Microsoft that would give me “hardware virtualization” capability, which has, oddly enough, nothing to do with hardware. Apparently, it divides the processor into two parts, one for W7 and one for XP, so that you can switch between the two. Four hours later, everything was up and running, we’d managed to solve my connectivity problem, and I understood enough about how the system worked to walk out with confidence that the problems were now behind me. YEAH!!!!! Ran up to check on the horses, then stopped at the grocery store on the way home to pick up a roasted chicken for dinner and some other things we needed, feeling like a giant weight had been lifted from my shoulders! Planning on having a GREAT night sleep, now that my biggest challenge of the trip was behind me! Still a few more problems to solve, a few files to find, but nothing like what I’ve been experiencing these last few weeks! Whew!
Friday, March 26, 2010 – Doctor and Drive
Recovered the furniture with sheets, finished packing up, and headed to Nashville for Hubby’s “device check”, a simple appointment where they determine that his defibrillator is functioning properly. Meanwhile, one of the many computer folks I had been talking to had mentioned that I could download an upgrade of my Windows 7 program, to raise it from a Home Premier to a Professional level, which apparently allowed you to use XP on the same computer, sort of off to one side. I found it on the Microsoft site, paid the $90+ and downloaded it at once, hopeful that at last, I might have found a solution, or at least gotten closer to one! We were finished quickly at the doctor’s office, then took off. For once we didn’t stop at our favorite Indian restaurant, we simply didn’t have the time. Headed out immediately, and arrived back at the stables at about 5:30. Everybody was fine, though covered with mud from their stay in the pasture, and for some reason, large chunks of hair were falling off of Hubby’s mare and leaving almost bald spots behind. I quickly got on the internet (there’s a wifi at the barn) and discovered the most likely culprit, “Seasonal something or other” (I’ll put that back in later), which happens when horses experience serious temperature changes during the springtime. Winter hair falls out before summer hair has a chance to come in. Considering they were in 70 temps in Texas, and here the temps had dropped into the 30’s, it wasn’t surprising. No reason for concern, just time, and maybe a little lotion, and she’ll be good as new. Then we once again drove out with the RV to Wal-mart, having arranged to move over to the college tomorrow. Still no progress on my computer, despite numerous more tries. Arrrrrgh!
Thursday, March 25, 2010 – Big Day at the Bank
Woke up to some rain, which was intermittent throughout the day. Finished getting the computer going, though all my attempts to move anything to the new computer proved fruitless. Loaded up the pickup with our hay, which was in better shape than I thought it might be, and frankly, compared favorably with some of the better stuff we’d been buying along the road. I was afraid I would discover that our own lot was substandard now that we’d seen such a variety, but it held up under scrutiny. Then we took a trip into town, first stop at the bank, to do something we’d been working extra hard for for some time… We paid off our mortgage! It was now a 100% asset, and our very last bit of debt. It still hasn’t sunk in, but I suppose it will when I don’t have to deduct the monthly payment from our account in a few days! We went to a Mexican Restaurant to once again have access to a wifi (again to try to solve some computer problems, once again to no avail), then ran down to the fabric store to pick up some material to cover the hot tub. The old cover had shredded over the winter, and I was hoping to have enough time to quick sew another one before we left, which I did manage to do. Packed up several large bags of clothing, gathered everything on the list we had been keeping of things we needed on the road, and prepared ourselves for the possibility that we wouldn’t bother to come back again for the rest of the year, or even longer if the mood strikes us. Sounds crazy, to leave a house just as it’s getting paid off, but that’s how we are, what can I say? Looking forward to leaving tomorrow and reuniting with our horses.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 – Home Again, Home Again
Returned to the EC and dropped off the RV and van, and headed out for home in the pickup truck. A thankfully uneventful trip, gaining an hour as we moved into Central Time, and arrived home by about 3:00. Had a stack of mail waiting for us (we had called the post office in the morning with instructions to bring the mail out), and fortunately, everything was in perfect shape. No downed trees, or damage or any kind. A few branches down, as always happens in the winter, but nothing else. Hubby had been concerned that with the extraordinarily cold weather that a pipe may have burst, and was prepared for the worst, but everything was fine. It didn’t even smell musty or anything! The only disturbance was our neighbor shooting a few rounds, but that’s a long story… I immediately started solving my computer problems, i.e. getting Hubby’s antique XP-operated laptop up and running, and making sure my entire bookkeeping file was intact so that I can get my taxes done in time. It will have to do until I get my other “new” computer workable. Had a relaxing evening, and looking forward to a good night’s sleep.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 – Morning Surprise.
Hubby moving very slowly, so everything took twice as long to get ready. Just as we were finally getting ready get the horses in the trailer and move out, I noticed one of the tires on the RV looked low. Actually, it was dead flat, just didn’t look it because of it’s neighboring tire holding it up. Quickly located the problem, a bolt stuck in the tread, so we got out the tire repair kit and I went to work. The hole was so big it took two strands of repair strips and lots of rubber cement, but when it was finished, it held. Finally got on the road just after ten, a bit later than we had hoped, but okay under the circumstances. We had arranged with the Virginia Intermont College Equestrian Center to look after our horses while we run home and to Hubby’s doctor’s appointment in Nashville, and we arrived there about 6:00. Got the horses settled in, then went off to the Wal-mart parking lot for the night, having discovered that the EC couldn’t let us stay in the RV there overnight, something about insurance. No problem, we’ve stayed in that Wal-mart before! Did some shopping, still couldn’t get my computer problems solved, finally went to be exhausted by 9:00.
Monday, March 22, 2010 – A Day at the Auto Repair Shop
Headed out early to the auto repair shop, arrived just after they opened. Five hours and $1500 later the van had all new brakes and rotors, and a whole new bearing assembly on the right front wheel. Not what I wanted to hear, but with almost 100k miles, I guess some repairs are going to be necessary in the coming year. Hubby still feeling pretty shook up, but nothing’s broken and we managed to keep the bruising down to a minimum with the immediate ice pack. Got as much preliminary packing done as we could, since we have to leave early tomorrow morning.
Sunday, March 21 – More Work and a Crash
Another short but very good session this morning, seems he’s getting close to mastering the basics when he puts his mind to it, and when a script is finally complete. Spring is overwhelming the capital, with some of the blossoms blooming, but not the cherry blossoms quite yet. Took a detour toward the Tidal Basin to see how they were coming along, but gave it up when we got stuck in pedestrian traffic with an immigration rally. Lots of people protesting (although I got the impression it was just an excuse to be outdoors on a beautiful day), so we turned around and let Gracie get us back to Lorton. It was early enough that we decided to have lunch at the Indian restaurant there, and get a ride in this afternoon. Lunch was fine, more crowded than we’d ever seen it. We decided on the buffet, which is unusual for us, as we avoid them because we always overeat, but we decided that would be our big meal of the day, and I managed to restrain myself (and Hubby) from having seconds. We headed home, saddled up the horses, and headed out for a ride. We didn’t get very far. Once again, we keep learning the hard way. After so much time off, and after having eaten so much oats and grain, we should have realized how frisky the horses would be, and I should have lunged them around a bit, but I didn’t. Then Hubby decided to try out a new saddle blanket, but for some reason didn’t tighten the girth as well as he usually does. Anyway, about a hundreds yards down the road, both horses started trotting, then his horse started cantering, and when Hubby tried to stop her, his saddle slipped. It turned almost to her belly, and he hung on as best he could, until he had to let go. He fell onto the tarmac, landing on his side and back, and his horse kept going, heading into the woods toward the main road. Fortunately, she stopped just a few feet off the road, having gotten caught in the brambles there. A car came by and a couple asked if they could help, so I asked them to help Hubby get out of the road and see to him, and hang onto my horse while I caught the mare, which they gladly did. Clio was waiting, so I moved her out and resaddled her before returning to Hubby, who was now sitting up. He said he didn’t think anything was broken, just bruised, and insisted on getting back up in the saddle. I said fine, but I was leading the horses home, to which he reluctantly agreed. He started stiffening up almost immediately, and was very slow in moving around and putting things away. We promptly put ice on the bruised area in his lower back, and he said his ribs hurt a bit too, so we spend the rest of the day resting and tending to his aches, with some Tylenol, ice and aspercreme. I suspect he’ll feel like he’s been in a car wreck for some time! We had already decided to stay until Tuesday, as the van had been making some noise (sounds like a wheel bearing) and we wanted to have it looked at before we took our next long leg to Bristol. Hopefully by Tuesday morning he’ll be recovered enough to move. Not that he has a choice, we have to get moving by Tuesday to stay on schedule! Stayed up long enough to watch our country vote itself out of freedom and into socialism, then went to bed, somewhat depressed about the future of our country.
Saturday, March 20 – Work and Rally
Met with the client in the morning, still making changes to the script so it wasn’t as productive as we would have liked, but getting closer. Then we walked out to the Capitol to observe the Tea Party protesters still trying to stop the train of the Health Care Bill. Starting to look bleak, unfortunately. Incomprehensible how anyone can believe we can add 32 million people to a system that’s already going bankrupt and have it “save” money. Only inside the beltway can they delude themselves so thoroughly. One thing both Dems and Repubs can agree on is the process of this has been so corrupt that it should be criminal. But then again, they’re the ones making the laws, aren’t they? Anyway, we’ve scheduled yet another session for tomorrow, no rest for the weary! But I’m not complaining, it’s how we keep the horses fed!