Luckie's Unscheduled SunDAY

Luckie expects an apology from us for disrupting her unorthodox, adventurous Sunday routine.

I do PHOTOHUNT on Saturday; Luckie does a different kind of hunt on Sunday. It's called SUNDAY "TERRORIZE THE HOUSE HUNT." See Catch-up Weekend and Luckie's Latest Sins , Luckie - Home Alone: Graze or Hunt.

Sunday my husband (H) suffered from minor intestinal distress and stayed home, while I attended church services. Usually we regularly attend together.

Because Luckie was not ALONE, she did not receive her usual, huge, sinful stash of dogie treat bribery - our anemic attempt to persuade her to forgo her Sunday adventure of graze and hunt indoors. As I am the designated bribe provider, she displayed pouting behavior to me all day Sunday, until her evening feeding. I guess all is forgiven when the food dish is filled!

She seemed bamboozled the whole day, as if her internal biological calendar and clock had malfunctioned. I hope we don't need a canine psychologist to straighten her out. Maybe she can adjust to adding another day to her weekly calendar, called UnSunDay.

Does she know when SUNDAY comes around? You can bet on it! She sees us both dressing at the same time. She begins impatiently pacing between me and the cabinets holding her treats. I call this canine blackmail. Finally, I dump an humongous serving on the floor as I walk out the door after my husband.

Yesterday, NADA, NOTHING! Starvation mode in full swing. Hope her ego is not scarred for life!

After all, we have a few prerequisites and rules with which Luckie must comply. HA! Fat chance that bucket holds water when our guilt complexes are activated by her deceitfully sweet demeanor.

Monday, Again - TeleCare - Volunteerism

Monday seems to come around far to soon, a reminder another week of life has past incredibly at the speed of light.

Today was my volunteer day to work TeleCare, a free daily morning phone call to subscribers. Two friends and I formed this group in response to an incident my husband regaled to me.

He delivered Senior Meals on Wheels for several years. In the course of his route he entered senior citizens' homes to deliver the meals. Some wanted the meals in their refrigerator or freezer for later consumption.

One day he entered an apartment to find the recipient on the floor, having fallen several hours earlier. He called 911 for emergency help and stayed until their arrival. During the interlude the lady told him, this was not the first time she had fallen; the last time she fell, it was two days before someone found her.

He planted this seed in our minds. We investigated what volunteers could do and organized TeleCare, loosely organized group of volunteers who work mornings 365 days a year (including holidays) to call those who are fearful of living alone. There is no age limit, but the clientele generally is above the age of 60. We have gentlemen, ladies, and married couples.

Once a year we have a light luncheon for our clientele, so they meet the volunteers with whom they've been talking. Long-time clients look forward to this yearly event.

Some volunteers are brief and there are some who chat a bit longer. The sound of a human voice is reassuring to a lonely person who never hears the phone ring. I'm on the chatty side.

TeleCare is only one tool toward helping persons live longer, independently in their homes.

Invariably, the clients cheer me up more than I probably do for them.

Our small town would be lost without volunteers, such as our Fire (Department) and Police (Department) auxiliaries, hospital and nursing home auxiliaries, churches whose members unselfishly work in our communities, and organizations like Veterans of Foreign Wars, Rotary Club, Food Pantry, Library Friends, and the unsung heroes on every block - neighbors.

There is a nationally sponsored event once a year, called Make A Difference Day. In our town we have many people who make a difference every day--and they are mostly past 50 years of age themselves.

Luckie knows we have persons who check on pets and plants alone at home, while their owners are hospitalized, tending family emergencies, shopping or simply enjoying a rare vacation! Further, she is grateful for the many volunteers who work for the Humane Society and other animal shelters!

On a different note, one of the blogs I read is having a 100th Post Giveaway. If you are interested , please check out Just Sweet Enough .

Computer from Hell (CFH) Part 4 - The Final Straws -

I thought I finally had a working desktop, but three days after loading my personal programs, I booting to a black screen. OOPS! After several attempts and analysis, I felt the problem was a failed hard drive.

Thus began the round-robin of phone calls but only one target - the internationally known computer manufacturer (CM). Since the CFH history in their records of my purchase, my call received immediate high tier tech support. A nice lady agreed with my analysis and offered to ship a new hard drive, but I had to format it and return the old one. I agreed - no problem.

It arrived shortly and I formatted with operating system -- but nothing else - and returned the defective hard drive. I occasionally turn it off and on. It sat unused a few weeks.

My best friend (BF) who needed a desktop and knew the history of the CFH, asked to borrow it, for a short time until she had funds for a new purchase.

We spent a day moving it between homes, setting up, and loading her personal preferences and programs. I had no faith this was a good decision, but she loaded her financial program and records.

Three days later the hard drive crashed again.

To end my agony, I made a decision to accept the fact I made the worst purchasing decision of my life and continued to throw good money after bad, to correct it.

I fired off an e-mail to the CEO of CM, regaling the saga of the CFH, with statistics, my turmoil mental anguish, and my opinion of this model line (which still exists).

A CEO representative called to see if the CM could salvage our relationship. I firmly said, all I wanted was a box and ticket to recycle the unit FREE with their customer recycling service. Although he tried, this CM action go lost in the on-line form so I gave up.

I dismantled the computer into components, sent most to an area computer club that recycles computers for sale at the Humane Society and Salvation Army. I kept memory and CD/DVD recorder/player. The case went curbside for garbage pickup--yeah, I know, but I tried to do right, but this whole sordid ordeal needed an end.

Having opened the case several times, my intermediate computer technology determined miniaturization can be too extreme. There were only two tiny fans, one on the CPU and one on the motor. All components were packed or stacked on top of each other. The unit relied on many air holes in the case for venting.

I own two laptops. Will I ever buy a netbook? Not any time soon!

• Lesson #5: Analyze bad purchase decisions earlier and honestly consider if rectifying them is a viable option or simply it is just a BAD DECISION and move on.

Oh, I almost forgot...

• Lesson #6: If your hard drive crashes and you failed to backup recently or never, put it in your freezer for two hours, re-connect it and retrieve everything you want, or ever think you might want before it dies again.

I found this tip on the INTERNET, didn't believe it, but decided I had nothing to lose. IT WORKS!!!

THE END ......[Luckie says 'thank goodness, maybe I will get more play time.']