Internet!

Tuesday was the day I’ve been waiting for for two and a half months: the day we get high speed internet. I was eager for the installer to come and put the dish on our trailer.

Sadly, he couldn’t put the dish on our trailer, because the nearby trees obscure the night sky. But for $130, the installer dug a hole, put in a pole, poured the concrete, and finished the installation. So now, by the side of our driveway, we have a little collection of uglies: an ugly green electrical box, an ugly electrical “pole,” and an ugly post with a satellite dish on top. (Not to mention the 2 ½ foot trench that currently borders our driveway. Ugly!) I need to get some edible bushes or trees and disguise the uglies!

By 1pm, he was finished, and Phil had me hooked in again. The ability to communicate with the outside world, to research when I wanted to, to work from the comfort of my own home (or, at the very least, not to have to commute)—what a wonderful, wonderful thing. The emotions behind the light were powerful, but the relief of having research access whenever I choose is almost unbelievably great. I know people (including myself until less about a decade ago) lived without Google, but what a hard world it must have been!

Phil took the van in for its 45,000 mile checkup. It had been making some odd noises, and Phil wanted to see what was up. The bad news is that it needs two repairs that are each about $750. The good news is that neither repair is imminent, and, with the house not being under contract, and over $10K in overdue checks not yet received, we were thankful to put those off until a better day.

Tuesday also marked the first livestock death on our farm: a keet turned up dead in the morning. The remaining six keets were huddled in their box, and this one was under some pallets. Perhaps it was foraging and didn’t return to the warmth of the siblings? Who knows what strikes down these birds? We had chicks dying left and right back in Boulder. A little dead keet was sad, but not tragic.