A Sense of Humor

It's an invaluable trait and a great thing that I have one. Why? Well, because sometime during the night the furnace here in the main house decided to stop working!



I got up and thought it was a bit too chilly. So I went about messing with the thermostat...no heat regardless of how high I turned it up. Then I went down to the furnace. It was running but no heat. I unplugged it, waited a while, plugged it back in and still nothing. Then I thought it must be the igniter. Not having one I called the furnace guys (they've been dealing with the furnaces in both houses here for 30 years from initial installation to constant monitoring). They laughed when I told them that now it was the main house furnace and sent they Pat out to fix it. Sure enough the igniter had a crack in it. Got that replaced and it's all good now.

So, that's enough furnace nuttiness for me. Our home in Illinois still has no heat since a whole new furnace needs to be put in there. Tom has to find the time to take a day off to be there for that to get done and it's not easy for a lawyer to take a day off. Oh well, as long as it's replaced before I drive back there sometime in October!

The furnace in the guest house will be replaced this summer after we do some architectural work and also replace the roof.

So, anyway, a sense of humor is essential. Not only to living so far away from everything but in just dealing with everyday situations regardless. It's better to laugh and shake your head than run around screaming with your hair on fire...although sometimes that's also good for your mental health!



So , I'm NOT doing any moving today and have decided to just spend the day outside with the dogs enjoying the peace.

I Hate Moving!

Yes, I do. I swear it's more difficult moving 300 yards than 300 miles! Simply because there's no rush to get it done in 1 day. We're still moving things from the cabin to the main house.

Crazy things that aggravate have been going on but I think they may be over. At least up here. It took ATT 5 days to straighten out the long distance mess they created. Finally a woman from repair called me and I asked her to stay on the line with me to witness how I've been tossed around like a shuttlecock. She did and she was floored but very helpful. We both knew it wasn't a repair issue it was a personnel mistake that seemingly no one could fix. Regardless, SHE got it fixed, was going to file a complaint and now I have all my local and long distance on both phone lines. I also told ATT I was NOT paying for any of this switch nor the days without service. So my $85 bill became $15!

Next the furnace in the cabin stopped working...before I moved out, on a Saturday after 5P.M. no less. We had to wait until Sunday for the repair folks to come out and it was below zero that night! Fortunately we have an auxiliary heater separate from the furnace so we had some heat. Anyway, they replaced the main control board and it worked...for 2 weeks! LOL Back come the guys, we got it working again but I decided that I was moving to the main house. So since the furnace is 18 years old it will be replaced after we put a new roof on the cabin. My husband called me from Chicago and I told him and he laughed and said it was a conspiracy of furnaces since the furnace in our home in Chicago died! OMG, how crazy. So we'll be buying a new furnace for that house too.

Then came Dish Network and getting my HD dish and Wild Blue Satellite broadband dish moved. First Dish said it had to be done on 2 different days because they can't have 2 work orders at the same residence open at the same time. How ridiculous! A stupid policy that wastes time and man hours since it takes the techs 45 minutes just to get to my house here. So the techs called and said they'd ignore Dish and come out and do both at once. Again I had no service for over a week called Dish and told them I wanted credit since I wasn't paying for those days...they gave it. The techs came out, were here 7 hours working because this is a huge house and I finally got back on line and have tv service. Whew!

Hopefully I get at least a small break from craziness before something else goes wrong! Good thing I have a sense of humor or I'd have no hair left on my head. Living so far away from everything can have it's disadvantages but I'd not give it up for anything. The privacy and peacefulness make it all worth it.

So here's some photos from views from the main house:


View from my bedroom


View towards the cabin from the porch outside my bedroom


The last of the snow. It used to be 15 ft. tall but as of yesterday it's now all gone!


My every morning sunrise view. Just beautiful!

I bought a new gadget: A Kodak Play sport HD 1080p video camera. It's so small and very cool. Plus it's waterproof and can film underwater. That will be great when we go back to the Caribbean. It's just like the Kodak Z8, which was $30 more expensive for simply having a macro mode that I don't need, but the waterproof ability of the Play sport and the fact that it's more durable made the Play sport a better buy for me. That way if I drop it, which I'm sure I will, it won't be immediately dead!. So I wandered around a bit of the property taking video, talking to my dogs and husband. I was so out of breath after chasing those dogs I sounded like I was dying! LOL They won't embed here correctly so I'll have to fix that later. They show up but when you try and play them they say error, blah, blah. Oh well, it's a learning thing I suppose for me!

So that's what's been happening in the woods. Now, back to more moving and putting stuff away!

Testing

Testing. My patience that is. There are just some days when being so rural is not pleasant. Trying to get services from the so-called township that accompanies my mailing address or dealing with the phone company and satellite services can get beyond irritating.

First thing that happened was my HD Sat receiver for the t.v. died. So I call Dish Network, tell them it's dead and I need a new one. I said I thought it was pretty crappy to pay for this thing when it barely lasted 7 months. So they told me they'd UPS me a new one and I'd have to UPS the dead one back to them. I said "What!!!??? You're kidding." Then they said it would cost me $15 to UPS it back. Well, that was it. I said "NO, I won't pay that and here's why: it barely lasted 7 months and it's 60 miles one way to a UPS office that will accept this size package and the office is will call (meaning not just simply open regular hours)!" So then they said they would pay for the shipping and I had 10 days to return it and then they'd test it to make sure I didn't do anything to cause it to be defective. I laughed and said whatever. I got the thing in a couple days but the UPS man refused to drive down my driveway. He thought he'd get his truck stuck. I asked him why UPS, since they operate up here in the snow bound U.P., doesn't have vehicles to deal with that. I mean, sheesh, my driveway is completely plowed and no one else has gotten stuck at all. Again, whatever. I sent the bad receiver back with my husband to Chicago to be sent back because there is a UPS store close to our home there.

My next contact with Dish was to arrange for moving the HD t.v. satellite and the Wild Blue Satellite up to the new main house. Well, the 1st woman I had to talk with refused to allow me to make this arrangement telling me that my husband was prime on the account. I asked her" Do you not see my name there?" She said he'd have to be on the phone at the time...3-way call... to get this done. I told her we dealt with this account crapola last year with Dish and I am authorized to make these decisions and let me talk to her supervisor. Well, after waiting 25 minutes on hold I hung up. Oh and they also told me I needed to change my address. I said it's going to be moved ON THE SAME PROPERTY, SO THE ADDRESS IS THE SAME!!! They said well then we can't move it because, blah, blah, blah. WTF! I called back, explained the issue to another woman. She got it all arranged (address issue is that same address will be used but will say house 1 on it. I mean come on WTF) and couldn't understand why the other woman said what she did. Again, whatever. So they'll come out to disconnect my Internet and then I have to call them and make arrangements for the move. Now is that a screwed up way to do service or what? TESTING!

So earlier that day I had spent 45 minutes on the phone changing our long distance package for the 2 phone lines here. Paying 12 cents a minute doesn't cut it! We're stuck with ATT here so I opted for the all distance package and then merged our cell phone service billing...since we use ATT for cell and it took $20 a month off the bill I said fine do it. O.K. so the woman says the new long distance service will kick in on March 10th but I needed to call a separate number to disconnect the old service on March 10. So I did that. Later that day I pick up the phone to call my husband and inform him of all these things and WHAM no long distance service. AT ALL! So I call ATT and ask WTF happened? ATT says whoops yes, the order says disconnect on March 10 but someone screwed up so we feel bad...here's a $15 rebate for the 2 days you'll have no LD service. If they had re-connected the old LD service it would have canceled the new service I had spent time arranging that morning! Now how screwed up is that!!?? So until Wednesday I can't call out and no one can even call in long distance. TESTING!!

You know, there are days when I hate technology, the people hired that seem to have no clue and the absolute bullshit excuses some companies make for their screw ups. I swear it's just a massive test on my sanity.

So, that's been the fun of the last few days. It's getting warmer here and the snowmobile cones have been taken off the lake meaning stay the hell off it because we can't guarantee the safety of the ice. But the deer still walk on it and so can we because a snowmobile is a lot heavier than us! It was actually 50 degrees here yesterday. It's supposed to be in the 40's all week. I have to leash the dogs now because I don't want them running on the lake and possibly hit a soft spot.

Well, time to trek up to the main house and start on more cleaning...as if THAT doesn't test me! Here's a calming picture...at least for me!

Making Some Headway

The whole time I've been here I've been preparing the main house. It is a huge job. I have nearly 4000 sq. ft. of 30+ years of stuff to clean out...Oh. My. God. LOL So everyday I walk up the short road from our guest house to the main house and swear there are days I just want to cry. It CAN be overwhelming. There's so much to just throw away but even that's not easy. See, up here in the remote U.P. there is no garbage pickup, no matter the outrageous out-of-state taxes we pay. No, you have to load everything up and drive it to the dump and pay a fee. Pain in the ass to say the least.

There's lots of stuff that's serviceable though. Kitchen tools and pots and pan, glassware and at least 2 full size beds that include headboard, foot board and all good mattresses. There's end tables and a coffee table and a complete dining room set that includes a big hutch, table with 3 leaves, 6 chairs and a matching sideboard. I've asked around town if anyone needs these things they can have them...they just have to come get them. So far, no one has called which amazes me since I know damn well this entire area is not healthy economically. I'm going to wait another week and then call the churches, again, and then goodwill. Problem is Goodwill is 60 miles away. Just unbelievable.

So anyway, I did get the ugly butt 30 year old carpet removed and replaced with a new floor on the main level.


So here's a shot of 1/2 of the living room area with the new floor.


Here's the dining room area (with hutch I want to get rid of)and Bob, the installer from Eagle River Flooring. He did a marvelous job!

Now when I decided on the floor I knew I wanted bird's eye maple but then the decision was real wood or laminate. Well, because we have a lake, sand, dogs, cats, gravel and everything else that gets dragged in from the woods, we decided on laminate. I'll tell you, you just can not tell that this floor is laminate. The improvements in these types of floors has been amazing. It's the most practical. It's easy to clean and lightens up the entire main floor main rooms.

Next came furniture. We needed a new, king sized bed, couch, chairs, area rug and end tables. So off we went to Northwoods Furniture Gallery in Eagle River, WI. They have amazing furniture and the owners are the nicest folks you ever want to meet. So was the salesman that helped us. I will definitely be back there. Oh, their delivery guys were just the best!


The new couch. It's so comfortable!


The 2 new recliners (made in the USA...Indiana) separated by new hickory twig table. The couch has new twig tables on each end also. I just love them. They're not overly kitschy nor are they too large.


The new area rug. I love the colors and it will be easy to clean.

Now the bedroom photo. Since we bought a king size bed we had to order the headboard. It will be here in about 3 weeks. It's pretty darn cool...light wood with pine tree cutouts. At first I thought the bed would take up a lot of space but the master bedroom we have is absolutely HUGE. BTW, that ugly orange lamp will be gone shortly! LOL



So that's part of the main floor almost done. There are 2 more bedrooms, a walk-in closet, 2 baths and a kitchen yet to tackle. There's also the downstairs. If I showed you a photo of what that looks like now you'd die. Probably from laughing to death asking "where the hell did all that STUFF come from and what the hell are you going to do with it!"

Yes, the walkout basement (which is the same size as the main floor, meaning huge) with another huge stone fireplace like upstairs, another table, hutch, chairs and sideboard to get rid of, a laundry room and 60, I mean 60 cabinets filled with STUFF! Arghhhhhh. BTW, these are not small cabinets. They go floor to ceiling (the ceiling is nearly 12 feet high throughout the basement) in 3 rows on 2 walls. Just kill me now! LOL

Winter in the U.P.

I'm back up north for a few weeks. Since we inherited all this we have tons to do. First is putting in new flooring in the main house. Then I get to order some new furniture. YAY! later in Spring we'll be painting and finishing clearing out lots of old stuff. Killer job but has to be done.

So, while I'm up here I'll be taking some photos. It's so beautiful up here in Winter.

Here's some photos from yesterday's sunset:









Here come some deer off the lake. I ended up with 17 of them! They hear the corn jingling around in the can and they come flying from everywhere! They're so very furry in the Winter.

The Beauty of the North Woods

I just had to post these photos. It's so beautiful up here in the North Woods. We have all kinds of creatures. Some that swim, some that cruise the land and some that fly.

This photo is of a small island across from my home--it's part of my daily view. It's approximately 1/2 mile out in the lake. Up in that tall tree is a nest for Bald Eagles. Every year they come and create a new family.



Here's one of the adult pair taking off from the nest to look for food.



Here's the same bird in flight looking down at the lake in case a fish makes a fatal mistake and becomes dinner!



Sometimes they fly so low over my head I swear I could reach out and touch them. Ah, but those talons wouldn't be too much fun to feel. But they are so beautiful! Enjoy!


P.S. Tomorrow afternoon Wild Blue will come to hook up my satellite broadband. That will certainly be better than this crummy dial up!