In honor...
I remember this day. I had uncles who fought in WWII. Dad was refused for an "enlarged heart" (later discovered to be incorrect, so he spent the war helping to build submarines.
WWII was a war I understood. Clear-cut. no debate. But I have never seen a poem to describe that war. It was a bloodbath all the way. What could you say about Nazi death camps, Stalingrad and Hiroshima?
My uncles all arrived home after. That was rare. So many did not...
So it is yesterday evening and I'm looking at this 12' tree across my driveway. I can't get the car out directly. The tree still has intact 3" roots in the ground. But if I can cut it it 3 places it is probably small enough parts to at least drag off the driveway. I tried the electric chain saw. It was like using a butter knife.
I forgot to take a picture...
So I went back inside see if I had a new blade. I did, but I just didn't feel up to all the replacement adjustment and I didn't really have to drive anywhere the next day. So I decided to tackle that in the morning.
I considered using the car to haul it off the driveway. It would have meant backing out and then pushing between the tree and a shrub on a soggy lawn, but I can repair lawn damage, so I was getting my strongest rope and putting the trailer hitch on the Forester.
As I was collecting that stuff, I noticed my basement cell phone was blinking. That means a VM. Good neighbors Deb and John asked if I was OK. Which, since I wasn't under the tree, meant "did I need some help". Yes I did!
So I called. Basically, to say I could probably get the tree cut apart when I replaced the chain saw blade, but if they could help me swivel the tree off the driveway "I sure would appreciate it".
I should explain that I'm not very good at asking for help. I'm helpful when asked, but I've lived alone so long, I expect to solve problems on my own. That's not a good thing, but it is a habit of many years just doing everything myself having little other choice. Contractors when necessary and I hate it. But I'm not 30 anymore. Or 50. Age is catching up with me.
Deb and John are very interesting people. Deb works in conflict management online and is strongly dedicated to helping others. When we talk as neighbors, she will not leave without a hug. John seems to be an original "Jack Of All Trades". He knows enough about "everything" and he has "stuff. And he matches up with Deb perfectly. He seems to like being the "ultimate helpful guy". He has stuff that amazes me.
How did I get so lucky to have them for neighbors?
So, I called them asking for just enough help to drag the tree off the driveway. Well, that wasn't enough for them! They looked at the fallen tree, decided the roots had to be cut but he had a good chain saw to cut the trunk off near the ground. I wasn't sure how much good that was going to do. But he went back to the house and returned with a chain saw and his ATV.
I knew he had one, but I didn't realize how RUGGED those things were up close. He cut the trunk from the stump and said he would haul the tree into the woods next to the house. The tree was heavy, but he said it wouldn't be a problem. He was right.
After he chain-sawed the trunk loose he brought out a 1" thick rope. I need one that strong... Maybe even a chain. In fact, I want a couple of heavy-duty pulleys, but that is a diffent subject.
I'm not inept. I was a Boy Scout for 6 years and camped out for 6 weeks once. I know knots, can cook over an open fire, and I build a dining table in camp out of saplings cuttings once, lashed with vines.
His rope had a loop at one end and was melted (for unfraying) at the other (I do the same). I asked John if he wanted the loop the ATV end or round the trunk. And whether he wanted a timberline knot on the trunk. He said the loop around the trunk was fine. He tied a perfect double clove knot to his ATV.
I did mention that the sharp edge of that was cutting the rope and that the round trailer hitch would be easier on it. He changed it.
And AWAY went the tree! I don't know how you can drag a 10" wide tree through heavy woods, but HE did, LOL! And then he went and helped a different neighbor with a smaller one.
Saved me at least 4 hours of work. I HAVE to make a banana cake for them... And they are starting their first garden (in deer territory) and want to protect it. I know THAT stuff. So maybe I can repay their help in that way.
I have too many of them, and I gained a new one yesterday. I'll explain. About 10 years ago, lightning knocked off the top 1/3 of a huge sweetgum tree in the neighbor's yard. Being downwind, it fell into mine. That made it my problem. The rain that followed caused a river birch (a real junk tree) that was already leaning over to fall on my toolshed.
My friends kid me about "over-building things". Well, the shed withstood the tree falling on it! But I had to get a tree removal company in to cut up and remove both. I also had them remove 2 other river birches that were tall enough to shade my garden.
Well, the damaged sweetgum trunk eventually rotted and the middle 1/3 fell over in Fall 2020. I expected to cut it up with a chain saw in better weather the next Spring. But then I fell off the extension ladder in January 2021, so I sure wasn't doing any hard work for 6 months. And I still don't really feel healed (and suppose I never quite will again). I may indulge myself about all the glories of aging in a future post, but not today.
There is a beech tree in the front yard. It died 2 years ago. I have (had) golden rain trees on each side of the driveway near the street.
That's not mine, but a good picture of one. They get about 15' tall. Mine were 12'. One died the same time as the beech tree (it was a dry year for my area) and I saw other dead trees in the neighborhood later.
So the weather forecast Sunday night was for storms with strong winds Monday. Earlier yesterday, the forecast was for localized near-hurricane-strength winds, heavy rain, hail, and possibly small tornados. It is kind of early in the year for that, but climate change is real and stronger weather is becoming routine earlier and later than usual.
When the winds started, I was surprised at the violence of the wind on the trees. It wasn't just one direction. It swirled, beating them back and forth. Mature trees bent. Smaller ones whipped around like shrubs. It wasn't a tornado, but it was sure damn close. Hail fell. Pea-sized at first (which is fun to watch when inside) but it grew to grape-sized and I worried about my lettuce on the deck.
I watched the dead beech tree carefully. It had partially died many years ago, but sent up some new tops. None very heavy though. I had estimated its height and measured to the house. The remaining heavy trunk would (probably) not quite reach the house, but even 3" branches can damage a roof.
The beech remains standing. But I didn't realize at first that the surviving golden rain tree had been blown over. Right across the driveway, of course. The dead one didn't get blown over; no leaves for the wind to push on...
The storm was brief, so I went out to look at it about 5 pm. Too heavy for me to drag off the driveway. I have 2 chain saws. I can't keep the serious gas one adjusted enough to work (2 stroke gas engines drive me crazy), so I have a small electric one. I tried to cut it apart, but the blade was too dull. I have a replacement blade, but didn't really want to mess with it right them. I figured I would do that later today.
That's when my wonderful neighbors across the street came to my assistance! More on that tomorrow...
So, yesterday, I ended by saying my Apple email wasn't showing old or new emails. AOL was allowing my Cavebear account just fine but not Marksmews (cats) or Yardenman (gardening). I like separated and themed user names...
I decided to figure out passwords to try and get my email of those 2 in AOL. They have been unhelpful in the past, so I didn't even bother calling them. I looked up stuff on the net. That is always difficult. I'm not a beginner, but not an expert either. I live in the awkward world where I have an idea what experts are telling me but not understanding all the instructions. Experts assume "some things". Like what the heck is a "kernal panic"?
But I did get enough to try setting up AOL email accounts. One site told me the locations within AOL to look at email accounts. Another suggested way to establish a new password. None of them worked immediately, but I kept trying some of them. All failed. Everytime I tried a new account, I got my Cavebear account login on Safari.
I opened Firefox and tried the same things. I actually got a different sign-in page! I entered my Mark's Mews email address and searched around. I found a place for re-setting a password. It asked some security questions. That was difficult'
I have my accounts and passwords on paper (no one can hack THAT). But over the years, I have scribbled notes of changes and drawn lines to new passwords, etc. Its a MESS! I really have to update the Excel spreadsheet of those (its on a standalone computer). But I found enough in the scribbles to answer the security questions.
I was shocked to discover that AOL had that data and allowed me to establish a new password for Marksmews email account. But it said I had to restart my computer. OK, I can do that, and did.
The Marksmews email account didn't show up in Safari, but it did in Firefox. I have NO idea why. But there (Oh happily there) was the Marksmews email account ON AOL. Previous discussions with AOL agents said that was not possible without a standard monthly fee. On my screen, there was no mention of a fee. I am assuming they lied about that.
And when I opened the MarksMews email account on Firefox in AOL (my Cavebear account is bookmarked on Safari), all the old emails and the new 10 days of emails all showed up! Among them were the notifications from Chewy about my autoship. So they were not to blame.
I bookmarked it on Firefox. I closed Firefox. I reopened it on Firefox. The email account shows up in AOL! I sent emails back and forth to myself. It worked. I got one account solved.
Something successful every day is good...
Yeah another computer post. But this time, an interesting and unexpected fix.
Two things happened. First, I received an unexpected autoship shipment of cat food from Chewy. I am supposed to get an email from them advising me of an upcoming autoship (in case I want to cancel or change it). I did not get an email about that. I was kind of upset because there were a few flavors The Mews don't love and I didn't receive a notification email in order to change that.
I thought about how that might occur. First, maybe Chewy had accidentally duplicated the previous order. Second, since I had been delaying autoship orders the past few months (I get damaged cans), they had sent stuff to keep me as a customer.
The actual reason didn't occur to me at first.... I had 3 email accounts with Verizon once. I read them all EASILY using Apple Mail. They sold all their email accounts to AOL with a promise they would all be maintained for free (as it was on Verizon).
It hasn't been a good experience. AOL hates people having multiple email accounts. My Cavebear account (the general one) works fine on AOL (probably because I transferred that one first. AOL has fought me tooth and nail over the Marksmews and Yardenman accounts. They want a monthly "support fee" for each (and it was, as I said) supposed to be free. But I could still receive emails to those (but not send or reply from them.
So, having the new computer mostly working (some apps needed upgrades due to the new non-Intel chip) and some few apps and files just wouldn't migrate (mostly fixed now), I looked at the email accounts. I discovered that the migration to the new computer stopped my Apple mail MarksMews and Yardenman accounts.
I could see previous MarksMews emails, but not after April 27th. Worse, the next day, all the old emails were gone. As if my Apple mail accounts never existed. It was only a week, so I hadn't realized that there were no new ones. That sometimes happens.
And then it struck me that Chewy probably had send a notification of impending autoship, but the emails weren't showing up. I'll stop here for now. People get bored reading about computer problems in general and this is getting too long anyway.
More tomorrow...
This is a pine branch. It showed up on my deck.
There is no pine tree within 3 lots of mine. It didn't blow here in the wind. Something dragged it up here. It wasn't my cats (they don't wander out of the yard).
But what animal drags a pine branch around?
Its working, but it wasn't for 3 days at first and I was going nuts. There is bad news at first, but good news at the end, so keep reading.
It arrived last week. I made sure my Time Machine backup had the latest version of the old computer. Went through the migration process. Answered all the questions along the way. Recorded all information it suggested. It took 9 hours.
Migration is supposed to retain all settings. For the most part, it did, but for some things it did not.
When the migration process was ended, it said to restart the computer. That made sense, restart incorporates the old into the new.
When it came back up, it wanted my admin password. I know my admin password. But it wouldn't accept it. I struggled with that the entire next day. No luck. The new computer software wouldn't recognize me.
Hooking my old computer back up, I researched "recover admin password". By design for security, that is not easy to do, but I did find some instructions about it. Sadly, none of them made much sense to me (too technical and in terms I didn't understand). I mean, seriously, "kernal panic"?
I set up the new computer again and tried to follow the recovery instructions. No luck
I tried sleeping the computer, I tried restarting it, I even unplugged the router to reset it after 2 minutes. Nothing helped.
I set up the old computer again (which, perversely, seemed to be working fine and made sure I had a new backup. I disconnected it and set up the new one. I erased the internal hard drive. I reinstalled the backup. No luck. The new computer would simply not accept my admin password.
I shut it down again. Let's just say "bad words abounded in the house...
The next day, I started it up again to try and do "safe recovery mode" and other things recommended. But I tried the same old admin password again first (why not?) and it was accepted! I have no idea why it was now and not before.
But the new computer is working. It's not perfect. I lost all autofills, but I will restore them gradually. Good news is that it hasn't auto-restarted. It doesn't get hot in sleep mode. It wakes up immediately. It seems to send and receive quickly. All my bookmarks, files, email and photos are present.
Time to see if I can FINALLY be able to leave comments on blogs again. That is the last test and something I have missed doing.
