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Post by 3piggles on May 13, 2023 13:28:50 GMT
We have no landline, and I'm not sure I know anyone who has one. We have one landline company in NH, and they told Vic the landline business is almost dead. They are also one of the two cable TV/Internet companies in the state, and said that business is drying up, too. Vic was talking to them when he canceled our cable/internet, because was went with 5G. He was told there's a mass move to 5G. It also doesn't help them that 5G comes from cell towers which can be updated to 5G, and in the future probably greater than 5G, fairly easily. Cable is just that, cable, so has to be run everywhere. A tree falls on it in the storm, or someone cuts it by accident, and there's no cable or internet. So everything is going cell, and I think satellite will become a bigger entity for daily personal use, than it is now. No one wants to be connected by what they think of as a fallible cord. Glad you got that sorted, and didn't have any emergencies while it was out. I have all the important, monthly bills on auto pay through the bank. Hubby and daughter know how to use the auto pay app, so the bills get paid. I have to watch bills that aren't always the same, as I have them on the highest payment amount they've been, and sometimes build up a balance, and need to reduce the monthly amount of the payment. Sounds as if your wife could use pay-through-the-bank setup, too. I was always forgetting to pay bills, they would get put on my desk and covered with stuff, etc. No more! Did you get that cake to celebrate her being gone
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Post by bazookagoof on May 14, 2023 20:41:11 GMT
Did you get that cake to celebrate her being gone Partially; I also got it to celebrate not working at Aramark anymore. It was bad for my mental health, and now I can look forward to new challenges.
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Post by Bean on May 15, 2023 7:15:09 GMT
That sounds like a great reason to treat yourself - hope it tasted really good!
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Post by 3piggles on May 15, 2023 19:56:43 GMT
I agree with Bean, double treat
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Post by Bean on May 18, 2023 7:04:31 GMT
I discovered the Merlin app this week - it identifies bird calls. I know our garden is always alive with bird song (which is lovely), but I only recognised a few of the calls. It's amazing to find out about all the birds that are lurking in the trees and bushes singing away, but that are more elusive than the birds we regularly see in the garden. I feel like wherever I go now, my ears are listening out for bird chatter!
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Post by 3piggles on May 18, 2023 14:22:26 GMT
We've listened to bird chatter for years, and have found many birds have multiple songs. I remember reading in a bird book that Chickadees say chickadee, dee, dee. Haven't heard one say that in years, but do hear them saying what sounds like phoebe. Phoebe's are supposed to say that, and they're definitely not the birds saying it. Jays have a whole repertoire of songs, so we're trying to learn them all. Glad you found the app and can learn more about the birds when you travel That's great
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Post by bazookagoof on May 19, 2023 0:27:06 GMT
When I was in high school, I had an advanced biology course where we had to identify birds by their call. I had an old cassette tape I held onto for years until one of my brothers taped over it. I really should have hidden my possessions better; it was truly a pleasant part of the course to be able to tell what birds are around. I still remember some of the calls; the red-winged blackbird can still be heard in my neighborhood occasionally.
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Post by Bean on May 19, 2023 6:44:30 GMT
Oh that sounds like a lovely course!
Our blackbirds are so talkative and have a variety of calls. Whatever time of day you go out, they're singing away from various trees in the area. The other birds I've heard regularly seem to be most active at certain times of day, but the blackbirds are going constantly from dawn to dusk.
I haven't heard a jay yet, but have had a couple of birds regularly piping up that I've never seen in our garden - the more elusive sort!
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Post by 3piggles on May 19, 2023 22:03:25 GMT
Our Red-winged Black birds have a piercing, single-note call, so I always know when they're around, and the American Cardinal sounds like a guinea pig, so I know they're song . I would have enjoyed that course, too
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Post by Bean on May 20, 2023 6:31:05 GMT
I picked up quite a few less common birds out on a woodland walk yesterday which was fun. It seems kind of funny to be using my phone to appreciate nature, but hey ho, it's working!
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Post by 3piggles on May 20, 2023 19:42:55 GMT
My mother could name every bird call, every flower, every tree. We didn't grow up in that situation, so while I knew many of the birds, I don't know all the calls. My mother grew up before TV. Now we have an app for that. Times have definitely changed
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Post by bazookagoof on May 21, 2023 13:36:23 GMT
At the end of the school year, the big bird-watching project was to gather all the students in the class and take an all-day walk in the local forest preserves with everyone armed with binoculars. There were a few dozen of us, and we managed to spot several choice specimens.
However, one of the highlights I will never forget was spotting a couple engaged in an act of love. I will go into detail about this elsewhere privately, as it's too funny not to share but extremely inappropriate here!
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Post by 3piggles on May 21, 2023 22:17:04 GMT
I always wonder if they couldn't find a better place, or if the possibility of getting caught was half the thrill
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Post by bazookagoof on May 21, 2023 23:54:29 GMT
I always wonder if they couldn't find a better place, or if the possibility of getting caught was half the thrill Well, since they got caught they probably opted for privacy from that day on.
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Post by 3piggles on May 22, 2023 20:28:01 GMT
You never know
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Post by Bean on May 24, 2023 12:42:25 GMT
I saw this picture and thought of Jo. Attachments:
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Post by 3piggles on May 24, 2023 20:10:42 GMT
That is so cute I think of her regularly. We have some donkeys in the area we drive past regularly
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Post by Bean on May 27, 2023 6:32:01 GMT
I have a ceanothus (or Californian lilac) near the front door, and the bees absolutely love it - whenever you pass it, it's positively humming, even if you can't see any bees!
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Post by 3piggles on May 27, 2023 19:47:07 GMT
Beautiful! I just have bird chatter in all the bushes. It's as if the bushes can talk
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Post by Bean on May 28, 2023 5:47:02 GMT
I love it. We have one hawthorn tree in particular that a big gang of sparrows nest and roost in, and they are so noisy. I can't sit under it if I'm outside chatting on the phone, or whoever I'm talking to gets totally distracted with the background squawking!
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