Auction day!

I've been playing some with the online auction. I call it auction therapy. The latest was the estate of Doreen Millier, et al. It's really interesting seeing what people keep over the years.

We've been trying to declutter, but then things break. Our old lamp.

It's quite the computer program. All automatic.



This looks really familiar to me! JB thinks so, too.

This went for something like $100!
I was tempted...

These are similar to the chair Bob V sits on outside.
I've painted mine blue, however! (It was green.)


It was my mother's.

These are some of the other auction items...


I won the picture stand, the two lamps, the bells, footed dish, bowl and plate, and bird houses. (I am collecting bird houses!)

This nifty footed basket made it home in one piece!
It sits atop the end table I similarly bought at the auction.

I put the two lamps in the spare room.



I'm going to have some fun with these in the garden.

I love this wall art, on the right.

Somehow, I have reinjured my finger.

Microsoft called!

good old days

Hubby's aunt told us that she had the Microsoft phone call scam. She is 87 and doesn't have a computer. She kept the guy on the line, pretending she did. I thought of her, right away!
It was a day of scamming. Yet another!

I was at my client's house and the phone rang. She couldn't understand what the caller was saying. I took the phone. He had a heavy East Indian accent. He told me he was with Microsoft and that my computer was broken.

I said, "It is?"
He said, "Yes."
I asked, "Are you going to help me with it?"
"Yes,"  he said.
"Oh, good!"
"Go over to your computer. Are you there?"
"Yes, I'm in front of my computer." (I'm giggling broadly at my client.)
"OK, can you find the key that says C-T-R-L, which means Control?"
"Yes. I found the control key on my computer."
"OK, What key is beside that key?"
"An apple." (I have a Mac! I don't have a CTRL key, it clearly says control. He paused.)
"OK, press the control key with your finger."
"What? With my finger? I can't use my nose?" My client laughed.
At that point, I was giggling harder, looking over at my nonegenarian client, who has never used a computer. Did he ever pick the wrong family!

We felt somewhat empowered.

Arguing with Bell Telephone

Don't know where I saw this,
but you'll see why I posted it!

good old days!

Yes, many of you can empathise. Hours on the phone to get repairs done.
Our phone lines have been crackly. Did you know it's one of Emily's common repair issues? "Press two if your line has static."
However, more than a year ago one repairman told us that it was between us and the house. I just couldn't deal with it. I figured it was time, since we're spending so much time on the phone with medical issues.

Long story short, it's a three-step process.

Part I

It required HydroOne to come and mark the hydro lines. He didn't bother coming to the door first and scared me silly as I walked out of the house and he was standing there.
Here is the Hydro man marking the buried lines. I just missed the Hydro lines when I dug the goldfish pond! Whoops!

Part II

Then, another man appeared at our door the next day, he DID ring the doorbell saying he was here to bury the cable. "What cable?" I asked. We determined that he was laying the cable out first, then burying it. It wasn't mentioned! This is outsourced, you see. He, also, took away the sweet little red HydroOne flags. I rather liked them!

Burying the Bell cable. He didn't wear headphones, and this is a noisy, powerful machine. It moved rocks right out of the way. He was also slightly deaf, I had to yell for him to hear me. He was young and foolish, methinks, with his shorts obvious for all to see!


Yes, Lanark County is rather rocky. Dorah was my helper. She loved the holes from the big rocks the dude with the low pants and shorts uncovered. He covered up the rocks and the earth he'd moved, but the rocks will be a problem when using the lawn tractor. Dorah and I uncovered them, threw them into the rock garden, and we'll have to fill up the holes.

powerful machine, running right over the rocks
while burying the cable

Part III

Phoning to get them to unhook the old line, and hook up the buried new one. Here is an example of JB on the phone! I offered to phone Bell this time. He was in charge of another phone chore!

Once this was done I had to phone Bell to tell them to come and hook up the new line. This, a 20 minute process with a man, who booked an appointment for the next day. This was a trial because they didn't understand several issues.


1) That I was phoning to have the line hooked up.
2) It wasn't a 'new phone installation' but a new line.
3) That I wasn't calling from a cell phone, I don't have one, that the line was working, albeit not well.

Then a woman phoned me, from the dispatch department (I presume!), who failed to understand why we needed someone to come and hook up the new line.
1) No, I wasn't saying it was already done, but that someone needed to come and do it.
2) No, it's not fixed. It was to be replaced, but the new line isn't hooked.
3) No, I don't have a cell phone.
Bell, like Rogers and other companies, is so big that the left hand doesn't understand what the right hand does.
Then, a half hour later (seriously!) rather than the next day, a nice man, Terry, showed up at the door in to hook up the line.

JB dealing with Bell : hours on the telephone in Bala.
We were 3 days without Internet in Nepean in 2004.
(And 3 days on the phone trying to explain the issue!)
In order to cancel my mom's phone, I pretended to be her!