February 10, 2009. Double D. Ranch. Texas. Technology.

The Internet would not work at the Lake House. After accompanying the girls and Suzanne on their drive to school yesterday, Ken and I went by the Lake House as we are all staying there for the coming holiday weekend. Ken likes to be sure everything is in working order and the hot tub operating properly. Our intention was to stay overnight, then drive back to the ranch for a few days, finally finishing up at the lake prior to our journey home. Ken runs all our accounting on line, and when he tried to access the Internet, it would not work. Several calls later, the technician is coming out on Friday afternoon. Our evening at the lake was lovely, ending up with a hot tub, but my day was not compete without my regular edition of my small web log. Habits come very quickly, and as I have been at this for over a year, my habits are set and I become somewhat irritated with the lack of technology available to me. I have often stated that I was very fortunate to be born in 1937 rather than 1837 or 1737. My lack of good eyesight would have had me grinding meal or wheat. According to a review today, mid seventeenth Century was the worst of times to live. It seems that a very cold and dry spell sent crop failures all around the world, resulting is many riots and political unrest. Could this be true? I must read the article.

We have moved from 500 horses per square mile in New York City to today's high rate of cars, in the one hundred year time period. Communications are a godsend. Just this simple little web log allows my Family and Friends to keep up with my comings and goings. I am all for the modern world, especially when everything is working. Our new GPS brought us from the lake to the ranch, without even telling it what was the proper way to go. Now we have made that run so often and in so many ways that the first question Ken asks is "What way do you want to g,? Then we talk it out and decide. But today, we just put the ranch destination up and like magic, it told us where to go. " Yippee," said the waitress at breakfast when she saw that it was raining, but it was only a drizzle and no rain at all at the ranch. The weather is beautiful. 75 degrees today. We sat on our upper porch and watched the sun go down, and drank a glass of wine. Meanwhile, my Brother has an ice dam in his gutter, and water is seeming into their second floor bedroom. Mercy me! I am happy to be here in Texas, even though my Internet connection let me down. This afternoon we found a pig in the trap. Hurrah!! We think the pigs killed at least one of our calves this past year, as we only have four calves. David and Sarah saw thirty pigs early one morning when they were out hunting, so we must get them gone. They are a huge problem for the wildlife and the crops in Texas. One down and twenty-nine to go.