Variable Weather!

    How can two consecutive days be so different? Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous. We enjoyed a walk. Then I worked on the new planting around our mailbox and planted pansies. It was about 70 yesterday, and today it isn't even 50 degrees with 20+ mph winds! We decided not to go for a walk today.

We hung our new hummingbird feeder a few days ago and brought it in overnight when we expected 60 mph winds. We should see some hummers soon, I hope.

Sighted in a neighbor's lawn about a block away

A beautiful display brightening the landscape

    I made a large pot of rice pudding on Thursday, and we probably won't finish it until next Thursday. Next time I'll halve the recipe! I used a recipe for a slow cooker, and I suspect a large amount of sugar is what makes it delicious. Maybe I should rethink making it again.

    We're still enjoying and watching many of the NCAA men's tournament basketball games. We've even tuned in to watch some of the women's games. By the end of Tuesday, we'll which teams make up the Final Four.

Birthday and Basketball

    I don't know what could be more fun than having a birthday followed by the start of the NCAA tournament a few days later. I started my birthday with a run. It was a foggy morning but nice to be outdoors. Then, while I worked in the kitchen, I received a phone call from my Dad's cousin, Leila Judt, who lives in Fort Wayne. She's about five years older than me, and since we hadn't talked in more than a year, we had a long conversation. 

    For lunch, I had a free pizza at a local restaurant. Later in the afternoon, my sister-in-law, Veronica, phoned. We caught up on lots of family news since it had also been a long time since talking to that side of the family. A year ago, for my birthday dinner, we learned the restaurant was closing the next day. That was the beginning of the lockdown and the restaurant would only be open for carry-out. We returned to the same restaurant for our evening meal this year. There were lots of people and a rather noisy atmosphere. Strangely different from a year ago when we had no idea how long the pandemic would last. To end the day, I had a long phone conversation with Nancy. A few days after my birthday, Marianne, a friend from childhood, called with birthday wishes. 

    Not so much fun was the loss of our Internet for the second time in about a week. We discovered that phone calls were going directly to voice mail, making it impossible to answer a call. We had to wait several days for a technician to arrive, and it seemed everything was OK when he left. Shortly after his departure, we realized that our Internet service was down. Two days later, another technician arrived and was able to get everything working. He replaced the modem.

    On Saturday afternoon, we headed to church for a Euchre tournament and were fortunate to come in first. There weren't many players, and we were dealt good cards, never losing a game. 

    I won't say much about NCAA basketball as this post is getting lengthy. There have been many surprises; we've watched as many games as possible until it was time to go to bed. Fans on the West Coast don't have to stay up until midnight to see the last game as we do. 

    Until next time, thanks for reading!

Back Online

I have a lot to talk about, but I'm going to try and be concise so that this post doesn't get too long.

Technology

When we moved last summer, we needed a new Internet and TV provider. On the recommendation of a friend, we signed up with Comcast. Recently we had problems when playing recordings of favorite shows. The recording would freeze or hesitate, and sometimes we had to restart the recording. On the 4th, we stopped at the Xfinity store to pick up a new TV box, thinking it would solve the problem. That didn't help, so we thought maybe the modem could be the problem. Last Saturday, we picked up a new modem. I was unable to complete the installation. But on Sunday had success when I talked to an agent who completed the installation at her end. However, an hour later, the Internet was down. The only solution was to schedule an appointment with a technician who finally came on Thursday afternoon. He checked several things but never explained the problem that he corrected.

We also have our phone service through Xfinity. Yesterday we realized that we weren't connecting with incoming phone calls. The line was dead when we tried to answer an incoming call. Using my cell phone, I called our home phone. I learned that, on the first ring, phone calls go directly to voice mail. We have scheduled an appointment later this week for a technician to solve this problem.

Weather

We continue to see signs of spring. Soon we'll have daffodils blooming. Central Indiana set a record with no rain for the first ten days of the month. We've had quite a few days with above-average temperatures. I hope to plant some spring flowers around our mailbox post soon.  

Sunrise this morning looking across our neighbor's back yard

Sports

We've been watching lots of college basketball. Both IU and Purdue lost in the Big 10 Tournament. In a few hours, we'll know the bracket pairings for the NCAA tournament. Indianapolis is in the spotlight, and I hope that it is a successful event without problems. 

This afternoon the brackets will be filled in at
JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis

Even with all the technical issues we've been having, life is still good! Spring begins next Saturday!