'Netless Time

0 Conversations

Not ready yet--please don't read!

As many of you know1, I've been without internet access since midJuly. It's been a busy summer and autumn, and full of changes. Enough of 'em that I decided that an entry would be better than a journal entry2.

The first major change, and the one that precipitated the loss of home internet, was a change in housing. Some of you may remember that we were this close to buying a house early this summer, but the well and septic tests changed our minds. We went forward with moving out of our rent-controlled apartment anyway, because we had been given the use of a nice 5th wheel trailer3, as well as an offer of a place to park it and hook it up to electricity for free, indefinitely. Free rent and no utility costs5 means we can save up to maybe make another try at home buying, if that's what we choose later6. Now, it's not huge--there's one bedroom and a built-in hide-a-bed in the living room--and it's fully furnished with the only set of matching furniture we've ever had in our 14 years of marriage, so we had quite a bit of stuff to get rid of, before putting books and photos and other small things into the smallest storage unit we could find--as Tom pointed out, by the time we pay storage fees for a year or so for a big storage unit, we could replace the furniture we got rid of quite easily! We started out with Tom and I in the bedroom and the girls in the living room (on the sofa and the floor--at that point, we weren't using the hide-a-bed) but Notepad was going through the "Oo, a button/switch/something-I-get-a-lot-of-attention-for-touching, I think I'll push it!" stage, and little things like the stove knobs, the circuit breakers, and the switch that controls the pop-outs were all within reach. Also, she could quite easily open the hall door and come in with us while we were staying out of the livingroom (where the entry is) so she'd go to sleep. Around the start of school, we switched--the girls now share a queen bed, and Tom and I have the double, which is the same size we had in the apartment. With the layout of the trailer the way it is, Notepad can't open the hall door from the side from which a pull is necessary, so the only switches she has access to are light switches. And it's a lot easier to spread out in the living room while waiting for a 2-year-old to fall asleep than stay huddled in a bedroom that offers little room around the bed.

We also had a change in pets. When we moved out of the apartment, I knew there would be no room in the trailer for the guinea pig cage8, so I found a good home for her with someone I used to work with. I figured we'd be petless for awhile--while we'd discussed getting a dog once we lived somewhere uncaged pets were allowed, I figured it'd be a few months--and a dog around beagle-sized at the most9. Well, about a month after we moved into the trailer, some folks we know had to move back to the Midwest with family--and that family is allergic to dogs. So we acquired a 14-month-old, spayed female boxer that we renamed Penny.

1I've certainly complained enough...2And the ability to use footnotes may have had a hand in that decision, as wellsmiley - winkeye3A static caravan--one of the ones with a similar4 hitch to the hitch used with an articulated lorry.4If not identical.5Other than getting the septic pumped once or twice a month, and filling the propane tanks when needed.6Of course, once we have saved more than just under a month's pay7, we're ineligible for MediCal, but I'm sure we'll stay healthy and uninjured until we find cheap medical insurance, at least for the girls... Remind me why health care comparable to what the majority of the first world has is a horrible thing, again?7Said income being low enough for us to need and receive public assistance...8A 2X3 C-and-C cage, if that means anything to you. Or even if it doesn't.9With how much Notepad loves dogs, anything tiny would get hurt, possibly badly, since Notepad is only 2.

Bookmark on your Personal Space


Conversations About This Entry

There are no Conversations for this Entry

Entry

A87727611

Infinite Improbability Drive

Infinite Improbability Drive

Read a random Edited Entry


Disclaimer

h2g2 is created by h2g2's users, who are members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of the Not Panicking Ltd. Unlike Edited Entries, Entries have not been checked by an Editor. If you consider any Entry to be in breach of the site's House Rules, please register a complaint. For any other comments, please visit the Feedback page.

Write an Entry

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."

Write an entry
Read more