Our internet service up here in Katrine is via a wireless cell phone device called a MiFi, put out by Bell Mobility. It works pretty well most of the time, and it is certainly faster than the dial-up service we were compelled to use for the first year we lived up here. For those of you still chained to dial-up service, you know that it is becoming increasingly unacceptable for modern data transfer. People were sending me multi-megabyte picture files via email and it took hours to download them. I used to have to download my email messages before I went to bed, because it took all night to receive them. Forget about trying to send a large file to someone else. As well, if you only have one phone line, dial up service can make it impossible for you to make or receive phone calls. This little MiFi unit is about the size of a small remote control and, since Bell added a cell tower across the lake, service has been pretty good. It’s a viable solution for rural locations that have cell service. That said, several months ago, there was a massive recall on the MiFi unit we use. Apparently, the rechargeable lithium ion batteries had a tendency to overheat and explode. Bell provided an alternative (inferior) unit until ours could be fixed, and it was a big pain in the neck which involved changing the settings on our computer, dealing with overnight delivery trucks, and I believe doing a special rain dance around the computer. About two weeks after they took back the defective unit, an allegedly new one was delivered to us. Shauna noticed that it overheated just like the old unit had, and we suspect they simply gave us our old unit back, unfixed. A few weeks ago, perhaps a month after the unit had been replaced, the thing stopped working altogether. When I took the battery out to reboot it, I noticed that it had swollen up like a balloon. In other words, it was about to explode ... the problem they intended to rectify. As I a begin writing this report, we are again without service and I am beginning to wonder about Bell. Right now, there is a terrific storm blasting across the lake, and the winds are ferocious. Our satellite just blew out, there goes the power, and the generator has just kicked on. Perhaps I should turn off the computers. And technology marches on …
That was last Tuesday. I watched that storm blow from the vantage point of our dock. Our dog Jasper was on my lap, and she let me know, in no uncertain terms, when it was time to head for shelter. Last Tuesday a band of destructive thunderstorms blew through the Muskokas and knocked out a lot of trees and power. The tail end of Hurricane Igor has just flooded parts of the Maritimes with 8 inches of rain, and today, Thursday, there were heavy rainfall warnings for our region. I only wish we’d managed to have a couple of our dead trees cut down before the bad weather moved in … I don’t really feel like cutting and moving a felled tree off our driveway. Although I own a chainsaw, and know how to use it, I prefer to let the professionals do that sort of work. I have enough trouble playing the guitar with ten digits.
Final note. When it rains it pours. I got a call the other day from one of our nurses in Buffalo that our Corgi “Tuppence” (AKA “Tuppy”), the Oppenheimer family dog, was very sick. She’s an old girl and she has a lot of age related chronic illnesses. We thought she might bounce back, but after speaking with the vet today, it doesn’t look good. It was less than a year ago that we were all joking about Tuppy the hunter, when she killed a possum in our back yard. The dog moves like a turtle, so that must have been one feeble possum. Now I must make the 4 hour journey down to Buffalo and perhaps say goodbye to our beloved pet. This will be hard enough, but I’m really concerned about what this news will do to my confused mother. For Mom, Tuppy has been a fixture in the ever shifting sands of reality, not to mention a loyal companion who never left her side. In a rare moment of clarity, the other night Mom resigned herself to the sad fact that Tuppy “may not make it” through this latest struggle. Still, Tuppy has been a great dog, with a lot of personality. She was there all along to comfort Mom, there every morning to accept her token piece of toast from Mom’s breakfast plate. She stayed by Dad’s bedside for his final weeks, and we were all hoping that she would be there to comfort Mom until the end. I only hope Mom has the opportunity to say goodbye to her. The next 24 hours will tell.
Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2010 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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