Rainy Day & Devices

 Today has been another cool, wet one, for the most part. We got a nice hour or so of sunshine mid to late afternoon, but now it's dreary again, and chilly. Things are coming along in spite of the coolish weather. My lilac bushes are getting tiny leaves, the pert pussy willows from a couple weeks ago are now long and droopy with lots of pollen waiting for a dry day to make us sneeze. The grass is getting greener around my house, but in some spots closer to the pond, it's already nicely green. I finally have daffodils starting to bloom and the forsythia bush I planted in memory of Fred is strong and healthy! He would enjoy it, I'm sure. It was always a favorite bit of color to watch for when we took our annual springtime trip to Maine before the crowds got to the shore. I'm very happy it seems to be thriving. I tried planting one years ago and it failed to survive the first winter. This one has survived two! I think it's going to be ok.

Everything I try to do on my computer this afternoon moves at half the normal speed. We have had several power outages today - this morning and again this afternoon. They only lasted for short periods, but this morning there were several blips off and then back on before it went out for some time. It happened again this afternoon. All of this seemed to totally confuse the computer. Each time it took much longer than usual to get it turned back on. Now it has slowed down and doesn't want to respond sometimes. I think if I stopped working and rebooted, it would probably respond normally, but I  haven't taken the time to do that. 

During the power outage, my phones were wonky, too. That doesn't bother me very much as a general rule, but today I had calls I wanted to make and it was mildly irritating to have the phone acting up. That got me to thinking about phones in general and how we have come to depend on them so much. I see young people (and adults, as well) glued to their cell phones, oblivious to whatever is going on around them. Before cell phones or internet, I remember that parents complained about their teenagers monopolizing the family phone; and a few people installed a separate phone line for their teenagers to use. 

Now comes the "when I was growing up" story. I may have written about it before, but I was remembering today that my family didn't have a phone until I was in high school. My grandparents had a party line with about 9 other families on it, and if someone needed to get in touch with my parents or me, they called the farm where my grandparents lived, and either my grandfather or grandmother would go outside to the corner of the woodshed and holler until one of us heard them and responded. My grandmother always called out with "Yoo-hoo! Yoo-hoo!", while my grandfather gave a hearty "Hello," from behind cupped hands. We weren't always sure who the message was for, but either my father or mother would scurry out of the house and run up the hill to the farm to the phone in the diningroom where the receiver would be hanging off the hook, with the party calling hopefully still waiting. Why my grandparents didn't just take the message, I'm not sure. Perhaps a privacy thing; but that would have been just silly when nine other telephone receivers were glued to various ears along the line as neighbors waited to find out what the call was about. 

However, even after my parents had a telephone installed, I rarely used it. My friends and I didn't find it necessary to chat on a telephone. Probably because none of us had much time on our hands. We were all busy doing chores, studying, or doing something fun, usually outdoors. I don't know about other kids in the neighborhood, but when I had time to myself and wasn't outdoors, I was usually reading a book. Even now I rarely spend a lot of time talking on the telephone, although I do enjoy conversations with friends from time to time. It's always good to catch up, and texting or emailing doesn't seem very personal. Times change, for sure. And speaking of such things, how about those folks who walk, run or bike with earbuds stuck in their ears? They are tuned out from all the natural sounds around them. And that reminds me of this cartoon I came across recently. With that, I'll leave you - smiling, I hope!