And now...?

After Saturday's net test, I waited until this morning to text the Centurylink Tech who has been working on my problem. He said he'd be over as soon as he could make it to take another look - this time NOT inside my house. Adding urgency and worry to his life, the network tool he uses to see if an individual line was working apparently couldn't find my line at all.

Well, about 20 minutes ago he pried open the box that has the drop to my house - where the line splits off. He found a badly damaged wire inside and fixed it, then called me to ask if my net was working. As I'd given up on it, I had to open up my computers again and check, and we chatted about the damage while I ran a speed test and checked the modem's reporting.

My net is about as fast as it's ever been since we moved in here.

The modem shows all the various bits and bobs ActionTec told me to look at are within the perfect parameters.

And since he left, knock on wood, the net hasn't gone down. It was failing so much this morning I literally gave up on getting anything done on the computer.

The tech said the line "looked like it was hit by lightning" and was all blackened and burned. As the line itself is inside a box and the box is mostly underground, I'm not sure how that happened. But I'm SO glad we have an answer and I really hope this was the problem all along and it doesn't happen again.

I'm feeling giddy with relief now. Thank you Centurylink Tech who's name I won't mention here, but I shall definitely tell Centurylink that he's the best and needs a raise.

Update: About five hours later, and the net hasn't gone down at all in that time. I tweeted a message to Centurylink support with the tech's name and told them he needs a raise since he fixed a problem that we've been having since July. About four months of this - although due to the intermittent nature it was sometimes just fine.

Ongoing, Annoying Internet Problems

Since July, Hubby-Eric and I have been having problems with our Centurylink internet connection. It will "drop out" frequently, disconnecting us from whatever chatline, game, or website we are using. Most of the disconnects last about 90 seconds, then our ActionTec C1000A modem will reconnect and we can get on with it. For me, it means I can barely play my DCUO game, because it disconnects me each time.

After it started happening, I assumed the modem was dying and purchased a new one. An ActionTec GT784WN - because it was the most inexpensive that could handle the job and we are in financial straits. Right after it arrived, the 'net started to behave and we had a couple of weeks of peaceful bliss. Then the problems started again.

I switched out the modems, only to find the new problem happened on the new modem. Worse, the new modem couldn't recover itself from a drop out - I had to physically get up and turn the modem off then on again to get it to reset. I couldn't even reboot it from my computer, it would just freeze.

During the outages, I called Centurylink MANY times. A couple of times I got people who knew what they were talking about, mostly I got people who asked if I'd rebooted the modem in a bored voice and apologized when they couldn't help. Finally, I decided the cord to the modem might be the issue and bought a new cord.

Nope. Didn't help.

I started some ping logging so I could "see" the problem. Here's a typical outage:

Sun 09/24/2017 14:58:57.52 "Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=20ms TTL=58"
Sun 09/24/2017 14:59:02.66 "Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=21ms TTL=58"
Sun 09/24/2017 14:59:11.62 "Request timed out."
Sun 09/24/2017 14:59:20.62 "Request timed out."
Sun 09/24/2017 14:59:28.23 "Reply from 67.232.70.6: Destination host unreachable."
Sun 09/24/2017 14:59:37.12 "Request timed out."
Sun 09/24/2017 14:59:42.26 "Reply from 192.168.0.1: Destination net unreachable."
Sun 09/24/2017 14:59:47.40 "Reply from 192.168.0.1: Destination net unreachable."
Sun 09/24/2017 14:59:52.54 "Reply from 192.168.0.1: Destination net unreachable."
Sun 09/24/2017 14:59:57.69 "Reply from 192.168.0.1: Destination net unreachable."
Sun 09/24/2017 15:00:02.82 "Reply from 192.168.0.1: Destination net unreachable."
Sun 09/24/2017 15:00:07.95 "Reply from 192.168.0.1: Destination net unreachable."
Sun 09/24/2017 15:00:13.08 "Reply from 192.168.0.1: Destination net unreachable."
Sun 09/24/2017 15:00:18.22 "Reply from 192.168.0.1: Destination net unreachable."
Sun 09/24/2017 15:00:23.36 "Reply from 192.168.0.1: Destination net unreachable."
Sun 09/24/2017 15:00:28.51 "Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=28ms TTL=58"
Sun 09/24/2017 15:00:33.67 "Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=26ms TTL=58"

So I scheduled a tech to come out. He fiddled with the cords and the outlets and was unable to find a problem. Typically, the 'net behaved perfectly while he was there. He suggested an adjustment to help the cord fit more securely in a wall socket and declared the problem solved.

It wasn't.

He came out again after I attempted to escalate the problem to someone higher up at Centurylink. Again, we couldn't find a problem, but he believed me that there was one. He tried some things inside the house, but nothing helped. He did determine that my speeds were WAY lower than they ought to be, and figured out how to fix that problem. Of course, I care more about a steady connection than higher speeds, since higher speeds are useless with a crappy connection, but at least it's something, right?

I decided that there was a chance both the modems from ActionTec were crap, so I contacted Actiontec and asked them for help. I specifically said I wanted to know how to troubleshoot my line, and that I'd had my ISP out to my house a couple of times. Here's the response:

In your Address Bar, where you would normally type a website, erase everything. Then type in the numbers 192.168.0.1 and hit enter.

Log into your modem, click the status link and on your left, click on WAN status.

In the Broadband settings, check for Near and Far End CRC and Near and Far End RS-FEC Errors Interleave.

These should all have a ZERO to the right. If there are higher numbers here, you have a bad DSL connection and the modem is picking up errors on the line. The higher the error counts are, the more chance you will be disconnected.

Check the SNR margin too. This should be 11db to 29db for a good connection. Less than 6db and your modem WILL be disconnected.

Check the Attenuation. This should be 20db to 30db. Higher than 30db and your modem WILL be disconnected.

These all indicate issues with the DSL line or your phone wiring in your home.

Make sure you have no splitters or filters connected to your wall phone jack outlet to the modem.

Make sure your phone cord is between 6 and 12 feet long, no longer.

You may need to contact your ISP to have them check the lines at your house.

This has a little bit of new information in it. Of course, I already knew how to log into my modem, but most of the status information was meaningless to me. Heck, even with this advice, it still is meaningless, but at least I know what to look for. So, the Near End CRC Errors Interleave was not zero - it has a number. First sign that something is wrong. SNR Margin? 8 & 9 - but I need at least 11 for a good connection and if it drops to 6, I'm disconnected. Hmm. Attenuation? 33 - although I'm still connected.

I have no splitters or filters, the cord is the correct length.

I decided to check the older modem, and the results were exactly the same. So, that rules out the modem. I switched out the cords. Same problem.

That means the next step is to go outside and check the test line coming into the house. Sadly, I could not manage it alone. It's a simple enough procedure, but I needed Eric to pull it off. This morning we did the test, and here are the results:

I could be wrong, but those appear to be pretty much the same as the inside problems, which suggests the problem isn't inside my house, it's the line to my house.

Now, how on earth do I convince Centurylink of that?

Sunflowers

The flowers are coming out!

And another one!

The plants are pretty big... but not as big as the tomatoes.

Sunflowers

Hey look, flowers are forming!

Following the sun.

Sunflowers

With the lovely weather we've been having, the sunflowers have been doing particularly well.

They're springing up...

More photos below the fold, including some of the plum stick.

Sunflowers

This year, almost on a whim, I decided to try to grow sunflowers. My mother-in-law graciously supplied me with some seedlings, which are in the back row of the following photo. I had already bought a packet of mixed seeds, and those are growing in the front row. I've been going out and weeding a little every day... not a lot, mind you. I don't mind the weeds as long as they aren't as tall as the sunflowers.

As you can see, they aren't very tall yet. I'm not entirely sure which ones I planted where, nor am I sure how tall they will get. What I do know for sure is that this spot is in the sunlight almost all day during the summer. And the tomatoes I grew here a few years ago thrived. Some year I will manage to build a raised bed along this wall of the house, and do actual planting with a purpose. But for now, let's see how the sunflower experiment works out.

What.

If humans did this to me, I'd bark incessantly, too.

Finally, I have photographic proof of the little dog in a dress that has spent entirely too much time in our yard, barking at my cat lounging in the window. After taking the picture, I went into the yard and it growled at me and ran to a spot in the fence. I figured out it was getting under the fence through a hole it and its fellow barkies had dug. I put a small planter and a piece of concrete in the spot to discourage them from coming in my yard, although I suspect that won't do much at all.

Inkwell, in the meantime, is meowing and prowling the back windows, looking very upset indeed. I don't know if it's because of the dog, because I scared the dog off, or because Inky was offended by the dress.

There's fungus among us...

Our backyard has been invaded by a number of very large mushrooms, some of them quite impressive in size. Apparently, these are edible when they are first popping up out of the ground, but I'm not inclined to try them, personally.

They also dissolve into black goo if you pick them or kick them over. It takes a couple of hours, but they are actually pretty easy to get rid of. I'm informed that they are very good for the ecosystem, so I should just let 'em grow when they aren't in the way. Ok. Sure.

Tales of Stepford House - Doorknob Repair

Today, I tightened two doorknobs that have been rattling for a few weeks and attempted to fix the front door, which has been sticking. The doorknobs were just a case of popping off the decorative frame and sliding the latch (little arrow) down until the knob popped off (see this post for information about the little arrow), then tightening the screws.

The front door has been sticking, and I wasn't able to solve that problem, although I have a theory I now want to try (which means putting the cat back in the bedroom so he can't wander outside, which he was trying to do while I worked on it before) and I may be able to get it fixed.

I'm not always a handy person, but when I am, things get done.

Inkwell's stairway

Back Door Service?

This morning I was getting ready to head to work and looked around for the cat. Since Eric accidentally left him locked in a room a while ago, I've been careful about making sure I know he's free to wander the house when I leave. He was at the back door, the sliding glass door, so I pulled the curtain away to say good-bye to him.

And that's when I noticed there was a box on my back porch.

Now, Eric and I don't go out back much in the winter. In fact, "not at all" pretty much sums up the times I've been out there since we put away the mower. But looking out the back, there's a package sitting back there, covered in a layer of frost.

I opened the sliding door with some difficulty, as there were curtains, a security rod that physically stops the door from moving and a cat in the way. I pulled the box in, set everything else back in place, and wiped some of the frost off the very damp box. It was addressed to me. However, I was in a hurry to get to work, so I set the box on the counter and headed out.

Coming home for lunch I found the box on the counter, now frost-less and slightly dried out. I opened it to find an awesome and utterly unexpected gift (Thank you, Vincent!). Then I typed in the tracking number to find out how long it had been sitting there. It was delivered Tuesday afternoon. It was sitting out there for two and a half days because the UPS guy decided on a whim to deliver it to the back door instead of the front, like every other package we've ever had delivered here.

Or have we?

Have other delivery guys put boxes in the back? We have a lot of kids in this area who aren't adverse to taking things from other people's property. Who knows if any boxes have been stolen from our back yard because we didn't know they were there? I'm not betting that there have been any, but I wouldn't know, would I?

That package would have made my day on Tuesday. I'm still very pleased with it, don't get me wrong, but I could have really used it Tuesday. Why on earth would they deliver it to my back yard? It makes no sense to me. There's a good spot on the front porch that most delivery guys put boxes, where the doormat can be lifted to almost hide a box. But the back yard? It's open to the elements (no porch). It's a moderately long walk in grass/weeds with no path to get to it. It just seems incredibly stupid to put it there.

I e-mailed UPS to try to get an answer. I wonder what they'll say. If they claim a security issue, it's a pretty lame excuse because I feel far more secure having boxes delivered to the front. And I notice those. Sheesh.

Weekend Accomplishments and Linkdump

We've been treading water here at Stepford House, trying to get ourselves ahead of the game but usually failing. Right now we see a possible end in sight, with the last exterminator visit being Hallowe'en morning. By November 1st, we should be moving into the next phase of our lives here: clean-up.

Still, lots to try to get done each weekend, and this one was no exception. We started with the usual Saturday shop, only we also hit the dollar store and Bi-Mart to get some extras. I got a few bucks worth of Hallowe'en decorations, including ping-pong eyeballs for Inkwell to play with. Anyway, once we got home it was time to get the yard mowed down into its winter state. We rolled up the hoses, mowed the grass and tumbleweed low, and put everything away, hopefully until spring.

After that, we didn't do much yesterday. Physical labor takes a lot out of me, even if it's as trivial as mowing the yard.

Today I put up my "Don't Forget to Vote" flag and my Hallowe'en flag in the front windows. Makes our house look a little more occupied than without them. I've also been flying the Norwegian flag quite a bit, but it needs to be retired and replaced because I've flown it enough that it's getting ragged.

I also baked some pumpkin cookies today, just because I wanted to bake something. That was fun, but the cookies are a little bland. More pumpkin pie spice next time! I'll be wrapping those up to have for breakfast and the like over the next week or so.

I've also been on Facebook a fair bit, and I post most of my stuff there. I was getting WAY too political, so I told myself I couldn't post about something unless it hit 9 or 10 on my 0-to-10-outrage-o-meter. Some stuff did get through.

It's kind of sad that my linkdumps are now done mostly on Facebook. So I'm going to link to a handful of stuff I've already posted to Facebook, but still think is important or interesting enough to share.

Girl puts on a headscarf, is surprised at just how much different she is treated at the local mall.

A difficult story I wrote for work. I first learned about the attack on Tuesday morning when I looked through the county sheriff's report. I went out there Thursday morning to do the story so we could just let people know the cost of allowing dogs to run loose.

The Salt Lake Tribune endorses Obama. "Politicians routinely tailor their words to suit an audience. Romney, though, is shameless, lavishing vastly diverse audiences with words, any words, they would trade their votes to hear."

Even Ben Stein recognizes that taxes on the rich need to be raised. It's about time he started talking sense.

The 20 Coolest Stop-Motion Monsters. A decent list. I'm not sure it's got all the "coolest" ones, but these are pretty darn good, yeah.

Doctor Who: P.S. - Series 7 2012 - BBC One. For all Doctor Who fans, but only watch if you've already seen The Angels Take Manhattan. Seriously. But if you *have* seen that episode, this is a must-watch.

How many times do I have to say it? It's not that Aquaman can talk to fish that's so cool, it's that he can survive without extra equipment underwater indefinitely. And go to depths humans can only dream about. THAT'S what's cool about Aquaman's powers.

A child nearly dies because someone else didn't vaccinate their own child. People who don't vaccinate their children should be held liable for any child near them that gets a vaccine-preventable disease.

New Bed

Hubby-Eric and I put up the new bed last night. It's just a Hollywood frame, two bi-fold box springs (they pack flat!) and two gel/foam mattresses that shipped rolled up and vacuum packed. When the boxes arrived yesterday morning, I was in mild despair because I could not accept that a full bed could fit into the three relatively small boxes.

But the bed is up, and we slept on it for the first time last night. I woke up sometime in the night when I tried to turn over because Inkwell had settled against my legs and wasn't moving. Otherwise, I had a pretty good night. I was able to sleep comfortably on my back, which I haven't been able to do in a long time.

The cat came up and woke me about 15 minutes before my alarm was due to go off. He meowed and purred and then settled down in the crook of my arm until the alarm went off, then leaped off the bed in one bound to meow me to his food dish.

Eric stopped me on the landing, awake before me as usual (he suffers from severe insomnia). He said, "Laura, we're going to have to get rid of the bed." I was astonished, and asked him why. "Because it pulled me down into a grip of sleep, and now I don't have time to do everything I usually do in the morning." He paused. "In other words, we're keeping the bed."

We spend roughly a third of our lives in bed. I think it's about time for us to get something that will make that time as pleasant as possible.

Sick all week

I've been living on DayQuil all week, being pretty sick since Saturday night. I've been going full-speed despite the sick, but I've completely dried out my hands with sanitizer and I've avoided shaking anyone's hands.

So this morning I slept in. A long time, for me. I was woken at some point by the cat begging for breakfast, but Eric took care of that. He woke me up later because the power was off and he wanted to tell me. The cat also came along to provide his own editorials about it. It was a surprisingly pleasant Saturday morning.

Well, after Eric and I were both up and moving around, we called a friend (thank you, JW!) and finally got rid of the bed. Two guys wrestled it down the stairs onto the back of a pick-up, and then they loaded up a bunch of other junk and took Eric with them down to the dump to get rid of the things. The big problem at the moment is the new bed isn't due until later in the week, so we'll be camping for a few days in our own home.

So, I'm almost ready for work tomorrow... and then I remembered it's only Saturday and started to feel even better. The bad news is that Eric is really sick at the moment. Yeah, he apparently caught it from me. He's pretty annoyed at me.

I need a nap, but now there's no bed. Hrm.

Fixing Stuff

So my recliner broke. It's an old recliner, needs to be reupholstered, but I enjoy it and I liked reclining and getting my feet up. When it's not reclining, it's a rocking chair, and what broke was the piece that keeps it from rocking while you've got your feet up. The result was that I'd put my feet up, and the chair would tip forward because the weight was now concentrated at the front.

Now, I've had a little success fixing things. I fixed the legs on the couch, and repaired a hatstand. I also fixed the legs of a coffee table. And most recently I fixed the doorknob of the front door. So I thought, what the heck.

I turned the chair over and looked at the mechanism. Most of the thing is really solidly built, but it was fairly clear what was wrong as there was a comparatively tiny wire hanging loose from a, er, ratchet thing. I looked at where the chair had been sitting, and there was more of the wire. Ah. Broken.

So I took the wire, both pieces of it, down to our local Ace Hardware and showed them to the first guy I spotted. He walked over to a bin and pulled out an identical sized wire. Same width, same bendiness, a bit long for what I needed. But otherwise perfect. $2 for the wire, and I headed home.

Shaping the wire into the spot where the old one had lived was easy. Cutting the wire... not so easy. In fact, even with our wire cutters I was unable to cut the stupid thing. I called Eric down to help, and he was unable to cut it. So I looped the wire around a second time.

Then I tried out the chair. The ratchet clanked as the wire pushed it against the gears, and the chair held. I had fixed my chair!

I'm not a handyperson, but I have my moments.

Went out today...

...visited this place and have now updated the directions to our house to have people stop there before coming to our place to get chocolate-covered bacon strips for Eric and I. If they are out of the bacon though, I should suggest people get a piece of fudge, or a death by chocolate, or something else for Eric and I to share.

Anyway, we stopped there on our way to Costco and each tried a chocolate-covered bacon strip and a truffle. I was really really pleased with the bacon, and the blackberry truffle I had was excellent.

Jack Be Little...

The tiny pumpkins growing in my garden are "Jack Be Little" pumpkins, and they are both decorative and good eating. I decided to try one today, following a "recipe" found on this page.

Basically, I cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin, scooped out more insides than it could possibly have held (transcendentally dimensional pumpkin goop!), put in some butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, and baked it for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F in a pan with a little water in the bottom.

Didn't work. Well, sorta worked. It needed another good 15 minutes, and maybe I should have poked around the edges to let it bake better. The bits that were cooked were REALLY good, but the bits that were not cooked... ug. Let's just say it needs to cook until tender, not just until it appears to be tender.

There are a ton of recipes for the little guys all around the web, and they were fun to grow, if heart-breaking when one vine died off suddenly and possibly early (a massive windstorm followed by heavy rain hit and killed half my garden, right after I posted the last update). So I think I'll try them again next year and hopefully I'll have enough on the other vine this year to give this a try again. I think they would make fantastic desserts if they were properly cooked all the way through.

I also learned that this type of pumpkin can be taught to grow up a trellis, like a tomato plant, so next year I might try that so I can get the plant growing up as well as out. I have big plans for my garden next year, but I need to sit down and actually plan it out along with what I need to do and when. My biggest goal is to get proper irrigation in place for next year. I hope I'll have the time and the money to do it.

Oh yeah, one more thing I learned about these. Do NOT grab them by the stem until they've been properly cleaned and scoured. They have needle-sharp tiny thorns and they will get you and they will hurt. Wear gloves and cut them three inches from the fruit, and pick up by the fruit. Ouch ouch ouch.

Stepford Plants Report

I really haven't got a lot to say about the garden right now. It's overgrown, ripening, and I have harvested plenty of zucchini to make lots of bread. And tomatoes. I haven't gotten a usable pepper yet, but I might. And there are pumpkins spreading out across the yard, although some seem to be dying for no reason, and I'm not sure what type of pumpkin they are...

So, enjoy the pics, after the break.

The Shed Cat Problem

I like having cats around. I like seeing them, I enjoy their presence, and I know they take care of a lot of annoying pests that I'd really rather not have to deal with. They are also stinky, messy, and damage my garden... so I'm not a complete cat fan. I just generally fall on the "like" side more than the "dislike".

This spring, while preparing my garden area, the cats became the temporary enemy because they left cat seeds in my garden plot. They also annoyed me recently by using my grafted plum tree as a scratching post. But I have finally started to see their feline faces and take pictures of them in action.


Once you've taken pictures of a creature repeatedly, and dubbed it with a name (even one as boring as "Shed Cat One"), you take a sort of ownership of it. Not a real ownership, just an investment in the life of the creature. And I'm afraid that's started to happen to me.


I've started to put out water for them. I draw the line at food. I will not feed them at all; they aren't mine and I couldn't afford it if I wanted to. But water in the temperatures we tend to get around here? Another reason to put out water is to keep them from using the soaker hoses as their water source, thus hopefully keeping them out of the garden plot. So water, yes. Food, no.


I'd gotten used to the two main shed cats that I've seen around. The Black and White (Shed Cat One) and the Golden (Shed Cat Two). I was beginning to get a little concerned about the cats, because I noticed they are extremely skittish. While SC1 is getting used to me, I can't get within five feet of it without it dashing off. I've surprised SC2 twice by getting close while it was asleep, and it really doesn't like me because of it. I am not sure these cats have owners, which would mean I'm dealing with feral cats. And I have massive issues with feral cats... namely the fact that they tend to make more feral cats...

This morning, my worst fears were proven as probably true. I went out to turn on the watering, and spotted SC1... or at least I thought I did. Then I spotted SC1 again, running in exactly the same spot. I turned in shock, and a moment later, with SC1 still sitting near the shed, the second SC1 came out the other side of the shed. The second SC1 had more black than white, and slightly stubby legs and a shorter tail. I went in to tell hubby-Eric, then watched out the back window... and saw this.


Three Shed Kittens. We have Shed Kittens. And they are darling. They are so cute I want to just eat 'em up. It was all I could do to not go out and try to capture one to snorgle. Shed Cat One was watching over them carefully, monitoring them as they played. And they dove in and out of the space beneath the shed so often it was clear that was almost like home to them.


I want them to live a comfortable life. I don't know if they actually belong to anyone. The fact that this is the first time I've been certain I've seen two of the kittens makes me wonder if they have another home. I don't particularly object to them living in my yard part of the time, but I would really like to know if they are being properly cared for, and if they are properly neutered to keep them from making more kitties (I somehow doubt it).


They are so cute. My heart just about stops when I see them frolicking. I want to go out and join them. And yet they are clearly very skittish and not fond of humans.


I'm not sure what to do. I suppose the first step is to find out if they have owners, which would mean going around to all the houses in the neighborhood and asking if they own these cats. For an Aspie like me, you might as well ask me to jump off a cliff. I called the Humane Society, although I'm not fond of them, to ask for advice. They said they would check them out for $8 each. And if I needed to capture them, they would rent me a trap for $8 a day, with a $50 deposit. Yeah. Right. I haven't got that kind of money now, and while I'd like to make sure the cats are neutered I just cannot afford it.


So, I've got two problems with the shed cats. One: I don't know if they belong to anyone in the neighborhood, and I'm too terrified to go around and ask. Two: If they do turn out to be feral, I can't afford the costs of trapping them and getting them neutered.

Any thoughts? Suggestions?

Stepford Plants Report

A couple of things have happened since I last wrote about the garden. I got a few more pictures of the shed cats and I also took a picture of freshly harvested zucchini that became my lunch. I also finally cut the fence around the plum stick in half and put half around the grafted plum in back. But today, today I harvested some zucchini:

The gigantic one in the middle was under the stalk, about as hidden as it could be. Only its enormous girth gave it away enough for me to find it and, with hubby-Eric's vital help, cut it loose and pull it out. Yikes! In any case, I still have one and a half loaves of zucchini bread from my first bread effort to eat, so these will be grated, drained, and frozen.