P.S. Success at Last

Eureka - I called this morning at 8:10 to Ancestry, got a lady who knew what she was doing, and in 10 minutes everything was working!  There is a light at the end of the tunnel in computer land after all.

Ruminations on the Day

     I got up early this morning to see if I could solve a computer problem that took up an afternoon and early evening yesterday.  Since we are subscribers to Ancestry.com, we decided to update our genealogy software to a program called Family Tree Maker, which works with Ancestry.  In fact, if I cash ever get this program up and running, it is supposed to allow me to download our family trees into its pages.  However, the motto must be "no pain, no gain", because that hasn't happened yet.  It took several phone calls to various places to get the program downloaded (my new IMac doesn't have a CD/DVD slot, and I haven't yet purchased the device to attach to play those items), so I had to learn the routine with this new computer to even download and find the program when it was downloaded.  I was finally able to get the program installed, but the next barrier to using it is the little box that tells me that I am not connected to the internet, even though every other program that uses the internet on this computer functions nicely.  I even checked the internet speed, and it far exceeds the required internet speed for the program.  The upshot is that I can't even register the program and get to work.
    To backtrack a little bit, when I called Ancestry about problems, I was told that I would need to go to their source for the program, a company called Nova (I don't remember the rest of the company name So, I did that, and did talk to a person to get the first problem sorted out (the serial number  they had given me to install the program wouldn't work.  Another phone call, another serial number, and that finally worked.  So, after ages, I finally began the installation process - it took over an hour to download the program.
     Voila! There in the dock was the icon for Family Tree Maker.  I thought I was home free.  NOT!  When I clicked on the icon, the program opened, but I was informed that I was not connected to the internet.  I again called Nova, and was put on hold, being informed that "we are receiving an unusually large number of calls and your wait may be longer than 10 minutes."  I just laid the speaker phone on the desk, turned the volume down and waited …and waited…and waited.  Now I really had a problem.  The Seahawks Monday night football game was scheduled to begin at 6:00, (yes, even though we have lived here for 18 years, we are still Seahawks fans), and I had been holding for a while.  However, I now had time invested in getting an answer, so thought I'd just wait a while longer……I was about to give up, the game had begun (about 6:30), when there was no longer the irritating New Age music.  I had flat-lined, because the next voice I heard was that magical voice that says, "If you want to make a call, hang up."  I had been cut off - the phone says that I was on the line for an hour and eight minutes.  What a waste of time.  Exasperation was pretty high. And, to top it all off, the game was a dud, even though Seattle managed to squeak through and win.  Why does St. Louis have their number?  It's like BYU and Utah playing.  Fortunately, my blood pressure was back to normal by bedtime, and I did get some sleep without nightmares.
     This morning, I came downstairs early, thinking I could get an answer early, but I've exceeded office hours, so patience again reigns.  We'll see how the day goes today.  As it is, my $39 investment is just going to waste.  So much for the simplification of life with a computer.
    On with the day.

Quilt Show in Preston

 Last week I was very involved in our local quilt show, called "ThePreston Piecers' Hometown Quilt Show"  We have held the show for the last 9 years in the Larsen-Sant Libratry community room, which isn't very large.  The quilt stands were made by a member and her husband out of PVC pipe, and bean bags were sewn to help stabilize the stands after we had a near disaster when a little boy tried to play dominoes with the quilt stands on one side of the room.  (That was a few years ago.)  The quilt in the middle at the back was a gift to our retiring librarian (30 years of service), with the money for the purchase of fabric, batting, and quilting being given by the Library Staff and Board, and the actual quilt designed and sewn by members of the Preston Piecers Quilt Guild, of which I am a charter member.  We had 62 quilts in all, some king, queen and regular size, and others being wall hangings, table runners, crib quilts, and one miniature (mine).  It is a lot of work to put on a quilt show, but the people who come are very appreciative.

 This is just a portion of my favorite quilt.  It was a very long, narrow wall hanging, designed by a mother-daughter team. Lots of use was made of wool and other fabrics, special buttons (even two mice), and lovely quilting.  It was truly a masterpiece.  I can't remember if it had a name, but if it were mine, I would call it "In The Meadow".

And, I am delighted to see that red work is coming back.  This beautifully embroidered little Sunbonet Sue quilt was really eye catching, and I loved it.  It always amazes me that very ordinary people create such beautiful things.

Road Trip to Soda Springs and Eight Mile

 Heading south from Grace.  Be sure to enlarge these pictures.  Clouds make such wonderful patterns on the fields and hillsides.  We were surprised to see how green everything is.  Fall rains on winter wheat plantings.

 On the road to Eight Mile.  In places, the road isn't very wide.

Another picture of the scenery on the way south from Grace to Preston.  This has always been one of my favorite drives.  The red vine maples have about done their bit, depending on the altitude, but the yellow aspen and other deciduous trees are in full glory right now.

Hand Quilting the Quilt

In 1994, I began appliquéing a Sunbonnet Sue quilt.  Blocks accumulated sporadically over the next five years, and finally I finished them, and sewed the quilt top.  By that time, we were going to Mesa for the winters, so the unfinished quilt went with me.  I marked the quilt, basted it, and began hand-quiilting it on a stand that was rectangular, looking a little bit like a card table, with the outside being removable, so that you could make the top smooth and fairly taut to quilt on it.  I worked on the quilt a little bit each winter, hauling it back and forth from Preston to Mesa.  When we finally sold the place in 2005 or 6 (?), because we were tired of the move every six months, I was about half done, but I folded the unfinished quilt and put it on a shelf in the sewing room.  This summer, I made a list of unfinished quilting projects, and this one was fourth on the list, so down it came.  Niece Cheryl had told me about a special lap hoop made by Barnetts, so I searched on line and found the site for the sale of these wonderful hoops - mine uses a beanbag bottom, so that it shifts around comfortably on my lap.  And I manage to get one or two blocks done each week, so perhaps I'll finish it by Christmas.  Then, there will only be another 36 unfinished projects for me to complete.

A local friend and writer for the Preston paper, asked me if I was doing any hand quilting, and when I said that I was, she asked if she could come and take pictures of the process for the article she was writing for the paper about our upcoming quilt show in October.  As  you can see by the pictures, my strongest digit is my thumb, so that is often the "pusher" of the needle.  I wear a thimble on both my thumb and my middle finger, and I love these thimbles, because they are so comfortable, and have such deep holes.  Anyway, there you have it - worn and spotted hands still performing a pleasant activity.

This 'n That

Fall came with a bang - first a light frost in mid-September, then a light snow on Dorothy's birthday, the 24th.  (Snowed in Riverton, Wyoming on the day that she was born, too.)  Then we had rain, rain, clouds, rain, with a bit of sunshine dotted in between.  Yesterday was glorious, so what did we do?  Took the new iMac and its external hard drive to Logan for a technician to figure out why I keep getting a warning sign about not properly ejecting the hard drive when the computer goes to sleep.  We didn't have much else to do, so we went downtown to the book stores.  The last one we went to was the used book store, called "Books of Yesteryear".  The store used to be quite well organized, with computer inventory for the thousands and thousands of books, which they also sold on the internet.  However, a bank is taking over the building, so the book store must go.  And, the basement, which used to have many books in it, had to be emptied.  So books were carried upstairs and put in piles all over the floor in inconvenient places.  The place was a nightmare.  Every one who cherishes and buys lots of books should go to that store.  I've heard of people being cured of desiring certain foods by eating too much - this store now makes me feel like I want to give books away, not acquire new ones.
Anyway, to make a long story short, we finally went back to the Apple store, after almost 3 hours, to find out that the problem is not solved.  I think I will treat it like the little highlighted sign on our car dashboard, which has had diagnostic work several times, but still shows up.  Just a wasted 5 hours on a glorious day.  Do you say, "That's life in the computer world?"

A new computer always presents a challenge.  This one operates on Wi-fi.  After I set it up, I could receive e-mail, and had access to the internet, but couldn't send e-mails.  I was all geared up for a long and lengthy round of phone calls - first to the internet provider who tried to solve the problem for over an hour, then to the Apple technician, who tried for about an hour and a half, and then back to the internet people.  Finally, after wasting big-time hours, I reached a technician who was familiar with the Mac, and could tell me in a few concise steps where my settings were incorrect, and voila - success.  Now I can get down to the business that the computer is intended for - as soon as I get a new program for genealogy.  There is always some new learning curve to experience in this computer world.