Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the Middle of a Wisconsin winter part 2

[Callender Girl]

Hey, at least someone gets some benefit from my lack of sleep!!

I spend a lot of time and money at Menards, and the employees there range from very knowledgeable to "how on earth do they figure out how to clock in at the start of their shifts?" I once asked two employees who were working in the aisle with door locks and door knobs where I could find an under-door sweep -- they both gave me blank stares. Not only did they not know where sweeps would be, they didn't know what sweeps were.

But they briefly disappeared, came back and said they talked to someone in building materials, and folks there could help me BUILD one. Uh, no, what a ridiculous suggestion.

I'm totally fine with paying Anthony. I suspect he's going to go easy on the bill because he realized what a jackass the agent was being. I'll pay him Tuesday when I pick up my new computer speakers.

I needed to KNOW that everything except the modem and its signal were okay. Plus, Anthony speaks the same language as the service provider tech and could communicate in ways that were totally over my head. Not only is Anthony great with computers, he really likes animals -- makes him a good guy in my book.

I was just flabbergasted that the service provider's agent flat out threatened us with sending a tech to do nothing AND charge $150. Especially since someone else there was able to fix the problem in moments. Anthony has encouraged me to find another service provider, which may be a great idea.

I've also wondered what became of Anjanette.

Hope you folks in Wisconsin don't wash away. I always check on news in Duluth, which Carolyn and I pass through on our annual vacation. Those folks were inundated.

 

[jvls1942]

Barb, nice to see that you are getting a good night's sleep.
I got up at 4AM. heard thunder in the distance.
Mark H. said the early storm would stay south of
sth hwy 29. looks like he was right. we are 5 miles north of 29. but we are getting a good down pour without the thunder anyway.
both rain barrels are full. I have an overflow hose on the second barrel to direct the excess water away from the house.
soon I will have the second rain barrel system in place. I still need a second barrel. they are hard to find locally..

 

[Callender Girl]

Well, I wouldn't exactly say it was a good night's sleep. The storm that dumped more than 2 inches of rain down woke me about 3 and kept me awake for an hour. I was able to drift off again and slept until almost 5 a.m.!

Yesterday was a tough, tough day. My sister, who is vacationing in New York, had her credit card hacked. I was targeted by an internet scammer who sent me a real-looking but fake Paypal bill.

These guys prey on a person's fears and make themselves seem So Real. I got a line of baloney about how someone else was making charges in three states and downloading "adult" websites and porn.

I initially fell for it -- because it looked like someone from Paypal --but began to question some of what I was being told to do, including that I couldn't tell anyone because ANYONE could be the scammer, even someone at my bank or Anthony.

I finally caught him in an outright lie. I told him I didn't believe he was really with the corporate fraud department of my bank and asked him where his office was. He said if he told me, would I believe he was legit. Sure, I said.

He gave me an office address in Pennsylvania. Ooops! My bank has the same name as one in Pennsylvania, but mine is headquartered in Iowa, is still owned by the family who founded it (I've interviewed these people when I was a reporter) and is not publicly traded -- all of which he tried to convince me wasn't true.

I then spent time at my bank making sure my accounts are all restricted, called my investment guy to make sure any withdrawals are verbal from me, and Anthony took care of getting rid of stuff on the computer. Here's the guy's biggest mistake: He didn't understand that in a small town I KNOW my bankers, I KNOW my investment guy, I KNOW my computer guy. I also notified my credit card company and a Real Person there is putting a fraud alert on my account.

The day wasn't a total loss. I picked the first two, fully ripe Orange Zinger cherry tomatoes. Today, I will feast.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Hi

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Thank goodness for raised beds. Not sure why we bothered to hook up the hose this year. Got another 2 inches of rain today.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Thank goodness for raised beds. Not sure why we bothered to hook up the hose this year. Got another 2 inches of rain today.

View attachment 3870152

OMG

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

All the rain makes for some dramatic fog.

 

[ShrekDawg]

All the rain makes for some dramatic fog.
View attachment 3870168View attachment 3870173

Pretty pics

 

[jvls1942]

I like your raised beds. they make mine look so amaturish.
I didn't feel very ambitious yesterday.
but I went out to the shop anyway.
I had put a different blade on the miter saw.
didn't try it out. so I took a 2x4 and cut a miter on one end. It went so good that I cut a miter on the other end. as long as I was cutting miters, I cut another board. before you knew it, I had all the pieces for the rain barrel support frame all cut.
so I screwed them all together. it went so well that I kept at it and have the frame all finished.
today I will get the gutter assembled.
then all I need is a dry day and a visit from my brother to help me attach it all to the house.
we are getting a surplus of rain. I hope it doesn't reverse and dry up later in summer.
I haven't checked how the grapes are doing.,
but I can see them from the driveway and they look pretty full and bushy. I don't think I will prune them this year. I might change my mind after inspecting them, though.
we didn't get any lightning with that last storm.
we did get torrents of rain, though.
the rain barrels are full. 1oo gallons in reserve

 

[ShrekDawg]

How is everyone this morning!?!??!