Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[fuzzi]

My phone is used for:

texting
phone calls
taking pictures (mostly of my chickens)
mobile hot spot for computer
alarm clock
timer/stopwatch for cooking or exercising
calculator
writing quick notes of things I need to remember
checking cardinal directions (really. I want to know where south is in my garden)

One of those chicken pics for tax:
Pip, taking a nap on my lap.
View attachment 3716898

I recognize some of those.

When my dad was still living I got into the habit of keeping my phone with me at all times, even in the bathroom. If I laid my phone down and walked away he would invariably call. Repeatedly. And leave several voicemails. When I got back to the phone he'd say "Where were you?"

It was okay, he was in his 90s at that point.

 

[fuzzi]

I recognize some of those.

When my dad was still living I got into the habit of keeping my phone with me at all times, even in the bathroom. If I laid my phone down and walked away he would invariably call. Repeatedly. And leave several voicemails. When I got back to the phone he'd say "Where were you?"

It was okay, he was in his 90s at that point.

One of my favorite pictures of the two of us. He was 93 at the time.

 

[BDutch]

Do you carry your mobile phone with you around the house?

Not always.

I recognize some of those.

^^ And more….
My phone is used for:

texting , whatsapp and signal
phone calls
taking pictures
alarm clock, timer/stopwatch
calculator
writing quick notes
mail
Google maps and translate
Internet
Games/puzzles
Payments
Checking the charging of the car
Measuring
Reading newspapers
Linkedin
Checking the weather forecast
Listening to Spotify in the car
Netflix Youtube & TV (streaming)
ordering/ discounts for the supermarket
Etc.

And use it to create images (dall-e) like this chicken coop.

 

[Molpet]

I got given mine just before I left Spain. In order to do the things I needed to do a smart phone was the only realistic proposition. Now I carry it when I go out for similar reasons to you. I hadn't had any sort of phone for the ten years in Catalonia. I can't say I missed them.

However, I think the majority of smart phones can do something that can save money and help limit aimless internet wandering. It's called USB tethering. Once set up and connected by a USB cable the phone can act as a modem for a full sized computer with keyboard and screen.
I had a broadband wired internet connection installed when I moved in. The deal was okay, twenty pounds a month for adeqaute speed on a contract that lasted eighteen months. I didn't notice the first bill payment but on the second I saw it had gone up to fifty two pounds a month!
It gets worse.
During my recent sickness relatives suggested I subscribed to Netfix and Prime and I could watch movies on the computer to help keep me entertained. About ten pounds each.View attachment 3716930
Then there's the phone; that's another ten pounds for 7GB of data a month with free text and calls (there are of course limitations).
That lot adds up to eighty pounds a month to talk to people, which I'm not overly keen on, and watch shite films. I've watched some serious crap over the last few weeks and I've done it because it was there and an easy option.

My data usage before Netfix and Prime arrived on the computer was around 6GB. I haven't got any friendlier so I guess my usage is pretty steady. My phone will cover 6GB and more. I can get a further 5GB of data for five pounds.
That knocks sixty five pounds a month off my bills and will probably improve my mental and physical health in the process.
Netfix and Prime have gone. Wired internet connection is going at the end of the month. I've tested tethering out on all three of my computers and it works well.

Course, if you don't hear from me for a bit don't assume I've dropped dead; it's possible I've overlooked something on the technical front.

I tried the tethering and the phone ran hot after an hour, so yes that limits the aimlessly wandering of the Internet
My home Internet is from the same cell tower as the phone. So when the Tower goes down I have to drive to town for phone or cell Internet.
If my phone died, I have an old phone I can use with the SIM card. $100 for phone and home Internet together. Unlimited calls, text or Internet on both.
The home landline phone was that much and rarely worked.

 

[fuentemoon]

Do you carry your mobile phone with you around the house?
Events still happen at the speed they always have. Knowing about them more quickly doesn't make the slightest diffenrence to the event. Just adds more stress to life.

I do, but not to text or keep up, I am usually listening to an audio book. Plus it is my step counter.

 

[Perris]

The rain here is unrelenting. It is pooling in places on the lawn where I have never seen it stand before. And I'm wondering what's the difference between voles and water voles, shrews and water shrews, because ours are going to need to transition if this keeps up much longer! The flock meanwhile waits patiently for it to pass, just sitting quietly on the log pile or elsewhere under cover. If the forecasters are right, they'll be there all day

 

[L-plate chicken mum]

The rain here is unrelenting. It is pooling in places on the lawn where I have never seen it stand before. And I'm wondering what's the difference between voles and water voles, shrews and water shrews, because ours are going to need to transition if this keeps up much longer! The flock meanwhile waits patiently for it to pass, just sitting quietly on the log pile or elsewhere under cover. If the forecasters are right, they'll be there all day

Same here, ground is absolutely sodden & chickens hunkered down, me too

 

[Perris]

It's not just our lawn; I popped upstairs and this is what the field in front looks like

Don't envy the people who live at the bottom of the hill

 

[Shadrach]

It's raining here. 50mph wind gusts forecast for this afternoon. Chickens won't be interested in going out in this. It's a cae of get to the allotments, get them fed and watered, cleaned out as quickly as possible and run for shelter.

 

[BDutch]

Same here, ground is absolutely sodden & chickens hunkered down, me too

In the Netherlands and large a part of Germany and Belgium we have similar problems with the ongoing rain .
On our trip to friends in Germany we passed many rivers and I was surprised at how much, all the rivers I saw, had burst their banks.