Tuesday September 25 2007

Muddy Canyon

Joe made his breakfast again, two rare days in a row, and he took the dogs and went to town this morning. It was pretty foggy and snow covering the ground early, but the storm is over. It was also foggy in Pinedale where 3" of snow fell. This is good because it is putting out the forest fires which have still been burning. The fire fighters have had a busy and tiring season.

Then the Dish TV repairman called and said he could come out today. He was here by maybe 10 a.m. I have a full page of typewritten notes so I could describe the problem. COULD NOT BELIEVE within moments he was able to get the dang TV to play properly. We got the second TV going too. It all seemed to be back to normal - as if nothing was ever wrong. And (although he was very kind and helpful) he probably thought it was the elderly owners not able to run the remote control. Even though we've been using this system for 10 or 11 months, and the one before it for years.

He charged me $75 for the service call even though my equipment is still on warranty. Since it was apparently alright he said he had to charge for the visit. I said I guess we needed him since we couldn't fix it. And he left. In a while I went back and tried to change channels, turn it off and back on, use the guide etc. it worked for a few channels then went right back to the original problem of snowy screen saying no signal, and no response to the remote. For some time I tried and went through all the choices, - input - selecting satellite, etc. - could not get it back with a picture. As long as it shows a certain banner on the top, the remote has no response. After spending quite some time, for some unknown reason, it held on satellite and the picture came back correctly.

I called the business and asked them if they could get the TV guy could he turn around and come back on the same service call before he got too far away but they couldn't get him. He called when he got back to their shop and we talked. He said sometimes receivers had interrmittant problems and he would order us a new receiver, since the receiver he had brought to change out was the wrong one and wasn't for our HD-DVR. Our receiver is still on the warranty and Dish pays for everything including the service call. It only has a month to go so its best to get it taken care of now. I asked if I'd get my $75 back since he didn't make the right diagnosis, and he said no, but the next one and the new receiver would be free (the receiver costs $450). I said o.k. but under protest. It will probably be another 5 days or more before he gets the new receiver and brings it out and they don't work on the weekend. What a morning. Not sure why I stressed over it so much, but I have. Need to do my calming breathing and took an herbal calm remedy. I know its just been too many broken things all at once to deal with this summer, and what I've had to go through with all of it to get it taken care of. I may go to living in a tent! And tomorrow I'm ordering the stove and dishwasher from Falers.

o.k.......I feel better now.

So after Joe got back and we had some lunch I took the dogs and we rode up to Muddy Canyon to take pictures of the fall colors, chasing the receding snow and have an outing on the ATV. It was still windy and cold, so wore my down coat and gloves and glad I had them on. It was very pretty with the colored leaves, but my camera batteries were about gone, so that was a nuisance trying to nurse it along to get pictures. Even at that I took nearly 50. Raven and Sparky had a great time too. It was the perfect thing to do,

Judi called just as I got back and she and Vicki are having fun on their Dubois/Cody/Thermopolis trip. They did Sunlight Basin this morning and Buffalo Bill Center this afternoon. She was asking about the motel in Meeteetsee where I stayed at last year so they can go to the museum there too. They picked up my paintings from the Cody Art League. Tomorrow I think they are soaking in the hot springs and then home by Thursday. It sounded like "Having a wonderful time - Wish you were here!"