More rain, pig updates, jury duty, internet

We got almost another half inch of rain yesterday evening. It came in short bursts through the evening. It was enough to keep me from getting anything done – not that I would have accomplished much had it not rained. Last night was one of those nights that was not going to produce a high volume of work anyway. Monday evenings are generally not my best evenings.

 I did stop on my way out of Decatur to buy a weed eater. Since Grandpa took all the weed eaters we had on the farm back to West Virginia, Mama and I have to start out new. I suppose that is for the better in the long run but it an expensive process to replace the equipment I lost access to. On the bright side, I am slowly reacquiring better tools than what we lost.

Mama and Victoria are a little more satisfied with the piglets now that they are calming down. There was also some worry about them eating properly but they seem to be on track there also. The lady who sold them to Mama had cautioned against setting out a portion of food but rather hand feeding them to ensure they each got the food they needed. When Mama did feed them yesterday morning they acted like regular pigs pushing and shoving at each other as they gobbled up the food; that made Mama feel better.

Mama has to report for jury duty this morning. She is very apprehensive about it. I have never been selected when I have had to report but there might come a time that that will happen and she is worried that this could be that time for her. We will have no idea until she shows up and finds out what is happening at the courthouse.

Between rain storms a man from an internet provider that we had called showed up at the farm. I had already showered and was dressed for bed but I got appropriately dressed and met him outside. He climbed up on the roof of the old farm house to see if he had line of sight to his tower just south of Bowie. He could see the tower from there but not so much from the roof of the shop.

He will come back this evening to test for signal and if we have a good signal he will set us up for the service. We have been struggling with satellite internet for almost two years; two different companies. The last company we have been with has been a horrible experience. We hope this will be better but only time will tell.

At least this service provides a signal without the data cap. With the satellite provider we would run out of data allowance very quickly. I was never sure how they calculated their data but it never added up to what I could get from the AT&T Hotspot during the same time – and at the same rate of data streaming.

While he was there he mentioned the tower that is just across the road from us. It is also a microwave tower but he did not know who owns the tower. He suggested we call a neighbor that appears to be getting their signal from that tower. Mama tried to reach them but without success. It would be nice if that turned out to be a possibility. So far, the biggest challenge we have had on the farm is to get connected electronically.

It was never set up for that – which, in the long term, may turn out not to be a bad thing.