Tuesday Musings.

Low tech versus high tech is on my mind for this week’s Tuesday Musings.

Since last Tuesday, when I was bemoaning about whacking my knee after running into the wooden trim on the couch, (said couch which has been in that corner for four decades), I had a low-tech “fail” that is worth sharing.

This little gem was my landline speakerphone, which sits near my left elbow, and is handy for when my boss dictates on the fly, or, when I’m on hold, thus eliminating the need to sit with the receiver crunched in between my neck and ear for long periods of time. The phone is from Radio Shack, which filed for bankruptcy and finally went out of business last year.

I don’t know how long the phone was broken as I don’t make that many outgoing calls. I had spoken to my boss three times last Wednesday as we had a few matters in the hopper and were quite busy. Later in the day, I went to make an outgoing call, picked up the receiver and a pitiful little squeak was all I heard when I pushed each of the numbered buttons. There was a dial tone, so I did a low-tech fix and pulled out the port in the wall and in the phone, and tried again. Nothing. Later that evening, I read the manual’s troubleshooting section, which said to make sure the button is set to “tone” and not “pulse” ... no chance of that button moving on its own since the controls are under the four batteries, and require at least two eating utensils from the cutlery drawer to pry that battery cover off. But, I checked anyway. I wrangled the battery plate off, checked the button, which was in the middle, but I took the knife to move the button over just a smidge, and suddenly the button popped off and flew through the air. “Well, wasn’t that special!” I muttered.

So, until I get a new speakerphone, I have two phones – one next to me for incoming calls, and one across the table to dial out.

Meanwhile, my friend Evelyn upgraded to a new cellphone over the weekend. We text back and forth quite a bit. I text from my computer to her phone and she uses her phone to text back. Her fingers fly over her phone’s QWERTY keyboard and she matches me in speed ... except now with her new cellphone, I can only text her 36 characters at a time, even though she may text unlimited characters to me. Thus, it is a one-sided conversation most of the time as I try be less wordy (which has never been my strongpoint). I like simplicity in my life, but reducing my thoughts to 36 characters is pretty darn tough.

What was NOT tough was my walk this morning ... another gorgeous day, though I hear the trio of beautiful February days we were promised, may just fall short tomorrow. The March 1st weather forecast is still looking very ugly, with a couple of inches of rain, followed by snow.

It was the epitome of peace at Council Point Park today. There were some more new walkers there, and each one, just like me, was immersed in their own thoughts and just enjoying the solitude of a brisk walk in this nature nook.

The squirrels were playing tag with one another, but came running over as I entered the trail. I pictured them with a thought bubble over their head “Linda’s here!” as they race over to get their treats. I was still chuckling to myself while thinking about their mindset, when I noticed a pile of shelled peanuts in the middle of the perimeter path. Hmm – now there’s a luxury from a new benefactor. I adore my squirrel buddies at the Park and sometimes believe I could claim them as dependents on my income tax with all the peanuts I dole out. I figured I was treating them royally with jumbo, unsalted peanuts . Now they’ll be really spoiled – I hope it doesn’t go to their heads!

I lost count of how many robins crossed my path and the sweet tweets of the songbirds filled the air. I heard more than one red-winged blackbird calling from their perch in the tall trees, all noises that were soothing to the soul. The slight rat-a-tat-tat of a tiny downy woodpecker, drilling away in his favorite tree, was the only noise disturbing the tranquil morn. My head swiveled around trying to locate that industrious little fellow, but he was elusive as usual. Even the mallards and geese were playing nice, placidly floating along the surface of the water and not raucous as they usually are. The heron was in his usual corner, busy fishing and paid me no mind, so I gave him a break and left the camera in my pocket.

The usual cast of characters, whether feathered or furry, were present and accounted for, except the bunnies, which I’ve not seen in months. The regular walkers have still not returned, perhaps still mall-walking or doing the treadmill at home or in a club for now.

You can catch up on my blog posts before I started blogging at Patch in August 2013 by going here: http://lindaschaubblog.net/