It's a very cold wet day. It's been raining for several days (with some terrible thunderstorms too). The good news is that we got to confirm that our new drainage system works - the water doesn't get up on the new entrance area but goes into the drain and is taken away. The side gravel walk becomes a lake when it rains hard, but everything else is good. That's a definite change from having a swamp in the entire lower yard. Decorative french drains seem to have done the trick! We had several brief power outages as a result of the storms and I discovered that the UPS on the server isn't working - Richard is going to bring me one tonight.
I finished Will's computer and he picked it up yesterday. It's a great machine and was working well. I talked him through resetting and updating his router last night so everything should be secure now.
Rebecca took the bedroom crate on Monday (since Joey will never use it) and I replaced it with the steps to the bed. Joey thought it was very cool running up and down. I hope I won't regret it.
I reassembled Will's old computer parts and am installing Windows Server 2012 Essentials. This is going to be a challenge to learn and I hope to eventually replace the Windows Home Server. It's a shame that Microsoft abandoned that, but time moves on...I'm sure after some work and study I will be happy with the new server.
I have a chest cold of some sort - it's sort of a dry irritating cough. I guess the pollen finally got to me.
Yesterday, after having trouble with Outlook, I contacted Microsoft and had a delightful troubleshooting session with Aaron Snapke. We finally determined that the new anti-malware software I installed on Sunday was blocking DNS resolution - I uninstalled it and all is well.
The benches from Tidewater Workshop FINALLY arrived today - the big boxes are in the front hall. Amazingly, while I was talking to the UPS guy, Joey managed to escape from the gate. I guess where there's a will, there's a way!
Richard added a deck entrance to our backyard with a french drain to stop the water coming off the driveway. It looks really good and will be a nice change. Hopefully the drainage scheme will work and the boards will stay clean.
The backyard is really shaping up -Scott's was here this morning putting down fertilizer and the irrigation system went on. (I still need to get them to make some adjustments since it doesn't look like it's doing a good job.) The only thing left to do is add an enclosure around the Mini Split unit and hose.
I worked on Will's computer all weekend - he did have some nasty viruses on his original boot drive. I'm now running a full backup of the computer and think everything is working well.
Rebecca is coming to visit this afternoon.
Joey woke up at 4:30 this morning - he peed and pooped - and we went back to sleep until 6 on the sofa. It's going to be a long day...unfortunately I don't "nap" all day. He had a good day yesterday and seemed to get the reward for potty, but this morning, he pooped in the family room.
It's going to be 90 today but apparently will rain the rest of the week. This will be a good test of our newly designed drainage system!
I called Tidewater Workshop AGAIN and they say the benches should be shipped this week...I ordered them on December 15, 2014...
On Thursday Rebecca Stevens groomed Joey - he got a "real" poodle do. He looks so different and reminds me of George. It was very spooky for awhile but I guess it's just how toy apricot poodles look! He may not look like it, but he's still a puppy (and not doing well with house training)!
I'm building a new computer for Will. It's an Asus M5A99FX Pro R2.0 motherboard, AMDFX 8320 chip, 16GB Corsair Vengeance memory (I'm going to add more but I need to test it), Crucial 240 SSD, Thermallake 750 Gold power supply, and three Seagate HHDs. I also used the Radeon 6000 version video card from his old computer. I've added extra USB 2 and USB 3 ports in the case and will add quiet case fans. Everything is working well. Will will pick it up on Tuesday.
Richard Pearce of Build a Joomla Website put out some new advanced lessons. I'm so excited - he taught me everything I know - and I'm sure there is still a lot to learn.
David of Montgomery Irrigation was here yesterday and replaced a lot of heads. He's going to put in a rain gauge and rearrange things eventually.
Richard is going to build the new shed today and do some yard work while I continue working on Will's computer. I'm also going to be working with Joey to see if I can get the "go outside" concept understood (I've got a bag of bacon to reward him now.)
