Tomorrow I may be offline for a lot of the day.

My plan for tomorrow is to get one of the old barely running laptops out, and put all my saved tabs I have open with the pages that people made comments on it so I don’t lose them.  Then I am going to take both computers offline and dump them.  I will then dump both computers.  See you then.   Hugs

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Published by Scottie

I am an older gay guy in a long-term wonderful relationship. My spouse and I are in our 36th year together. I love politics and news. I enjoy civil discussions and have no taboo subjects. My pronouns are he / him / his and my email is Scottiestoybox@gmail.com

34 thoughts on “Tomorrow I may be offline for a lot of the day.”

    1. Hi Janet. Slight change of plans. I ordered new ram for the computer and I don’t want to reload it until I get that. But more importantly I wanted to change from Norton for antivirus / malware scanner. It has gotten too expensive for the number of computers and devices I have to protect. So I want to look into less expensive ones. It costs nearly $200 a year for ten devices. That is too much for us now. Medicare is going up 6% and the cola is expected to be only 2%. So we are already tight and this will make it a lot worse. So I don’t want to change until I can find a replacement for Norton. Hugs.

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        1. Hi Janet. On Windows I have two ways I reset the computer. Cloud download from them that does the semi clean and reinstall in about 30 minutes or the one of the very old USB Windows install programs I bought years ago. Wish I bought a newer one. That way is longer and takes more time to install and update.

          As for Windows Defender I leave it running in the background but not primary. On my VPN I have Malware protection and web browser protections along with cookie / advert protections. I just went to cancel my Norton as too expensive and they offered it to me next year at $73 dollars. At that price it is worth it. However the subscription renew shows the old price which worries me. Hugs.

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                  1. I’ll be honest with you Scottie. I get depressed sometimes by how the universe keeps throwing annoying crap at me. But I am autistic, and I mostly am very good at masking my true feelings. 🤷‍♀️

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                    1. Janet, The good news is that while tRump was elected and will staff his admin will be full of haters, there were a lot of new LGBTQ+ including trans women elected to state and federal offices. Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride became the first trans woman elected to the US congress as a House Representative. As for hiding your feelings toward the haters, remember here you can be honest, open, and forceful on how you are feeling, how you are doing, and how your life is going. Hugs

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    1. Hi MDavis. 😲😜😝😋😀😂🥰😉

      I was going to wipe the entire drive after I backed up all the data I wanted to save. The back up part I already did yesterday. But I realized I needed to change antivirus companies due to the cost. I have nearly 10 devices I want to protect. Norton costs nearly $200 a year for that many devices. With Medicare going up 6% and the cola only around 2% we are already behind and getting worse. So I did not want to wipe the drives, and reload / install all my programs only to have to turn around and unload Norton because nothing ever installs fully without leaving tracks even with all the cleaning software I use. So the project is put off until the end of the month when the ram comes. By then I should have decided on the antivirus software I want. Hugs

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        1. Oh and when I back up I do it manually. I have many old computer drives of all sizes plus a couple large USB hard drives along with thumb drives. I have each computer back up on its own hard drive and all I have to do is to select the files in say documents or downloads, what ever, copy them to the hard drive I select. If the files exist I can tell it to ignore it. But if the files I am copying is newer I can choose to over write the old file with the newer one. I try to do the updating on every weekend. That is why I never pay for ransomware protections or worry about the computer crashing. I always have my data so I can wipe the computer and start again. Hugs

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    1. Hi Ali. Wow I bet they upset your four legged furry family member badly. I remember when they were doing our roof and used a very loud device to join the two parts together. It was nerve wracking like you say. But I am not going to do it today like I planned for the reasons I told MDavis and Janet above. And yes I am enough of a nerd that doing this is normally enjoyable for me. 😛😋😉🥰 Hugs

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      1. Ok. In a while. Maggie-the new doggy-is having a bad night, and has surgery at 8 (2.25 hr from now,) but I’ll post about it. I’m afraid I might have jumped the gun putting her up for a MPS pet. She’s got blood in her urine, and has been up being miserable most of the night. Bless her little heart. The house, well.
        I appreciate it, Scottie! You usually have plenty going on of your own stuff, and there;s little to worry about here, except Maggie, but I will write some more after I get her safely in for her surgery or whatever they decide to do for her now.

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        1. Oh Ali. I am so sorry for Maggie and your family. Having a sick or ill little one is so hard on both them and you. They can only tell you through their actions and limited vocal sounds what is wrong, it is not that they can speak the English we do. And with all the construction and noise upsetting all of you so much also is not helpful. Ali I am never too busy for my friends and knowing what is going on in their lives. I just am bad at asking. I have this view that if people want me to know something they will tell me. It comes from the survivor thing of when talking to other survivors let them disclose their own story in their own way, don’t pry. So I forget to ask others how they are doing or what is going on in their lives. But I do care very much for you and the others who come here. Please I look forward to the Maggie post and I hope it will all be good news. If you think I missed it please remind me of it. 🐶💘💖💐 Hugs

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          1. Well, the thing with Maggie was/is, she’s 8+, & had been relinquished by a backyard breeder who couldn’t afford to get her (Maggie’s) tumor cared for after she stopped having puppies. The shelter got her tumor treated, removed, diagnosed (benign,) and Maggie recovered. She’s still sort of a mess inside because of the litters she bore and being a small pug-built pug. She had a scheduled surgery on a hernia this morning, and it was hoped that surgery would help with some of her other issues, like, um, waste disposal. She is incontinent and dribbles constantly, also, but bless her heart, she’s a good girl, curious, intelligent, funny, and learns quickly with positivity. While she doesn’t like wearing dipes, she did it when I gave her a fluorescent pink one last night after they got here. That saved some trouble for a little while.

            But she had pain overnight, possibly from the trouble with pooping, possibly from some other thing, and then the blood in the urine beginning around 4:30 AM. Bless her heart. She was still cuddly. Anyway, the blood in the urine is a new thing for her, or at least in recent time, so they’re concerned with that, also with the fact that she did not poop at all from Sunday morning through this morning. The director said she thought Maggie went on Friday or Saturday, just not much. Anyway, the focus may have switched around some with the blood. I being a foster, will hear something after they observe her through recovery and a couple of days to see what/how she does. Also whatever they may find while they’re repairing the hernia, I guess.

            I jumped the gun telling people, but she’s so wonderful, and it was just supposed to be a simply hernia surgery, then she’d be forever home here. They didn’t say anything about the incontinence which, again, is fine with me, and only said she has a hard time pooping some days.

            So the director says the shelter has to put it all together and make sure of where Maggie ought to be. Frequently pugs like Maggie go to pug rescues, where trained pug people foster and adopt because they know how to take care of a pug who, say, can’t poop, or some of the other issue/hows pugs can face.

            I guess, if that’s what works out, I can feel good that Maggie had a fine pre-op few days! And the director said they need volunteers who will do just what I’ve done so far, give them a few days away, and a nice time.

            This is long and a lot of words. I apologize, but feel I need to explain what I know so far. Thanks for asking, Scottie!

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            1. Hello Ali. You being a foster is wonder, what a noble grand person you are. I read of fosters for guide dogs and how they raise them until they can be trained. Imagine having a dog and loving it for a year only to have to give them away. I couldn’t do it, I am too selfish and emotional. But you are wonderful. I hope Maggie can return to you but understand pugs have special needs. As much as I love the look I think breeding a dog that has so many health issues they have to deal with is unethical and wrong. I am sorry she has had such a life and now has the issues that came from it. I am glad someone is able to give her the treatment she needs, pet surgery and drugs are not cheap. We pay far more a month for Odie’s insulin that we do for mine. Ron’s is very expensive because he took Ozempic for the last year. He does good on it by he can not afford it this new year. Hugs

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              1. That’s what my son said, “A pug? But you don’t think pugs should exist!” Which is true; I don’t think any more should be born, but they are. Their very cuteness is what destroys them, but bless their hearts, they’re still doggies. I’m a little down about it. She’s going to a qualified rescue.

                Now, nobody took away my dog, and it’s all good. Sad, but she’ll be in better hands. As to fostering, well, we tried that and failed with Corky. I wanted to adopt Maggie right off, but she still had this surgery and aftercare, so she was foster until she was cleared, sort of a technicality, in case something like this took place.
                I don’t know what to do about MPS; she made The Pets Of MPS. I think I’ll just wait and tell if it comes up again. It’s a sad story, and none of us needs it. I’m sorry to share it here, really.

                Our son said that since this is likely going to be the last dog, it should be an easier one; I almost hospiced a Cocker who was deaf-blind, and only had a couple of weeks left, but I didn’t think I could stand it. It’s tough to find one that is old enough they won’t outlive me, but will give us some time together before needing late-life care, the way Corky did. She’d slowed and turned an aging corner not quite a year before her kidneys failed, so there were a few years before I had to do the late life care, and she knew and trusted me. I only had Maggie around for a couple of days. I hope, after her surgery, that she’s pretty well forgotten being here, and doesn’t feel rejected. I’m doing my best to be pragmatic.

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                1. Hi Ali. Again I am saddened you won’t have Maggie as a family member. But I admit I am so very glad you did share her / your story of her here. It is important to share your joys and your sorrows with friends. As for pugs, I love them to look at and pet / hold. But I wish they had a better health life. I mean all dogs and cats have issues as they age. My Milo lived a happy life until he turned 12 and his kidney cysts made him too sick to live. This cat was my constant companion anytime I was in the house, he slept on my head / pillow at night and on my desk during the day. All our animal family members were rescues. We often did what you are trying to do, we found animals who were older and just wanted a nice retirement home to live the last few years of their life. Many we had only lived another 5 or 6 years. But they were good years and it saved them from living in cages for those years.

                  As for MPS pets situation, I would leave it alone. She was your family member when you posted her stuff to Ten Grain. So you did not lie. Again sorry for your loss and your grief, but glad you had the love to give her and the other animal family members you gave a home to. Hugs

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      2. Well, another sort of a story; we got our home/auto insurance bundled for a lower rate and to deal with a single company. That company sent an inspector around about 3 weeks after I paid the annual premium. There is some sagging on the back patio wall (an enclosed patio with a picture window) causing the vinyl siding to come apart, and because of the imbalance, it can’t just be popped back in.

        So we knew we were gonna have to get some foundation work done, and have saved for stuff the house has needed, so that part is fine even though yikes. But the insurance company decided it wants that siding repaired by 11/15, and told me on 10/16. I already had an appt. with the foundation company for the next day, to get work going on the concrete so we could fix that wall. (The drought has caused great cracks in the earth, and sinking, and lots of people here are needing foundation support and fixes.) The company, even knowing the deadline, said the front of the house’s foundation needs to be raised before working on the back patio floor. So they’re doing that this week. It sort of makes sense, I guess, and I’m no expert on such things. They’ll come back on 12/9 to put poly foam under the back patio floor, then the wonderful contractor who put on our new roofs and re-sided the garage last year will get here to fix that wall. With great good luck, he’ll be working on it before the 15th of December, and possibly with a photo of that happening, the company will rescind the cancellation, even though the full repair won’t be finished by then.

        Fun times. We had an election last week, too!

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        1. Hi Ali. Wow that is a lot to have done in a month. That is unfair of them and if they can not see you are trying to get things fixed they won’t be much of a company to help if there is a problem. We found that if you can get insurance where we are with the age of our homes they won’t pay anything out to fix anything. One of my doctors had a home on the water with boats and 4 cars. When the hurricane came through it destroyed his home, cars and set one of his boats several streets down. The insurance wouldn’t help him at all while FEMA came through for us right away. He told us what everyone with insurance did, in Florida it doesn’t make sense to have it if you don’t have to for a mortgage. DeathSantis made it so it is almost impossible to challenge an insurance company not paying a claim in an effort to get insurance companies not to leave the state. But what good does it do it they won’t pay the claims? You pay premiums for nothing here. So many people are trying to sell and leave. None of us here have insurance. I had people who did have insurance coming to me to help them file their FEMA claims after being turned down by their insurance refused to pay the claims. For us here insurance is a scam. Hugs

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          1. Yeah, I can see how it’d be tough down there! We get plenty underwritten up here, too, but mostly it’s still better to keep the policy. I don’t understand why this new company didn’t inspect before writing the policy and accepting my premium; they’d have known about that wall, and also of the scheduling for getting repairs. They could have either declined to insure, or underwritten the back wall, or excluded the back patio. But they waited until after they’d already covered both auto and home, and now are asking for something that isn’t likely to happen on their timeline. My agency will keep me covered with another policy if need be, so it’ll work out, but there’s a lot of money involved in all of it on top of the general stress of getting it done. It just seems somewhat unfair, though it’s more of a first world type of problem, really. It’ll work out one way or another.

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    1. Hi Nan. I will be doing a search for the rankings of all of them. I will look at Bitdefender. I used them a long time ago. I am hearing good things about Malwarebytes. The thing about many devices most places only increase by a small amount for each device. Norton got bought by life lock and they are all about selling new products and services. Constantly. I get tired of it. It took forever to find how to shut off their promotions and other things. When I went to shut off the auto subscriptions they made it really difficult and of course offered me lower prices. Wish now I had thought to seriously look at it instead of just stopping the renewal. I might go back and look. Hugs

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    2. In trying to undo the auto-renewal, they offered me the product for $73 dollars for a year. For that price I can stay with Norton. Plus they will stop sending me all the promotional materials and ads while I am using it. Bitdefender doesn’t have a firewall. While I have a firewall on the VPN I use and malware protection and advanced browsing protections, I feel safer with the firewall in the antivirus. Malwarebytes was even worse protection. Hugs

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      1. I never cared for Norton … but if it works for you, that’s what’s important. For me and my limited “collection” of devices, BitDefender has served me well … plus it has good reviews by others.

        I only occasionally check your blog so haven’t read any updates (except this one). Hope you and Ron are doing well. All is “normal” in this household … except the dog contracted FLEAS!! We’re not sure where, but think it may have been on our last RV trip. In any event … NOT FUN!!

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        1. Flea infestations are a royal pain and can be deadly for the pet if they get too far advanced. But lucky there are great flea meds the vet can give. We once had it from our neighbors bringing their pet to our home, but the vet gave the cats a pill and then a few months of drops and it was fixed within 24 hours. I was stunned the fleas just dropped off the cats starting with in hours of the pill. I hope your furry family friend is as lucky.

          As for the family we are still working on fixing up and remodeling the house, the never ending projects. We just redid the entire set up of my desk moving computers around. It is much cleaner and the wiring is better separated, not laying on top of each other. I bought new ram for one of them and Ron is building a wonderful camera arm for the new videos I plan to do. I have already bought the new editing programs and getting ready to do a lot of videos. I know they are not what you like in a website but they do well with my current followers. They can put them on in the background to listen to why they do other things.

          We walk daily now every day we can. It is a good time for us to talk and bond. We are talking now about joining in more with some of the more progressive members of the community now that the maga feel more embolden. We have five homes now flying the thin blue line flag. We worry about what tRump winning will mean for our lives, but we are dealing.

          Feel free to email me with how you are doing. You don’t have to follow or read / comment on the blog to share / talk with me. If you are more comfortable doing so you can drop me an email. As always I am glad things are well for you except for fleas. Hugs

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