Forsythia!
As soon as coffee was consumed, it was time to start working on the security system. Mr. FixIt headed on out with the first camera and his tools and got to work. I messed around in the house and pretty soon, here he came back to ask for my help. He still has a little dexterity issue after the strokes last spring and, even though he hates to ask for help, he trusts my ability to do so.
Little did he know, as soon as we began, my sugar took a tank and I could hardly hold the drill because my hand was shaking so much. I bailed and went inside to eat something. By that time, I had the mounting hardware lined up and taped to the soffit where he needed to drill, so he had it done in just a few minutes. Sometimes it takes more than one person to do a job that we used to be perfectly capable of doing alone. Those are bitter pills to swallow when you’ve been as independent as Mr. FixIt and I have.
We played around with the camera angles till we got what I wanted to see. We have decided to add two more cameras to the building and another on the back of the house. It’s a little extra money, of course, but I am so impressed by the quality of the picture this thing gives. I haven’t had any experience with security systems except for that episode in Colorado after Mr. Virgo died.
I let a young sales girl talk me into adding a security system to my house because it was dark on that hill, the green space went up the side of the mountain from the back of my house, and there were no street lights out there. It was really dark, and I was alone. We had talked about getting a system before, but hadn’t gotten around to it. I thought maybe this was the right opportunity.
Remember how I’ve told you not to make big financial decisions in the first year after your spouse dies? Well, there are reasons I’ve told you that…because I made some pretty big mistakes. That security system from Vivint cost me a lot of money, then when I sold my house the following summer, I called to cancel. I was informed I needed to take the service with me to the next house because I hadn’t had the system long enough to cancel without penalties. I asked how much it would cost to just get out of the contract. I’ve forgotten the exact amount, but I think it was over $2000!
This system is made by Cobra and you can buy it with two cameras for $229 on sale right now at Harbor Freight. Each additional camera is $99. But there are no monthly fees and you can record events, view remotely from an app on your smart phone, and it has an intercom. You can yell at intruders and tell them you’ve called the police. Pretty cool. At least I’ll know who comes and goes out there.
The boxes from the Florida trip are emptied and preparations are being made for the next trip…a REAL trip…to the beach! I’m cautiously optimistic and hope the trend in covid continues to go down with more vaccines. We’ll see what happens after the craziness of spring break! I’m also preparing for a really BIG event! Daughter #1 and Company are arriving in late June and Little is staying with us for a week!!! OMGosh! I can hardly wait to see them. Daughter #2 called yesterday and she got a new job. So like is really good this week here at Chez Ponderosa!
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“In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.”
Proverbs 14:23 ESV