X is for Z. But Y?

Here I am at the tale end of my alphabet theme for blog posts and I am STUCK.

Today I had to resort to the unabridged dictionary to try and prompt my brain into a post for a word that begins with X.

What I noticed was that most words spelled with X at the beginning are pronounced as though it was really the letter Z in the starting spot. Hmmm. . . .

Which made me think, "Y is it spelled with an X if it's really a Z sound?"

Yup. That's how my brain rolls. The end of this series is short and sweet.

I'm ready for my next blogging assignment - suggestions?

W is for WeedEater ....

 . . . . and for Winter.

Last week I hauled out the old rototiller to stir the dirt in my vegetable garden plot. This is the third location on the property in 14 years for said garden plot. The one thing in common for all three is that we dig them up and till them with the indefatigable WeedEater rototiller that my in-laws donated to the cause when we moved to the 10 Acre Wood on Labor Day weekend in 1997.

This sturdy little beast starts up every spring with very little coaxing. Somewhere along the years I managed to lose the belt shield. It had a spell of spitting the belt off it's wheels now and then. I would have to remove the guard to re-thread the belt and lost track of it at some point. Seems the belt doesn't jump off at all now that it's not guarded.

I love tilling dirt in the spring. The smell is so promising of good things to come.  This year we committed to building a raised-bed Asparagus trench. I can hardly wait to get the new crowns planted. There will be no harvest this year, but worth the wait.

What?

Oh! The W is for Winter part? Well, it's Friday, April 15 (normally Tax Day but for a strange holiday celebrated in the District this year), and the temperature is dropping with the extremely persistent and blustery wind that is bringing SNOW. Yes, snow.

So the perfectly tilled garden awaits warmth and future activity. The trusty Weedeater stands by in the shed, ready to loosen the soil again. Spring will come.

It will!

I'm certain of it.

V is for Verizon

I made an impassioned plea to T-Mobile to release the three remaining Skovs from our contract with no penalty. I was articulate and impassioned in my statement, pointing out that I had never chosen them as a service provider in the first place. They inherited me in a corporate merger many years ago. I thanked them for their excellent customer service and their assistance in getting my youngest son off of the family plan when we determined that there simply is no T-Mobile option for a college student residing on campus at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. They were gracious and allowed us to "port" Joren over to Verizon.

I went on to explain that having a Verizon phone in our home and visiting our aging parents provided clear and compelling evidence that Verizon's coverage is superior to T-Mobile in the geographic locations we frequent most often. I told them I would be leaving at the end of the contract time anyway and asked that they indulge a long term customer (over 12 years) by releasing us from the current contract (approximately 14 months left) with no penalties. I sent the two page tomb with a stamp, a prayer, and crossed fingers.

I am pleased to report that old fashioned letters still work. And here I publicly proclaim that I left T-Mobile a satisfied customer and only departed over terms of coverage. THANK YOU, T-MOBILE!!!

So, Verizon, time to step up. You are more expensive, but there is a saying, "You get what you pay for." We are now a Verizon family, including a MiFi for Internet coverage. That would be because CenturyLink still has ZERO OPTIONS for anything other than dial-up at our residence. I would have ditched them long ago, except when one lives in a somewhat isolated rural home, one is inclined to keep a land-line for purposes of calling 911 in an emergency. Yes, we still have a phone attached to the wall that requires no electricity to operate.

So I pay a lot of money to Verizon and Dish Network for connectivity to the technologically and electronic part of the world. And we're having fun utilizing our new gadgets. Arthur LOVES his Droid and has become the App Acquisition King of the household. Dale just learned how to answer incoming calls on his phone the third day of possession. He still hasn't set up his mailbox and he's struggling with the "tiny" keys on the keypad.

I am loving my iPhone. So far my favorite App is Euchre 3D - but the Kindle App is running a close second.

So call me or text me or FaceBook me or send me an email. I can receive them all where ever Verizon goes!