Into the 21st Century

We took a big step into the 21st century today. We finally have high speed internet, and have waved good bye to dial up. Long time coming, I think we were some of the last diehard dial up people left. It was so frustrating, it really prevented us from fully utilizing our computer and enjoying the benefit of the web. Anything we tried to do took at least five times as long. I got used to taking breaks while I was trying to arrange travel, or do any on line shopping, waiting for the pages to load, then hitting the wrong button and losing everything. I also got a laptop for my birthday, and the wireless connection means that we can be together in the family room while we are working on line. No more isolation or losing our work when the phone rings. Verizon brought FIOs into the neighborhood last fall. Our home phone is Verizon as well, so we were able to get a good package with free nationwide long distance. I won't miss calling family on cell phones, they are two tiny to be comfortable for a long chat. My laptop will also allow me to directly upload pictures from the memory card of my camera. This will encourage me to take more pictures since they will be much easier to share.

I am adding a pictures of Heartman taken in the gorge earlier this summer. We went up to a State Park on the Washington side that was once a ranch. Lots of room for the dogs to run with very few people around. The lupen were blooming and we stopped on the way home for a picnic at a rest stop next to the Columbia. Beautiful early summer day, hard to believe it is almost mid August and we will be leaving for the east coast on August 31st!