Home Base: Verizon Vs. ATT

Solid Advice:  If you always tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything!

Tuesday was Lee’s birthday (August 2nd).  We aren’t always able to celebrate the birthdays and holidays on the actual day.  Many times we celebrate them days or weeks away but when we can, it’s nice.

We had procrastinated long enough.  It was time to re-visit the home base we had purposely stayed away from this summer.  The last time we were there the weeds needed to be sprayed and winter cleanup needed to be performed.  We sent Justin up to weed-whack.  The problem with weed whacking is that the weeds grow back.  It’s not a permanent fix.  We knew that.  We also knew it meant that there was work waiting for us. 

There were a couple other reasons we needed to visit.  One was testing the satellite and the other was testing the internet. Receiving satellite for TV is extremely difficult in the area due to the abundance of trees.  We had a tough time originally getting a signal so needed to have a 20’ pole installed and the dish placed on the top of it.  This time our mission was to test the satellite to see if it was still pointing in the right direction.  We disconnected the DVR in the motorhome and took it along with us.  And, we are pleased to report our Dish Network antenna is still working perfectly.

The other thing we wanted to test was internet reception using our new Millenicom Verizon aircard.  Previously we had used our AT&T aircard.  This had always worked perfectly but before cancelling we had to double check Verizon.  We’re glad we did because with it we could get no signal at all.  It’s just that Verizon is not available in this area.  We already thought that but hoped there was a chance it just  might be.  We haven’t cancelled our AT&T yet but we certainly don’t want two. 

We’ve had the Verizon aircard for about 2 months and been comparing it along the way to AT&T.  Verizon users tend to think it is better than AT&T and AT&T users tend to feel it isn’t.  We’ve always figured it depended where folks go.  After having both, we still say it depends on where you’re at. We’ve noticed very little difference between the two except for where we really wanted it …. our homebase.  The biggest difference is that Millenicom offers a 20 gb plan for the same price as other carriers offer their 5 gb plan.  What to do?  We don’t really know.  I guess that’s something we’ll have to think on a bit.  I wonder if we can start and stop it only when we need it.  We’ll just have to think on that a while.

After testing the satellite and the internet, we got to work spraying and pulling the weeds.  We’ll head back in a couple days and probably spray the ones we’ve missed.  Hopefully, we’ll get most of them taken care of.  We also need to order more gravel and fix a few other things.  Ugh!  This isn't relaxing at all.

We had one little visitor.  Terry got out the wet cob we had stored away from last year and provided a good meal for the young doe.  I'm sure we'll see the rest of her friends when we come back from Whidbey Island.  We're off to see other creatures .... the Orcas, we hope.

Then, it was off to dinner with a different type of deer.  These were two more dears of the other variety..  Justin and Jordan drove to the Elks where we were at so we had no choice but to invite them and take them with us.  Remember …. if there’s food, they’re there.  And, we love to have them go with us.  We actually think (or is it, hope) it’s not just the food but the company they’re after too.

I have discovered again just how great Windows Live Writer is with blogging.  I can write these blogs offline, upload them, set the post date and not have to do a thing while they post automatically. It's a great feature and I don't even have to be around when they post.  We can be off doing other things.

-- August 3, 2011