"All the people like us are we, and everyone else is They." - Rudyard Kipling

We're currently sitting in a cozy coffee shop in Silverton OR that serves a good Americano, has excellent made-from-scratch Danishes, and provides internet. We're learning this off-the-grid life, most recently at our campsite in Silver Falls State Park, 20 minutes up the hill. I'm using this access to take care of emails, voicemails, and other critical items like a blog post.

An update on things at Baker Rd.:

• Thursday afternoon a manager from DishTV will come to reassess his employees judgment that there's no line-of-site to their satellites. If he does, we're good.
• A plumber will arrive Friday morning to fix the leak in the wall from the shower gooseneck and, while he's at it, install the really cheap new valve that I just bought at the Ace Hdw next door. 
• Friday morning a guy from Axess will come to see if he can get us satellite connections. I don't know anything about that firm and know of them only through the suggestion of the aforementioned Dish employee. Axess is new, national, and uses different satellites.
• At some point over the next few days a supervisor with CenturyLink is supposed to come out and look over our situation. I was told a month ago by their national office that they couldn't add any more connections on Baker Rd. I called again (what's to lose?) and got a guy who said they don't serve Baker Rd. [Yes, you do. My neighbors all have CL.] "Yes, your neighbor is the last one on the line. [No, my neighbor lives further up the road, and another neighbor 1/4 mile up the road also has it.] Note: each of these exchanges is followed by me spending 3 minutes on hold while he does more research. In the end he said he'd have someone go out there "in the next few days" to look things over.

I'm hoping that between these three I'll come up with one who can provide internet. That will also get us cell coverage. If we live w/o TV we'll survive, especially if we can download important programs like the F1 races and NFL games. 

Back to the leak in the wall. I'll spare you the details, but I think I may be responsible for the leak, having broken a pipe in there when I tried unsuccessfully to change the shower head when we were up in June. I'm FINE with that. It means it hasn't been leaking for years prior to our purchase, and that means there shouldn't be extensive rot underneath the subfloor. Because that subfloor is cheap particleboard it soaks up water like a sponge and disintegrates rapidly, giving the appearance that it's an old leak, and that would mean rotted frame members. I can easily deal with the subfloor through any number of remedies, including ignoring it since it's inside a closet. 

All of that to say I am cautiously optimistic about a solution to our several problems. 

We'll leave shortly after first light tomorrow and begin the 2+ hour drive back to Elmira and get right to work loading up the 20-yard dumpster with more junk, laying laminate, ripping out fencing, painting and installing trim....and being there for all these visitors. We pull out and head for home (via Hollister and Santa Ynez CA) a week from today.

And may I add that it is SO much better to have my other me back. Can't explain why - and it doesn't matter - but we're both finding separations more difficult. Perhaps it's because we're both under some stress, me with issues at the property and her with things at the hospital. 

Not sure how we're going to cope with my 12-day absence in September when I'm in Costa Rica. 

OK, that's all I have time for right now. Don't know when I'll be back. Tomorrow is travel and being there for the Dish manager. Friday...  That is, we only have phone and internet if we drive into Veneta (nothing in Elmira, pop. 2,600) and I'm not sure when that can happen. Although I am running out of clean clothes. 

Whew!