Life Without DirecTV

For as long as I can remember we had DirecTV as our satellite TV provider. Well, maybe not as far back as I can remember. I remember TV when I was the remote. My Dad would say "Turn the channel" and I would get up and go through all 5 channels for him. Then we got an actual remote! Ca-chunk, ca-chunk, ca-chunk as it rotated through the channels. 

We first remember having DirecTV around probably 1996 and have been a loyal customer all those years. Over the years we have had different accounts taking advantage of the "New Customer" rates which typically last two years. After the two year period you start to see your rates slowly increase from around $50/month all the way up to $170/month which is what we experienced the last few months as  all our deals expire! 

When we went to Oregon in May we suspended our account, when we got back in July, we left it suspended to see if I could stand it.  I was skeptical as I really like certain tv and news shows but so far so good. Since getting highspeed internet wired into the house we have been experimenting with different on line apps like Peacock, NetFlix and YouTube and I have been able to find the news programs I want and enough shows we like to keep us entertained. Peacock costs us like $5/month, Netflix came free when we switched out cell phone carrier and YouTube is free as well. So, we are going to cancel our DTV for a savings of $165/month! On top of that our recent switch from Verizon to TMobile saved us another $70/month! Between canceling DTV, our Verizon Jet Pack and switching our cell phone service we have netted a savings of $170/month. We don't get the local news that we want but get enough national news to keep us frustrated and annoyed with politics. Of course when we canceled they offered us the $44 rate for the next 12 months as a "Loyalty Incentive". It took us over an hour to cancel but we got it done. 

Thanks to the 7 people who clicked the "Follow" button on our blog, we are now up to 105 followers! Well, we actually got 8 people who clicked "Follow" but one of them was a cheater who clicked "Unfollow" and then tried to time it so they were the 100th follower in the hopes of winning as they put it "A major award" ala the leg lamp from the Christmas Story. I know who the 7th (and 8th) people are but I honestly do not know who the actual 100th is, but I know it was not the cheater DINO!

This week was filled with work and visiting. Our first visitors were two mule deer does and three fawns. Two of them cooperated for a picture while the others were just a little too shy.

On the people side we were able to get together with FT RV'ers Guy and Sue when we went to their campground outside Hill City where they are hosting at one campground and taking care of.....wait for it..... 8 others! Talk about being busy! But for those of you who know Guy and Sue you know Guy cannot sit still. We spent a couple hours catching up outside their rig while Sue registered a couple new campers and Guy sold firewood. We brought Dakota and Zoey but did not take one single picture of our visit.

Later that week we met up with another FT RV couple who we invited over for dinner at our house. Phil and Rudee were FT Rv'ers for a few years, went off the road for several years while living here in Custer and then just this past spring went back on the road fulltime again. They are workamping at the  Crazy Horse Monument for the summer before heading back on the road again this fall. 

Not a lot of progress on the house this week. At least not a lot that we can see but we were busy every day. Kevin and Cheryl came over one day and we finished the timber framing of the porch. It was a brutal day for these two lightweights as it was hot. Barb and I both got headaches and nauseated and finally had to call it quits with just one beam left but I was able to finish that the next day. 

Now all that is left is to finish the rafters, purlins and hip roofs. Then of course comes the steel, which sadly will take 7 more weeks to get in so that will have to wait for a while. 

My entertainment for the week is watching Barb chase Zoey across the prairie. The other day she let Zoey out to do her thing. She puts her collar on and just lets her drag it around as it is a lot easier to catch her when she has her leash on. Well, what Barb failed to see was the deer standing 20 yards away from her when she let go of Zoey's leash....but Zoey saw it and off she went! 

For those of you who have ever tried to catch a French Bulldog,  you know these things are fast! There is no way a 60 something year old grandma is going to run one down. Down the valley...through the fence, along the fence, back through, up the hill into the woods....then they were out of sight. Barb said she finally caught her when she was able to grab her leash as she was smelling the ground to see which way the deer went but..... Barb had attached the leash to the ring on her name tag and when Zoey got the scent again.."ping" the ring broke and they were off again! Exhausted, Barb staggered home a few minutes later with Zoey in her arms. Barb had a look on her face that said "I think I am going to die". While Zoey's expression was more like "That was fun, can we do it again?"

In addition to terrorizing the deer, she also terrorizes Dakota constantly pulling on her lips, ears and throat. Dakota takes most of it in stride but once in a while she lets Zoey know who the boss of the house is!

I am choking!

Not only does she terrorize large creatures but small ones as well. There is not an ant, spider or grasshopper within 100 yards of the house that is safe. If she sees a daddy long legs walking across the patio she will slowly approach it, sniff it and before you know it, she will gobble it up and eat it! The same fate has been met by ants and other creatures daring to trespass on the patio.  

Even sticks are not safe!

In between Kevin's house building he is helping out a local excavator digging some ponds in a development. We stopped by to say hi yesterday and he asked if I wanted to run the long reach excavator. I could not say YES! quick enough and I was soon behind the controls digging out part of the pond myself!

For now the house work is going to be put on hold as we have two weeks of visitors to prepare for so it is all hands on deck cleaning up and getting ready for company!