At least I got it to work.

Jon came over in late September and helped get the TV with the digital box set up properly. I've never had an outside antenna so watching some stations has always been on the whims of the analog gods. We finally got a set of rabbit ears and taped them in the north window when the signal was strong. That brought in all the stations we needed.

Along comes the digital revolution and, as with any revolution, some of us get left behind.

My co-worker, Luke, gave everyone a Best Buy gift card at Christmas. I needed that digital tuner box thingee so I trotted down to Best Buy with my gov'mint rebate check and my gift card and spent exactly $3.87 for a digital box. I brought it home, set it next to the TV and it stayed there.

Enter football season and the miraculous win over Penn State. Methinks my Hawkeyes are going to be on TV more this year. It would be nice to see them. But I knew that in late October of last year, the TV signal disappeared and almost every channel was snow. I also knew that the cats had knocked connections off the back of the TV in the past. I looked and the signal booster for the TV was lying on the ground. I have no idea where this goes.

Jon came over and set everything up. But I couldn't get channels 2 and 7; CBS and ABC respectively. He felt, if I could move the antenna into the northeast window, that would pull the signal in from those two stations. I simply needed a coax cable.

Off to Radio Shack I went and got a 12' coax cable. I screwed it into the port on the back of the digital box, stretched it behind the plants, grabbed the signal booster and went to plug it into the cable. It wouldn't go. I was trying to plug a male end into a male end. I unscrewed the other plug and looked at it. Same thing. I had a coax cable with two male ends. Jon said to just go to Radio Shack and get another cable.

Looking online, I found that there are adaptors that will change the ends of cables. As Iowa was playing Ohio State on ABC today, I decided this was the game I would watch. I trotted off to Radio Shack and purchased the connector you see above. I have beautiful digital quality on my TV and I get every station I could want and a few more. Worked like a charm.

Now if only the Hawkeyes had worked that well.

Iowa 24 Ohio State 27

But it took overtime to get the win. Still, there were so many missed opportunities; 5 dropped passes, 3 interceptions and one missed field goal. Ohio State is going to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on New Year's Day. For sure Iowa will be in a bowl game, but the Rose Bowl would have been extremely nice. We did have one bright spot, a 99-yard kick off return for a touchdown that brought us back into the game. That hadn't happened since 2003.

Now we just wait. We were ranked #15 in the country. I would imagine, with this loss, we will drop into the top 25. Still, it's been the best season ever, in terms of wins, for Iowa football. One more game versus Minnesota for "Floyd of Rosedale".

Beverage: Huckleberry tea

Deb

But I is helping.

I decided to clean in the living room and wrap Carole's birthday and Christmas presents so the box can be shipped next week and be there in time for her birthday.

What is it about open spaces on flat surfaces where you want to wrap gifts?

Beverage: cranberry grape juice

Deb

For your reading pleasure...

"When the Frost is on the Punkin"

WHEN the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock,
And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin' turkey-cock,
And the clackin' of the guineys, and the cluckin' of the hens,
And the rooster's hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it's then the time a feller is a-feelin' at his best,	5
With the risin' sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,
As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.
They's something kindo' harty-like about the atmusfere
When the heat of summer's over and the coolin' fall is here—	10
Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossoms on the trees,
And the mumble of the hummin'-birds and buzzin' of the bees;
But the air's so appetizin'; and the landscape through the haze
Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days
Is a pictur' that no painter has the colorin' to mock—	15
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.
The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,
And the raspin' of the tangled leaves as golden as the morn;
The stubble in the furries—kindo' lonesome-like, but still
A-preachin' sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill;	20
The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;
The hosses in theyr stalls below—the clover overhead!—
O, it sets my hart a-clickin' like the tickin' of a clock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.
Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps	25
Is poured around the cellar-floor in red and yaller heaps;
And your cider-makin's over, and your wimmern-folks is through
With theyr mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and sausage too!...
I don't know how to tell it—but ef such a thing could be
As the angels wantin' boardin', and they'd call around on me—	30
I'd want to 'commodate 'em—all the whole-indurin' flock—
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

This is one of my favorites. It's by James Whitcomb Riley who lived from 1853 to 1916.

I had to actually scrape this morning. This is the first day. I couldn't find the scraper. I normally keep it just under the back seat. It was there but had been shoved way under the seat. Made me late for work, not that, with the current lack of work, there was any work to be done, but I still felt guilty.

So far, this November has been mild. I'm bracing for the cold and snow to descend upon us in another week or two. I count the future year to be lucky when there is snow on my birthday. I'm hoping, just so you know. I would really like a year of luck.

Beverage: Huckleberry tea

Deb

Finances According to Luck

The bank has done all that they will do.

They feel they are being more than generous when, clearly, I screwed up. Because I have no proof that they mishandled my deposit, they are refunding only a small portion of the overdraft fees charged to my account.

I spent part of Monday evening looking at other banks in the area. The one bank that seemed to have a perfect fit for me has no branches within a 30 minute drive of me. They are more a Chicago bank and not a suburban bank.

I called a couple banks who were next on the list but it would take at least a week to get new accounts up and running because, you know, they have to put a hold on your money to make sure any checks clear. I can see if it's from "John Doe", but when it's from "XYZ Financial Institution", that 5 day clear thing is male bovine excrement. I can't wait 5 days to have access to my money. I have to pay bills now. I can only pay a very small portion of them, too. It's just how it is. Some places are understanding. Others are not and tell me whatever account I'm calling about is "on hold" until I make it right. Fine.

I keep waiting for the proverbial "other shoe to drop".

I have a wee bit of cash on which I can live for the rest of the month. I got cat food yesterday, a new brand that they are eating. It's too far for me to go to Meijer and get the brand Val had for them. I'm not a fan of those gigantic stores anyway. If they continue to eat this as well as they currently are, I'll see if I can get a bigger bag, which is more cost effective.

And, I'm feeding my Lucky Cat.

This is a traditional Japanese good luck charm. You'll see ceramic or porcelain statues at the entrance to all shops in Japan. This is a small bank. We got it in the Japanese section of World Showcase at Epcot Center at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida many years ago.

The tradition is that the white cat brings in wealth. There are other colors representing other places where luck is wished, such as health, family and love. The "rule" is you feed the Lucky Cat your spare change once a week, not counting how much you put in the bank. The cat then multiplies the coinage over the next week. When the bank is full, you empty 75% of it, always leaving some as "seed" money.

The only problem with this bank is that the bottom hole from which you remove the coins, is too small to accommodate quarters. So, I have a separate bank that Carole and I made when times were tough. The quarters go into that along with the 75% of the bank when it's full. You are never to count the coins because that supposedly chased the luck away. I don't count them until the separate bank is almost too heavy to carry. I've turned in $150 and $110 in change and bills in the over 15 years we've had the lucky cat. Yes, I had change and I fed it last night.

I know it seems ridiculously silly to put any faith in a superstition. I would like my luck to change. Instead of me always having to throw money at something to fix it, why can't the money come to me so I don't feel like the next sound I hear is a major appliance breaking down? That's where the stress is, the feeling totally and completely helpless to change anything about my situation. I wrote my letters to the Better Business Bureau and to the Illinois Attorney General. I know nothing will come of these. The only thing I'm doing is filing a notice that I feel deceived.

I'm out of bread so I have to run to the store tomorrow. I also need garbage stickers. There will be chances for change to feed the cat. Life is what it is. I can only go forward from this point and hope that my luck changes.

Beverage: Scottish Blend Tea

Deb