Pip and Mell arrived from Inverell to spend some time with us before their gig at the Bowling Club on Friday. We settled them in on a flat site at the bottom of the garden. The one of the newly installed power points was put to use to make sure they would be comfortable.
In the afternoon we happy-houred until the chill of the evening drove us indoors as the sun neared the horizon.
I needed some supplies which I couldn't buy in Barraba so I went to Tamworth. While I was there I bought a couple of bookcases.
I took the opportunity to get onto the internet. The emails included several that reported that the website was denying access to some recent updates. I left a message asking Jeremy to see if he could figure it out.
Another bright and clear day. After lunch I did some more work on the tank stand.
We had John and Vicki come for happy hour with pip and Mell. During idle conversation it was discovered that Mell had gone to school with John and Vicki's daughter-in-law. How's that for a spooky coincidence.
I did a number of jobs that needed doing but didn't do any trench digging.
I got a call from the Telstra shop saying that the USB modem I want is now in stock. I'm so keen to get my hands on this device that I plan to make a second trip to Tamworth this week.
I went to Tamworth again because Telstra had rung to say that the Minimax modem had arrived and was keen to see if it would solve my problem. The young lady couldn't guarantee that it would work because the box said it was Windows only. I showed her the Mac driver and she visited the Maxon.com.au website and she was a bit more helpful. I plugged the modem in and it communicated with the network but wouldn't connect because it needed to be registered in the Telstra system which needed a contract. I decided to take the chance and signed up. Within a couple of minutes it was connected and carrying traffic for me.
When I got home I found that the signal strength in Barraba is a bit marginal for the modem so I have to get out from under the corrugated iron roof to connect. This is OK when it's fine and warm but a bit of a pain on cold nights or when it's raining. Still it's so nice to have a connection that works for me so I don't have to go to the Samin's house or to Tamworth when I want to get the email. I'll still go to The Homestaed in Tamworth when I need to download lots of stuff but mostly I'll be able to do it all from my camping chair.
A day of chores.
We went to the Bowling Club with John and Vicki to be part of Pip'n'Mell's gig. The audience was pretty unresponsive but Mell told me that they were used to that. Late in the evening, when most of the locals had gone home, audience participation kicked in and we started to enjoy ourselves. Mell had John join them for a bracket of songs which went down well. I asked for "The Wild Colonial Boy" and Mell asked me to sing with them, a request I politely declined in deference to the audience.
The day dawned with rain which put a damper on work on the tank stand. I found things to do indoors.