A Newsletter for those persons still shovelling snow in the winter
Volume 1March 1998Number 2
WE MADE IT!
By Bill
The first newsletter was a killer experience to say the least. As I sit here now reflecting and typing, I realize some of the mistakes we made in compiling the letter, and hoping that the same mistakes will never be made again.
Most of the problems arose out of the fact that the formatting for the letter was difficult because we had never done such a thing before. By the time we got a page formatted, one more click on the mouse to straighten things out,.
would send the whole page into oblivion. The writing of the stories was the easiest part of the entire project, but actually putting the stories into the letter, and then having to make everything fit was a nightmare. We have changed the font size in this issue, to make it a little easier to read. We had a couple of other things happen to the font in the last issue, that we just didn't feel like tinkering with, and there were already enough things going wrong, and we just wanted to finish it off and send it out.
So with any luck, as I type this first story of the new letter, our problems will subside, and it will be a little easier this time.
WHERE, WHEN?
The stories in this newsletter will not necessarily be in chronological order. We are going to put stories in according to how they will fit into this column. We would like to balance the stories so there will be a nice mix of serious and humorous anecdotes to go around. So if you find something that we did in April in this newsletter, don't think that we made a mistake, but rather did it to make it easier on ourselves. Even though some of the stuff in here will seem unlikely, it is all the unbiased truth. (Except for the stuff Sharon writes about me) We have had so many strange things happen to us since we left for the south last year, I've often thought that we'd have enough to fill a book. If that ever happens, you will be the first to know, because we will certainly need people to purchase it. Until then, however, you'll have to be content with this rag.
It's Critical
By Sharon
May 1st is a very critical day. Why you ask? Well, we have to be home by May 1st.
It all started last year when we left for Florida on January 8th. It wasn't snowing when we left, but by the time we got to Gary, IN, it was. It continued for 3 days up until our first destination of Arley AL. The roads were disastrous all the way.
This year Bill said, "We are leaving right after Christmas, December 26th. I am not shovelling one more shovel of snow." Hopefully getting south before the storms start. I protested, "Just give me one extra day." He would just insist, December 26th.
My brother Dennie invited him to deer camp for a few days in November, and the guys asked him when he was going south He'd answer, "December 26th.
For those of you who don't have a satellite dish to receive television signals, allow me to explain briefly how it's "supposed" to operate.
When you arrive at the beautiful place that you feel is perfect to work yourself into a frenzy, you program the zip code into the receiver with the remote control. The receiver will now tell you the azimuth, (direction to point left and right) and the elevation (direction to point up and down) to point the dish. At this point, you have your wife, or husband, as the case may be, start the signal meter.(Device which tells you that you haven't found the satellite yet)( It also tells you when you find it, but that seldom happens to us, at least in the first half hour. Now it's time to actually go outside and adjust the dish. At this point, is when the swearing and threats against the dish start. After trying for what seems to be an eternity, the session usually ends with me saying, "I don't know why I keep trying with that piece of crap anyway. We'll play cribbage."
