Well, That Was Convenient

 Well, that was convenient.  And just what was so convenient, you may ask?  Well, I'll tell you. 

Those of you with better memories than mine may remember that I've been debating on cutting off my internet and just using my phone data to stream stuff.  I have unlimited data, plus a 5 G?...Meg?  I don't remember, but whatever, it's a hot spot.  It feels like I'm paying for internet twice, so I've been figuring out how I can cut my cable internet off and still have the same functionality.  I know that if I go over my data limit on my hot spot, they don't cut me off, but they do slow things way down.  To avoid this, I've been looking for an adapter where I can connect an HDMI cable directly to my phone and use the data without having to employ my hotspot.  

So, I got onto Amazon and ordered one.  It just happened to arrive today.

Which was very convenient, as the internet was out for about 5-6 hours today.  I don't know what was going on.  I do know Entergy has been replacing utility poles and other various equipment, but I don't know if their work affected the internet or not.  My power was out for about 1.5 hours, but it had come back on long before the internet dropped.  

I took advantage of the power outage to pry my hiney out of the chair and go outside to plant my new Echinacea roots. 

I'm not quite sure why I took a picture, because all you can see are the two flags marking where I'd planted them.  And since the picture offers no perspective, I will have to tell you they're about 3' apart.  I hope that these will grow.  I've seen no sign of the wildflower seeds I scattered back behind the fence earlier this spring.  I keep hoping, but so far...nothing.  They're wildflowers, for pete's sake!  They should grow wherever!  

I still haven't mowed my back yard, either.  I've found that since I quit trying to kill all my weeds, I've become rather fond of them.  Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.  (AA Milne) I've got a nice little patch of these, but I don't know what they are. 

Neither Google Lens nor Seek have been able to give me a definitive species.  Seek tells me they believe it's a member of the sunflower, daisies, asters, and allies family, but that's the closest they got. Google lens gives me a different answer every time I try a search. Even Plantnet gives me about five different options, but say it's most likely a Krigia Dandelion.  If that is correct, it is a member of the aster family, and therefore edible. 

But even if they aren't, I like them, and they get to stay.  So does the white clover, for the bees, and the wood sorrel, because I like to snack on it. 

  

Speaking of edible plants, I know I said I wasn't going to buy any more books, but since I was ordering that adapter thing anyway, I went ahead and tossed these two into the shopping cart. 

I'm definitely going to keep the one on the right, but am considering returning the Backyard Foraging book.  It's got lots of good information in it on harvesting and even cooking the plants, but it seems to focus more on plants you can plant, like daylilies such as is picture in the lower right of the cover, rather than wildflowers and such.  Furthermore, a lot of them aren't native to this area, either.  I'll look through it a bit more before I decide, as I'll have until May 15 to return it.  

Anyway, back to my story....after I'd piddled in the yard a bit, I came back inside and settled in to watch TV and knit all day.  I hadn't planned on doing much anyway.  I'm sore as heck from mowing and wrestling with bad parts at work all week.   Alas, it was not to be.

Shortly after I sat down an started watching an episode of Vienna Blood on PBS, that's when the internet dropped.  I didn't expect it to be down long, but in the meantime, I opened the PBS app on my phone and continued watching.  That's when it hit me...

I'd just gotten my fancy new adapter gadget.  Might as well use it.  I hooked it up, then had to go get my phone charger out of the car, because I don't seem to have an extra one in the house.  Once I got everything plugged in and all, I finished my episode, then watched the next one.  After that, I opened my Hulu app and watched Next Level Chef and an episode of Masterchef Junior.   I'd been a bit concerned, because some of the reviews said it didn't work with apps like Hulu and Netflix, but as you can see, I had no problem with it.

That big bright spot is from my flash.  After making sure Hulu worked, I also checked my Chosen app, Angel studios, and YouTube.  All of them worked like a charm.  I still haven't checked Prime Video, because by that time, the internet had finally come back up, but so far the only one I've found that won't work on it is FreeVee -- ironically enough.  Still, once I figure out how to connect my ROKU device to my hot spot, that shouldn't be a problem. 

I guess I'll work on that tomorrow. 

Oh, and I should probably mention, knitting did get accomplished. 

That's about it for today.  I'm going to go lay down a bit before the severe weather gets here.  

Laters.