" It's a Facebook Thing"

This picture was taken June 30, 2011.  It is the high line going up over Buffalo Pass.  We have never seen this much snow this late in the year!

This spring we have been having a lot of issues with our phones.  I have written about the cell phone problems in earlier posts. See There's No {lace Like Home and Update on Cell Phone Situation  but now I want to talk about our home (land line) phone. (Click on these links to read more about my cellphone woes!)

As soon as we got home in late May we noticed our phone would get a lot of static on  it while we were talking and then it would cut us off.  This is a usual problem every spring and it takes maybe a month for the repairman to find the problem and get it fixed so we are quite used to it.  We had reported it maybe 2 or 3 times so far this spring and were assured they were working on it so no big deal.

About 10 days ago, first thing in the morning, Bob picked up the phone to call our neighbors who are on the same phone line.  He got a message about no longer being in service and hung up.  He was going to try again but discovered the phone was completely dead.  This would not have been too much of a problem except we had friends coming to visit that afternoon and they needed to call us to get directions for driving out here!  As mentioned in our cell phone blogs our cell phone was useless at the cabin and our neighbor's phone wasn't working either.  Bob finally suggested I should email one of our kids or all of them and tell them to call the repair department.  That would have been good if I could be sure any of them would check their emails before the evening.  Then I hit on a great idea.  I would put out a plea on Facebook!  Someone from Walden is always online and maybe they would call for me.

I put up my status and went to do the dishes,  I decided I'd see if anyone had seen it and lo and behold There were all kind of responses!  Former students and friends were asking what company, my phone number, etc.  I posted all the info including the repair department  phone number.  I went back to my dishes and a little while later I checked again.  At least 2 people were on the phone with them and writing on Facebook telling me what to do and adding their own assessments of the situation ("the lady I'm talking to is stupid"; "The woman I'm talking to thinks it is a hoot that we are doing this on Facebook!") .  I guess the phone company received quite a few calls about my phone that day and one of the callers explained it to the lady like this:  "It's a Facebook thing!"

Not more than 15 minutes later our phone had a dial tone!  By early afternoon The phone guy called to see if we had service!  Pretty fast for our area!  And shortly after, our friends were on the phone getting directions to our cabin!  Not bad for North Park, huh? Truly, A Facebook Thing !  Footnote:  Another phone company thing; The next morning our phone was dead again!  Within the hour, without any Facebook prompting it was back in service and we have only gotten occasional static since!

Just a a quick update on the cell phone.  Jim changed our service to Verizon.  While I was in Steamboat on Monday I got a new Verizon  cellphone (a Samsung very similar to the ATT one--but of course with different technology!) .  It works!  Even at our dining room table and in many parts of the house.  It is not perfect but is so much better.  We are all much happier cell phone users now!

Here's a recipe to celebrate our Fun on Facebook days!  This is a very quick and easy recipe, but quite delicious.  I made about double the topping that the recipe calls for  and it was yummy!  This recipe comes from allrecipes.com.

Some great muffins that are really easy to make!

Banana Praline Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup chopped pecans*
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar*
• 1 tablespoon sour cream*, I didn't have sour cream so used heavy cream.  Someone else used plain yogurt.
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 3 small ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups packaged pancake mix, I used Quick Mix (similar to Bisquick)
• * I doubled these

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine pecans, brown sugar and sour cream; set aside. Combine egg, bananas, sugar and oil; mix well. Stir in pancake mix just until moistened. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Drop 1 teaspoon of pecan mixture into center of each muffin. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until muffins test done.  I put more than 1 tsp. of pecan mixture.

Yummy, moist, muffins with a tasty crunch!

Update on Cell Phone Situation and a Yummy Cookie Recipe

Mmmmmmmm!  Yummy cookies hot out of the oven!

The Samsung Strive cell phone that is about to become history in this family!

Well, here's what has happened on the cell phone front.  Jim, my son-in-law and owner of the Alltel/ATT account (ATT bought out Alltel and that's when our troubles started), read my blog and I guess my troubles added to all their troubles was the last straw.  He called Customer Service and discussed the problem with a very courteous and helpful person.  The guy checked out the Verizon tower situation and assured Jim that ATT did have an agreement with them.  He gave Jim a number for me to call and told me to request technical support.  He made a big deal out of the request since you couldn't just hit a button to get it.

Jim, called me and gave me all the info so I got right on it and here's my story.  I requested tech support just as instructed and was asked what the problem was.  When I explained, the customer service person said oh, I can do that and the fun began!  After about 30 minutes of checking this and that and talking to their manager, they decided I needed to talk to tech support (duh).  So I go through the whole thing again with the young lady on tech support, including waiting for her to talk to her manager!  Everyone kept assuring me they had an agreement with Verizon.  After another 30 minutes she came back on and announced they had a 72 hour window to resolve this case and they would get back to me within that time.  I thought "yeah right" but prepared to wait out the 3 days. 

That afternoon I got a call from their field man!  He wanted to know who he could call in town to check out service there.  I tried to tell him no one had ATT in the county because service was so poor but finally agreed he could call River Rock Cafe if it made him happy.  He had found them on his GPS map online when he put in Walden!  In passing, he happened to mention their roaming partner, Union Cellular and I began to wonder why they were the partner if Verizon had the tower.  Anyway he was going to talk to the roaming partner and see if any improvements were planned, etc, etc, etc.  He would get back to me soon.

72 hours went by with no communication--no surprise there.  I reported all my info to Jim and we kind of left it at that over the weekend.  Sure enough, I did get a call from another field guy on Tuesday!  Here is his report.  He talked to Union Cellular and they said their coverage in North Park was fair to nothing.  Big surprise there!  He also asked if they were planning any improvements.  None--no surprise there!  I asked about the agreement with Verizon AND this guy finally admitted that Verizon had a different technology than ATT and of course we couldn't use their tower!  I said, "So there is not going to be any change in service, right?" and he said no.  A few hours later,  I got a message saying our case was resolved.  I will say, their customer service was good but not that helpful in the final analysis!

Meanwhile,  Jim had decided enough was enough and has changed over to Verizon!  We all have to get new phones and Thomas is going to try to sell our practically new ATT ones (remember, a whole different technology),  I really do like this one I have, sort of, but will be happy with a new one too.  By the way, while talking to the tech support people I asked about uploading my pics off the phone onto my computer.  She told me only people with smart phones could do that!  Why did they supply cords to Ozzie, and Erin if they wouldn't work????  I'm still not sure she knew what she was talking about.

You will be glad to know I got all my pictures off my cell phone.  Here's what happened.  I decided to try once more to email them to me when I was down at Danny's and had phone service.  When I checked my email they weren't there again.  I finally thought to check my spam and there they all were!!!! Finally I have them all safely on my computer!  Yes, safely!  I got a good deal on Carbonite and they are safely saved online as well as on my computer!

We need a recipe to go along with this story.  I found a really good cookie recipe in the red-checked Better Homes and Gardens  Cookbook.  It is quick and easy and has very few ingredients, always a plus!

This cookie jar was a wedding gift to Bob and I over 51 years ago!  I hate to admit that it is probably an antique--but NOT me!

Butter-Pecan Shortbread

Ingredients:

All you need for this recipe.

1 1/4 C. flour

3 Tbsp. brown sugar

1/2 C. butter (1 stick)

2 Tbsp. finely chopped pecans*

1/2 tsp. vanilla

* I used 1/4 c. and then threw in those leftover chopped ones as well--I love pecans!  I also toast my pecans before chopping them.  Not really necessary but good. 

Quite a bit more than 2 Tablespoons but it made the cookies that much more yummy!

Directions:

In a medium mixing bowl combine flour and brown sugar.  Cut in butter using a pastry cutter until mixture resembles fine crumbs and starts to cling.  I just cut butter in with my mixer.  Dough is very crumbly at this point.  Add chopped pecans and combine.  Sprinkle vanilla over dough and form into a ball.  I just dump the crumbs onto a cutting board sprinkle with vanilla and start squeezing it into a ball.  I think the warmth of your hands helps it to hold together. 

Crumbs dumped out and ready to knead.

All kneaded and ready to roll out.

Knead it a bit to blend in the vanilla and then you are ready to cut them. The cookbook gives several options but I like the quickest easiest plus I decided to experiment so I divided my dough in half. 

I divided the dough into 2 batches to try something new.  You can easily just roll out the whole thing or make one large log, too.

This is about 1/ 3 inch thick

Cut into squares or rectangles.  1 inch by 2 inches is recommended by cookbook.

The first half I shaped into a rectangle and flattened it out with a rolling pin until it was about 1/4-1/3 inch thick.  The book says 1/2 inch thick but I like my thinness better.  Just my opinion.  If you roll out the whole amount and roll it 1/2 inch thick , it should be about a 6 by 8 inch rectangle.  Then you can cut with a knife 24 2X1 inch cookies.  If you go thinner or divide dough like I did, make them whatever size you want--they don't spread out. 

Shape into a squared log,  You can wrap this in plastic and freeze for later use.

Slice to your desired thickness.  Adjust time accordingly.

The other half I made into a cylinder.   I kind of squared it up and then sliced the cookies as thick as I wanted them.  This worked really well and I'd do it that way again.  Also if you make a double batch you could wrap one cylinder and freeze it for later use.

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 325 degrees F. for 20-25 minutes (18-20 minutes for thinner ones--watch carefully) until slightly browned on edges.  You can smell the browned butter--yummmm!  but don't let them get too dark or it's burnt butter!

Slightly brown on the edges.  Let them cool and eat them up!

Oh my goodness I just can't quit eating them! Enjoy!