Rats!
Those of you you are accustomed to viewing the weather station data will have noticed that no results were available for most of last week while I was in the flatlands.
Technology had, once again, failed me.
No, it wasn't the weather station hardware.
No, it wasn't the weather reporting software.
No, it wasn't the Windows XP operating system.
No, it wasn't the computer hardware.
No, it wasn't the computer network.
No, it wasn't the network router.
Turns out it was the #$&@^#* white-footed field mice that got into the fiber-optic junction box out by the road and broke the optic fiber coming to the house. Snap! Right there in the box inside the box that holds all the splices.
So, there I was when I arrived yesterday afternoon, out here in the middle of the woods, isolated from the rest of the world.
No land-line telephone.
No Internet. No email.
No cell phone. (I had accidentally left that in Cary.)
No contact with the outside world.
Now, folks, that's a weird feeling. Kinda nice, really, but weird. Just like it was when I was a kid before they installed telephone lines in our neighborhood.
What could I do?
Well, I visited my neighbor and called the telephone company on their telephone. The off-hours answering service answered and said they would pass the information along to the phone company in the morning. In the morning? Yup, in the morning. First thing.
I took two aspirin and went to bed.
The first service truck arrived at 9:00 am and found the broken optic fiber. They called in reinforcements to slice the fiber and left.
The second service truck arrive at 10:00 am and confirmed there was a broken fiber but didn't have splicing equipment with them. They put more pea gravel in the bottom of the junction box to help keep the mice out, called in reinforcements to splice the fiber and left.
The third service truck arrived at 12:30, added yet more pea gravel in the bottom of the junction box to help keep the mice out, spliced the optic fiber and restored service, enabling me to make this post.
Ain't technology grand? It's just no match for Peromyscus leucopus. After all, rats were around long before fiber-optic cables and they'll be around long after, as well.
Technology had, once again, failed me.
No, it wasn't the weather station hardware.
No, it wasn't the weather reporting software.
No, it wasn't the Windows XP operating system.
No, it wasn't the computer hardware.
No, it wasn't the computer network.
No, it wasn't the network router.
Turns out it was the #$&@^#* white-footed field mice that got into the fiber-optic junction box out by the road and broke the optic fiber coming to the house. Snap! Right there in the box inside the box that holds all the splices.
So, there I was when I arrived yesterday afternoon, out here in the middle of the woods, isolated from the rest of the world.No land-line telephone.
No Internet. No email.
No cell phone. (I had accidentally left that in Cary.)
No contact with the outside world.
Now, folks, that's a weird feeling. Kinda nice, really, but weird. Just like it was when I was a kid before they installed telephone lines in our neighborhood.
What could I do?
Well, I visited my neighbor and called the telephone company on their telephone. The off-hours answering service answered and said they would pass the information along to the phone company in the morning. In the morning? Yup, in the morning. First thing.
I took two aspirin and went to bed.
The first service truck arrived at 9:00 am and found the broken optic fiber. They called in reinforcements to slice the fiber and left.
The second service truck arrive at 10:00 am and confirmed there was a broken fiber but didn't have splicing equipment with them. They put more pea gravel in the bottom of the junction box to help keep the mice out, called in reinforcements to splice the fiber and left.
The third service truck arrived at 12:30, added yet more pea gravel in the bottom of the junction box to help keep the mice out, spliced the optic fiber and restored service, enabling me to make this post.
Ain't technology grand? It's just no match for Peromyscus leucopus. After all, rats were around long before fiber-optic cables and they'll be around long after, as well.
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