Rob the Firefighter sent me a cunning little netbook. I brought it down to the Elk Rapids library, where a person can obtain four hours of free WiFi at a time. The view is excellent, even on a cloudy day.
I didn’t begin at the library. I began at Java Jones, where I had to pay for WiFi, but had the advantage of being able to buy an excellent breakfast at the same time. It was an expensive morning, but I downloaded quantities of large files and tended to chores in my Ancestry.com files. It’s amazing how much a person can get done when a person is not hitting her head on the desk.
While I was there I spotted two tables of people playing euchre. One of the tables was playing three-handed. One thing led to another, and there went two perfectly good hours. On the other hand, they were hours that I would have spent cursing my slooow dialup, so I am still ahead of the game.
Now I have to get back to work. Kaye Arnold gave me so much to think about yesterday that it will keep me busy for a week at least. I’ll let you know how the little netbook and I get along. Also how I make out at euchre.
Torch Lake Views 
Cindy Lou
October 28, 2010
Sounds like a good day to me – can’t find enough folks to play a good round of euchre up here…drat!
Do we get to hear Kaye’s stories? Pretty please?
Gerry
October 28, 2010
Wait, wait – you have a shortage of euchre players? Isn’t that, well, illegal?
As for Kaye’s stories, they will take some time to weave into posts. Be patient. You will be rewarded.
Carsten
October 29, 2010
Congratulations with your netbook. Now we can write posts with large files in them 🙂
-Never heard of euchre, so again wikipedia acts as my source of knowledge. The game could be a possible way for them who can not manage 13 cards in the hand.
Pretty view. It might have been from Denmark.
Gerry
October 29, 2010
You can do anything you like! You’re grown.
Euchre, properly played, proceeds at blazing speed. In that regard it is much like bid whist. Both have similarities to bridge, but the aesthetic is entirely different.
I can hold 13 cards, even in my tiny paws. It is just deciding which one to play that’s a problem . . .
Michigan is a very Scandinavian sort of place. That’s why so many Danes and Swedes and Norwegians and Finns found their way here. I don’t know if Finns think of themselves as particularly Scandinavian, but they came here anyway, and they’re still all over the U.P., filling the winter air with sauna steam and claiming that they invented Swedish egg pancakes. I digress. I’m glad you like the view. It’s very Finnish.
Cindy Lou
October 29, 2010
I’m pretty sure it is illegal, but nobody’s told anyone UP here! And this probably won’t surprise you, but patience has never been one of my virtures…..sigh…..I’ll wait as I’m know the wait will be worth it! You tell such good stories!
Gerry
October 29, 2010
Thank you. Now I have something to live up to.
Fee
October 29, 2010
My girls love our little netbook, but I can’t stand the tiny keyboard and stick to the ‘real’ PC. A part of me still yearns for the proper typewriter keys of my youth (talk about showing my age!).
Gerry
October 29, 2010
I have a fullsize keyboard and a regular mouse that I can use with the little netbook, and that’s how I prefer to work on it. I kind of miss the typewriter, too, but it’s just nostalgia.
uphilldowndale
October 29, 2010
Card games of any type, are a total mystery to me. I just don’t get the point! I even struggled with snap when the boys were small, sigh.
enjoy your new toy. A gift for going places.
Gerry
October 29, 2010
There isn’t any point to any game. It always astonishes me when someone is deeply attached to the outcome. I like to play cards, so I tell myself it’s good brain calisthenics, but the truth is it’s just good chuckleheaded fun.
I am enjoying the new toy. I’m pretty sure it likes me too.
kanniduba
October 29, 2010
Ooh! A new toy! You know how much I love new toys! Enjoy it. 🙂
Sounds like a lovely way to pass the time to me. I find I get much more done when I am not at home. We have high speed Internet, but a LOT of distractions! 🙂
Gerry
October 29, 2010
I am having fun with the new toy. I carry my distractions with me wherever I go–oh look! There’s a squirrel!
Molly
October 30, 2010
Gerry, that photo is one of my favorite views in the whole wide world. A trip to that room in the library is on my list of annual pilgrimages. Thanks for the tide-over & enjoy your netbook!
Gerry
October 30, 2010
Hello Molly – I love that room too. Jackie Weber made a lovely scrapbook–one of those sophisticated ones–about the library building and the Noble family. It’s displayed on the fireplace mantel in the main room. I recommend it.