We leave for our Florida condo, October 14th. Of course our actual arrival depends on weather, traffic, etc., and this year we’ll also be challenged by John’s health. He may not be able to drive as long as in the past so we may not be able to get there in two days. Our plan, at this point, is to stop Friday night south of Knoxville, TN, in Sweetwater, TN. But, if we need to stop sooner, we’ll stop. In fact, today I was investigating motels in the London, KY, area, which is about 140 miles sooner (more northerly). We will play it by ear. We won’t arrive until nearly 7:00 pm so if we go to Sweetwater, so maybe London will be our first stop. We’ll see.

Tuesday, after I got my computer back from Lenovo (it was under warranty when it started acting up), I worked several days to re-load Windows 10. (During the repair, my system had been reverted to Windows 8.1). I had to set up all of the programs (like Excel, MusicTime, my printer, etc.), and copy my files to the appropriate directory. It was a chore I didn’t enjoy and took several days (thank heavens John wasn’t here because he’d have run out of patience just watching.)

I’d just finished when I realized the computer still isn’t working right so I’ll probably be sending it back again.

This time I am wiser. I studied and found out that I could create a re-install of Windows 10 on a large volume usb thumb drive which will boot up and allow a seamless re-installation. The way I did it before took getting a re-verification of first Windows 8.1 and then I had to cheat to get an upgrade to Windows 10. It was a long process.

Today I also bought a 1 TB usb hard drive ($50 on eBay) which I’ll use to backup/reinstall the personal files I’ve created.

Yes, I already have a 2 TB external hard drive but it’s not usb and it’s difficult to connect and have my computer recognize. When I have a wireless system, the 2 TB hard drive works nicely, but not here in Michigan.

I’ve tried unsuccessfully to create a total image backup, but it always fails. I have decided that with the good Windows 10 backup, I am better off just copying the files I need to keep.

Yes, I’ll still need to install programs, but I can do that as I need them: Lotus, MS Streets and Trips, Microsoft Office programs, Word Perfect, and Ipswitch (FTP program) and Coffee Cup html editor.

You soon realize you can never have too many back-ups.

Believe me, figuring out this whole back-up procedure has been a learning experience. For instance, even after I managed to put Windows 10 on the usb drive, I had to learn how to boot to the usb drive so Windows 10 could be installed to my computer.

Sadly little problems take a while to solve. Example: I was trying to find the answer to “after I make a usb that has Windows 10 on it, how can I make it bootable. (If you upgraded to Windows 10 from 7, 8 or 8.5, and you have to do a factory reinstall, it’ll go back to the original Windows version.) I succeeded getting a complete version of my Windows 10 on my usb. Great! Now I had to find out how to have my computer see it and use it instead of the original 8.5 version. I figured that I needed to make my usb bootable so I could get it to start with Windows 10. I tried the instructions I found for creating a bootable usb several times. They were complex and didn’t work.

The simple answer was, your usb doesn’t have to be bootable. You can just ask your computer to use your usb drive first, instead of your “c” drive. It works by having the usb in the usb port and holding down F12 while you press the “on” button.

If anyone is wondering how to achieve a complete back-up (hopefully before they need it), I may be able to help. I don’t pretend to be an expert, but I think I’m prepared.

You’d need to buy at least a 16gb usb thumb drive and it’s best if you buy a usb hard drive big enough to hold all of your files. (Keep those separate since you can’t add to the Windows 10 thumb drive once it’s created but the hard drive can be kept current.) Personally I like to have at least two of the file back ups (dated). I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve referenced an “older” version of a file.

Maybe I should create a tutorial on my website, complete with these suggestions.

Ok, that’s one thing for my bucket list. I won’t expect to get paid, but I’d enjoy sharing.

Is there more on my bucket list?

Yup!

The nationally known “Folk Harp Journal,” has ask that I explain the harplist (an email list which I have moderated for about 20 years). They would like an history/explanation/and invitation for harp folks. It’s a chore that is waiting for my attention.

And of course there are personal challenges: playing the harp, playing the marimbula, sewing more, crocheting more ornaments for our Christmas tree, tatting again, cleaning the house, and purging our Michigan place.

How come these items are still on my bucket list?

John had a health problem this week which resulted in six days of hospitalization.

Sunday morning, when I woke up, he was in severe pain. I took him to St. Mary’s E.R. where he was admitted.

It was the third time since we returned to Michigan in May that he was hospitalized. This time he had pancreatitis/gall bladder problems.

Apparently this problem also caused the pain that caused his hospitalization in July but it wasn’t diagnosed because it happened immediately after his colonoscopy. The doctors thought the pain was because of trapped air from the colon procedure. That was wrong and I tried to point out that John felt fine after the colonoscopy. We’d had a nice dinner and the pain started about eight hours later. The doctor basically told me I wasn’t a doctor, so I shut up.

Fortunately this time he had a doctor who felt there was a link between the painful episodes. She ordered a enzyme blood test which showed proved his pain claims were, if anything understated. Normal enzyme numbers are 125-150 and John’s numbers were off the chart (over 4,000). After a MRI they decided that the gallbladder caused the pancreatic problems. He had laproscopy gallbladder removal surgery Tuesday.

I brought him home this afternoon (Friday) and he’s resting comfortably.

So now you can see why I haven’t posted for several days.

While he was hospitalized, I got my computer back from Lenovo. It is running beautifully without the problem I encountered before the repair. (The lid had to be replaced because the wiring in the hinge was causing the screen images to “break up”.)

Getting the computer back meant I had a lot of restoring to do. I had backed everything up, but it took a lot of time to have Windows recognize my computer, to upgrade Windows 8.1 back to Windows 10, and then to install all the programs and files. It was probably

My computer is purring.

I hope John continues to improve. We’re concerned because they pumped him full of fluids (since he couldn’t eat or drink) and all that fluid is causing him breathing problems.

My Lenovo computer was shipped off yesterday for “under warranty” repair. It should be back in a couple weeks. I’ll survive using my Galaxy smartphone and John’s tablet.

I got tired of having the screen go all wonkers on me so I’d have to reboot. I am sure it’s a bad connection in the hinge. No reason why the hard drive will need to be touched but I’ll bet everything will need to be reinstalled. We’ll see.

We planned to remodel our house this year. With John’s health problems, it didn’t happen.

We were going to head north this week. We’ve postponed our trip until the 22nd of August (in a little less than three weeks).

We plan to have a garage sale this fall to rid ourselves of lots of junk. At this point, it sounds like way too much work for John (and me). It may happen. We’ll get back from the U.P. on the 26th and the sale would be the 10th of September so we’d have about two weeks. We’ll see.