Small Dead Bird and Blue Screen of Death

One of the drawbacks of starting a new job working nights (10:30pm-7:00am) is your life gets reduced to a series of brain bytes. Because I do very little but work and sleep, I pile up issues that need to be addressed when I have the time. In the case of the bird, it was fairly simple, but the source was a mystery to me until Cec got up this morning and explained.

I got up early (day off) to keep an appointment for a pre-employment physical—one of those “heart beating, at least one lung expanding, and able to stand upright”—deals required by corporate heads, who need to justify their existence. Walked the dogs, which in this case was a short one, still wearing my cotton jammies. We came in, I removed Gus’s leash and he headed for the warmth of the bedroom and I headed to the kitchen to make coffee. A while later I was on the way to the bathroom for a shower when I noticed Gus stretched out on the bed with a small dead bird stretched out beside him. For a small dog he has a disproportionately large mouth which has enabled him to smuggle a number of unpalatable specimens into the house over the years. In the case of this morning’s bird I was half asleep, which is probably why I hadn’t noticed the tail and/or the head sticking out of his mouth. Or maybe he had the whole thing crammed in there. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t in the bed when I retired last night; I would have noticed, I think.

Anyway, when Cec got up I mentioned it to him and he explained that the bird was a casualty of the side window, which is often mistaken for a flight pattern. Apparently it had ended up on the deck after breaking its neck and Maggie, our other dog, had relocated it to the front yard, and from there it found its way into Gus’s mouth. Small dead bird mystery solved.

The blue screen of death is another matter. Last week I was attempting to upload a few photographs from my documents onto my blog. I had succeeded in transferring two when that pesky blue screen appeared. You know the one: Fatal Error, indecipherable codes, lines and lines of white lettering that no one has time to even begin to read, much less translate, before the whole computer shuts down.

I tried again. Same thing. Then I decided to mail one at a time to one of our other emails. I got one loaded, hit send, and ten minutes later, got this message: “Unable to display this page.” The photo was gone, the email was gone, and the whole attempt was pretty much a bust. So, now I have files of pictures that I am unable to upload, download, or any other kind of load. I’m not computer savvy enough to solve this one. If anyone out there has even a modicum of knowledge in this area, I would appreciate any help I can get.

Meanwhile, I’ll continue to spend my life working and sleeping. Isn’t that how we spread the wealth?

Love

Granny