The things I've waited to do until the end of June are stacked in front of me. Summer has moved quickly.

My new toy is my first smart phone. I've fared quite well up to now with an aged dumb phone that can make and receive telephone calls - and then only when I turn it on. It's a new life for me to have an active phone in my pocket all day. Not sure yet if I'm modern enough for this.

Good morning!

I seem to be "following in your footsteps" Bill. Or at least planning to do so . First the electric car, now the smart phone.

Good week all (and why is it almost July? where did June go? )

Dagmar

Good morning!

I know what you mean about summer moving quickly, Bill. Grass grows so quickly when you're looking the other way, for example.

I've done my stretching and corrective exercises. I must go for a short walk later and see how the body likes that.

Summer is flying here, too. The boy goes back to school on 8/1. I swear, he has only been out for a minute.

Bill - what phone did you get? I just got a new one. I'm such a junkie.

I'm considering a new phone as well. I've always had Motorola phones and mine is about 3 years old now, so I'm due. My DD likes Samsung but she says the ones with the edge take some time getting used to as a touch on the edge can close out whatever app you're using. We'll see.

I've been trying to decide on our next vacation. Sure, we have two planned already--one to Salt Lake City and Park City in August and one to Tahoe in September. So we'll probably call it good for this year. But I really want to go to Santa Barbara and have a relaxing week there. I've been looking at staying at the San Ysidro Ranch in a cottage where each cottage has it's own hot tub on the private deck. We can book golf at three different clubs. We can see sights in town. And we can relax, read, sleep and swim. It's a lot cooler up there, so a summer visit makes more sense than anything, so I think we'll do that next summer and plan a cruise another year.

Allison - I got the Nexus 6p, replacing the 5x. I loved the 5x, but the battery didn't hold up under my use and the apps I use. Also, some glitches with the camera. DH has the 6p and loves it, so I decided to give it a go. It is really big, though. I've got a Samsung S5 for work and it is about to be replaced with an S7, not the edge one I don't think. I won't know until it comes in.

That Nexus looks great, Shannon. The camera doesn't have as many megapixels as the Motorola, though. But I'm sure it'd be good for what I use it for (mainly animal photos!). I know DD, who has the Samsung 6 Edge, wants the Nexus next because Nexus always gets the first updates to the Android OS.

I had a metal Motorola flip phone (my first cell) for over 10 years. Would still have it now if I hadn't washed it and ruined it. Now I have a plastic Nokia flip and it's fine for what I do with it (make an outgoing call about once a month).

I expect to be a lot more social once I retire so will probably need to use a cell a lot more. I also will be a lot poorer so I'm curious to see how much the things cost to use. Right now mine is less that $12 Canadian per month.

Dagmar

We bought my new vehicle. I did not get a Subaru Outback, but instead ended up with a Tacoma! The mileage sucks but it will get me wherever I want to go and I'll be driving fewer miles anyway. Next we'll put a camper shell on it and I'll have a comfy place to sleep while car camping. It is much too high tech - on the drive home from the dealer, it told me I had a new email and began reading it to me!


Dagmar, I fear you will be substantially poorer once you go to a new phone.

Allison, your vacations sound so nice! I'll be renting a chalet in Mineral King at 8,000 feet for a few days this summer. I'll be able to enjoy some shorter day hikes and then relax in the evening.

My hair began its major shed yesterday. I stayed up late obsessively yanking gobs of it off my head. As soon as DH gets back from town it is time for the buzz cut! I'm not too disturbed - my shorter cut has been wonderfully easy, and this will be even easier. I ordered a bunch of cute hats and things. My next infusion is Wedsnesday.

Nice truck Alice! Sounds like it will be good for all sorts of camping and hiking trips.

Sorry about your hair. It's an expected side effect but it still can be hard to lose your hair if it's great hair. Hope yours comes back quickly after the chemo is over.

Dagmar

Nice truck! My dh has a Tacoma with no frills, but it's been great for us. It even has crank Windows!

Are you feeling okay besides the hair loss?

Sending supportive thoughts, HowlinAtTheMoon, as you continue with your treatment. A neighbor buzz-cut her hair in sympathy with a dear friend who lost hers. Turns out that she grew to like it so she continues and she now looks very much like her buzz-cut sons. That Tacoma looks like a neat ride.

Dagmar, the cheapest service I've ever heard of was T-Mobile prepaid. You pay $100 for 1000 minutes, then the next year you can buy the minimum of $25 and the unused minutes roll over. I did that for years to have full phone service for $25 per year. That works great until folks started texting me photos and links which messes up the super cheap.

Shannon - I fell into a deal. T-Mobile had the Samsung Android GSM 64GB Galaxy 6+ Edge on sale marked down from $700 to $500. And they had Buy One Get One on top of that. So that's what I got for me and and got the Galaxy 6 Edge 64GB for DW for FREE. GSM means that on our trip to Iceland this summer I continue to make calls without doing anything. It's more phone than either of us is likely to use.

Bill Our telecoms tend to be more expensive and there are a lot less of them than in the US. It will be a big research project for me. Not going to happen until sometime in 2018 so who knows what will be available then?

I'd like a phone that can supervise the stove to cook dinner.

Dagmar

While researching the places to stay in Santa Barbara, I found the place I wanted was $1250 per day! Looks like I'll look elsewhere, but boy did that place look nice. Another place mentioned an amenity that I wouldn't be looking for--a Tesla charging station. I don't have an electric car (DS wants one) so this isn't necessary. More research to do.

Wow! Tad pricey! We've had the issue when going to Napa. Sometimes we can find a reasonable place, and other times the price is through the roof and we've gone elsewhere.