Life in the desert

Cardinal on cactus.

Cardinal visits daily to our back yard this week.

I was trying to cut down our cable TV Wifi bill. I went to the closest store a few weeks ago and asked them for suggestions. Their answer was odd, but they promised to cut one-third of the bill if I purchased an outdoor camera.

What? By purchasing a camera that could be used at the front door like Ring, we would save the price of the camera each month. Although it made little sense to me, I agreed.

Our monthly bill did go down by the cost of the camera. Next month, I’ll be ahead.

Instead of using the camera at the front door, I set it up on the back patio. I’ve been hoping to catch some wildlife. I wasn’t disappointed.

Check out the videos below of wildlife:

The bobcat appears at about 15 seconds in. After he leaves the scene the rest of the video is dark. No need to watch any more of it. I’m afraid I don’t know how to cut out the clip of the bobcat.

Quail in the backyard.

it’s not the best quality of camera, but if I get more shots at night of the bobcat, I’ll be thrilled.

My dad sent me a video from Phoenix of a bobcat inside someone’s home cuddled in on the dog bed with toys. The bobcat entered through a doggy door. Unfortunately, the dog was badly hurt, but is surviving after surgery. The video is included in the CBS story below. Click on the link HERE.

Arizona resident comes home to bobcat in dog’s bed

A homeowner in San Manuel, Arizona, came home after work to find a furry creature in her dog’s bed – but it wasn’t a pet. It was a bobcat, believed to have come through the home’s unlocked doggie door.

The homeowner snapped a photo of the bobcat lounging in the bed and the Arizona Game and Fish Department shared the image on Twitter, warning residents not to handle wildlife like this themselves.

Officers with the department did arrive at the scene, but the bobcat had already escaped when they arrived.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/arizona-resident-comes-home-to-bobcat-in-dogs-bed/ar-AA18n2o5

What wildlife do you have around you? What are your thoughts of the cable company offering a lower price for buying a camera?

Looking for more cuts

Rainy day sunset last night.

Going through our subscriptions and cancelling them, I’ve cut a bit of fat out of our yearly budget.

I feel like I’m on a roll, but then my husband got a text to his phone with the monthly cable bill.

We were going to add a TV into a room and then decided we didn’t need or want it. I told my husband that I’d return the cable box we weren’t using and talk to the cable provider to see how we could whittle down the bill.

Also, one of our neighbors who is retired did a bunch of research and cut ties with our cable provider to lower his bill. Another neighbor uses Youtube TV. In the meantime, I said I’d address the cable bill immediately to lower it, and then we could investigate other options.

After a trip to the local cable company, I managed to slice 34% off our monthly bill. I dropped a bunch of stations we never watch like movie channels. What was really weird was Amazon was ALSO charging us for two movie stations that were in my cable package. So, we were being double charged.

My daughter said she hears and reads that tons of people are getting charged for TV subscriptions on Amazon Prime they didn’t sign up for. She believes there’s going to be a class action lawsuit. All I can say is double check your Amazon bill if you use it. Look under digital services and subscriptions.

I called Amazon today and complained. They are reimbursing me for six months of these charges. I guess it’s better than nothing. They began the conversation with a one month deal.

My kids have never subscribed to cable now they’re on their own and wonder why we bother to watch live TV. That’s the wave of the future.

Do you use cable TV or do you use Roku or other smart TV with third party apps like Netflix?