Those annoying subscriptions

Posted on February 13, 2023 by E.A. Wickham

We spotted three mule deer in our front yard over the weekend. I’m hiding in our courtyard looking through the gates to take photos and this beauty is staring right at me.

I sat down Saturday and went through our bank accounts to collect info for taxes. Ugh. Not my favorite thing to do. But, with nothing else to do on a Saturday — except walk, go to the gym, clean house, carry dishes from the kitchen to the casita, watch TV and read — somehow I managed to sit down and get to work.

I’m always shocked at how much money we spend during the year and I look for ways to cut back.

One thing that hit me right in the eyes were subscriptions on our monthly credit card statements for things we no longer use. It’s tricky because some are billed annually. They aren’t that much, and somehow I let them slip by me.

Then there are monthly ones that are billed monthly. Those are easier to catch during the year, but I was negligent with some of those, too.

Some things I cancelled yesterday were useful to me in the past. Like LinkedIn. I used that when I was writing a weekly column and I got requests from companies to write for them. But what surprised me is that I had an annual charge for LinkedIn. I never signed up for a premium membership and I thought it was free. Apparently I was wrong.

Another one was for a newspaper attached to Ancestry.com. I don’t remember signing up for it. I was able to log in and checked out my account. It said I was a guest and didn’t have a subscription, yet they charged me $74.95! I couldn’t cancel it online because the website said I don’t have an account.

A few newspaper subscriptions I signed up for, I’m not interested in anymore. Yet I couldn’t find a way to cancel them. So today, I’ll be making some phone calls.

What a waste of time and money!

What is your experience with subscriptions billed annually or monthly?

A beautiful start to the day

Posted on February 2, 2023 by E.A. Wickham

We spotted this mule deer on our morning walk.

I did a double take on our morning walk. We were on a cul-de-sac and I saw in the distance what I thought was a statue of a deer. I wondered when the neighbors put it up?

Then the ears twitched and I realized “WOW! It’s alive.”

I’m always surprised when I encounter wildlife in our neighborhood. I wonder if I’ll ever get used to it?

This deer didn’t seem afraid of us and I crept closer and closer to get a photo. She didn’t move.

My husband commented on how secure the deer seemed.

“Well, it’s very nice neighborhood with very little crime,” I said. We left the deer alone after I got some good photos and continued on our walk.

What delightful surprises or sights have you had lately?

What’s your morning routine?

Posted on December 20, 2022 by E.A. Wickham

I spoted a Mule deer — A mule deer we spotted on our morning walk.

Every morning I glance at my phone to see what time it is when I wake up. I also check the temperature.

This morning an article popped up that caught my eye. “3 morning habits to help you be happier and more productive at work, according to psychologists” by Morgan Smith on CNBC.

I have an established morning routine that I have followed for years. I developed the routine while reading The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I journal three pages. It’s a brain dump consisting of everything that’s making me anxious, plus a to do list for the upcoming day. Then I use an app called Laudate and either read or listen to daily Bible readings followed by prayer. Last, I go for my morning walk.

It’s a routine that helps me feel grounded. I was curious what the article would say about morning routines and if my morning routine hit their three suggestions to be happier and more productive.

I’m missing the first step.

Set an intention for the day.

Your to-do list might be doing more harm than good, psychologist Jessica Jackson warns.

Checking your emails, calendar or to-do list soon after you wake up “immediately starts the day off on a stressful note, and tells your brain to go into panic mode,” Jackson, who is also the global clinical diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging manager at Modern Health, tells CNBC Make It.

Instead, Jackson recommends all of her clients start their day with an intention meditation: taking a few minutes to sit in silence, take a couple of deep breaths, and choose a single word, or sentence, to be their “north star” for the day.

“You can tell yourself, ‘My intention for today is to feel successful’ or ‘I want to be comfortable today’ and think about what you can realistically accomplish in the next 24 hours to feel that way,” Jackson explains. “It can also be a single, powerful word like ‘gratitude’ that will guide how you react to and reflect on whatever happens throughout the day.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/18/psychologists-morning-habits-to-help-you-be-happier-more-productive.html

Step two I do with my morning pages. The suggestion is to set an offline ritual and stick with it. My morning walks also fit the bill.

Step three is to have fun. I thought I was missing that also, but I play Wordle every morning. That’s my bit of fun. We realize how important recess is for kids at school, the article explained. But what do we do for fun?

What is your morning routine? Do you hit all three of the steps in the CNBC article?

Benefits of early morning walks

Posted on May 20, 2022 by E.A. Wickham

javelina in a neighbor's yard — Javelina

One of the benefits of walking at dawn is the wildlife we get to see. This morning it was this herd of Javelina in front of a neighbor’s house. I texted the photo to the neighbors to show them the shenanigans going on in their driveway while they were sleeping.

What is a javelina you might ask?

Javelina (Tayassu tajacu) also known as collared peccary, are medium-sized animals that look similar to a wild boar. They have mainly short coarse salt and pepper colored hair, short legs, and a pig-like nose. The hair around the neck/shoulder area is lighter in color giving it the look of a collar. Javelina have long, sharp canine teeth which protrude from the jaws about an inch.
One major adaptation for survival is the fact that javelina live in large family groups. The average group size is 10 or less, but a few herds have known to number up to 53 animals. Each group defends a territory which includes their sleeping and feeding areas. They communicate with their own family group and other groups using sounds and smells.
Javelina live in desert washes, saguaro and palo verde forests, oak woodlands, and grasslands with mixed shrubs and cacti.
They can be found in the deserts of southwest Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, southward through Mexico and Central America and into northern Argentina.
https://desertmuseum.org/kids/oz/long-fact-sheets/Javelina.php

Other creatures we have seen are tiny baby bunnies, quail families, coyotes and mule deer.

mule deer in the street — Mule deer that crossed the street at dawn.

We are going adventuring in the area this weekend and I’ll write about that next week.

Have you seen javelina before? What plans do you have for the weekend?

Where did it go?

Posted on May 18, 2022 by E.A. Wickham

When I sat down at my laptop yesterday morning something didn’t look right. The folder on my desktop called “All My Files” wasn’t there. It was there before I went to sleep. Gone 10 hours later.

I googled how to restore files. How to find files. Apparently the OS I’m using can hide documents from view. I went through five ways to find my files. I went to icloud. My missing files are still missing.

Finally. I went to the Apple website to book an appointment at the local “genius bar.” Instead I clicked on “call.” They called within seconds. I spent more than three hours on the phone yesterday with two techs. They searched near and far and in the cloud for my files. They both asked me if I had backed up my files on a thumb drive or external hard drive.

“No.”

What was I thinking about? Why didn’t I? I realized it had to do with our move. My two external hard drives that used to sit by my computer at home….didn’t make it back to that handy place where I used them. Out of sight. Out of mind.

I found my bright orange La Cie external hard drive and it’s now sitting next to my computer. I won’t make the mistake thinking my computer automatically stores all my files on icloud. Some files are there. But the ones most important to me are not. My entire NaNoWriMo 50,000-word manuscript is gone. My newsletter files are gone. There’s a gap of a few days in May when I finished the newsletter that are missing. There’s a month when I wrote the manuscript that is gone.

I had both of these files open on my laptop. Where did they go?

I’ve learned my lesson to make copies and backups.

My case with Apple has been escalated to engineering. They “may” be able to restore my hard drive with all my files. Or they may not.

I’ll let you know tomorrow. In any case they were very helpful and didn’t chastise me for not backing up. But I learned my lesson. What’s left is backed up.

A mule deer catching afternoon shade against our fence. The mulies have nothing to do with my post today — except keep me calm with their beauty.

How often do you backup your computer? Have you experienced a computer snafu that stressed you out? What was it?

Spring has sprung!

Posted on March 28, 2022 by E.A. Wickham

There is a warmth in the air along with the delicious scent of jasmine. Looking around, I see signs that the cold winds of winter have left us. I see blooms and buds on my daily walks. Each day brings something new.

Purple lupine flowers growing through a crack in the concrete. — Purple flowers are finding their way through the concrete. I believe this is lupine.

Bright red cardinal — This cardinal hung outside our casita yesterday. We also have a gray brown female and their reddish brown juvenile. He will get redder as he matures. I read that female cardinals choose their mates based on the brilliance of their feathers. Bright red feathers means the cardinal is finding nutritious food.

Toumey's Century Plant. — I can’t wait for this agave known as a Century Plant to bloom. This one is in a neighbor’s front yard. It looks like it will be impressive.

hedgehodge cactus im bloom — A hedgehog cactus beginning to bloom. The color of the flowers are stunning.

Mule deer hanging out at a friend's house. — I spotted this mule deer next to a friend’s home because its ears moved.
I passed it on the start and end of my 45-minute walk.

What signs are telling you Spring is in the air? Do you see more birds? Blooming plants?

We’re in full bloom — desert style

Posted on April 7, 2021 by E.A. Wickham

Living in the Sonoran desert for my first Spring, it’s exciting to see flowers and growth sprouting everywhere. Here are some of the highlights I’ve seen the past few days: cactus, flowers, wildlife and grass I bought for our cat.