Friday & Saturday, February 3rd & 4th - Farmer's Market & Phone Problems

 Friday - My Friday breakfast. One of the grapefruits from last week and a Texas size English Muffin with two eggs, 3 Smokey Links & cheese. Awesome!

On Fridays some folks come in with a pickup pulling a wagon. Both the pickup and truck are loaded with fruit and vegetables. They arrive at 10:30 and leave at noon. I took several of these photos through one of our coach windows. The crowd was already forming when they arrived at 10:30. 

Three people run the show. Two of them are busy taking money almost the entire time they are here. The 3rd one works hard keeping everything stocked.

Halfway through their 90 minute stay there was still a crowd.

By this time we were outside enjoying the nice day.

We went over and bought 3 grapefruit, a couple of bunches of green onions and a head of cauliflower. The bill was $6.50, I gave the lady $7. She didn't have change and gave me an big orange for change.  Last week we bought 6 grapefruit, two bunches of green onions, and some other things.

At noon there was still a few customers around as the folks packed up and left.

Kathy finished the afghan she had been working on and started on a puzzle.

Completed puzzle

In the evening we went to the "Ballroom" at the Activity Center for the Friday night all you can eat fish. There were five types of fish; red sauce, white sauce, blackened and 2 types of deep fried. There was also mac & cheese, cole slaw, salads, hush puppies and some other misc items. The blackened was good but one of the deep fried was very good. Kathy liked both the fish in white sauce and the deep fried that I liked. Food is served buffet style on tables at the back of the photo. About half the Ballroom is included in the photo. It where we have church.

As I was getting into bed I tried to plug the charging cable into my phone, it wouldn't lock in and connect. One of the shortcomings of the campground is that the WiFi has been down the entire time we have been here, and may not get back up while we are here. We have to use our phones as hot spots for Internet service. Kathy's ancient iPhone has been acting up, its really slow even with a good 4G LTE signal. (A WiFi hotspot is available at the Activity Center.) I turned my phone off to conserve the battery. There was nothing else I could do with it so I went to bed/sleep.

Saturday - After breakfast, only a bowl of oatmeal and half a grapefruit this morning, I walked the half mile to the Activity Center (got in some exercise) to access the hot spot with my tablet. My Google Pixel 5a is only 16 months old and I was sure hoping that I  wouldn't end up having to buy a new one. Still I did some phone shopping and decided that if I had to buy one I'd buy a $420 Pixel 6. Then I  checked to see if there were Best Buy stores around here, with Geek Squads. There are 3 of them within a half hour drive. I online "chatted" with a Best Buy rep and was told that they could replace the charging port on my Pixel 5a while I waited. Not that I don't trust online info people but...I called the closest store. After going through a sequence of punching the numbers I got to talk to a lady with an Indian/Asian(?) accent. Almost immediately it was clear that she didn't have a clue. She was just there to type my comments into a commuter and regurgitate whatever the computer spit back. I told her I wanted to talk to someone with the Geek Squad at the store. Surprisingly she gave me an extension to key in once I connected at the store. After contacting the store I was told that they didn't work on Google phones.

Back to online research. Using a pared down toothpick to clean the port was recommended on a site. I tried that and got some dirt out but nothing that seemed significant. It didn't help.

Next I checked Google Maps for phone repair. I found one about 2 miles from us. I called the guy and he told me to bring it in and he would look at it. I walked back home, got the car and drove to the address from Google Maps. Then the adventure began.

The place was supposed to be at an intersection on business 83, a main drag about a mile south of the campground. Below are screenshots from Google. This is the corner where the phone repair place was supposed to be located. I parked on the side street and walked over to make sure I wasn't missing something.

I walked on by to the car lot next door. I asked a guy who was washing a car if he knew the location of the phone repair place. He told me it might be on the other side of the church next door.

I walked by the church to a little strip center.

I found the address listed by Google, but it was some type of attorney's office and was closed. Next door was a cell phone plan store. I checked with the guy in there and he knew nothing about the store I was trying to find.

Back at the car I called the place and asked for the address. The address he gave me was another mile west. I put it in Google and asked for directions. I was directed a block off the main highway and was then directed down this alley. I thought, "You have got to be kidding.", but I  drove down the alley.

The other end of the alley is back on the main business route, and this was the phone repair shop. I caused this problem. I punched in 500 Hooks drive, not 509 Hooks drive. I guess the alley is Hooks drive.

I parked, went in and told the guy about my problem. He asked me to give him 5 minutes and he would know whether the fix was a $35 refurb (cleaning) or a $70 charging port replacement. In a couple of minutes he told me the refurb was all that was required and that it  would be another 5 minutes.  In a few minutes he came out of the back and the port worked as it should. He said there was a small piece of paper lodged in the port. The paper kept the end of the charging cable from snapping in place. I paid him, thanked him and wished him a blessed day. He asked if I was a Christian. I said yes and he said he was also. We chatted awhile and I left. I've been having problems with the space bar on my laptop (it often jumps 2 spaces when I hit it), I think I might take to him and see if a cleaning would  help it.

I was back home for a late lunch and a siesta, actually we both took naps. I did manage to get the coach windshield washed during the afternoon. The morning sun comes through it and it was really streaked from the rain washing dirt off the roof of the coach.

Weather today was great. The overnight low was 43 but it warmed up  quickly. It was in the 60's shortly after noon and is still 62 at 9PM. When I walked to the Activity  Center this morning I was wearing jeans, a tee shirt, a flannel shirt and a hoody. When I walked back a couple of hours later I carried the hoody. By mid afternoon I was sitting outside in shorts and a tee. Tonight's low is forecast to be 55.

We are both looking forward to attending Cowboy Church in the morning.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.