Telstar.

Today has been one of them days where you think you’re accomplishing things but then you look around and it seems like nothing has been done.

We started the morning fairly early. At 8 a.m. on the dot, a contractor arrived to give us the quote for the new patio we’re having put in. The back deck is gone and we’ve opted for a stamped concrete patio; the contractor gave us two bits of good news: 1. It will be done within two weeks, 2: the price is very reasonable.

Yay! Where do we sign on the dotted line?

With that accomplished, we had hoped to clean up what was left of the deck but April showers prevailed. So I suggested “Plan B”. In an effort to save money, Earl and I have been talking about dropping DirecTV and going with a traditional antenna instead. Several of the stations in the area are now broadcasting HDTV digitally over-the-air, so I figured between these feeds and the AppleTV, we’d be fine with our entertainment fill. Off to Radio Shack we went, where we picked out a moderately priced antenna that could be mounted on the side of the house without looking like we were trying to pick up secret conversations from Telstar.

Just for kicks I installed the antenna in a makeshift arrangement in an effort to confirm that we’d be getting a decent signal. I figured it’s better to be safe than sorry before calling DirecTV and telling them to pull our plug.

That’s when Earl realized that we weren’t going to get ESPN, Discovery, Lifetime, Logo, et. al. anymore.

I think he paled.

So the antenna went back in the box and is destined to be returned and DirecTV will continue to tap our wallets for something that was free back in the day.

After our little Telstar drama, Earl and I made supper together, which was an enjoyable experience. After our delicious meal, he said he’d help with loading the dishwasher, where I was presented with this (images are clickable in this new blog format):

He’s such a kidder.