Tag: speed

Computer Gift

Repair & Yippee, it works!

November 28, 2022

Computer Gift


Louis came home with an amazing anniversary present for me: A computer!  

He’d bought a used computer that could access the internet!  I was super stoked!  Set it up, plugged it in, started and *pop* there was a sound that anyone who has ever heard it knows – a blown fuse.  

I started by taking it all apart to find the fuse.  It was not a pop in and out fuse, but an enclosed one soldered to the breadboard in the power supply unit.  A few other things on the power supply were burned and tested bad.  I considered trying to redo the power supply, but instead decided to use parts from two old computer bases we’d kept in hopes of fixing.  I ended up with a power supply and a few other small things picked from the other two bases and voila! It worked!

Messy
Range of Mess
New Computer!
Tools… Some of them
It Works!
Innards

The table looked a little messy with three computer innards scattered around. 

It reminded me of my Daddy building custom computers in the ‘90s, when I was little more than an observer asking a million questions and occasionally handing something to Daddy.  When it worked, I was super stoked.  

Now I can access the internet from home again!  

It is a slow giant (was originally too fast for the power supply I put in, but I fixed that) but that’s still okay!  Nothing has to be super fast for me.  The fact that it puts text up on the screen at the same speed I type is a major improvement over the last desktop computer we had!   The previous base had lagged a little.  I would be typing and it was a few words behind in the displaying of said words or sometimes when I was really into it, sentences behind.  It used to make Christina and Becky laugh when my computer did that.

Now, I have a working internet computer that loads everything I need!  Another thing I’m thankful for!

Thank you for reading!

Type at you later!

~Nancy Tart

Sixteen Sweet Years

October 3, 2019

Sixteen Sweet Years

The one who first called me mother is sixteen years old.  Thank you, Jesus.  I am so grateful for being blessed with Christina!  I can’t imagine life without her. 

I truly understand that God entrusts us with raising his children.  There is such a wonderful humbling feeling in being able to watch my little baby grow into a young woman of God. 

For nine months I felt this tiny life growing inside of me.  We prayed over her (not knowing who she would be yet) and loved her from the time we imagined she would come.  She was born the eldest grandchild to both sets of grandparents – imagine such a crazy double blessing! 

Fast forward to today: she’s driving and we’re on the way to her job and Kimberly’s classes with Thea and I riding along (so I can take the car back home and Thea was just up with us so got to serenade us – she sings to music now).

I thank God daily for each of my children.  I know we aren’t promised tomorrow.  I treasure every day.  Every time I get to hear Thea sing notes (no words yet, just “aaaahh-ooooh-aaah”) to music, every time Lucas builds a train track that snakes all over the front room, every time Jillian is jumping like a pogo stick because she learned a new skill or mastered a math concept, every time Jaquline makes something new, every time I get to see Kimberly march (in Civil Air Patrol) or practice some new flip (gymnastics), every time I see Becky snuggle with Lucas, Thea, and Jillian on my bed reading “Angel and the Ring” (Lucas’ favorite), every time Christina ranks up or encourages someone else… every time I get to spend life with my children. 

They don’t have to come to me when they need to talk about something or ask personal of difficult questions – I thank God that they do.  They could bury themselves in isolation from “the parents” but I’m super thankful that they choose to be around us when we are home.  In this precious time while they are close, I want to talk, snuggle, read, play games, cook together, watch them build, invent and grow, and see them climb closer to Jesus.  I am so thankful for the time we’ve been given together.

I became a mom on December 24, 2002.  My little life began inside me and I excitedly whispered it to my mother on Christmas Day because I knew she wouldn’t think it odd that I “felt” my angel start inside me. My first pregnancy journey ended with my beautiful young woman who is driving beside me now.  There is something humbling and awe-inspiring when you hold that first tiny human and realize that God has gifted you with one of His children to raise up.  Once through that, I felt the same huge responsibility and humbling gratitude each time I felt the little life start. 

Life is a vapor; you look at your tiny child in your arms and when you open your eyes again, she’s been flying a plane and driving a vehicle, doing college classes and working a job.  Though she is nearing the time she can choose to leave your home you carefully built for her, you continue to enjoy each day, each opportunity to be around her.  You pray thankful for the time you’ve had and for her safety and future. 

Those years speed by.  The love you carry never leaves.  No matter if your youngling is plucked early to fill heaven with joy, your love remains as strong as the day you discovered them growing inside you – a mother’s love never stops.

Type at you next time,

~Nancy Tart

The King’s View

A very short story about the hawk that lives near our tiny farm. Enjoy!

October 8, 2018

The King’s View

(Today, enjoy a view of my “farm” from the eyes of “The King” – a large, beautiful hawk who lives in a nest in one of the pine trees in a neighbor’s property.)

Soaring over his domain, The King doesn’t think to look up; nothing flies higher than he.  The calls from his chicks in the nest remind him that this trip’s fare needs to be a feast.  The chicks are growing larger, hungrier, and bolder.  Soon his mate must shove them from the nest to go soar into their own territories, but today, he must hunt to fill their ever-growing bellies.

The sharp images below relayed by his eyes present a veritable feast of opportunity.  Tree-rats, overgrown frogs, and a few fat lizards sunning on the porches and driveways below all present easily caught but less than desired prey.

A cluster of rodents catch his eye, but he knows the hexagon-shaped glimmers mean they are protected by that horrid human invention called “chicken wire.”  Though he refers to it as “the shiny barrier” instead of “chicken wire.”  Six rodents are stretching in the afternoon sun, nocturnal in nature; they are fat, lazy, easy treats if it weren’t for that glimmering hexagon protection.

Cackles erupt from the wooden box under some shade trees – no, those chickens aren’t easy fare anymore.  They used to be.  He used to be able to outsmart the checkerboard rooster despite his three-inch spurs and heavy wings – he would get the younger chickens as they wandered away from the big rooster’s protection.  Now there were two long-spurred giants.  The checkerboard one was always outside chasing the wanderers back into the brush or waiting for a hawk to test his power.  The second was a giant red one – that one was missing a spur that had fatally wounded a previous hawk.  The King is wise enough not to attempt those chickens.  But he always looks.  If one wandered too far away or if that effective team was ever unwary…

No, today’s fare will have to be a few tree-rats.  The King settles his decision with a precision dive and catch.  He swoops in with amazing speed, executes his prey mercifully, and glides high on majestic wings to drop the prize in his anxious chicks’ nest.  He returns to gather another partial meal for his growing offspring.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

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