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To Recap – Limitless, our internet provider, went bankrupt.  Windstream, our other option out here, has lines running to the farm that are so old and degraded that the signal barely gets here – the service is barely more than dial up, at High Speed prices.  We’re hopeful that River Valley Internets new tower will reach the farm, but it’s not turned on yet..  so rather than buy into one of the ridiculously overpriced, limited, options like exceed or hughes net (and we aren’t actually sure that either of those would work at the farm anyway…) we’re going to see how hard it is to live without internet at the farm.  We have 25% of our phone data left, with 13 days left.  However, our daughter heads back to college, where she has constant unlimited wifi, tomorrow, so that will help.  (Our youngest is in air force basic training for 8 weeks – with no access to his phone - that is helping too.) A quick look at my data usage shows that I’ve used 1.08gb on google chrome, .87gb on facebook, and .

Update - 4/20/17 - We still have no options for internet here.  BUT, thankfully, Verizon now offers unlimited data!!  I use my phone as a hotspot, as described below, and it works wonderfully.  It's faster than the internet we've had here in the past too.  The only thing we have not yet figured out is how to get Netflix on the big tv in the living room..  but we haven't really had time or inclination to work to hard at that, at this point.   1. Use your phone as a hotspot.   I was impressed by how easy it is to connect my laptop using my phone.   Just remember to plug your phone in, it will drain your battery fairly fast.   On my phone (Samsung Note 5, Verizon Network) I simply chose “Mobile Hotspot” from the drop down menu, and followed the instructions.   After the key was added to my laptop, for future use all I had to do was click on the mobile hotspot button and my laptop automatically connected, as it does to any other saved wifi hotspot.  https://www.verizonwireless.

 Week 0 & Week 1 Our youngest is off at basic training at Lackland Air Force Base.  This is our second son to go through this, but 4 years later, we’re finding this journey just a little bit different..  so if you are reading this a few years later, there many be many more changes.  This is a time line, as we experienced it in 2017. Our son was set to swear in on January 3 rd 2017, so he was required to appear and sign in at the hotel near MEPS by 5pm on January 2 nd .  This first week is Week 0 of training. January 2 nd 4:45 drop Matt at Hotel.  He signed in, took his bag to his room, and attended a briefing.  We went to a nearby park and took a walk. 5:45pm – roughly – Matt called to say he was free until 10pm.  We picked him up and went to the mall, where he made a build a bear with his voice recorded in it, for his fiancé for while he is away.  We went out to dinner at Chick Fil A, then went to Applebee’s for dessert, where the guys could watch the football game. 9:40 – we dro