Cottage Renovations

[OT from cottage renovations]

teh interwebs is broken in the cottage. 

it's not even a technical issue, an administrative error on Verizon's part which has gone on for a day and half now and which they are in no apparent hurry to actually correct (according to their web page the ticket is already closed and the fix already applied - but that same web page carries a note advising the viewer that its content is generally at least 24 hr out of synch with reality, a point on which I do agree). 

it has provided the opportunity to consider a couple of things: one is the extent to which I have become bandwidth dependent.  not just for amusement and the ability to put images and text in this space, but also for other running processes.  the other, consequentially, is that it would make sense to set up a second path for carrier and route diversity.  perhaps something as simple as a dial-up connection out.  for the nonce the occasional connection via laptop and wireless will do; everything on the internal network is just going to have to wait. 

one option I'm not considering is cable.  Comcast customer "service" has even more -- and worse -- horror stories than Verizon. 

[OT from cottage renovations]
[crossposted from wg_writers (members, please comment there)]

in a well regulated household things are seldom far out of place, or at least can be accounted for within a reasonable margin of uncertainty.  I am in no position to claim to operate such an establishment, and derive no pleasure from reminders of this state of things. 

my current source of annoyance is a disappearing slip wrench.  useful as it is for the occasional if infrequent plumbing job around the cottage, as a gardening tool it has no equal as a force multiplier and reach extender.  it is just the thing for safely getting out the (dis-)likes of barberry, honeysuckle and poison ivy by the roots.  I have come to believe that its utility transcends the physical; that it confers psychological as well as mechanical advantage in the horticultural struggle against invasive species.  the rankest weeds tremble in fear when they sense its approach. 

slip wrench

but where O where has my little slip wrench gone? 
it is not to be found among any of the gardening or household tools, and a search of likely hiding places has so far turned up nothing.  it's too heavy for feline abscondment, so clearly I have nobody to blame but myself.  and I know darn well that purchasing another would merely provoke it into popping out of its lurking place, and I refuse to give it the satisfaction. 

so here I am, stuck in a mutex lock.  but there's reason for hope: last week the ironing board turned up.  it's a small one, and had taken refuge behind the washer and dryer for longer than I care to admit.  so as the weeds flourish, the search continues. 

[OT from cottage renovations]

szap commented about topic drift (she was kind enough to call it "expansion") in this space. 
some context for it can be found in the following excerpt from an email to a Grover-in-exile.