I knew housework wasn't any good for me

We've all read the internet story of the family that starts out to simply give the cat a bath (they should have known better) and they end up in either the hospital or with the fire department or both. And a dirty cat. Yesterday was my semi-equivalent.

It's rainy and the house needs cleaning so I decide to give it a go. I would never be hired for my housekeeping skills, the kitchen being an exception. I can bake and new recipes are like a red flag to a bull--yes, let's go! When I was growing up, my mother's job for me was dusting the furniture. And you know how it goes: I hate to dust. I'll vacuum, clean the bathrooms, mop the floor. Just don't make me dust.

But the place was dusty, so I started in the living room. By the time I got to the study, I was deep into clean mode. And there it was, on the end table surrounded by dust, the modem.

Our modem is a touchy thing under the best of conditions. I think it knows when you look at it wrong. So I carefully dusted around it, then, acting as if it were the Crown Jewels, I picked it up to dust under it.

And it started blinking. Didn't like being touched. Not at all. So I went to reset it. The telephone pincer broke as I removed it. Snapped right off.

We have accumulated many cast-off telephone wires so I retrieved the box of them. They were either 6 feet long (too short) or 40. So long as to be a bundle to be tripped over. I needed 12 feet, didn't have it, but set the modem up in the window with a 6 footer just to make sure it would work and still be able to reach the electric outlet. Window placement was never to be a solution.

Off to Walmart I went and found the appropriate wire. And it didn't work. Would not, would not, would not connect. I switched out lines with the telephone to make sure there wasn't anything wrong with the new cord. It was fine. I called my neighbor. Was hers working? Maybe I'd stumbled into a two-fold problem. Nope. She was up and running. I gather the ethernet cords and prepare to set up camp by the modem and call tech support, when it flashes all is well.

I'm still a bit distrustful of it. Caution is my byword.

And I knew dusting would get me in trouble. The modem gets to sit in a pile of it from now on.