A Simple Job, Right?

We are going away for the weekend to visit some old friends (some from the early 70's) in Caycuse, an old logging camp on Lake Cowichan which is now cooperative housing. Norma suddenly realized she would miss a TV awards show this weekend so asked me to tape it for her. Well, we have been having problems with the VCR for some time and I have not been able to get it to play nicely with StarChoice.

I looked on line for a solution and discovered London Drugs had a StarChoice (Shaw Direct) Digital Video Recorder / receiver on sale for $269. This would solve the recording problem and also let me move the old receiver into the motorhome. Two birds with one stone.

I rushed downtown to buy the last receiver they had in stock and started setting it up. I quickly realized that it required two lines from the antenna as it was actually two receivers in one (one for watching and one for the recorder). The problem is, I only had one line run in to that spot and all four outputs from the antenna were used up! I found some cable, climbed up on the roof and unhooked the cable that went to the receiver that serves my office. I used that output, ran the cable down the wall and drilled a hole through the wall. I fished the cable through only to find it to be two feet short. I found another ten foot cable and connected it to the end and into the receiver. Then I found some caulking and sealed up the hole in the wall where the cable came in. It was now 9:00pm and I had started at about 5:00. I got a signal on the TV and called StarChoice to authorize the receiver. That took an hour and by the time everything was cleaned up and working it was almost 11:00. Now I just have to come up with a way to get TV back into my office. I have a spare antenna that I could install on the roof. or I can buy a "splitter" for $100. There is no end to it!

And some people wonder what retired folks do with all our time!

This is where we are going this weekend in the motorhome. Caycuse is actually just across the lake from the pushpin. We have to travel about 20 miles of gravel to get there.