Creekside Village Stories

  Photo:  Vermeer.com The Anacortes fiberoptic internet service is finally taking shape in Creekside.  For the last few weeks, we have had a ringside seat to watch how an underground cable is installed.  It's been remarkably less disruptive to our lives than I think many of us expected.   The star of the show has been the Vermeer D23x30 S3 Navigator® horizontal directional drill (above).  It has a cockpit from which the operator controls the drilling distance and direction.  He told me he can actually steer the the boring head around curves.  As he worked, I watched additional extensions being added to the drill shaft.  See images below.   One reference indicated these drills can extend 300 to 450 feet or more.  If you're interested, you can visit the Vermeer website for more information about this piece of equipment. The cable itself is not being installed at this time.  This phase is installing the junction b...

  As you know, the City of Anacortes is finally bringing their fiberoptic internet service to Creekside.  This will require some trenching and underground work to accomplish.  While taking my occasional "Grand Tour" walks around the campus, I was curious what the utility marking colors meant.  Since I thought others might also be curious, here is a chart of what each color signifies.  As indicated, the white markings show where the new fiberoptic cable will be buried.  Marking all the locations of existing utilities is intended to prevent disturbing or damaging them by new excavations.   According to the letter from the city, they will use an underground boring machine to place conduits for much of the work.  I lived on a cul-de-sac in Sedro Woolley when the TV cable was installed in 1980.  I came home from work, and the only clue anyone had been there was the cable sticking out of the ground at the foundation of the house.  Not so ...

Image:  HighSpeedInternet.com First let me clarify that I am not promoting or recommending any product, service or company, nor am I getting any reward.  This is a post about my experiences after changing my cell phone carrier and installing a 5G wireless internet system.  Please use or disregard the information as you wish. As you know from a previous post, I cancelled my cable TV service and went with internet TV streaming almost two years ago.  The conversion went well for me, and I don't regret the change at all.  Not only did I save money, I got better television in the bargain.  I continued using the existing Comcast internet service via cable.  At the time, it was the only reasonable option, but I eagerly anticipated the promised Access Fiber Internet service from the City of Anacortes.  My Comcast internet service began at $50/month, but after a year it increased to $70/month.  Can I expect another increase this fall?    Im...

  Who knew?  Well, I didn't.  The old Apple iOS GoSkagit app was terrible, and virtually unreadable.  It's been a year or two since I had looked at it.   Then came mail delivery of the Skagit Valley Herald.  Since I don't pick up my mail every day, that wasn't working for me at all.  I was on the verge of cancelling, but thought I would take one more look at the digital version. I searched "Skagit Valley Herald" in the Apple app store, signed in, and was I ever surprised by what I found.  Instead of small, unreadable print and getting firehosed with ads and auto-playing videos, there was a beautiful digital image of the printed edition.  It was also much nicer than the newsprint version.  I mean, really nice!  It was presented article by article, page by page, just like the newspaper.  This Apple (and I assume Android) app is completely new.   First, if you've not done so already, you'll need to create online accounts...