If you ever had a puppy, you’ve probably experienced something like this. You’ve got some important item, some valuable thing and your puppy gets a hold of it. In its mouth. And destroys it. It happened to me the other day. Last week I told you that we just got a puppy. I briefly mentioned a list of things he found to chew on. One of those things was our Starlink internet cable. Not really a dog chew toy.
I was working in my home office creating some presentation slides in Google slides. This requires internet access to save the updates to the slides. All of a sudden a notification pops up and tells me, “You are no longer connected to the internet. Changes will not be saved.” That’s odd. I think. My next thought is that the kids are playing around somewhere by the internet router and it got unplugged. I quickly go check to plug it back in. It’s plugged in. That’s odd. I think. Maybe something else is unplugged.
I follow the cords out of the wall, into the router, out of the router, out of the house, out in the yard, into the satellite dish. Everything is plugged in. But I discover the outside cable is a bit wonky. A bit mangled. A bit…chewed. I immediately discover one reason why cables are buried in the ground or suspended high in the air. To prevent dogs from eating them.
The internet is a necessity for my work so it would be a good idea to keep a spare cable around in case a puppy chews through the main one. I immediately go online (on my phone) and order a spare cable. It will arrive in 3 days. Not helpful for my Google slide scenario. I call the internet repair crew, “Boys, go get the wire strippers!” Justice, my 10-year-old son runs over to the shop to get pliers of all shapes and sizes. Maybe we can fix it ourselves. I’m going out on a limb here but I suspect most of you haven’t cut open a Starlink satellite cord and tried to repair it. Allow me to enlighten you. There’s 8 teeny, tiny wires all wrapped up together inside that small cable. I ask the support crew, “Think we can fix it, boys?”. Thankfully, the boys like taking things apart. Shockingly, in the past I’ve repaired electrical things the dumb way so this time I make sure everything is unplugged. A few minutes later, Sterling, my 12-year-old son has two sets of 8 wires stripped back and starts reconnecting them very professionally with electrical tape. Justice (10) recently got a soldering-iron and asks if we should solder the wires together. “Let’s make sure it works before we get too carried away,” I tell him.
We plug all the plugs back in, wait a few minutes for all the satellites in space to align and…presto! Internet online! Have I buried the cable now? Um, no. Have we soldered the wires all together professionally? Um, no. Has my spare cable arrived and is waiting to be deployed on its next mission? YES! Google slides updated and saved. Lessons learned. Memories made. Time flies! Make every moment count! Especially the moments without the internet. (Oct. 8, 2024 )
Jason Weening and his patient wife really need the internet for tips on how to raise their 10 kids. Buy his adventure book for kids online at HEYDADS.CA.