MERCIER APPLES

While we were up in north Georgia for a wedding, we took a detour the next morning, going north to Blue Ridge, so we could pick up some apples at Mercier's Apple House.

Inside, an old truck met us, loaded with apples.

We'd gotten up early (they open at 7 am) so we could eat breakfast in their cafe. My guy had a waffle but I had one of their fried peach pies. It wasn't crowded. Then.

Afterward, we ambled toward the apple room:

There we tasted apples before deciding which ones to buy. They were all good, some sweet, some tart, some just right! And no, I don't know these people.

After we picked up a bag to take home, we wandered around some more. They keep knocking out walls and putting stuff in. They have a honey section, a section of canned stuff, a section for jams and jellies, a section for different juices--not just apple but things like muscadine--and ciders--not just apple but other fruits like cherry--and all kinds of things like soaps and candles. There is also, I noticed, a place for tasting hard cider. But at eight o'clock in the morning, and a three hour drive in the rain ahead of us, we decided to forego that treat.

I don't remember what part this was, but you can see the hanging sign listing different departments:

Besides the apples, we also got a jar of chow chow and a bag of stone ground grits. And some more fried pies to take with us. Apple and peach, although they have a bunch of flavors. I found out recently that Mercier's supplies fried pies to places like The Varsity. (If you're not from Georgia, you won't know what that is but it's a famous fast-food place started by a Georgia Tech drop-out that has now spread over the state.)

Mercier's has muffins and banana bread and other things, too, but the fried pies are a specialty. Here's the bakery case: kind of empty since it was so early but stuff was coming from the kitchen. The pies we bought were still warm!

By the time we left about eight thirty, even with rain putting a damper on pick-it-yourself apple buyers, people were flocking in. There wasn't a single parking place left in the closest parking lot. Good thing we came early.

We ate the last apple yesterday and it was still good. I just love Mercier's! If you're ever in North Georgia, this is the place to go.

APPLE CRAPPLE

I thought I'd love my Apple iPhone and for a while I did.

Then, for some reason, every time I wanted to do anything different, including buy an app or book, it wanted my password even though my fingerprint was in use and letting me in! But it wouldn't take my password. It kept telling me my password was wrong. I'd finally have to send for help and get the link and go to it and change my password.

All that just to buy a stupid book! We went through this so much I could hardly remember what my password was.

With many misgivings, I later bought an iPad. For a while, all was well and good. The fingrprint technology worked on it, too.

But now, after an upgrade, they've come up with some new form of torture: If I have signed in on a new device, Apple requires me to put in my Apple password and then a code they kindly text to me. Even though my fingerprint should let them know I'm the right person!

Did I really need this? Did I ask for this? Who is the moron behind all this security stuff?

Okay, I want my stuff to be secure. But going through this hassle is almost not worth it. And at the grocery store, people give me dirty looks while I try to use my Apple pay. Because it demands a password everytime I use it and then it tells me my password is wrong!

It's fine to push security, but hey! I'm not the one my stuff needs to be secure from!

Here, Apple! Take this!

iPhone

I have an iphone. Don't know if that's a good thing or not. I've had it less than a year and was making out okay. Learned how to put on apps. Learned how to get my email, put on a few songs, load on a game, use the GPS. Oh, and how to make a phone call.

So every 2-4 days, it needed charging and I dutifully charged it. Then last week the battery started going down overnight. I'd charge it fully, go to bed, and the next morning, voila! 39% charged. 20% charged. One day it only showed 7% of the battery remaining. Figured the battery was going bad. Knew I couldn't switch it out.

So. Called AT&T. They said it was still under warranty, transferred us to Apple. Apple said we should extend our warranty for another year since it was expiring in a month or so. I did but Apple still didn't tell me what was wrong. Then.

Long story short. Had to call AT&T again. No, it was Apple's problem. Had to call Apple again. They said I had to bring the phone in to the store. Nearest store 2 hours away. Got an appointment, drove there, registered with a gal holding an iPad wearing two nose studs and real casual clothes, milled around till someone took pity on me and showed me what was wrong just before my appointed rep showed up.

The customer rep tested the battery and said, yep, the other guy was right. Battery was fine. I could have stayed at home and fixed it myself.

So what was the problem? Turns out Apple updated the iPhones a couple of months back. Turns out the notification was so involved I didn't - couldn't! - read it all. Turns out any app you use continues to run in the background till you manually turn it off.

So I had the phone app, the cheap gas app, the email app, the map app, the weather app, the...You get the picture. All these and more were running in the background and eating up my battery. All I had to do was turn them off.

Why, pray tell, could Apple not have put this info on their site under FAQs along with all the other reasons the battery might be discharging too soon?

Grrr. Glad I didn't get an iPad