Well, we're back from another trip to the land that Wi-Fi forgot. Ironically upon our return we discovered that our neighbors, in the process of putting a new fence around their yard while we were away had accidentally made it so that our "unconnected" adventure was to continue. 
It seems, they had a " friend" (who was supposed to be an old hand at these types of construction projects), come and dig the holes for the fence posts. Since we're on the shore area with lotsa underlying limestone it meant using some muscle to get those posts far enough into the ground to handle the frost. This meant a medium sized excavator and a rock hammer were rented and flung about. Well, in the process they managed to sever our buried cable and essentially leave us without internet, landline telephone and cable television for a number of days.
I suggested to my lsbh, during this unconnected adventure, that we could pretend we were Amish. But, having just spent almost a week without Wi-Fi she didn't seem to see it with the same sense of jocularity. It would be a lie to say that I didn't feel cut off during this scenario, though - and I'm a borderline introvert most of the time. 
Our daughter, in her last visit, had some interesting teaching anecdotes to pass along. She, like you, deals with post-secondary students ( or clientele as some uber administrative types like to label them ). Her most memorable/chilling tale has to be of the penitent student who, given the opportunity to submit a written appeal to avoid outright expulsion for near zero attendance and complete failure to submit assignments, presented an earnest and plaintive outline of the extenuating circumstances. The whole troublesome situation was precipitated, apparently, by the unendurable stress caused by balancing a full-time job with a full-time university career. The job, as the student explained, was necessitated by the fact that the payments on the high-performance German sedan the student had purchased for transportation to and fro needed to be paid for. The implicit audacity actually pales beside the more ominous feeling that this person really felt they had organized their priorities appropriately for this situation. Hmmmmmm.
It makes ya wonder just what kind of world those grandchildren you spoke of will be trying to make their way through when they are severing the various umbilical cords and jumping out of the nest.
After reading your plans for your supposed " down time " Carolyn, all I can say at the moment is don't forget to take it easy.
Leaving you with something suitably appropriate from Mr. Twain, of course:
Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities.
Truth isn't.
Don
All images sourced from Google Images
Fig. 1 - cremlypoi.com
Fig. 2 - northernequipment.net
Fig. 3 - en.wikipedia.org
Fig. 4 - en.wikipedia.org
Fig. 5 - www.caycon.com
Fig. 6 - blog.familymoneyvalues.com
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