Great Gifts For Your Dad or Grad

It looks like rain is going to get in the way of our normal annual trek to Maine for lobsters but we will certainly get out on the bikes this holiday weekend. I’ll have to make a trek down to Worthy Burger for beer and burgers for sure. When it rains, it might be time for some David Lynch, checking out the new Twin Peaks episodes. None of my young staff seems to have watched Twin Peaks but then again it was 25 years ago. I know my kids remember it because we were regulars for that bizarre show.

It sure is green here in the Green Mountains! Where the fall is so many shades of red, brown and orange, green is the color of spring and there are a million shades of green on the mountainsides now.

Have a fabulous Memorial Day weekend and don’t forget why this is a holiday.

Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes team,

_Don, Emily & Hadley_

Over the last month or so I’ve begun spending a lot of time after work and on the weekends in a wifi and cell-free zone. There are countless studies about how valuable this is for us for multiple reasons. For myself and my family it’s awesome. We are campers with a seasonal set up at a local campground, we have many conveniences but phones and internet are not one of them.

Having no cell phone coverage and no internet service doesn’t mean you have to give up some of your guilty pleasures while you’re still enjoying the great outdoors and time with friends and family. Traditional radios often don’t work where we camp because we are located in a bit of a hole so we’ve become very accustomed to utilizing offline playlists and bluetooth speakers around the campfire. One of our favorite little speakers around the camp is our “Outdoor Tech Turtle Shell”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/88743/outdoor-tech-turtle-shell-3-0-rugged-waterproof-wireless-boombox-red speaker and we’ve recently added a “Tivoli”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/88258/tivoli-audio-pal-bt-high-gloss-blue-white speaker to our collection. We’ve begun utilizing our Apple Music account so much that we’ve actually discontinued our satellite radio subscriptions in our cars. If you have the music in your pocket already why pay for it again? Well, that is a personal opinion but we’ve seen no drawbacks as a family downsizing to just one paid music service.

Download and watch later! iTunes has let you download and watch offline movie rentals or purchased content for a while now and so has Amazon Prime. Some might not know that Netflix also made this an option back in November. With both Netflix and Amazon Prime you are limited a bit in the content that is available for download and viewing offline. I have found that about 50% of what I consider downloading to watch when I am out of wifi and cellular service to be an option. Just like with iTunes rentals, there is a time limit with each service for how long you have to watch the content before it’s removed from your device. I have loaded up several shows on my iPad, but admit I haven’t watch any yet. I still pick up a book rather than my device. When it comes to a good binge watching moment it’s nice to know I have options loaded up and ready for a rainy weekend at camp.

What about charging all these devices for offline use? Good question. Many folks reading this might perhaps think my idea of camping is more “glamping” and you’re right! For those who might want to take advantage of a good show while riding out a rain storm in your tent or just want to listen to your favorite podcast while cooking on your camp stove there are countless products to allow you to keep your devices fully charged when you can’t just plug them into an outlet. “Goal Zero”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/?mmfg%5B0%5D=Goal+Zero has a wide variety of products to help keep your devices powered when you’re off the grid. Even though I do have access to power I still often carry a battery pack for my iPhone. You never know when you might end up without an available power source.

While you’re enjoying this long holiday weekend, keep in mind that you don’t necessarily have to leave everything behind. While it’s a bit frustrating at times to not have access to the outside world it is nice to feel at least partially unplugged for a while.

_Dear Friends,_

I had a pleasant surprise this week as my internet provider, Green Mountain Access, informed me that they had upgraded the wiring in my neighborhood and I could move from DSL to cable modem access and from about 3Mbps to 50Mbps. With all the gear I have in my house the extra bandwidth will be great and I got spoiled with the fast internet in Key West.

It is absolutely strange to this aging hippy back-to-the-lander that I am so dependent upon the internet. Grace always said she wanted a log cabin with one light bulb but now I have a big house with lights, locks, TV and phones all dependent upon broadband. Yeah, I can get all ancient and use switches, keys and landlines but where’s the fun in that!

As we head into the Memorial Day weekend, it is important to remember this is not just a holiday that marks the unofficial start of summer. Memorial Day is celebrated to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our freedom. While the parades and celebrations are tributes to the brave men and women who have fought to protect us from tyranny, a lasting and real commitment to peace is the highest honor we can pay to soldiers. In these dangerous times, it is more important than ever to honor those who are on duty right now sacrificing so that we can enjoy a free society. We may not all agree with the policies that have put our sons and daughters in harm’s way, but honoring their service, sacrifice, and commitment is the duty of all citizens.

“We must be prepared to make heroic sacrifices for the cause of peace that we make ungrudgingly for the cause of war. There is no task that is more important or closer to my heart.” – Albert Einstein

This week’s “**Kibbles & Bytes exclusive is the Kwikset Kevo Bluetooth lock.**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002694? This is a great Father’s Day gift. It is a “touch-to-open” lock that works on Bluetooth. Once you set up the Kevo App on your phone or iPad you can open your door just by touching. Send e-keys to friends or temporary e-keys to workers. It is a great start for your home automation projects! This week exclusively for Kibbles & Bytes readers get a “**Kevo lock for $40 off at $159.99!**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002694?