I came into the conversation a bit late, but what I think I hear is
that madgardener may lose the Internet connection. If he lives close
enough to a town with a library that offers use of PCs with Internet
connection, maybe that would help a little. Inconvenient but better
than nothing. A friend of mine used to do her marketing and then
stop at the library to check her email, and send replies, etc while
her Internet connection was down for a few months. Just a thought.
Perhaps you are already doing that.
Deb :-)