FIgured it out. I had disabled the web access in the settings - you wouldn't believe what that does to the router. My fault on items 1, 4, and 5.
2. The Wifi? I think the Wifi component of the Almond is just toast. Never worked well from the start. Don't really care about that.
3. A 'feature' of the Almond+
So, it's ok for now. Trying to figure out now on how to connect to Alexa and Google.