Enough Grief

It hasn't been a great summer so far.  Death of a friend, although not unexpected as he was 98 years old, and bad health news from my dearest friend.  A is struggling with depression, she hates it here, hates her life.  She does manage to get herself moving for meals and for work, but that is about it.  She really needs to take her talks to her therapist toward this.  Mom's dementia continues to worsen and I find it very discouraging and tiring to try to keep up.

And then...

My neighbor (the one I've written about before) hits me with the most humorous accusations.

To preface:  Her husband, a very hard working gentleman, has been trying to neaten their yard.  Last week he evidently did some digging out around the area where he parks his truck next to the fence.  As I was sitting in my den window, about 20 feet away, I heard him shoveling rock into place.  I looked out the window just as some of the crushed rock shot under the fence and into the grassy area next to our back drive.  So...

The other day I was out weeding the veggie garden and along the stone area where I park.  It dawned on me about those stray stones.  I thought, gee, while I'm out here I'll go check on that.  I don't want to get hit by them when I next weedwack along that edge.  I worked my way along the drive, picking up the bits of crushed rock and gently tossing or placing them back under the fence to join the others he had shoveled.

Minding my own business.

Finished and looked up as I was to walk back down my drive.  There she stood...arms crossed in front of her.  Her comment at my shrug?  "You don't have enough stones so you have to steal ours?"

I laughed and responded that she must be joking.

She wasn't.

She proceeded to accuse me of trespassing...as she stood in my drive!

I gave up on trying to be reasonable and headed back inside.

Why Me?

Has it been about two weeks since THE Blizzard of 2015?  I think so.  As if getting 31 inches of snow within 36 hours isn't punishment enough, we had a surprise just to get us in the correct ihatelife mindset.  You see, the morning before the BIG blizzard, at approximately 6:15, the smoke alarms went off at our house.  Up I jumped, made sure R was awake, headed toward A's room but met her in the hallway.  Down the stairs with those two following, checking for actual smoke or fire as I went.  Opened Mom's door and she was out of bed.  A quick check of her end of the house, then headed down cellar.  All was fine.  I shut off the breaker that powers the electric aspect of the alarms.  Of course they keep on screeching.  We determined that it was the detector in Mom's den causing the problem.  The most difficult detector to get to. It's about 14 feet up on a cathedral ceiling.  Why not.  Hauled myself down to the cellar, once again, to retrieve the BIG ladder.  Up through the bulkhead into the dark and cold and on to the deck.  Mom stood in her den, inside where it was nice and warm (albeit very noisy) and stared at me as I motioned for her to unlock and open the door.  She stared some more...and more.  Just before I was going to slam the very heavy ladder to the deck, she decided that I might be wanting her to open the door.  Finally!

Set the ladder up after moving the sofa so that it would fit.  R suffers the least (maybe) from vertigo than the rest of us...or at least he inherited the 'climb the big ladder' since he's the only man in the house.  After unhooking the detector and removing the battery........silence.

After 7 a.m. I left a phone message for our electrician.  He came later in the morning, replaced the battery with a new one, tested the unit and went up the ladder to hook it all up again.  He chatted for a few minutes while I went to the cellar to flip the breaker back on.  Silence....YAY!  He packed up and headed out.  I don't think he could of made it far past the end of our street when...

The alarm went off again.  R went back up the ladder (he has no idea how much I appreciate that he will do it) and took the detector down, removed battery, then silence.  I called the electrician on his cell phone and told him what happened.  We agreed that we could leave the rest of the system activated and after THE blizzard he would come back to troubleshoot.

THE blizzard was followed by the SECOND snow storm.  I decided to wait for better weather to tackle the smoke detector problem. 

Now we are expecting a MAJOR snow event.  At 6 a.m. this morning we were rudely awakened by the smoke detectors going off - again.  So the now usual routine was followed with me checking on everyone and checking all areas of the house and cellar before flipping the breaker.  R discovered that the alarm in our bedroom was the culprit and he took it down and took the battery out...silence.

At about 8 a.m. we headed for the local hardware store to by enough new batteries for all the detectors.  $30 worth.  We got home and after breakfast and a few other things, installed new batteries in all detectors...silence.  Great!  That was at 11 a.m.

1 p.m. all the alarms went off.  I was out shoveling, widening the drive in anticipation of needing more room for more snow to come.  I could hear the screeching outside.  By the time I got to the door (and was greeted by Mom), R had pulled down the bedroom alarm and deactivated...silence.

I left a message for our electrician that after the weekend and after this next MAJOR snow event, we needed him at the house.  Sounds like the 10 year life detectors that he had installed 1.5 years ago may have spent more than 8 years on a shelf at the suppliers - or something.

Meanwhile, just in case another decides to screech, I have bought 3 battery only detectors, one for each level of the house.  If another combo electric and battery one fails, we'll disconnect them all and go the battery only route until the electrician can get here.

Really.  Isn't over 45 inches of snow with up to another 20 inches anticipated enough to deal with?  Why do the smoke detectors have to compete for attention?

So Facebook Isn't Your Thing

That's okay, I understand.  I tend to do more quick posting with Facebook and many of my photos end up over there.  Over there...as if it is truly a place.  Anyway, I thought some of you might like to see what has caused me physical agony over the past few days.
We had a blizzard last Tuesday.  Approximately 30 inches of snow, wind gusts to 65 mph.  I've been shoveling and shoveling and digging and digging.  We had another couple inches last night and on Monday we are supposed to get another load of the white stuff.  Probably somewhere over another foot of it.

The view as I headed for morning coffee.

Read my lips....t.i.m.e.t.o.m.o.v.e.s.o.u.t.h.  We used to talk about putting a space heater on the bow of our boat and heading south, not stopping until someone asked, "What's that thing on the bow?"  Well, we did eventually move to Florida and.....
I loved it
Someday.....In the meanwhile here are some photos of the snowy northeast.

The back fence and the back of my truck got rather drifted in.

Pretty curl of snow off the truck and fence.  Should be little snow surfers!

Back drive almost dug out.

The snow pile from plowing (near the end of our back drive).

Back garden path shoveled to the deck and bulkhead (workshop) and most importantly to the oil fill.

Fun with sun?  I found the bulkhead under a four foot drift.

Some people in town had more energy left than me and built a snow shark.

And now..may Monday's forecast change to sunshine and warm temps!
HAH

Thievery

I haven't written a whiny, complaining post in some time.  So what better time to air something that has been spending far too much time bouncing around in my head.

That something is the blatant theft of images.  Yep, from the minor we-all-forget-to-give-credit-where-credit-is-due to the claiming of others photos as ones own.  This has been happening a lot on one I'm not mentioning by name site.  If it's not a photo you have taken then don't post it as your own!  Now there are a couple of folks out there that I run into who have their logo on images but do credit the original source.  I don't understand it, but well, at least they give appropriate credit.

The rest of 'em, the habitual offenders........not only do they anger me, they lose my respect.

Short Changed...Again

Tomorrow is the Rockport PTO Holiday Fair and I will be a vendor.  It can take some doing to reserve a table at this fair.  It's fairly large and well-attended and some folks have been vendor-ing at it over a number of years.  The first year I had to settle for half a table just to get a 'foot in the door'.  Last year I got my reserve money in early and received an entire table...though not in the best of locations.

This year I was an early reserver once again.  I'm not much in the spirit of the season, but I've managed to boost myself into getting prepared..

Today was busy with work and meetings.  It was dark by the time I got to loading all my 'gear' into the Rav4 and hauling it all, and mom and 'A' and myself, up to the high school gymnasium to set up.  The email that I had received, and the confirmation card that arrived in the mail, said that my payment of $50 and my donation to the raffle of one handmade item ($10 in my case) reserved an 8 foot table.  Everyone's confirmations said the same thing.

There's a problem though.  The table that I am assigned is only 6 feet.  There are 12-6 foot tables.  There are at least 34-8 footers, probably more.  You better believe that I'll be mentioning this to the 'woman in charge', the woman who took my money, tomorrow (she kinda of disappeared tonight before I had a chance to air my grievance). 

I figure it this way.  $50 for an 8 foot table equals $6.25 per foot.  My 6 foot table should have only cost me $37.50. (Same for the others stuck with those 6-footers)  I am renting sales space and I should not have to pay a higher rate for that space than other vendors.

Did my ill-fortune end there?  Oh, of course not.  After I got back home and had some dinner I needed to go down to my workshop to glue on a set of keytops.  This client had reserved the last set of standard off-white keytops available.  The supplier no longer stocks them and this was the last set that I had.  I can still offer off-white, but in a more expensive set.  I got everything lined up ready to go and discovered that there was no A-A.  Now to some of you this doesn't mean anything.  Let me explain.  A-A is the first note at the left end of the keyboard.  It is a different shape than any other key and thus within the set of new keytops it is important to have that A-A  (as well as a C-C for the right end).  Still don't understand?  Well, I'll just say that an important part of the set was missing and I can't get any more.  Yep, short changed again. 

I did make it work.  I happened to have some spare off-white keytops accumulated from breaking up a set when a keytop got damaged and I needed a replacement.  However, there was no A-A (of course not).  I used a C-C (trust me it will be okay).  I'll have to trim it to look like A-A and then I'll remove the 'C-C' designation at the back end of the keytop.

My evening has made a cranky me.  Tomorrow better be a good one.

Music In The Loo

It happened this evening. Opening night. After two(?) years of construction and I don't know how many years of conniving the new venue is alive. Today's paper was filled with it. Why not? The idea of a music hall is a wonderful thing. I love it. The music, that is. Even on the island. But not like what happened. The layers of half truths that resulted in our new music center are deplorable. There were too many to even list here, but a few to mention would be...we plan to renovate the existing mid-1800 building...the new (yes, no renovation, demolition instead) structure was built on the original footprint...the new building's facade will be a faithful reproduction of the original building...parking for our 330 seat hall will not be a problem, arrangements have been made (oh, and since we will be opening soon, we would like to eliminate 2 metered parking spaces so that we may have a drop-off zone). There are many other things that really irritate me about our new monstrosity built in our historic district. I can't possibly cover all that in this post.

I've decided to keep this post extremely proper noun eliminated. I want to bypass any search engines hitting upon my post when people are looking for info on The Loo and it's music programs. The nickname, The Loo, comes from a shortened version of the official name of the place. If you are in desperate need of knowing the name (or curious about the nickname's origin), click on the color photo of the front of the building (below) and read the full name over the door.

I offer some before and after photos for a 'how many changes can you find?' game.
The original building of 1863
The new building
The back of the building in 2008 as seen from Front Beach (white building with mansard style roof and a one story addition reaching out towards the granite seawall.
The back of the new building with three stories replacing the one story addition and massive two story windows backing the interior stage area.

I'm not happy about it. There were many other people not happy about it. There were lawsuits over it. Seems that once again money speaks louder. Even in a small, used-to-be-quaint-but -now-wants-to-be-uptown, seaside village.

What On Earth Is Wrong With People?

Please pardon the lack of precise details in this post. You'll get the idea without the need of numerical accuracy.

Awhile ago a teen girl committed suicide. She had bee relentlessly bullied by a half dozen or so of her classmates. Those classmates have been arrested and charged with a variety of offenses directly related to and found to be resultant in her suicide. One or two of the young men were charged with statutory rape in this case.

So today, one of these young men was once again in court. This time he has been charged with driving under the influence. The judge released him! The police are stunned. I am stunned. Then the news report shifts to the young man's neighbor. She's thirty-ish, well spoken, well dressed. I couldn't believe what she said. Something along the lines of, "He's a good boy. A nice boy."

Yeah, I'm really believing that.

On My Dime

Yes, this is going to be a big rant. Be forewarned.

It snowed again. About 6 inches, which all in all isn't too devastating. It did require me to get out and shovel. 'A' came out and lent a hand. She's so teeny that I feel like she should have a child's shovel. Not so much for the weight of a shovel full, but the control of that shovel. She has very small, delicate hands and wrists and it takes everything she's got to keep the shovel from spilling it's contents. She did clear off both cars, though, and did a small amount of shoveling around them and the back walk.

So that's the good news.

Just before I went out, the little, articulated plow came around. He cleared our back right of way and proceeded to drive up our back neighbor's looooonnnnnngggggg driveway. At the top he stopped to chat with our big, strong, lobsterman neighbor. THEN he lowered the plow and plowed out the neighbors driveway! This is the DPW! They are chatting it up and doing private plowing on MY TAX DOLLARS. And to add to my utter and complete disgust, anger, frustration, and you name it, I discovered that this same guy had plowed up many of the stones edging my driveway! I'm really angry. Can you tell?

I bundled up and headed out in the snow to start the dreaded shoveling. I cleared my steps and walk in plain view of my strong, lobsterman neighbor who, because of my tax dollars at work, no longer had much driveway clearing to do of his own. Instead of working on my drive, I then went out front, and out of sight of the neighbor, to clear my mom's driveway. I was hoping against all odds that chivalry wasn't truly dead and that I would be pleasantly surprised to return and find at least part of my drive shoveled by said neighbor.

Okay, quit laughing.

I did say hoping against all odds.

Of course he'd not done it. But did he have to shovel out around his truck and throw it all over the fence in to our right of way?

One thing that's useful about me being so angry over this is that the shoveling got done rather quickly. Now when thaw comes, I'll have to repair my drive, which will probably include finding half of it strewn about the right of way.

I wish I could file an anonymous complaint with the town. Not about the driveway damage. That was just salt in the wound - accidents happen, but about the blatant abuse of tax dollars.

A Letter...

lifted directly from Letter to the editor of the GDT.

Dear government Santa: Where's my bailout?

Dear United States government,
Where's my bailout money?
Normally this time of year I would write a letter to Santa for things that I want under my Christmas tree, but, for things such as this, Santa actually holds more accountability than you do. Let's see, I think about $20 million will do. I figure you wouldn't miss that amount of money out of the more than $1 trillion that you will give away.

Since I have to tell Santa how I was good this year in order to get presents, I thought I would do the same to you. I haven't given out any shady mortgages to people who can't afford them and have bad credit history and have forged paperwork like the big mortgage lending companies did. I haven't run a bad business model such as The Big Three auto makers have, where the unions have outrageous benefits packages where the auto makers are forced to pay benefits and pensions to generations of retired workers.

I also figure that I will spend the money much more wisely than the hundreds of billions that will eventually be unaccounted for when that money is eventually used for corporate bonuses and kickback scandals. I figure an honest, hardworking taxpayer such as myself, who followed all the banking rules when I bought my house that I could afford, deserves a reward from my government instead of those who broke the law and lived beyond their means.

I also think that money you give me will be more wisely spent on the local economy, thus expanding the economy of the North Shore and Cape Ann. I'll tell you what, I'll actually give you the receipts of what I bought with my bailout money-this will automatically give me more accountability than The Big Three auto makers, Freddie Mac or AIG.

This American government has taught me well. If you break the law, squander money and follow bad business models, the American taxpayers will just give you their money. It's that easy. So if you could take just another few more million dollars of their hard-earned money and just give it to me this Christmas, I promise they won't notice.

One last thing, can you lower my mortgage rate as well-just like you are doing for all the others who paid a lower rate than me when they were paying a subprime rate? Now their rate is higher than mine and your(sic) bailing them out by lowering their rates and putting off their foreclosures?

As they say, I'll be waiting for the check in the mail under my tree. Merry Christmas to you, United States government!

D_____B______
Gloucester

Mail Call

YES!FINALLY! Three long weeks.
I think they heard your threat, Mary!

And Once Again

The mail has arrived.

Nada. Again.

Are you surprised?


update: I had a check to deposit so I headed for the bank. Also, I only had one 'starter' check left so needed more. Officer that was supposed to initiate a trace on the missing checks was not at work today.

There is a problem for these people. Beyond the absurdity of the situation, I have a fantastic memory. Situation went as follows:

Deb: The officer was going to request a trace.

Bank: Oh she was? I know that she checked and confirmed that we ordered them on the 2nd and the printing company shipped them on the.....

Deb: They were charged to my account on the 13th.

Bank: Yes. She's not in today so I can't check if there was a trace.

Deb: I'll need more 'starter' checks.

Bank: Would you like five or ten? They're on us.

Deb: At the rate this is going you better give me ten.

Bank goes to back room and prints 'starter' checks.

She returns.

Deb: Would it be possible to get a debit card on this account so I can actually use my money?

Bank: Yes, but that takes two weeks. We have to send out for them. I know that 'V' was going to do a trace on your order.

Deb: Yes, I was the one that just told you that.

Bank: Even one of our employees hasn't gotten her checks and it's been three and a half weeks.

Deb: Your officer told me that no one else was having this problem.

Bank: Well, it does seem to be the Post Office that's the problem.

Deb: No, the bank's handling of the problem is not appropriate and the entire situation is a very poor reflection on the bank. We are considering relocating all six of our accounts elsewhere.

I turned my back and left, ten relatively useless 'starter' checks in hand.
Don't worry. I'll go back tomorrow.......and every day until my checks arrive!

Can't Bank On It

May I take you back to August 1st? Okay, thanks.

I went to my desk to grab a new 'book' of personal checks. The box was empty. Oh yeah, it was a while back that I turned in the 'time to reorder' slip at the bank. Where were the new checks? I hunted all over. No checks. I headed to the bank for answers, but I was still somewhat concerned that I had misplaced the new order. I have been kinda busy, y'know.

So I got to my bank, just down the street about a half mile. As a family, we have had accounts at this bank for over 35 years. When I spoke to one of the bank officers I was informed that they had no record of an order being processed and that they had changed printing companies. It had probably gotten missed in the transition, I was told. Just marvelous. What was I to do? The officer put in a new order and gave me five free 'starter checks'-the limit for freebies.

Now in this case, starter checks are a funny predicament as they are not really starter checks being that the account has been established for over six years. Starter checks are NOT funny because most business establishments will not accept them. Can't use them at the mall, supermarket, Home Depot, Ace, pharmacy, etc.

You get the picture? I can't do diddly unless I pay cash, have either Amanda or my mother write a check to pay, or put it on my credit card (I won't do that). Thankfully, ESP, my shipper will accept them from me and I can use them to pay the bills that get mailed like utilities, etc. (Gee, I hope :-/)

Anyway, back to ordering the new checks...the bank officer assures me that I'll have them in 5 - 10 business days.

Let me now insert the fact that I have just written 'starter check' number twelve. The first five disappeared quickly even though I tried to hold off on stuff until my REAL checks would arrive. I tried to be patient, but when the tenth day rolled by with the checks NOT being in the mail, I headed back to the bank to complain. They assured me that the order had been placed on the 2nd (it evidently took them an entire day to place it?) and that I would have the new checks within a day or two. I insisted on five more 'free' starter checks. They weren't too pleased about that.

Saturday morning rolled around and my mother was heading for the bank. I owed her for half the fuel oil delivery and the water bill. She had been patiently waiting for my checks to arrive. I gave up and wrote out a starter check to her. A couple funny things then happened. I decided to go to the bank as I needed to get some cash to buy some food. My mother was still at the bank when I arrived. Funny number two was when she tried to deposit that starter check and they discovered that they had printed the wrong account number on it (and the other 4)! Good thing that I was there because they went in to panic mode about those other four checks. Thankfully for them, I hadn't used any of the others and gave them back...again asking for more 'starters'.

Sadly, the question "do you think my checks will be in the mail today?" has become a family joke. We are convinced that I am cursed. I went to the bank once again last Friday morning. I had a nicer officer who at least made the effort to look up my account to see if it had been charged for the missing checks. She said that they post the charge to the account the day that the checks are shipped. My account had been charged on Wednesday 13th.

Yay! I should have them shortly. If not that week, certainly by Monday's mail.

Tuesday's mail came and the curse lived on. I was furious and headed back to the bank. I had bills to pay and not enough 'starter' checks. And besides, I really needed to blow my top at someone.

Back to the original officer, drat. I told her that my checks STILL HADN'T ARRIVED. It was now two and a half weeks. It was MORE than inconvenient. And what did she do? She passed the buck, of course. After all the bank HAD ordered them and the printing company had shipped them. It was the United States Postal Service at fault. Well, I was not pleased with that 'not me' attitude and I told her as much. I told her that I should not have to pay for the checks, if and when they ever arrive. She offered to reorder!!!!! Huh????? and wait and wonder once again? Then she offered to order additional checks, leaving the original order in place. The additional order would be at no charge to me. This I agreed to (although I'm somehow sure that the 'no charge to me' part will be conveniently forgotten by the bank and more 'meetings' will ensue over that one). Then she said she thought she might have a trace put on the original shipment.

HUH??? THOUGHT???MIGHT??? I truly believe that this should be at the top of the list of follow-ups! ... followed quickly by the offer to issue me a debit card at no charge so that I, a longtime, loyal customer, will not be so inconvenienced in the meantime. Pfft. Haven't heard a thing.

I asked for five more 'starter' checks and got them with a glare from the teller.

I went home and paid more bills. Then off to ESP to ship some keys. I've got two more sets left to ship this week. One tomorrow and another Friday. Guess what? I'll then be needing more 'starter' checks. As........

I still haven't gotten my new checks in the mail.

The curse idea just might have some merit. What do you think, tomorrow maybe? 20 days and still counting...................

Incompetence

or......the end of paying with frustration for a bit of fun.

The Old Firehouse Craft Fairs are expensive for table rental. Higher than most other fairs around. The reasons I haven't minded are because it's right here in town and it's indoors. No worries about inclement weather.

On the very negative side. Not only is it expensive to rent a table, it is one of the most poorly publicized events that I have ever seen/participated in/whatever. Most of the townies don't even know it exists, never mind any tourists. Any customers exist purely by accidental wandering in as they 'tour' all the shops in town.

As I said in the title of this post - incompetence.

And now....

I was reading the little 'agenda' section of the paper when I noticed the usual tiny mention of the crafts fair. The next is scheduled for August 2. I won't be there as I have been frantically working on more necklaces, some with autumn themes and some for Christmas/winter. They won't be dry in time. I was astonished when the newspaper said that the following fair would be on August 31. That's a Sunday rather than a Saturday. The problem is that we were all given a schedule of the fair dates and that schedule lists August 30, the Saturday. Must be a typo in the newspaper, I thought. So I called the woman (above blog title applicable) who is in charge.

And I was told...

I changed the date because I decided to rent out the place to someone else for the 30th.

Yes, I'm furious and I told her so. She had a prior commitment for usage IN PRINT. No notification of the change. NOTHING. I can't just switch to Sunday. I work that day. I will not give up a day's pay and pay for an exorbitantly overpriced table rental. I'll never make THAT much at an UNADVERTISED NON-PROMOTED craft fair.

Suppose I had personally rented that facility for a function, would she then 'go with a better offer' and merely say sorry to me and offer to refund my deposit? I can think of many, many words that I cannot put in print to describe what I think of the situation.

So, the next definite opportunity that I have to sell at that fair in Rockport will be Oct 11. Assuming she doesn't change that at her whim.

I may just say "to !##! with it and her", save my rental fees of $50 per fair and use the money for the big three day, indoor event in Essex next spring.

Yes, I am fuming - big time.

T Parties?

I guess it began with Tupperware. Then those home 'sales parties' expanded to include cutlery, candles, lingerie, toys, gifts and more. Well, now the 'more' has been taken to the extreme.

Taser Parties. Yes, really and truly.

This morning on "Today" the founder of Taser Parties was interviewed. Seems many such parties have been hosted in California. The founder was quite proud to provide a list of other states where parties are being hosted. On the list were Nevada, Colorado and Miami.

Idiot. Miami isn't a state. Say FLORIDA. I hate that.

But what I hate more are taser parties. And more...you can buy them in cute colors. I'm sure the pink taser looks quite feminine. You can also buy accessories at the parties. They sell clip on soft carry 'holsters' that also have a pocket for an iPod. This is crazy.

I am shocked.

UPDATE: Mary sent me a link to this blog, http://www.funnytheworld.com/2008/Jan/31.htm
Check out her post on the same subject/show/interview

Getting Irritated

with Blogger.

Are you listening, all you OpenID initiating gurus?

I have left a rather explicit comment on the Blogger-in-Draft blog. Well, they asked for opinions of the new OpenID comment system that has been instituted. I am hoping that they will get things worked out or allow those of us that wish to to be able to keep the old comment system. In the meantime, I will continue to experiment with possible 'workarounds' for friends over at WordPress as no one seems to have any answers.

Oh, for those of you wondering what the ____I'm talking about...
The new comment system initiates a verification process that, in simple terms, verifies that the blogger leaving the comment is really and truly who they say they are online. No spoofing accounts.

Now I can get it to work, albeit a pain, from my LiveJournal account to any Blogger account, and Blogger to Blogger is fine, but WordPress to Blogger just isn't working and it is suppose to.

From what I have read on Blogger, there has been enough screaming that something will change soon.

I hope.

On another matter, I will be removing 'Who Me?' from my blog list as her blog is now private.

footnote:
Checked 'Blogger Buzz' this morning and found this statement:
Two fixes just went live, before we sign off for a brief holiday break:

* Unregistered commenters can once again provide an auto-linked URL [Help Group Thread]
* Images in the Header page element will no longer be cropped vertically


We apologize for having broken these features for you. Your blogs and Help Group posts showed us the true extent to which you used and cared about these features, so please let us know if they're still being problematic.

Thanks for your patience!

Poor Plumbing(er)

I am soooo #%#!!&%# irritated at the plumber that did our addition. If I were a violent person, well..........thankfully we'll never find out.

About a year ago our bathroom sink started draining slowly. Amanda has the bad habit of brushing her long hair over it, doing her makeup over it, and that adds up. No problem, I thought. I'll just pull the trap and clean it out.

Until....

I discovered what our plumber had done. The primary reason for a trap is that it traps water thereby preventing sewer gases from entering the house. The secondary purpose is to trap the stuff and gunk that you eventually need to clean out. For that reason traps are simple to remove. Loosen two large "nuts" that hold it in place and voila'.

So why would our plumber "hard plumb" one end of the trap? Yep, glued the joint. No nut. I resorted to chemicals down the drain.

Today I decided it was about time to find out why our shower merely drizzles water. It's possible that the shower head is somewhat obstructed with sediment and needs cleaning. Or maybe we just need a different type. This is a simple job for a homeowner. They sell shower heads of all varieties at home improvement stores. Just unscrew the old head, peel off the used teflon tape on the threads, put on new tape, install new shower head (or cleaned old one).

Unless you've had the plumber from hell.

The idiot screwed the shower head on sooooo far and sooooo tightly that I can't get it to budge. The entire angled pipe coming from the wall wants to unscrew first. I've used every possible tool and clamping device for the pipe that I can come up with. The shower head will NOT unscrew.

Now while it is possible that I may be able to safely unscrew the entire pipe and replace the lot, I was not going to try that a half hour before our local hardware store closed for the day!

This is not supposed to be this difficult! I replaced both shower heads at our house in Florida. One of those had been there since 1949 and even it unscrewed with no problem.

Idiot plumber.

Doggone It!

Yes, it continues. And I thought things might improve. But lo and behold, front page of the GDT:

"Dog Officer Seeks Volunteer Caretakers"

Huh?????????

Just snips as it was a long article.

...the dog was not injured contrary to a police report...
...a good Samaritan took it home until the owners eventually were reunited with their pet...

And what about penalties?

...Trafton does not pick up strays or untagged dogs because the town does not have a kennel. By law Trafton would be obligated to care for a dog for 10 days at her own expense...

And then she says -

Trafton proposed that she call on volunteers willing to catch and care for stray dogs...she would provide the volunteer with a crate and food...

Seems to me that would qualify as "at her own expense" which she just had issue with.

...if Trafton brings the dog to the volunteer, she and the town would become liable...

Why are we paying for a dog officer if they can't pick up an untagged, unleashed dog????Are they liable if they pick up a dog that is tagged? If not, why not?

And then -

"State law forbids towns from turning animals over to businesses or research facilities, but does not mention private citizens."- GDT reporter, Jonathan L'Ecuyer

"No municipality shall give, sell, or turn over any animal which may come into custody to any business or institution licensed or registered as a research facility or animal dealer with the U.S. Department of Agriculture," one Massachusetts law states.

Hmmm, seems the reporter didn't understand the explicit wording in the MA law. I don't recall it saying a pet supply store or even a laudromat, which are certainly businesses but not research facilities or animal dealers.

Trafton then says...even if state law did forbid the town from turning an animal over to a good Samaritan, it would not apply because the dog would never be in her possession...

So now she admits that she CAN legally catch strays and then turn them over to whoever for care. There is NO law forbidding it!

If this is not enough to make you wonder what on earth these people are thinking try this statement. Again, from the same article in the GDT. "Trafton said selectmen have gone so far as to look into how much a kennel would cost. However, Trafton admits the nearly $100,000.00 cost is a hard sell...."

My 700 sq ft addition cost 3/4 that amount! I want to live in the kennel! Please. please, please!

And, "Around four years ago, there was a caged-in area behind the police station enclosing a dog house where strays and untagged canines could be held...The fence was knocked down by a Public Works plow truck during it's first winter and never repaired."

We evidently didn't worry about the liability four years ago. Why didn't we fix the fence? Of course now we can't as we didn't vote for the budget override.

Is It Just Me?

or.....

Does anyone else see a lot wrong with this from the Gloucester Times..........?

Rockport Police/Fire

• A resident called police Monday morning to report that a black Labrador with a purple collar was loose in Happy Tails Pet Supply. Police notified dog officer Mindy Trafton. Trafton went to the shop and recommended that the dog be released from the store because it did not have identification tags. The dog was later hit by a car and injured. Trafton was notified by police of what happened. Trafton says the town has no place to legally hold stray dogs and if she had picked up the dog she would have been obligated by law to keep it at least 10 days.
  

I have come up with a minimum of eight problems with this incident.
How about you?

What is wrong with this system? I was going to write, "what is wrong with this town?", but that may be a bit too inclusive of folks that have nothing to do with the situation.

So, my eight....

1. Trafton's recommendation just doesn't make sense. Where is enforcement of our licensing and leash (haha) laws?
2. Trafton's statement "no place to legally hold strays...". What law is this? How can we enforce any animal regulations without a legal holding area? Why don't we have one?
3. Trafton's comment that she would be "obligated by law to keep it at least 10 days". Well, isn't she the dog officer? Isn't that part of her job?
4. If the dog is not held in hopes of the owner appearing, how can any non-license fines be charged? To whom?
5. If the dog was hit by a car, as stated, who is to be held responsible for damage to the car if the dog's owner is not sought out. If the dog were placed "in custody" an owner might come forth to claim their animal.
6. What about the trauma to the driver of the car having hit the dog?
7. If the dog was injured, as stated, was it taken to a vet? Who's paying?
8. Why are we paying for a dog officer (whose part time pay is more than my annual full time salary, and also has municipal employee benefits) who is legally unable or for some other reasons isn't performing the function of the position?

This situation could have been far worse. Consider the "what if's". What if the driver had swerved to miss the dog and had instead hit another car. Or worse had hit a pedestrian?

Steamed

Yes, I probably should quit with at least some money in my pocket. Well, almost. The big boss from the GDT called today. This is the one that received the bill and the cover letter, registered mail, from me.

He has come up with some bizarre amount that he thinks we are due.

For the life of me I can't figure his math. Oh, and BTW, I was a straight A student in math, keep my own business books - that balance......

So, without names.

Customer 1 owes $14.00
Customer 2 owes $14.00
GDT sample .90

GDT won't pay for customers with less than 3 weeks due. We have to try to go back and collect in person so I'm eliminating those amounts here.

Boss says they already paid for the sample. They didn't. Their credit on the bill was for a current sample, not an arrears payment that they forgot three weeks ago.

Boss says that they have issued a check in the amount of $25.84. HUH??????

Even without the .90, they owe us $28.00.

There was some mumbling in the message that he left about deducting the current due on the bill. HUH AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!???????????????

Our bill to the GDT was paid in full and I have the check numbers (and will have the canceled checks) to prove it.

And yes, I know that I am quibbling minimally about $2.16. In reality it is more but I guess we're on our own with that.

So....I call Big Boss.

And...He's now on vacation until July 9th.

Guess what folks, he's going to have another registered letter waiting for him.

The I Word

Uprightness, honesty, sincerity.

I don't understand how this can be so missing in today's society. Truly, how miserable have things become that a person's word is meaningless?

How often, when I have made a return phone call to a potential piano customer, have they thanked me for returning their call. Why isn't common courtesy to return a call, well, common?

I told you that there might be some disappointing news concerning our delivery job. I'll say right off the top that this post has nothing to do with the literal understanding of a contractual agreement. I am not arguing the written knowns and agreed upons. This goes far beyond that, to trusting and taking a person's word in good faith. THAT was totally my error.

Yes, we signed a contract that states that we will provide our own substitute delivery person if needed for vacation time. No argument. My disappointment and disbelief comes from verbal assurances that I was given by the "supervisor". Amanda started the job with 2 routes - approximately 45 papers/day. Shortly after we were asked if we wanted an additional route. We agreed and that added 38 more papers/day. Then about 6 months later we were asked to add an adjoining route of about 18 papers and to deliver "off route" to one person who was not happy with their current delivery person. Once again, we took on the extra work. Then I was asked to combine that last route with another small one. At that time I asked for a trial week after which time we agreed to add those extra 8 customers. At the same time, I posed the question, "What will happen when we want a vacation? We may not be able to find a substitute for this huge WALKING route (actually 5 routes)". (Presently we deliver 104 papers/6 days per week)

The supervisor's answer............."Don't worry, I'll take care of it".

And now....after over three years of service with no complaints, no missed deliveries, and on and on......she says she never said it.

I am shocked, disappointed, disgusted, in sheer disbelief.

This last month has been a disaster of non-pay customers with no support, no back up, nothing but a couple nasty phone messages (to us) from the supervisor. Only excuses and stalls. Even beyond that....she has basically accused me of lying about amounts we are owed.

Damn it, it hurts.

Her supervisor is backing her, at least on the surface, to me. He did say that they would be willing to consider any amounts that I thought we were owed! Well I should hope they would do more than consider.

Our vacation week starts on my birthday (18th) and continues through the following Saturday. The big guy supervisor would only tell me that it is up to HER whether a temporary sub is found or she gets a permanent replacement, effectively firing us. Evidently we won't be told and are to find out only when the papers are at our door on the 25th - or not.

Yet, still, something inside me keeps hoping that there is some tiny bit of integrity in her. I hate being a sucker, being duped in the name of consideration. How many times have I stepped up to "do her a favor" and now to be blatantly lied to..............
---------------------------------
On a far happier note.........
Got this birthday card from Sue. It arrived today, only a half hour after the newspaper mess exploded. Oh my, thank you so much, Sue! And how on earth did you know about the whipped cream? When we are bad and have dessert at Ellen's or an ice cream sundae at Friendly's we always ask for PILES of extra whipped cream!

The inside says: Demand whatever you want on your birthday.

I'm taking this card to Ellen's when I order my birthday dessert! They'll love it!

Good Karma.