Chicago, with Andy & Debra.

Went with Joe today to map out one of his old easements on his GPS.  The road was mostly pretty good, but there were a few sections where the low range was greatly appreciated.  The Sandovals have some truly beautiful land in their holdings.  One section was showing a lot of Indian sign.  Chert and other indicators that they were working the area in old times.

I wish I brought my Jeep camera with me.  Oh well, we’re planning another trip to a different part of the ranch soon.

Oi vey!  

A Shirley Update!

Well, she woke up this morning calling for Armand.  I came in and got her up, well before he caretaker arrived.  Covered her legs with a throw and placed her in the living room.  She asked where Armand was and why he wasn’t helping her up.  I told her he was gone, for about 5 to 10 years now.  (Shirley in quotes, me without.)

• “Gone?  Where did he go?”
• He’s dead Shirley.
• “How?”
• His body just gave out and he died.
• “Really?”
• Yes, he died in Santa Fe in the hospice there.
• “Does Richie know?”
• Yes, he knew but he’s gone too.
• “No he’s not, I just talked to him the other day.”
• Sorry Shirley, but he’s been gone now for about 4 years.  He had a heart attack.
• “Why didn’t anyone tell me this?”
• We did Shirley and that’s about when you had your first stroke.
• “I had a stroke?”
• You had 4 strokes, maybe more.
• “Really?  4 strokes?  Why don’t I remember?”
• Strokes affect your memory.
• “I have a good memory.  I should remember all this.”
• I guess I should go for the trifecta here.  Anita’s dead too.
• “Good, I never liked her.  You wouldn’t have liked her either.”
• Marylou now lives less than 30 minutes from here.
• “I know, she lived here for a few days and you got rid of her.”
• That you remember, but you don’t remember anything about Armand and Richie passing?
• “Nobody told me that they died.”
• Shit, I tell you everything, good or bad.
• “Really?”
• and on and on and on

What a way to start the day.  She’s still sure we never told her any of this, but she mentioned that we probably did it so as not to cause her worry.  I could go on and it could sound humorous to some, but she was truly confused and it wasn’t a fun chat.

Nina, I’m not sure how you would have handled the questions or how you had handled them in the past, but I just told the truth.

She’s planning on joining me for dinner tuesday evening at Rialto.  I may just stay home if she insists on coming.

She’s reading now and seems to enjoy the activity.  I like talking to her, but it still bothers me that she’s so confused.

Well, not really, but at night when it counts, I’m A L O N E!  I have the entire bed to myself.  I will be the only one snoring in the room.  I can stretch out and flop my arm in any direction without hitting anyone.  A.L.O.N.E.

Nina is eastward bound.  Heading to Chicago to clean ML’s landfill with Andy and Debra.  Debra?  Are you wondering who Debra is?  To bad, I’m not telling you if you don’t know.

Found out yesterday that Erin’s father has had no driver’s license for 4 years.  Four years?  Hmmm, that time frame sounds very familiar.  Could it be that since Erin was born this dumb ass had no driver’s license?  Four years?  I’m betting he got the D.U.I. that cost him his driver’s license after Erin was born.  Now NM is a drunk driver’s paradise with provisional driver’s licenses and the drunk having the ability of having a D.U.I. expunged after a period of time.  He’s told Tori that his past D.U.I.’s have already been expunged and he has a clear driver’s license, so clear it doesn’t exist!  I swear to God, I don’t know why I haven’t ended his dumb ass already.

Since Nina has made arrangements for Shirley’s care while she’s gone, so much so that I can vacation somewhere myself, I will be hiking a lot while she’s gone.  No, I’m not taking a hiking vacation, just going back country for a bit during the day, each day I hope.  I figure to see what it’s like to walk as much as Beth and Nancy.  I swear they walk insane amounts of steps daily.  Over 100,000 steps weekly frequently.  That’s over 10 miles a week.  Crazy females.  I’m hoping to do some trips to the SF Nat. Forest and hike a few trails Jamie and I walked some years back.  They hit some good altitude and end up in some seriously remote places.

Well, that’s all for now.

FOR ALL MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY, THIS IS IMPORTANT.

Yahoo is the most hacked web based email service.  Even if you use their service for non-imporant stuff, you need to be extra vigilant if you use their service.  They allow unlimited attempts at entering your password and that allows hackers to gain access to your account and use all info stored there to ruin your life.

How it works:

• Hack your Yahoo account.
• Learn your recovery email address
• Use your Yahoo password to see if it works on your recovery email
• If successful, they have access to all your emails that are stored your primary email’s server.  They will be there unless you use their web based email utility to delete them.  Sorry.
• Chances are that you get emails from your bank, credit cards, broker, and other financial places there.  Account numbers may be attached along with login names.
• If this info is included, the hacker will try the Yahoo/regular email password to gain access to these accounts.
• Even if they can’t access your accounts with that password, they can sent in a lost password request and monitor your email accounts until that info arrives.
• At this point, you are screwed.  You will lose access to these accounts at this point and the hacker will be able to drain the accounts at will and they will drain them one at a time until they get it all.
• You have no recourse with the financial institutions.  It is your responsibility to maintain a safe online environment to access these accounts.
• The hacker is not in this country and there will be nothing law enforcement can do to help you, other than to take a report.

Mind your passwords.

Two old guys, one 80 and one 87, were sitting on a park bench one morning.

Yesterday morning saw me on the road at 7:00 a.m.  I was expecting to meet with the county manager and Tito Chavez regarding my proposal to combine the advertising efforts of the county and the city.  I was wrong.  Both were there, but they were under the impression that I called them to the meeting.  Right, that happens all the time.  Other people started to arrive.  People from city government. People that represent a variety of non-profits.  The chamber of commerce head.  The former owner of the Plaza Hotel.  Les, the county manager, and I were both confused.  Tito seemed nonplussed about these people arriving.

Turns out the advertising director of the city called the meeting.  She’s sharp, never let any of us have a clue what was going on until the meeting started.  The meeting took my proposal and carried it to newer and higher levels.  Grants.  Interactive kiosks at the airport and the 3 main entry points to the state.  FREE business advertising on a state tourism website.  Joining forces at proportional levels financially.  This is one sharp cookie.

The non-profit people were severely put out on this proposal.  It forced them onboard as partners while seriously cutting funding for them doing the same types of things that her proposal does much more efficiently.  Every objection was met with a rational and reasoned response.  Chamber chick and Plaza Hotel guy were both fit to be tied by the time the meeting ended and while I’m not that fond of either of them, my position forces civility with them, so I enjoyed watching them choking on their bile.

Poker last nigh ended with me leaving early.  I blew my wad and walked out rather than tossing good money after bad.  I had fun during the game, and Jiminy stopped by the house to look at the gold piece that we found in ML’s safe deposit box.  Jiminy, a.k.a. Gregory Ghent (google him if interested, add Santa Fe and San Francisco to the search criteria), is an art appraiser that is part of our poker gang.  He is currently researching the piece and he needed to see the piece in person to answer any questions that his experts ask him.

Nina and I had lunch in Pecos.  Erin went back to Dilia.  Tori stayed home, but has plans today.  Andy stopped by for some reason, but I can’t remember why.  Shirley was silent yesterday.  I did a short cleaning job on my Jeep’s interior.

Dat’s it.  Peace.