Update On Too Many Things To List, Thoughts On Bison

The psoriasis has not died down with the medications I have been given and it appears that the Dermatology department of my health provider will do nothing until the original prescribed treatment  is up in another 17 days or so.  It is really bad with flaking skin in a lot of areas while others have blemishes and spots that itch like hell.  There are some, especially on my neck and face, that burn.  To say the least, it is very distracting.

The water leak in the basement garage turned out to be a broken line from our main water supply line out through the foundation and into the yard area.  After digging a  large hole next to our porch the leak was found on the outside of the foundation and was seeping back into the hole that the pipe ran through.  Our maintenance crew did a great job and called a plumber to fix the pipe once they uncovered it.  The hole has been filled and we are back in business.

Recently our Home Owners Association lost their Vice President due to some health reasons.   The Board was seeking volunteers from the residents to fill the position.  Now that I am retired I figured I had the time and desire so I went to their most recent meeting and was voted in before I sat down.  Our condo is well run and kept in decent shape.  Most residents understand the value added from a nice facility.  Doesn't look like it will be too much extra work.

An update on our burglary and my laptop.  It appears that Verizon will not reset the illegally appropriated data that was used by the two gentlemen who chose to live in our trailer for a few days.  We are getting what we think is the correct paperwork along with letters advising Apple that the laptop belongs to us and hopefully we will get them to fix it back to the factory settings so we can restart, update and wipe the hackers info from it.  I am just waiting a letter at this point.

There has been a huge discussion in the media and on social media about the Canadian who decide that a bison calf was so cold that it needed attention and they decided to put it in their vehicle to warm it up.

There are approximately 500,000 bison roaming the plains today.  Mostly in State and National Parks.  There were millions a little over two hundred years ago.  Greed, migration of settlers and indians, traders and the railroad have a lot to do with the massive losses of these creatures.  They are magnificent to look at and can weigh up to a ton.  Not something that you should even want to consider messing with.  And messing with their children can cause significant issues.

Imagine for a moment that someone has taken your child away from you because they think you are mistreating them.  What is your reaction?  What will you do?  Anything you could to keep your child safe.  Then what, exactly, do you expect an animal to do when one of its young is being molested?  Lucky for these folks, it appears that perhaps the mom and dad weren't near by or it happened before they realized what was going on.  How do we know that the officials presented the calf to the correct herd?  Herds move constantly and it is possible that the herd of this calf was miles away by the time they got around to bringing it back and of course another herd would reject that which isn't theirs.

While there is a lot of discussion about the possibility of sending the calf to a rescue facility, the calf would have been required to be in quarantine for months before being introduced to a new population.  I feel bad for the calf and wish that it were not necessary to put it down but I don't see an alternative.

People are stupid around wildlife.  I watched people get out of their cars in Custer State Park and Yellowstone National Park to get a selfie with one of these one ton animals.  My pictures were taken with a zoom lens and I wasn't about to take any selfies.  These animals are huge and at least twenty-some folks have been injured trying to get pictures or pet them.

Please enjoy the outdoors and the wildlife around you but let them be.  They have a life to live that is uniquely theirs.

Thanks for dropping by.

Psoriasis, Burglary, and a Water Leak

It has definitely been an interesting few days since my last post.  Prior to my last post I discovered what I thought was a flare up of my psoriasis.  I had never had anything this bad before.  The occasional flare up on my face and in my scalp but that is generally where it remained.  This time it spread to parts of the body that don't do well with lesions due to thinner skin as well as other areas along my legs.  I won't go into the gory details because this is a family blog, but suffice it to say that the itching and burning that accompany these flare ups can be a serious detriment to continued happiness.  I went to my doctor and got a diagnosis exactly as I had suspected and was given several ointments and shampoos that I have used over the last week.  Things got better in some places while other areas became involved and don't seem to be reacting well to the treatment.  Needless to say I have made an appointment with a dermatologist to seek relief.  I don't know for sure when they will set me up but I hope it is soon.

Mia has been having stomach problems for several months and was diagnosed with some kind of hernia related to her digestive system.  After several test is has been discovered that a good portion of her stomach is residing in her esophagus and she is likely to need corrective surgery.  This is not a fun condition for her and this morning she was have some difficulty and we almost called the consulting nurse but she managed to get it to calm down.  I don't think I want to go back up to the trailer with her having this much of an issue.

On 05/10/2016 while enjoying a quiet afternoon with my wife binge watching Hell On Wheels, my smart phone announced the fact that I had used 50% of my available data.  I looked at it but didn’t do anything right then.  Later, at approximately 7:00 o’clock p.m., I noticed that I had used another gigabit of data.  I checked our phones and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.  I checked my Verizon account and discovered that my Verizon Jet Pac located in Gold Bar was active.  Since both my wife and I were home, I began to suspect there might be an issue since no one we would normally allow to be at our trailer should have been there.

I called Verizon and explained my dilemma and asked them to discontinue service to the Jet Pac until I could find out what was going on.  When I got off the phone with Verizon I called GBNT Security (7:33 p.m.) and requested that they check the trailer as I suspected there may be a problem.

At 7:40 p.m. the security person, Irene called me back and said that there was an individual in the trailer named ****.  She wanted to know if I knew someone named ********.   The name didn’t register at first so I said no and told her to call the sheriff because they did not have authorization to be there.  Shortly after 8:00 p.m. my wife and I left Federal Way and drove up to GBNT.  During that time we had two phone conversations with officer Jon Barnett of the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.  During those conversations we learned of another adult also residing in our trailer.  

We arrived at the lot in GBNT shortly after 9:00 p.m. to find two GBNT security personnel and two Snohomish County Sheriff’s.  As Officer Barnett explained it our visitor had gained access to the park sometime Sunday morning.  He forced entry into the trailer and had been residing there every since.  He apparently met up with the second individual that day (05/10) and offered him a  place to stay.  Since our first resident had a key he apparently felt it must be okay.  Officer Barnett indicated they really had no reason to legally detain him.  We later learned that he too was arrested on an outstanding warrant from King County.  He asked if I wished to press charges against Mr. ****** and I indicated that we did.

Upon looking at the trailer we found the front sliding door and frame bent and scratched due to forced entry.  Inside of the trailer was a complete shambles.  All of the drawers and closets emptied and clothes tossed everywhere.  A good percentage of our on hand food supplies had be eaten and some remained in pots and pans on the stove and all over the kitchen counters.  Pictures were removed from the walls and some appear to have been destroyed.

The kitchen was littered with dirty dishes, pots, pans

Our clothes and possessions tossed all over

What a mess

The bed...we tossed the pillows

Floor next to the bed

My Apple Mac Pro laptop was accessed by removing and deleting all of my information and replacing it with Mr ******** information and password.  He used my laptop to access the Verizon Jet Pac that triggered my response.  After Officer Barnett talked to Mr. ******** we learned he had deleted me from my computer so he could access it.  

After talking to Apple on Wednesday there is serious doubt as to if I'll be able to regain control of the laptop.  It seems this gentleman is a pretty smart cookie and he somehow overrode me and managed to obtain access to the admin password.  Once he deleted my information he entered his and changed a password on the firmware side of the computer that makes it impossible for me to regain access to or change the operating system.  My plan was to wipe it clean and start over fresh but without that password I can't.  Apple says they can access it but they must have proof of purchase and id.  We purchased the laptop from Mia's ex-boss while she was still working for them.  They had decided to change their office over to Mac from PC and we went in on the deal because Apple was giving them a good deal.  They are trying to locate the original paperwork to help me get Apple to fix the laptop.

Yesterday, as Mia and I were leaving to do some shopping we noticed water on the floor next to the outside wall of the garage.  We called our HOA representative and we are currently having a big dig in front of our condo.  I'll update you once we find out what has happened.

Isn't life fun?

Hope all is well and thanks for stopping by.

Nice Couple Of Days

Sunday started out with a beautiful sunrise and my grand daughter and lovely wife working together in the kitchen of our trailer to make breakfast.  I am not a big gravy and biscuit guy but this was damed good.

After that meal I went out and spent a hour or so with my new weed whacker beating up the trailer and the surrounding vegetation.  My new weed eater is pretty powerful and it not only eats weeds it can eat plastic.  I got too close to the plastic skirting around the bottom of the trailer and punched some holes in a few spots.  I managed to get some of the weeds cut off but I still have more to do.

Duct tape repair

It was mid day and I needed to get our grand daughter home so we left Mia and Honey at the trailer and headed south.  I dropped her off at her house and I continued on to the condo after a couple of stops along the way to complete some errands.  I spent the afternoon watching the Mariner game, they lost, and the May Day celebrations in downtown Seattle, more like a riot.  In bed early I was up before dawn Monday and on the road back to Gold Bar.

Monday was hot reaching 86 in the mid afternoon.  It was kind of a lazy day for Mia and I.  Mia worked on a quilt that she is making and I started to spray paint a table that we were given.  I had disassembled it last year and cleaned and sanded all the parts.  I wiped them down and got some of them done.  The paint takes two to five hours to dry even in warm weather like we had  yesterday so I still have a couple of components that need painting.  Those that are done look really good.

The weather is in change mode.  It appears we might get into the seventies today with some clouds.  Tomorrow we switch back to lower temperatures and showers.  That continues into Friday when we are to get more warm, sunny weather.  But then, it could all be smoke and mirrors.

I might be appointed to my Home Owners Association Board of Directors at the condo complex.  The  President of the Board is making a presentation to the group in hopes of my filling out a term vacated by the Vice President at the next meeting in a couple of weeks.  I am kind of hopeful that I will get the appointment.

Hope all is well and thanks for stopping by.

Projects And Remembering The Past

It is May 1, the seventh anniversary of my dad's passing.  I miss him a bunch and wish that I had listened closer, not only to him but my other elders as well.  I tried to question him about family in his last months but his mind wasn't what it used to be and he couldn't give any real promising recollections of the family history.  He and mom where appear very young in this picture but they were in their thirties when I, the first of two, arrived.

Yesterday was a busy day around Pratt's Paradise.  The sun came out and it was partly cloudy most of the day so I was able to spend time outside working on projects.  Mia brought a bag of white marble rocks back with her so I put them around the base of the new fire pit and we lite it for the first time.  We actually had two fires yesterday.  One at lunch time and one after dinner.  Both times called for smores and good times with our granddaughter.

I went to work on the cover for the front of the trailer.  I managed to finish it even with all the breaks that I took during the day.  I think it looks much better than that ugly trailer tongue hanging out the front.

When we are out at the fire we put Honey on our porch that has a railing all around it.  She looks out and sometimes tries to squeeze between the stiles on the railing.  At last nights fire, I took pity on her and let her come out and join us on leash.  She was very happy.

There have been some improvements in the park.  The Board spent some money on a new play area for the kids.  The chose of color could have been better but I think it will bring enjoyment to those who use the family center.

Got a few things to do around the trailer this morning and after lunch I will take or grand daughter home.  I plan to spend the night at the condo and then head back up to Gold Bar Monday morning.  It appears that we will be going home on Thursday.  I am hoping that we have enough good weather and time to complete some more projects.

One final thing.  I have a data plan for my phone that allowed me to have a hot spot for internet access when we were traveling.  It is 12GB plan and has worked really well for our needs over the past couple of years.  The only problem we seem to have is the amount to data we use when we are at the campsite.  We have an old computer and wireless printer at the trailer and when weather is uncooperative we spend time on line.  Data goes away extremely fast when you stream a couple of videos.  Wish the park would invest in a decent wifi connection.

Hope all is well and thanks for stopping by.