Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

Ridgetop

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I feel your pain! This happened to me a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully the bank will refund you the money based on police report and images of the carbon copy.

One thing I do now which helps is use the billpay online thru bank. It will print and mail a physical check if the recipient doesn't have ACH setup. Harder to alter and the bank know who it is issued to at beginning.
DH talked to the bank and they will get the money back and return it to our account. He closed the account and opened another just in case. Once they have scrubbed a check who knows how many times they will be able to use it with new payees and amounts. DH is also going to go to the police department tomorrow to report it since it is theft, fraud. and stealing from a mailbox is a federal crime.

Is it a regular remote? Our Roku has a feature where you can push something on the console and it makes the remote emit a sound so you can find it if it's hiding. Maybe Robert will find where he has hidden it when he wants to watch cartoons again.

My munchkin has been throwing tantrums a lot recently, and is also biting when he gets frustrated. He bit my arm today and now I have a bruise. He also headbutts, and then gets upset that we no longer want to hold him and set him down. He is very cute when he is in a good mood.
No if it was the Roku (which is safely hidden in my bedroom) we could have found it but it was the regular remote. Or rather the regular remote for the Dish and all the Prime, Netflix, etc. channels. Such sweet little fellows. :hugs When they are not biting us. Robert sneaks up on his mother from behind and bites her when he is mad. DS1 was a notorious biter at this age. We all have scars.
 

farmerjan

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My son bit ONCE.... the second time he tried he got bit back and it left a mark and it hurt him....he was maybe 2, 2 1/2?.... He cried and went into a tantrum... and when he looked at me and acted like he was going to do it again.... I told him if he bit mommy, she would bite him back everytime and it would hurt very much.... not that i fully expected him to understand... but he understood enough that when he made a move to do it, I grabbed his arm and said if you bite me, I will bite you..... and he didn't. I explained that biting was for eating food, not hurting people.... and if he bit the dog or hurt him, that the doggie had BIG teeth and would bite him back and it would hurt more.... and one other time he got straight out slapped for biting and he cried and I said that if you bite, then when you hurt someone, they will hurt you back...
I was "mean".... but my mom told me way back that they have to understand consequences.... even at a young age... and he never did it to her.... she told him that you DID NOT do things like that at grandma's house.... because if you did, you could not come back to play at grandma's house.... call it bribing or rewarding good behavior or punishing bad..... but he loved to go to grandma's .... and she did not tolerate bad behavior.... but they got to do lots of fun things if he was good.... so he loved to go there.....

Today, they would probably call child protective services... and he would be another useless spoiled brat.....
 

farmerjan

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Glad you are going to be able to recover the money.... and yes, it should be made into a big deal.... it is a crime....

I do not send out checks unless I go straight to the P.O. to do so.... 99% of the bills, contributions etc., get made on line.... which I know is not without it's problems.... but if you use trusted specific websites, then it is easier...
Sorry for that happening though.... just takes more time and energy to get it all straightened out now.... .
 

Baymule

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I’m blown away by your generous offer. When we starred talking about me using one of your ewes to add to my upgrade program, I was so excited. Now you have upped it to 5 and I’m beyond grateful and excited.

#4. BL 31 and 32. Please keep them both. You only have one daughter out of this ewe and we both know how fast that can go wrong in a hurry. I cannot accept one of those ewes. Keep both as insurance!

#1 Cleopatra We have talked about her since she was born. I’m delighted to have her! If it’s not too much trouble I would love for her to be registered.

#2 P16. Yes please

#3 P15. Yes please

#5. GR 40 or 41. You pick your favorite and I’ll be delighted to have the other one.

Don’t bring extra alfalfa, space is a premium and I can buy and have it waiting on them. I keep a bale to give to the horse anyway.

On worming, probably best to worm them. What will be the interval between bringing them in the barn and leaving for Texas? If too close together, less than 10 days, then only worm once and I can take fecals and watch them once they get here. I think it might be best to worm them once, when you bring them in the barn. Possibly worming again before leaving might add to their stress.

We will see how these do. That will give you a better idea on how to worm your flock before you move them. Once they are here, we can monitor them closely to see how they are doing.

I’ll have a pen all ready for them. I’m already counting up how many more cow panels I need to enlarge the ewe and new lambs pen. Another few pallets to add on to the Palatial accommodations already in place and it will be an extravagant Pallet Palace. I’ll take up all the hay, lime the dirt and have it ready to accept new tenants.
 

Bruce

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DH went to the post office and they wouldn't take the report other than to say they would report the box might need a new lock.
A bit weak on their part!! DW told me that in some places people are putting some sort of sticky stuff in the "entryway" to the blue boxes. Letters get stuck and the thieves come to pull them out, get lucky sometimes. Apparently more than lucky in your case unless, of course, they were able to open the big door and just take what looked good. I would HOPE the PO people would notice if a box was mostly cleaned out, they have an idea of the quantity of mail they usually find and should be really suspicious if there is a lot less. I can't imagine a thief pulling up a chair and sorting through everything in the box and taking only things that might be checks.

My son bit ONCE.... the second time he tried he got bit back and it left a mark and it hurt him....he was maybe 2, 2 1/2?.... He cried and went into a tantrum... and when he looked at me and acted like he was going to do it again.... I told him if he bit mommy, she would bite him back everytime and it would hurt very much.... not that i fully expected him to understand... but he understood enough that when he made a move to do it, I grabbed his arm and said if you bite me, I will bite you..... and he didn't.
Worked with DD2.
 

Baymule

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On the phone with you. You are keeping BL31 and BL32! You have found another ewe, BL30 that you will bring. Now I feel better! LOL
 

Ridgetop

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Not a problem to switch out. Glad you will have the ones you want.

Still raining here. Twice the snow pack in the mountains as normal so drought status has been lowered from critical to extremely bad. We need another couple years of this type of winter rain. Used to get it every 7 years when the heavy rains would come every winter for 7 years. Then 7 years of dry winters. That was out weather pattern for the first 50 years of my life (and before for my parents and grandparents). And the strong dry Santa Ana winds every September- October. Thousands of years ago when people only lived for 30-40 years you can understand why a major change in the weather pattern lasting 10 years would cause them to abandon their farms and hunting grounds to travel to new places. The mystery about why the cliff dwellers of Mesa Verde and other Arizona locations abandoned their stone fortress dwellings thousands of years ago and just walked away is probably due to these weather changes. Anthropologists have learned a lot about ancient weather patterns and think that prolonged drought is what made them all leave. Without water, I would leave to. ;) Now this storm is leaving until next week's storm arrives. Still very grey and misty out but supposedly the rain is supposed to be over till the next storm in another 5 days.

Still haven't put together the sheep chair. Too muddy to work on feet. DS2's good friend and hs wife came over yesterday with gifts for Robert and Nick. Robert got a junior big wheel and Erick and DS2 put it together. They kept asking what the parts were and trying to refer to the instructions. I could have assembled it in half the time having put together all the kid's Christmas toys in the past to avoid DH's habit of leaving out a necessary part. When I had my daycare business, I put together countless Big Wheels and replaced the wheels countless times. I did not offer any help though because a daddy putting together a Big Wheel is a "rite of passage". One must pass through the flames and emerge unscathed - or just a little scathed - to merit the term parent. :lol: Robert was thrilled with his new ride on and insisted on taking it into the bed with him when he went to bed.
 

Margali

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DH went to the post office and they wouldn't take the report other than to say they would report the box might need a new lock. The USPS takes no responsibility for anything you place in a supposedly locked government mailbox! What? They told DH he had to go talk to the postmaster in Burbank.
That is BS and makes me think they are involved. I would report the theft AND the local branch directly to the Postal Inspectors. Per USPS website, call Postal Inspectors at 877-876-2455 or www.uspis.gov/report.
 

Ridgetop

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Got it reported and bank will make good. We didn't know that the federal insurance in bank accounts also insured against check fraud on your accounts. Thought it was just if the bank went bust.

Anyway, had a scare Monday. DH went to the VA doctor and they checked a heart test they had done on him and said he had less than 49% function in his heart! Said he better get to a cardiologist pronto. Aaaagh! Major terror - DH lined out everything I must do if he dies - I forbade hm to die before me - we argued over who should go first and leave the survivor to deal with the children, neither of us would agree to this. Spent the next day worrying and making sure he was breathing every time he fell asleep.

I immediately made an appointment for him at UCLA to see a GP for the referral and managed to get him in yesterday. Made an appointment for myself too for a recheck since I had missed mine with the sheep emergency. Amazingly they found an appointment for both of us yesterday am - usually we can't get an appointment for weeks- months.

Doctor told DH the other doctor was reading the test results wrong. The test actually said more than 49% function using those little arrow symbols. The doctor also said that they report all heart results like that, apparently using 49% as the base. That report was great, although the prior few days took some years off my PRIME. DH does need to have his other knee replaced before he gets any older since they won't do any replacements after you turn 85. We have appointments with both the Orthopedist and the Pulmonologist for DH. The Ortho to make arrangements for the knee, and the Pulmonologist to check his lungs since he has been coughing up heavy discharge for the past couple of months. He is worried that it is due to "long covid" and we want it checked out. By doing the knee before moving to TX it will be 100% paid for through our insurance. We don't want to change our insurance over anyway for the first year in TX. Our plan pays every 100% and prescriptions are only $5. When we move and change our insurance plan we will have a co-pay and have to pay a larger premium too. :( We figure we will make all our doctor checkup appointments for when we come back for visits with our kids.

Today everyone got their suits out to go to the cleaners for the wedding. DS2 will have to buy another suit since he can't fit into his pants (which he just wore to the Sigma Delta reunion in late October!) I could have let out 2" but he needs way more than that so will need to buy either a new suit or another pair of pants to go with his jacket. He was always the skinny kid and man in the family but has unexplainably gained a huge amount of weight in the last few months. He got an MRI yesterday and we are waiting to see if it shows anything. He also has low levels in several areas (not sure which) which the doctors are checking out. :fl He is 38 so don't want to be too intrusive to demand what is being found. I just get to worry about his health but then as a mother I have been doing that ever since giving birth to my first child 46 years ago.

DS2 finally got a call out for work. He will be back with the company working locally which is good. I told him he could borrow the trailer if needed but it is currently still the trailer place since our truck is not out of the shop yet. In order to bring it home, he needs to put a 5th wheel hitch in his truck. Anyway, he will be happy to get back to work and bring in some money. They have been living off their savings and since they are living here that is not too bad. however, he needs to go back to work for his insurance coverage for himself and the family.

Speaking about his truck, DS2 is thinking about selling it. The dealer won't give him what he wants for it. We might buy it although it has been raised and to lower it to normal height, we would have to change out the wheels and possibly the axles. I am not sure what it would entail, but it would cost several thousand $$. However, it is a newer diesel dually king cab with standard bed, was only a year old when DS2 bought it and has been used very little. The longest trip was when we took it to TX last year (when our truck was AGAIN in the shop on its normal "long vacation"). He wants more for it from the dealer than he would charge us but we have to see what our money arrangements are after we move. We do need a second truck. In the meantime, we will borrow it to take 2 loads at a time to Texas. ;)

The weather is dry for the moment. Next storm expected to arrive Sunday or Monday. DS1 took down the sheep pen tarp (which got torn) so the pen can dry out during the sunny (but cold) weather. 37 degrees yesterday. That is bitter cold for us. There was frost in some of the yards. We are planning to load up and leave for Texas the middle of February. I would like to get the lambs off to the auction before we leave. The last group born will be 3 months old by February 18 so can go to the sale, along with the 3 older ram lambs. Need to get them sold and off the feed bill. Whoa - need to get the next bunch of breeding ewes into the breeding pen with a ram this month - I don't want any more ewes lambing in August after last year's horrible heat wave. I hope the weather will dry up the week before we are supposed to leave so we can load without being bogged down in slippery mud.

I HAVE LOST 7 LBS. SINCE CHRISTMAS! :weee All that yogurt instead of real food worked.

I fit into the dressy navy blue pantsuit with beaded chiffon jacket perfectly, and the pale green dressy beaded chiffon pantsuit although it is still a bit tight is wearable. DD1 wants me to wear the new plum colored chiffon and velvet jacket pantsuit I just received is the one DD1 likes best. She says the cut is very slimming and she likes the color for the wedding, so I will go with that with my pearls. I plan to stay on the yogurt diet until March. No sense taking chances. When the suits come back from the cleaners I will put them in garment bags with the dress shirts and ties. The dress shoes, socks, and belts will go into a special suitcase ready to go onto the trucks for the trip back. The women are giving me their clothes and shoes to travel back with us in the trucks. DD1 still wants to go shopping for dressy black shoes for DGD1 and a shawl to go with DD1's off the shoulder navy dress. I will pick up some extra garment bags at the same time.

Erick has decided to keep my new puppy with him until we are fixed in California for a while - when DH has his knee replacement. We have agreed that leaving her in CA while DH, DS1, and I are in TX for a month or more at a time will not be good for her training. Although DS2 and DDIL2 will both be home to feed the sheep, they won't know what to do about the puppy to discourage any bad behavior or reinforce any good behavior. I was worried about this and asked him for his advice. He is so attached to this litter that he volunteered to keep her. We will visit her this trip and while we want to take her back with us, I am not sure bringing her to TX each time would be to her benefit. Erick said that we could bring her back and forth once we have some fencing up so she could learn the property. And we can take her to Erick's as well. Erick and I will discuss this more. I always worry about dug the right training for my puppy so I dot ruin her. LOL
 

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