They Found Me

Good Morning,

Good Grief!!! It's been more than a year since my last post. I apologize to those of you who found me, and have written such nice comments.

My life has been a flurry of ups and downs these past few months. Now it seems we are experiencing a veritable tidal wave of crap. We have been trying to sell our condo. We accepted an offer on it, and were shopping around for a new place to live. Then, on December 15th, 2009, I came home from work and there was a policeman's business card stuck in the door. It had a note on the back that said, please contact this number in reference to incident #uptyump. I'm thinking, "Oh, shit! What did I do?" And started wracking my brain for things I might have witnessed, etc. Rather than doing the obvious, running like hell, (which, incidentally is pretty stupid in Alaska. It's like trying to run on a boat)I called the number. I got the dispatcher and told her the incident number. She said, "that officer is unavailable at the moment ,and will get back to you". So, for the next hour I sat around sweating blood, and trying to contain my bowels. Then came the knock on the door. Sue answered it, and I dragged my wretched carcass into the living room to see my fate. An older police officer loomed in the door, with an extremely serious expression. Mercifully, he didn't beat around the bush. "There's no easy way to tell you this," he said, "but your brother died, and Myrna needs you to call her right away. I wasn't going to tell you this over the phone." I was stunned, grief-stricken, and relieved all at once. I called my sister-in-law, and learned that Rich had died in his sleep, and nobody there could find my number, so they called the local sheriff, who contacted APD.

The funeral was on the 20th, and I was able to get a bereavement flight to Wyoming on short notice. Let me say that it's much easier to get to Alaska than it is to get anywhere in Wyoming. I landed in Billings, Montana at almost midnight, and they had already rolled up the sidewalks. The rental car places were closed, and the hotel shuttles had stopped running. I looked around for a secluded corner to crash in that wasn't in the traffic pattern, or already occupied by a drunk. Not finding any, I called one of the local hotels, and woke the desk clerk. She was kind enough to send a taxi for me, and put me up for the night. The next morning I left the room for a cigarette. The sun was shining, and I nearly had to fall on my knees, and worship, because I had not seen the sun in almost two weeks. I rented a car, and drove to Buffalo, Wyoming.

Rich had a nice funeral, and it was good to see my nieces and nephews, but he died without a will. So now everything is in probate, and his wife is "running" things. It's a fucked up long story regarding properties that Rich and I shared. I was able to get a flight back to Anchorage on the 23rd of December. Sue and I spent Christmas with no gifts, no tree, and no money, but we had each other, and our friends Paul and Dennis came over for dinner. So, it was OK.

Just after Christmas we found a place to live and made an offer on it. Our place was set to close on January 20th, so we were rushing around trying to get things done so we could close on the new place about that time. On the 10th of January, our buyer's mom got involved in the deal, and she backed out of the purchase. So, we had to back out of our offer on the new place, and went back to square one. The excitement, followed by the devastation, is not a roller coaster ride recommended for the faint of heart.

Then, I get a call from the Wells Fargo fraud division telling me that some dude down in Redondo Beach, California is using my credit card to buy crap at Target.

WTF???

So, anyway, the shitstorm continues with Myrna being a blockhead, thinking she runs everything, and won't listen to me. It's starting to look like I'm going to have to hire a lawyer to press my rights. I'm always reminded of Johnny Carson's law firm, Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe. Lawyers have a way of sucking you dry, and I'm not looking forward to it, but I don't really know another alternative.

This shit is getting me down.

On the positive side, Sue and I still have each other, and she has been very supportive. I don't know what I would do without her.

I guess leaving this on a positive note is what I want to do. So, until next time (which is hopefully sooner) I'll

C'ya'