Dealing with Identity and Credit Card Theft
July 17, 2008 by Gailstrail · 6 Comments
I wrote my first draft for this post on a yellow pad. Sometimes I like to write on a yellow pad with long and broad stokes; much like a painter would enjoy a large canvas.Telling this story needs broad strokes; I need to find room between the lines to identify my emotions.
All my identifying documents, bank card and my wallet were stolen from my car while parked at a wilderness trail head; almost $2000.00 was spent by the villains in less than two hours.
Beauty
Pieper (my golden retreiver) and I were parked at the trail head of Stratton Open Space, hiking on Cheyenne Mountain. It was Pieper’s birthday (she just turned four) and I promised her a hike and a swim and after a trip to the doggie store for a toy and a bone. I love this girl.
The hike was wonderful. There was cloud cover and it looked like rain. Not at all what the weather person predicted (90 degrees and hot). The forest was lush and green and a light breeze played in the tree tops. Pieper went swimming and we ran into an old friend and continued hiking with her and her three canines. After about two hours we returned to the parking lot.
11 Things We Can Do To Cut Expenses or How to Beat the ‘Gas Woes’!
July 13, 2008 by Gailstrail · Leave a Comment
Recently, after a minor fender bender, I put my car into a body. I chose not to have a rental; thinking I would spend time at home doing things around the house and save gas.
After spending three and a half days at home: cooking, eating, sleeping, watching Animal Planet, the news, movies, working on my lack of lawn, going through and getting rid of ’stuff’, I called my sister, a few friends, wrote two posts, installed Photoshop CS3 (anyone know a good beginners class?), and visited Steve and Marsha (a hike away) for some icy blended drink and talk about retirement life. Yes, it’s been a relatively easy first week of retirement.
Staying home was not difficult. However, by Thursday I wanted and needed to get out of the house. I called my insurance to arrange for a rental and treated myself and Pieper (my companion and Golden Retriever) to a hike and swim. The trip to where we hike and swim is about a 20 minute drive and a 30 minute hike. The temperature was a whopping 91 degrees. When you are over a mile high…well, we were cooking. Unfortunately, Pieper is the only one allowed to swim in the reservoir; I’m left panting on the shore.
After the hike and swim, my normal routine, in an effort to coordinate trips and conserve gas, is to stop at the market on the way home. I’ll find some shade and park; leave the windows half way down in my Blazer, and Pieper being damp is fine while I pick up a few items at the grocery.
The rental car (a 2007 Ford Focus), had huge windows all around, letting far too much sun into the car. The car would hardly cool down with the airconditionair on maximum! No way was I going to leave Pieper in this car. I passed the market, did not collect groceries and went directly home.
The Power and Politics Behind What We Eat!
July 3, 2008 by Gailstrail · 1 Comment
The more I read about pet food; the more I learn about human food and how the two are connected; which in turn brings me to the power and politics behind what we eat! Does this sound a little far fetched?
I so wish I could make this story more apealing…everyone needs to know what goes on with our sustainance. Think of it as ‘life and death’!
Ever wonder where dead animals go? Probably not. If you are brave enough, doubtful that you are; we tend to bury our heads when it comes to the “unpleasant facts of life” .
Help Wanted: person to operate bobcat mini-dozers, loading ‘raw material’ (dead animals) into a 10-foot-deep stainless-steel pit; operate giant auger-grinder.
Are you looking for work? Does this sound like your kind of job? Imagine at the bottom of this pit, a giant auger-grinder begins to turn and you hear popping bones and squeezing flesh; a grusome nightmare! Who does this kind of job? I’ve been trying to find out the job title for the person who does this job, with no success as yet. In one rencent article I read that these jobs are held by: Bandanna-masked men; undocumented workers from Mexico; doing a dirty job that no one else wants to do. Wonder what kind of pay they receive?
