Well Darklings,
Yesterday the insurance man came by and he and my friend Hank the contractor went over things, all I could do was hover and make a comment or two or express my personal concerns.
Because the washing machine and the stove was already in the house when I moved in, it was hard to determine a value of replacement, the dryer was no problem I had the bill for that and it wasn't that old.
They factor in depreciation as well, which is a bit dis-heartening, but its just to give you enough money to get the basic things, not all the "whistles and bells". It was also discovered that the walls in the basement laundry room will have to be replaced since they were sheet rock.
The cost of the work to fix up the kitchen will be covered as well as the clean up which is good, so it will go into a fund and then bills submitted will be paid out of that fund to avoid any fraud. Hanks' been through this process before and said for me to not worry.
Today Hank assigned a two man team to start clean up and repairs and he covered the old stove that was outside with a plastic tarp to discourage scavenging. The burn wood that was out side has been removed already.
The workmen are Hispanic and I had fun with one of them, he got confused as to where the downstairs bathroom is, the portajohn had not arrived yet, so I see him in the hall and he's looking at the mounted Lion's Head. Now one of my sister's friends have rigged "Kitty Kat" to roar either by stepping on a stair tread, or if you get to close to the head it breaks a circuit, and Sis had set it up for the latter.
Out of curiosity He gets close to the Lion's head and triggered Kitty Kat to roar, I saw him jump nearly 10 feet off the ground, he stares at it then I come up behind him without him knowing and said "Oh I'm sorry if Kitty Kat frightened you, he usually warns strangers to be careful" Well the poor man nearly fainted and said in his best Spanish his apologies, I showed him where the downstairs bathroom was located.
Later I heard him say to his co-worker about what Kitty Kat did and that La Senora must be very brave to deal with El Diablo. Needless to say they were very happy when the Portajohn was in place.
Hank just came by to see the progress and if the damage was more extensive then planned. He privately told me that his workers are now afraid to go into the rest of the house except the area's to work on, they think its haunted. I asked him if he thought it was, he just grinned and said "I'm planning on bringing my little grandkids here for Halloween, if you can get Kitty-Kat to roar for them and if they can take a tour of your house when you have it decorated, it will be a kick for them." He said he knew where to find a stuffed swordfish like the one in the Addams Family "All I have to find is a manikin leg and a flipper" I have a feeling he's getting into the 'spirit' of the house.
Louise has checked the rest of the house for soot and it did get into the breakfast nook, and a bit into the dinning room, she said she'll have her daughter come with her tomorrow to help with cleaning the soot, but I told her that I have a cleaning service as well, she said that what is in the kitchen and the breakfast nook is beyond the cleaning service. So we came to an agreement on it and I'm glad that she can help me, if there is other cleaning problems I'll talk to my cleaning service and we'll go from there.
I'm going to be carefully saving a lot of submitted billing.
Doyle is going to treat all of us to dinner tonight, but we also figured that we can buy Deli things that can be heated in the microwave and a lot of salads as well. Tomorrow we'll check the plates and glassware to see if they need to be washed, Doyle bought a hot plate to heat water for dish washing and face washing, my neighbor has been generous to allow us to use their shower until our gas line is turned on. Hank said that will happen tomorrow, once the new gas line is installed in the kitchen with its new shut off valve.
So Hot Water by tomorrow evening. We'll all be very happy.
I just found out that the deceased Boston Bombers body was buried in a Muslim cemetery in Virginia thanks to the efforts of a Christian woman, many people are not happy about that. It is their feeling that such a person to willfully cause such harm should not be entitled to a proper burial, for fear that others will create him to be a martyr. Only in sick minds would that happen, but then there are sick people out there.
The mummified head that was found in an Oakland recycling center is being treated as a homicide but where it came from is a puzzlement until the deceased can be I.D'ed, which could take some time.
The two women who were burned in the Limo fire, one has been release and the other's condition has been upgraded to good.
My sister has shown me photo's that she received via e-mail of her grand daughter's prom picture, so beautiful and she and her date and their friends went to the prom with an adult escort in a white stretch Limo, so beautiful and so elegant, all had a wonderful time. Sis had tears in her eyes, yes they do grow up so quickly. And we received word that Sis's other daughter is expecting a baby in October maybe around October 31st. That would be such a "hoot!" if that were to happen, but babies will come when they want to come. Sis is excited, another grandbaby to spoil.
Oakland has now had three police chiefs in as many days, I sincerely hope the current one stays the course, but It all depends on the Mayor and the Mayor's office letting the Chief do what he can to implement the recommendations as suggested in the Bratton report, and not interfering as she has been doing. I did not vote for her as I felt she would not be effective and I was right.
I am having a laugh about the newly designed eastern span of the bay bridge and their support bolts problems, I said to Doyle that the design was too radical for that location and I felt that something would go wrong and I was right again, as much as I hate to say it I will never feel safe going over that new bridge, something inside of me says its going to 'fail'. Am I being morbid? Of course I am. The old bridge only failed at the one spot that the early bridge designers said was the weakest spot the rest of it held up. Now they are building a new bridge where everything can fail.
It is just like these so-called yachts that are racing in the America's cup races, they are NOT yachts but catamarans, and I've seen them tip on a turn on one pon-toon, catamarans are not for racing not with over size sails that make the catamarans top heavy and can over balance them. And it seems that the Americas Cup has a rule in which the winner of the previous race can state which type of boat should be raced and the idiot has suggested these designs which were designed on computers not on proven water conditions, no wonder they've had several boats smashed and broken and one of their sailors drown. I feel that rule should be changed so that people on the Americas cup board should make the rules of what type of boat and certain limitations, not those that hurt and kill people. Maybe the wife of the sailor that drowned should sue last years winner for making such dangerous suggestions and the Americas Cup for allowing it.
Doyle says at least its not like NASCAR or the Indy 500 where parts of the car could go into the stands and hurt people. I won't argue with him, he's in deep enough trouble.
Doyle will be home for the next few days which is good, he can co-ordinate with his friends about what to do with the old washer and dryer. Sis has the phone number and address of the shop that sells restored vintage stoves, tonight after dinner we'll measure the space and then measure the old stove and get an idea of what will fit.
My next posts will be about other things that I have been planning to write about, until another day, now I'm going to first pick up Belladonna, she has been at the Doggie Hotel far too long, she'll think her Mommy abandon her.
Later Darklings
Showing posts with label Limos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Limos. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Of more updates and a mummified head in a reycling center~~~
Hello My Darklings,
Well I have to say I was almost all Day at work, just to see what has been done and what is happening currently.
Louise, bless her, came early to my home and we took public transportation just as if I was going to work as usual.
I’m very happy; with e-mail and teleconference calls and regular phone calls from staff to check in with me, things have been going very smoothly. But just being at work even for only less than 8 hours I found myself exhausted. And concerned, because sometimes I put in longer hours, I talked to my Director and we think that it would be best to ease me back into it by my doing Half Days, come in at 9:30 or 10 a.m. and leaving at 2 or 2:30 p.m. I did suggest that perhaps I could come in at 8 a.m. and leave at 1 or 2 since I am more spry in the morning so we’ll try the latter for a while.
My Director also suggested having me consider retirement and then be hired as a half-time independent contractor setting my own hours, I’m more than vested for retirement, and it would not interfere with retirement by my part time work. I said lets see how things go for me at this time and I’ll keep those suggestions in mind if I feel I cannot handle a full work load. My colleagues are terrified at even the idea of me retiring but I said it’s only under future consideration.
Frankly Darklings, I’m getting bored at home, I love the thrill of the commute, the challenges that work brings, the inter-action with my co-workers and finding answers to things.
During the Lunch Hour we decided to order out and have the lunch brought to us, I insisted with Louise that she have lunch with us, but she suggested that she take a bit of a walk around the area and eat out and do a bit of shopping and would be back on an agreed upon time. This worked out perfectly for us.
During our Lunch I and my colleagues discussed the various events that were happening.
A Christian gentleman offered a burial plot to bury the deceased Boston Bomber, but the Bombers family still fears grave desecration, and are even thinking of having him cremated and returning to Russia with the Ashes, if the ashes can be brought into Russia since that country and many others in Europe has a policy of not returning the bodies of terrorists back to the families and instead burying them in unmarked graves to prevent them from becoming martyrs. The US does not have that policy, Canada is facing the same situation, now since this has become international, both Russia, the US and Canada are being faced about matters of this sort that would be very hard to resolve (so says one Russian lawyer who had dealt with this sort of thing). We can only see what will happen.
It seems that the tragic deaths of the ladies who died in the Limo fire have touched one of my staff who knew her. According to further news reports, the Limo fire is considered very strange to have happened, and no answers as to cause has been found. Usually in most car fires it would happen in the front in the engine compartment, but from the back trunk area is almost unheard of. The only way that could happen is in a very violent collision which in this case did not happen.
And in Limo’s, since their maintenance and care is important to keep them functioning in a safe manner, such a fire is almost unheard of. This is going to be very interesting to hear the results of this investigation. Although I do feel that perhaps re-designing future Limos should be considered.
Every one was very happy about the discovery and rescue of the 3 women who had been held captive for over 10 years by this one man. That one of the women had the courage to take a chance to get help and that Mr. Charles Ramsey heard her cries for help is a miracle, there is the possibility that many years earlier there may have been a 4th victim, who disappeared, the police will look further. The suspect held these women in the basement of his home and he had 2 brothers living with him and yet those two were not charged with aiding and abetting I find strange, I can’t help but suspect that they may have known but were too cowardly to act. The most important thing is that the 6 year old girl who was born to one of the captive women had been carefully home schooled and possibly escaped becoming a victim of that man’s future actions.
My sister believes that the psychological aspect of that case is going to be carefully studied.
On a more interesting note, the chief of police of Oakland, CA has stepped down at his own request, claiming health issues, right on the day that the report of what the Oakland police department should do to decrease crime in that city was to be presented to the people. Frankly it is my opinion that anything the Chief of Police wanted to do was ‘shot down’ by the Mayor, and he was tired of being sabotaged by her. And only a 6 page report? Considering the problems that Oakland has I would have suspected a weightier presentation.
Several citizen groups believe the real reason the Chief stepped down was “Politics”. I agree.
I was also sad to hear that one of my favorite places for a late night bite had a fire. Merritt Bakery has been in business and a fixture in Oakland since the 1950’s, I remember Mom and Dad taking us there from time to time as a special treat. I was sad to hear that they had a horrible fire; I can only hope that they will be able to rebuild and continue to stay in business. The cause of the fire to yet be determined.
And now for something very bizarre and macabre----
A mummified head was found at an Oakland recycling center yesterday, I’m sure that freaked out the staff there. Cadaver dogs were brought in to try and find the rest of the remains, but beyond the head not much was found. Police say that the victim died sometime ago and may have been a homicide. Police will try to identify the Head of the victim using dental records. I hope that will be possible unless the victim was an illegal immigrant, if that is the case identification may be useless. I’m sure that a variation of this event will appear on a CSI T.V. episode in the future. Re-cycling human remains, well, to make an observation that does save the cost of a funeral.
My sister and I are grateful that Doyle installed a superb alarm system in my home, sensor lights on the grounds, and camera systems that work even in the dark, of course having good fences help. My great-aunts house was never burgled, but now day’s crooks are becoming more desperate even going so far as to try and break in while people are home. He is even worried when I am home alone, but I do have my gun and I know how to shoot it and I am aware of the laws about home invasion and the “Castle Laws”.
But one day when I was leaving the house, a woman was walking down the street, she looked a little out of place, more like a lady of the streets if you know what I mean, she saw me and was a bit startled then she said “Excus’ me, but yo liv heara?” (I’m writing this as I heard her speech) and I replied that yes I do.
She then asked “arn yu ‘fraid of the spooks?” “Spooks?” I asked, she said “ya eveone knows tha place haunted” her eyes were wide. So I thought I’d have some fun and tease her a bit so I said “Well, you’re right. It is haunted, so is the house next door.” Referring to the house that my sister was eventually going to buy.
“People died in both houses, why there is even a graveyard in the back of mine, with gravestones.” I informed the young woman. She asked me if the ‘spooks’ bothered me and I said not much, but if anyone with evil in their heart comes on the property, the spooks do not like it. I told her that several times people had tried to buy the house next door but the ‘spooks’ chased them out. (If you read my previous posts you’ll know how we found out why that happened)
The woman’s eyes got very, very wide and I gave her my best wicked smile and said “That’s why I have to be very careful living here; it’s not good to get the spirits angry.” And just then the cat that use to sleep under my porch showed up and hissed at the woman (I could not have planned that if I tried). The woman jumped back a bit and the cat went on, perhaps looking for a mouse, so I used the cat’s actions and said “I think one of the ‘spooks’ is unhappy, the cat looked possessed.”
The young woman walked away quickly and said as she was leaving “Lady yu crazy livin’ dare!!!” She almost ran away. And I was having fun trying not to laugh out loud.
Well I do have to say that after the end of yesterday, I was glad to return home, my back didn’t twinge but I was tired. Louise was happy though, she found some gifts for some family members whose birthdays are coming up. I suggested to Louise that since she was with me for all day Wednesday to take Friday off to have time for the Mother’s Day preparations. She was very happy about that, and I hope she has a nice Mother’s Day.
Coralline will be spending it with her Mom and her mother’s two grandma’s My brother’s treat.
Sis and I are going to spend our at a Spa and enjoy hedonistic delights. Doyle will be home and he is going to enjoy peace and quiet and indulge Belladonna.
So to all you Darklings Have a Happy Mother’s Day.
Later Darklings
Well I have to say I was almost all Day at work, just to see what has been done and what is happening currently.
Louise, bless her, came early to my home and we took public transportation just as if I was going to work as usual.
I’m very happy; with e-mail and teleconference calls and regular phone calls from staff to check in with me, things have been going very smoothly. But just being at work even for only less than 8 hours I found myself exhausted. And concerned, because sometimes I put in longer hours, I talked to my Director and we think that it would be best to ease me back into it by my doing Half Days, come in at 9:30 or 10 a.m. and leaving at 2 or 2:30 p.m. I did suggest that perhaps I could come in at 8 a.m. and leave at 1 or 2 since I am more spry in the morning so we’ll try the latter for a while.
My Director also suggested having me consider retirement and then be hired as a half-time independent contractor setting my own hours, I’m more than vested for retirement, and it would not interfere with retirement by my part time work. I said lets see how things go for me at this time and I’ll keep those suggestions in mind if I feel I cannot handle a full work load. My colleagues are terrified at even the idea of me retiring but I said it’s only under future consideration.
Frankly Darklings, I’m getting bored at home, I love the thrill of the commute, the challenges that work brings, the inter-action with my co-workers and finding answers to things.
During the Lunch Hour we decided to order out and have the lunch brought to us, I insisted with Louise that she have lunch with us, but she suggested that she take a bit of a walk around the area and eat out and do a bit of shopping and would be back on an agreed upon time. This worked out perfectly for us.
During our Lunch I and my colleagues discussed the various events that were happening.
A Christian gentleman offered a burial plot to bury the deceased Boston Bomber, but the Bombers family still fears grave desecration, and are even thinking of having him cremated and returning to Russia with the Ashes, if the ashes can be brought into Russia since that country and many others in Europe has a policy of not returning the bodies of terrorists back to the families and instead burying them in unmarked graves to prevent them from becoming martyrs. The US does not have that policy, Canada is facing the same situation, now since this has become international, both Russia, the US and Canada are being faced about matters of this sort that would be very hard to resolve (so says one Russian lawyer who had dealt with this sort of thing). We can only see what will happen.
It seems that the tragic deaths of the ladies who died in the Limo fire have touched one of my staff who knew her. According to further news reports, the Limo fire is considered very strange to have happened, and no answers as to cause has been found. Usually in most car fires it would happen in the front in the engine compartment, but from the back trunk area is almost unheard of. The only way that could happen is in a very violent collision which in this case did not happen.
And in Limo’s, since their maintenance and care is important to keep them functioning in a safe manner, such a fire is almost unheard of. This is going to be very interesting to hear the results of this investigation. Although I do feel that perhaps re-designing future Limos should be considered.
Every one was very happy about the discovery and rescue of the 3 women who had been held captive for over 10 years by this one man. That one of the women had the courage to take a chance to get help and that Mr. Charles Ramsey heard her cries for help is a miracle, there is the possibility that many years earlier there may have been a 4th victim, who disappeared, the police will look further. The suspect held these women in the basement of his home and he had 2 brothers living with him and yet those two were not charged with aiding and abetting I find strange, I can’t help but suspect that they may have known but were too cowardly to act. The most important thing is that the 6 year old girl who was born to one of the captive women had been carefully home schooled and possibly escaped becoming a victim of that man’s future actions.
My sister believes that the psychological aspect of that case is going to be carefully studied.
On a more interesting note, the chief of police of Oakland, CA has stepped down at his own request, claiming health issues, right on the day that the report of what the Oakland police department should do to decrease crime in that city was to be presented to the people. Frankly it is my opinion that anything the Chief of Police wanted to do was ‘shot down’ by the Mayor, and he was tired of being sabotaged by her. And only a 6 page report? Considering the problems that Oakland has I would have suspected a weightier presentation.
Several citizen groups believe the real reason the Chief stepped down was “Politics”. I agree.
I was also sad to hear that one of my favorite places for a late night bite had a fire. Merritt Bakery has been in business and a fixture in Oakland since the 1950’s, I remember Mom and Dad taking us there from time to time as a special treat. I was sad to hear that they had a horrible fire; I can only hope that they will be able to rebuild and continue to stay in business. The cause of the fire to yet be determined.
And now for something very bizarre and macabre----
A mummified head was found at an Oakland recycling center yesterday, I’m sure that freaked out the staff there. Cadaver dogs were brought in to try and find the rest of the remains, but beyond the head not much was found. Police say that the victim died sometime ago and may have been a homicide. Police will try to identify the Head of the victim using dental records. I hope that will be possible unless the victim was an illegal immigrant, if that is the case identification may be useless. I’m sure that a variation of this event will appear on a CSI T.V. episode in the future. Re-cycling human remains, well, to make an observation that does save the cost of a funeral.
My sister and I are grateful that Doyle installed a superb alarm system in my home, sensor lights on the grounds, and camera systems that work even in the dark, of course having good fences help. My great-aunts house was never burgled, but now day’s crooks are becoming more desperate even going so far as to try and break in while people are home. He is even worried when I am home alone, but I do have my gun and I know how to shoot it and I am aware of the laws about home invasion and the “Castle Laws”.
But one day when I was leaving the house, a woman was walking down the street, she looked a little out of place, more like a lady of the streets if you know what I mean, she saw me and was a bit startled then she said “Excus’ me, but yo liv heara?” (I’m writing this as I heard her speech) and I replied that yes I do.
She then asked “arn yu ‘fraid of the spooks?” “Spooks?” I asked, she said “ya eveone knows tha place haunted” her eyes were wide. So I thought I’d have some fun and tease her a bit so I said “Well, you’re right. It is haunted, so is the house next door.” Referring to the house that my sister was eventually going to buy.
“People died in both houses, why there is even a graveyard in the back of mine, with gravestones.” I informed the young woman. She asked me if the ‘spooks’ bothered me and I said not much, but if anyone with evil in their heart comes on the property, the spooks do not like it. I told her that several times people had tried to buy the house next door but the ‘spooks’ chased them out. (If you read my previous posts you’ll know how we found out why that happened)
The woman’s eyes got very, very wide and I gave her my best wicked smile and said “That’s why I have to be very careful living here; it’s not good to get the spirits angry.” And just then the cat that use to sleep under my porch showed up and hissed at the woman (I could not have planned that if I tried). The woman jumped back a bit and the cat went on, perhaps looking for a mouse, so I used the cat’s actions and said “I think one of the ‘spooks’ is unhappy, the cat looked possessed.”
The young woman walked away quickly and said as she was leaving “Lady yu crazy livin’ dare!!!” She almost ran away. And I was having fun trying not to laugh out loud.
Well I do have to say that after the end of yesterday, I was glad to return home, my back didn’t twinge but I was tired. Louise was happy though, she found some gifts for some family members whose birthdays are coming up. I suggested to Louise that since she was with me for all day Wednesday to take Friday off to have time for the Mother’s Day preparations. She was very happy about that, and I hope she has a nice Mother’s Day.
Coralline will be spending it with her Mom and her mother’s two grandma’s My brother’s treat.
Sis and I are going to spend our at a Spa and enjoy hedonistic delights. Doyle will be home and he is going to enjoy peace and quiet and indulge Belladonna.
So to all you Darklings Have a Happy Mother’s Day.
Later Darklings
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