4/12/06 WednesdayI am up early. Could not sleep well at all and kept waking up with thoughts of the estate problems plaguing my mind. Been awake since 3:00 this morning. I got the letter out to the attorney yesterday and will probably send another one today. This morning Cherie will help me drop the car off at Ed Schmidt to get worked on. I called Barb yesterday to let her know I may be late taking her to buy groceries.
8:00 – Cherie just dropped me off after I took Fred’s car in to get looked at. I wrote a second letter to the attorney to give him a better understanding of things. I’ve been up five hours and am tired for some reason. (Duh) Not sure what the day will bring. It is a rainy overcast day. Things were quiet across the hall so we thought the Muslim took the coke whore with him in his semi. There are lights on this morning so who knows if he’s back or what. Fred enjoyed a couple days of quiet with her gone. I feel bad for her as I would for any twenty year old girl who is trashing their life. But as long as she chooses to continue her lifestyle I must consider her to be poison and dangerous. If she asks for help I will give it at arms length, probably direct her to an agency geared for her issues.
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I washed the dishes after whipping up some scrambled eggs. Running about a five on the Bob scale. Was sharp earlier this morning but not as much now. Probably because I am so tired. Think I should take a short nap.
The nap helped. I got a call from the dealership on Fred’s car. Unbelievable what they said it would cost. Get this, to change the spark plugs and wires they want $399.95. That’s a nickel short of $400. Then they said he needed the fuel injectors cleaned and that would cost $179. But wait, that’s not all. It needs something called crank sensors and those cost $276.22. They screwed Fred out of $2000.00 when he bought the car so there is no mercy here. There is no way I will ever do business with Ed Schmidt and will work to make sure as many as I can know how they do business.
I called and talked to Virginia. She sounded tired or depressed, maybe a bit of both. We talked about Larry and she said that Larry had told her we were in agreement and I told her we weren’t. That kinda surprised me. Larry and I have always agreed on my buying his half of the farm, just not on how I would do it. He wants me to take it out of the cash from the inheritance and I told him there are many things that Cherie and I must take in to account before we make a decision. He evidently then decided I would do things his way and told Virginia that. Larry hears things the way he wants to, construes everything to his way of thinking. Part of this inability to perceive reality comes from the damage long term alcoholism causes.
I told Virginia that Patrick said the will gives her broad powers and that essentially Mr. McGilvray worked for her. She said she had thought so to but it sure didn’t seem that way. Virginia told me she is running around and doing what McGilvray should be doing. When I told her that I got my attorney because what McGilvray told me was confusing she said she was getting pretty confused also.
I explained to her about getting a loan to buy Larry’s half of the estate and that we would need time to get that and everything else arranged. “There’s allot we have to consider in this. We can’t just come down and end up living in the garage with a port a potty” I said. Then I let Virginia know about the government incentives for energy efficiency products like wind electric generation and water harvesting. She asked if I knew someone who knows about those programs. I let her know I would be working with state and federal congressional reps on this and planned to make the house a model to help them promote their incentives.
“Virginia, we’ll need to have all this together to take to the banks to get the loan. It will require me spending some time down there. Could you check and see about releasing some of the funds from the bank account so I can take care of this?” I asked. Virginia said she would ask. We will see how this goes. I told Virginia that Larry and I were in agreement regarding my buying him out, just not on where the money would come from.
Taking Fred to Ed Schmidt was such a great time I can’t wait to do it again. Not really. Fred let loose on the service guy “You guys screwed me. Don’t you check out the cars before you sell them? This is not right”. The poor guy just kind of squirmed and explained that he just fixed the cars and had nothing to do with the other end of the dealership. A guy waiting in line encouraged Fred with a gleeful smile “Give em hell, you tell em what you think”. That helped a bunch. Fred paid for the $85 diagnostic fee and we were out of there.
“Where’s the next stop Fred” I asked. “Firestone” was his reply so off we went, back to where we had been yesterday. This was more fun. Yesterday Fred had pitched a bitch about their prices for the same service the dealership was over charging for. Walking in the same service manager was there and put on his professional face wondering what was coming after Fred had gone off yesterday. This time I did most of the talking and helped a somewhat humbled Fred decide what he needed. Actually Fred was asking me what he should do and was putting this in my hands. I appreciate the trust but with it comes the blame if something doesn’t go well. That’s all part of the package and the responsibility that comes with trust.
We decided what to get done and then debated when to do it because Barb was depending on me to get her to the grocery store. “Fred, we can get Barb to the store and then I can take you home. After that I’ll just bring the car back here. I’ll bring my laptop and work while I wait” I decided. And that’s what we did.
Barb was excited about doing things for Easter, mostly cooking for others in her complex. It is always sad to watch her as she displays the ten year old level she operates at. “Oh look Bob. Those are Tulips, so are those, there pretty aren’t they. Someone brought a little plant over but it died…” she rambled on showing delight at what her eyes lighted on. Then she went to shopping and was good at figuring out how much money she had to spend. That’s the dichotomy. Barb is forty or so but the brain damage effects some of her maturity so there is this blend of old and young in one package. Holidays are hard for her as she no longer sees her kids.
I got Barb taken care of and home. Then I took Fred home and now I am at Burger King typing this. Burger King is across the street from Firestone where the Caddy is being worked on. Here I can go on line as it is a Wi Fi hot spot. I think I will go ahead and publish this now.
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