Comedy of Errors

I'm such a goof.  My own errors have led to more trouble than it should have been to get my Mother's car transferred to my name and then sold.  Part of the issue is also my Mother not wanting to go places to get this done.  Having the title transferred to my name would alleviate that issue.  I struck out a second time at the DMV.  A transfer is handled by the County, not the State.  They have their own form that requires a notary public also.  SMH.  We already got two forms notarized this past Sunday.  Fortunately the notary came to her facility to do this.  She also had been a resident at the same one my Mother is at now.  Consequently she made a error on one of the forms and pretty much invalidated it.  I did not have a spare with me.  So I was left with the one valid form to transfer to my name.  The other would have transferred it to her name, (this is because Dad's name is also on the title and has since passed).  She never went to probate with his will so it never got done.  Both names on the title is causing issues that have made me determined to never do that with my own vehicles ever again.  Both now are that way.  The other issue is I signed a form when it should have been my Mother, but at least that one did not need to be notarized.  That form prevented me from even obtaining the title as is.  Not sure that would have helped at all but I thought it might be a good idea at the time.  

One other thing the county requires is a valid inspection 'not more than 90 days old.'  Seriously?  Well OK, hers expires this month anyway (but we hoped to sell it before then).  I get ready to go get it inspected and...dead battery.  Not really surprising, it doesn't get driven much.  It hasn't moved since we brought it out here.  Maybe 4 weeks.  I don't know, everything regarding all this has gummed up the timeframe in my mind.  It didn't get driven much at all when Mom was able.  Hence only 21,000 miles on a 2015 car.  It's now on the charger and I still hope to get the inspection done on it later today.   Then tomorrow maybe get the other form notarized and another trip to the county and see if they can get it done...of course if I have done everything right this time.  Double checking and I will have 'K' check it too.

Now back to working on our taxes.  Hope I get that right...

Happy Trails

Life is Not Fun Right Now

On top of everything else going on with us, I am down in my back.  I have a dislocated vertebrae, the L5, that acts up every so often.  When it does, it's very painful, I can barely walk at times.  They telll me the only way to fix that is surgery.  I am avoiding that as long as possible.  I don't know anybody that has had a successful back surgery that hasn't needed more later.  I have been hitting the Ibuprofen pretty hard and icing it down.  I get a little relief but not near enough to be able to function normally.  'K's back is also bothering her.  Most all of it is in relation to moving Mom and getting ready to sell her left over things.  Too much lifting and standing.  Although I have done very little.

I had to go over and be with Mom for a little while one night.  Just spend a little time and let her talk.  She was more rational than she has been.  Usually that's all it takes to help her out.  Others involved don't seem to grasp that.  Let's just say overreaction causes us all concern.  I try very hard to keep a cool head and listen before I react.  A negative reaction, even if it is only a facial expression, works against us.  Dementia is a curse.  Hopefully the new doctor can give her some help.  She will see him Monday.

When other family is involved there can be even more stress.  Differing opinions, not doing what they think you should be doing etc.  I try also not to react to those situations.  Selling Mom's car is one thing I apparently am not doing fast enough.  Her license tags are due this month.  They want it gone before then so we don't have to pay that fee.  So I get helpful advice even though they said they wouldn't.  I get it.  I don't want to pay that either.  My back has prevented me from following up on that.  Maybe this week I can get the title from the DMV.  I will get an appointment in order to cut down on the time I have to wait and aggravate my back more.

There is much more going on behind the scenes I could rant about but would serve no purpose.  Mom does have good days too but we let the bad ones overwhelm us.  That needs to be worked on.

Life is not fun fight now, but it could always be much worse.  Our Faith sustains us.

Happy Trails

Sunday March 5, 2023

Things are still progressing with my Mother's things.  I still haven't found the title to her car despite looking through every bit of paper work I could find.  I did find Dad's will.  It also had a couple of Affidavits of Heirship the DMV required I learned about on my first fruitless trip there.  Yes there may be another.  However, Carmax says they can facilitate the sale of a car without a title.  I will see if what I have will work or head back to the DMV.  Ugh.  Not sure when I can get back over there, hope it's soon.

We brought my Mom's car to our house yesterday to make room in her garage and have it to sell.  I can only park it outside.  Last night we were under severe thunderstorm warnings with much wind and the threat of very large hail.  We did get a little rain and very heavy winds (more branches down) but the really severe storms split and went North and South of us.  Thankful that no damage was incurred to her car.   

Mom is still pretty stressed.  Extra care is needed, walking on egg shells basically.  We are all worn out.  The girls have handled most of this and it is telling on them now.  Many tears have been shed.   

Monday I had to get a tire repaired.  The third time in less than a year.  After three patches, it will require a new tire.  Well guess what.  Another screw in the same tire yesterday.  I have an appointment to get that done today at Discount Tire.  They have repaired that thing for free every time.  Now I will buy from them.  And wow those things have jumped about a 100$ per tire from the last time I bought tire.  There is a lot of road and home construction in this area.  Apparently there are no clean streets around here, at all.  I will have to run into town to get this done and come back out during the Friday rush hour which is much worse than any of the other days.  

'K' is over at Mom's apartment again today trying to get her china cabinets se up with all her junk.  It's not junk to her but it is an issue for us.  She lost the key to one so I disabled the lock.  Now she worries someone will get into it and steal something.  Just another symptom of what we suspect.  We sought help/advice for dealing with this (I can't go into the embarrassing details) but it appears there isn't much to be done other than redirect her thoughts.   That doesn't help much.  We are trying to get her into a doctor on the grounds of her facility her specializes in gerontology and internal medicine.  Maybe he can help some.  

Starting Monday the two older Grandkids will come stay with us for three days.  Just something else to deal with along with everything else.  Hopefully we can get a little help from them when we head over to Mom's.  We don't get to spend much time with them like we did when they were much younger so we look forward to it.  Keeping teenagers entertained that long of a time is a real challenge for us at this age.  

I am keeping a positive and attitude and try to encourage the others as best I can.  

Happy Trails

Feeling the Pressure (Tuesday Afternnoon)

I have been very busy the last week and into this one.  Hence the later than usual post.  Being busy is usually a good thing but I am feeling pressured by others.  We are trying to wrap up getting my Mother's house ready for a garage sale that we hope will get rid of most of what's left and that's not much.  Most of it's clothes, lots of clothes.  Both my Mother's and my Dad's.  She just hasn't been able to let go of his things.  Whatever doesn't sell will be donated somewhere.  We hope to a place that can haul it off.  

I am handling the disposal of my Mother's car.  We finally convinced her that she shouldn't be driving anymore.  I've got an estimate based on the Kelly Blue Book and Carmax even made an offer online that's in line with the estimate.  Simple right?  We can't find the title.  OK, apply for a replacement.  Again, no big deal other than spending almost 2 hours waiting in line to get it done and striking out.  I had all the documents they listed online and then some.  However, no one knew who was listed on the title as owner.  So I was prepared with a death certificate for my Father and a power of attorney.  Since Dad has passed they wanted to know if he had a Will.  Yes, but we didn't go to probate.  So everything I had was useless without a signed and notarized Affidavit of Heirship.  Not listed anywhere that I found on the website.  So I am going to make an extra effort to find her copy of the title.  Not sure that will be any good either with my Dad's name still on it.  I'll see about the Heirship thing and see how that goes.  Or find a copy of his will but since we didn't go to probate...

Mom's house has a deposit from a renter already.  Got it a week ago.  April 1 is the move in day. I understand the feeling of getting it all done in time.  So I am rearranging my brain to get with the program so we can move on from this stuff.  

I found a place online that sells onion bulbs.  They are here in Texas and the ones I got are the 10/15 sweet onions.  I couldn't find ANY onion bulbs anywhere here.  We are just barely still in the last part of planting for them.  Of course I assume the heat will determine if they will be successful.  Next will be potatoes again.  Earlier this time.  Hopefully that will help too.  I have to find some tomatoes.  It's much earlier than I usually plant tomatoes.  And I have a feeling a late frost is very likely.  But I do want them in the ground earlier this year than last.  Maybe mid March will be OK.  HEB usually carries them.  I don't buy them there, it just tells me my usual place is likely to have them too.  So I will keep my eyes open.

We did go out for our usual birthday steak dinner last night.  Mine wasn't as good as usual, 'K's' was great.  I wasn't very good company due to feeling the pressure I mentioned, and we were both beat so celebrating the 70th (I can't say 'K's' age)was a flop.  Can I get a do over and just be 69 one more year?

I'm sure there's tons more I could tell you but my mind is pretty much pudding now.  So I will sign off.

Happy Trails

we 

Last Day of Packing Before Tomorrow's Big Move

Today, Monday is the last day before the movers come to get everything of my Mother's things to her new place.  I had planned to head over with 'K' this morning. or at least tomorrow for the actual more.  However 'K' believes having less people around is less stressful for my Mother.  She has been pretty confused and calls 'K' over and over about the same things.  The closer the move gets, it has caused her more stress.  The more stress, the less capable she is and more confused.  Hopefully 'K' and my sister-in-law can get things wrapped up for the big day and help my Mother be a little calmer.  We are looking forward to a little down time from all this later this week.  Or maybe later.  I anticipate a lot of phone calls from her the first few days, trying to find her things and her way around the facility.  There will be some adjustments as we learned from her first move with my Dad a few years ago. 

Tomorrow is 'K's birthday.  I will make it up to her when this is over.  A great steak is something she always enjoys at her favorite steak house.

I will try to stay busy to keep my mind moving while all this is gong on.  I will start cleaning out the years of collected junk etc. in my garage.  There is enough there to keep me very busy but I also need to head to the grocery store.  That will take precedent and then...

Happy Trails

Patience Paid Off

I had been fighting off the urge to get all our broken tree limbs laying in the yard after the ice storm cleaned up.  (Our neighborhood made the news with our damage).  From shopping for a new chain saw so I could tackle it myself to getting a bid from a gouger.  Also did a little clean up already.  Monday our neighbor had a crew working at his house.  I walked over and had a conversation with him about my limbs.  He gave me a bid the next day.  I was being pushed by the gouger to give him an answer ASAP.  He would have done much more work than I really intended but not for what he wanted, 2,500$.  'K' was even in more of a rush to get it cleaned up.  So I had to resist her concerns too.  She relented a little when she heard the bid.  When I got the bid from the guy next door my eyes went wide.  I couldn't believe it.  My reaction got his attention and he immediately asked if he was too high, LOL.  I quickly agreed to his amount.  It was a small fraction, miniscule, of the other.  I doubled the amount to show my appreciation.  He had an extra man that came over and got it all cut up and hauled out to the street where he used a Bobcat to load his trailer.  Took an hour and a half.  I also got a pile of firewood.  I have a ton of leaves to clean up now.  I think those will be burned.  They may wait for the early Spring leaf drop and then the Oak tassel drop.  

There are a few broken limbs at the top of some trees, I counted six.  There is no danger.  I can reach a couple, others are much too high.  They will stay until they fall.  That is part of the work the other guys wanted to handle and said that is why they charge so much.  However, I am happy with the way it turned out.

'K' took my Mother to sign her lease yesterday.  Turned into an all day affair.  She is back today to start the serious packing.  'K' is in a hurry to get it done.  She wants to be done with it once the movers have come.  I am more the wait and do a little at a time after the move.  I see her point, she comes home worn out after a visit.

Happy Trails

The Aftermath

The latest Winter Storm wreaked havoc with the Oak trees here in my neighborhood.  I have a lot of limbs that were broken and fell in the yard.  We have had quite few ice storms while we have been here.  But none did the damage to my trees (and the neighborhood trees) like this one.  It never got real cold but stayed just below freezing for more than 48 hours.  On top of that, it rained almost the entire time, 2 inches worth.  That caused a lot of ice to form on the trees causing many limbs to break.  Some fared much worse than we did.  We only lost limbs, no real damage to the house or cars.  We had to move some big limbs just to get our car out of the driveway.  And then more limbs fell there after.  Below is just a small sample of what we are dealing with.  Even more fell the next day.

Double the amount you see below is what we have

There are a lot of contractors out here making good quick money.  I am waiting for one to stop by and give me a bid.  There is one next door right now I will flag down.  All this on top of trying to get my Mother packed for the upcoming move in less than three weeks plus the everyday stuff.

Happy Trails