I got a very nice letter from the police saying how my safety and the protection of me and my possessions are of utmost importance. They went on to say that they prefer to keep open the cases that have the highest chances of being solved. That being said, they also informed me that the loss of my van doesn't quite qualify as being important enough to keep open and my case is now officially closed.

Ahhhh.

Meanwhile, in InsuranceLand, I got transferred from a claims adjuster to a total loss adjuster, who ignored me for several days. She apparently didn't notice she got a new claim to work with and didn't understand why I was calling and leaving messages with claim numbers and requesting information from her. I called my insurance agent who got a hold of the total loss lady's boss who gently reminded her she had a job and it might be nice if she wanted to keep it.

She called and apologized to me and I gave her all the forgiveness and joviality I could, seeing as she's the one that is giving me money and I was the one that just had her boss sicced on her.

It didn't work as she is only willing to give me...... Care to guess? Were you thinking about $2,500?

Maybe $2,000?

Or how about the amazing figure of $1,368, plus $170.01 for taxes and fees, minus $100 deductible for a grand total of $1,438.01?

Let's go shopping! NOT!!

I asked her how I was supposed to replace my paid-for van with (let's be generous and round up) $1,500? I said I'd already done some shopping and there was nothing out there for under $2,500, and that was for a van with 166,000 miles on it. She said, we found 4 comparable vans and they were all between $2,700 and $3,300, but they were at dealerships so they adjust the cost of the van to allow for their mark-up and added fees. Oh, ok, that makes sense. Right?

Needless to say, I'm not really happy right now. Buying a new van was on the horizon. It was not in the plans for now. We've only saved up some $300 so far, which doesn't really touch the amount I'm going to have to pay to get a half decent vehicle that can carry more than 4 people.

On top of that, the house I wanted is one we can't get. In another twist of "how things work", there is a program for a rehab loan, which is what we'd need as the house we want has been gutted. If we put $20,000 worth of work into the house, which would raise the loan amount still within budget, we would increase the value of the home by $100,000 to $150,000. It probably wouldn't be enough to restore the house to former glory and all that, but it would have made it livable and we'd work on it as we could to make it perfect over time. But guess what? They ONLY give rehab loans to people that makes less than $35,000 a year.

In other words, they loan money to fix up homes that increase their value only to people that can't afford to pay it back. Hello, it's a good investment for them. Not so much for those that could pay it back and not get the improved home repossessed.

So, unless someone hands me about $20,000 and says, "Don't worry about paying me back till you refinance in a couple years" we can't have the house. There isn't much out there that appeals to me.

It's been a sad day.

Hiking in December

Last week my friend Monique and I went on a hike and placed a couple caches each. The next day another friend of mine, Brewman65, asked if I wanted to hike with him so he could find them all. While out there, we ran into another friend of ours, JohnnyBoy, and he joined us for the remainder of the hike.

The three of us saw a couple walking toward us, I recognized them as cachers and we stopped to chat with Moink and Monikman. It was a regular party in the Tree Farm that day, but they were heading in as we were heading out so they were on their own.

Anyway, while out there, I made the guys stop so I could shoot (with my camera, of course, no hunting allowed on the Pilchuck Tree Farm) these three bucks standing on the hill. Such a beautiful sight!

Then today I went hiking by myself. I saw no people and no animals, but I saw lots of frost. I love frost! It was a gorgeous blue-sky day and I enjoyed my hike very much. It was cold; it never did get above freezing, but it was so lovely out.

Most of the plants had a layer of frost on them.

This was my favorite shot of the day.

My camera batteries kept dying but I tricked it into taking just a few more. Here's the trail I was hiking.

The little fir needles each had their own cluster of frost.

I thought it was amazing to see.

On Saturday, I'm hosting a geocaching event (my first). We will all meet in the parking area of this part of the tree farm and then go hiking in it. I have placed about a dozen caches and there are maybe 4 or 5 others that have been placed so it will be a good numbers run and a great hike for everyone. I'm really excited. I just hope it goes well, I'm expecting about 30 to show up (26 or so have RSVP'ed) and I am not sure how it will work -- I'm hoping people will break off into little groups and go separately as I can't see how it would work to have such a large entourage walking the same trail.

Any way it happens, it will be fun and I will take my camera to get lots of pictures.

Hope you enjoyed seeing these frosty pictures!

Currently Barcelona-Friends Until the... By Shaun Ryder, Russell Watson see related

Mt. Baker, part 2

Life has gotten in the way of blogging, but I will finish up showing you the photos from our Mt Baker trip here now.

That's Mt. Baker. Pretty, isn't it?

Here is the mountain peeking from behind some trees near a pond. The ripples you see on the right were made my a dog splashing and then trying to bite the water drops. It was amusing to watch.

I took these shots of Quin, wondering if he was going to fall in or get wet. He picked up rocks so he could reach further, I thought that was very clever of him. 

And, he didn't get wet at all! He's becoming a big boy!

Found the distant hill to be interesting.

So I zoomed in.

And then some more -- yup, those are people up on the top! I wanna hike up there someday!

How could I NOT take a picture of this sign?

Quin requested this picture to be taken.

Here's the two kids on top of the world.

Quin by himself, King of the Hill.

Kendrah with a mountain behind her.

Kendrah and Jeff posing for me.

Another photo Quin posed for and requested my photography skills on.

Kids were tired after our walk, but apparently Jeff was still in top form.

And finally, these were my favorites of the day.

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So, yesterday I met my friend at the Stanwood Park and Ride just off the freeway at noon. We left in her car for the Pilchuck Tree Farm, where we found one new cache and placed 7 of our own. Running late to pick up my kids from school, we hoofed it back to her car very fast and then drove back to the P&R. As we drove on the road that runs along side the lot, we each said, "Hmmmm." Then we drove up to the area I'd parked my van and said, "Hmmmm", only a bit louder. We drove around the lot three times. No van.

Yup, my van got stolen.

I called the school and asked if anyone had a spare booster car seat they wouldn't using, then Monique and I drove to pick up the kids. Quin's teacher actually had a spare seat she got for when her grandson visits, but it's just a spare and if he stays over, he can just bring his own form his parents car. Kendrah is the right age, and in Monique's car, the right size to go without.

We drove back to the P&R, where Monique determinedly drove around the lot one more time. I called the number on the towing company signs posted all over the lot, but they didn't tow me. I called 911, and after determining which district has to handle it, I was told that there was another emergency they were dealing with that was a safety issue. They referred me to the Sheriff's office and I was told someone would be to the P&R soon.

Monique called and canceled her plans for the evening.

I called the Transit Authorities and the manager of the P&R.

Then I took Kendrah to the bathroom nearby.

The kids played Old Maid and Go Fish.

I called Jeff and had him call the insurance company.

Then I took Quin to the bathroom.

Then I called back 911 and asked if someone might be coming by soon, mentioned that I had two children and that I would like to get them home as soon as possible, as it was getting cold and dark. They said they couldn't give me an ETA but would relate my information to the Sheriff.

Eventually a Sheriff drove up and took my statement, gave me a case number. He said that my van is a perfect vehicle for being stolen because it's unassuming, common and holds lots and lots of stuff. He said that the van was very likely to be used for burglaries. Then he randomly ran the tags of a small white car and told me that the car had been stolen in Seattle, and it was very likely that they'd driven it up here, then traded for mine. So in the story, someone will be happy with a found car.

I made it home around 5:pm. We all had dinner then I drove Monique home to Bellingham. She's letting me borrow her extra car for as long as I need it.

Insurance says if the van isn't found in 48 hours they will let me have a rental car. If it isn't found in 30 days they will determine what my van was worth or it's replacement value (not sure which) and issue me a check. I have a $100 deductible. I don't know if the contents of the van count as different from the worth of the van, but beside the booster seats we had an assortment of odds and ends, and the church signs Jeff hangs out each weekend (our church meets in a school building). Not sure how that will work out with insurance or what the church will do for the month we have to wait and see if they get returned with the van.

Now you know as much as I do, which I agree is pretty much nothing.

Mt. Baker

Jeff, the kids, Jeff's Mom and I went on a road trip to Mt. Baker a while back. It was a beautiful day! Our first stop was at a waterfall.

It was a scenic drive and it was fascinating to see how they carved roads into the hillsides. Huge switchbacks so vehicles could make it up without overheating.

The views were spectacular. The mountain with a lot of snow is Mt. Baker. The one with a small amount of snow and the one features the most often is Mt. Shuksans. The rest are peaks that I don't know the names of.

Here's Baker!

Isn't that an interesting ridge?

Zoomed in a bit closer, you can see there's a trail below the ridgeline.

Zoom in even closer and you can see hikers on teh trail below the ridgeline.

I have more photos to show but this one-at-a-time loading gets so tedious. I've been loading pics for ever now it seems and need to move on to other things.

Bear Lake

On the 13th of September, Jeff's Mom came over and we decided to go on a hike to Bear Lake. Two of the neighbor girls also decided to come along.

The road was washed out so we had to add about 3 miles to our trip, just to get to the trail head. Still, it was a easy hike and the kids obviously were having fun.

The lake was very pretty, so calm and quiet with dust motes and bugs lazily dancing above the water.

I had a good time capturing the reflections in the water.

And seeing the reflections of the grasses in the water made it seem overcrowded!

The dead tree made for an interesting focal point in the water as well.

I was also trying to find a geocache (which I couldn't) and the kids were enjoying playing at the water's edge and picking wild blueberries. I found several interesting pieces of fungus while I was looking for the cache.

I love seeing how trees evolve. Nurse stumps and exposed root systems; all very fascinating to me.

Here's the kids playing by the water. The pretended they were fishing.

Quin makes for a good Huck Finn.

Kendrah, too. Both my kids are cute....they take after their Dad!

I thought this photo was just plain fun. The grass in the water and the tree boughs overhead made me smile.

Here's Quin playing peek-a-boo for his picture, then he pleaded, "Help me get down!"

The kids devised an elaborate game of "house" or maybe "Survivor House" because the designated mom sent the remaining kids to find shelter, go fishing, and to pick berries.

Last shot; a scenic view.

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In news to update you...... Last Friday, Kendrah got sick and came home from school early. She spent the weekend in bed with a head ache and tummy ache, and on Saturday, a temp of 104, but fever free on Sunday. She felt fine and went to school Monday but the lazy weekend made for a tired Monday and she came home at lunchtime. The kids both did fine all week but on Friday (day before yesterday), when I picked Quin up from school, his nose was red and stuffy and he felt a bit feverish to me, so off to bed with him. Again, Saturday was a high temp day (no trick or treating for him) and Sunday, not. Quin still has a titch of a stuffy nose but he's running around with the neighbors (they know he was sick yesterday) and seems to be fine. Swine Flu? Who knows, but it wasn't bad, whatever it was, and it happened on weekends so that made it easy for school.

Jeff heard about a job he felt underqualified for and I encouraged him to get his resume in anyway. Few days after that, he was scheduled for an interview for last Monday. It went well, and they scheduled him for a second, on Wednesday. That also went well. On Wednesday night he got a call from one of the people that wrote a referral for him and she told him that the company called her to thank her for  recommending Jeff and to tell her they would offer him the job on Thursday. Woo! Thursday he got calls form each of the people that had sent in referral letters to say the same thing, then finally the company called and offered him the job. They offered him more pay than he had asked for, too. He starts on Friday the 13th. He couldn't WAIT to give his 2 weeks notice at his job!!

As for me, I'm busy getting some financial things in order -- how confusing! My bank not only allowed several charges with my debit card (converted to Australian dollars and Indian rupees), but somehow came to the conclusion that I'd made them. It's been a huge battle to get my money back. I've closed out half my accounts and pulled most of my money but with automatic deposits and withdrawals still set up, I have to make sure I don't mess anything up. The bank manager is fully aware of what is happening and will do everything she can to get me my money back, and was apologetic of not downright supportive of me pulling my money out of the bank. I opened new accounts at a local credit union, after asking what would happen if such a charge showed up on my account again. She looked at me with a "duh" expression and said, "There are all kinds of filters for that, as soon as it shows up we block your card till we've talked to you." Made me want to cheer.

Anyway, that's all that's interesting that I can think of right now.

Next up, our trip to the Mt. Baker area.