Return to PA and estate tasks

So here we are and all is relatively well.  Our stop in Decatur Indiana accomplished the installation of the new awning replacing that destroyed  in July in the storm here.  However Jerry says we will be unlikely to do further business with Sullivan RV in Decatur.  Their rates are the same as the factory $90 per hour and they did  the work needed however  this was an insurance claim, to which they really racked up the ancillary charges.  We had a $500 deductible but when we reviewed the full list of charges, Jerry was  not amused. There was a disposal fee of $8 and he has the old awning at home, they took a break dragging out the installation time that morning although they were not busy.  Because he knows this business he said it was a 20 minute maximum job and they charged for  1.5 hours, running up the tab.  Our GMAC insurance approved the charges, but Jerry is disgusted.  Honesty and fairness were his keys to success in the auto repair business all those years.  He heard horror stories from customer and now when he experiences these he finds it most annoying.  So he has asked me to write something to our Good Sam RV Lifestyle website to let others know to beware.  Further he claims he would not recommend them to anyone else in our RV circle.

Things can always be worse, this I know.  We met a man in Decatur at the Fleetwood lot where we  stayed overnight. Although his coach and vehicle were registered in Texas, he is a wanna be to leave CA but while he has a business to sell there he is.  He and wife had attended the Family Motor Coach Rally in Madison, WI and while journeying thru  Chicago he went through an underpass that was not tall enough to accomodate his Revolution coach and he suffered the unpleasant experience of shearing off the roof mounted air conditioner and generator.  Fortunately he did not damage the roof.    The facotory could not fit him in for 2 weeks so he was on his way to Ohio where the repair could be done, an insurance claim  to the tune of $7000 to $10,000.   He said he was watching his GPS, but too late and it happened.   This is why we are so very very careful on the routes we take with this Excursion.  And Jerry is very hesitant on some country back roads if there is a bridge underpass.   

But on to PA and here we are once again.  Somehow the hoopla to returning "home" has diminished.  It's like here I am again and I do enjoy  my friends but there is work to be done. Much of this work is phone calls trying to arrange services and this is not an easy task.   The estate sale accomplished the clearing of  Uncle's house, but we made no profit.  I am disappointed in how Sandy  the estate sale contractor did this sale, I realize now she is inexperienced with man cave items and tools and while the local economy is not the best, I just  believe it could have been better promoted.  We were disappointed with reports from the neighbors about the conduct of the sale, the low level of attention paid to customers and the lack of advertising.  I had discussed with her when we were here in July that I disagreed with her  decision to hold the estate sale at Uncle's home on Thursday and Friday with only 1/2 day Saturday, also the reduction of eveything to 1/2 price on Saturday.  When I contracted with her in 2009 for the sale at aunt's she was open on Sunday.  It seems she has decided to do less, her fee is 30% of the proceeds + expenses which is handsome for her and a minimum of $799.  In addition I or seller  pay all haul away costs.  Well she  did call me in MN to let me know that the furniture had not sold.  Instead of leaving it, I elected to allow the vultures to clear out whatever was not sold.  I know now that I should have told her to bid the job, again my trust was misplaced.  It seems that when I trust these people they do not merit that trust.  Oh well, the house is cleared.  The neighbor told me that they left the front door open all night one evening while they were clearing the place.  That  upset me too.  But I must put this all behind me, the home is cleared.

Nephew who has a landscaping and lawn service did not perform tasks expected either.  None of the shrubs or hedges were trimmed and his workers are doing a shoddy job on the lawn.  I called him and he assured me he would send someone out last week or the next.  Well, I must find someone else to do the work to keep the outside looking decent.  I would really appreciate someone saying they are just oo busy to do the job and be done with it, instead of being  well,  less than half assed.

I have been arranging the  inspections and paying the fees,  for the plumbing dye test and for the local city inspector to come in and perform the occupancy standard analysis.  Of the $300 profit  on the estate sale, $100 went for city fees and $175 to the plumber for his testing (compare that to $50 that I paid in 2009 at my aunt's)   $225 at Lowes for repairs Jerry can do to pass the inspections, smoke alarms, cement for the drains that go into old septics, on and on.  No profit on the entire houseful.  Well, it is done and it is what it is.  I could  not endure anymore than I had in July when we were cleaning out. 

My realtor has featured the home as the spotlight home on their website.  http://www.howardhanna.com/property/property.asp  Two other homes in this beautiful quiet  neighborhood have sold in the past weeks. We are hopeful, but the market here has tanked, thanks to all those who voted for and elected the Obysmal one as president, the effects of the slump are being felt.  The real estate here was never inflated as in CA where it had to level off, but now, it has become ridiculous. 

I don't think that anyone who has not gone through settling an estate, especially long distance has any concept of what happens, of the excruciating frustration.  Such is the life of an heiress here in Western PA. 

Some PA came back to MN

We are home safe and sound although coming  along on I 94/80  near Gary,IN  I was as close as I ever want to be to  a semi that was drifting into our lane, my passenger side,  to go nowhere as the traffic was heavy and all lanes were filled.  Fortunately the truck driver came to his senses or heard Jerry laying on the horn; when we finally got past him in our own lane to his  left, he glared as if we'd done something. I said a loud thank you to my "people" and guardians.  The trucker appeared to be in his 40's, skinny pointed nose and looked stoned, but don't ask me how I determined that as he was wearing those reflector mirror sun glasses.  Most often the truckers we have met along the road are decent folk who want to avoid accidents too, this character looked hell bent to crash.  This part of the highway has had lots of construction and likely will have forever.  Generally we go farther south in IN, but decided to take the shorter route.  The mad trucker veered off toward Chicago and proceeded to terrorize other motorists.  I was glad to be sitting high up in our coach, still did not want to share a seat and a tiny car would not have had a chance.  Another bump on the road was on  I 80 which was shut down to a stand still in IL while more construction occurs, which made for a long drive.  When we return to PA in July we will avoid I 80 as it likely will not be completed. The  funny thing was we veered farther north, to MI on 31, missing our Hwy 20 connection to I94. We have always wanted to go north along the Lake in MI and return down the WI side and sitting in the  traffic stop, Jerry said, "we should have kept going north."  Ah well, all's well that ends well. 

All is unloaded at home and the laundry is in full force.  I picked up MIL's clothes from the  SNF today to add to the heap.  She refuses to allow them to do her laundry while we are gone, my fault for doing her laundry while we are here.  Although I mark her clothing and it could have survived the facility laundry which is done by a local woman whom I  well know, MIL gets her hackles up and refuses.  She has plenty of clothes to last over a month, but the underwear is another story.  Her solution besides not changing daily (eeyew) is  to rinse them out in her sink.  I am tired talking to her about this and Jerry refuses to discuss further too.  You can imagine his reluctance,  how would you like to tell your 94 year old mother that she is not clean?  What I do not understand is how the SNF allows her to get away with this, rinsing them in her sink in her room and then hanging them over the back of a chair to dry?  She does have a private room and other than ensuring she is up and around and well, I suppose they  find so much going on that this is a minor thing.  Leave it to her to find something bizarre to do and to invoke her obstinate streak.  

Now to the title of the post, today we have a hot humid day here in La Crescent; very unusual.  It is a flashback to the PA humidity that  ravages the summers there and makes me unhappy to be there.  In August 2004  when Mom died it was as humid as ever and I really thought we would perish in her home.  How did we kids of the  60"s grow up without air conditioning in those old two story homes and thrive?  I don't remember being all that uncomfortable as a kid so I suppose we were acclimatized and then we had no idea about  air conditioning.  A fan was rare.  All what we get used to.  I know that my southern friends in La. move very slowly in the humidity if at all.  I think that's where the southern drawl  generates, no fast movement and speech even slows down. 

I dislike heat except when in AZ in winter and I do not like humidity, no not at all.  Here in La Crescent we generally have beautiful summers, seldom humid and 80's, real Chamber of Commerce weather.  I suppose we can take a day of this, tomorrow it will be different.  The weather is ever changing here, day to day.  So , I decided to hose off  the rose bushes and  budding flowers because the predicted rain has not arrived.   The ground has enough water but I know that budding flowers appreciate a sprinkle on a hot windy day  That's something else we rarely do, water flowers or lawns unlike CA where it was necessary else be barren brown.  I also thought it would be  a good way to get some  sun myself.  This escapade lasted about  45 minutes and I had enough, thank you.  Jerry told me so, the sun is so hot here in the north with not a cloud in the sky and no pollution to filter it.   Our rose garden is about to burst into magnificent bloom as as are the peonies out back along the garden fence.  Right now all the salvia and Jacob's Ladder are sporting purple which along with the aliums is attracting humming birds.  Generally the hummers gravitate to the red flowers but since I did not plant the front flower box they seem to be settling for the flavor purple.  Tomorrow I may tackle that.  I so prefer the out doors to the paper work and tedium inside. 

I spent several hours on the phone today notifying various  entities  about Uncle Carl's passing and requesting estate packets, beneficiary forms, etc.  Much to do, like being at work again for the state; this is a different state and I have no staff, only my own  fingers to press the phone or keyboard and recite the litany repeatedly, date of death, estate, etc.     The strangest contact was with the Veteran's Administration about cashing in his WWII Life Insurance policy which he kept all these years.  Actually he has received annual dividends over the years that have exceeded the value of the policy.  Good for him.  After  providing the necessary data to the woman who will  process the claim and mail out the packet with more paperwork for me to do, she advised me to call another number,  the Veterans national call center and report the claim.  I thought that odd and asked her, "you mean I have to call another number and tell them you are sending me information?"  She replied "yes" as though it were the most natural thing in the world and I must be dull witted to question.  Well, consider this is the federal government at it's finest,  slogging away, churning.   I called the 2nd number which entailed a 15 minute hang on the line to talk, as if to say, "how dare you call here, don't you know we are busy?"  I am thankful to use my walk around phone and do other things, not just sit and wait for a human voice.  When the man finally came on the line he told me to call the life insurance number, the same number which had told me to call him. I  told him I had already spoken to them and the process was underway and they directed me to him.  I was nearing  the limit of my tolerance  for exasperation when he finally said, "well if he was receiving no other VA benefits there is nothing to report, she must have thought he was getting other benefits."  So ended that call.  Of all the entities, I have had to contact, the VA gets the prize for wasting time.  I think of the absolute frustrations vets and dependents must endure dealing with them and then I think how fortunate are the members of the local American Legions and VFW's who have access to local veterans services officers as we do here, the ones who facilitate the process and save lots of grief for individuals.  That is worth the membership dues.    

PA  will appreciate this as they grab their stolen share via inheritance tax.  Do I complain about that too much?  Likely so,  I could do without the hassle, the attorney fees and the paperwork.  I am fortunate to have the ability and skills to deal easily with this, many people would be upside down and sideways even attempting. Many would  not  make the progress as quickly as I do.   I have one more stock fund to contact via computer Monday and I must write a  nice letter to his  809th US Army Tank Destroyer reunion group to let them know, most of his WWII buddies are gone, but the widow of one has kept in touch with Carl and has been religious about sending cards to him, signing her self by name and "the one who always could dance a good polka."  I wonder if she had eyes for my handsome old uncle?   And with that I wander away from the keyboard and will find a nice chilled glass and pour some chardonnay.