What is Happening, part II

[Priscilla]

I am glad to hear about the kitten!

Very concerning. A 14 year old female high school student from the town where our daughter lives has been missing since Friday. hope the girl is alright and found soon!

I feel like MoM has been extremely quiet the last few weeks. Maybe this is "normal?" I am retired so have lots of free time. Those who are still working I am sure get very busy. Thinking of all of you out there!

[Mausey]

I'm back! I was at my sister-in-laws for 5 days helping her with a large clothing order. She does clothes for schools, sporting events, rodeos, golf tournaments things like that. She puts the design the customer wants on items, Everything from hats to t-shirts, hoodies, coats to uniforms. She buys the clothes that are wanted, works with the customer to get the design then using either a heat press, embroidery machine or ink printing puts the design on. This is sort of an off shoot of her original and busy business of making custom horse gear. She does heavy blankets to light sheets, feed bags, bags for saddles and other gear. When people started asking about customized them she got an embroidery machine and it went up from there.

[Priscilla]

Wow, that sounds like the sort of business that could have been ideal during the virus. Stay at home and work from home. Good for her! Does she do it mostly all herself with occasional help (from you or others)?

The girl who was missing has been found. Such a relief I am sure for her family and friends. No word on where she was and not really anyone else's business!

[mawra]

Glad the girl was found.

[Priscilla]

We do not have caller ID on our house phone. We have cell phones but the landline stays for the security system. Most of the calls on it are scam/spam. Lately we get 2 or 3 calls a week obviously from India with men claiming to have "American" sounding names, trying to sell us solar panels. We are on the "do not call" list but obviously that makes no difference. Just had another call and as soon as they said "hello?" I said OH NO! very loudly. They hung up. Maybe that's the answer!

[Allen]

Originally Posted by Priscilla

We do not have caller ID on our house phone. We have cell phones but the landline stays for the security system. Most of the calls on it are scam/spam. Lately we get 2 or 3 calls a week obviously from India with men claiming to have "American" sounding names, trying to sell us solar panels. We are on the "do not call" list but obviously that makes no difference. Just had another call and as soon as they said "hello?" I said OH NO! very loudly. They hung up. Maybe that's the answer!

I've noticed the difference in middle eastern accents, and gotten to where I can identify them well enough to insult them with culturally appropriate (inappropriate?) epithets and now it seems they're finally getting our number removed from their autodial system. I've yelled and cussed so many different ones out, that if their auto dialer DOES call us they won't pick up on their end, most likely because their caller ID tells them who it is, and they simply hang up.

It must be working, because it's12:14 in the afternoon here, and the landline hasn't rung once yet today.

Of course, now that I've posted this, the phone will go crazy with incoming spam calls...

[Priscilla]

I have actually had a couple of them get so angry when I simply asked what country they were calling from that they yell "F You!" at me. I laugh and hang up. They are annoying AND wasting their time because our house is not oriented to take advantage of solar. If we had solar we would set up panels in the yard like a neighbor has, not on the roof!

I hope you got no calls from THE STUPIDS!

[Allen]

Originally Posted by Priscilla

I have actually had a couple of them get so angry when I simply asked what country they were calling from that they yell "F You!" at me. I laugh and hang up. They are annoying AND wasting their time because our house is not oriented to take advantage of solar. If we had solar we would set up panels in the yard like a neighbor has, not on the roof!

I hope you got no calls from THE STUPIDS!

The people who I hear most often do not have Indian accents. They sound like they're from one of the Muslim countries; Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and so on. There's a distinct difference in the way they sound. Indians usually speak English in a very fast, clipped manner. So my insults usually range along the spectrum of eating and performing acts with animals of the porcine variety. This has led to some interesting reactions from the spam callers.

One of my favorites is the call where they say that Windows has reported problems with my computer, they are from Microsoft Technical Support or some such thing. First off, if a report is sent to Microsoft from a user's computer, it is sent anonymously. So they won't call you because they don't know who to call.

I like to act interested when they tell me they want remote access and control of my computer to help me. Then I tell them that I don't use Windows, I use Linux, so if they want remote access, I'll be happy to do so. Anyone who's computer savvy will know that Linux is totally hostile to Windows, has been for over 20 years, and if accessed by a Windows system, it can be used to nuke that whole system back to the stone tablet age. So it's at this point that they usually disconnect the call, quickly.

[vyon]

My landline spam callers are definitely Indian. They usually tell me that there is a problem with my Spark internet and they need to access my computer to fix it. Then I tell them that my provider is not Spark and I have never been with them. One tried to tell me that It was definitely with Spark because that was what was coming up on his computer. Or it's a problem with my Westpac Bank account. I haven't used Westpac since it was the Bank of New South Wales and I lived on a Pacific island that was administered from there - in the 1960s. At which point I hang up.

But when I had a lawyer in Ireland needing to contact me as the beneficiary of a will she never thought of looking up the New Zealand landline phonebook on the White Pages website. If she had, it would have come up with the correct spelling of my name, my phone number, my full postal address, and for good measure a Google map with my location pinned on it. It seems that I have inherited half a very run down Irish croft. - and that is for real. Or, at least, the croft and the will are real. The inheritance may very well turn out to be leprechaun gold. But it made my day. Fortunately the news came from a very respected New Zealand lawyer who has dealt with our family before - if it had been the Irish lawyer I might have thought that was a scam call too!

And I'm still laughing about the thought that I might be the proud owner of half of a very cold, leaky-roofed decrepit stone building on the other side of the world.

[Priscilla]

I'm pretty sure our spammers are all Indian or from that part of the world. I had a friend in college who was from India and these spammers sound just like him.

We also get the "something wrong with your computer" calls. I tell them I don't "own" a computer. They get really angry sometimes. It is delightful.

Vyon, I would love that sort of call but as any possible ancestors I have overseas go back many generations I don't expect it.

We have had our current phone number almost 16 years, ever since we moved. Almost immediately we began getting phone calls (from debt collectors, though they don't say that) for a "Rosine Wimler". This happens for maybe a two week period at least twice a year. Usually it starts with a call from a REAL PERSON who I try to explain to that we don't know the person, never have, that they need to check the name that our number is listed to. Sometimes they sound sort of convinced and say they will not call again. Then for 2 weeks we will get robocalls. Jeff says the reason it continues is that debt collectors give up and "sell" their lists to other collectors who then go right back to square one. I'm waiting on our current calls. I did look the person up and they did live in town about 20 years ago and apparently currently live in North Carolina. Why debt collectors can't figure that out if they want their money, when I can?! Who knows. I guess they think she is hiding in our attic! We could change our number but that would hand off Rosine to some poor person. At this point, she is practically a member of the family! LOL!

[Allen]

Originally Posted by vyon

My landline spam callers are definitely Indian. They usually tell me that there is a problem with my Spark internet and they need to access my computer to fix it. Then I tell them that my provider is not Spark and I have never been with them. One tried to tell me that It was definitely with Spark because that was what was coming up on his computer. Or it's a problem with my Westpac Bank account. I haven't used Westpac since it was the Bank of New South Wales and I lived on a Pacific island that was administered from there - in the 1960s. At which point I hang up.

But when I had a lawyer in Ireland needing to contact me as the beneficiary of a will she never thought of looking up the New Zealand landline phonebook on the White Pages website. If she had, it would have come up with the correct spelling of my name, my phone number, my full postal address, and for good measure a Google map with my location pinned on it. It seems that I have inherited half a very run down Irish croft. - and that is for real. Or, at least, the croft and the will are real. The inheritance may very well turn out to be leprechaun gold. But it made my day. Fortunately the news came from a very respected New Zealand lawyer who has dealt with our family before - if it had been the Irish lawyer I might have thought that was a scam call too!

And I'm still laughing about the thought that I might be the proud owner of half of a very cold, leaky-roofed decrepit stone building on the other side of the world.

I have a touch of Irish in my DNA, from my father's side. I'd like to go there to see Ireland in person. That being said, I understand how you must feel.

[Allen]

Originally Posted by Priscilla

I'm pretty sure our spammers are all Indian or from that part of the world. I had a friend in college who was from India and these spammers sound just like him.

We also get the "something wrong with your computer" calls. I tell them I don't "own" a computer. They get really angry sometimes. It is delightful.

Vyon, I would love that sort of call but as any possible ancestors I have overseas go back many generations I don't expect it.

We have had our current phone number almost 16 years, ever since we moved. Almost immediately we began getting phone calls (from debt collectors, though they don't say that) for a "Rosine Wimler". This happens for maybe a two week period at least twice a year. Usually it starts with a call from a REAL PERSON who I try to explain to that we don't know the person, never have, that they need to check the name that our number is listed to. Sometimes they sound sort of convinced and say they will not call again. Then for 2 weeks we will get robocalls. Jeff says the reason it continues is that debt collectors give up and "sell" their lists to other collectors who then go right back to square one. I'm waiting on our current calls. I did look the person up and they did live in town about 20 years ago and apparently currently live in North Carolina. Why debt collectors can't figure that out if they want their money, when I can?! Who knows. I guess they think she is hiding in our attic! We could change our number but that would hand off Rosine to some poor person. At this point, she is practically a member of the family! LOL!

I went through a similar series of calls over a decade ago with my landline number. Found out the former user of the number was typical lower end of society type, even for around here. One company that called looking for him turned out to be something I was interested in, and they gave me a link to their web page or sent me a catalogue, or something. But I haven't had anything concerning the past user for well over 15 years now.

Since I posted the bit about no spam calls for a few days, I've gotten 3 or 4. Two were scam/phishing calls, saying the calls were from "Discover" and there had been suspicious activity on my card. So I "pressed 1" for a live agent and when they answered, I simply answered their "How are you today?" (which is an attempt to get to record your voice saying "fine" or "okay" for later use) with an aggravated "What do you want?". One immediately, quietly disconnected and the other said, "I want your [unintelligible]" before disconnecting. If they weren't so piercingly loud to me, I'd get one of those gas driven airhorns and blow their eardrums out when they answer.

I've had one or two call back repeatedly after I cussed them out, just to try to annoy me. The record is 4 times, I think. They ran out of profanity before I did, though. With my background, I still retain some of the most inventive, personal, profane insults you can imagine and am still coming up with new and better ones.

As they find out. They also find out that I'm quite easily entertained. Much more easily than they are.

[Mausey]

We get a lot of "your Amazon Prime account", "your (insert credit card)" has been used and they need to straighten it out. Those are always the same female computer voice. I haven't had any of the computer ones in quite awhile, last time they tried I very loudly told them bullsh*t and hung up. Those were usually a male voice with a very strong accent. My mom has gotten a few of the hello grandma, this is *mumble mumble* and I had an accident and need money calls. She makes a concerned noise and asks if it's Jake and when she gets an excited yes, she tells them nice try and hangs up.

What we've noticed is more and more the numbers show as a local one so we answer those as most people have the landline number and not our cells.

I'd actually be quite thrilled to find myself the owner of a small Irish cottage, even if it is a bit (or even a lot) rundown. I'm sure if the whole family got together we could figure something out. Highly unlikely though as when my ancestors left Ireland in 1865 they left 2 adult sons and probably more family.

[mara]

Do you ever watch kitboga of scammers payback on you tube? Theyvare very good with getting thecscammers very, very mad. I would not do that myyself ��. I hang up ride away. I l8ve in the netherlands, and for some reason they think we speak "american" to. ����

[Priscilla]

Mausey, what your mom does to scammers is great. I could have even more fun with them if they called claiming to be my grandchild, as I don't have any and don't expect to. I very occasionally (if I'm in the mood) wind up one of the scammers for a couple minutes. Noting nearly as good as I've seen on a couple news programs. Those "comedians" can really keep the scammers on the hook for many minutes. It's quite delightful.

Mara, I have no idea why they would call the Netherlands and think you speak American English. Unless that is all they are trained for and they have to follow a script or they are lost!

[mawra]

I get a lot of health insurance calls. The last time, I hit the number to talk to a real person, I asked how much their cheapest plan was, 300. I said that I'm on Medicade & they can't beat free, to stop calling. They called ten min later.
The other one I get is car warranty. I asked if they were going to give me a car, so I would need their warranty. It confused them.

[mawra]

Everyone here is mostly well, finally. Even the cats.
Kibby had her nerve test, will get the results on March 15. Hopefully they can do something for her shoulder. She's working 2 days a week. Usually gets off early, because of shoulder pain.
My sister is still looking for work. She's hoping to get in at the hospital. Either transportation or communication.

[Allen]

Originally Posted by mawra

I get a lot of health insurance calls. The last time, I hit the number to talk to a real person, I asked how much their cheapest plan was, 300. I said that I'm on Medicade & they can't beat free, to stop calling. They called ten min later.
The other one I get is car warranty. I asked if they were going to give me a car, so I would need their warranty. It confused them.

We don't get the extended warranty calls because our cars are too old, with over the maximum allowable miles. The only car we've had in recent years that may have qualified was the 2011 Chevy Aveo that I totaled last October 30th. But before that, when I checked into it, we had just replaced the engine and the cost for the plan was way outside a realistic figure for our budget. Told them the "facts of life" over the phone, and they only called once more, then we never heard another word from anyone about anything.

We each have a Medicare Advantage plan through Anthem (Blue Cross Blue Shield) and the last two calls were really fun. Call 1 was from a man with a middle eastern accent who claimed his name was "Alex" and "How are you today?" which as I said, they will record you saying "fine" or "okay" or some other affirmative that they then splice into their recorded sales info, and claim you bought their policy or whatever (this concludes my Public Service Announcement). I said, "Your name is no more Alex than mine is. Stop calling." He must not have heard that one before, because he said "Okay" in a rather stunned tone and disconnected.

About an hour or less later, number 2 call came in. This was from an Oriental accent female who claimed to have an Anglo name. I sounded like I was trying to rupture my vocal cords when I yelled "STOP CALLING!" but there was only dead silence on their end, so I hung up. Nothing today... Yet.

Now if my wife could stop getting these calls from spoofed numbers, up to 10 a day where she blocks each and every one, we'd be happy.

[mawra]

When I was sick, couldn't swallow, medical insurance call. Asked how I was I told them I was sick with Covid, that I had Medicade, quit calling. 5 min later they called back. I wanted to yell, but couldn't even talk.

[Priscilla]

Allen I vaguely remember reading someplace a long time ago now that the more you block numbers the more likely they are to just create a new number and try again. I'm not sure how true that is. I occasionally get spam calls on the cell and I just delete the number.

[Allen]

Originally Posted by Priscilla

Allen I vaguely remember reading someplace a long time ago now that the more you block numbers the more likely they are to just create a new number and try again. I'm not sure how true that is. I occasionally get spam calls on the cell and I just delete the number.

They "spoof" a new number. They take a number owned by someone else and use it in their calling system. It might be someone's number who hung up on them, or it can be a disconnected number. The auto-dialer system simply takes an area code and prefix, then starts dialing the last digits in ascending order. This is a questionable way around the "do not call" lists, since the auto-dialler cannot detect a number on the list until you answer the call.

[SpaceCowboy]

I live in the most ethnically and racially diverse part of Fort Wayne and for years we have had to fight for any major development. The last major businesses opening being the Walmart that I work at and the Menards Home Improvement store next door 16 years ago. The last week has been one pleasant surprise after another from a shopping center being announced last Friday to an announcement that there will be a new grocery opening with the store to be announced this Friday.
Today there was an announcement that most of the southeast side is celebrating a Starbucks. The reason it is being celebrated is that if we wanted something other then plain black coffee from a restaurant we had to go somewhere else in the city. The closest coffee shop being in downtown. That might not seem like much but the only thing higher on the want list at this end of town is a Chick-fil-A and a sit down restaurant like Applebee's.

[Allen]

Originally Posted by SpaceCowboy

I live in the most ethnically and racially diverse part of Fort Wayne and for years we have had to fight for any major development. The last major businesses opening being the Walmart that I work at and the Menards Home Improvement store next door 16 years ago. The last week has been one pleasant surprise after another from a shopping center being announced last Friday to an announcement that there will be a new grocery opening with the store to be announced this Friday.
Today there was an announcement that most of the southeast side is celebrating a Starbucks. The reason it is being celebrated is that if we wanted something other then plain black coffee from a restaurant we had to go somewhere else in the city. The closest coffee shop being in downtown. That might not seem like much but the only thing higher on the want list at this end of town is a Chick-fil-A and a sit down restaurant like Applebee's.

I can understand what you're saying, SC. While I live in an area that cannot be classified as ethnically and racially diverse, it is a rural area, which is to say that there ain't a whole lot of people in this town (but our "Ozark-Americans" come in all colors and ethnicities)... And we don't live in town, we live out in the woods. Biggest thing to be added here was a few years back, when we got our own Sonic!

Now if we could just get our own Krispy Kreme!

[Priscilla]

I'd like a really good steak house and not some "chain" either, since we are dreaming!

[Allen]

Originally Posted by Priscilla

I'd like a really good steak house and not some "chain" either, since we are dreaming!

I know a couple down here, but I also know that does you absolutely no good, wherever you are. Especially when you specified NOT a chain store. But we have a chain store that's one of our favorites because they're not nation-wide, just sort of here in the middle of the country. It's called Colton's. Great steaks, onion tanglers, and loaded baked potato soup.

[Priscilla]

I'm in Connecticut, where we have really good, local and fresh, seafood. Beef is not great, even at a meat market and certainly not at the grocery store. I still remember the delicious steaks we would get at a wonderful little place where my aunt lived in Iowa. That was SO good! Mmm mmm!

[mawra]

We are rual. We have 2 tiny store, 1 has a snack bar,and a dollar general. It is a 20 min drive to get to a Walmart or 30 min to a non Walmart store. No busses.

[vyon]

I wondered why my favourite coffee shop and roastery packed himself, his coffee machines, and his roastery up and went to USA - Arizona, I think.

[Priscilla]

If it was Arizona I think the weather there is considered nice. Too dry and hot for me but I think people often choose to retire there. Sorry about your coffee shop. I know what it's like to lose a favorite place.

[SpaceCowboy]

And the news keeps on getting better. A small 5 acre office park is being built on the other side of the Menards Hardware Super Center to the right of us. And the big empty fields to the east of that on the other side of the road may have been sold for housing. If this keeps up the empty lots in front of Walmart and Menards will not stay empty long.

Originally Posted by SpaceCowboy

I live in the most ethnically and racially diverse part of Fort Wayne and for years we have had to fight for any major development. The last major businesses opening being the Walmart that I work at and the Menards Home Improvement store next door 16 years ago. The last week has been one pleasant surprise after another from a shopping center being announced last Friday to an announcement that there will be a new grocery opening with the store to be announced this Friday.
Today there was an announcement that most of the southeast side is celebrating a Starbucks. The reason it is being celebrated is that if we wanted something other then plain black coffee from a restaurant we had to go somewhere else in the city. The closest coffee shop being in downtown. That might not seem like much but the only thing higher on the want list at this end of town is a Chick-fil-A and a sit down restaurant like Applebee's.

[Mausey]

While we lost one awesome business, (she had fantastic food) due to the pandemic, we've gained 6 new ones. A couple are home based, 2 are working out of a collective and 2 are in another large, previously mostly empty building. It's amazing what a new owner who cares can do with space. With-in about 6 months of them buying it, they attracted a new pharmacy, a large yoga studio, a foot doctor and one other I can't recall. The Collective is just that, a group rented a building and now they all have a business based there. One sells all fresh salads and sandwiches along with candy and soup mixes. They have a large cooler where local beef producers sell sausage and other items. The meat is frozen but you can't have everything.

Our little town has suddenly become very attractive to people. We're in the middle of nowhere but at the same time in the middle of everything. We're just over a 2 hour drive to 3 cities and on the crossroads of 2 major highways. It's nice to see the population going up as bit as it's been slowly falling for the past 20 years.

[granath]

Originally Posted by Mausey

While we lost one awesome business, (she had fantastic food) due to the pandemic, we've gained 6 new ones. A couple are home based, 2 are working out of a collective and 2 are in another large, previously mostly empty building. It's amazing what a new owner who cares can do with space. With-in about 6 months of them buying it, they attracted a new pharmacy, a large yoga studio, a foot doctor and one other I can't recall. The Collective is just that, a group rented a building and now they all have a business based there. One sells all fresh salads and sandwiches along with candy and soup mixes. They have a large cooler where local beef producers sell sausage and other items. The meat is frozen but you can't have everything.

Our little town has suddenly become very attractive to people. We're in the middle of nowhere but at the same time in the middle of everything. We're just over a 2 hour drive to 3 cities and on the crossroads of 2 major highways. It's nice to see the population going up as bit as it's been slowly falling for the past 20 years.

Sounds like the kind of place people would move to, for lower cost of living, if they can work mostly remotely, with the occasional day at the office. A 2-hour commute one way is perfectly manageable if you have to do it once a week or less, even if it would be too long to do every day for most people.

[mawra]

When we got the last 4 kittens we had the money to get them fixed. As much as I love them, if I had been able to see the future, I would not have gotten them. With Kibby out if work, and my sister still looking for work we just don't have the money. We'll probably end up with 2 litter of kittens, we can't afford. It's very frustrating. At least the 2 are much better. Still a little snotty, but nearly as bad as they were. They both are acting like they feel better.

[Priscilla]

Sorry to hear about the kitties. Unfortunately litters of kittens often lead to more and more litters. Good luck! At least they are feeling better. I hope a job for your sister comes along.

I finally heard the first spring peeper (frogs) last night in the pond at the bottom of the back yard. It has been cold and the ice on ponds has just melted with temps finally up in the 50's in the daytime.

I bought some packets of flower seeds to plant for bees and other pollinators. Sunflowers, bee balm, and others. They won't go in the ground for about another month.

[mawra]

My sister has a job interview as a dispatcher at local hospital.

[Priscilla]

Best of luck to her, I hope she gets it!

Yesterday our house phone stopped working. Jeff used his cell phone and after 15 minutes on hold got a person. After asking him did he do this, this and this (he did) they had to admit it was their problem. They'd have someone here between 1 and 5 today. It is now 6 and no show. I guess we now have to make another call. Also, when they give such a wide window of time WHO is getting those 1 pm service calls? It is never us! We are always last, if at all.

[Priscilla]

The phone got fixed at about 8 pm last night. Today we've had 4 scam calls. Obviously, they missed us!

Our excitement a little while ago was a UPS delivery to the front porch, a 3 foot square heavy box. Addressed to a Mary "something" at our address. Jeff googled the name and no one by that name in our town. Opened the box and it's an about $400 kitchen faucet! He has emailed the company on the outside label but chances are we won't hear back. Our daughter's boyfriend's dad is a home renovation contractor, it could end up with him. Jeff says "why couldn't it have been gold bars?" On the other hand, maybe "Mary" will order us a whole new kitchen or perhaps a sofa?! (Yes, I am just kidding!)

[P'ter]

My sister has a job interview as a dispatcher at local hospital.

I know it's not really, but that sounds like a terrible job: bumping off patients!

[Allen]

Originally Posted by P'ter

I know it's not really, but that sounds like a terrible job: bumping off patients!

A really bad pun that not everyone will get, P'ter.

[Mausey]

P'ter, that was terrible. I loved it.

My darling hubby has been battling his computer for almost an hour on my behalf. All I want it for a small photo (not even 3 fingers wide) in the top corner of a page to make a letterhead. He had made some up previously but now I have to add an email and do you think his machine will cooperate? Nooooo. For some reason it thinks the small pic is a massive file and it's not, checked that a couple times, so the program plonks the pic in the middle of the page with the words on either side, Highly annoying. We know that somewhere we have it saved but until I get Star Trek's talking computer, we're stuck. If it ever gets done, we're saving that sucker on every computer we have in a couple places. Mind, I'll still not be able to find it.