Rain, Thieves, And Cousins

Arizona’s monsoon season might end September 30th, but Mother Nature is sure giving us what she can while she can. It was dreary all day yesterday with showers off and on, and in the evening it started raining in earnest. We are supposed to have even more rain today. Since we’ve been in a perpetual state of drought for a long time in so much of the country, every drop we can get is welcome.

It can happen to any of us no matter how careful you are. On Monday, I got a text from the fraud department at Chase Bank asking me to confirm whether I had made a $20 purchase on Facebook, as well as two $5 purchases. I replied I had not, and they declined them and then canceled my credit card. The rep I talked to at Chase said they would have a replacement card to me within a couple of days, and sure enough, two days later a new card was in my hands. I appreciate their vigilance and their fast action on getting a replacement card to me. I’m not sure how my card got hacked because I have never purchased anything on Facebook or anywhere else except from vendors that I am familiar with.

I also got a text the other day from someone on Ancestry who shares many people in her tree with mine, whom I have talked to online before. She wanted to know if I would be willing to call her 80-year-old mother who, it turns out, is my first cousin. My father and her father were brothers. We had quite a conversation, and I filled her in on some of the things I found in the family tree. She also told me about some I didn’t know about. And it turns out that she lives in Mount Dora, Florida, which is about an hour from where we were in the New Smyrna Beach area. I wish I could have made that connection while we still lived there.

One final thing before I close for the day. For some reason, when we moved my rolltop desk into the office here at the house it wasn’t completely level, and the drawers kept falling open. We tried to shim it, but that didn’t seem to do any good, so I went on Amazon and ordered a 12-pack of Jiayi drawer magnets. They are very strong and came with screws to attach them as well as double-sided sticky tape. It only took a few minutes to attach them, and even with the tape, they do the job, and the drawers no longer open on their own. I wish I would have known about these when we were RVing.

Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is a book from my personal library, The Search for Anne Perry: The Hidden Life of a Bestselling Crime Writer. It’s a true story based on a famous 1950’s murder of a woman in New Zealand committed by two teenage girls, one of whom was the victim’s daughter. After serving a five year sentence for the murder, one of the girls eventually remade herself as bestselling crime writer Anne Perry. It’s an engrossing book about crime, punishment, and redemption that I am sure you will enjoy.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high cost of shipping printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 30 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom.