Obituary Observations

Yes, I read the local paper every day. And yes, I also read the obits every day. I guess it's a hazard of living in the same area for almost 50 years. I know a LOT of people and I like to keep track of them and their families.
I have noticed a trend over the last year or so which I find very odd. One of the things I love about living in this valley is that we are very culturally diverse. Why is it then that different ethnicities seem to die in clumps?
I'm not kidding. On any given day or period of days there will be a majority of the obits of one ethnic group. One day it'll be a bunch of Italians, a few days later - it'll be Filipinos, then it'll be Japanese, then Chinese, then Mexican. It's the weirdest thing. It's like there's a death vibe in the ethnic community and a bunch of 'em die a couple of days apart.
I know this is a freakish thing to notice and I'm probably the only one to do it. Okay, so I'm a freak

The Wheels Grind Slowly..

As in the wheels of city hall.
This is a very long story. The Cliff's Notes version is many years ago, Pat put his boat into his buddy, Eric's name, so he could keep it on Lake Wildwood. The bill came for the unsecured property taxes for the trailer and somehow Eric misplaced it. The dang thing finally went to a lien before WE got the bill. I paid it - get this - $53 and change back in 1997.
We've been trying to get this stupid lien off our credit for 13 years. Seems the folks in Nevada County weren't really interested. It came up when we refinanced our house, when we bought investment property and when Eric sold his home and bought another.
Each time I provided Nevada County a copy of the front and back of the canceled check. No dice - no one wanted to talk to us.
Today we got a call from a title company asking about this - I have a copy of the check - have had a copy I can lay my hands on for YEARS!
I'm not really sure why this is an emergency all of a sudden, but apparently if I e-mail a copy of said check to this nice woman at the title company up there, it'll all go away.
I'll be glad to get this cleared up - it's been bugging me forever!

Ukulele

My Dad loved playing his ukulele. In fact, the slide show I made for his memorial service had a background of uke music.
Here's me, the dork, with Daddy's uke that he bought while stationed in Hawaii during WWII. He played little dittys like "Ain't She Sweet" and "Hawaiian War Chant".
Mom gave me Daddy's uke today - Pat cleaned it up, restringed it and I got a couple of felt picks and a book. Me, the total spaz, sort of learned a crappy version of "Down in the Valley" tonight. A lame song with two chords.
Laura picked it up and started playing "Sunshine of your Love" by Cream. Sheesh. In my defense, she's been playing guitar for about eight years.
She has an alto uke my dad gave her years ago, which she hasn't touched. They are now both tuned up and we are ready for dueling ukuleles. I am certain to lose this match.

Today's Chuckle

I had a good laugh today. One of the properties I manage has a broken chimney and there's not enough room in the side yard for the scaffolding necessary to fix it. We need permission from the neighbor to put the scaffolding in their yard for a few days.
Both the Mason and I have been trying to work this out. The Mason, Patty, got there before me. She left me the following message yesterday.
"Hi Janie, it's Patty. I talked with the tenants next door and they said we need permission from the homeowner. Her name is Mrs. Fu, spelled F U... " then she starts laughing before she can leave me the message.