Phase 2 of the post 48 states tour

East Fork Park at Lake Lavon, Wylie

Cedar Hill State Park, Cedar Hill

David & Anna's house

Sanger/Denton North KOA, Sanger
Wednesday, 23 August through Thursday, 14 September 2023

Plans gone astray

I'd originally intended to stay in the Dallas area, mostly in Cedar Hill, for about 6 weeks and made reservations for that period.  Texas state parks allow continuous stays for only 14 consecutive days, so I reserved time at Cedar Hill, southwest of Dallas, in several chunks.  I interspersed these with reservations at the Army Corps of Engineers campground at Lake Lavon, northeast of Dallas.  And that's the way my plan stood when I first went west from Mount Pleasant on the 23rd.  But that's not the way it played out.

First, my generous relatives offered to let me stay at their place over the Labor Day weekend, and I decided to avail myself of their facilities (shower, washing machine) which neither of the other places had adequate versions of.

Then I started running into a real problem with my hotspot reception, and though I tried hard, I couldn't seem to get a reliable signal for any length of time, making it hard (aka impossible) to work on the backlog of my blog posts.  I've had trouble with the SIM card before, so twice I went to T-Mobile outlets (that's who I have the signal through) and they gave me new SIM cards, which seemed to fix the problem.  But the fix never lasted long and I was back to very intermittent reception.  It made all that time in public campgrounds very frustrating.  I ended up writing mostly draft versions of the blog posts, because the word processing program doesn't need internet - but I don't feel a sense of accomplishment that way.

But the real problem at Cedar Hill turned out to be ants.  Argentine ants, an extremely invasive species, have about taken over some sections of the campground.  The only way you can avoid being overrun by them is to surround your RV with a thick, unbroken line of insecticide.  People who did that reported good results, but everybody else had trouble.  I was in the latter category.  I've stayed at this campground quite a few times and, though they always warn about these ants, I've never had a problem with them so I didn't take the warning seriously and got seriously invaded.  

I finally bought the brand of insecticide the park personnel recommended - Sevin - but that turned out to be a problem too.  For one thing, I couldn't spread it in a thick line because of too much wind blowing it around when I shook the container.  For another, the container clearly says to keep pets away from it - but I've got this dog, see?, who needs frequent walks every day.  I knew it was impossible for him to get in and out of the RV and not touch this thick line of killer stuff.  So I decided to leave a gap in the line by the door for him, and sure enough, that's where the ants started getting in again.  I should note that though the ants were a real problem for me, the kittens treated them like toys and spent time pawing them on the floor.

Then one night we had severe thunder, lightning and rain - and by the morning all trace of the Sevin had been washed away.

Once, years ago - maybe in Tennessee - I was badly invaded by ants that came into the RV via the power cord - they were escaping from a flood at my campsite.  Someone told me baking soda was a useful deterrent, so now when I pull into a new site and see ants in the area, I coat the power cord with baking soda.  And it's seemed to work.  So this time, desperate to get rid of these invaders, I sprinkled baking soda all over the tiny counter I have in the kitchen.

The coating of baking soda was originally a lot more extensive than this - what you see here is what's left after several days of trying to live (wash dishes, cook) in these conditions.  But it seemed to work - the first few days I found quite a few ant bodies in the baking soda piles.

And they weren't just on the visible surfaces, because I started seeing them in the cabinets.  Fortunately, ever since that years-ago infestation, I've put any opened packages of anything into Ziploc (actually, I use Hefty) bags.  Because I still do that, I wasn't as panicked to see ants in the cabinets as I was the first time around.  This time, I just felt invaded, not threatened.

Because the baking soda seemed to help inside, and the Sevin (which worried me because of not being environmentally friendly (or pet friendly)) didn't seem to work all that well outside, maybe next time I should just try a thick line of baking soda around the RV instead of fancy, dangerous products.

But eventually, between the ants and the lack of a reliable internet signal - and the extreme heat (see below) - I finally just gave up and ran.  I decided it was stupid/masochistic/a waste of money to keep sitting in Cedar Hill where I was continuously fighting ants in a nightmare scenario.  The closest campground I could find that I could afford that had a wifi system was about an hour north of Dallas - and that's where we went.  

But that KOA turned out not to be the refuge I'd hoped for.  The campground was laid out to accommodate only campers who had a separate vehicle.  It's true that most campers do because their RVs are trailers or 5th Wheels.  But I've seen plenty like me too, and here the bathrooms/showers were at least ⅛ mile from any campsite.  Though I was in one of the closest, I just did not want to haul my laundry over there in 90°+ heat.  And I didn't want to sit over there to wait for the machines (leaving the critters alone for a couple of hours), and I really didn't want to make multiple trips back and forth.  Gripe, gripe.  But it was just all so unpalatable.  I finally decided to head back to Mt. Pleasant, where they didn't have ants, did have wifi, and did have showers and laundry facilities close to the campsites.

But before I reached that extremity, there was all the following drama.

Heat

The heat here in central Texas was enough to fell a rhinoceros.  For several weeks, temps got up well over 100° (one day it was 113°) - and that doesn't include the heat index.  After Dext and I would come back from a walk, I'd have to spend time just sitting still in front of the fans and AC waiting to cool down.  In fact, in the mid-afternoons after we'd spent the day running around, the fans just seemed to be blowing hot air around, though once the cabin finally cooled down they were much more effective.  On the days we just sat in the campground, I had to cover up the windows as the sun moved across the sky.  I tried to leave some visual space - for me as well as the critters (I don't like living in caves) - but when the sun really started pouring in - well, solar heating is a real thing and I had to block it out.

I have 2 small non-oscillating table fans in addition to the AC in the ceiling, and I put the fans on the floor so the critters could have whatever relief the fans gave.  One morning I plugged in the older of the 2 fans and saw sparks - so immediately unplugged the fan and took a look.  Where the electric line connected to the fan, the plastic coating had been worn off and the wires inside were bare against the fan housing.  One of the very last things I need is to have a fire here, so I tossed that fan without even trying to fix it.  Which meant I needed to find a Target (not in every small town) because that's where I'd bought all my previous fans.  The heat level being what it was, this errand was high on my priority list and I did figure out where to find one.  I was a little afraid that since it was by this time September, Target might have pulled summer-related merchandise, but apparently the continuing reality of the heat wave kept their shelves well-stocked.

Jimmy, beating the heat

For some reason, when we get on the road after using the AC, we get a veritable rainstorm in the RV's cabin.  I don't know why the AC is storing all this water - but it's a whole lot of water.  It gets all over the cabin floor, on Dexter's beds, on the table, on the kitchen counter.  When we stop, I've had to use 3 or 4 paper towels to get it all mopped up.  So weird, and I don't remember it ever happening before.  Yeah the atmosphere is humid around here, but that's nothing new in central Texas, where I've spent a fair amount of time in the past in equally humid conditions.  Just strange.

One morning I found the frig set at 1 (the warmest setting).  I certainly didn't do it and don't know how that happened.  I quickly knocked it up to 9 (the coldest) but it's really slow to adjust even during reasonable weather, and with the frig on the side where the sun was shining and me not able to put the awning out - well, the thermometer I put inside the frig still registered 50° by 7 PM.

When a cold front finally came through and knocked the temps back down into the 80s, I didn't mind a bit that it also brought wind and rain.

My critters (not including ants)

During the night one night I heard Dext walking around, but I didn't see him and he didn't respond when I called, so I went back to sleep.  Woke up again at 3:30 and this time he came to meet me - very antsy so I quickly put on yesterday's clothes and went to let the kittens out of their crate - and then I stepped in vomit.  I had to stop and cover it with paper towels, let the kittens out and took Dext out.  Which didn't take long because his stools were very loose.  On a walk yesterday I heard him crunching something so knew he'd eaten a bone, and it had its usual effect on his system.  Amazing how delicate his tummy is.

Anyway, then I had to clean up the mess on the floor, on my shoe, then put the cabin back together after its overnight configuration, then took Dext back outside again (more loose stool).  By 8:00 AM he was looking anxious again so I took him back out (3rd time) and more loose stool.  I scrubbed the bottom of my shoe in the faucet outside, then went back in to take a break and cool down because it was already getting warm.  On top of the ants, it was all hard to deal with.

The kittens have been enjoying sitting at the rear window watching the birds flit among the trees and bushes behind the RV.

One evening I was ready to dump the bunch of them.  At about 6:00 Dext insisted he had to go out, but he was lying.  He barely even peed - and while we were out he ate some junk (after I'd just been cleaning up the messes from the last time).  He was okay when I took him out at bedtime but it was so hot my patience was low.  Then when I was putting Bucky in the crate for bed he bit me, which pissed me off so I just dumped him in and told him to stay there - but when I came back with Jimmy I found Bucky had jumped out, and then Jimmy tried to bite me so I dumped him in the crate and zipped it shut.  Bucky had run under the driver's seat, but when I contorted myself to get to him he ran out to the back of the RV.  We did this routine for 2 round trips until I finally caught him next to the wall under the table on Dext's bed - and he hissed and bared his teeth but I managed to get him in the crate without any more damage and yelled at them - and then I yelled at Dext - it was not a pleasant bedtime event.  I am once again really glad I never had children (imagine the emotional damage).

The heat really bothered Dext.  When we'd go out for a mid-afternoon walk, it felt like we were stepping into a hot oven, and it was clear he didn't like it.  He didn't want to walk or sniff or do anything except turn around and go back.  Sometimes we weren't even out long enough to work up a sweat.  Even when the temp finally cooled off somewhat, he kept telling me he didn't like it.  Every time we went out for a walk he'd drag behind me.  Even when I was walking at a normal pace, even on flat ground, he'd just drag along.  It drove me crazy.  But on the days when it wasn't as hot, I insisted we walk around the campground.  I measured it, and even all the way around it's only a half mile - so it's not nothing but it's not a marathon either.  I figured he and I both really needed the exercise when it was possible for us to get it without risking heat prostration.

The kitties actually held still long enough for me to get this shot.

Jimmy's on the left, Bucky's on the right.

Compare that with this shot I took a month after I got them.

Bucky's on the left, Jimmy's on the right.
Remember how much smaller he was than Bucky?
No longer.

Campground life

Several times I talked with a woman staying in a 5th Wheel down the road from our site.  She said their truck had broken down on the way to the campground and now they were stuck until the truck got fixed.  Their 5th Wheel is a 50-amp RV and their campsite was wired only for 30 amp.  They used an adapter so they could plug in at all, but as I learned a couple of years ago, 30-amp plugs just don't put out enough power to run all the amenities that 5th Wheels have.  For instance, they often have 2 ACs (I only have 1) and in this weather they'd be running both of them at the same time, which a 30-amp plug can't deal with.  So the woman said they keep blowing their power - and she acted surprised.

She said the man she's staying with (apparently not her husband) is a smoker, and it's his 5th Wheel so he smokes indoors, and she said it's making her feel sick.  She wants to go back home (she's from Lubbock, he's from nearby Midlothian), but she was stuck here.  She said her daughter called today crying because her nephew-in-law was just discovered dead in his apartment in Fort Worth, and they don't know why he died.  

The woman told me her son died a few years ago from uncontrolled diabetes - thought he could eat anything he wanted if he just took enough insulin.  The woman said he'd already had 1 leg amputated at the knee, and he'd stopped going to dialysis (apparently he also had kidney problems) - and it all sounded to me as if he'd chosen to die, though I didn't say that to the woman.

I found it amazing that all these lives are usually hidden from view.  I think she talked to me because she was lonely and needed a sounding board.  I know from my own marriage that the loneliness you can feel when you're with someone can be far more devastating than the loneliness you can feel alone.  I chose to be lonely alone, and in fact have almost never felt lonely since then.  But it's not for everyone, and I was glad if I could help this woman feel better.

For some reason we didn't see many dogs the whole time we stayed here.

But I did speak occasionally with a man whose site wasn't far from ours.  He seemed to be cleaning out his storage areas.  He stayed at Cedar Hill for quite a while (off and on), and we saw him once when we were back from going to another campground and he brought me a box of poop bags that he had unearthed, telling me that his dog had died last year and asking if I wanted them - of course.  

One day I saw a giant moth that was colored exactly like lichen on a tree trunk, and I saw it only because it was sitting on a concrete sidewalk.  If it had been on a tree, I'd never have seen it.  How is it possible that someone doesn't believe evolution is real - and magic.

On September 11th, I watched the movie United 93 in memory of all those who died that day.  I still remember clearly my visit to the memorial near Shanksville, PA - almost 6 years ago, it was.

Cedar Hill State Park attractions

Our section of the campground was right next to something called the Penn Farm Agricultural History Center.  It's a pretty large area because it includes a lot of the original buildings from the family farm established here in the mid-1800s.  I'm sure State Parks has checked that the buildings are safe for visitors, but remarkably, they're still substantially intact, making it fairly easy to imagine what life was like then.  Here's some information I thought was interesting.

This house was built in 1859.
The sign is enlarged in parts below.

See below for the pieces of this sign.

This next sign shows what brought folks to this area in the first place.

See enlargements below.

Speaking of water:

This is a cistern the Penns built - see sign below.

Really provides perspective on a resource
we usually take for granted these days.

This history center had quite a few pieces of old farming equipment spread around, many with explanatory signs.  Maybe because I've seen the modern version of similar equipment (e.g. when I visited the John Deere factory in Illinois), but I found this thresher particularly interesting.

And finally, having nothing to do with the Penn Farm, but just as much an attraction for me at the campground were these flowers.

I don't remember seeing them before - including when I was growing up -
so have no idea what they are.  But they're really pretty in the sun.

Forays around the area

Because I was moving from one campground to another now and then, and because even when I was staying in one place I still needed to pick up supplies and run errands, I ran into some oddities.

The best was that I found an off-leash dog park that I hadn't ever noticed before, and it turned out to be really great.  It's called the Bush Central Barkway because it sits underneath the elevated roadways at the junction of the George Bush Turnpike and Central Expressway in Richardson.  It has 4 different areas - 1 for small dogs, 2 for large dogs, and 1 for special events (that's what the sign said).  The areas are very large and kept fairly clean and are mostly grass.  Every time we were up in that direction, I made it a point to stop there.  Twice we were the only ones there but a couple of times Dext had a whole lot of other dogs to meet and greet.  He really seemed to enjoy it.

Once we went to the U-Haul dealer in Cedar Hill for propane - that's where I've always gotten it in that area - only to discover that though their tank was full (the supplier was just filling it up when I drove in), they no longer have an employee who's certified to pump it.  They were actually a little rude about it, which seemed really strange to me.  I had to get online (thank goodness I could get online) and find the nearest dealer, who was in Midlothian, 10 miles down the road.  Well, I didn't have much choice - I needed the propane - so off we went to the Tractor Supply in Midlothian.

One day I went to 4 different stores in the Cedar Hill area trying to find boric acid, which I'd heard was effective on ants, and maybe better for the environment.  Not one of them had it, though several said they would soon (whenever "soon" is).  That's why I ended up with the Sevin - out of desperation.

I made several stops at the recycling drop-off center in Richardson.  It was only a few miles from that great dog park, and they'll take everything but plastic bags so I can really clean out my bathroom - always a plus.

Across Main Street from the recycling center is a nice park, and once we stopped off there to break for lunch and for a walk for Dext.  The park seemed to be home for several Canada Geese and a lot of Mallards, and the kittens were fascinated with them.

I watched some really funny (as in ha-ha, not peculiar - though it did seem peculiar, too) behavior by the ducks when I took Dext out.  The ducks seemed to be divided into several groups, like a day care, with one or two geese in charge of each group.  When Dext and I got out of the RV, the goose in charge of the nearest group started quacking and immediately all the ducks stood up and the whole group started following the goose which was moving away from us.  And it happened again with a second group as we got close to them - same quacking from the goose-in-charge, same quick response by the duckies.  I've never seen that before and I couldn't help laughing.

I saw a Texas plate that said: YADIGIT.  It actually took me a couple of minutes to figure it out - I kept trying to turn it into something it wasn't - sounding the "g" as in George.

I stopped at a grocery store in Plano, and nearby I saw Henry's Homemade Ice Cream - "Where Ice Cream Makes You Pretty."  A winner of a slogan.

I found a dog park in Denton that had a large sign near the entrance saying: Bee City USA - Making the World Safe for Pollinators One City at a Time.  This group seems to be promoting policies that benefit all kinds of pollinators (think butterflies), though their focus is on the 3,600 native species of bees we have in the US (which is a stunning fact - where are they all?).  Here's their website.   https://beecityusa.org/about

I was stopped at a traffic light in Denton when I saw this beautiful building.

Opera House, built 1901

I learned online that the Opera House was built of repurposed bricks - taken from a condemned courthouse that had been built in the 1870s.  The Opera House was in full swing until silent movies started coming out in 1913.  The building now houses Recycled Books plus "luxury" apartments.

Also in Denton, I passed the campus of Texas Woman's University, also established in 1901.  It's been a co-ed school since the mid-1990s, but it's still considered the US's largest state-supported university primarily for women.

Once I got stuck in 8 miles worth of stop-and-go traffic on I-35 - road construction I eventually learned - and the semi ahead of me was doing what I thought of as "crazy Ivans."  In the movie The Hunt For Red October, the sonar person on an American submarine said occasionally Russian subs would perform a maneuver the US called "crazy Ivans": the Russian sub would suddenly made a circle underwater to be sure they weren't being followed, subs not having rearview mirrors.  The American sub would then try to imitate a hole in the water (utter silence) to keep from being detected.  So anyway, this semi ahead of me wasn't turning circles, but he occasionally pulled mostly onto the shoulder, then when I was about ready to pull up into his vacated space would swerve back into the lane in front of me.  I finally decided he was trying to see around the semi in front of him (and now he knows how I feel stuck behind him).

Once I left my credit card at a Mexican restaurant - Casa Mama's - I'd gone to with David and Anna and the next day I went by to pick it up.  While I was there I succumbed to their salsa, which I think is really great - and bought a large container of it (I think they said it was 8 ounces).  As a surprise, they included a couple of bags of freshly made tortilla chips, so that was my lunch for the day - and a couple of other days later, too.

That day I ended up changing the order of my errands, so Google's directions were off.  I thought I could wing it - felt I'd been running around the area often enough to know which roads and exits to take without stopping to recalibrate.  But I was really wrong.  I eventually ended up in downtown Dallas and stopped at the first place I could find a parking place (closed up hotel).  But my hotspot said it couldn't get a signal, so I pulled out my trusty AAA map.  It looked like if I went on I-35 for a few more exits I'd come to I-30, which would take me to Loop 12 where I wanted to go.  But I misunderstood the signs, exited too soon, and ended up on Zang Blvd (which I vaguely remembered from growing up here) but recognizing nothing and then discovering I was heading east when I wanted west.  But I found zero signs to tell me where I was and the road just kept going with no way off - and I was yelling at the highway department for not providing signs.  I finally made a sudden stop at a 7/11 - just kids behind the counter but a customer gave me very good directions to I-30.  And that did indeed get me to Loop 12 which I was familiar with, and I finally got back to Cedar Hill.  It was all very disorienting.

But back at the campground, I stopped to dump my tanks and half the handle on my blackwater tank broke off.  Fortunately, I could still open it for draining, but it's no longer as easy as it was (not that it was ever easy).

I was having breathing problems and only then discovered that my inhaler was almost out.  When I called the local CVS I learned they couldn't refill it for a couple more days, so I'd have to conserve it.

I walked Dext again - and by the time we got back in I was absolutely dripping with sweat because it was so hot.  Even though it was nearly an hour past the critters' normal feeding time, I made them wait while I sat in the AC + 2 fans trying to cool off, drinking a half glass of wine (or whine, obviously).  Strange day.

Other events during this period

I heard on the radio that the Texas Education Agency took over the Houston school district, appointed a new superintendent, and imposed new rules on the schools.  One such rule is that teachers not only must use state-approved lesson plans, but they also must read those lessons from a script - and time themselves with a stopwatch while they do it.  As one teacher said, "There's no point being a teacher if you're reading a script."

The new superintendent is also instituting a new teacher evaluation system where 2 out of every 5 teachers will be rated as "less than proficient," regardless of whether that's an accurate description.  And 3% of all teachers will be rated as "unsatisfactory" and fired, regardless of their actual ability.  Apparently, those ratings are a required part of the new system.  It's not clear to me how such a system will improve the level of teaching there.  Sticks never work better than carrots, and the saying "you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" has been around a long time for a reason.  

I heard on the radio about a book called Lies About Black People: How to Combat Racist Stereotypes and Why It Matters.  Sounds like something I'll want to read when I find a place to call home.

You may remember that a while back I posted a link to an article about Averie Bishop, Miss Texas 2022, because I was very impressed with her for many reasons.  I've just learned that she's planning to run against the state representative in the district next door to the one I vote in.  That should actually be an interesting race because both Averie Bishop and the incumbent Angie Chen Button are Asian-Americans.  

I couldn't find a straight answer online for when Button's family emigrated to the US: according to her campaign, her family moved from China to Taiwan "when the CCP took over China" and "persecuted" them for being Christians, and Button was born in 1954 in Taiwan.  I can't find anywhere when they immigrated to the US and can't understand why not - it seems a pretty straightforward question.  She's a Republican. 

Bishop was born in 1996 in Texas, the daughter of an American and a Filipina immigrant, and graduated from SMU law school.  She's a Democrat.

The district that Button currently represents is becoming more purple in recent years, no doubt due to increasing numbers of whichever Gen (Z?) includes today's young adults moving there for tech jobs.  In 2020, it was just barely majority white (55%).  So I'm looking forward to their respective campaigns and even hopeful of a debate, which would be fascinating.

In August we had a Blue Moon (the 2nd full moon this month).  The moon was putting out so much light it woke me up, and I thought it was a bright light on the camper across the road.  Full moons make early walks with Dexter easier, and I often don't even need a flashlight.

Bizarre situation with a vet's office

While we were at Cedar Hill, I wanted to get the kittens' claws clipped and made an appointment at the first vet's office I saw on the area list online - Cedar Hill Veterinary Clinic.  Boy, was that ever a mistake.

I was surprised when I called that they gave me a really wide choice of appointment times - so many vet offices are overworked and can barely fit me in in the next week or so.  I decided maybe summer was a slow time for them.  So when I got there, I was only a little surprised that it was the vet himself who did the nail trims - I figured he was just bored from lack of business at the time.  He trimmed the nails on both kittens, weighed them at my request and talked nonstop throughout.  At one point he told me not to talk, but he kept talking and then asked me a question - I waited, then said "you told me not to talk."

When I went out to pay for the 2 nail trims, the staff told me it would cost $125.  Of course I figured it was a mistake and pointed out I'd only asked for (and gotten) nail trims (for which they charged $20 each).  The staff said they always add on a charge for a "vet visit."  I pointed out that I hadn't gotten a "vet visit," that he'd performed absolutely no services that one would expect as part of a "vet visit."  They said that's the way they always did it.  I said when I'd first called for an appointment I'd told them I was just passing through the area (a red flag that I wouldn't know "how they always did it") and they shrugged.  And it went on from there.  It was just awful for me, mainly because I knew I was being cheated and that they didn't care.  I thought about paying only for the nail trims, but I didn't have cash with me, so I'd have to give them a credit card and, once I gave it to them, I couldn't control the amount.  I asked for a receipt and, though they seemed surprised, they gave me one. 

It took me several weeks to fight back, mainly because I was too overwhelmed with emotions to be coherent - even with myself.  But I ended up doing 3 things.  The first was to post a criticism on Yelp.  This may seem like not much to most people, but for me it was momentous, because it was the first time I've ever done that.  As you know, I don't much like anything that smacks of social media (especially Twitter and Facebook), so putting my name on a very public platform attached to a criticism was very hard for me.  And honestly, I think I was pretty mild, because all I said was if people decide to go to that clinic, they should be absolutely sure they know in advance what they'll be charged, and they should expect the staff to be very rude.  Actually, I learned while I was working up to doing this that quite a few others had posted about the staff's rudeness.  Wish I'd bothered to read those comments before I went there.

The second thing I did was file a complaint with the state regulatory agency, called the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners.  Here, my lack of computer savvy took a beating, because although I could fill out their required form online, I couldn't figure out how to send it, and especially not how to attach the receipt the vet's office.  I had to call and ask for them to send me a hard copy form, then wait for David to send me my mail, then fill it out, find a copy place in town, and then find the local post office.  It took a lot of time.  And it took a lot of self-discipline to make my complaint as factual and non-emotional as possible - when what I really was was outraged at being cheated.

Meanwhile, I called my credit card company because, when I'd looked at the receipt the vet's office gave me, I found they'd given me one for some entirely unknown person who lived in Waxahachie and apparently had a pet with thyroid problems: they gave me the wrong receipt.  At that point I thought my head would explode.  But I needed to know for sure how much they'd charged - I'd been remembering it as $105 - and the vet's charge hadn't posted to my most recent credit card bill.  So the VISA person on the phone was stuck with enlightening me that the charge was actually $125.  

So there I was on the phone with a nice VISA person, venting like crazy over this situation, when it suddenly struck me that I paid my bill with a credit card, and credit card charges are something I'm allowed to dispute.  Of course, the VISA person was way ahead of me and trying to piece together a coherent story, so I (light bulb over head) calmed down enough to tell her what had happened.  She asked me to send her a copy of whatever I sent to the Vet Board.  And later I figured out that submission would help show I actually thought my complaint was serious, and I wasn't just someone trying to gyp a hard-working vet out of money for services provided.  So that was a separate version of my complaint geared toward VISA plus more copies at the copy place and a separate mailing at the post office.

Later, I got a call from an investigator at the Vet Board, asking for clarification of my complaint - especially what that weird receipt was since it didn't refer to me or my pets or what they charged me.  I loved telling her that's what I'd been given by the vet staff.  Much later, she sent me an email telling me they dismissed my complaint as "non-jurisdictional," but that they were "very sorry for [my] difficult experience."  I was sorry for this conclusion but can't say I expected much different.  Still, I'm guessing the board did some checking with the vet clinic in their investigation, which may have given the clinic some concern.

And after that I got a letter from VISA saying they agreed(!) with me and were refunding me the amount I asked for - I told them I agreed to pay $40 for the 2 nail trims but not the additional $85 for the alleged "vet visit," and it was the $85 that they refunded.  You can't imagine how good that made me feel, knowing those rude and duplicitous folks didn't get to keep my money.  So in the end, I feel like my protests, though very time- and emotion-consuming, were worth it to me.  Strange experience.

And finally, a sad note

During this period, I heard that my friend Paula died.  I've mentioned her before - she's my friend who lives in the Albuquerque area.  She's been my very closest friend for a full 50 years, and I find myself bereft without her in my life.

Losing her has very nearly debilitated me, and I find it almost impossible to focus on doing just about anything.  I don't want to seem like I'm minimizing the loss to her husband Bruce - they were married for 42 years - or her son Morgan, but this kind of loss doesn't work with a measuring stick.  There's no such thing as your loss is greater than mine here.  Our relationships with Paula were all different, unique in their own ways, and her many other friends also suffered an irreplaceable loss.  I know that time makes losses bearable, but right now I've just been having a really hard time navigating mine.