Notes on Different Stuff

This is a shot from an outfit at Turtle Bay in Redding which offers guided tours around the Arboretum and along the (newly paved) Sacramento River Trail. Their website is www.shastaglidenride.com if you'd like more info or call 242-1150. The gadgets they are riding are called Segways, electric two-wheel devices which are self-balancing and ideal for the trails along the Sacramento River and arboretum at the Sundial Bridge.

Sally and I plan to do their one hour run around the Garden which is north of the bridge, a (again, paved) walk which we have done before, for my birthday. The tour will be followed by a disgusting Shrimp Fest lunch at Red Lobster and then a five-cheese mac and cheese dinner when get home. It's a good thing you only get one birthday each year.

On a different topic, Jason Robinson from Way Out Recycling dropped by to announce that they are now accepting styrofoam along with their newly-announced glass collection. This is important so start saving up your egg cartons and take-out containers. The next pickup is Monday May 3. Remember, it's the first and third Monday of each month and all you need do is bag or box up your plastic, glass, and styrofoam and leave it by the street on Sunday night (they come by early on Monday).

Entertaining and informative film by Michael Moore about the economic mess we're in: Capitalism; A Love Story. This guy loves to corner flustered executives and nail them to the wall with embarassing questions on their roles in the financial meltdown on Wall Street and the insider deals that made them rich. 2 hours, from Netflix.

Watch for this month's Lake Shastina News. We inserted a detailed map of Lake Shastina with all the lot and unit numbers and on the reverse, a color map of Siskiyou County. If you don't get the LSN or want extra copies, call us.

Cell Phone Tricks

From a shared email:

5 Things You Never Knew Your Cell Phone Could Do :

For all the folks with cell phones. (This should be printed and kept in your car, purse, and wallet. Good information to have with you.) There are a few things that can be done in emergencies.

FIRST :

The Emergency number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you and interestingly, this number can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it!


SECOND : Locked your keys in the car?

Does your car have remote keyless entry? If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button on your key remote, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other key remote for your car you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).


THIRD : Hidden Battery Power

Ifyour cell battery is very low you can activate a hidden battery reserve by pressing *3370#. Your cell phone will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery power. This reserve will get recharged when you charge your cell phone the next time.


FOURTH : How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone

To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: *#06#. A 15-digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. If your phone gets stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.


And Finally....


FIFTH : Free Directory Service for Cell Phones

Cell phone companies are charging $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls so when you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial (800)FREE411, (800-373-3411) without incurring any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone.

Emergency Vet Care 24/7

Many if not most of us own dogs, cats, or other pets and when emergency care is needed nothing is available in the whole county after 5PM. Stories of animals suffering over the weekend are legend. Yet efforts to obtain some sort of after-hours emergency care have fallen flat.
The standard line seems to be that it's a stressfull business to begin with and nobody wants to work evenings or weekends. While it's true that ranchers are used to delivering calves and colts what do the rest of us do with household pets with convulsions and bleeding?
From a business point of view they should charge for the extra effort of answering a midnight call. And most of us would pay the surcharge with no hesitation.
But it's not offered. In fact, most offices have no after hours phone numbers and the result is that animals suffer.
We know of one case where a terminal dog convulsed over an entire weekend only to die in the owner's arms just minutes before the office opened as they waited in the car outside the door.
Can't we work out some rotation or on-call service? We have approached the Siskiyou Humane Society which is most interested in this . .. I mean, what is more 'humane' than preventing this kind of needless suffering?
If you support this idea please email me. We need to do something.

Concert Dec. 28 in the Yreka Community Theater

THE RSSPA PRESENTS A HOLIDAY CONCERT STARRING TWO FAVORITE SONS – YREKA NATIVE KEVIN MCKEE AND HONORARY YREKAN JACEK MYSINSKI


Pianist Jacek Mysinski’s December concerts have become a tradition and this season the much anticipated event takes on an additional element with trumpeter and Yreka native, Kevin McKee. The two musicians appear together for the first time at the Yreka Community Theater in a Red Scarf Society for the Performing Arts holiday concert on Sunday December 28 at 3:00pm.


McKee, son of Luanne and Yreka High School music teacher, Brian McKee, began his trumpet studies in fifth grade. He has since gone on to earn a Bachelor’s Degree from California State University Sacramento and a Master’s Degree in trumpet performance from the University of Maryland. His performances and studies have taken him to the Aspen Music Festival and the Music Masters Course in Kazusa, Japan. Kevin is a freelance trumpeter and teacher in the Washington, DC area; is a member of the Continuum Brass Quintet, the Great Noise Ensemble and has published two compositions, “Escape” for brass quintet and “Vuelto del Fuego” (Ride of Fire), published through Balquidder Music.

Warsaw born, Mysinski, began his studies at the age of seven under the tutelage of Halina Dzierzanowska. He has won many prestigious awards; among them the Frederic Chopin International Piano Competition and Special Prize for the best performance of Bach at the Polish National Competition. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music New York where he was associated with Jerome Lowenthal. Currently Jacek lives in New York where he devotes his time to jazz and composition studies and after having worked with the Mark Morris Dance Group earlier this year, has been invited to re-join them in 2009. Through his many appearances in Yreka, Jacek has come to be regarded as an adopted son. In a recent communication Jacek said, “I am thrilled to be back in Yreka!”.

A champagne reception to welcome home native son, Kevin McKee and honorary son, Jacek Mysinski, will be held immediately following the concert at the Yreka Community Center. Tickets, $15 and $5 for students are available at Scott Valley Drug in Etna, Village Books in Mt. Shasta and in Yreka at Surroundings, Nature’s Kitchen and the Yreka Chamber of Commerce office; or visit www.redscarfsociety.org.

Part D, Anyone?

Sally and I and perhaps many of you have been receiving endless mailings from AARP and other Part D providers because this time each year is when you can sign up for (or change) your Part D coverage. There are literally pounds of mail to sort through that "explain" all your choices. All. Your. Endless. Choices.

HICAP to the rescue. A free service of the Senior Advocacy Center of Northern California, HICAP (Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program) is sponsored (I think) by United Way. HICAP is however NOT affiliated with any insurance company or agency nor does it sell or recommend any specific insurance.

You can call them for many valuable services including omsbudsman and senior legal advice at their Redding office, 800-434-0221. We already knew Debbie Weiland the Program Manager because she travels the five north state counties making presentations on their services and she had conducted several Medicare seminars for seniors here and in Weed.

But the big value for Sally and I was their new Siskiyou County volunteer Joan Favero, who guided us through the Part D maze and enrolled us in a new version that will save us a little over $1,100 in 2009. That's right, nearly $100 a month less than we pay now ($81.60 per month premium plus $25 a month each in co-pay for the one brand name drug we each take). We use the mail-order Rx plan with AARP's United Healthcare and we get a 90 day supply each time we order (although we can also still use the local pharmacy).

Joan pulled up a special comparison shopping program that she trained for on her computer and displayed for us 51 plans that we were eligible for. Then she ranked them by cost and we compared their features to be sure we weren't changing to a plan that used a deductible for example. The best one that fit me was $809 a year and Sally's best choice was $725. That's the total plan cost, premium, drug co-pay, and deductible (if any). We were each paying $1,387 per year so the savings are substantial. All this took just minutes.

Did I mention that she is a retired pharmacist and was able to not only pronounce but even spell our prescriptions which, if you take anything heavier than asprin, is an achievement for us common folk. I was having trouble with Omeprazole (can you blame me?) for example and all I could think to say was that the doctor prescribed it for acid stomach. Before I could blink she named off three major brand meds and mentioned Omeprazole as a generic for one of them. Bingo. (If you get an appointment with Joan save her the time though and bring a list of your meds).

December 31 is the end of the open enrollment period however so if you know anyone who is confused over Part D, give them Joan's name. An important point is that this happens each year so if someone's medical condition changes during the year and their prescription needs escalate they should review their Part D coverage and be ready to change during the annual enrollment window (Nov. 15 to Dec. 31 I think, but you'd better call). Joan is in Yreka at 842-3751.

What we appreciated beyond her pharmaceutical expertise though was that the review is a free service. It seems to me that a huge number of seniors must surely experience the same degree of mystification that we did with the mailed "explanations". It's just overwhelming. But they might not know about HICAP and Joan.

Please share this good news with those you love.

Home Loans Made Between Jan. 1, '03 & Dec. 31, '07

There have been so many laws passed recently that it's getting pretty confusing. Something happened to us the other day though, that brought a recent California law into focus.

A young couple asked to see one of our rentals saying that they only had a week to move. There was a notice on the door giving them seven days to move out because the lender was foreclosing. The landlord / owner had dropped out of sight and would not return their phone calls pleading for help.

So not only do they have to move right away but they likely will not get their deposit back. These tenants had no idea the owner was not making his mortgage payments and that the house was sliding into default.

The Perata/Bass Mortgage Relief Bill went into effect on 8 July this year here in CA and is meant exactly for this type of situation so if you are a landlord (or a tenant), here are four major provisions of the bill (it applies only to loans made in the title above and all provisions went into effect on 8 Sept.):

1. lenders must contact owners IN ADVANCE to explore options to avoid foreclosure

2. tenants will get a notice once the notice of sale has been posted on a property

3. tenants now have 60 days rather than 30 before eviction

4. locals (our HOA?) can levy fines of up to $1,000 on the lender if they don't maintain a vacated property that has been foreclosed upon by fixing things within 30 days. That might include damage by trespassers or squatters for example.

If you are a tenant or a landlord you can take steps now to comply with this law.

Mountain Lion Reports in Lake Shastina

A neighbor told us this morning as we were walking the doggies that one of these animals had been spotted here in our neighborhood and that large cat tracks had been seen after the sighting. This is the second time I've heard about pumas as they are also called in Lake Shastina. The other incident was on Indian Hill but as I understand it only scat was found at the scene.

This time however the neighbor said a lion kill was found on Zen Mountain. It was a deer she said but if combined with the tracks and sighting here in Unit 7-3 some precautions are in order. For one, these cats like any predator, target the easiest prey; newborn deer, housecats and dogs, sick or injured animals. So if you have a cat that is outdoors at night you might keep this in mind.

We for example keep two of our dogs in the garage at night but they can go out through a doggie door to do their business. We'll block the door now, at least until we hear from some more news about this series of event.

If any readers can contribute to this story please email me.

Editor

Foreclosure Scams

If it weren't already bad enough, along come the scammers, trying to cheat the already desperate homeowners who are in trouble. As reported in the latest AARP Bulletin, be on guard against unsolicited help. It's a sad fact of life that some people actually grasp onto these cold-callers or cold-mailers in their foreclosure fears.

The truth is what it always has been __ know whom you are dealing with. Many times that means to stay local. Craigslist always warns that but if your bank or lender is distant, take the meaning figuratively. At least you know them, that beats a mail piece from Miami.

In some cases the offer to help amounts to giving title to the suspect "until things get better" at which time you can "buy the home back for nothing". Of course they don't say it like that but after all the fine print you end up homeless and they are on title.

Take heart if you are, or know somebody who is in dire straits with a lender. Just a few days ago President Bush signed into law a massive bail-out measure that will allow homeowners who are in trouble the chance to convert their troublesome mortgages into new 30 (or more) year government-guaranteed fixed-rate FHA loans (see previous story).

The National Foundation for Credit Counseling at 800-388-2277 is all set up to take calls and start the ball rolling. There is even a free home loan counseling service in Redding at 800-750-2227.

I don't know the details yet but the law appears to have two caps; one in dollars and the other in numbers of people (400,000) so the upshot is to get in line EARLY and get the process going.

And in the meantime, do NOT sign anything with people you do not know. This is especially true for online offers, mail offers, and anonymous phone calls. Just say "NO". Then call the 800 numbers above and get started.