My stone mason...or rather, 2 very hardworking Latino men....probably undocumented aliens that rumpty dumpety has such a problem with....finished rebuilding my stone stairs today. The stairs are at the top of my driveway and lead to the backyard and back patio. It's beautiful, and I think they did a great job. I had them put in a drain at the top to divert water rushing off my back patio into a brushy area instead of down the stairs. When I pay him the second half tomorrow, he'll show me how to lift the grill cover with a screwdriver, I think, but said I could just rinse any leaves that may get stuck in there with a hose.

There's a fairly large area to the left where they trenched the drainage pipe through an overgrown bed of lily of the valley, which I've long wanted to get rid of, so this kind of helped. I may have just assigned myself my next job. I will plant grass in the part where my mower mows, but try to find a nice native groundcover for underneath the shade of the rhododendrons here if pulling out the lily of valley that remains isn't too much.

Anyway, I observed during the past 3 days that my contractor was wholly absent from the job site except for dumping off stone, which was hand cut by his men, and gravel, for the drainpipe. I was ok with that because I could see these 2 guys knew what they were doing. So after running out this morning to help my father get a notarized letter to close a bank account (big hassle I'll explain later), on the way home, I squeezed in a gym workout and then stopped at my bank to get some money to tip both men. The contractor's price was very reasonable compared to the 2 or 3 other bids I got, so I felt fine tipping his men, something I don't normally do.

However, when I got back home, they had finished the job, cleaned up the whole job site and had left already, so I texted the contractor, told him they did a great job and asked if his men were still in the area as I wanted to personally thank them. No, they were not in the area, but he said if I was thinking of tipping them, I could put the tips in an envelope and he told me their first names, and he would take them tomorrow when I pay him.

OK, so...This is the first time I've hired this guy. I imagine that giving him envelopes for his men that he knows are tips might be a temptation to open the envelopes and pocket it himself? He's done nothing to make me question him, but I just don't know and I want to be sure my $$ goes to the intended recipients. So I decided to type a short thank you note, in Spanish, along with a brief request for them to text me at my cell # to let me know they received it. I figure if the boss man opens it up, he'll see the note and realize he has to give it to them or I'll know he took it. I hate for him to find out I don't fully trust him, but if he DOES open the envelopes, then I'll have good reason to not trust him (!), and if he DOESNT open the envelopes, then he'll never know, they will get their tips, hopefully they'll confirm that and all will be well.

Am I too mistrusting?

Now that this has been done, I immediately texted my vinyl siding guy to let him know he could come to do the repair of 2 small holes whenever he could. He was all set to start this past Monday, and then out of the blue the stone mason contacted me and said he was ready to begin work the next day at 7 am. He had been totally incognito since I had first met with him back in April. So I had to ask the siding guy to stand by. Which I HATED to do becus the siding guy, after failing to do the job after promising to do so 2 or 3 times, finally volunteered that he would do it for free and seemed to be truly on the verge of actually doing it. In return, I said I would sing his praises on social media.

But having to ask him to wait was not a great move since now there's not much incentive for him to follow through. I may have to offer to pay him anyway, just to get him to do it.

Meanwhile, the door installation is still waiting in the wings but has been scheduled for the week after next week. I will be so happy to get that done.

The issue with my father closing his bank account related to a Santander checking account he opened when he was still living in another state. They have a lot of offices there, but the one closest to where he lives now with my sister is a good 45-minute highway drive. Since he doesn't drive, it falls on me to ferry him around whenever he has a need, and it was getting old having to schlep up there, so the last time I was there with him maybe 2 years ago, I suggested he close the account and open an account in the town where he resides. He declined, and I told I would not be driving him up there again becus there was no need to maintain that account. He didn't care, but now he does, and he's got a 6-figure balance earning 0% in a redundant checking account there.

He tried to close the account on his own but could not do it because he doesn't have the right kind of personal identification. They need one "primary" ID with a photo which ususally consists of a driver's license, military ID or a 3rd option, which I think was something that was also either state of federal-government-issued. Then the "secondary" ID can be any number of things, like a utility bill, signed credit card, etc.

The problem is that my father is legally blind now so he hasn't driven a vehicle in years and his driver's license expired a long time ago. He has trouble walking and uses a walker. He lost his SS card a few years ago and we never found it; replacing it means a trip to local SS office and I really try to minimize all the trips. He has a bad habit, when going to a doctor's office, of just handing them all the cards in his wallet because he can't see which are his Medicare/Medigap cards. I'm not always right there to find them for him since I usually drop him off as close to the front entrance as possible, then go and park the car while he walks in there. I tried getting a handicap plaque for my car, but once again was stymied by state requirements and gave up.

Since he rents from my sister, he doesn't have utility bills sent to his name. What he DOES have is a VA ID card, which has his photo and an expiration date. You would think this would be acceptable, but it is not. Pulling my hair out at this point. Surely, these banks have had other elderly customers in similar situations. 

Then my father started saying he wanted to change the address on the bank statements while I had the bank on speaker phone, and I had to shush him because banks are so careful about fraud, so someone emptying out a large account and THEN saying oh, i also need to change the address, well, that would really be a big red flag.

My father has had his mail going to his son's address out of state.  I knew the bank would never want to change the address while closing out the account, and given my father's lack of identiification and sloppy, no, non-existent record-keeping, I don't see a way around it. My father has made things very difficult and has not given any of his 4 children power of attorney, which would have totally avoided all this hassle. 

I do everything for my father, from clipping his finger nails and cutting his hair/facial hair to bringing him to physical therapy (he wants to go weekly "for the rest of my life") and doctors (dentists every 3 months), lunch out every week as I am his sole provider of "recreation" or just getting out of his little studio. My sister cooks him dinner and does his grocery shopping, and that is it.  It's just too much at times. His place is a disaster but he is too cheap to hire housecleaners; he allows me to change his bedsheets and vacuum, but that's it.  My sister sees the mess every night when she brings him dinner, but walks right out the door again. 

So Santander stood firm with their policies, designed to prevent fraud but in actuality prevents valid account holders from accessing their money. The rep finally told me I could mail them a notarized letter requesting them to close the account and mail him a check. Which was nice to know; when I brought my father to PT this week, he gave me an attorney's business card and told me to make him an appointment, which I would not do until I knew why, which pissed him off to no end, but I stood firm, so he told he wanted to hire the attorney to help him get his money out of his account; I told him I thought we could do it without resorting to that, or at least I would try myself first, and so that's when I began making phone calls.

After Santander told me a notarized letter would work, I made the mistake of contacting the local bank where my father (and I) already have accounts and asking them what THEIR id requirements are for notarizing a letter. Well, their requirements are pretty much the same as Santander's, so I was getting the door shut in my face again.

So then we decided to try to get the letter notarized at my local library. Perhaps they would not be so stringent. I called ahead and asked, with trepidation, what ID requirements they had, and more specifically told them what my father, a horrible record-keeper, actually had: his VA photo ID card, a credit card, Medicare card and that's about it. The  notary said that would work. Sigh of guarded relief.

We were there this a.m. and got it done, though not without the notary hesitating when he noticed the VA ID card did not have an issue date, only an expiration date. Anyway, we got it done. Then I stopped at the PO to mail it certified so the bank couldn't claim they didn't get it. I have to wonder if they just make it hard so they can continue to make money of his balance. They could have made an exception for us given dad's condition and circumstances.

Oh happy, joy, joy.

My handyman came over last week to set up the plywood platform he had built for my front-loading washer and dryer. It's very sturdy. His buddy (with a very strong grip/handshake) came over, too, as they had to lift both up onto the platform, which is roughly 15" high. I LOVE the new height. Only problem: the washing machine vibrates QUITE a bit. Having it sit on a concrete floor vs plywood I guess makes the difference? I texted a video to my handyman, and he agreed there was too much vibration. That being said, I had it set to "high spin," which i like becus it really wrings out the water, so less drying time.

The machine is completely level. I told the handyman I'd try out a load on the normal spin and see if I could live with that. Otherwise, he's agreed to return (no charge) to help me put an old 1/2" thick yoga mat under it. (I knew I was holding onto it for a purpose.) I just ran a small load to see how it went, but then I had a different contractor come over, one I've been after since February to do some small vinyl siding repairs, and by the time I was done with him, the load was done. So I need to do another load.

Just out of curiosity, I checked the price of 2 Samsung-sold pedestals and they are still significantly more expensive than what my handyman charged me, plus if I'd bought the manufacturer's pedestal, I wouldn't have gotten the labor to set it up unless i bought them, I guess, at the time I bought the washer/dryer. I passed on them at the time because they just are very expensive for what they are, though the Samsung pedestals do include a storage drawer below, which would have been very nice.

Someone on my buy nothing group was giving away tons of brand new box cutters, each retractable as a safety feature and each with 10 blades stored inside. She encouraged people to take a lot, so I asked for 2 or 3. I figured one in the basement, one in garage, one in the main house would be convenient. She gave me 20 instead! So I gave my handyman, who I really like, 3 of them and he seemed very pleased, so perhaps that helped smooth the way toward him returning to fiddle with my dryer at no charge! Either way, I'm happy too!

Just having the door leading from garage to basement open why these guys were setting the platform in place allowed abou 5 flies in the house, which I hate. I released or killed all but one, who is currently corralled in my greenhouse window with a closed curtain. Hoping it will just die so I don't have to keep chasing after it. Two of my immediate neighbors have sheep or goats, so flies, I've noticed, are in abundance.

Oh, wow. Just heard from the mason who was going to rebuild my outdoor stone stairs.  Another one who ghosted me since April, but now he wants to start tomorrow, at 7 am. Which is actually fine, I have nothing scheduled, but my weather report says morning rain is likely. So I told him that, but he said they have demo to do first and a little rain won't affect that. He just asked me for half the cost tomorrow, so that reminded me I need a written invoice. I assume a personal check is the same as cash to him, but maybe not. May have to make a special trip to bank.

I have an old (male) friend I see every few months, so next time I see him, I'll give him a few too. They do come in handy for opening deliveries from Amazon or wherever.

I made a BJs run this morning so am well stocked with fresh food.

Back to the vinyl siding guy: he offered to do the repair FOR FREE due to the delays. Which is great, how often does that happen?  I told him I would sing his praises on social media. But WILL they show up this time after repeated fails? He told me he has new front office staff to help him keep things straight, so we shall see. He's a super nice guy, and I'd like to have him back in a few years to quote me on a roof replacement.

He told me if I have a shingle come off in a storm, to call him. He seemed to know his way around working with homeowners' insurance companies to get them to pay for an entire roof replacement when you might have just a few damaged or missing shingles, because our state, he said, is one of the few that has a "matching statute" that requires this, purportedly to protect the home property values of others in a neighborhood. This sounded like a stretch to me, but I looked it up and it is indeed true! I wouldn't think that mismatched roof shingles would affect others' property values that much.

I am still a little leery of ever taking advantage of this since we've all heard how insurers will jack up their rates after you file a claim. But isn't this what insurance is for? My rates routinely go up 15% or so every year anyway, and I have never filed a claim. What do you think?