Low Rating for Credit Rating Organization

       During all of my long life I have never had any direct contact with a credit rating organization until recently. Recently my credit report was sent to me. The first credit report I ever received in my whole life! So why am I giving a credit rating group a low rating? Was my credit rating low? No.  All information about me was wrong! Not one right address in the whole bunch.

      I decided to phone the organization and ask them to correct the information. The credit reporting group said they couldn't correct the info because it was passed on to them from the credit rating agency. So I phoned the agency. Yes, it would be easy to correct the info, just give me your Social Insurance Number (S.I.N.)and we'll pull your file up. Well, I don't give out my S.I.N. unless I'm dealing with government. Then they asked for my credit card number. I really became suspicious with that one and asked to speak to someone else. The next guy was really infuriating. A real icy, thuggy kind of guy. No help from him. I asked what other information I had that would be acceptable for him to open my file. I kept getting the same answer and being insulted some more. I finally asked him what government agency regulated them. He immediately gave me a number for consumer affairs and my conversation with the ice man ended..

      So I decided to see if my bank could help. Yes, they would help because I had been given such a rough time. The next day I received a call from someone who didn't seem connected to anything. I finally determined the she was a disputes settling expert and a fraud investigator. It took me a long time to determine where this person fit in. She didn't ask me for information, just wanted to know what had happened in my dealings with the credit rating agency and that she was trying to solve the problem. After 45 minutes she told me that there was a page on the credit rating agency's web site that I could print and have my information corrected. That's it . Just fill in the form. Why hadn't the thug on the phone told me this? It was his company. So after much trouble to change some information it turned out to be simple to change it.

     
      Now I'm left thinking that if they make such elementary mistakes with addresses , can I trust them with my credit rating?

I Get a Call From the Bull Pen!

      Now I know what the bull pen has to do with baseball. I loved to play baseball but I haven't played for fifty years. Besides that I was never a pitcher....I couldn't throw.

     Anyway there was my call display with Bullpen on it. The baseball idea disappeared in one ring. Then I thought what downtown bar could this be? I don't want to answer this call. I have a sense of humor in my opinion and have been from time to time in on pranks. I enjoy good humor.

     At that time Home Farm Girl came along and she decided to answer the call and give whoever a lot more than "what for." She was prepared to straighten this caller out. She immediately demanded to know who was calling. To her surprise the caller claimed to be an RCMP officer. That really got her attention and she was sure that this was a prank call. The poor officer, who did not have the greatest of communication, skills finally persuaded her that he was for real. Home Farm Girl had called the RCMP earlier to get some information and they were calling back.

    Now I have to question the wisdom of the RCMP for setting up a system where the caller ID is Bullpen. Apparently they have various teams with names and this team was for real the "Bullpen." I'm not sure that a name such as Bullpen is at all appropriate for a police officer call display. People in some distress may be come totally confused. People like me would not answer. I don't think Bullpen really does anything for the good of public relations. I hope that the RCMP comes up with a more business like term for their call display.

Strolling to Chicago

         As you know, I am somewhat intrigued by distant connections so to be in Chicago with two of my brothers at the same time is a long shot.

        Remember that we were born and raised on an isolated farm. We went to the local village with horse and wagon in the summer and horse and sleigh in the winter. We didn't get very far from home until in our teen years. Things changed rapidly as new cars were purchased, good roads built and people had some extra money to use for travelling.

       Both of my brothers have done some travelling. They both drove from Saskatchewan to Chicago and loved the drive.

      So here are my brothers and their wives arriving at my daughter's wedding at Morton Arboretum in Chicago. It was a fun time.

I'm Back at Hiawatha House

       I've  been away for awhile and I'm happy to be back at Hiawatha House. It was nice to be away from the blog but I did miss reading your blogs and looking at comments. Blogs I follow are a variety of fine photos, ideas to think about, information and everyday life. I enjoy them all.

      I went to Chicago for my daughter's wedding and we stayed to tour some of the city. What an impressive city! There's much to see and do. Those who have visited Chicago will know what I'm talking about and for those who haven't been there , you should go. My description of Chicago will not do justice but there are many places to get information about the city.

     We did a boat architecture tour where they described buildings as we drifted by. Later we did a bus tour that had about 20 stops . You could stop where ever you wanted and get back on later. The tour mainly described the buildings and what made Chicago beautiful with buildings and parks.

    One of the boats used for the Architecture tour with some chicago skyline in the background.

          I also went upt he Sears Tower, now Willis Tower and went out on the glass balcony and took this picture below my feet. Fun!    
      We checked out the Morton Arboretum and the Chicago Botanical garden. We also spent time at the Field Museum of natural History. The time spent was not nearly long enough but I did get to see some of it. The train system is amazing!

     The forest preserves around Chicago make it full of green space. It's quite amazing that they've had the foresight to keep vast areas green.

Two Kinds of Bloggers

       Now I know there are many kinds of bloggers, but for the purposes of this post there will only be two kinds. One kind is the one that's out there in Internet land. The other kind is the one you have met and know on a physical basis. I don't know if any study or analysis has been done on the kinds of bloggers, but I'm sure it could get complicated on some university communications course.


       I have a few blogs where I actually know the blogger. Yesterday the "know the blogger types" got one bigger. I met Teresa from Creations. I have followed Teresa for more than a year and found her blog very interesting. Teresa is a photographer and artist. Teresa is a naturalist who has a tremendous interest in birds , animals, plants and any other creature that happens to come along. Teresa features many of her creations on her blog  so you get to know a person and an artist.

       So yesterday was the big day when I met Teresa. She had an art show at the Marjory Wood Gallery at the Kerry Wood Nature Center in Red Deer. I had dropped into the nature center to see her paintings before. So in meeting Teresa in person I found someone who is more passionate about art than came across in her blog. I also found that she uses more mediums than I had sen before. I also found some different paintings other than birds. She has done buildings and water colors. Talking to Teresa was easy and it felt like I had known her for a long time.

      Now the picture looks like I'm making some significant comment about art. I'm not. I can fake a lot of things but I can't fake it when it comes to art. My knowledge and understanding of art are pretty limited . However, I do like art and appreciate what effort artists put into their creations.


       There was a bonus as Teresa had a son and daughter with her as well as her trusty guide who takes her to all the great places to view her favorite subjects.


       So now I not only know Ramblings of a  Diet Pop Addict..., Whats In Teds Head , Teacher Man, Teacher Ms, My Journey to Mayo,  but Delights Of Creation, fine art inspired by Nature and Life.  


      


    

Red's Yellow Rose Bush

        When I bought my house in 1970 it was quite well landscaped with trees, shrubs and perennials. A yellow rose bush was well established in 1970.

       The yellow rosebush has had varied success over the years. Sometimes it goes three or four years and doesn't bloom. Then for a few years it blooms. This varied performance may be from my uniformed care. As you see from the trim job, I have limited ability. How it got such sizeable lateral branches I don't know. I try to water the plant adequately, but I don't know what watering pattern this rose requires. Some years there are blooms but the petals go brown quickly and you don't get to enjoy the beauty of the rose for very long.

       I know that my yellow rose is a graft because every once in a while I get a few red roses. I quickly trim these red roses out as I think they may take over the plant. I now know that the yellow rose and the red rose have a different number of leaf parts.

       For whatever reason my rose bush has really out done itself with blossoms  this year. I think there are more blossoms this year than all the other years combined. The rose bush is doing well this year in spite of my limited care. I'm not complaining. I'll just share my good fortune with you.
      

Have a Great Fourth of July

       To all my American readers:

HAVE A GREAT FOURTH OF JULY

Sometimes You Learn an Awful Lot in one Afternoon

      I have to write this post right away while the sting of reality is still fresh on my mind.

       I have written about having a couple of  super teenagers for neighbors and how they are so adept at technology. I have worked hard to learn some things but I always knew that if I was really stuck I could get bailed out by either one of them.

       So I was a little surprised a few days ago when I was asked if I could help Courtney set up a blog. I somehow or other didn't think this fit. However, I did arrange a time to work on the blog. Courtney is going to the Mayo clinic for some testing so she wanted to set up a blog to keep friends and relatives informed. When I got to her computer the blog was there so I did a double take. I wasn't surprised to see the blog with a post but I had been lead to think the blog wasn't set up. My mouth was too far open to say, "Nice blog, Courtney!" My mouth kept going and I tried to tell how a blog worked when reality set in and ,I said,"Well, what is it you need help in setting up?" The first two questions that were asked I didn't have a clue. I was able to assist with some simple things that Courtney hadn't had time to discover on her own so I saved her some time in searching.

     I went home with some homework. The rest of the afternoon was fun as we emailed back and forth on what we discovered.

     For me the afternoon was stimulating as I got to work with a young person. I am always amazed at how rapidly young people catch on to new things. I thought back to how lucky I was to be a teacher for thirty seven years and work with young people.


     So it's quite a jolt to go back to learning so much in a short time. Courtney learned a few things about her blog but she taught me a whole lot more .