PIE R SQUARE DAY

 

I guess it's 3.14 day, so it's nice to have a piece of pie to honor the occasion.

Yesterday, Bill picked out a beautiful piece of green cheesecake at The Bread Basket Bakery north of Bonners Ferry. 

Along with Foster, we took an afternoon trip to Bonners Ferry so, as a hard-working member of Trout Unlimited, he could put out some posters promoting the upcoming "Fly-Fishing Film Tour." 

Check out the post above and tell your area fly-fishing friends to plan to attend. Note the website where tickets can be purchased.  

I'm not a fly fisher, but my family members who are avid participants in the sport always enjoy this show at the Panida in downtown Sandpoint. 

During our travels, we also stopped at the hardware center north of Bonners Ferry to pick up some potting soil.  

As you can see from the photo below, the brownie 'maters and pansies are outgrowing their birthing pots. 

Now, it's time to put them in toddler pots to allow them to grow even more. 

So, I'll get things set up out in the greenhouse and do some leisurely transplanting this week. 

I think winter may be over, so I'm hoping some of the plants can also move into the greenhouse.

As I said to Bill yesterday, the extension cord can move from the outdoor water tank heater to the greenhouse. 

It's exciting to wake up on a morning and FINALLY feel like we can start moving forward toward spring. 

It's also exciting to know that we're one day closer to March Madness. 

Slowly but surely, I'm filling out brackets.  Seems there were some glitches yesterday---one saying two or three times after filling out the form that I hadn't beaten the buzzer. 

Later, I again filled out multiple forms only to have the gods tell me that something had gone wrong, and I couldn't save the bracket. 

So far, I've completed two and am hoping to do a few more. 

It was fun to see the graphic below, showing the ZAGS consistency in tournaments over the past few years. 

Speaking of computers and nasty glitches, I'm sharing an experience I had yesterday that had me pounding on my desk and swearing while talking to an individual named Dave on the phone. 

Dave kept insisting that he was doing his best to return my $372 which Norton Life Lock had charged me for computer security WITHOUT my permission. 

Why did this happen?

Bill bought me a new laptop for Christmas in 2021. Along with it, he purchased virus protection and a word-processing program.

Over the past several weeks, I had received one or two reminders that my virus coverage would have to be renewed soon. 

I dismissed the notes, figuring that I would eventually decide if I wanted to use that particular virus protection or consider something else. 

Well, yesterday, when I received what looked like a perfectly legitimate email, "thanking me for my purchase," I opened the note and saw the $372 dollar invoice for something I had not ordered.

I immediately responded and wrote, "I did not order this. Cancel it." 

Later, I looked at the invoice again and saw a telephone number to call if I had any questions. 

So, I called and Dave answered.  

When I told him I hadn't ordered the security protection, he said that it was set up to automatically renew and that the only way I could cancel the charge now was to fill out a form and get my refund through my online banking. 

"I don't do online banking," I said. 

"Well, it's just a one-time use of it," he said. "Then, you don't have to use it again."  The catch through all of this circuitous conversation was that every step in the process had to be done while Dave was still on the phone. 

Long story short, after progressing toward total eruption and pounding on my desk, I took the phone down to Bill who followed the same approach, making the same logical statements that I had done several times upstairs. 

Bill also learned from Dave that he could not tell us the name of the bank where the debit card that had been used for the $372 charge.

"We have the Better Business Bureau monitoring our calls," he said," and I could lose my job." 

And, when Bill asked for the manager, a voice suspiciously similar to Dave's (only lower) came on, eventually insisting that if we did not do this now, we would incur a regular annual charge of $400 instead of $372.

After more frustration, Bill finally talked again to the higher voice named Dave and told him he would call him back.  

Dave said, "Thank you for wasting your time and my time."

I quickly called my bank and learned that they had received similar calls from customers who had endured the same nightmare. 

Normally, I totally dismiss such things, but in this case, there was just enough information that made sense, knowing that my virus protection running out and for the invoice to come directly to my inbox, that I took the bait. 

The staff member at my bank reassured me that if a fraudulent charge had occurred with my account, that they would take care of it. 

So, just passing this along for anyone who might suffer a similar experience. 

Since we are working our way to St. Patrick's Day, I'll leave you with a little taste of Ireland. 

Happy Tuesday. 

Dedicated to Sandpoint, Idaho, 

AND to all the towns that we've all loved so well even while enduring their individual challenges.