Latter Part of Week; Lingering Financial Stuff; Keith Cam

Nothing out of the ordinary routine to report here.

Slowly, I continue to work on a section of the hedge in the back. These are large plants with trunks of two inches or so in diameter. I've been able to trim the tops and cut back the trunks to several feet above the ground. The two dozen trunks are devoid of any leaves and look like the naked stalks of a grove of some type of extraterrestrial plants.

It has rained several times, at long last, and the wind had been on the blustery side. So the yard is constantly being bombarded by snapped branches, rotten limbs, chewed and whole pine cones, twigs, etc. I spend about 45 minutes each day making the rounds to collect the debris.

Thursday, I received a letter from a law firm in Minneapolis seeking "to resolve the unpaid balance" on one of mother's credit cards. It's a chatty little missive that requests my assistance in this important matter. They even provide a "payment envelope for your convenience."

What they're not telling you is that you're under no legal obligation to pay the debt. In fact, one of their representatives called in April, and I told him as such, and he agreed with me. The debt is not in my name, so it is not my debt. I'd be willing to bet that a lot of people pay not realizing the true legal status.

Obviously, if the estate had been probated, then that would be another story. Of course, what little money was left went for funeral expenses and medical bills.

I've drawn up a snappy little reply that I'll mail last week. My final paragraph reads: "As you are well aware, I am under no obligation to pay this debt. And if I were under such an obligation, it would have been negated by the bankruptcy ruling. This letter should resolve any outstanding questions, and I anticipate no future correspondence from your firm."

And on the subject of medical bills, I got a note in the mail from Medicare explaining that a provided had been overpaid and was being asked to repay a portion of the fee.

I remember that there were dozens of bills for mother from physicians, clinics, hospitals, etc. People and places that you actually never saw. So you don't really know if the expenses are legitimate or not. And there's no way you can know who she did or didn't have contact with.

If I recall correctly, she saw someone several years ago who was double billing Medicare. Of course, the only reason I know this is because they got caught.

Alas, there are people in the medical field with all the ethics of a used car dealer in Tijuana. Someone who would sell a taxi with 300,000 miles on it to a pair of elderly nuns. "Sisters, you can't get a better deal anywhere in Mexico!"

Keith Cam Live is back. And he has a new blog: broken whole.

His last entry from his old journal was in January of 2005. He had recently met, Ben, his partner and moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles. For months I wondered how their lives were going. So it great to have him back.

His journey for last six months or so has been very, very difficult. A very rocky path through depression and bipolar disorder.

I remember thinking when I read his original journal that something was off. There was always such a frenzy of activity. I really wanted to write him and say "STOP!" But I knew that would have no effect.

PAX!