BEWARE OF SCAMMERS!!!

PLEASE READ THIS MESSAGE! IT IS ABOUT A SCAM THAT IS GOING AROUND RIGHT NOW AND IT JUST MIGHT END UP SAVING YOU A LOT OF MONEY!  DON’T WANT TO TAKE THE TIME TO READ IT AND YOU MIGHT JUST BE THEIR NEXT VICTIM.

Okay, I know that this blog is supposed be of cell phone pictures, but since I am the creator of this blog I am going to make an exception to the rule and share this story because I feel it is important for everyone to know about it.  To keep true to the pages purpose here is one picture I took on my phone and messed around with a bit.  It is me trying to give the evil eye which I feel is a very fitting picture to go with this post. I call it, 'If  Looks Could Kill!'  LOL!  You should see the original, but I make it a point not to put recognisable pictures of me on this page, so sorry I guess you will never see it.

Scams, we have all heard about them before but most people think that they would recognize a scam if they heard one and wouldn’t be fooled by it .  Well, most of the time you probably wouldn’t, but I am going to tell you a story about a group of scammers who are so despicable and heartless that they will pose as your own family members in trouble to scam you out of your money.  This is my experience with such a scammer.  I woke up the other day to the sound of my grandma’s voice on the phone.  She was talking rather loudly, though she often does, so I didn’t really think much of it.  I just got up and went downstairs to get some breakfast.  She was just finishing up the conversation and upon hanging up the phone she came to me in a panic saying that she needed me to drive her to the bank because my brother was in trouble and needed money fast.  Well, I know my brother and he isn’t the kind of guy to get into trouble, or to ask my grandma for money.  The first thing I said to her when she told me this was, “Well how do you know that it was really him?  They could just be saying that they are him to get your money?  What did he say? What kind of trouble is her in?”  She said She knew that it was him because she knew my brothers voice and was sure it was him.  “Okay,” I said, still skeptical,  “What did he do?  He isn’t really the kind of guy to go around getting into trouble.  What is he in jail and needs you to bail him out?”  I was being sarcastic when I said this.  Because I didn’t think it was him and at that point suspected it was a poser trying to scam her out of her money.  But the story that she told me after I said this was not like any other scam I had ever heard before and after hearing it I didn’t know what to think.  She said that he and a friend had taken a last minute trip to Canada and shortly after leaving the airport in a rental car he had ran a red light and hitting another car. He also told her that in the crash her had suffered a broken nose, two black eyes and a busted tooth so he couldn’t talk very well.  He had been checked out at the hospital after the accident and taken to jail shortly after with charges for reckless driving and had spent the night there.  He asked her not to tell anyone especially my parents because he didn’t want to upset them.  She promised that she wouldn’t, then he handed the phone to a man who was supposed to be his lawyer.  The name he used was Mr. Harper.  No first name and possibly made up.  Harper then proceeded to tell her that he had been negotiating a deal and that the charges against my brother would be dropped if he would pay the damages to the woman’s rental car that he had hit.  Apparently the woman he had hit was from the Dominican Republic and had been on the way to the airport to catch a flight home when my brother hit her.  She had not been hurt in the crash, and was even able to make the flight home, but was requesting that money be sent to her account in the Dominican Republic to cover the damages to the rental car. The amount needed to cover the damages, was $3,850 dollars, which had to be transferred as soon as possible.  Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!  I think that is enough of the BS for you to get the point of how far these ass faces will go to scam people out of their money.  There was a name he gave her for the account the money was to be sent to, but no account number oddly enough.  I had it written down, but have misplaced it somewhere and don’t remember what it was.  It was something like Mariana Oriano or Olioero…something like that… and it was going to La Vega in the Dominican Republic.  I wish I could remember that name!  If I ever find the paper I will post the real name, but for now that is all I’ve got.  Hopefully it helps. Though he is not likely to use these names again he has probably changed them already.  My grandma was lucky that my sister and I were there and had not been so easily fooled by the story.   My sister also lives with her and was told the story too by this point.  Both of us felt that there was something fishy about it all.  But neither of us had talked to the guy who was supposed to have been my brother, so we didn’t know if it was true or not.  However unlikely it seemed there was at least a slight possibility that it could be true and her really did need help and had both started to worry about my brother’s well being.  I mean, Who would make up a story like that?  Who would dare to call and pose as our brother and how could he have known so much about us?  I don’t think that anybody would ever expect to have someone pull something like this on them to get their money.  We were all baffled and confused by the whole thing and didn’t know quite what to think about it at first.  If it was my brother we wanted to help him and were worried about him, but something didn’t feel right about it.  We tried to inquire further and find out more about the strange conversation my grandma had had with these people and what the “Lawyer” had said she needed to do, but she was so frantic and worried about my brother that all she could think about was getting to the bank and she had to do it fast so she could do what she needed to do and get back before the “lawyer” called back.  He had given her an hour to get $3’850 cash from the bank and take it to a place called Check into Cash where there was a Western Union Bank inside.  That is all she told us until we were in the car on the way to the bank.  I was able to ask her some more questions about the conversation on the way to the bank and the more I knew the more I suspected that something was wrong.  Still I didn’t know what to do, she was positive it was him and was determined to keep her promise to help him and not to tell my parents.  I was able to convince her to at least tell the bankers the story to see what they thought about it.  Lucky for her they suspected something fishy about it too and told her that there were a lot of scams going around right now with people posing as other people’s family members.  They pointed out that the biggest red flag was that they wanted her to send cash and that it was going to the Dominican Republic.  She was still not convinced that it was a scam and insisted that she was sure it had been my brother because she new him and new his voice and that it had sounded just like him.  But with what the bankers told us I had been convinced that it was a definitely a scam and had to find a way to convince her that it was too before it was too late. She is so pigheaded that she would have found a way to do it with or without my help   So I said, “ Okay, say it is him, I know that he asked you not to tell my parents because it would upset them, but you had a some his age once, if it was your son wouldn’t you want to know?”  She said, “Well yes, but this is different.  I promised him that I wouldn’t say anything and you know your mother if she found out she flip out on him and if he has been hurt he doesn’t need that.”  Okay, well you might not think it is a scam but I do and I can’t let you do this without knowing first.  I am going to call my home and ask to talk to him.  If he did taken a trip to Canada he wouldn’t leave without telling anyone.  If they say that he did take a last minute trip to Canada then we will know that it is him and you could take out the money and sent it to him and I won’t tell my parents anything about it.  I will let him do that.  I am not asking your permission, you and her can be mad at me if you want, but I am calling!”  So I made the call.  My mom answered the phone and when I asked her if her was there she said that he was at school, but that she had seen him earlier that morning before he left.  So he didn’t take any overnight trips to Canada with his friend?”  I asked.  Of course, there had been no trip to Canada, he had not been in a wreck, and was not sitting in jail with a banged up face.  The person who had talked to my grandma was a poser and a scam artist. I was able to save my grandma $3,850 and all it took was one quick call to my mom on my cell phone.  But we had come very close to being scammed.  I am glad that she came to me for help because if she had gone if to the bank by herself without saying anything…It makes me to mad to think about it.  I was so freaking pissed!  I couldn’t believe it!  I mean, how can someone do such a thing?  I just don’t get it and I don’t think I ever will.  I called the police to report the scam, but they said that they couldn’t do anything because it was a foreign call and they didn’t deal with foreign issues.  Seriously, nothing… they couldn’t do a damn thing!  More like they wouldn’t!  If they couldn’t do anything couldn’t they have directed us to someone who could do something about it?  We were lucky, we may have been scammed, but at least we hadn’t lost any money over it.  But there are people who have been scammed by these guys.  We weren’t the first people they ever tried to scam and me won’t be the last.  They were professionals.  It was scary how much they knew about us.  Well, the police might not be able to do anything, and the FBI may have better things to do, but I am not a, consider yourself lucky but there really isn’t anything you can do about it kind of girl!  I feel like I have to do something.  Even if all I can do is spread the word.  So I did this for all of those honest, decent, law- abiding people out there who work hard for their money.  PLEASE, help me spread the word.  Forward this note to all of you friends.  Call your grandparents and tell them to tell their friends.  Tell the bum on the street while you are waiting for the bus.  Who knows, he might not have any money but he might know someone who does.  Tell your teachers, your butcher, your hair stylist, chiropractor, coach, the policeman that pulls you over for speeding, the guy who is sitting next to you at the DMV while you await your call to the counter.  The…well, I think you get what I mean.  We have a choice here, we can take the knowledge we have and use it against them to protect ourselves or we can chose to continue living in oblivion thinking that it could never happen to us.  I am telling you know, it can, and it will.  It is only a matter of time before a scammer calls you.  Will you be ready?  A scammer could be talking to your grandma pretending to be you right now.  So call her, tell her that you are okay, that if you ever take a trip to Canada or anywhere else that you will let her know first and that if you do run into trouble you expect her to make you prove that it is you first.  Have a code word that only you and your family know.  Trust that code word with no one.  It could be, sherbet lemons, the tin man, the purple pie man, anything.  It doesn’t even have to be a word it could be a simple tune that you hum for them.  Pick something together that you know you will all remember and if the person calling them posing as you doesn’t know that pass code then they should hang up.  Don’t give any personal information out over the phone.  Don’t sign up for any prepaid lawn care services with those guys going door to door unless you know they are a reputable company and have researched them first.  If you have any suspicions or doubts, about anyone or anything then take some time to check it out first.  Listen to your gut, you can never be too careful.  If this message helps just one person from getting scammed then it will be worth the time I took writing it.  There is not much more to say, just be careful about who you trust.  You may be an honest person yourself, but not everyone is as trust worthy as you.  Thank you for taking the time to read this and spreading the word.

A lesson learned the hard way

The motive

These are some pictures I took back in April  up in Little Cottonwood Canyon  just before  the sun rose over the mountains.  Not much to look at, but the reason for posting them is to tell a story that will hopefully help others from making the same mistake I did.

Evidence of the crime.

A picture I took of my dog Ruby while we were waiting for the sun to rise over the mountain tops so that I could capture it on camera to add to my photo collection.

The story behind the pictures.

  This is the quick version of the story.  I had written up a very entertaining story with all of my crazy thoughts and more details, but just after it was finished I lost it all when the computer froze up.  It took me two hours to write and I don't have the time or the patience to write it all up again, so this will have to do.  My apologies, it really was a funny story.

I woke up on April 27th at 4:30AM and couldn't get back to sleep and I am rarely ever up that early so I made the whimsical decision to go up to the canyon to catch the sun rising over the distant ridges.  The catch 22, I live with my 85-year-old grandma and have two dogs that are major pains in the ass.  They bark like freaking maniacs when they are outside and out of courtesy to her I decided to take them with me so that she wouldn't be cross if they should wake her up. The thought crossed my mind that they may not be aloud in the canyon, but I wasn't sure, so I loaded the in the car deciding that I would watch out foe signs on the way up and leave them in the car or just go take pictures from the car.  So off the the canyon I went.  I was about a mile for home when I realised that I had forgotten my glasses  I don't see very well in the dark without my glasses and am supposed to wear them to drive, but I am very stubborn, and once I set out to do something there is no detouring me from my goal.  Not wanting to miss the opportunity I went on without them.  If I had known the consequences of this decision I would have turned back to get them, but I told myself that it would be fine and that I would just have to drive slowly up the canyon so read the signs. I can still read street signs I just have to be right on top of them before I can read them.  When I got up there I read every sign I cam across and didn't see any signs that said "NO DOGS" so I went on and when I was satisfied that it was okay I pulled over to park.  I popped the trunk to grab some poop sacks just in case and up the canyon we went in search for the perfect spot.  Both dogs were leashed and I neither of them so much as peed up there, but that didn't matter to the cop that spotted me only five minutes later. there.  I had only snapped a few pictures, the ones you see above when he spotted me and informed me that dogs where strictly prohibited in both the Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons because the entire salt lake valley gets their supply from the run off.  I apologised and told him that I didn't know.  He told me that there were signs posted all over the entrance to the canyon and that I should have payed better attention.  He also said that he was obligated to write me a ticket regardless because the law was strictly enforced.  So I made the hike back to my car and waited for him to write the ticket feeling like a compete idiot.  How could I have lived in Utah my entire life and not know that?  Shouldn't they teach you that in school or something?  If I had even so much as suspected that I could potentially contaminate the entire valleys drinking water I would never have even dreamed of taking them up there with me.  When I had though that dogs may not be aloud in the canyon I was thinking that it was more along the lines of disturbing the wild life or keeping a public area clean like in a park, but not this.  I was both shocked and extremely embarrassed that I did not know this.  I apologised again and even thanked the officer and went on my way with my "tale between my legs."  When it came time to pay the ticket I didn't have any money to pay it and hadn't been told how much the fine would be, so i waited until pay day to pay it.  After all, you can't pay a ticket with money you don't have.  Payday was 3 days after the ticket was due, but when I went to pay it I was told that I was going to have to meet with a judge first.  I made the appointment with the judge.  The soonest I could get in was June 7th at 1:15PM.  I showed up on time, plead on contest due to ignorance in a room filled with 30 other people most of which were there for DUI, assault, or theft charges.  It was humiliating, but I did what I had to do, payed the $100 fine in full that day and went on my way taking the whole thing as a lesson learned the hard way. I thought that the who thing was behind me, but little did I know that it would come back to bite me in the but.  Several months later when it came time to do a regular back ground check for the job I have worked at for over 11 years, I ran into a snag when I had to mark the yes box for the first time under the question, "have you ever been charged with a misdemeanor or felony."  A little known fact, having your dogs "in a water shed" AKA up in the canyon is a type B misdemeanor.  At least it is if you don't pay the fine on time.  Still not sure on that one, all I know is that when I went to court I was told that it was a heath code violation which is a type B misdemeanor.  Anyway, the form said that I needed to attach the Court docket, which I did, after having to drive clear up to the court house again to get a copy of it.  I had misplaced the copy they sent home with me. I though I had put it in with all of my other important documents, but when I went to look for it I couldn't find it. So I went up to the court house on my day off to get a copy and hand delivered everything to the main office myself.  Again, I though that was that, but no.  More that a month goes by and my boss informs me that the main office had called her and told her that my back ground check came back denied.  and that I couldn't work with the clients unsupervised until further notice. Apparently the board of licencing needed more information surrounding the criminal charges and until they received it and reviewed the information I was not to be trusted to work alone with children or vulnerable adults.  Well, I work at a group home with 8 mentally and physically disable adult women, so I had to explaining this to the other staff I work with and boy was that fun!  It was seriously humiliating!  I couldn't believe what was happening!  I had made the stupid, but honest mistake of having my dog up in the canyon and didn't have the money to pay it on time, so I wasn't safe to work around vulnerable people unsupervised?  To me, it didn't make any sense.  I may be stupid, but come on people, I am not a pedophile!  That is what I felt they were treating me like.  It was like I was guilty until proven innocent.   That is kinda ass backwards isn't it?  So I ended up having to write a hand written letter explaining what had happened in detail.  It took me hours to do and I revised it three times to make sure the wording was right and that it didn't come off as being too emotionally charged which was really hard because I was really sick about it.  The one thing that I hate most is being accused of something I didn't do and though that isn't exactly what they were doing, I know that it was just a precaution and that they had to fallow procedures, but I couldn't help it!  I felt like I was being accused of some heinous crime.  Tell me that you would not have felt the same way if you had been told that you couldn't be left unsupervised with the people you had cared for for more than 11 years until a hearing was held by a comity of socially workers to review your case.  Three weeks, that is how long I had to work supervised, three weeks!  It seemed like the nightmare that would never end.  I was told about this right after Thanksgiving.  The letter was due by the 6th of December but the review wasn't until the 15th at which time a decision was to be made about weather or not I was okay to go back to work unsupervised or if I would have to find another job.  Of course giving the nature of my crime I was confidant that I was going to be okayed to go back to work, but until then, work was just not the same. Well, today is December 17th and I am sure you are wondering what the verdict was.  I PASSED!  After all of that I was finally okayed my the board to go back to unsupervised duty at work!  It is such a relief to have that whole ordeal behind me!  I am sharing this story with you all in hopes to prevent this from happening to someone else.  Please don't make the same mistake I did!  Research the area before taking your dog or any pet for that matter to any public place weather it me a canyon, a forest, or a beach, what have you, take a few minutes and RESEARCH it first.  Oh, and for peat sakes if you have a corrective lenses restriction on your Drivers licence don't forget your glasses!  If you do forget them, go back and get them ASAP !  LOL!  Trust me, it isn't worth the risk!

Sin City

For those who have been to Vegas these pictures are pretty self explanatory. So I'm not going to comment on each individual picture.  For those who haven't been, I definitely recommend a trip there to check it out. So what are you waiting for?  Get down there and start snapping your own pictures.  Try and see if you can get some better than mine.  Some advice for those who plan on doing a little gambling while you are there.  Quit while you are ahead.  Just remember that and you won't end up losing the deed to your house.  Have fun!

Animals animals & more animals!

 Calamity the ferret!  So stinking cute!

Sweet little baby Calamity "snug as a bug in a rug" all tucked into my apron when I was cooking one day.  She was sick when I first got her, so I put her in there to keep her warm.  I only had her for a few months because as she got older I became extremely allergic to her.  She went to a really good home though!  I still miss her a lot!  She was one of my favorite pets.  I hate having allergies! It sucks!  :(

Jack Jack.. Short for Jumping Jack Flash.  He earned that name because he jumped all around the house like a maniac.  LOL! He was so cute!  I miss him too!  I ended up having to take him to the humane society because I couldn't afford to get him neutered and he started spraying urine all over the place. 

Electra the leopard gecko.  What a cute little baby!

Electra and Flicka in the Yin Yang pose.

Electra all grown up. Quite a metamorphosis!

What a chunk!

Flicka all grow up. Look at that fat tale!  She loved to eat! Her favorite treat was wax worms.  I use the past tense because I no longer have them.  They are still alive though at leas I hope they are.  I ended up selling them because my sister needed help with her twins and I wasn't able to provide them with the proper care anymore. I miss them a lot!  They were really cool! :(

Flicka!  So pretty!  I don't think she enjoyed me taking pictures of her very much.

Flicka and Electra imitating the yin yang again.

Cane the corn snake chilling on my shoulder.

Wrapped around the towel rack.  I think this picture is wicked cool!

Canes imitation of a pretzel.

Posing as as spade.

Snakes are so amazingly flexible.  Impressive isn't it!

Figure 8, well almost.. It is still a really cool picture!

S is for snake.

All tied in a knot.

Not the greatest picture, but I liked the way he was all coiled up.

Back and belly side by side.  Snakes are so cool!  No other animal can do that!

The corn like marking on his belly.  Hence the name corn snake.

Hello!

I love his markings.

Cane soaking to help him shed.  He is so beautiful!

A litter of fuzzies all in a row.  So cute!  It was really hard for me at first to feed them to my snake because I used to have pet mice, but a snakes got to eat too. 

The poor little guy in the middle had a tail when he was born, sadly it got bitten off by Cane before he decided he wasn't hungry.  Stupid snake!  I felt so bad for the little guy I ended up keeping him as a pet for a while.  His name was Lucky.

A pile of pinkies.  I tried breeding my own feeder mice for cane and it was crazy hard.  They populated faster than Cane could eat them.  So I had to donate most of them to pet stores.  I eventually gave up.

Pandora trying to find a way to escape.

Houdini and Pandora.  Can you spot them amongst the leaves?

The duck posy.  L to R, Homer, Gabby, Zoro, and Valentino.

I names him that because he had a heart shaped marking in the middle of his chest.

We got them from IFA when we found two little wild ducks in our ward that got washed in with the irrigation water.  I names them Luise and Clark. I released them back into the wild as soon as they were old enough to fly. And kept the others for a year or two before it got too hard to care for them anymore and found them a new home.  It was fun but really hard!  Anyone wanting a cute little baby duck for Easter, remember that it is more work than you can ever imagine. Winter is especially hard.

Homer the Peking duck.  Quack quack!

Stop taking pictures already!

Evette poses for the camera after a visit to the groomers.  She is so loving it, can't you tell.  LOL!

Lunch time!  Pepper with her mommy and siblings.

Pepper as a puppy.

So stinking adorable!

Pepper says hello to the camera.  I think she though it was a toy.

Pepper snuggling with baby Zoey.  So freaking cute!

Pepper says, "come scratch my belly!"

My sister's doggy JoJo.  He is Mr. shy and quiet.

JoJo after he's summer sheering.

My grandma's wahwa Quita.  Isn't she beautiful!

           

My mom's doggy Tino.  He is the sweetest Chihuahua ever!

My doggy Ruby as a puppy.  Playing tug-of-war with her leash.

All tuckered out after playing hard.

Waiting for me to throw her ball.

On the way to the dog park.

She loves to play tug-of-war.

All tuckered out again.

Ready for some more fun after a quick cat nap.  I mean dog nap. Ha ha!

                                

                                                                               Hello!

                     Throw the ball already!

Such a beautiful dog!

The best of friends!

Sunny bird says, "Hi!"

Peak-a-boo Sunny bird!