Liquidating, Step away, Forced to play

So I finally got the paperwork for my mom’s estate through the courts last week.  I took the first step in liquidating her assets by executing a sell order on her Sherwin Williams stock that she acquired at her first post marriage job back in the 80’s.  Yesterday I went to a nearby Wells Fargo branch to see if I had everything I needed to gain control of her bank accounts.  Well I did and I didn’t.

The branch manager said I needed to establish a bank account for the estate along with a federal EIN number for the estate.  The funds could then be liquidated and moved into this estate account which I would have full control over.  According to the lawyer that handled the summary administration probate paperwork, this should not be necessary however in the big picture it may actually be better for me logistically.

If things went the way the lawyer said the bank would be cutting three equal checks to my brother, my sister and I which sounds ok until you figure in the accounting that needs to be done before things are really split.  Sorting out mom’s estate has involved me fronting a wad of cash and I also have to account for possible tax liabilities at the end of the year.  All that stuff needs to be accounted for before the split so having an estate account allows me to do it cleanly instead of checks going out only to have other checks written to come back to me.

Unfortunately all of this legwork has had to be done because mom never got around to putting my name on her bank accounts and giving me power of attorney, two things she talked about doing for years.  Navigating my way through the paperwork has been a learning process. I still have some more fog to get through before I am in the clear.

Although there have been many aspects of mom’s passing that invoke pain, tears, and sorrow, working on the estate financials has not been one of them.  This has been like a big tangled ball of string that I have been slowly untangling.  It becomes a tactical exercise, not an emotional one.  I feel obligated to get it handled as correctly, quickly and fairly for my siblings as possible.  Mom would want it no other way.

Last night when I got home I attended to the chickens.  Attending to the chickens means checking for eggs, scooping out any poop in their bedding and cleaning/refilling their food, water, and grit.  Last night I had a very close call.

When we first got the chickens they were very jumpy around us, if we got too close they would dash away.  Well those days are long gone.  We have firmly established in the chickens minds that we are their providers.  When I let them out of their coop they all mill about my feet expecting me to shower them with cracked corn goodness. It’s cute but it also can be dangerous.  The chickens will continue to place themselves under my feet even as I am walking.  You literally have to be looking down the entire time when they are nearby.  Both Cindy and I have had multiple episodes of almost stepping on them, they don’t move out of the way, even if your foot is on top of them.

Well last night I was carting the coop to a new location.  As I did I was trying to look around the end of it to find a good parking spot.  All of a sudden I again felt something under my foot just as I was ready to place it with my full weight on top.  I look down and see Wilma squatted down, mere milliseconds from me stepping on her.  Luckily I was able to stop and shoo her away.

Over the weekend we had another unintended close call. We had the chickens out roaming freely which means the dogs had to be indoors, contained.  Cindy came out of the patio door and Sadie shot out with her as she is accustomed to doing.  When I saw Sadie come out I freaked a bit and tried to move into position to intercept her if she headed for a chicken.  I was quite surprised she did nothing of the sort.  She just hung there and looked at them as I  directed her back inside.  I think Sadie actually realizes that the chickens are part of the inner circle as well and are “paws off”.

It would be great if we could allow the chickens the mingle with the dogs.  We actually already allow Nicki to  be loose with the hens roaming since she is not able to catch them anymore.  We would love to give Sadie the same leeway but if she did snap and harm a chicken we would never forgive ourselves.  That being said we might do more dog/chicken integration where Sadie is on her extended leash so we still have control while allowing them to interact more.

Last night I was playing some WoW, trying to get through the final boss raid of the current expansion.  It’s something most people have done months ago.  I figured I should at least do it with one of 10 characters since the new expansion is coming out in November. I felt bad as I was playing as Cindy was cleaning up and doing laundry. She insisted that I keep playing, she actually likes when I take the time to game and relax.  It’s amazing.