Oh yeah ... I'm back.

[Frank McCoy]

Was gone for two weeks while a misunderstanding about my
home-situation was cleared up.

From information supplied by my probation-officer, Judge
Sands *thought* I was in-default on my mortgage. I wasn't.

I *would* be in default after several months of not-living-here.
Actually, I just got a notice a couple of days ago, asking me to
verify that this still WAS my primary residence. It is.

I had closed down the house; but all that took to correct was turning
the electric back on, filling the water-tanks, and turning on the gas
at the main where I'd shut it off. It turned out to be *cheaper* to
just let both electric and gas *lapse* (after paying up-to-date) with
their "connection fees" for a few months and have THEM shut the
services off for non-payment of the idling-fees than to have them shut
the service off at the meters and lock them out, then turn them back
on at my request. That's because if THEY turn of the service, there's
no charge (other than paying the bills) to turn the service back on.
But if I *request* such a turn-off, then they charge me up the wazzoo
to turn the service back on. Go figure. Here I *thought* it would be
the other way around. As it was, all I had to do was turn things back
on, and since the bills were already paid, it cost me nothing.

Somehow the people thought I had given away all of my furniture and
stuff because (see above) I would be losing the house. Thus I'd have
nothing to live on, and with losing the house, would be a flight-risk.

Say what? I'm *VOLUNTARILY* going 35 miles, taking Public
Transportation to turn myself in (as ordered) and I'm a flight-risk???
Geesh.

That's what you get when you follow ALL the rules and do as you're
told. ;-{

During the not-quite-two-weeks in the local slammer, my biggest bummer
was not being able to contact my wife. It was like she'd dropped off
the face of the earth. It took me a little over a week to get
telephone-access; but when I did she wasn't there and her phone-system
said her phone-inbox was full! Nobody I could reach could contact her
either. Since she'd been acting a bit funny when I left, this worried
me almost sick.

I turned out she was taken to the hospital the same day I left.
I gather she went to a religious "healing service" the previous
weekend; and somebody THERE, told her, "You're HEALED!" So, she
believed it and stopped taking her medications. ;-{

That's not just her anti-depressants and psychological stabilizers,
but her heart-medicine, her diabetes medication, her thyroid
stimulant, and other stuff.

Add to THAT, and she got sick, diarrhea and vomiting, and you have a
perfect storm for making her head go strange ... especially
religiously. Damn. Oh yeah ... And THEN she got another
urinary-infection to boot! Previously when she's had THAT, she's done
strange things like lie out under a tree and try to give her jewelry
away because, "The angels were coming to take me away." Or, in
another similar case, she thought the Rapture had already happened;
and I was now "SAVED" ... Only I just didn't know it. Everybody ELSE
did, but not me. Go figure.

So, they've been holding her in various hospitals and care-units for
the past three weeks. Damn. She was sounding more normal; but they
wouldn't let her out. Finally they released her into managed-care
somewhere about 20 miles from here, up near where she used-to-live.

It seems they're NOT going to let her move back into her apartment to
live alone there any more. They want somebody watching over her ...
and they say it can't be me. ;-{

So, now, after moving all the NICE furniture into her apartment, we'll
have to move it all back here ... somehow.

Darn. She was *SO* comfortable living in that apartment. Lots of
friends living close and she had meals and exercise and such. But, I
guess she can't be trusted to take her medication if left alone, I
can't force her to, and besides, I had to go once; and I might have to
again.

All during that time I couldn't get my clothes or stuff back from her
place because (being in the hospital for mental problems) she couldn't
give me proper permission to get my things.

Ah well.
I'm back.
Yesterday I got MOST of my clothing and stuff, my main computer, and
(hopefully) I'll pick up the rest tomorrow. As for the rest of the
stuff there (the furniture and stuff), we'll have to work on that.

Three days ago Judge Sands modified my bail-restrictions back to what
they've been for the past three years or so; so I'm now allowed
computer-access again (as long as it's legal stuff, no sex-stories, or
other salacious material).

Now for the LONG wait for the appeals-process to wind through its
torturous path. I suppose, if the past is any indication, it could be
more years ... and, eventually, I might just have to do the sentence
after-all. On the third hand, I think *this* period WILL count
against the probation-period of my sentence ... unlike the six to
seven years of "pretrial probation" I've been through already.

Oh yeah: I've now got a car again.
Got it REAL cheap.
Not unexpectedly though, I've been having to fix it up a bit; probably
costing about twice or more what I paid for it. On the other hand,
even if I'd paid twice as much from a normal used-car-dealer for
another clunker, I'd probably have to spend nearly the same amount to
fix it up and make it drivable (by MY standards).

The wife has promised to help pay for the car. That's both because
she expects me to continue driving her around, AND because she just
wants me to have a car to drive. It was simply *miserable* being
without a car and using the bike to get groceries and things. I was
*just* starting to learn how to use the local Public Transportation,
which it turns out is far more convenient even to me, than I'd
expected it to be. I might even start using it to shop with, to save
gas for the car.

Still got things to do yet to satisfy bail requirements.
Somebody has got to come over here and "inspect" my computer for
non-allowed things. Since I spent about two weeks writing and
refining software to search for stuff like my stories accidentally
getting left on the machine, I'm pretty confident they won't find
anything.

I'm not sure if they're going to put some kind of logging-software on
the machine or not. They might. Ah well, I'm not planning on writing
or posting any controversial material unless and until I win this
case.

The restrictions are a pain; but only a MINOR one ... especially
compared to sitting in a cell, staring at four blank walls, with only
the most puerile kind of romance-novels to read. Oh, a FEW are
not-too-bad; but most suck. Still, even *they* beat not having
anything at all to read for a bookworm like me.

Oh yeah: How WAS jail?
Well, this was the local COUNTY jail, not the Federal Prison.
According to those who've been through the system, the local jail was
pretty bad. Funny: It didn't seem all that bad to ME. The meals
weren't great ... But I've had worse (AND much better) hospital-food.
They fed ME too danged little though; because (I think) I'm diabetic
and they wanted me to lose weight. The regular trays had a lot more
food in them. And yes, I DID lose a few pounds; and it wasn't all
THAT bad. With all the inactivity it's surprising I didn't GAIN
weight. They took (fairly) good care of my medical needs. Fairly. I
had a couple of gripes; but ....

No, my BIGGEST gripes were with their phone-system. I couldn't get
through to just about ANYBODY, especially my wife, or even my lawyer,
for the whole time up until the day I left. THEN, all of a sudden
everything started to work. Go figure. Oh well. At least people
WERE working in the background to get me out of there.

But no, it wasn't all that bad. I've lived through MUCH worse.
If (as other people say) the Federal Prison System is much better,
then except for the piss-poor reading-material thing, it won't bother
me much. Losing the house and stuff IN it, if I have to spend more
than a few months gone, now THAT will be a pain. Can't be helped
though. If the wife is going to live in a managed-care home, then I
won't be able to store my stuff with her like I previously planned.
And the kid now is NO help at all any more.

Ah well ... I'll cross THAT bridge when (and if) I come to it.
For now ... As I said, I'm back.
Hopefully for a LLLOOOONNNNGG time.
Doing my best to keep the gubmint happy.
;-}

My main worry right now (and I sometimes think the Prosecution's Hope)
is that I might (yet) die before the appeals-process completes.

On the other hand, THEY want to WIN too ... and not just have all this
effort put in by both sides be pissing in the wind.

Anybody here a lawyer-type who would know if the case would or even
COULD continue if I did die before the appeals wind up properly?
I'm not getting any younger; and my dad died at about 72 ... That's
two years older than I am right now. HE had diabetes too.

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