Apologies to E. O. Wilson

Every time I have to wipe out ants I say a silent prayer to E. O. Wilson. Even though he's still alive I feel it prudent to ask for his forgiveness as I kill an ant. And I am still having to kill ants tonight. This morning the ants had circumvented the diatomaceous earth that was on the bottom of the shelf. So I blew diatomaceous earth on their new trail. (I'm getting better at just puffing a fine layer where it's needed.)

Woke up this morning to find the ants coming in from another direction.

I had a bunch of phone calls to make so I forgot about checking on the ants until this evening. And I found out that the ants had found yet another way to the brown sugar. They are now coming in from the top of the cabinet. As I dusted the entire cabinet this evening, I apologized again to E. O. Wilson.

In the evening the ants were marching across the top of the cabinet.

The phone calls I was making this morning were to the companies that Mom had an insurance policy with or that Dad has a policy with. For Mom's policies, I let them know about her passing and found out what I needed to do to get the claims for payment to Dad started. For Dad's policies, I let them know that his beneficiary had passed so he needed the paperwork for naming a new beneficiary. I was able to reach 5 of the companies, I still need to reach 2 more; one in Rhode Island, the other in Iowa. I also called 3 of Mom's financial advisors, Curtis had talked to the 4th who is also his financial advisor.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the insurance companies I was able to contact had really good customer service and were very helpful. Most will getting the paperwork started while we wait for the death certificates, which could take another 2 or 3 weeks. That was the same for the financial advisors. When the paperwork comes, I fill out whatever else is needed, and get Dad to sign wherever he needs to sign, then I enclose the death certificate and send the paperwork back.

Later I went to Longs to print an 8" x 10" photo for the service. I was having a lot of problems with the machine so I asked for some help. It turns out it was the machine, not me. Alan from Longs said that the particular machine I was on has never worked properly and even Kodak has not been able to make it work. To print 3" x 5" or 4" x 6" photos, you can do it while you wait. For an 8" x 10" print it takes an hour. Normally. But since there was nothing else being printed Alan was able to get it for me in about 10 minutes. Alan was very astute, he also offered his condolences for Mom.

Tomorrow, after breakfast, Curtis and I will meet again with Ellen to select the flowers for the service. I will also be showing Curtis the draft program and the photo for the service. Here's the photo that we will be using on the front of the program. I showed the program to Dad, he didn't recognize Mom; this photo was taken a little over 20 years ago.

Happy Birthday to Aarene & Anabel! Happy 40th Anniversary to Susie! Happy Cinnamon Crescent Day, Encourage a Young Writer Day, Farm Animals Day, and Siblings Day!