Thursday, April 30, 2026

Almost May

I was looking for a car part on line. I went to two or three web sites, but when I typed in the car make. Model and year and the part I was looking for, each time it came up as no parts available. 

In the middle of it, my phone rang. It came up as 'potential spam'. I did not answer the call. It was immediately followed by another phone call listed 'verified caller. Wyoming' 

I am a curious woman. I figured that the two calls had to be related. They were different numbers, but from the same 307 area code. So I answered it.

An unmistakably Indian accent said, 'are you looking for a passenger side fender for a 2008 Lincoln MKZ?'

(Side note: I was not driving the car. Actually, nobody was driving it. It was parked and quietly minding its own business when it was hit.)

Cautiously, I said 'Yesss...' while wondering how those searches were visible to him. 

"What color?" he asked. 

"Silver."

He said, almost instantly, "I can get you one for $146."

I said "I don't even know who you are."

He said, "My name is Lucas Anderson."

"Not to be rude, but I received two phone call within two minutes of each other. I don't know who you are, or how you figured out what I was looking for. Also, your accent is not a Wyoming accent. I am not comfortable handing out my credit card information under these circumstances."

He earnestly began to explain why I should trust him.

Unconvinced, I hung up.

Don't know if I am paranoid and missed out on a good deal, or whether I dodged a bullet. 

I was surprised to hear to receive a bulletin on my phone that a woman and baby down the road are missing, considered endangered. I do not know her, but it is something that grabbed my attention. I don"t know the back story but am hoping for a happy ending.

Other than that, it was a quiet day. I received a call from the office staff to see if I got home okay last night. They also had a cancelation and asked if I wanted the appointment. 

Less lead in time = less stress.


I said yes. I can hand deliver the thank you card and the gas card to them. 

May is a busy month. My daughter and son in law's wedding reception. My youngest daughter is coming stateside for it.  My son and his family will be here. We have a trip at the end of it. It was a lucky break to get that earlier appointment. 

The Governor of Louisiana called off the elections in his state until the maps can be redrawn to eliminate black majority areas. I mean they are not even hiding what they are up to. 

The White House posted a picture of trump and the King labeling it 'Two Kings'. 

The Republicans posted a picture of the King wearing a MAGA hat.

Mike Johnson denies we're at war.

The GOP voted today to end the government shut down without their exorbitant ICE funding demands. 

One positive sign at least. The rest of it is insane.

Frost warning tonight. Ugh.

Let's end with a laugh.




47 comments:

  1. The sad thing is that you can't tell if it is spam...but best be safe.

    Hooray for appointment rescheduling....nicely convenient.

    Yes..peacocks..😆😆😆😆

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    1. The fact is that if I have any doubt, I just cannot bring myself to provide information. In this case, I did not call them...they called me.

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  2. Best be safe I suppose, though it is hard on the honest Indian person we happen to come across. Saw this morning Senator Sara Jacob standing up to Peter Segheth - go that woman she was brilliant.

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    1. Hecwas told by someone to grow up. Perhaps it was her.

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  3. If in doubt.... but Lucas Anderson sounds like a very westernised person...no?

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    1. Oh Andrew. I have talked to many Ashleys and Brandons and the like to whom English is a second language. I do not believe that is their real names.

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    2. Reading up on it, Indian call centers routinely provide American names for their employees because their own names are sometimes difficult for westerners to pronounce. It is a way to shorten the phone call, not allowing it to be side tracked by the whole 'I didn't catch your name and how do you spell that.'

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  4. Scammers are so sharp and on the ball, it's frightening.
    We could all do with a Goofus in our communities, to keep order.

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    1. Maybe I can train him to take questionable phone calls.

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  5. The gerrymandering! The USA is a corrupt country.

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    1. It is shocking that they can refuse black candidates.

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  6. I agree with your caution about the call. It could have been ai!

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    1. I hink I may have figured out how it happened, but I just can't bring myself to give a credit card number to an unknown entity.

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    2. You did good — rule of thumb for safety is NEVER to give information during any call or transaction you did not initiate.

      Do tell — how did they know what you were looking for??!!

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    3. I think what happened is that I started out at a familiar website. During the search, you wind up at an unfamiliar website, a different one. Is it possible to hack a website? When I searched the site again last night it happened but I immediately caught it. I did send an email to the company. But at this point who even knows where that email will end up.

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  7. Yeah. Boud's right- could have been AI. You cannot be too careful these days.
    Sounds like you have a busy time of it coming up. I really hope all is well with these appointments.

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    1. Yeah. I just got to get through this summer. I just do not want to do another house.vhonestly, I just don't.

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  8. It's like when I am talking about something with my phone nearby and then the next time I go on my phone, I get all of these ads for whatever I was talking about. It's creepy that the phone is listening in on my conversations when I am not even ON THE PHONE. Scary!

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    1. That is actually why my daughter-in-law got rid of Alexa.

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  9. Love that ending meme! Oooooh! Such meanies! LOL

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    1. All the finger pointing! Release the peacocks, I say!

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  10. I think you're right that the car part guy was a scam.

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    1. Thanks, Red. I hope spring is coming to your neck of the woods.

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  11. That phone call freaked me out but I totally believe it--something similar happened to me earlier this week (after doing a search on Google for a CD-ROM external drive). I got 'Potential Scam', but not a second verified caller. I sure hope that woman and her baby are okay, please keep us posted. And I just now (on youtube) saw the Louisiana debacle, courtesy of our corrupted right-wing Supreme Court. Ugh!!!!!

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    1. I honestly think what is happening is that a website (a company we have used before) is linking to another site I am unfamiliar with. I am not sure what that is even called, but they must be able to access my customer information through that. I have notified the company.

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  12. I hope you Americans can take back your country soon. Like yesterday. Wishing you all the luck in the world. -Kate

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    1. It seems that the pushback is getting louder and stronger. We can onlourselves heard.

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  13. Thanks for the peacock meme, it made me laugh.
    You'll get to see all of you kids next month, wonderful!

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  14. Praying the woman and child are okay.
    Meanwhile, that is pretty creepy that they found your phone number after using the internet. Creepy.

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    1. They were located safe, both of them, so that was a bit of good news. Just a bit shocking when something like that is reported is happening within 2 miles of your house

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  15. Oh goodness Debby - scary times. I hope that the woman and child are found okay and your country can be found again. I do not like the way the world is going with its endless drive towards the money gods. Upcoming wedding? That will be nice.

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    1. Reception. For Brianna and Don who married last fall. I hope so too, Jeanie.

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  16. Gerrymandering is nothing new (NOT that it makes it right!). I just looked and the term was coined in 1812 when it happened in Massachusetts. And as for the US being a corrupt country.... also, nothing new. Just look at the history of politics in places like Chicago and Louisiana over the decades. There have always been pockets of it.
    Again, that doesn't make it right.
    This administration takes the cake for absurdity. It can't end soon enough for me!

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    1. I think that we need to keep our focus on right here, right now. Trying to convince ourselves that this is business as usual is counterproductive. What is happening now is unprecedented.

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  17. Good to question the caller. And spooky. I'm presuming you've checked www.RockAuto.com for parts. They've been really good at keeping my cars alive for new parts that I can change (right outdoor mirror that snuggled with my garage door frame too closely) and light assemblies, rocker switches for usually half the price of dealers or local car parts stores. Their website is a little tricky for elderlings but I've ended up with many choices. Linda in Kansas

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    1. Rock auto is our first stop. They don't have one.

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  18. I think you did the right thing hanging up. How did they even know what you were doing online? The whole things reeks of fraud.

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  20. It's really spooky these days. We keep hearing in the news about one more scam targeting seniors. I keep getting toll warnings that I haven't paid in Illinois. #1 I don't drive. #2 We don't live in Illinois anymore. And yes, I saw how Republicans had doctored that image of Charles wearing the MAGA hat. It's scary to see what is happening in our country.

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    1. Ugh. We get those too. Our DMV no longer does registrations at the center, which means that you do have to do it online and provide things like your email address. I tried to renew ours and after putting in the credit card info, I was prompted to enter the capcha except one never appeared. It just sat there. are scammers gleaning information from there? Who even knows? We wound up going to the AAA because the problem never corrected itself.

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  21. We were in a supermarket we don’t normally use and the cashier asked if I had a store card which would give me points. I said no, but I’d maybe think about getting one. When I got home I opened up the iPad and there was an application form for one, I mean how on earth……

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  22. I think my texts are still somewhat private, because when I mentioned wondering what kind of ads we'd be receiving after a interesting private thread, nothing appeared. Or there was nothing for sale along those lines...yet!

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  23. I have noticed nothing with texts, myself. It is linked to looking for or buying something on line.

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  24. Wonder whose car he was gonna steal it from? Good on you for not following through on that. Just too weird though.
    As for the stupid government, I can't even... I am just glad we see very little news these days. I can hang on to my sanity!

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