Day 31 - (Continued) - Our Debit Card Number Was Stolen

We had excitement yesterday afternoon.  Mama logged into their checking account and saw four unauthorized charges.  They were in New York!  They were for Pathmark and CVS.  Mama immediately remembered a strange phone call that Dad received on Saturday.  It was an automatic call and he didn't listen to the whole thing.  He just said "our prescriptions are pending".  Well, for one thing, Dad doesn't order prescriptions and the second strange thing is that his phone number is newer and no one would have it.  Mama thought it was very odd, but then decided the message was probably for the person who had the number before him. Dad gets messages for him all the time. After seeing the charges, Mama immediately checked their online prescription service and nothing was pending.  She then called them and they said they have nothing to do with those companies.  She then called her bank.  They checked the account and said that they had just put a hold on it.  I guess they figured that something odd was going on since we had made charges in Texas and New York at the same time.  They told Mama that they were deactivating her debit card so no one could use it again.  Dad has a debit card and they said his will still work. We hope so because we will need to get cash from time to time. They said they would fax her a form to sign.  She spoke with the park manager who said it was fine to have them fax it here.  So, they faxed it here and then the park manager was nice enough to fax it back to the bank.  The bank said that they have to let the transactions go through and then they will put the money back in our account. The transactions are not due to go through until June 2nd.  We hope it goes as smoothly as they say it will.  Mama went ahead and transferred money from savings into checking because she has some bills that are being paid out this week and she would be bouncing them thanks to the crooks.  The crooks spent $364 of our money.  Mama thought and thought about how that phone call and the debit card theft were related and she figured it out.  They went to the phone store to renew Dad's pay as you go phone two weeks ago.  The machine said it no longer took credit cards, so they had to use Mama's debit card. That is the only time that Dad's phone number and Mama's debit card have been used together.  We don't know if the crooks have actually received whatever they bought with our money yet since the transactions are pending.  Luckily, Mama checks her bank account daily just to be sure everything is okay.  She has been using her debit card a lot because it is also a Visa card. She uses in restaurants as well as at the store.  She will get a new one whenever we return home. It just seems to be a lot of trouble to have one sent here.  The bank person was very nice and made the process very simple.  It's a smaller bank with just four locations.  I don't know if that makes a difference or not.

On a happier note, Mama thought the dinner last night was really, really good.  It was also a very easy meal to make.  Dad really liked it too, so it is definitely on our repeat list.  It is called Easy Ham And Au Gratins.
 Ingredients:
1½ c frozen potatoes, O’Brien, Ore Ida®
1 c cubed ham
1 c cut green beans, drained
10 oz can cream of potato soup
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
¼ c sour cream
Spray crock pot with cooking spray. Mix potatoes, ham, green beans, potato soup and cheese and cook on low in crock pot for 5 to 6 hours. Stir in sour cream before serving and cook until hot.

What could be easier than that?  Not much.  There are no photos.  It was good, but it didn't look "pretty" in photos.  LOL

Our weather has turned steamy this week.  It is very humid and we are actually having a rain shower right now. That was not predicted.  We have had one rain shower in the past five weeks.  We miss rain.  It has been cooling off quickly at night.  Our evening walks are usually quite pleasant.

Joey
The Greyhound Who Still Needs A Cowboy Hat

Day 28, Touring Battleship Texas & SanJacinto Battleground

Yesterday, the folks left us to go sightseeing.  They toured the Battleship Texas. She was in service for WWI and WWII.  Mama thought it would be pretty boring, but she actually liked it.  She said it was interesting to see how the men lived.  Visitors are allowed to walk all over the battleship.  There were many steps to climb and Mama said they were scary to her. She wore sandals yesterday not realizing she would be climbing around the ship.

Texas Battleship - it was hard to get a picture of the entire thing.

These are the steps that Mama had to climb up and down. There is no way Scout could have done them. She still can't get in the RV without help.  :::sigh::: There were three decks and the bottom was the boiler room. They were allowed to explore all of them.

Some of the many guns on the ship.

This was the bakery.

A view of the San Jacinto Monument from the ship.

Executive's Office

Kitchen

Another view of the kitchen.

One of the many bunk rooms.

These bunks were just in the hallway. No privacy.

Dentist office.

Commissary - it was loaded with cigarettes and magazines.

Another view of the commissary.

Barber Shop

There was also a sick bay, operating room, prison, laundry and probably other rooms that Mama is forgetting. Some of the rooms like the bunk rooms, sick bay and laundry rooms had a strong odor.

Many of the sailors were said to be from rural areas and living on this ship was their first time having indoor plumbing and electricity.

Boy Scouts are allowed to camp on the battleship and Mama said she bets they have a great time. There were a lot of boys that were running around the ship and they were very excited. 

The battleship is located in the bay by the San Jacinto Battleground.  That was the battle that won Texas' independence from Mexico.  Many of the soldiers that died that day are buried there.  However, look at this poor guy. They put a parking lot around him.

Grave with parking lot around it.

Mama wanted to look at the other tombstones, but Dad got attacked by mosquitoes so they had to leave.  Mosquitoes attacked them at 1 p.m. on a sunny day.

They then drove to Monument Inn. It is a restaurant that Mama had read reviews on.  It is a seafood restaurant and even though Mama is allergic to shellfish, she wanted to eat there. It is on the bay and there are views of the bay from the tables.  They did not have a window seat, but they could still see the boats and the ferry taking cars back and forth.   They serve cinnamon rolls with their bread!  She ordered a chicken fried steak.  It came with fries and a salad.

Portion sizes seem to be large in Texas.

One time Mama ordered a country fried steak at a Bob Evan's in Missouri and when the waiter came by at the end of the meal, he said to Mama "I knew it didn't stand a chance!"  Can you believe he said that to her?  Anyway, this one was too big and she brought some of it home for us.  She said it was good, but we thought it was great!  Scout didn't even want to go to bed last night because she knew there was some left in the refrigerator.

Anyway, back to the meal yesterday... Dad had the fisherman's platter. Mama didn't take a photo because Dad didn't want her taking a photo of his food.  He's strange.  LOL   They had fried mozzarella sticks as an appetizer. They both said it was a good meal, but not great.  If they are ever in the area again, they might try it again.

After lunch, they visited the The San Jacinto Monument.  It is 570 feet tall.  It is a memorial for the men who fought for Texas Independence.   We will write about that later as this post is getting too long and Dad just said he is ready to take me for a walk.  Duty calls, you know.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Needs A Walk This Morning