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Thursday, April 10, 2014

Feathers and Phishers

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A previous post ranted about house finches, that were trying to nest not in trees, but on our front porch ceiling fan. Several times daily we’d clear nesting materials off the porch and fan blades. We had put snakes (plastic not real) on the blades, without success. These birds were set on starting a home. We were just as determined that they find other lodgings.
SO, we begged asked for reader suggestions. Possum, Dianne and Michelle suggested that we leave the fan running. A great idea and one we thought of too as we set it on low before leaving for a weekend trip to Washington, DC.
So far it’s worked. We’ve been checking the  porch and fan since returning home. NO feathered homesteaders in sight — porch and blades are clear.
There’s MORE . . . image
IF you remember (and even if not), in  mid-March, Grenville posted about an Elizabethimage Henderson
, who sent an email that she was interested in buying our house, sight unseen. Supposedly, she was abroad and unable to come and view it: “The sale of the property does it require I come for a viewing first before we conclude?  Because I am in UK at the moment.” 
REALLY, too good to be true?
Yeah, we thought so too. Grenville sent an email reply  that our lawyer would follow-up. Ms. Henderson sent another email with a mobile (UK) phone number and asked us to call her. WHY would we do that?  We’re too cheap thrifty to call abroad AND also not un-savy. We weren’t born yesterday (no age-related jokes, please).
Bet you can guess what happened — that’s right — she hasn’t contacted us again.
DRAT. We were ready to pack-up — if an offer seems too good to be true, it’s not.
imageYET, scammers and phishers keep at it. Since Grenville’s Did You Get the Call? post, we’ve had more phony PC-related calls, always starting off with: “Your Windows computer is infected and is sending out emails with viruses . . .you must turn on your PC now so we can help, etc.”
Grenville continues to have fun with these scammers. He will ask them for their Microsoft ID number OR tell the caller that he is a security advisor.
Odd thing is that THEY always hang up on him. OK, it’s usually after he mentions the armed security team that he will dispatch to their location.
Guess they really don’t care about our computer. We never thought they did. Also we use Apple products. And as posted before, Microsoft Security doesn’t call directly.

11 comments:

DeniseinVA said...

Good news on the nesters and yes, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Anvilcloud said...

You're so mean the dem birdies. And the phishers.

Dianna said...

Yes, I would think leaving the ceiling fan on would definitely deter those birds. Now....for something to deter the spam callers...oh, wait. Grenville's taking care of that!

Connie said...

Glad you found a solution to the bird nest building. Those spammers are quite a nuisance. At least you know to be wary of them.

Out on the prairie said...

this wasn't posting right yesterday, just a DOS program of your site

Poor little birds, they can be pesky.

NCmountainwoman said...

I get so angry when I get those scammers. And they are getting more and more common.

Debbie said...

The birds love my place, I am seeing nests everywhere!!

Doris said...

Glad the bird problem seems to be solved. Grenville is having so much fun with those scammers :) it's better than being upset for sure! Here's hoping you get a real buyer soon.

Rebecca said...

I once had a response to an ad for a horse. The email said they loved the item and they really wanted the item. In fact they loved the item so much, they would even pay $100 more than we were asking for the item, etc. I don't have fun, I just delete.

jp@A Green Ridge said...

Wow...a lot of people have your number!!!!...:)JP

Anonymous said...

Good idea to use the fan to prevent nesting. As for the scammers, who needs them!