Busy to the end

It is 1:30 am here in Minot and I need to get to bed. I have 11 plus hours of driving tomorrow.

Today, I:

• opened mom's probate and filed papers for me to be her personal representative for her estate.

The Probate clerk at the Ward County courthouse was not helpful. All she wanted to do was give me the booklet the state of North Dakota published to help people through probate. I had a few other simple questions and she said she couldn't answer any because she cannot give legal advice. My questions were not of a legal nature but of procedure and forms. Eventually I got out of her that I had to file three forms including one that the Court issues naming a person an estate's personal representative. It makes no sense for the applicant to file that form as it is one that the Court issues, but that is the way they do it.

I pointed out to the Clerk that the booklet she gave me is old and out of date and she claimed it is current. I noted that one of the monetary values in the booklet was $15,000 while the state of North Dakota's web site with the booklet and forms has the amount as $50,000. I pointed out to her that the publish date listed in the booklet was 2003. She seemed annoyed by my pointing this out.

When I finished all three forms I got a different clerk who was slightly more helpful. While she also told me she could not give legal advice she at least seemed willing to listen to me to see if my question was procedural or legal in nature. All I wanted was for her to look the form over to see if I missed a field that I, and not the Court, was to fill in. She kind of did so, but told me that she could not tell me if I filled the blanks in correctly.

These Clerks are useless. The state of North Dakota should just automate these forms for submission. At least that way their software could flag fields that are required to be filled in by the applicant and prevent the applicant from filling in fields that the Court fills in.

Now to wait to see if I filled in the fields correctly and am approved.


• tried to get my train ticket to Seattle

I had gotten the ticket only to Seattle and not Tacoma when I bought it. It would be easier on my uncle to get me in Tacoma. I found the train agent could not alter my ticket and I had to call the 1-800 Amtrak number to do so.

I called and altering the ticket would not work as they would have to cancel the ticket and issue me a new one. The problem is I had gotten the ticket on sale, and the sale is over. I can't get the ticket I got.

I decided to keep my reservation the same. By the time I returned to the train station it was closed. I could see the ticket agent sitting inside the building and knocked on the door's window. She said the station was closed and she would not issue me the ticket. I plan to go there in the morning before I leave town.


• baked a batch of pumpkin muffins for my brother to eat after I leave


• made supper for me and my brother


• wrote out thank you notes for people for mom's funeral


• briefly visited with a neighbor


• packed