Dottie Atwater

Uh, oh...someone sent almost $300 to my Paypal account, so I needed to go through the hassle of getting the money and then closing my account. At that point, I could log in but could no nothing else--except RECEIVE money into the account, of course. I couldn't use the funds to pay anything and couldn't retrieve the funds. Against my better judgment, I sent a copy of my US bank statement, one of their ways to "unrestrict" the account. (My bank account was no longer linked, but of course they knew my bank--since they also knew minute details about my life from 20+ years ago that even I didn't remember). Ten days later, I had heard nothing from Paypal, even after I sent a message asking WHEN my account would be unlocked. So I went through the ordeal of calling them. This time the wait was only 30 minutes, and the young woman said, "Yes, we received your bank statement." To my surprise, during my conversation with the very first person, the steps online for unlocking my account were fairly easy. As soon as I had access, I linked my bank account, removed my funds, and closed my account. Goodbye, crooks!

Again, I was not seeking to improve my experience.

Thanks, Marcelyn, but I was just curious whether others experience the same thing. (And responses indicated they do.) I was not seeking ideas to improve its problems.

I mainly wanted to see if others have the same problem. I didn't readily notice a way to contact the owners, and I sure as heck wasn't going to waste my time searching. I don't care whether ITS performance is improved or not.

I occasionally visit boquete.ning but hadn't done so in quite a while. I went there this morning and discovered the site has a new "look." And everything on it lags; it's very slow to open anything. CL here opens rapidly, and speedtest.net indicates I have about 70Mbps. So the issue is that of boquete.ning. Many times an attempt to "improve" something makes it far worse.

Pay It Forward is a wonderful idea!

And the plastic bags are just part of the problem. I recently bought a 16-pack of Scott tissue at PriceSmart, only to discover that each ROLL of toilet paper (within the plastic of 16 rolls) is firmly wrapped in plastic as well. It takes scissors and determination to unwrap each roll. Also, the Member Select brand of papers towels wrapped in plastic (last time an 8-roll) has each 2 rolls also wrapped strongly in plastic. All this use of plastic is totally unnecessary! I buy the Member Select paper towels for the clinics...we use a lot of them, but they are not much better than 1-ply toilet paper. For my house, I buy the Bounty brand. More expensive, but they last forever...and the individual rolls within the plastic wrapping are NOT again wrapped in plastic.

Thanks, Marcelyn. It's work I can't NOT do!

At this 123rd clinic, Dr. Tello sterilized 58 animals: 24 dogs and 34 cats. This brings our total of dogs and cats sterilized to 4,744. http://spaypanama-chiriqui.org/123rd.html. See photos at https://imgur.com/a/RiIpK1N December will be a short vacation for us. A relief in a way, but sadly, that means that fewer animals will be sterilized until our next clinic on January 20, 2019. (And that clinic is almost full already!) Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all, and as always, love and hugs and much gratitude to Dr. Andres Tello, our wonderful volunteers, and our donors! This vital work could not be done without them! ------------------------------ Several days before the clinic when I was walking, a man told me that neighbors had moved away and abandoned a female dog. He was worried that this sweet dog would become a "puppy factory." This was near the Nueva California school. I returned home, then went in my car and brought the dog to my house where I have a place to keep a dog separate from my 19 dogs. On clinic day I took her to be spayed. She is young and had never been in heat--and now she will never have puppies! On Monday after the clinic, I took her back to the school. She was very excited and ran to be with the school children again. People in the neighborhood feed her, so she will be fine. ------------------------------------ Also remember: I will help with animals to the best of my ability. Recently someone found a dog in horrible condition—emaciated from hunger, with worst mange I have ever seen (including bleeding sores). He had been hit by a car, had a broken hip on one side and open oozing wounds on the other hip/leg. The dog had a crappy collar around his neck attached to a wire. Someone had apparently tied him up to starve to death and he managed to break loose, only to be hit by a car. The police had sent the woman to my house with the dog. She and her husband put the dog in the crate on the side of my house. I immediately injected him with pain medication, antibiotics, and Vitamin C. I had planned to take him to Dr. Tello at the border, but before I could do so, the dog died during the night. There was a lot of blood on his blanket in the crate, apparently from internal injuries. The only positive with this situation is that at least the poor dog had a warm, dry place to sleep and a full tummy for a couple of days. He ate a LOT of food and he also drank a lot of water. He obviously had been very dehydrated. I have experienced many situations of abuse like this and it always pains my heart deeply. I keep telling myself that I can't save them all, but nevertheless, I can't internalize the fact. My only consolation is that people who abuse animals will burn in hell for eternity! (If you visit me regarding a problem with an animal, please call me in advance, 6517-8752 or whatsapp at 6361-3234. I am cautious about opening my gate when my employee is not present.) ----------------------------- Again, many thanks to all! We will see you in January! Dottie

Escuela Basica General de Volcan (in Volcan, Chiriqui, Panama), asked us to give a presentation about spaying and neutering--and the care of dogs in general. We hope that students all over Panama will watch the video--plus everyone who wants to take the best care of their canine pet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3znLEnxip8&feature=youtu.be The video is by me, Dorothy (Dottie) Atwater, and the translation is by Francia Pinedo, who has been the registrar at our clinics since the beginning in 2006. So the video is in both English and Spanish. Ours is certainly not a "professional" presentation--you can laugh along with us about our goofs. But the information is here, and that's the important thing. Enjoy, and thanks for watching! And to read about the benefits of sterilization AND the animal abuse laws in Panama, see the left-hand column at http://spaypanama-chiriqui.org Dottie

Interesting...here in Volcan I haven't had any CO outages in quite some time.

On October 21st, 52 animals were spayed/neutered by Dr. Andres Tello, our wonderful veterinarian.http://spaypanama-chiriqui.org/122nd.html and see the photo album here: https://imgur.com/gallery/qYMbMcS This bring our total of dogs and cats to 4,685. Plus Dr. Tello also performed several exams and other procedures: he removed two venereal tumors, one hernia, removed an eye from a dog, and removed a cancerous growth from a dog's tongue. IMPORTANT: PLEASE DO NOT DONATE FOR THE CLINICS VIA PAYPAL. I'VE HAD INSURMOUNTABLE PROBLEMS WITH THEM AND I'VE REMOVED THE "DONATE" LINK FROM MY WEB PAGE. SOON I HOPE TO HAVE AN ALTERNATIVE WAY FOR PEOPLE TO DONATE. My employee found and brought a huge male dog that hangs out at the new Berard's, where people feed him. He is not thin and probably has an owner who does not take good care of him. He smelled really bad, had been in lots of fights over females in heat, and had long toenails with dew claws about to grow into his skin. After he was neutered and had his nails trimmed, he spent the night at my house, got a nice bath on Monday morning, and then we took him back to Berard's. A really sweet and gentle dog. I would have kept him if I didn't already have so many dogs (19). A very long day! I think this was the latest I ever got home after a clinic, at almost 8:00 pm. Our final clinic for this year will be on November 18th. We will resume in January of 2019. For appointments, call or whatsapp 6640-3171. As always, my heartfelt thanks to our wonderful volunteers, to Dr. Andres Tello, and to those who donate, whether financial or otherwise. (We always have wonderful food and drinks provided by very special people!)-- Dottie Please visit my web site at http://www.spaypanama-chiriqui.org

Adult. Has anyone tried it? I think it smells like rotting fish. My dogs eat it but several have either soft poop or diarrhea. I don't know for sure to blame that on the PriceSmart brand of dog food, but I certainly hope they continue to stock the Kirklands, which I prefer to buy. Dottie

My shopping experience at PriceSmart yesterday: When a friend in Boquete saw my "hope" that ground turkey would still be available when I could go, she went last Wednesday and paid for 8 rolls that I could pick up yesterday (Monday). She sent me the receipt, which I printed. She gave me the "manager's" name and phone number (Ariel). After asking for him, It turned out that someone else was the "manager of carnes." Well, after talking with three other people, including the "manager of carnes," someone retrieved the 8 rolls for me--fortunately from the back in boxes, 4 to a box. Then I tried to find out how I'd exit the store with only a printed copy of the receipt. Finally someone (it turned out to be Ariel) beckoned to me. He had kept the original receipt and finally found it. OK, turkey molida to my car, and then back in for other things. No one can accuse PriceSmart of having a smidgen of organization. NO Kirklands or Member's Select puppy chow--again. No frozen blueberries. No avocado oil, which I had bought a few months ago, never to be seen again. No flax-chia mixture that I had bought VERY long ago, never to be seen again. (I keep these things on my list, just in case...) At least I was able to get the turkey rolls in boxes. Much easier to transport. They did still have a large supply. Ariel said sometimes a company buys a lot of them. I suggested that they keep track of their inventory and order more when they have only a small supply. Good luck with that!

Sassy, how much Vitamin C did you administer daily, for how long, and how did you give it to your cat? The injectable has only 250 mL per cc, and the injections are painful. I did save a dog with C that I thought was going to die. I injected some, and also mixed some powdered C with as little water as possible and gave it to her by mouth with a syringe. But it's difficult to administer high does of C to an animal. I'll appreciate any information you can share. Thanks! Dottie

Thank you, Marcelyn! (I hope I posted in the right category--I can never remember.)

At this 121st clinic, Dr. Tello sterilized 19 dogs and 26 cats for a total of 45. (Amazingly, we had 24 no-shows!) Here in Volcan, our small group has been responsible for sterilizing 4,634 dogs and cats to date. We rescued and sterilized two dogs from the street at the clinic, one male (that had obviously been dumped) and a homeless female in heat. The female has been adopted. The male is currently with me. Please open your heart and give this sweet dog a forever home. See his picture on my web page. http://spaypanama-chiriqui.org/121st.html I can never thank our volunteers and Dr. Andres Tello enough! They work hard and they are wonderful! Great news: I have been invited to give a presentation at the Escuela Basica General de Volcan about the clinics, proper care of dogs, the laws in Panama, etc. It will be at 10:00 am on October 19th. The principal will select 150 of their 600 students to be present. David Dell will video my presentation. It will be in both English and Spanish. Francia Pinedo will present the Spanish portion. We will upload the video to Youtube so that the rest of the 600 students can view it, as well as schools all over Panama. And of course, being presented in two languages, people who don't speak Spanish can understand it. I'm very excited! It is a wonderful opportunity for education! Our next clinic will be on October 21, 2018. That clinic is full and we are taking reservations for November 18th. November will be the final clinic for 2018, and we will resume in January of 2019. Blessings to all, Dottie

Now there is no balance in PayPal but I still have not been able to close the account. That bothers me because of my linked bank account. They have access to it. So more time will have to be spent/wasted getting this monkey off my back! Update: I was able to find (in the PayPal web site) how to remove my linked bank account--or at least it indicated that I had. If that's really true, I won't waste any more time and PayPal can go suck eggs!

I agree with you, Sassy! I would never have "conventional" treatment for cancer (or almost any other dis-ease either). But I also agree "to each his own."

Well, well, no one called me. Surprise, surprise. But yesterday "May" told me I needed a US cell phone to receive the "code" even to transfer most of my balance back to my linked bank account, and indeed trying to do so prompted me to call them. But today online I asked to transfer the entire balance and they sent the 4-digit code right to my computer. Then immediately I got an automated call at my skype phone number asking me to enter the code. I did, and the transfer was approved. Now there is no balance in PayPal but I still have not been able to close the account. That bothers me because of my linked bank account. They have access to it. So more time will have to be spent/wasted getting this monkey off my back!

I have a suspicious charge on my account. Yesterday I attempted to contact PayPal. It is impossible from their web site. I found a phone number on the internet and called the toll-free number via my Skype virtual number, After struggling through the extensive menus, I was given the option to hold for up to 45 minutes or request a call back. I opted for the call back. When someone finally did call, they didn't even give me time to get to my computer (I was only a few steps away) before they hung up. Later they called again and I was able to answer. After going through all sorts on nonsense with the first person, she said she needed to transfer me to security. OK. Then I was on hold for about 30 minutes. Just when I was about to hang up, someone finally answered. After a long conversation with the "security person," she could not answer the charge to my satisfaction and I told her I wanted to close my account. She told me how to close my account and send the funds to my linked bank account. After the first step, a message said I needed to call them before I could close it. No way was I going through that again! (If I had had a US cell phone, she could have sent me a code to enter; but of course I do NOT have a US cell phone). So the young woman, who had already verified my identity, per their "rules" had to ask me all kinds of security questions...none of which I had entered as "secret questions" when I opened the account. One was the year of my Subaru Legacy that I had had in the US. Hell, I didn't remember. I had it for a number of years, sold it 15 years ago, and have had other vehicles since. And similar questions that go way back. I "failed" the test. A chilling thought is how EVERYONE like PayPal knows everything about us, no doubt from childhood. I told the young woman it wasn't her fault, but PayPal SUCKS! She chuckled and said "sometimes." She really did try to be helpful but couldn't under PayPal's "rules." She did promise to have a supervisor call ME on my virtual skype number this morning at 7:30. Hopefully I can get the PayPal account closed today--while "eating" the unexplained charge of $214.68. I just can't take any more of the hassles. Total time on the phone yesterday, including long hold times, was over four hours. Be aware of the hassles you can encounter using PayPal. Dottie

Thanks, Sassy! I'll go as soon as I can. I hope there will still be some when I go.

Thank you, but the issue/answer is the lack of competent (or non-existent) inventory control. If course it's not only about the Kirkland/Members Select dog food. The lack of inventory control allows many items to be out of stock. Bud mentioned two more, and including the absence of dog food during my last visit, there was no avocado oil (which I had bought not long ago) and no frozen 5-lb turkey rolls. There are many things I've bought there in the past that have disappeared forever. Because they DID have those items and they sold, it means that people want them! Of course none of this is your fault, Sassy, and we all appreciate your efforts.

I go to David as seldom as possible and when I do go, I have numerous places to go. Usually at PriceSmart, about half the items on my shopping list are not available. Some of the "not in stock" items aren't a big inconvenience, but It really hacks me off when they're out of Kirklands AND the new Member's Select...like they had no puppy chow of either brand on my last visit. There's absolutely no excuse for this, and it's not available anywhere else.

I usually buy at least 8 at a time--as you said, when they are available. For this and other things, why doesn't PriceSmart have a decent inventory control. The many things that appear once, never to be seen again---well, those things sold so it means that people buy them. I read one time at a particular supermarket, an employee was asked why they didn't have a particular item now. The reply was "they sold out so fast that we quit stocking them." Duh!