Friends AND Family

This weekend is 'friends and family' weekend at gay camp and with Anna Marie and John going down, I decided to head down as well.  They only have two of them, one in the Spring and one in the Fall.  With it being sunny and in the 50's, that helps to make it bearable this time of year down there, especially with the higher elevation... the cold goes right through you.  They, along with Matthew, were staying with our friend George in his trailer.  Four people, two of them with permanent outside voices and no water... and I rented a small cabin next door to them.  As I get older, I find that I really need my time alone, which is why I would rather stay at a hotel than stay with friends while traveling. 

Lately, with working through some problems (mostly the mess that my Dad makes), it seems like they just keep coming.  After getting my Dad's funeral arranged and then getting two of my nephew's student loans bought down (he owed $31k and we settled both for under $10k) and sending those checks out and getting his promisory note set up, a situation with my brother emerged, even with him in rehab currently.  Two weeks ago, when I was down at camp, my brother and his friend brought a check to my Dad because they wanted him to cash it.  So they deposited it into the ATM and then tried to withdraw the money, but I only keep $40 in his account where he has access.  A few days later, when the check cleared and the money was in there, he gave them the rest of the money ($175 total).  Yesterday, I looked at his account and there was a negative, since the check actually, after 10 days, was returned.  After flipping out on my Dad for doing it to begin with, then reiterating that I told him that it would bounce, I went to the bank and got a copy of it and I'm in the process of tracking the friend down.  The check was one of those Discover Card balance transfer checks in his sister's name, so I don't know if he stole them from him or what the situation really is.  What happens is my brother brings these checks to my Dad and gets him to cash them and then takes a part of it as a fee for cashing it and, ultimately, screwing my Dad over.  My brother was supposed to call my Dad last night and I told him to tell my brother that if he didn't get that money back to my Dad by Monday, that I would prosecute them both.