Scratching a niche

Nov 10, 2008 11:58 AM

Things were looking up for Turtle Boy. He moved from his original location to a newer, considerably huger facility in nearby Cedar Falls a couple of years ago. Even so, the extruder never came to be, as far as I know. And the baling volume never really got to my expectation levels. In fact, Turtle Boy asked if I could bring the baler to his shop sometime, because he knew someone with two obese children. She felt a little work with a baler would be a good cardiovascular workout for them. I delivered the baler with the next bale and opted to forego the privilege of standing in a cloud of chaff in my hay shed, tying teeny tiny little bales in the freezing cold of January and then trying to get them to Waterloo without having them blow out of the truck.

Did you happen to notice that we had a little precipitation this past June here in Iowa? One of the places that got hit hard was the Waterloo-Cedar Falls metro area. In particular, the flood did no favors whatsoever to Turtle Boy Enterprises. I had delivered a bale to him in April. The check had not arrived yet in May, so I sent them an e-mail reminder. They’d get right on it. Then it rained. Another reminder was sent. They’d get right on it as soon as they were done with the pumps and the mops. The flooding had not been good to them.

Recently I received a letter from the Northern District of Iowa’s U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Turtle Boy has filed paperwork for Chapter 7. I am listed as a creditor. I summoned my lawyer for a confab. We have now mapped out a possible strategy. I made a call yesterday to confirm that my stated account receivable was at the proper level on the federal list. I also mentioned how my baler was neither purchased by, leased to, nor owned by said deadbeat. Turtle Boy’s attorney will do all he can to see that my hard asset is returned to me, free and clear. The account receivable? Well, he wasn’t so sure about the full and complete return of that to me.

In the storybook of life, I may want to delete Chapter 7. If I can’t, I hope I don’t spend a lot of tortoise-quality time in it.

Guy No. 2