Oh, I am so sorry to hear this. He was always so responsive even via email. I emailed him asking him about a particular rose and he emailed me right back! I was surprised (but not totally surprised since people into roses are very helpful). I was fortunate to live near Ralph Moore's Sequoia nursery and had a chance to go there before he passed as well. So sad. He was pretty young to have passed.

It's probably a pet. However, you aren't going to find any record of a pet burial, and if it's an illegal human burial you aren't going to find any record of that either. If on a long shot you dig it up and it turns out to be human, then you've got a crime scene on your hands. I'm thinking it's probably a pet, but what if you dig up a baby or a fetus? My advice would be to contact your local police station and get hold of the public affairs officer or neighborhood watch liason and ask them for advice on how to handle this. They may come out and take a look. Maybe they'll want to have someone there while you dig it up. Maybe not. That's where I'd start. With a female name and a date inscribed in cement under a tree, my guess is it's not a garden stone.

Thank you all so much for your input. I am not a naturally suspicious person by nature, so I really don't usually go around expecting that everyone is trying to cheat me! But it just seemed excessive... The chimney at least from the outside appears flawless-- no cracks, loose bricks, etc. I'm just not sure that a camera was used. The men did have a big bright light that they sat in the floor of the fireplace and aimed up, and they did stand on top of the roof peering down but no video was offered for me to look at. They used a printed diagram of the internal and external workings of a fireplace and then drew circles around and arrows pointing to things with a marker. It also has a pre-printed "Evaluation" that starts with "Your crown wash/courses of brick above the roof are badly deteriorated and taking on water, etc...."and goes on for several more sentences. Then he hand-wrote some notes below that, including the costs of the suggested repairs. It seemed a little weird to me that he travels with documents ALREADY PRINTED OUT that list rather detailed chimney flaws (Is the problem with my chimney that he specifically assigned to my particular situation so common that it has its own prepared sheet on it?) but again, maybe that's just me. I also just noticed a very, very small disclaimer at the bottom of that sheet that reads: "This sheet is the result of a visual evaluation done at the time of the sweeping. It is intended as a convenience to our customer, not as a certification of fire worthiness or safety. We make no warranties of the safety or function of any appliance and none is to be implied." Probably standard. Ralphk, I'm embarrassed to admit that even after Googling images of both I can't really tell the difference between a flue cap and a chimney cap! All I know is that it looks like a little hat sticking up from the top of my chimney, surrounded by metal meshing. Hopefully worth $279, though I still don't get the 'oversized' thing, it's a very standard chimney and fireplace, nothing bigger-than-usual about it. Oh lordy, I AM starting to sound like those paranoid 'everyone's-out-to-get-me' people, aren't I?! Again, I appreciate your feedback so much. I am going to try to hunt down a disinterested third party to check it out.

I think his poetry is very much underrated - he always has something to tell us about human experience in simple lyrical language (rather like Causley who also died fairly recently) something that tells each one of us that we are not alone - our fears, anxieties, experiences are shared by others - a bandage of comfort for our pains and always relevant: The Terrible Abstractions The naked hunter's fist, bunched round his spear, Was tight and wet inside with sweat of fear; He heard behind him what the hunted hear. The silence in the undergrowth crept near; Its mischief tickled in his nervous ear And he became the prey, the quivering deer. The naked hunter feared the threat he knew: Being hunted, caught, then slaughtered like a ewe By beasts who padded on four legs or two. The naked hunter in the bus or queue Under his decent wool is frightened too But not of what his hairy forebear knew. The terrible abstractions prowl about The compound of his fear and chronic doubt; He keeps fires burning boldly all night through, But cannot keep the murderous shadows out.