Thank you all for your thoughtful comments. While I'm not yet able to discuss certain aspects of my unfortunate property fiasco, I can provide certain information. First, in response to Ingrid's question, I always welcome visitors to my garden with advance notice so that we can find a mutually convenient time for the visit. Sammy is correct that I moved to Morongo Valley prior to announcing the creation of Ashdown West. But the move to Morongo Valley took place as a result of the problem with the property at the entrance to the Indian canyons in Palm Springs. I never moved anything to that property, as I learned of the complications just after the close of escrow. Jody, the title search looks for encumbrances, liens... anything that would prevent the new owner from having clear title to the property. Sadly, I had clear title to the property. The issue was one of planning jurisdiction as well as the application of the Indian Canyons Master Plan to the property. The title policy expressly excluded any warranty as to planning jurisdiction or use for a particular purpose. Carol, I appreciate your kind comments. Unfortunately, during mediation it was discovered that through an oversight, the Agua Caliente Tribe of Cahuilla Indians neglected to include this property on the mailing list to which they sent the Master Plan when it was set forth in 2001. As a sovereign Indian nation, the Agua Caliente are immune from suit. Negotiations with them over a two year period ended in dismal failure. They offered to purchase the property from me at half what I paid, an amount that would not be sufficient to even pay off the mortgage that the seller held. So it is possible that the seller's claim that she had no knowledge of the jurisdiction issue or of the Master Plan could be true. The seller's real estate agent, however, was almost surely aware of the jurisdiction issue and probably of the Master Plan as well. We are still in negotiations to try to recover at least part of the losses from the seller's agent's insurance carrier. The other entity that is somewhat at fault here is the Riverside County Planning Department, with which I held discussions over several months prior to the close of escrow concerning planning permits. They failed to call up an overlay screen on their computer that shows where the Tribe has jurisdiction rather than Riverside County. The most I was able to obtain from them was an apology. They too are immune from suit due to municipal immunity. Jaxondel, you're quite right that the Agua Caliente are an extremely wealthy Tribe. And you're also right that real estate transactions around their reservation always raise the issue of whether the land is owned by the Tribe and therefore "leased land" or fee simple. This was a bizarre exception where the land was not owned by the Tribe, but somehow grandfathered in as fee simple quite some time ago. As the Tribal Chairman told me in a personal meeting, this was an unfortunate situation that happened every few years. The Master Plan was not recorded anywhere, so it could not be "discovered" in the normal course of due diligence. The only way I could have uncovered the jurisdiction Master Plan issues was to have gone to the Tribe and asked. Given that the land was fee simple, with no Indian lease, neither I nor my real estate agent had any reason to think to do so. I have owned property in Palm Springs in the past that was on Indian land, and I held the land "leasehold" rather than fee simple. All of this was clear from the title and was disclosed by the sellers. This situation was quite different. I still hope to be able to introduce to the U.S. market many of the wonderful roses I've imported from Europe. But right now I'm stepping back and reassessing the situation before making any decisions about the future. Again, I thank you all for your thoughtful comments and words of encouragement. Cliff

You are the 4th one I've heard in just a few days! I just did this, what a pain. Some were sent from me on "I make $6K a month...blahblahblah" with a CNN link too I think!I've had my account since 2001 and never a problem. Seems they are on a roll lately! Sorry it happened to you too.

I did get my gmail account to work in WLM, but not the way I had hoped. What I finally did was activate the 2 step verification, and chose my Windows computer as the "app" to be used. Gmail send me a verification code, and then a 16 digit password, with a space after each 4 digits, to use when asked by WLM for my password. After entering the 16 digit password, all my mail for the past six days downloaded in WLM. Instructions were that I would never need to enter this password again, but I did write it down in my little password book, just in case. What I find puzzling is that I have used WLM 12 for almost three years with the same three gmail accounts, all of which worked in the mail program. It was only on Sept. 27 that my default account stopped working and asked repeatedly for my password. At that point I had NOT done the 2 step verification, so this is very infuriating, Google! I was forced into the 2 step verification process to get gmail to recognize my computer as an approved "app".

Haha. The email is clearly real. I got one and thought nothing more of it until coming upon this thread. There's an irony with this. Two-step authorization measures are implemented, in part, precisely because people get hysterical about security and perceived risks. So the very measure used to address those who are worried about security, is distrusted by those same people and leads to more feelings of risk and insecurity. Too many folks, especially oldsters, don't want to be confronted with truth or fact that conflicts with a view they've reached and want to cling to. It's unbelievable. Those of you who want to think of the email as being phony are entitled to do so. Just don't be shocked with what happens the next time you try to sign in to the SSA website (you'll be asked to supply a cell phone number to receive a text). I just tried it out, it works fine. Those who don't have a cellphone can call or visit a SSA office. This isn't a big deal, it's just an added security step for web access. Yawn.