STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

I was shot at this weekend.  No, not in Detroit, but out in the back woods...

First, a little back-story.  My mother grew up in a very removed rural area on a farm.  It's this pocket of Michigan that's mostly farms, and the people really don't venture out much.  They even have their own dialect and accent.  My father came from a prominent family in an adjacent town, and was a police officer. My father met my mother when she was working at a local diner and they were married a month later.  Some of my mother's family had a reputation for causing/getting in trouble, and because of this, my father didn't want her/us to have contact with them.  I only saw her parents twice during the first 21 years of my life, and didn't know her 7 siblings and the many cousins that came with them.  My parents divorced when I was 21, and my mother's family reconnected with my mother.  They all seemed like nice enough people, and I made a little effort to get to know them, but it was always a little uncomfortable for me to embrace them as family as I didn't really know them. 

Fast forward to my mother's death...  My mother wanted her ashes buried in the container on the site where her childhood farm was. This is now state owned hunting land and open to the public.  My uncle is with the department for natural resources, and he assured me the land would never be developed. My mother was specific that she wanted them buried in the container as she didn't want her ashes spread like fertilizer (referencing my father's spreading of my great uncle's ashes in the woods.) This is something I envisioned doing with some of her siblings, and I wanted to place her ashes near where her sisters ashes were scattered on the farm site.

After my mother's death, her two sisters were trying to scam money out of me by saying my mother owed them money (I have all her ledgers and know she didn't owe anyone anything) and they are not speaking to me because I didn't just shell out cash to them.  That, and they (one more than the other) wanted their pick of her possessions.  My mother specifically said not to give either of her sisters ANYTHING since she was so disgusted with them trying to make dibs on her things before and she was dying.

So, I have had my mother's ashes all this time, and this weekend, went to go bury them myself.  We drove out to the farm site.  The road is nearly impassable as it's so old and rutted - you definitely need four wheel drive to go there.  It has been many years since I went there with my mom.  When we got to the farm site, what used to be a clearing was now this circle drive with HUGE ruts and trash strewn about, not really the prettiest setting...  There was a pickup parked there, which is normal for state land pull-offs.  We went to go get the shovel and ashes then heard gun shots.  This is hunting land, but it is not hunting season in any way, shape, or form.  We thought that maybe the shots were off in the distance, but as we got all of our stuff together, the shots came closer.  I wanted to get this deed done and we didn't have any bright clothing on, so even if someone was hunting illegally, I wanted them to know we were out there so we wouldn't get shot.  I called into the woods, "hey!" and whoever it was started shooting and shooting and shooting repetitiously.  I told my husband I was nervous and wanted to go. We threw our stuff in the suv and took off.  There were locals at the corner staring at us as we drove out...

We then went and visited a nearby relative from my father's side, and he said "I wouldn't go there - that's right next to Kidderville."  Now, Kidderville is not on any map.  It's very back-hills, and apparently they don't like visitors. He also said he wouldn't bury anything out there because they're probably watching and would dig it up.

If I had one of my mother's relatives with me, I'd probably be safe as they would recognize them.  Considering the rift, I really don't want to engage them.  My husband wants to make another attempt, but just drive away if someone is parked there.  I'm worried they'd dig up my mother's ashes.  Then I'm thinking can we just open the lead box somehow and scatter the ashes, but my husband thinks we should respect her wishes and bury them in the box.  My mother's brother (my favorite out of all of them) lives down the road and could safely take us there, but he's close with one of the greedy sisters.  I really don't know what to do.

How's that for a dilemma? Thoughts? LOL