Saturday, July 3, 2010

Irate Homeowners and Calmari Nightmares

I've told you before: I don't like #2's wife. I live on the odd side of the street, in #4. #6 is a lovely Latino family. #7 is a Black. So is #2.


The homeowner's wife was rude (parking in front of my house when they have tons of room in the driveway) and scary (threatening to kill my cat because he looked at her). She moved out when I countered her death threat with the information that was a felony, and I'd press charges if Kitty got so much as a hairball. I think, for her, the threat to call her principal (yes, this hater teaches children) was the real crux.


[For the record, I don't hate her, I'm just really glad they moved out after our house got robbed. See "Naked Wife" post for details.]


Then we had a succession of relatives of the homeowner, moving from Tennessee. They were OK with the cat, but their rude boys were constantly climbing over the fence and invading our privacy. I have a real issue with some kid staring in my window at me, when I'm a homeowner and the property lines are clear.


After Ron would go over and visit a few times, telling them to keep their kids out of the yard, they would "Get it" and leave us alone. In their favor, they never once said anything against the cat and only the last guy started up the "Parking in front of the house" thing.


I always figured God let me get a taste of that AWFUL woman to show me a real problem "neighbor". I have always held them up against her and been glad I had "mine". I mean, nothing wrong with mental illness but TAKE YOUR MEDS! [shudder]


The last ones have been pretty "trashy". They were here about 2 years. My favorite was the teenage daughter's boyfriend. She was about 15. He would pull up and honk loudly until she came out. Then I would find used condoms in the driveway the next day.


He would put them in a baggie, kind of a revolting turn on my Driver Candy, then fling them out his window. Some of them ended up in MY yard! Revolting! I even got gloves, and put one on the father's car. I figured any loving father would put a stop to this before his...


Daughter became pregnant. She had a little tax deduction and it is very sad. When she should be having fun and visiting with her freinds, she is potty-training her toddler, because her parents didn't care enough to protect her.


The boys were really bad about getting into my yard. They broke Ron's gate, climbing over it. Rude, rude, rude. I caught one of them tearing boards off MY fence.


By some weird measure, all of the tenants had rowdy little boys. [shrug] Odd. Some were related to the homeowner. I think it's been 4 tenants. One year, one year, two years, two years.


Anyway, one nasty thing the current tenants have done: they put the trash out on garbage day. Then they leave the cans in the street for days.


This last pickup they put out some plastic bags - they don't pick up plastic bags anymore. You have to put everything in the (2) ninety-five gallon cans and put them out.


They were only paying for 2 cans but had 3. The trash company won't pick up the third can, so they were rotating the nasty full trash can and leaving it in the street.


A couple weeks ago, the homeowner rented a van and drove everyone off. I saw him, back, for a few days a week later.


During our last pickup, they had plastic bags, boxes, etc. Plus the third can. Of course the trash company did not pick up anything but 2 cans. The tenants left the trash in the street, rotting, for days.


Ron and I paid about 1/3 to 1/2 what the other homeowners did. I KNOW they were really furious looking at this "trash heap". Calls were made, and I'm pretty sure the irate, oringinal, homeowner came and cleaned up the mess just now.


It was a very expensive white car, not one owned by the tenants. Who else would come and pick up all the trash, and be ANGRY about it? He was between my age and Ron's.


So, does that mean they have moved out? I don't know. On the one hand, I am sick of them. On the other, I am not really eager to have another "passel" of rude children in my yard invading my privacy. [shrug] It's up to God, but I do know that man was PISSED about the trash. If nothing else I don't think we'll have problems with the trash issue anymore.


So, after work, I revamped my knitting project, a pastel scrap afghan. I decided to work it in one piece, instead of strips. It's a lot easier to work that way. I weighed my yarn. For a 5 foot square afghan, I need about 35 ounces of yarn. I have about 25, and plenty of white.


I plan to work it like I did the black one... I need a photo. There we go. Instead of black borders, white. Instead of brights, pastels. The only difference is that it's worked side to side instead of in strips. It should be fun. I've already got about 5 feet by an inch in a fun baby pink.
Most of the afghan will be baby blanket leftovers. I have about 25 ounces, soft yellow, pink, lavender, blue, mint, and multis. With white borders. It should be very soothing. It's a fun project, I'm glad I started it.
So, I worked on that and got the "right" circular needle. Selected my first couple colors. Worked on that. NOTHING good on TV. If I had to work a split shift, I'm glad it was today.
By the way, I was pulling change out of the vending machines. I found a $20. I had made change for it and stuck the bill in the change bucket. I tried to give it to Ron, but he handed it back and said "Split shift premium".
The funny part, I'm salaried. I don't get any bonus pay! When I told him thanks, I could buy a lot of Bibles with that, he pretended to ask for it back, rolling after me and exclaiming "Don't you spend that on God! What has He ever done for you!?" [laughing] I told him "He gave me you!" "Even more reason!" [snicker]
He worked out his issues and liked my suggestion of being a bouy, just floating along, not freaking out over changes in currents. Cling-cling... he commented a few times how much he liked the image.
We had a date at the seafood place. Ron wanted some fried shrimp and hush puppies. I love fried calamari, especially the way these guys do it, with some cayenne pepper. As I blew my nose, I told Ron, "This is the spiciest thing I eat on a regular basis!"
We got there and had about an hour. I had 2 baskets of calamari, diet pop, a hush puppy, and a benadryl. I didn't want to get hivey. Ron ate a 9 piece shrimp with fries and hushpuppies, and had a low-carb beer. We had a good ride home.
I took a nap and woke up after having nightmares about my teeth falling out. Must have been the calamari. I was so ready to get out of bed!
Once I finish up here I will be getting dressed and doing my PM God Time. Some knitting, check the mail. Then, back to work to turn on and restock all the machines.

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