We’re now on our way to Mel’s, after having lunch at IHOP. I got pancakes, eggs, and undercooked bacon.

The hotel was the best we’ve stayed at since we’ve known each other, but his snoring’s really been robbing me of sleep. I guess for now we’re gonna stay in hotels every other day. Tonight we’ll be in the trailer, and thankfully he won’t be in at 6:30 snoring. So now just the animals can wake me up. Or my having to pee. Or just because. I really don’t think I’m gonna be able to sleep 8 hours straight through till after we get into the house, but at least I’m not sick. I still don’t wheeze, my lungs are OK, I’m just tired.

He won’t get back till around noon tomorrow, which is good, but he won’t be leaving till around 12:30 tonight. Much later than I want to be up, but hopefully, he won’t wake me up if I fall asleep before he leaves.

Their complimentary breakfast was good. They had a good selection.

Later...

We’re now at Mel’s. At least we got here only 20 minutes early and not 45.

Anyway, the only noise I heard at the hotel was the housekeeper bopping around at 8:30, but if I had slept longer, I wouldn’t have slept past 8:30 anyhow.

After this, we’re gonna go straight to the trailer where I’m gonna be lazy for the rest of the day.

I forgot to add that the hotel was much darker at night than that dive in Snotsdale was. Also, it had a flat carpet. The carpet in the trailer, which is a yellow/gold color, is plush.

Later...

Went to my appointment, but haven’t mailed the bitch’s mail yet. We will within the next few days. We were just so beat and we wanted to get back to the trailer as soon as we could.

I’ll also be mailing a little survey the hotel provided. I gave them excellent ratings. Tom liked how I put “lots” next to “position.” Well, I do lots of things.

I told Mel I was gonna stick with her at least for a while. She said, “Good.” Also, that purple was my color (I was wearing a purple dress). The doctor came in and tightened my retainers, and I’ll see them again in 4 weeks.

Is there really no place on Earth that’s totally quiet? I guess no home is completely free of other people’s noise, or other people’s dog’s noise. If there is, God simply won’t allow it for me. Although there’s still no comparison to our old place, all the area’s dogs can really get to be a bit annoying at certain times of the day. Again, they’re nowhere near as loud as the collies, and we won’t hear them in a dual-paned windowed house, but once again, I can’t enjoy the outdoors in peace. I give up. I totally give up. This isn’t just one dog, either. It’s obvious there’s a kennel somewhere around here, or as Tom suggested, maybe racing dogs. There are at least three dogs that go on and on for hours, but there could also be a dozen of them. It’s hard to tell for sure, but there are a lot of them.

Also, I see new utility poles nearby. Tom said they may’ve always been there, and they’re still miles away. I’m pretty observant, though, and I think they’re the first sign of how I vibed the place would build up as soon as we got here.

He also reminded me that we could sell our land and house in a few years and make a ton of money so he doesn’t have to work and go 100 miles from people (we’d split the land into 4 properties). Yeah, but moving’s a bitch, I really want to stay here, and where would we go? God would only have someone and their dog move close enough to be a bother. And this is nothing. The barking’s gonna get almost as bad as Phoenix was once the surrounding properties get dogs. It’s better than those fucking stereos, though.

I thought I also heard screaming as if someone was getting attacked by these dogs, but I couldn’t be sure. These dogs have got to be a mile away, even though sound carries a little better out here cuz it’s so flat. Yeah, wait till the dogs get on all the surrounding properties as I said. The mountains are too far away to block sound, but we are gonna put up a block wall. Not as close to the house as in Phoenix so it doesn’t enhance sound, but enough to ward off surrounding sounds.

Tom doesn’t think it’s building up in this direction, but like I said, it will now that I’m here. I’m gonna be stubborn, though. I do not want to leave this beautiful land and what will be our beautiful house. Maybe I’m not getting my hopes up for no reason for once by hoping it’ll be quieter in a well-insulated house, and I don’t have to be outside all that much. It’s either too hot or too cold for the most part, and I hate all the flies. You just can’t casually stroll around here without the possibility of encountering a snake at night and without the more definite possibility of encountering ants during the day. When you sit still, flies won’t leave you the fuck alone.

Later...

The shouts and barks are still going on. Just what is this place and what are they doing?

Now I hear an older voice that may be closer. A white service van of some kind just headed towards the houses behind us, but I can’t say for sure that that’s where it went and that that’s where the voice came from. Well, in another hour or two, people should head indoors as the cold rapidly closes in, and the dogs should settle down.

I think I’ll go listen to music.

Later...

The "kennel" has settled down. All I heard, but only for a minute, was some adult voices. They were coming from either behind us or from the opposite side of the kennel. I heard a middle-aged woman and a young to middle-aged guy. I’d rather a few spurts of distant voices than hours of distant barking. And I sure as hell don’t want any close barking or bass.

The analyst in me says the voices are from the houses behind us (they sound white!). I also get the feeling there’s something going on too, and that this isn’t an ordinary hang-out-at-night-when-the-temperature’s-pleasant-and-chat kind of thing. At least whatever’s going on is good. The voices sounded pretty jovial, and I even heard some laughter.

I just hope I can sleep tonight. I really need to catch up on my sleep. I won’t count on it, though. Not till we get into the house and I can run a soft fan.

I hear ducks or geese, but they’re no bother.

I hear that engine running as I usually do, but it sounds different tonight. Actually, it sounds more like a vehicle running. Something with a bassy idle like our car has. Now it’s slowly fading. Nope. Still going. It just faded for an instant.

Later...

The well, or the diesel truck, or whatever it is, began running at 8:30. A little later than usual. I like this thing, though, cuz it provides some background noise, even if it isn’t much. It only stays on till around midnight, though.

Tom woke up for a minute and said those voices couldn’t have come from behind us cuz the place is too deserted. After he said this, I saw someone drive up and park in between us and next door, suggesting that other cars were filling up the space closer to the house. I heard the car door shut, then saw someone get out and go to the house, but of course, it was too dark to see who it was. So I guess they were having a party and needed more space to park. You can’t park just anywhere on their land, and these people have 4-5 vehicles. Mostly old trucks, and who knows if they all run or not.

Judging by their vehicles and their house, I’d say these people aren’t very nice and that they aren’t very easy-going. What do you expect, though? They’re next to me.

Their house is older and uglier and has been around for a while. Of course they also have those two little shacks that are falling apart with smashed windows that are on a corner of their land closest to us. I’d say they’re the ugliest things around here. Anyway, their house is no big beautiful manufactured home, and they’ve probably been there for a long time.

They’ve hung out laundry today and yesterday. I get the feeling there are a lot of them, they’re poor, and not all of them work. This, coupled with what God’s had in store for me the last few years, made me think all the more that these were Mexicans, but those voices I heard, if they were truly from over there, sounded pretty white to me.

Also, where are the millions of kids Mexicans have? I’d think there’d be more evidence of it if lots of kids were over there. I’d hear them. Not like I heard the Phoenix kids, blacks, or Mormonettes, but I’d have to hear something to tell me they were there. So if they exist, they’ve been unusually quiet.

I just can’t wait to get into the comfort of that big, gorgeous new house with its master bedroom windows surrounded and insulated by other rooms. Actually, every room in that house except for the master bath will have just one exterior wall. The master bath will have two.

Tom’s asleep now. He told me that although he doesn’t have to leave till 1:00, to wake him up when I’m ready to crash, and he’ll leave. He said he’d go play computer games in the car or something. That’s sweet of him, but he hasn’t had much sleep either, and so I’m gonna let him sleep till 10:00. It’d be wonderful if I could sleep from, say, 11:00-7:00, or even 10:30-8:30, but I know better than to even think I could do this. Either it’ll be too hot or too cold and that’ll wake me up. Or the animals will, or I’ll just wake up just because and not be able to fall back asleep for a while. Or maybe a person or an animal will wake me up.