The Duplex (with Beverly)

I finally have a chance to update. Since moving in last Saturday, I’ve been quite busy. I hope I remember all the details I wanted to mention. Moving in and setting up has been fun yet hectic. Not something I want to do for another decade, and as long as it remains quiet here, I just might not want to move, even if we suddenly had money. I’m sick of moving! Tom thinks we’ll be in a position to decide in just 3-4 years whether or not we want to try rural living again or wait till we can get into a retirement community. First of all, I doubt it’ll be just 3-4 years before we could own anything anywhere. Secondly, from what I’ve seen around here, this seems to be a rather geriatric neighborhood, so I say why not stay put until trouble arises? As long as everyone stays put and doesn’t go getting dogs, it should stay peaceful. I haven’t even heard a peep from next door other than one cabinet door closing, which was obviously in her utility area. I was also right in assuming she’s a retiree of some kind. Her car hasn’t budged since we got here. So the always-home neighbor hasn’t changed yet, but so far the noise curse has been stunted, thank God. I actually feel more like I’m in a house here than I did in Phoenix, even though we’re closer to people here than we were there. That’s what happens when you’re not living so close to a pack of animals, I guess. The only thing I hear is the constant whiz of traffic, sprinkled with an occasional blasting stereo. Nothing as loud as Phoenix yet, though. Especially with me in the bedroom most of the time which is in back, rather than in front. Directly in front of it is the bathroom, then the garage. Shasta Way is definitely a well-traveled road. You’d be lucky to count to 30 without something going by.

The last few nights at the motel were peaceful. On Saturday, we checked out and made a couple of trips to storage. We have one more to make to clean it out entirely. Also, 1-2 more trips to clean out the RV and shed. We made one trip already, and again, I was astonished to find both plants alive and well. I guess the cab of the RV made like a little greenhouse for them. This place doesn’t get much direct sunlight, so I may get a plant light. I also may not be able to resist the $25 palm tree I saw at Home Depot. Of course, God knows if we’ll ever have a measly $25 to spare, but they sure were nice. They were pretty big. Bigger than the one I had in Maricopa.

We had a little scare on the way up to the land. The truck stalled at an intersection and Tom yelled for me to jump out. At first I thought he was frantic about it because something was on fire. Nonetheless, I jumped out and helped him push the damn thing to the side when a couple of guys were kind enough to jump out of their semi and help us. Tom then manually opened the choke, which caused us to stall, and we were fine.

I’ve heard from the mom and daughter duo next to the bedroom more than next door. They go back and forth by way of their back doors which face the bedroom, so I can hear occasional voices, cats meowing and doors closing. It’s absolutely nothing compared to Phoenix, though, and I’d much rather the voices over the barking and the banging if I’ve got to hear anything at all. The worst thing is how brightly lit up they keep it back there at night. Drapes are a must when and if there’s ever money for that.

It’s hard to believe this bedroom is bigger than the one in our Maricopa house which was twice the size of this place, but it is. I love the long closet and 4 huge drawers underneath it, but at my height, it sure makes reaching the rod hard. Sometimes I have to step up into the closet to hang clothes up. This is where the rat is, too. He doesn’t mind. Besides, this way he’s easier to hide. If the owner were to stop by for any reason, it’s unlikely they’d go in the bedroom. I just slide the door shut at night so I don’t hear his movements. He likes it in the dark anyway, so it works out well.

It’s also hard to believe that this kitchen is bigger than the kitchen in the Phoenix house. It’s actually not bad at all. There’s no garbage disposal or dishwasher, but I don’t mind catching leftovers in the little basket and washing dishes myself. They come out cleaner that way. It’s a good size sink too, and it’s white porcelain rather than stainless steel which I’d prefer because stainless steel loses its shine so fast. It also has a hose.

The overall space in here is wonderful. There are still tons of space left in cabinets and closets. Tom really found us not only the ideal place to live but the ideal neighborhood, too. As I’ve always said, it all depends on who’s around you. Right now we’ve got good, civilized people.

The only thing I don’t like is that the bathroom has no exhaust fan, but we can just shower with the door open. We picked up a pink shower liner for a buck at the dollar store, plus a few other household things. Anyway, the shower and toilet work great. The shower has good pressure and the toilet’s not sluggish. You had to hold the handle down a few seconds to get it to flush because the chain was too long, but he fixed that. He also blew a fuse and needed to get another one, but they’re so cheap, so it was no big deal.

I sang today, so if anyone heard it, I don’t care as long as they stay off my ass.

On Halloween, we cut the lights in front and hung out in the bedroom setting things up. No one rang the bell or knocked, though visitor number one came yesterday. When I called out, “Who is it?” they ignored me. Knowing it could’ve been the owner, I opened up. It was in regard to the campaign bullshit they got going on. I just said I was busy. I should’ve known that silence on the caller’s part meant sales, religious or campaign calls.

I’m really surprised we haven’t met the lady next door yet, though Tom caught a glimpse of Mom next door. She appears to be in her mid-50s, he said.

I slept fine last night and the first night, but he woke me up the second night by accident. Plus, that was the night I slept with the sound machine and not the fan. I didn’t have the bedroom door shut all the way, so when he went to open the bathroom door, air suction slammed it, waking me up for a few minutes.

I got quite a surprise yesterday upon glimpsing out back through the kitchen window. There were 3 deer that had come down from the mountain grazing in mom and daughter’s yard! There’s a break in the stockade fence that runs along the entire back there and that’s how they got in and out.

The thing that sucks the most about the place is that except for packages, we can’t get/send mail right from our door. We have to walk a short way down to a community mailbox, but each resident has their own key and the post office changes the locks whenever someone moves. We went to request new keys from the PO yesterday, and the mailman dropped them off here today at noon.

Later…

Tom came home so I stopped to chat with him and show him the things I set up today. It’s amazing how much stuff I’d forgotten about till I pulled it out of the boxes they were in. I was like, has it really been that long since we’ve had a normal life?

We took a walk down to the mailbox. It even has a box for packages that’ll fit in it. If it won’t, I guess they either bring it to your door or make you go to the PO to get it. The sucky thing is that I don’t think you can mail outgoing mail from this thing.

We saw a dead garden snake by the side of the road as we were headed to it.

I was surprised to learn from Tom that next door’s car was gone when he left for work this morning. I wonder where she’d have gone so early in the morning.

How wonderful it is to have Tom in the other room watching TV on his computer with headphones! Yes, two rooms are a must. This way I can do my own thing without the distractions.

I heard both mom and daughter calling out for “Mandy.” Obviously one of the cats got out.

A couple of other flaws about this place are that the blinds in the living room windows have gaps between them, and the two skinnier windows that border the bigger one in the center, don’t even reach the windowsill. This is another area we’re going to drape, or at least curtain off.

Also, the refrigerator sucks. It’s old and is the type you have to defrost yourself.

Supposedly we’ll have extra money in 6 weeks. We decided that instead of me taking $100 each month, he’ll just let me know how much extra there is each paycheck and we’ll decide what to do from there. I don’t know if I want to continue collecting dolls because I’m sick of wanting them. All I do is want them! Wanting and not being able to have gets really old so I don’t know if I’ll bother. I think I’d rather just get things like incense and clothes; things you use.

I weighed in two days ago at 128, so I’m back on the diet trip again and exercising for close to an hour a day.