To my surprise, Tom worked 11 hours yesterday! Just maybe we will get out of here in September. I hope so. I’m sick of next door taking up residence outside our windows for hours on end! I can’t even pee in peace between the late afternoon and mid-evening. The question is, is something up there helping us out of here to be nice to us, or is it simply eager to put us next to what we were next to in Phoenix? Well, to say there was a neighbor curse on us in Phoenix, and in Maricopa too, when you think about it, is an understatement! Therefore, I’m hopeful that we’ll be compensated in the future. Not too hopeful, though. Not after all these years. Still, Patty, and even next door, are nothing compared to past neighbors. They’re just too close!

Anyway, Tom’s hopeful that he may get more overtime and even a raise since one of the bosses quit. This is one of the bosses that had him do things no one else could do.

I dread the end of the year when the threat of being laid off will once again be on the rise. He pointed out that he now has more clout here in K-Falls should he need a new job, but that’s just the problem – there are no other jobs out there or else he’d have gotten one.

As of yet, there have been no new updates on the progress of my package. I guess it could be anywhere between Illinois and here. It’ll probably have to circulate through Portland, Salem and Eugene before it gets here.

Later…

Next door’s been their usual laughing, chatting, banging selves, but Freckles has been quieter. Perhaps it’s because she’s being let out more in the morning rather than the afternoon. This is better because there’s less activity to bark at in the mornings than in the afternoons.

I spoke to Patty yesterday morning when I saw her out de-turding the backyard. Freckles was funny because when I opened the door and called out, she ran up to her door. When I told her she had the wrong door, she came running around the railing to see me.

Patty doesn’t want the plant because her friend just brought her some plants, so she says.

I told her we’d have a yard sale in August, which as she agrees, is a good time to have it. I may keep the plant till we have the yard sale we’re going to have before going to California.

She wants me to let her know when we officially give notice because she has a friend that she wants to get in here. An older guy who’s nearly blind, I guess. She has a year’s lease, so she better hope she either gets a friend in here or at least someone who’s quiet. She still has a chance to move to the Oregon coast to a quiet, private place, she also says, whatever that means.

She says it’s nice and cool on her side. I figured as much. I raised the fan closer to the window so that I can cool it down easier at night in here. It’s going to be in the low 70s in a few days. I guess we’re in for some rain around that time since that’s pretty much the only reason the temperature drops during the summer.

I told her I looked forward to being in a house where I could blast my music and she asked me what kind of music I like. I told her mostly 70s music, and she said she loves the 60s. I asked if she could hear me singing and she said no, we’re so quiet that she wonders if we’re even here at times.

We were talking about how Tom’s been riding his bike to save on gas money, and she said she was afraid to ride a bike because bike riders and pedestrians get killed around here. Well, let’s hope Tom’s not one of them!

A guy was in back picking up branches from the old tree they cut down, saying he’d be back to mow tomorrow. It needs it, too.

The best thing Patty told me that got me quite ecstatic is that she doesn’t know if there are cacti in Sacramento, but they do have palm trees! I was so glad to hear that! Not only do I miss living amongst them, but I’d really like to get this palm in the ground somewhere as soon as I can. I don’t know if it’ll live, but it’s growing like crazy and I don’t want the pot it’s in to choke the life right out of it before I can plant it somewhere. Hopefully, the pot won’t be too small for quite a while, though, because palms don’t have big root balls.

The only other thing she told me was that she fell asleep in the sun at some lake over the weekend and got burned and that her doctor told her not to do anything for two weeks. She’s on medication that forbids her from being out in the sun too, which I was glad to hear. Maybe that’s another reason she and the dog aren’t hanging out back in the afternoons.

Tom got two hours of overtime, but we still won’t know which month we’re giving notice until a couple of weeks from now. I’d say something up there is either teasing me with this overtime or is actually going to be kind to me for once, after all I’ve been through. See, just like the blacks think us whites owe them, I think God owes me! Very much so. And I don’t care how spoiled or selfish it sounds either.

Earlier this evening my package made it to Portland, then left there a few minutes later, so it’s on its way down!

The birds are back to not singing in the bird clock, so who knows what the problem is? I guess it’s just that if it’s something we own, it must break.

My ear was back to hurting again too, and just when I went back to thinking it was my ear and not my tooth, I lost more of that tooth. It’s now 90% gone. The ear pain’s backed off again, too.