We were officially online as of 5 PM yesterday. It took me 7 hours to catch up on sweeps and whatnot, but I got caught up.

While I was working yesterday, a rooster walked by the window. It was actually in the vacant yard next to us.

The trash gets picked up early here at 4 AM. Because it’s a one-way street and the arm that lifts the pail is on the wrong side, they had to walk it around to the right side of the truck, Tom said.

It was warmer today so we didn’t fire up the heater. I just used the portable one in the bedroom for a while. It’s to be even warmer tomorrow.

Since today wasn’t a good day to get the dressers, we browsed through part of the downtown area, stopped for pizza, and looked in shops.

The one that has this cool-looking bamboo plant was closed, but we went into this cute gift shop where I got a cat calendar for next year and some colored paper. Speaking of paper, I started signing up for freebies and came across this rather incredible paper site that sells all kinds of paper. Paper I’ve never heard of like metallic, iridescence and others that shimmer and change colors in shifting light.

We also stopped at Jan’s and got some incense. She still orders from Incense Galore, though she also has her old stuff, too. I cleaned her Patchouli out well and got some other favorites like Sweet Musk, Puddy Cat, and Cranberry.

We haven’t gotten any mail yet and I asked Tom if he was sure we were allowed to get any here because not even she’s gotten any. He said it can take up to a week to be forwarded and that she probably doesn’t get mail here because she has a PO Box.

I took my first bath here, something I usually only do in colder weather. The tub’s not the most comfortable, but it’ll do.

Well, I finally got letters off to Mary, Paula and Bob, though I had to clip them to the outside flap of the mailbox. This is because some of the envelopes are too wide for this skinny old box. Next door has a nicer box. It’s wider and newer. I guess they’ll have to put things that don’t fit in the box right up against the door or somewhere on the porch. We haven’t yet received any mail here as there’s always a bit of a delay when forwarding. Today we should get something. If it’s like most places, though, the mail won’t come till around 2:00.

Again there was a big black spider in here last night. I sucked it up with the vacuum. Is this going to be a nightly tradition or what? I just wish this place was sealed up better!

It was a chilly 62º when he got up this morning. Tonight we’ll light the gas heater.

Meanwhile, now that I’m all caught up in here all I can do is be bored shitless till Charter gets here at 4:00, and they better get here!

Later…

The neighbor was gone when I got up at 9:00 and she just got back. If she does work, she’s working a very early shift. Given the odd hours she comes and goes, I couldn’t even begin to guess what it is she does. I’m just amazed that she hasn’t had company yet! See, she’s gonna move. I just know it.

The mailman, at least I think it was the mailman and not someone just out to steal people’s mail, took the mail just before 1:30. I could just make out their movements from the bedroom, though I never saw anyone. But we never got any mail. She hasn’t appeared to get any either. Makes me wonder if there really is delivery service here or what. Could it just be that the carrier delivers her mail back to her place and ours hasn’t been forwarded yet? I hope that’s the case!

I’m also surprised no one’s knocked on the door yet wanting me to buy cookies or fall in love with Jesus.

At the 11th St. House…

After 10 months, we’ve finally made it out of the duplex and into a house!!! The move couldn’t have gone any smoother. We even got free towing, thanks to that other coworker of his. I can’t believe someone did us a favor like that. Lately, no one does shit for us and we never seem to get any kind of break. Poor Tom was compensated for it, though, with a flat tire. He rode his bike over a nail yesterday. It’s a good thing he now only has a 6-minute walk to work.

I am so glad I’m not in the duplex right now! Mondays were always one of the busiest, barkiest days there, though that beast had come to bark several times a day every day of the week. This place has the potential for trouble too, though not nearly the potential the duplex had. My saying that if we had a good neighbor, she’d move, is a total understatement. I can’t say for sure that she’s really moving, but she appears to be. Her mailbox seems to be unchecked as if she’s forwarded it somewhere. She also comes and goes a lot, though she’s quiet about it. She was only out for 10 minutes on two of the trips which suggests she’s bringing stuff somewhere. Besides, I heard her close several doors on her car and probably her trunk too, before she left on one such trip. The first short trip where I heard all the doors was in the early afternoon. The second one was right before midnight, but I had the air cleaner running, so I never heard any doors (I decided to use the air cleaner and not the fan because it’s louder, and I also wouldn’t want such a small room to be so drafty once it cools down). Another thing that makes me think she’s moving is because the trash bin was barely an eighth full on Saturday. The next day it was overflowing. One of the things Tom said she threw in there was a broken picture.

I only caught one quick glimpse of her as she was leaving on Saturday. She’s fat and ugly with short blond hair from what I could tell. My guess is that she’s in her 20s or 30s, but I can’t say for sure. Anyway, I’m just so pissed at whatever’s up there because I know it’s going to send someone with a loud stereo or that will work on their car in the driveway, gunning engines, slamming doors, hoods, trunks and then some. It’s a super narrow driveway too, but as Tom and I both agree, it doesn’t look like a garage she’s living in that was converted. Maybe it was some sort of workshop or storeroom. It’s very small. I’m glad we no longer have to worry about blaring TVs, stomping kids or cabinets slamming, but that driveway’s bound to be a problem at some point since I’m here now. The house across the driveway has an 80-year-old woman in it from what Tom saw, but the house on the other side could be a problem right along with the driveway. The picket fence is only about 5 or 6 feet from the wall of our house and extends in front of the house as well as in back of it. It’s their side yard. Their backyard’s not nearly as big because it can only go so far back because of the canal. It’s a two-story house, and again, once it’s either sold or rented, I can’t imagine anyone not having kids in it, and I certainly can’t imagine them being dogless. The houses in this area are older and uglier, and some are two stories.

Let me back up to the move before I go on. I was up by 7:00 and Eddie was there by 8:00 on Saturday morning. He sounded gay but looked straight. He is married, too. He was somewhat shy and quiet. Tom said his neighbors complain about him for making a racket when he works on his vehicles. He should move to Arizona. He’d never get complained about there! However, if he thought Fresno was too hot, which is where he’s from, he’d never be able to handle Arizona.

Tom had told him that he thought it’d take 1 or 2 truckloads to move us (Eddie has a full-size pickup) and that I said it’d take 3 or 4. Well, it ended up taking 3, and of course, Tom jammed the truck with a bunch of stuff too, that got towed down here. During each load that they’d take off to drop off, I made a huge point of stomping around the place as loud as I could, and she was sure to blast her TV, no doubt knowing we wouldn’t have music going to drown it out. The week before we moved she stopped blasting it in the daytime probably because she was escaping my chaos under headphones. Nonetheless, while she blasted the TV, I got good exercise by running around and around the place and slamming cabinets. When I’d get tired, I opted to lay on the bedroom floor and listen to next door’s chatter rather than the bitch’s TV. The dog never barked that last day. I was almost sorry I told her when we were moving so she could line up a friend to take our place, but it saved me from having to play show-and-tell. I can’t swear that that’s why I got out of having to do that, but it seems like a logical guess.

The bad news is that we did have to sign a lease, but the good news is that it’s only for 6 months. It expires February 28th (I just say March) and whether or not we’ll move then, we don’t know.

All but two of my predictions came true. The house is a two-bedroom with small rooms, it does have dirty white peeling paint that Mr. Colorblind calls pale yellow, but the trim is medium green and not dark red. The only other thing I got wrong was saying it wouldn’t be managed Triple-A because it is. The other things I was correct about are that it is fenced in both the back and front, has no garage or cellar, it’s not near the duplex, it is in an area where the houses are older, and there’s a driveway to the right, even if it’s not ours. It’s a little closer to the train tracks, we can get/send mail from the house, it is closer to the street, although not by much, and it is square, even if the whole damn thing is tilted. There’s an older man involved too, even if he’s just the handyman. I’d say I did a pretty damn good job overall. That’s one of the things a psychic is supposed to do is see future events and places they have yet to see in person.

After the third pickup load, Eddie dropped his truck off at his house near the duplex and took his wife to work in their car. Then he came and picked me up while Tom went with the guy towing the truck, so he could direct him down here. The towing company is actually in Dorris, just under the Oregon border, so the guy didn’t know K-Falls well. I didn’t think to lock the front door or shut the garage door because I didn’t know if Tom would be back, but everything was fine the next day when he did go back. If there is anything better about the city it’s that it’s safer. There’s safety in numbers, and with Shasta being so busy, a break-in there is next to nil, not that they could’ve taken anything more than some cleaning supplies. Anyway, he cleaned up the oil leak as best he could and sopped up the water that spilled out of the refrigerator and onto the floor because I forgot to set the tray up to catch the melting ice. Still, we think we’re going to lose a large chunk of our deposit because of the oil and the fact that we didn’t have the carpet cleaned. We didn’t read the lease clearly which states that you must have it cleaned and then show them a receipt for proof that you did it. To have it cleaned seemed so silly anyway. It was brand-new carpet and we never spilled anything on it or messed it up in any way. The rat sure did piss on it a few times, though!

Blondie rode over on my lap and behaved just fine. He’s got to be the most traveled rat as much as these plants are the most traveled plants! It’s a funny thought to know that the rude bitch I’m so happy to be detached from might’ve seen me moving him out on my shoulder. She’d have been like, oh my God! You mean I’ve been living next to that thing for 4 months?!

I haven’t decided yet whether or not I’m going to send a more detailed email to Pam pertaining to the bitch or not. I don’t think I’ll bother. We’re out of there and she’s a closed chapter in our lives.

Although I still say it’s a shame that his own family cares less about him than his coworkers (though I still think we’ll hear all about the letter), it’s so nice all the offers he’s gotten to help him with various things. He still hasn’t checked that guy’s furniture out yet that he wants to get rid of, but I’m kind of glad he hasn’t. See, when he said the house was small I didn’t think he meant microscopic! I had hoped Pam was exaggerating when she told Tom the place was small, but the old living room is easily as big as this living room and kitchen. The place can’t be more than 600 square feet. We could really use one more room and a ¾ bath to go with this full bath that’s a third of the size of the master bedroom closet in our Maricopa house. The bedroom closets here, which are the only closets in the place, are barely 2’ wide, but the ceiling here is higher, so we can at least stack shit pretty high. I’d say they’re closer to 10’ high. That’s not good for in the winter, but the living room has a fan that can be reversed to blow warm air down from the ceiling.

Anyway, I’m glad we didn’t get any furniture yet to have to work around. We barely had room to unpack shit as it was. The bedrooms, which are about the same size, are about 12x12 and the living room and kitchen can’t be much bigger. Perhaps 13x13. The layout is simple. The living room and kitchen are to the left and the bedrooms are to the right with the closets and bathroom sandwiched in between. I don’t like how you have to go through the bedrooms to get to the bathroom, and I sure as hell miss the vanity in the old bathroom, but the bathroom’s been modernized so I like that much. We can get shelves for extra storage space. The shower pressure is wimpy, but the toilet and both sinks in here have good pressure. The kitchen sink is stainless steel which I prefer over the porcelain sink the duplex had. The tub is also plastic rather than porcelain, another thing I like better. The bathroom sink is plastic too, and there are pretty floral tiles on the back wall of the tub. Although the window in there isn’t frosted, it’s set so high that privacy wouldn’t be an issue, even though the blinds are much better here. They’re newer and whiter and the slats are closer together.

My bedroom, being in front, was rather light at night, so we got these new ready-shades that are so way cool. Tom says they’re the best thing they’ve ever made. There’s no hardware or labor involved. You just stick them on and they come with clips so you can raise them if you want to. They’re much cheaper and you get a more snug fit at the sides. He got the room-darkening ones that not only block out the streetlights but makes daytime sleeping in there not so bright, too.

The walls in here are old but in ok condition. The house was probably built in the 40s or 50s from the looks of it, and the floor creaks more than the duplex which was newer. That place was probably built in the ’70s. We shouldn’t need the AC in here due to a combination of the higher ceilings and the fact that we have about an hour less of direct sunlight here, thanks to an even bigger hill than the one we’re on off towards the west. Even so, the house is brighter overall than the duplex, and I like that. I’m sure the plants will appreciate it, too.

The house seems to mostly tilt towards the center, though the kitchen and living room do slant towards the side as well. Eddie said there was once an earthquake here, so if that’s what set it off-kilter, I don’t know. If not, then I guess it was just the ground settling under the pillars over the years, though this is awfully tilted for even 50-60 years. Everything’s off-kilter, including the windows. The screens are brand-new, which is nice, but we can’t open most of the windows because the casings are off which allows for the midges to get in between the windows and screens. That’s what they call the little gnat-like bugs that are in abundance here due to the canal running along back. I both like and dislike the canal. It’s cool to see the fast-moving water when we cross over it when we go to the store after living without any bodies of water for 12 years, but it calls for so many bugs. They don’t bite or sting, but they’re a pain. They should be gone when it gets cold. It’s already starting to cool down. It’s only going to be 38º tonight.

He’s going to hose down the porches next weekend because there are tons of webs with midges stuck in them, then I’ll hang my wind chimes. The last people left one in front. It’s kind of nice, even though it’s tangled. It’s got pink butterflies.

There are houses across the canal and we can hear dogs barking from over there in the back of the house at times, but it’s not nearly as loud as it would be if there was a dog next door. That would be as bad as the beast at the duplex in the living room and kitchen and I sort of worry about that happening eventually because of the noise curse that’s on us. It just seems inevitable.

I wish we could see the water in the canal from the place, but we can’t because it’s too steep of a drop-off. You have to get up to the chain-link fence in order to see it.

There were tons of car stereos going by on Saturday night, but not as many as on Shasta on Sunday and today. We’re still going to get sheets of 4” thick foam for the bedroom windows, even though the driveway has yet to become a problem, and I slept just fine the last two nights. I’m also not on nights yet, so that’ll make a big difference right there since it’s always harder to sleep during the daytime. I’m now getting up around noon.

It’s nice to be able to pee in peace and not have to do it to the tune of catcalls and door slams. I like not having to worry about running kids shaking the place down, too! The only thing I miss is the vanity and extra space. We had cabinets we never even used there. We’re very cramped in here, though we’re both way happier. I not only lack the space for knickknacks but also for boxes of stuff we can’t set up or wish to store. God only knows where I’ll keep my exercise ball when I’m not using it. We’re going to get shelves, bookcases, and whatever else we can fit in here to utilize the space better. The gas heater takes up a fourth of the living room as it is. It’s in the center of the house and so that whole corner’s useless save for the wooden shelf suspended by chains that runs along one wall there. It’s great for setting up some of the dolls. The heater sits on a brick hearth with fake brick along the lower part of the wall in that area. The gas heater itself isn’t that ugly. It’s just a large black box. The silver pipe that runs along behind it to the ceiling is what’s ugly, along with what looks like a metal paper plate with an ugly winter scene in the center of it that’s stuck to the wall behind the pipe. We think that originally there might’ve been a fireplace in here. There’s what appears to be an old chimney on the other side of the wall that they capped off when they replaced the roof with a metal one. It’ll make the rain sound neat if it ever rains again. It hasn’t rained since some time in June.

The front door is new and sealed up well, but the old back door has gaps all around it and so we need to weather-strip it. Neither door has a screen door which kind of sucks. We should be able to open the front living room window when the weather’s nice because that seems to be the only one with a well-sealed screen, and as small as this place is, it should air out nicely with the fan going.

As much as I’ve always hated old places with molding around the doors, the moldings are great for added knickknack space as long as the items are small like Barbies. I have tons of them over the bedroom, bathroom and closet doors and they look cool. A bit high, but cool just the same. The bedrooms are only a couple of degrees cooler than the other rooms, unlike at the duplex where you had a 10-degree difference between the bedroom and living room when the sun was beating on the bedroom window.

Another negative is that there’s no doorbell which could mean having to deal with the sales and religious pests knocking on the door. If they get to be a problem I’ll put a sign up.

The carpet is the exact same color of denim blue as what we had in the Maricopa house, though it’s denser and coarser. I don’t like it because it’s too dark and doesn’t hide lint or anything well at all. It hides the wrong things like the spiders I want to kill such as the big black one that was in here last night.

The kitchen floor is new and there aren’t any ugly dark oak cabinets. Some are that whitewash I like, but others are of old off-white paint. The cabinet and counter space sucks. I’m lucky if I have 3’ of counter space. I don’t know if the freezer is self-defrosting, but it’s newer and you don’t have to go through the refrigerator to get to the freezer. The oven’s a pleasant surprise, though, because while it has no window in its door or a working timer, it’s self-cleaning!

As small as it is in here, we’ll save a ton of money till some rude asshole drives us out. Yes, I hate it because it’s such a small, old dump, but I love it, too. There’s no comparison between heating 600 square feet with gas and 1000 with electric heaters. Not paying for gas for the truck helps, too.

We agreed to spend a little money, like $30, sometime this week at some of the shops downtown (we’re right on the edge of downtown). I saw some of the shops yesterday as we walked to Safeway for groceries. Some had incense and oils.

We still plan to get one of those cash cards so we can do things online like DVDs, Webshots, and premium membership for the sweeps, but not until we get back online. We were supposed to be online the day we moved, but they fucked up and didn’t get to us. This made us $20, though, which they guarantee to those they don’t get to on time. They’re coming tomorrow instead. If Charter fails us again, we’ll call Quest and get a DSL line. It’s faster than satellite but slower than cable, so I hope Charter shows up. As pissed as I am to lose a few days of entries, it gives me a chance to update my journal and write letters. I haven’t heard from Bob in ages, so I want to give him the new address in case he’s still alive. I want to write to Mary, of course, and Paula too, whom I got a letter from the day before we moved.

Although Safeway’s not as nice as Albertson’s because they don’t have as big of a variety and are more expensive, we’re closer to a wider variety of stores.

At one point Saturday evening, a really loud car stereo went by. Tom recognized the driver as being a coworker of his named Jesse and said he’d ask him to turn it down. I told him not to bother. People don’t get those things to be asked to turn them down. This street is still way quieter than Shasta was.

Later…

Tom dropped off the keys today and Pam said she stopped by the duplex earlier (I wonder if she heard the dog and TV). She never said anything about who was going in there next. Tom said he was worried she’d mention my stomping for the bitch. He would be paranoid about that, too. She just commented that we left it clean, but we still need to pay for the carpet cleaning, so I guess we’ll lose about $40 from our deposit. She never mentioned the oil in the garage so that’s good. Besides, it’s just a garage so who cares? I’m just glad she didn’t go there while its door was open and the front door was unlocked!

I think I’m going to win again on the 31st if I haven’t already because I had another win dream last night. I dreamt I won some beauty supplies, though I know that doesn’t mean that that’s what I’ll win. I didn’t win a giant doghouse (thank God) like I did in the last win-dream premonition. I just hope it isn’t a book. I want something good this time around. If I can’t get millions or a trip to Hawaii, I’ll take the $500 Visa gift card any day!

Right before we moved, around the time I had planned to, I told Tom of the letters I sent the folks and Tammy as a way of being “nice” without having to be buddies with them. I explained the tall tales I told them, not caring if they disbelieved them, just in case they may decide to leave me anything, but I don’t think they’ll leave me shit. They give thousands of dollars to their shit son for his business, but they let me live in the slums, so that alone tells me something right there. I told him I waited to tell him about it figuring he’d be paranoid they’d sic the pigs on me, though I never gave them the address per orders of the so-called witness protection program we’re in, my excuse to not contact them regularly. Instead, he actually got quite a kick out of it, though he doubts it’ll work. I doubt it too, but I thought I’d at least give it a shot.

I can feel the change in the air as the seasons change. Summer’s ending almost as fast as it began. It was 10º cooler in here today. It’ll be down in the 60s in here for sure by morning, so I’m going to set up the portable heater in the bedroom later on.

We can leave the kitchen blinds open on the side because there’s an apple tree in front of that window that gives us good privacy.

Our last full day with Fat Pat and her beast has arrived! They let me sleep until I wanted to get up. Strangely enough, though, I have yet to see or hear from them today. She didn’t even have company and I haven’t heard the TV in days. The last time we saw her was late yesterday afternoon bringing in boxes of groceries. No wonder she’s so damn fat!

I’m surprised I’m still holding the schedule without a fight. I thought that by Wednesday it’d be a real struggle.

I did most of the final cleaning. I scrubbed the bathroom, vacuumed what spots I could, and put Blondie in the small wire cage he used in the motels. He’ll be moved over there on my lap since I don’t want him moving in the back of an open pickup. I’m sure he’d be fine as he’s a brave fella, but I’d rather he go with me. Because the cage is only a square foot, he’s sitting with me right now on this table. He’s actually asleep now. He’s so adorably cute! It’s sad to know he’s about two years old now.

Tom said he believes we’ll feel like we’re in a house during all of the winter and 90% of the summer. That I’ve got to see. As soon as the noise curse sends us the trouble it always does, I’m going to complain to Pam 10 times a day if that’s what it takes to get her to do something about it. If not, I’ll terrorize them out of there myself somehow.

We both agree that since we moved low class the last two times, we’re going first class to California. No cramming into tight spaces and driving old junkers. We’re going to rent a U-Haul. A 14’ U-Haul from here to Sacramento is only $181. If we can save up $2500, we can save an additional couple hundred bucks that’d be well worth it.

Tom should be very late today because he’s going to cash his check, pick up the keys right after work, then go do the walk-through and check off the checklist. Then he’ll go to a coworker’s house who’s having a yard sale soon to see if he’s got any furniture we could use. The guy said he’d just let him have whatever he wants, but he’s going to give him $20. After the guy drives him over with whatever he may get, he’s going to cash his check and go to K-mart for some additional boxes so we don’t have to play dump-it-and-reload-it and hold Eddie up longer than necessary because he too, is only getting $20.

Tom thinks there’s going to be a lease, but I’m beginning to have my doubts. Why hasn’t anyone mentioned it yet? I think that because we’ve been with this management company for nearly a year now, they won’t lease us. I hope not, but we’ll soon find out who’s right.

I was wrong in saying I’d never again be woken up by the dog. I awoke having to pee just before 5:00. It wasn’t till around 6:00 before I finally fell back asleep. About 15 minutes later, I thought I heard a knocking sound of some kind. Then 15 minutes after that as I was dozing off again, hoping to sleep till the alarm went off at 7:00, the dog barked. By the time I jumped up to look out the window, the rude bitch had pulled the beast in. It didn’t matter. I was furious! I fired up my computer and have been blasting her out ever since, only just now turning it off till the fucking thing starts up again, just to give my own ears a break. Or ear, I should say. I was sure to slam cabinets, too.

An hour and a half later, the red pickup came. While it was here, I could hear the dog barking inside the back door wanting to be let out. It dashed out once the door was opened and barked some more, and again they pulled it in rather fast.

The red pickup took off an hour later. I thought that was fast and wondered if they were tired of my music, and hoped the bitch would soon follow. Instead, however, the bitch simply turned the van around to the tune of the dog barking at the front door and backed it up and the red pickup was back a few minutes later. I was hoping the bitch and beast would get the hell out for the day, but that didn’t happen. Instead, the pickup left an hour later and the bitch put out her sun tea I wish Tom was here to piss in. Right before noon and right as I expected, I saw the dog sitting on the steps. I figured it would be there for hours, unless, perhaps, the sound of me opening the back door made her nervous. Well, it seems like it just might’ve done just that because the dog disappeared shortly afterward. Maybe, just maybe, it’s finally hit her that she’s really pushing it with the dog, and sooner or later someone’s going to kill it. Believe me, I wanted so badly to take the honor of doing so myself! And of beating the snot out of her, too!

I just heard a weird noise from over there, but can’t say what it was.

She still hasn’t gotten her shit off the line or put everything back on her patio. It’s a “presence” thing, no doubt, that she wants to rub into me and feel like she’s reinforcing. And also no doubt, I won’t be allowed to go to bed earlier tonight. It’s watering day, so I’m sure they’ll be out there from around 5 or 6 till 7 or 8.

Yesterday the fucking bitch was gone for 5 hours. During one of the barking fits, I opened the door to yell at it. It scurried over to its patio. It knew I was pissed, alright! I was surprised they didn’t hang out in the evening, but it wasn’t very hot. Anyway, she pulled in as I was out watching Tom load some stuff into the truck from the garage. Sure enough, she shut her blinds as soon as she got inside.

Since we’ll be out of here Saturday morning, it is so, so nice to know that I only have a day and a half left of her shit to deal with! Then it’s on to new shit, and believe me, I already know 4 things about our new neighbor. 1. She’s on disability and always home. 2. She has tons of company. 3. She’s crazy. 4. She’s a rude bitch who’ll come off as kind and considerate when she forces us to have to meet when she gets on our nerves with the noise, be it from her own car stereo or those of her visitors. What we really have to worry about (besides dogs ending up in the big yard on the other side) is some lazy freeloader moving in there. A small place wouldn’t stop them from having tons of company. Those things are like Houdini in that they can easily cram themselves into tight spots with no problem at all. A young guy, be it a college student or not, could also be trouble.

I pulled the foil out of the window by mom and daughter and God knows who else that’s over there, and deflated my exercise ball after working out, as tired as I am. I hope I’m well-rested enough for tomorrow’s cleaning spree, and then on Saturday for the move. All I’m doing tomorrow, though, is the bathroom and kitchen sink. I’ll be vacuuming on Saturday when most of the shit is out of here. I’ll be making sure she knows it, too! The oven’s clean and the freezer will defrost itself when we turn it off before we leave. I just hope there’s no problem with him getting the keys tomorrow and with Eddie on Saturday! It’s good to know Steve’s on backup for Monday, but I don’t want two extra days of dealing with this place! I want Tom to ring her doorbell so badly before he leaves! No, I want him to ring it earlier. Like when he gets up at 4:00.

I bet the bitch got evicted from wherever she came from. She moved in here with patio furniture, a grill, and shit like that. This tells me she came from either a house or another duplex. Why would you move from a house to a duplex or from one duplex to another in the same town? She never mentioned having noisy neighbors, but she obviously must not mind noise that much with a dog as loud as she’s got.

The good news of the day (yes there is good news, I’m happy to say), is that Tom emailed me from his cell phone to tell me he was working overtime and to ask what I wanted at the store that he plans to stop at on his way home. I was so happy to hear about the overtime! So happy! I didn’t expect it so soon and didn’t know if they were all talk at work about that or what. He had told me a few days ago that he was hopeful of getting overtime first, then a raise as high as $9 an hour. He’s at $7.60 now. That’d be quite a turnaround as cursed as we’ve been financially! Continuing to make what he does now would greatly decrease our chances of getting out of this state next year. Well, I’m a pessimist, so I don’t want to get my hopes up too high anyway. Especially about the raise, even though the company itself is doing way, way better financially. They just got some huge orders and the boss’ father who recently died was loaded, from what I hear. It’s a family-owned business, and these two sisters had a falling out that could benefit Tom greatly. I guess one quit because of all the money their father left. The other, who still wanted to make a go of the business, got so pissed off that she changed the locks, swearing that her sister would never work there again.

If he could make a couple of hundred bucks extra a month, that’d help us tremendously!

Guess I’ll sign off before visitor #2 arrives. I haven’t been able to concentrate on my story, letters or anything but sweeping. It’s been dead quiet over there since the pickup left. Not even the drone of the TV can be heard, so she’s probably under the headphones, figuring I’d be blasting her out all day. Well, just as soon as the fucking 4-legged beast goes off, which could be any minute now, I’ll be right back at it!

The shithead just left and it looks like she either took the dog with her or left it inside.

Later…

Well, the dog’s out there now. I don’t know if she did leave it out after all or if she came back, parked in the garage, then threw it out. I think she’s still gone. Again, that’s bold. Really, really bold. You’re not only opening yourself up to complaints, but you’re risking your dog’s safety sticking it where your very pissed-off neighbor can get to it.

I was hoping I could go till close to noon till I had to hear the dog, but I had to hear it at 8:00. She had to hear from me too, though. She hasn’t had company yet, but she took off and left the dog in back. It’s barked twice already, and it’s taken me all I’ve got to restrain myself from doing something. I want to empty its water bucket… open the gate… bash its head… do something! I swear this sick bitch doesn’t know just how lucky she is we’re moving!

Meanwhile, I got the $4 royalty check, so the sweatshirt must be on its way. I hope it gets forwarded if it doesn’t arrive before we move. We’re going to see if I can open an account after the move.

A few people down in Arizona will be fuming up a storm if they haven’t already gotten my letter. I just hope God wouldn’t be so cruel as to have it misdelivered! I would have preferred them to care enough to send the money we need, but it feels good to have done something. I feel like I got to speak my mind in the end after so long of being insulted and angry at these assholes and having to be polite and silent about it. I finally “fought back,” even if I’d have preferred to give them more than just words. A lot more.

All was pleasant till 11:00, then things were anything but pleasant. They still aren’t, and who knows how many more barking sprees I’ll have to deal with today. The dog’s no longer out in the early mornings due to the cooler weather, but it’s been making up for lost time in the afternoons. It’s been out for 4 hours now, and I’m sure it’s got 4 more to go.

I was pissed thanks to yesterday evening’s barking, so all through the morning, I blasted my music without waiting for an excuse from them to do so. I laughed when I first saw her outside because I figured I had run her out of her place. I could be wrong. Maybe she’d have come out to hose down and rearrange her patio anyway, but I got the feeling that she was like, “Okay, if you can’t hear me, you’ll at least see me.” It was like she wanted to insult me with her presence or something by taking over every inch of the backyard save for our patio. So she threw all her shit on the grass, hosed down her patio, then sat smoking at a table while the dog barked at next door.

Then in the early afternoon a white car I’d never seen before visited for about an hour while the dog would bark at the back door every 15 minutes or so, ignored. At first I didn’t want to blast the music and take my frustrations out on the company, but I was too pissed to care. Actually, I was hoping the company would find it annoying and leave, but I don’t think it made a difference where they were concerned. Again I’m sure the company didn’t say something like, “Well, if you would just pull the dog in, maybe she’d turn the music down. Think about it, Pat. It’s got to be horribly annoying to the girl.”

If it were me, that’s what I’d have said. Whoever they were, they left shortly before Tom got in and then she started putting some shit back on the patio.

Saturday can’t come fast enough! I know I’ll just be trading in the dog for car doors and maybe stereos too, but I think that may be better. And damn God to hell for the millionth time for doing this to me every single fucking place I go! The next time we’re thrown back in time and forced to live in a duplex, it’s going to have garages in between.

Later…

The split bitch and its beast went inside around 3:00, but she tossed the dog back out a few hours later. The yard still has some of her shit in it and she’s still got these hideous sheets or mattress pads on the line. I wonder if she’ll finish up tonight or save it for tomorrow. I have to see her every day no matter what. She’s like most folks with the hear-me/see-me obsession. She wants to remind anyone she can that she exists. As much company as she has, she must be pretty lonely due to how fat, ugly and crazy she is. She’s no doubt going to be celibate for the rest of her life, let alone single. All I know is that I’m going to be more obnoxious than her dog could ever be until she’s just a memory come Saturday!

They didn’t end up hitting the back till a couple of hours after they got in and they were quiet. Today the red pickup visited, then she went out for a few hours. I heard only a few barks so far.

I noticed that the TV was off after blasting my music where it was on before. Well, since I doubt she’d turn the TV off just so she can hear the beat of it really well, I assume it’s because she dives under her headphones. Good. Let her know what it’s like being forced to do that if you don’t want to have to listen to other people’s noise!

Last night I had a dream that Tom was counting money and said, “We are really busting through!” My dream self somehow knew that his saying this meant that we were doing well. Could something up there be letting me know we’ll be ok? Or is it a tease?

Later…

Tom feels pretty certain he’s about to get either a raise, more overtime, or both since he’s now in a position to do some badly needed computer work for them. I guess this is just a company that’s been in the dark for so long and the more they see how easily he could upgrade their system and save them money, the more interested they are in him. He’s been proving himself little by little, showing them what he can do. As long as they pay him for his time and work unlike what BOA would do in the end there. I hate to see him used. I don’t mind if someone profits from helping us; it’s when they profit at our expense that I have a problem with it.

They gave him some computer parts today, including a fan. His fan recently went out so he needs one. He also may be able to make my music computer faster once we get moved.

In other news, we may get the truck towed for free. A guy at work has an AAA card, so he can simply say that he needs a vehicle towed. They won’t check to see that it’s not his vehicle.

Lastly, a kid he works with used to live in the house we’re moving into. He says it was an ok house and that the gas stove in the living room does a good job of heating the place.

I have to see any of this shit happen to believe it despite the dream I had. It’s just the pessimist in me. Seeing is believing for me, so I can’t believe that we’re going to get free towing and a raise or overtime. I just can’t. Not unless it actually happens.

Another weird coincidence is that I’ve heard that cinnamon incense is supposed to draw money. Well, I just got a variety pack at the grocery store that contained cinnamon and then he finds out he could be in for more money at work. I still don’t want to get my hopes up, though, till I see anything actually happen.

We’re back to thinking the ear pain, which has backed off a bit after being an annoyance for over a week, is the tooth next to the one that just cracked up on me. It has a huge black spot of decay and I felt pains up in the jaw by the root, which is obviously inflamed. I hope it hurries up and dies!

Here goes the fucking dog at the fence while the blimp tends to her watering obsession.

Later…

The dog was just going off by the fence when I was in the bathroom and I heard the younger chick next door go, “Hey, hey, hey,” in what appeared to be an annoyed tone of voice. Just maybe they will complain if they haven’t already, but no amount of complaints will stop this sick bitch from leaving it out to bark. Only an eviction would do that and even then I’m sure the courts would literally have to come and physically drag them out.

I’m seriously wondering if she’s so out of her mind that she has amnesia spells. She really seemed to have no idea who the hell I was when I asked when her company was to leave. Yes, some people just don’t care and can change overnight like this one. And yes some people are really good at tuning out others and being so deep in their own little world that they forget they’re not the only ones around, but there really didn’t seem to be a flicker of recognition whatsoever that day. Obviously, she must at least remember bits and pieces to have tossed the puzzle over here like she did, but she’s just insane. Not just rude, but insane as hell! What I wonder is just how insane and rude is our new neighbor going to be.

I just got up to pee again and this time I could hear her frantically calling for “Sadie.” If the bitch could lie about telling me that she doesn’t leave the dog outside alone for long periods of time, and about not wanting problems with neighbors, then she was probably full of shit when she said the dog would chase animals down but would never kill them.

Later…

They just finished watering the entire yard, and the piece of shit on 4 legs went off on next door again. This time she came and got it, but that was only because she was ready to go inside. Just 4 more days!

We walked to the store again and got rid of the rest of the bottles and picked up a few more things.

Meanwhile, the rude bitch tossed the dog out in the late afternoon yesterday like I knew she would, but it was quiet. I haven’t seen or heard it today. Yet. She’s gone now and she took the fucking thing with her.

Yesterday, Tom pulled the truck out and I got a kick out of how she ran and shut her blinds once she saw us, though I never actually saw her. I just noticed that the blinds started off being open and eventually they closed. I’m sure it had to do with my being out there, too. It’s not the first time she’s done this. When I was going in and out when he was working on his bike one day, she closed them then, too. Guess I must be quite an eyesore for her! She reminds me so much of Andi. I can’t understand how people can take such offense to such things as being asked when your company is to be leaving after they’ve been carrying on like hell. I mean, what do they expect? That’d be like my vandalizing people’s property and getting pissed when people called the pigs on me for doing so.

Anyway, I made it a point to be annoying right back, stomping my feet, running hard, etc. God help her during this final week to come! She is going to be in for one wild and rocking week!

He pulled the truck out so he could sprinkle sawdust on the oil leak to soak it up. He also went through some odds and ends out there. Along with the driveway being alongside our new house, it kind of sucks that there won’t be a garage or a cellar. I just hope there’s a doorbell! If not people will be knocking up a storm.

Tom said that if worse came to worse and Eddie bailed out on us (or there was a death in his family), he’d ask a guy named Steve to help us move on Monday. I still hope Saturday’s our last day here! Tom will probably bike back on Sunday, though, to touch up any final spots on the bathroom mildew we started spraying and shit like that.

Tom says he loves riding his bike so much that he’d gladly keep on riding even if we had a car and free gas to go with it. He says he may not have gotten skinny, since like me, he likes to eat, but he sure does feel a whole lot better. He has lost some weight, and he does appear to have more energy.

Later…

What was a nice, peaceful day, save for next door’s shrilly cat cooing, is now over. The bitch and beast just pulled in. She left shortly after we got back from the store and was gone for over 6 hours, the longest I’ve ever known her to be gone. As soon as I saw her pull in just now, I escaped under the headphones. It’s just that I know they’re going to waste no time hitting the back and I don’t want to hear it. I just don’t. I’d rather let her hear from me over the next 5 days, and I assure you she will! In fact, I’ll make sure she hears more from me than I have from her and that shit dog in the entire 4 months we’ve had to live with them. At least most of the day is over. Anything goes, for the next few hours, but by then it should be pretty dead around here, save for next door’s doors. I won’t be ready for bed till around 9:00 anyway, so that much is good, along with knowing that this particular dog will never again wake me up.

Again the blimp took off, leaving the dog to bark in back at next door. I wanted to kill it so bad! Does this bitch not only want to get evicted but want someone to do something to her dog, too? Does she just think she’s invincible because she’s on disability? She’s so like the Mexicans were. At least the blacks backed off every now and then, but the Mexies were so take-it-to-the-max, push-it-to-the-limit no matter what the consequences and so is she. I’d bet just about anything that she’d keep on annoying people even if she knew for sure that it would get her evicted. Yes, she’d get evicted to spite me, just like the Mexicans would’ve died for me. They’d so gladly have given their lives up for me just to annoy the shit out of me. It would’ve been totally worth it to them, and people like that are a bit scary. The more time passes and the crazier I see she is, that only makes it all the more nerve-wracking. This is the kind of person who would shoot someone and gladly give up her freedom forever for doing it. God help the next person in here and God help that dog if they get as fed up as we are. The only reason I haven’t harmed the fucking thing is that we’re moving and I can’t get away with shit. But sooner or later you’d think she’d push the wrong person too far with either the TV or the dog.

The sick bitch was waving the sprinkler around in back watering the leaves of a young tree yesterday evening. Like that’d do it any good, huh? It also watered the rosebush it killed.

She pulled the beast in when she got in, but they’ll be back later. They live out there. What’s she gonna do when she goes out in the winter, leave it out to shiver in the freezing cold? I’m glad I won’t be here then to find out! I would say that I don’t like it when she leaves, knowing she just tosses it out like that, but had it barked with her around, she still wouldn’t have done anything about it. She simply ceased to care one day a few weeks or so before she had that wild company. Why, I don’t know, but crazy people are hard to figure so I won’t even try. All I know is she’s a total opposite-doer. “If I leave the dog out long periods, I’m with her,” really means, “I leave the dog out long periods and ignore her.” And “I don’t want any problems with neighbors” really means, I don’t care if there are problems with neighbors.”

It’s ok. I still intend to email Pam quite an earful. It’s nice that Tom briefly mentioned it, but I’d like to give her the nitty-gritty details of just how horrible she’s made life for us here all by myself after we’ve moved and the nut can’t whip out a gun and shoot us for it or do some crazy shit like that. Yes, I could probably take her, but she’s too crazy to chance messing with. 

And I thought Bev was the nut of this place!

Meanwhile, we walked to the store and took a bag of bottles in, too. We’ve got another bag of bottles to bring in tomorrow and one of cans, too. We’ll only get a few bucks worth of deposit money from them, but any bit helps.

I’m both excited and nervous about the move. That damn driveway is what really spoils the excitement. It’s what’s going to take any of the fun of being in a house right out of it like in Phoenix. I know she’s either going to come and go like crazy or have a ton of company or both and that the fan won’t be able to cover it. The question is, do I just let her wake me up whenever she happens to wake me up? Or do I sleep in the living room after a few wake-up calls? We are just so doomed no matter where we go! Well, at least I am. Tom can pretty much sleep through anything, so I’m the one that’s got to deal with it. I’m just glad we won’t be able to hear TVs, footsteps and things like that. No one will be able to complain about my music either. I’m still a bit nervous like most people are when moving to a new place. As rude as these people are around here, at least I know their habits, routines and what they’re all about.

Meanwhile, the queen’s letter is off and running. She should have it by Wednesday, 5 days before her birthday. What a lovely birthday present it’ll make!

I want to work on my story, but I’m too excited about the upcoming move to concentrate. As exciting as it is, I wish to hell we could settle down for a decade or more in an ideal place. It’ll never happen, though, never happen.

They ended up having a barbecue, though I never heard a thing since there were no screaming animals. Just a few barks and bangs. One of them appeared to be the elephant which may be her son. I didn’t get a good look at the lady in the silver car. What was the occasion that these people could take off for a barbecue in the middle of a Thursday afternoon?

I’m sure the blimp was quick to tell them what a rude neighbor she has for asking when her loud and obnoxious company was to leave, and of course they no doubt were like, you poor thing, having to put up with that. No one would’ve dared side with me or make excuses for my request by saying, “But Patty, having screaming kids and barking dogs that close to one’s window would get a little old. How would you like it?”

No dog yet today, but it’s cooler, so that’s probably why. No company yet either, although with all the company she had yesterday, I would think that even she would want a break that extended past just the weekend.

Tom said our next neighbor’s car was gone when he left work yesterday. Ah, out for a 5-minute run to the store? How I wish she did work 2nd or 3rd shift! Especially 3rd because that’d mean she’d need to sleep most of the day, and working company into that kind of a schedule would be hard, though I’m sure she’s jobless. No matter how many people are in the household next to ours, there’s always at least one person who’s home all the time. I just don’t understand how those on disability or welfare can afford cars.

We’re back to having 8 days to go since Eddie, Tom’s coworker, the one we sometimes pass on our walks, is going to be the one to move us on Saturday, the 27th. He says he’s sure we can rely on him (so long as there are no deaths in his family) because he’s the Fran type. Meaning, he’ll do anything for someone just to chat and buddy up with them. I guess he’s lonely and likes to be sociable when he can. As sad as it is to know that coworkers care more about us than family, at least someone gives a shit and is willing to help us.

Like I said, maybe I was all wrong about California. Maybe something wants us to stay in Oregon cuz I hate it here. Why plan on a house in California anyway? We’ll only end up in a duplex just like we did here. Nothing’s ever what we plan it. I know we’ll never live in the country again anyway. I’m as sure of it as I am sure we’ll always be poor and struggling, dealing with one problem after another and with one rude, noisy neighbor after another.

This weekend I’ll be mailing the queen’s letter which Tom says she won’t even know about because Miss Perfect will keep it a secret from her. Is that what she’s been doing all along; reading her mail before she decides whether or not it’s suitable for her sensitive eyes to read herself? If this is true, did she keep the last letter a secret? I find it hard to believe she’ll be able to keep this one a secret. People love to discuss it when Jodi S pisses them off and pissed they’ll be! I don’t care if they run to the cops with the letter either, and I told them so. I’m sure she’ll be quick to email Tom all about how terrible I am for sending it or maybe even snail-mailing something since they don’t have our current number, but that’s fine. As I told them, they’ve abandoned us and now we’ve abandoned them. Therefore, we’ll just ignore them. I knew the moment they said “no more” when we were still up on the mountain that we’d never seen an inheritance anyway. I’m sure it’ll either all go to Mary and Dave or to charity if it isn’t split between the two.

Well, I’m not there so I can’t say for sure that Miss Perfect hasn’t been reading the queen’s mail before deciding whether or not she can read it herself, but I would be surprised if Miss Perfect kept the letter a secret from her even if she did based on the simple fact that people love to discuss it when Jodi S pisses them off. And add things in too, of course. Watch, they probably will email or snail mail us saying it was full of threats. People are like that. If you get pissed at someone that called you an asshole, why not say they punched you, too? It’s like with the Mexicans and how they told the cops I called them racial slurs that I didn’t. That’s just a crutch they always use and a card they always play. Nonetheless, the point is the same. Just like no one ever defends me against those who fuck me over or piss me off, and just like they always play down or make excuses for whoever they are, people love to discuss me. I never realized just how interesting a human being I was till I got older, but trust me, I am truly fascinating! I make for a very fun and entertaining topic of discussion, LOL.

Later…

The elephant was here briefly in the early morning. Just when I thought the rest of the day would be free of company, a gold car I’ve never seen before pulls up and I can hear the sound of running. Unless it was her running to the door, an animal’s over there, and I’m sure they’ll make their way out back any minute for today’s barbecue and even the sun tea she’s got out there. I just don’t get this having company 2-3 times a day!

Oh, it’s leaving. That sure was fast. What is she doing next door? Selling drugs? Unless they’re running out for more charcoal or whatever, I guess what I heard was her running to the door. I heard it at the same time the dog went off, which is the first I’ve heard of it today. There’s no comparison between how loud it is outdoors versus indoors. I could live next to the thing a lot easier if it never went outdoors.

Ok, so that was visitor #2. We’ve got one more to go. Who’s next? The red pickup or the silver car? Hopefully not a white car carrying 3 animals! I cannot believe they haven’t returned. I really can’t. They must’ve been out-of-towners for sure. Besides, they were a little decked out from what I could tell. Not counting the weekend, the only days she doesn’t have company, I’ve got 5 more days of living with her, her dog, and her company! I know I’ll have to deal with the new bitch’s company, but that’s ok because I’ll at least never feel their footsteps and they aren’t going to be out barbecuing.

Later…

What a nerve that bitch has. She just left in her van and left the dog out back. Now that’s bold. Really damn bold. Oh, how I wanna run out and smash its head with a pan or a hammer or something! If she only knew the thoughts I have! She’d never leave it out then, that’s for sure.

Tom ought to go out back and bark with Eddie while I’m doing the final vacuuming on our way out of here. How funny it would be if someone moved in here with a dog of their own and it attacked hers!

Later…

The rude bitch is still gone and so the dog’s still out back. Meanwhile, Tom’s gone to cash his check, get us a pizza, and I got a surprise win! The doghouse win dream was a warning. We heard the mailman toss something by the door and it was a weight-loss book. I’ll either use it for credit at a bookstore or try to sell it at a yard sale. I won it on July 31st. The 31st is when they seem to get me, but that’s not surprising cuz that’s when most sweeps expire. It was a 1½-star daily sweep, and there were 4 other winners. We were right about a pre-moving win, after all. We just thought they’d tell me about it via email and confirm the address. I hope there are no surprises mailed to this address after we move that may not get forwarded.

That’s the second barking fit. Oh, I wanna kill it so bad! If we weren’t able to move anytime soon I wouldn’t hesitate to do so. This bitch doesn’t know just how lucky she is!

I started to get psyched up realizing that since the new neighbor will be home all the time since we absolutely must live with the disabled and the lazy, there won’t be as many car doors if days pass without her going anywhere, but her company will make up for it. It’s those who are home all the time that have a lot of company. Those that work don’t want to be bothered by people as much. They want to just relax alone after being with people all day.

There were a few minor barks so far today, but still enough to annoy me and enough to make her deserve to hear a little from me in return. Miss Red Pickup is over there now. I’ve been hearing a few scattered bumps and bangs. I wonder if this person could be the housekeeper, but no one needs their place cleaned a few times a week unless she’s that big of a slob.

I just hope the new neighbor will let me sleep in the bedroom! Thanks, God, for blessing me with this sleeping/schedule problem. You’re so kind and wonderful.

I hope even more that she doesn’t have a kick-ass car stereo. Complaining would do us no good. People don’t get those kinds of stereos to be told to turn them down.

Anyway, the move is on for the 26th. I don’t know if we’ll be going by U-Haul or a coworker, but it’s looking like we at least won’t be forced to license the truck. Pam scared him for a minute there by saying, “Let me see if she’ll hold it that long.” Tom remained calm while she called the owner, but was remembering that she originally mentioned holding it till the 1st. Fortunately for us, the owner said she’d hold it because we don’t have much more time left to get another place.

Sometimes I still think it’d be neat to have a dog of our own with a doggie door, but we move every few months to every few years, so a dog would just be a real nuisance. They’re just too damn noisy anyway.

Later…

The elephant is over there now. At least I think it is. I can’t tell for sure if it’s an adult with a heavy gait or a kid. The car looks like it may be the same one who spent the night two nights ago, but I can’t see enough of it this time around to be sure. It’s pulled way up which makes me think they’ll be staying a while.

Eight days and counting!

Later…

Damn! What is it with this bitch and company? This is as much company as the freeloaders would have. There’s a silver car there now. Bev didn’t even have this much company and 90% of it was the same guy. How can all these people afford to come visit her in the middle of a workday? Does anyone else other than Tom work in this damn town? At least there doesn’t appear to be any animals over there. I’m surprised no one’s out back. It’s nice out right now. If it’s just adults, though, it shouldn’t be a problem. It’s the fucking kids and the way they scream bloody murder at the tops of their lungs that’s a problem. Meanwhile, the dog is out back and sure to be ignored if it decides it wants in.

The blimp was out till 1:30 yesterday, so all was peaceful. However, when Tom just went to get the mail, he saw a car parked next door, which had obviously been there all night, and I’m like, oh no! I knew it was a matter of time before she had overnight company, and while we may be gone by the 26th, I don’t want to have to deal with her till then any more than I already do!

Later…

Now that it’s light I can see that it’s the same car driven by a huge lady that visited not too long ago. The cooler’s out back again too, so they probably hung out back yesterday evening. Whoever they are, they couldn’t have arrived before 6:00. They were up as early as 5:30 from what I could make out. The car’s plates are in-state. Wouldn’t it be nice if they were gearing up for a week’s vacation? I know better, though.

Meanwhile, we’re probably going to be out of here on the 26th. Tom’s going to put down the deposit today.

This weekend he’s going to pull the truck out, turn it around and load up the back for towing. He’s also got to clean the garage floor of oil that leaked out. I just did the oven, so that’s one less thing either of us has to do. Surprisingly, the stuff I used didn’t stink.

The good news is that there are no application fees to pay. We didn’t know if this owner required their own application or what. Pam also didn’t bring up the subject of a lease, and of course we’d prefer not to have one. I like knowing we have easy escapes.

The bad news is that the reason the house with the big yard is unkempt is that he’s pretty sure it’s empty. There’s no for-rent or for-sale sign up just yet, but I’m sure the Brady bunch and their two German Shepherds will move in as soon as we do. There’s no way anyone would buy or rent a place with a yard that big without kids, and especially without dogs.

I may not need the AC at all today. It came down to 76º in here on its own and is only to be 79º today with isolated T-storms that I know we won’t be fortunate enough to get. The constant rain we had in May was nice because it kept things quieter around here. No one, including the dog, hung outside, though lately, I haven’t heard much from next door. Just scattered door slams.

For the first time since late June or early July, the windows are showing signs of fog.

Tom says not to assume the car doors will shake the bedroom and not be able to be fanned out because older places are built differently. This is true, though I doubt I’ll be able to sleep in the bedroom. I decided to give it 3 wake-up calls before I moved the bed into the living room and hope that any future dogs or screaming kids on that side don’t wake me up in there.

It’s coming up on 7:00 a.m. which means the dog should be tossed out any minute. The question is, will she allow it to come back in when it barks at the door? It’s not very likely when she has company, and there’s no saying how long this chick will be staying with her.

Last night I dreamt that I won a giant doghouse. Is this a sign of a win to come real soon? So far all I get is other people’s win notifications. I hate that when they do that, and I’m like, now why are they emailing me to congratulate some other winner? I don’t care if Kristen K from Texas won, I care if I won!

Later…

A sign of the end times here for sure. The car was gone by 9:30 when they came to mow. By noon her van was gone. Meanwhile, I haven’t seen or heard from the dog. A seemingly healthy dog wouldn’t suddenly up and die, so I don’t know what’s up with it, not that I’m complaining. I’m sure I’ll hear from it soon enough, though.

Later…

The blimp is back and it’s blasting the TV. No sign of the dog. How amazing. How utterly amazing.

Meanwhile, other people have wondered, just like myself, and have asked other members in the forums if a premium membership is really worth it. Many people replied saying yes it’s worth it, and most of their wins were from premium sweeps. So, assuming the bank will let me, I’m going to take my first $30 (I’m supposedly getting $10 a week for fun) and go premium.

Oh, shit! The fucking dog is out. What did I expect? A miracle?

Tom saw the house and found it to be nicer than he anticipated, though it is old. Most of the things I vibed about it are correct. It’s a small 2-bedroom, it’s old, it’s square, there’s an old guy involved, no garage/cellar, it is fenced in back and there is a picket fence in front. But I was wrong about Triple-A not managing it and about the exterior color. It’s yellow with green trim.

Anyway, the place has a series of positives and small negatives with one big negative in the middle of it all – next door’s driveway. Next door’s place is actually a garage that’s been converted to what I guess is a 1-bedroom. The sixty-ish handyman who showed the place to Tom described her as a “young lady,” and of course her car was there. Tom rides by the place every day and he’s been seeing the car regularly. Unless she works 2nd or 3rd shift, which I very highly doubt, I’m sure she’s yet another nutty disabled person who’s home all the time. She no doubt has tons of company, too. The only reason I was curious to meet Bev and Pat was that we had to live together, but I don’t want to meet this one even if she will practically be parking on top of our beds. Not unless she does anything that forces me to have to meet her. I know she’d just come off as a kind, considerate person up front just to turn into a rude bitch overnight. If she is tolerable, then I’m sure she’ll be gone by the end of the year. I’ll bet she’s big and heavy, too. I don’t know why, but it seems the heavies love to live next to me. How I wish it could be a drug-free, good-looking gay woman! I know better, though. I know better.

What the source of the noise curse could do is have someone move in with a little kid that uses the driveway to play in since, as we were happy to learn, it is not a shared yard. I’d also worry about freeloaders, given how cheap the place must be, or a college kid with loud music/lots of company, though the town’s only college is not nearby. At least there isn’t nearly the potential for trouble there as opposed to here. Then again, there’s also that big yard on the other side. Who knows what may go on there?

If only that driveway wasn’t there! That’s the one thing that really spoils it. If anyone, be it kids or adults that are either visiting or living there, wants to hang outside on nicer days, that’s where they’ll go. It’s the only place they could go.

The handyman said the woman called to tell him there were mice in the place so he set up traps there. He also set them up in our house just in case they were there, too. Tom assured him neither of us was afraid of mice.

The layout is pretty much as we expected it to be judging by the shape and location of the windows Tom saw. The bedrooms are on the driveway side with the bathroom between them. The thing I don’t like about the bathroom is that there are doors on each side, so you have to enter from the bedrooms and not from a hallway or the living room. There is no hallway, actually. You enter the living room and the front bedroom is off to the side of it, and the kitchen’s off to the back of it. He said most of it is sort of tilted. Anyway, the kitchen’s bigger than this one. It’s an eat-in kitchen, so that’s why. It has blue carpet that’s not new, but that’s been cleaned recently. I get the feeling the previous tenants weren’t very good. The reason the yard is dead is that they wouldn’t water it. It was a couple that split up. One moved to San Diego while the other went elsewhere.

It’s also right on a canal, so we’d have to make sure we didn’t leave doors open with lights on in the warmer weather at night so we don’t get swamped with bugs.

The gas heater is in the living room and while it may radiate into the other rooms, we may use our portable heaters in the bedrooms, but they don’t draw nearly as much juice as these kick-ass wall heaters here do so that’d be ok.

He says the oven’s comparable to this one and that the refrigerator’s newer. You don’t have to open the fridge to get to the freezer like with this one, and it’s self-defrosting, unlike this one.

We could be moving in as little as 10 days from now if he can work the money out and get Pam to accommodate us in any way we may need to. If not, then we’ll be here till the 2nd.

Tom says it’s only the driveway that keeps it from being ideal. As ideal as we could get for being in the city, anyway.

Of the negatives, we have to share a garbage bin with next door, but it’s bigger, so hopefully it’ll accommodate everyone’s trash. You have to go outside to get to the utility at the back corner of the house by next door, though it’s only two steps.

Later…

I went to see Tom off to work. Meanwhile, I should have a few hours before the dog acts up, so I’ll take this time of peace to finish writing about the house.

Like I said, my only concerns are the driveway and anything else setting us back and fucking up our plans. Not just the big ones like the move to California itself, but the little ones like renting DVDs and buying small things every now and then.

Another small negative is that there are no light switches in the rooms, except for the bathroom. Instead, they have pull chains in the center of them. The bedrooms are about equal in size, but it’s hard to tell if the place is really smaller than this one because it’s laid out differently, Tom says.

Both the front and back have small covered porches towards the side where the giant yard is that’ll be perfect for my wind chimes.

Tom said it may be cool to set up the screen room next summer in the yard. That may be cool. I didn’t even know we still had the thing. It’s been sitting in the garage. We’ll have to store most of the stuff that’s been in the garage in the truck. Once it’s sold, maybe we can put stuff that isn’t of much value to us on the back porch or in the yard.

My first thought was to wish there was a clothesline, but then I said, Nah. We don’t have any king-size comforters that don’t fit well in dryers, it’d be too cold to use most of the year, and that may lure next door into using it and the rest of the yard too, although the handyman said they made a special point of letting the woman know that the yard is strictly off-limits to her.

I’ll have to wait and see the place for myself, but I guess I’m going to start off using the living room as an office and sleeping in the front bedroom while he uses the back bedroom for both a bedroom and an office. Right now I can’t imagine the car doors not vibrating the bedroom since it’s not on solid ground and the walls are of wood and not brick. If she won’t let me sleep, then I’ll swap the arrangement and hope for the best.

I don’t know what shocks me more; the fact that he learned it’s not a shared yard or the fact that two guys volunteered to help us move when he mentioned at work that he was looking for someone to tow the truck down there. I got a kick out of how one guy said he’d drive the truck down himself so that if the cops pulled him over he could just say he was thinking of buying it so he was test-driving it. The other guy said he could just drive closely behind it so the cops couldn’t get a good read on the long-expired plate. It’d be a $500 fine if he got caught driving with a dead license and an additional $300 for not having any registration or insurance, so I agree with him that it’d be better to pay $30 to have it towed than $800 in fines because you know we can’t get away with anything.

I was practically in tears yesterday on account of my ear. It’s just so frustrating dealing with the daily discomfort, not knowing for sure what the problem is, or if it’ll go away or get worse, and not being insured. This ear has been a definite curse from God! As if being the daughter of Dureen O hadn’t been enough to say anything of the areas in life I’ve been totally hexed in like sex, money, sleep/schedules and things breaking.

In some ways, our lives are still worse than they used to be. We were always broke, but not this broke. Also, we used to desire each other and we used to have a house we owned, even if one of them was in the midst of a nightmare, and we always had a vehicle to drive, even if it always broke down. Well, we won’t one day be younger, skinnier and appealing to each other, but we should own a place and have a vehicle. I just sometimes think I should actually put effort into seeking out a house I don’t want because then it’ll be harder for someone to take away from us. All I know is that the more I don’t like a particular place, the harder it is to get out of, so maybe I should paint the outside olive green, install gray carpet, and paint the interior a dull shade of yellow-gold. We couldn’t lose it that way! Especially with little Johnny screaming to the right and Spot barking to the left.

Meanwhile, so begins the beginning of the end of life on Shasta Way – finally!

Later…

Just as soon as the dog goes off which will be anytime now, I’ll put the music on.

Meanwhile, I got a letter from Mary, who was “overjoyed” and “honored” that I asked her to pray for me. Yeah, but I gotta tell her thanks, but no thanks. She’d simply be wasting her time.

She said she’ll be in an open dorm since she recently learned that if she were in Ad-Seg she would be unable to attend classes and recreation. She also sent 5 stamps so I could send a disk with her book on it to a friend in North Carolina. Of course, I only needed 3. We’re out of stamps, so we could use the extras.