As of Sunday, we were officially moved in! Everything we own was cleared out of storage and brought home.

Tomorrow I should have the beauty baskets I won from Spa Finder, according to the email I got, and we should have the DSL kit, too. I just hope Jesse’s home to sign for it! We were just saying the other day how we hoped his finger healed enough so he could get back to work and have less opportunity to pester us, so I’d say there’s a good chance he’ll be around to sign for it. I hope so! I really need to get back to the sweeps!

I’ve set up some of my dolls, but I want to take new pictures of them with the new camera and wait till the windows are replaced before I set them up in a more permanent way.

I’ll be sending Paula’s package soon, but not my folks until I’ve lost some weight. That way I can enclose the before and after pictures. I’ve decided that once I get down around 120 pounds will be when I cut and dye my hair, too. Next Monday will be when I start the tea, diet, and exercise regimen I have mapped out.

I finally got to listen to my stereo yesterday and I love the iPod but hate the tiny display. With my eyes getting so bad it’s a real struggle to read it without glasses. I have all my songs and pictures backed up on it. Documents aren’t necessary because I back those up online.

We finally have a phone! Not the DSL, which may take another week, but at least I can check my mail when he gets in tonight and sets things up. It turned out that the phone company messed things up, and when I had to wake up with a little bit of wheezing since there weren’t any doors or car stereos to wake me up with, Tom was on his way out. That was when he told me the phone company would be by to fix it today. When I got up a few hours later at 6:00 and 84º (we still need to get this funky old cooler a thermostat), I was bummed to find there still wasn’t a dial tone. Then I heard someone pull up to Jesse’s 15 minutes later and I could hear voices too, although I couldn’t make out any words. At first I doubted it could be the phone company that late, but sure enough, I checked and found we finally had a dial tone! I swear something up there has been trying to interfere with my sweeping for nearly a year now! Hopefully, when we get the DSL, it won’t go out too often.

I also hope Jesse’s dogs won’t bark more often as the days get warmer. It was only a few barks at a time, but I heard it 4 times since I’ve been up and I got up late. I also heard the puppy whining at 3:30 last night, so like most dogs of the West, they’re not house pets. I’m sure they’ve never seen the inside of a house in their lives. He also has a cat, too.

During the first part of my sleep, I dreamt the horses won 120 million dollars. Tom took us out to dinner to celebrate, but I was too shocked to react much, other than to say, “Omigod, this wasn’t a joke after all.”

Got the washer and drying rack. The washer’s cool. There’s no agitator in it. Instead, it uses these little fins that stir the clothes around by swishing the water back and forth.

So far, though, we’re still no closer to getting online, and I’m still sleeping well only every other day.

Got a letter from Mary. She’s happy for us. Yes, she’s a very empathetic person. She feels my grief, she feels my joy.

We’ve been busy, but making progress. Meanwhile, I’m getting used to typing on my new regular keyboard once again. It’s nice to have that in addition to the laptop’s keyboard, especially so I can 10-key, which I’ve missed the convenience of. But I’d gotten used to the laptop’s funky keyboard and now I have to get used to this again. I like this regular one better, though, and this one’s wireless. It came with speakers that sound much better than the laptop’s, but not nearly as nice as my stereo speakers. I still haven’t gotten that and my stereo yet from storage since it’s way in the back, along with my bed. I’m looking forward to getting those things back!

I’m still not sleeping much better than in the motel because of all the activity going on around here to set up the internet. Jesse ran into problems on Saturday because he couldn’t find the pipe he wanted to join with the new pipe. Then I was annoyed with him because he was supposed to return the next day but didn’t. He didn’t even call. Still, as Tom said he would, in order to help out and speed things up for our sake, he continued digging the trench for the pipe that’s to carry the wire.

Today Jesse finished filling it in. According to him, he had to run over to Reno yesterday because he had been there doing a construction job, which was where he hurt his finger, and he had to get some tools of his that people were getting into.

Jesse was impressed with the shed we got and wants to see it when it’s all set up, as he’s never seen a Rubbermaid shed made of hard plastic like this one. Yeah, we decided it was ok to splurge on this wonderful 7 x 7, $600 shed that’s actually high enough to stand up in. He thinks he may even be able to set up a little workshop in one area of it. It seals up way better than a traditional flimsy metal shed with a slider door. This one has double doors on hinges and is way sturdier. It even has a floor and little skylights so you can see things better! It can be moved and we can have it all our lives. It’ll be great for storing things we rarely use and stuff we plan to sell on either eBay or at swap meets. It saves us a lot of room inside the house. It may also be good for storing trash each week till we can take it to the dump. This way we wouldn’t have to worry about raccoons or anything getting into it.

Jesse’s brother and a friend were here on Saturday while I slept (or tried to), and Maryann came by with the smoke detector with her sister in tow the next day. They missed us, though. We ran into each other along the drive as they were leaving and we were returning from storage and shopping. She had just “fessed up” again for the second time on the phone the previous day, telling Tom that they wanted to keep things in Jesse’s name because this isn’t legal. They never got the proper permits to rent this place to people and all that, which explains why the utilities are included and all we have to pay for is propane. Meanwhile, if they had just told us this up front, maybe we could’ve gotten back online sooner. So we told them we didn’t care whose name it was in, we just needed to get back online. That’s the second thing she fessed up to. First was how they weren’t going to tell us that Jesse lived right up the hill, now this. Anything else we should know? I hope not. And I hope they don’t make a habit of bringing friends and family around any more than themselves alone, but if so, we’ll just remind them that we came here to live, not to be buddies. I doubt they’ll pester us, though, because so far they’ve only come by when they’ve needed to. Maryann left the smoke detector with Jesse, who gave it to Tom, who installed it himself a little while ago.

Tom says we should be able to at least check our email via modem tomorrow. But it’s still going to be 3-5 business days before we get the DSL kit, and possibly longer if Jesse either goofs off or has something else come up with him.

There’s still a part of me that worries that my sleep is doomed no matter what and that something up there is going to use these people to make up for the lack of city noise that used to wake me up. As shitty as we’ve both been sleeping so far, at least it’s plenty peaceful when we’re awake!

What an ideal piece of land to own! A long, winding drive all your own in the woods, yet in a nice climate, and with plenty of privacy and space to build on. I don’t think there’s any house closer than 400’ away from his or ours, but it seems like miles, unlike in Arizona where they didn’t seem as far as they really were. That’s the difference between living on flat land with hardly any trees, as opposed to hills with tons of trees. Jesse said to watch out for some of these trees. You can get poison oak that gives you the same rash poison ivy does.

We can actually see the houses up on the hill easier than Jesse’s because there are no gaps in the trees between us and Jesse. Jesse’s one lucky dude. I guess he inherited the place from his parents and that he lived here before they died, then moved up the hill.

I asked him about the howling I heard and he said he’s never seen wolves here. Just coyotes, deer, skunks and raccoons. He might’ve said badgers, too. Tom thought he saw either a badger or a possum in the road one night on his way home.

Unfortunately, Jesse’s got two dogs, not one. He drove back and forth to get stuff he needed on an ATV and he had his puppy with him, of course. This is the one that does the yipping, but so far it’s been quiet when it’s here. This one’s Whiskey. Brandy, the adult dog, is the one with the regular bark. I wish all dogs could be like these. I hear them maybe once a day for 30 seconds. Even that would be annoying, though, if it were just a few feet away. It’s still nice to hear just a few barks once a day as opposed to it going on and on for hours.

This place is definitely not as dumpy as the Klam house, but it has the worst kitchen I’ve ever had. This is mostly because most of the cabinets are hard to reach. It’s weird how they put in a new sink and countertop but left the old bummy cabinets and drawers.

I’m glad that he’s pulling stuff from storage a little at a time for me to work into the place, rather than going and renting a truck and hauling it all back at once. That would’ve been much more overwhelming and very hard to sort through with so little space. In a house like Maricopa, that was fine, but not in this little thing. There’s actually turning out to be more space than I thought there would be, except for in the kitchen.

Here’s what we got so far with the money and what we plan to do with the rest of it. First, we each got a new desk. That wasn’t the original plan, but the desk we initially got me was too big for this room, so he ended up taking it which worked out well in the end cuz all he had before was the stand he’d gotten at the motel. The desk I got for myself is perfect for this room. It doesn’t have any shelves, but I can add them later if I want to. It just has a little storage space underneath.

I also got a chair that takes some getting used to. It’s got a higher mesh back and lumbar support that I had to adjust to get the most comfort. Its fabric is rough, so I may reupholster it with some spare fabric that’s softer.

For less than what the camera we pawned and never got back cost, we got a shiny pink camera, and best of all, a darker shiny pink iPod Nano! It was a toss-up between that and the Microsoft Zune. Both Tom and the salesperson pointed out that Zunes may be cheaper and have bigger screens, but they have some problems with copyright and downloading issues, so I went with the Nano. Zune also has a touch-screen that would leave fingerprint smudges.

Seeing the tiny screen without glasses may be quite a task, but it definitely takes up much, much less space than an additional computer! No more desktops for me! I’ve completely upgraded my office. I should be able to store all my songs, documents and maybe my pictures as well on the Nano, so this stuff can always be with me wherever I go. When I go out I can carry it in a case in my pocketbook. This way, if there ever was a robbery, all my stuff would be safe. I only have just my docs and some pics backed up online, but no music at all.

I got some wind chimes that may be too pretty to ever hang outside. Its metallic reeds are different colors. Usually, they’re just gold or silver, but besides that, I’ve got pink, purple, blue, green and yellow.

We got a new and nicer water dispenser than the one we had before, and the washer we ordered will be at the store for pick-up tomorrow. We got a microwave when we first got here. It’s a stainless steel one, which I normally didn’t care for cuz it looks too commercial-like, but it was the best deal.

We decided not to let our money get lower than $1300, figuring we could live comfortably on that if they let him go before he got a new job. He calculated that we’d have around $50 extra each week, and we agreed to save half and spend the rest. He said I could have $20 of it since all he really needs is $5 so he can get sodas at work. Whenever they’re Coke or Pepsi, he brings home the caps and I enter the codes on them for points that can be redeemed for prizes. That is when I can get online! We’re not going to start this until he gets his May 9th check. We’re also going to split the grand we’re expecting from the government. In the end, it will be nice when we have 3 grand saved. He thought of what could be our most expensive catastrophe, and that’d be the car’s transmission going out, so our goal is to have at least 3K saved, although we’ll keep saving all we can.

I was finally able to put together Paula’s package, but not my parents’ yet. I’ll need the printer set up first so I can print their incense labels. I’m giving them one stick of each scent and I want to print the names of the scents so I can tape them to each stick so they’ll know what they are. Speaking of them, it’s been 4 months since I’ve heard from them. I know most people aren’t into writing, but I wonder if something’s up. Are they busy? Ill? Not wanting to write, or what? If I don’t hear from them after I send the package, I’ll assume they want no more contact and will stop writing them. I’ve only sent 4 or 5 letters since October, but I won’t send anymore if I don’t hear from them after the package is sent, because then I’ll know it is because they want no contact. If something were wrong, I can’t believe they couldn’t get word to me somehow.

Anyway, I’m sending Paula the necklace I won that I think she’ll like, especially after losing the bracelet I also won. I’m sending some incense I don’t want, some CD samplers, plus 6 dolls – Rapunzel, Pine Leaf, Snowy Owl, Praying Spirit, Kayla the lollipop doll, and one of the kissing dolls I got at a swap meet we went to right after we got to Oregon.

My hair is just starting to creep past my ass and I am getting sicker than sick of it! It is such a bitch to deal with. I’m also getting sick of being 138 pounds, as much as I love to eat and would hate to trade in pleasure for hunger, but I think I’ll take before and after pictures and make some changes. I’ll take a shot of the current me who’s fat with insanely long black hair, then the smaller me who will have shoulder-length auburn hair. I’m not going to start dieting and cutting my hair just yet, though. One thing at a time. First I want to get settled, then I’ll move on to that and whatever else.

I never did hear Jesse’s dog today, now yesterday, but I did hear that wolf howling. It sure sounded like a wolf anyway. But I thought they were nocturnal. Maybe it was Jesse’s dog. I suppose if it can whine as well as bark, why not howl, too? I don’t think so, though. This time the howling came from further away. All I heard from Jesse’s place was him driving in and out of his driveway, obviously working on the wires. Tom said his truck was parked at the fork. At times I would think he was driving down here, but then when I would fail to hear the crunch of gravel which covers most of the clearing or see his truck, I knew no one was coming down here. He was gunning some engine for 5-10 minutes at one point. It wasn’t too loud, though I still hope he doesn’t do that regularly.

I wonder if most of these trees lose their leaves in the wintertime. I hope not. We’d lose some privacy, not that we’d be hanging outside then or leaving windows open, but it would really allow sound to travel better as well, too.

Right now there are scattered patches of pretty wildflowers and dandelions throughout the land.

The more I think about it, the more I don’t think the neighbors next to the Oregon dump were really 50’ away as I first assumed. I think they were more like 30’ and I doubt this lot is even 100’ wide like I first thought. I think it’s closer to 75’ if even that.

In some ways, it’s even quieter in the daytime, as surprising as that may sound. In the daytime all I pretty much hear are birds. At night, since sound carries better then, I hear trucks whizzing through the freeway that runs from Sacramento to Reno.

What was neat in a freaky sort of way was doing what I dreamt I did. I didn’t know the dream I had about a couple weeks before finding this place, where I saw myself gazing at a distant house from where I lived, was a premonition. Usually, I have feelings that tell me so, but not that time. Just yesterday I walked up to the window and gazed out and about through binoculars just like in the dream. It was like a strange case of déjà vu. The only things that were different than the dream are that we don’t have the rats yet and I certainly couldn’t see wall hangings or furniture inside the houses like I could in the dream. They’re not only too far away for that in reality, but I couldn’t see detail like that through the trees and with the houses being so much higher.

As much as we’re anxious to get rats, we want to wait till everything’s set up and done, like the upcoming window project.

There’s a hose running down to the irrigation ditch. Tom said not to drink out of the black one or else I’d get sick. That one’s just for watering plants. I’m amazed they got the hose down such a steep incline and that the deer could navigate it, too.

Unfortunately, it’s going to be about a week before we’re back online. I can’t wait to get back to work! Tom says he no longer considers my wins as wins, but as income earned. Yeah, that’s what all these W-9 forms think, too.

Jesse stopped by before Tom went to work. He had his dog in the back of his pickup. It’s a medium-sized dog of some kind. I think it’s the same one that makes the yipping sounds. I heard one bark earlier today, then about 10 seconds of this strange whining, and I’m pretty sure they both came from his dog. It didn’t utter a sound while it was here, any more than Maryann’s dogs did. I guess it’s customary here, like in Oregon, to take your dogs out with you.

I asked him about the road in back. He said it just winds up around his place and that every so often he takes his bulldozer to clear anything that grows on it to create a firebreak in the event of a fire. I sure as hell hope no fire ever does race up the hill in back. It’d turn this place into a raging inferno in no time! Fortunately, though, it’s unlikely in this area.

He said he’s off work today cuz he hurt his finger. He didn’t say what he does and Tom didn’t ask. Tomorrow he’s going fishing, but today and the day after tomorrow he’s going to string wire from his place to ours, then we can choose whatever internet setup we want. At first I was like, “I have to lose another day of work so he can go fishing?” But then Tom pointed out that he’s spending a lot of money to have this set up. I asked why he hasn’t asked for money, and Tom said it was because he wants us to be happy. I’m definitely happy here as opposed to a motel room! Oh, what heaven it is not having to deal with doors slamming, housekeepers, people coming to the room for various reasons, the annoying buzz of the blowers and tree-trimmers, car stereos thumping, and TVs blaring.

He measured the slider so he can put a screen in it, and said that the new windows he ordered will be here in two weeks. Good timing for my schedule. The job will take 4-5 hours.

I was stunned to find I weigh 138 pounds once I unpacked the scale since I look 150. I actually thought I was 145.

I received the incense, and while their timing has improved, they’re still fucking up things unlike Kepa’s ever done. They obviously either never got my letter or blew it off completely because they didn’t replace Joy with Tranquility as I had asked. They left out one of my all-time favorites, Hugo Boss. They gave me two Vanilla Musks instead of one of those, plus a Sweet Musk. They substituted Blueberry for Blue Nile. The writing on one of the bags was smudged, so I can’t tell what it is, and of course, most of the scents have changed. This is why I rarely order from them. If there are any other bloomers, I haven’t discovered them yet. I’m happy with everything else, though.

Today’s been even quieter if you can believe that! I did hear distant trains, sirens, maybe a car stereo, and a coyote or wolf howling. The coyote sounded cool. I didn’t hear dogs at all today. This would definitely scare most people. The only thing that scares me is the idea of losing this place due to some unforeseen crisis, though we’re doing everything we can possibly think of to cover all our bases in that area. We got renter’s insurance, signed up for AAA, and with the exception of a few goodies I felt I deserved after all I went through, I’ll seldom get new dolls. There’s no room for them here anyway, and as it is, I have no room to set up a 120-piece collection. Some of those pieces may be stuffed animals, but the fact is the same – I have a lot of junk! I’m going to focus on things I need instead. I could use a few sundresses and sleeveless loungers for this climate. I still have to deal with my ear and teeth once he gets us insurance, but those have been a little better lately cuz I’ve been praying about them. They still need to be dealt with, though, at some point.

Although I thought it was a waste of money, I let him spend $20 on a cell phone for me to give him peace of mind when he’s gone. “What if the water leaked or something? You’d need to get a hold of Jesse. You couldn’t just let it run for 6 hours,” he said. Yeah, I suppose he has a point. And it wouldn’t be like I could just run up the hill, especially on a moonless night. There’s a long, winding driveway leading up to where it forks off to each place. Ours goes down to the left, his goes up to the right.

Ok, now I’m hearing Jesse’s dog. You definitely only hear it when nothing’s running or there’s no music playing. Sometimes I couldn’t even drown out the canal dog with my stereo turned up sort of loud. I just hope it never barks a lot. Then it would get old. Up here, though, I don’t suppose there’s much to bark at. I wonder when and where Jesse works. Tom was under the impression he and Maryann had money. If not, maybe he just got home from work.

It was $117 to have the propane tank filled, and Tom expects it to last all summer. I’m glad we don’t have an electric bill. Those are always the worst of the utility bills. No water bill, of course, with the well and septic. The heater, which sounds like a plane rumbling in the distance, makes this weird tapping sound at times and the hot water tank sounds like popcorn popping but seems to work quite well. With these flimsy walls, we’re having to use the cooler during the daytime and the heater at night as we make the transition into summer. I remember we had to do that in Dennis’ trailer on the Maricopa land before the house was hauled in. This was in November when it was starting to cool down. This far inland causes much higher fluctuations in highs and lows, that’s for sure.

Jesse wants to name this road, but as we told Maryann, we’ll probably just get an Auburn UPS box. There’s even a road I didn’t notice the first time around in back of the property, but you can tell by how grassy it is that it hasn’t been used in ages. It winds way up the hillside between Jesse’s place and that little farm where there are actually two houses. You had to go way down to the end of the property to see them, and they’re huge, too. Goats and horses were out grazing in the pasture. We didn’t follow the entire road as we didn’t want the people to think we were nosy. I’ll ask Jesse sometime where it goes.

It’s now illegal to sell non-fluorescent bulbs in California, so we bought some fluorescents, which are brighter and last way longer, to replace some of these old bulbs.

I washed the front kitchen blinds in the shower since they were filthy. I’d like to do the living room and bathroom blinds too, but not until after Jesse replaces those windows. The rest of them look newer and cleaner.

Tom, who’s been making runs to storage, though we have until May to clear it out, pulled the wooden TV tray out today so I could put my laptop on it. We’ve got almost half the stuff out of there now. I’m not going to set up dolls or anything like that till everything else is set up and Jesse’s done with the inside work.

This ought to show you how much time we’ve spent in motels since knowing each other. He said he thought that the stand had been in the motel room, and I told him it hadn’t been. Then he said he was sure it had been in some motel room somewhere, and as I told him, yeah, 3½ years ago in Oregon it was!

We got an inflatable bed because we know it’ll be a while yet before we get to the bed, which is in the very back. I also picked up a cheap blanket at Walmart that’s suitable for this climate. My big heavy comforter is better for cold climates, though I’ll still use it at times here.

We decided a shed alone would be good enough, rather than that, plus a canvas garage as well. Instead, he spent the money that would’ve gone towards the garage on new tires, something he knew he’d need to get soon enough anyway. One was vibrating really badly and cupping the road cuz it was out of balance. They also left a message saying they’ve taken the truck to strip and kill, so there’s an additional $100 for us.

In the Woods in the Auburn Trailer…

We are now in the trailer!!! I thought I’d wait till I got a desk to do my writing, but then I’d be so backed up I’d forget things.

It was so exciting to see Tom wheel that dolly up to the room yesterday! I never thought we’d get out of there. I still can’t believe we did. I think there’ll always be a part of me that can’t believe we did. If it weren’t for me winning that 9K we could’ve been there for years.

Jessie and I had been swapping evening emails once I told her about the place. She checked out the view from a satellite image and asked if we were getting a rat and things like that. When I was describing how small the place was, I said, “Sorry, you’ll have to stay in a motel if you come to visit.” Then added. “Ah, but I think I know one I can recommend!” I’m sure she got a kick out of that one, although she’d probably be better off staying at the Best Western in Roseville cuz it’s closer.

I said goodbye to Say on our way out and she asked about the new place, saying she’d miss me. I waved goodbye to Rosalinda up on the second floor too, so I guess she was the one to do our room and haul out all the books I left behind.

Both Maryann and Jesse were here when we got here. Maryann was cleaning the oven and Jesse was working on the cooler, stuff I wish they’d done during the week, but at least it got taken care of, and they were nice enough to bomb the place for us beforehand. The only things they’re going to have to come back for that we know of are to replace the living room and bathroom windows with new dual-paned windows like the kitchen and bedroom have which will seal the place up better, and to put the patio roof up. He already has the posts set up for that. Of course, there’s still the phone and internet that needs to be set up. At least it looks like we should be able to get high speed. I sure hope so!

Jesse’s also going to get a screen for the sliding glass door, though we don’t expect to use that or the door outside the bathroom and bedroom. The kitchen door is fine enough and closest to where he parks. Why this little trailer had to have 3 doors is beyond me. Talk about total overkill in an asinine sort of way! I wish those areas were part of the wall so I could have more places for the free-standing, adjustable bookcases we talked about getting from Big Lots that are dirt cheap. I could probably still put stuff in front of the part of the sliding glass door that doesn’t open, but not the other door. The hallway area there is too narrow. We got blinds for that door because, for some reason, this door has clear glass and is not frosted like in the kitchen.

Maryann said they weren’t going to tell us this, but we seemed like nice enough people who wouldn’t be a bother, so she let us know that “the neighbor” whose motorcycle the last people here stole, was really Jesse, and he lives just up the hill in front. I would never have known anyone was up there till she pointed it out and I squinted through the trees. It’s about 75 feet higher and about 150 feet away. So the houses you can faintly make out from the north end of the house aren’t on his property like I originally thought. This property only consists of his place, ours, then the ditch which is another 50-75 feet down, maybe even 100’. Jesse’s place could be 100’ away too, but definitely no closer than 50’. It’s hard to tell for sure with all the hills, but the other houses are definitely 400’ or more.

I told Maryann I sometimes like to play my music a little loud when I’m cleaning and asked if that would be ok. She said yes, and that I’d probably hear Jesse’s, too. That wasn’t a thrilling thing to know, and neither is the fact that he’s got a dog, which isn’t allowed indoors, no doubt. With the windows open or without background sounds from fans, heaters or coolers, it’s a little annoying, but it’s fine otherwise and rarely barks. It’s nothing like the canal dog was. If anything worries me, it’s his Harley Davidson motorcycle Maryann says he’s got. Those are ferociously loud, and I worry it may wake me up, but we’ll see. Other than that, Tom heard a yipping dog before I got up that was way off in the distance, the faint sounds of big trucks on the freeway, and a possible chainsaw or motorcycle, it’s been wonderfully dead quiet. I can’t believe we’re in a place quieter than Maricopa! We’re still in town enough that no sonic booms could be heard here, nor could car stereos be a problem. If it were flat and open like Arizona, then it wouldn’t be as quiet. It’s anything but flat and open, though! Most of these trees appear to be California oaks. I had no idea you could live where there were so many trees without being in a cold climate or a rainforest. This is definitely no pine forest or rainforest! The land is like this all the way from here, which is considered the gateway to the Sierras since we’re at the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, on into Nevada. The problem is that while the land gets cheaper the more you head towards Reno, which is about 100 miles from here since it’s harder to get to, it also rises in elevation, which means snow. It’s really dark at night too, save for the moon, which is a little more than half-full right now. I can’t wait to see how bright the stars are once there’s no moon!

Later…

I’m sitting by the open window now with nothing running and all I hear are birds chirping and the distant hum of trucks. It’s awesome! The sun is setting now, though, so the birds aren’t chirping as much. Although it’s not literally “remote” it sure feels that way cuz of all the seclusion, yet all the stores we could possibly need are just minutes away.

It would’ve made the motel time much easier to deal with had I known what was waiting for us in the end. I mean, I never thought we’d be lucky enough to get 20’ away from the neighbors, let alone this much. And so much peace, too! It’s so country-like! I feel like I’m back in the wilderness again, yet not the miserable kind in Oregon where we had to watch out for bears and big cats. We still have deer here, which is kind of cool. Tom saw 3 of them this morning. I love the rural, farmland setting! Like I said, if only someone could’ve told me. Then again, I’d never have believed them anyway.

I’m more sure of the prayers and spells than ever. Once the coincidences become one too many, you know they’re not just coincidences.

Here are all the ins and outs so far. The trailer seems to have been made in ’66, judging by the date on the taillight. The license is from ’94 which is probably when it was hauled in here. It’s got the number 4 on the front, so it must’ve been in a park at some point before ’94.

The cooler sucks because as low as these ceilings are, I’m still too short to reach the control knob, so I’ll have to stand on a step stool once we get it out of storage. It also sucks because it has no thermostat. The heater, which runs off of propane as does the hot water tank and oven, has a thermostat.

The tub’s back isn’t slanted at all, which sucks, though I take a lot more showers than baths anyway. The faucets are old and it’s a little hard to adjust the temperature because it’s got a knob for both hot and cold water, and the hot water doesn’t last long. The pressure’s sort of wimpy like the Klam dump was. The bathroom’s the nicest-looking room, though, with the most storage space.

Just about everything in here has been upgraded. The bathroom has a new, but ugly back countertop same as the kitchen. The drawers are old and don’t open easily, but there’s sufficient counter space in the bathroom. Not the kitchen, though. The tub is a nice mauve color with a light blue surround with gold streaks. We got a shower curtain with a beach and palm scene. I don’t like the floors which are the same in the kitchen, bathroom, and hallway area outside the bath and bedroom. Nonetheless, I dislike it because it’s vinyl tiles, rather than one continuous sheet of linoleum. Tile edges tend to lift here and there and that’s why I don’t like them. I don’t know why they didn’t run the carpet straight through from the living room on into the bedroom, yet a small square area just outside the bathroom door and in between is tiled.

So even though the trailer itself looks like poor trash lives here at least from the outside which badly needs a paint job, we’re not doing bad at all for two people who were staring death right in the face half a year ago! I cannot believe we’re alive today to enjoy this moment. Tom pointed out that this is just a small stepping stone toward where we want to be. Sure seems like quite a leap to me! Sure, we still want to own someday so everything can be what we want from the carpet to the appliances, and for the security and other reasons, but this is great for now. Now he can work the horses without the pressure of trying to get us out of a bad place as fast as he can, and we can be patient when it does start making serious money in order to give it time to show consistency. So we can easily enjoy a few good years here, as small as the place may be and with whatever imperfections it may have. Worst-case scenario, we stay here forever, if people can’t stop messing up our credit or we can’t find another place this quiet.

Shortly after our arrival yesterday, Jesse left to take his 10-year-old son to his ballgame. Maryann said he wasn’t a very good husband, but that he was a great dad. Nothing wrong with that, considering how many guys don’t want or care about kids. He returned a couple of hours later with a package of vertical blind slats. There were a couple missing from the blinds by the slider so I wanted to replace them.

Jesse put sheetrock on the kitchen and bedroom walls and redid those ceilings. Those rooms look modern and quite nice compared to the living room. The walls and ceilings in there are ugly.

Later…

Tom just went to bed. I was relaxing for a while cuz my feet are killing me. I’m not used to being on them so much. I think I’ll call it a night myself soon enough.

Less than 24 hours to go! Before Tom left for work, we ordered a small portable washer and a drying rack, as they call it. I just hope there’s room in that little kitchen for a washer, a drying rack, a water dispenser, and a little dinette! Maybe even a mannequin to sit at the dinette if there’s no room for her in the bedroom.

The truck can’t be picked up till Monday, but the manager was okay with us leaving the keys in an envelope with the guy’s name written on it who’s to be towing it away, so we’re pretty much done with that heap of shit. While I certainly won’t miss it, Tom had a point when he said that the truck never let him down. While just about every other vehicle has left him stranded at least once, the truck never did. It sure scared the shit out of us, though, and made us think it would! Anyway, it will be gone Monday, then Tom will go into their office later on to get the $100 they’ll owe him.

I hope we can get through the next 4 hours with no one checking in on either side of us so we can have our last night with no one just a wall away. They sure as hell can’t be after tomorrow!!!

Kissum did our room one final time yesterday and gave us a bottle of champagne that had been left in another room. I drank a third of it. I was hoping she’d be the one to take care of us this last time around. She won’t be here Saturday, so that means someone else will get the honor of cleaning this room after we leave it and hauling out all the unwanted books I’m leaving behind. I hope it’ll be Prasaad. I just never liked her that much at all.

I went down to give Michelle some outgoing mail and told her about the new place. She said she’d miss seeing us around and that we’ve been such good guests. I told her to feel free to keep in touch since she’s got my email, but I don’t expect her to. After all, we won’t exactly be close by.

I emailed Satish and filled him in, too. I thanked him for letting me go off on him for waking me up and putting up with me clogging his drains and wished him luck if he ever changed his mind about buying a new house.

While others come and go more seldom, the end room still comes and goes quite a bit. It’s nice to be able to hear it only from a distance and to know they couldn’t wake me up. They’d have to really slam the hell out of the door to do that, but in just two days no one should wake me up unless it’s a visitor! Hopefully, that won’t happen too often, but when it does, the bulk of the visitors should be Maryann or Jesse. I can’t imagine sales or religious fanatics going out there.

Yesterday I was surprised with an email from Incense Galore saying the incense had been shipped. That was fast! Now it’ll be interesting enough to see how badly they fucked it up.

The only ones I’m a little worried about right now are the Spa Finder people. They’re claiming they haven’t gotten the GC. I told Tom it’s no wonder they stress sending certified mail; so they can say they never got it and save money. But Tom says it’ll get there soon enough and I’ll get the beauty baskets. I hope so because first class mail shouldn’t take a week.

Our timing for getting out of this damn motel is perfect! For the third time since we’ve been here, they’ll be conducting their “annual” fire inspection next week when my schedule will be rolling onto nights. Wow, their years are short! I swear this place is worse than apartments at times. There’s always something going on here. Today was the fourth time someone knocked on this door that wasn’t related to housekeeping and we haven’t even been in this room for a month.

Just 4 days and counting! Yeah, we not only found a “suitable” rental, but we also found one that’s darn near perfect!!!!!!!!!! Yes, we got that trailer in Auburn! Its only negative is that it’s small, old and dumpy, but not quite as bad as I thought it’d be. The lot it’s on far exceeds my expectations! As I told Jessie, Mary and my folks, as soon as we buy a camera since I can’t seem to win one, I’ll take pictures, but I don’t see how pictures could do the area justice! Talk about postcard material! It’s so secluded and country-like! It’s no doubt to be the best place I’ve ever lived in before or after meeting Tom. I don’t know that I’ll ever want to leave there. If anything, I may want to see if we can buy out that portion of the land and haul in something newer and bigger. If not, we still do want to own something and wouldn’t want to live crammed and jammed into such a tiny place forever, so we agreed that we’ll buy a place elsewhere when he’s 55 or the horses start raking in serious dinero, whichever comes first. So 4 years maximum if we can’t buy him out at some point. Land out there is very, very expensive. This is California. Nothing’s cheap here.

From left to right it goes, bedroom, bathroom, living room, kitchen. We wish we had one more bedroom and another bathroom! The office could be in the other bedroom, and I hate having to pee when he’s in the shower. I think maybe the Klam dump was 625 square feet rather than 400. It seems one bedroom shy of it, and that’d be about 100 square feet less. It’s going to be totally worth being cramped in there, however, and the very few negatives we can see with it like the fact that it’s got a shared well cuz there are one or two other houses on the property that are on 8 acres.

It’s beyond secluded!!! I fell in love with it before the back wheels of the car were even on the land!!! It doesn’t have a washer and dryer hook-up, but it’s total heaven!!! No AC, either, just an evaporative cooler. I love those swamp coolers, though, and have missed them. As dry as the summers are around here, we shouldn’t need an AC, though we do have a window one. Swamp coolers are much cheaper to use than ACs, and it’s going to be so nice to be able to crack a window and not worry about losing any privacy. The only other negative, though it’s not that big a deal, is the brown paneling in the living room. At least it’s not too dark. The trailer’s got to be 30-40 years old, so that was the thing back then. It also has coffee-colored carpet. That is coffee with cream, of course. Again, if I had to have those earth tones I don’t prefer, at least it’s a lighter shade. I don’t like dark colors as much as neons and pastels.

Wooooo-hooooooo! We’re outa here! No more motels! It’s truly over! If someone had told me between June of ’04 and now, “Don’t worry. You will escape the city before getting into a retirement community, and you will live in a rural setting again like you love, just 4 years after leaving Arizona,” I never would’ve believed it in a million years!

Tom loves it too, of course, and agrees it’s totally gorgeous and peaceful. It shouldn’t snow, but just get a few flurries once every few years that won’t stick cuz it’s below 2000’. It’s just over 1000’ actually. You can barely see the other houses that are hundreds of feet away and way up higher peeking through the trees, and it’s set so far back from the road. Technically, the Oregon land was even more remote cuz you couldn’t see any houses at all through the giant aspens, pines and junipers, but the climate was horrible, and the commute very long, so we’re glad that didn’t work out. It sure is secluded compared to Maricopa! When we left there we could see 8 houses from ours, and of course people driving by could see all around the place easily. There was no privacy with it being so open and flat.

The peaks and valleys of the rolling mountains and farmlands are breathtakingly beautiful. Some hills are so steep that they put canvas tarps along them to prevent landslides. No biking around there, cuz it’d be too scary! It’s hillier than Klamath. The roads are a bit narrow too, right in that area. Tom says it’ll be scary the first time he drives at night. We can’t figure out how in the world they hauled the trailer in, even if it is just a single-wide.

Oh, I’m just so happy I’m practically crying tears of joy and relief!!! Wooooooo-hooooooo! I’m so thrilled it’s hard to do anything but mutter Omigod! We’re outa here! Yippeeeeeee! I’m glad I’m in shape so I can move, set up and help build whatever. Fat-n-fit, that’s me! Not for long, though. I’m gonna love jogging on the land. The clearing isn’t overly huge, though, maybe 300’ by 100’, but that should be plenty of space. I was worried we’d never get a place more than a driveway’s width away from the neighbor, let alone 20-50 feet. I think the neighbors are about 400’ away. I love the breathing space around us!

The property is managed by a 55-year-old woman named Maryann but owned by her brother Jesse. We’re going to meet them both on Saturday, our last day here. It’s $825 a month and includes everything but the internet. They only wanted a $175 deposit, no lease. We were a bit nervous when she brought up that dreaded issue of credit, but we simply told her the truth. We told her how we lost our Arizona home/land, even though we did make a little money off it, and later found stuff on his credit that wasn’t his. The Oregon land was never an issue cuz the guy who sold it to us simply bought it back.

It was a bit strange that Maryann expressed concerns over us being able to make the payments when Tom later talked to her by phone, but then why did she accept us? Her words were that she decided to “give us a chance.” Tom reminded her that we managed to survive this place and that he still hopes for a better job, and I do win my share of money, too. We sure hope there won’t be any problems! Wasn’t it I who always said the good places were hard to stay in while the bad was hard to escape? Well, we’ll be smart about it, not get carried away on non-necessities, and save as much as we can whenever we can.

Where I was about 60-something percent sure prayers helped, I’m in the 90s now! We’ve certainly come a long way from that fateful October night. We nearly lost our stuff twice, our lives once and our sanity a million times, but in the end, we survived the storm! Yippeeee! We’re going home, we really are!!!!!!! I not only can’t believe we got the perfect car and house but on the very first try! I also never thought you could live in a secluded area where car stereos won’t be an issue, yet still have the convenience of the city just minutes away. And Auburn and its surrounding towns like Ophir and Newcastle, aren’t cities in the way the bigger and dumpier cities around here are like Sacramento, Citrus Heights, Carmichael, Rio Linda, Marysville, etc. Words can’t express just how lovely it is out there! Tom’s job is even closer too, though he still intends to get a better job till the horses can if not get us rich, at least make us enough so he can work at home. Then we can have the wonderful problem of figuring out how to insure us. His job is 35 miles from here, but 25 from Auburn.

It’s so awesome and I’ll make that old dump gorgeous! You pull in off the main road and go up a narrow winding drive. Then you get to a fork. The road to the right leads to the neighbors, the other to our place. Outside you don’t hear a thing, nor do you see a thing other than vivid green trees, underbrush and lush hills. You can’t see as far as in Arizona cuz it’s not flat, but still quite a way in some directions. It’s way more private cuz of the vegetation and hills. The lot is a bit narrow because it’s the only clearing on that lower level of the land. You couldn’t walk to the neighbors if you wanted to. Most of the land has dense vegetation and super steep hills. You can’t walk behind the trailer either. That’s cuz it’s set close to a huge drop-off down to where the irrigation ditch is. There is a narrow wooden plank Maryann says you can walk on, but I wouldn’t trust it. If you fell off it you wouldn’t be killed or even break any bones, but you may get scraped up bad enough. It’s a steep valley that rises up to where the neighbors are a couple of hundred feet above towards the end where the kitchen is. You literally have to go outside to see them, and outside you’d still need binoculars to see much! A near-sighted person would never know they were there. It’s hard to describe and I don’t know if you get what I’m saying, but anyway, you can faintly make out the property with the horses and goats grazing one of the steep hillsides up on Duncan Hill. The front of the place is such a steep hill it’s like a wall! The land has been left in its natural state so we don’t have to mow, but I may plant a flower, fruit and veggie garden someday. Palms and Prickly Pear cacti can live there, but there aren’t as many in this area.

I am so not going to miss this city or motel!

Auburn is so much better than Maricopa was. It was certainly better than Phoenix, but such a trashy town nonetheless. Loose dogs running rampant, garbage blowing everywhere, boom stereos that could be heard 5 miles away cuz of the openness. Here, even though it’s not fenced, we don’t have to worry about stuff like that. Like I said, it’d be very hard for people and animals to possibly scale those hills and wade through all that brush.

I guess they either evicted or were unhappy with the last people that lived there. They stole the neighbor’s motorcycle. At least they think they did. It was later recovered down the road. They left a nice grill there on the front deck, too.

We may still never have the luxury of a dishwasher, but we’re gonna get a small washer that you hook up to the sink and do big stuff like the comforter at Laundromats. We have dressers, and the surprisingly large walk-in closet has built-in dressers on either end of it, too. We have a self-defrosting freezer, and they’re getting us a new oven. The bedroom and kitchen have dual-paned windows, but no ceiling fans. A person Tom’s height would get their head chopped off with those low ceilings! I like them cuz it’d make killing spiders easier as short as I am.

We’re gonna get a small computer desk and a little two-seater dinette at Goodwill or Big Lots. Probably a canvas garage too, and a storage shed of some kind will be good enough for stuff we don’t use much.

They said pets are ok. New ratdoggies soon, woooooooo-hooooooooo!

A part of me wishes I’d never become a doll collector. I do intend to downsize my collection a bit. I can’t wait to not only see my fiberglass friends but my vinyl and porcelain ones too, my stereo, and all our other stuff. It’ll be like going on one big shopping spree!

We haven’t had a landline since Arizona. We may have that again but aren’t yet sure just what the phone and internet setups are going to be. Also, we’re going to get a new UPS box a mile away cuz it’s just not easy to make deliveries there. This way we also won’t have to worry about being around to sign for packages that need a signature when we’re both out.

According to my online research, there’s been just one murder there since ’99, and the owners are clean, too. We checked them out. Maryann has a profile at classmates.com, and Jesse’s a year older than Tom. He was worried at first that since Maryann said we couldn’t live there if we were felons this was because Jesse was a felon, and they’re not supposed to associate with each other. In the end, we’re pretty sure she said that because they just didn’t want to rent to felons. I made the comment to Tom about not many people wanting the place, but he said, no, people would want it. Just the wrong kinds of people like druggies wanting seclusion. Yeah, no one would see much of you at this place, that’s for sure, so I can understand their concern. You can’t tell how steep the hills are by satellite. You’d think it was perfectly flat if you didn’t know better.

Jessie, who’s so fed up with her evil coworkers and seeking a new job, is happy for us but says she’d be scared to live that secluded. Maryann said it was “scary quiet” when she was there cleaning.

The plan was for Tom to focus on vacant houses, hoping that’d up the chances that the owners would be desperate enough to have it rented and therefore not as picky about who they take in. Well, we found this trailer in Auburn that seems very promising. It’s a very small, old and dumpy trailer at 10 x 50 which comes to 500 square feet, and may get a dusting of snow since it’s just over 1000’ high in elevation, but it’s in a remote area. The woman he spoke to, who said we were the first to call about it, said you have to “look hard” for the neighbor. But she also said the neighbor complained about the last tenants, so either they were unbelievably loud as in hanging outside with car stereos and company galore, or it’s not as secluded as it seems to be. She never said what they were doing or if she evicted them. Either way, we’re anxious to check it out and have an appointment at 1:00 tomorrow. It’s 35 minutes from here but would be half the distance to work, not that he’s still not going to look for a better job elsewhere. As small and as dumpy as it seems, it seems pretty ideal for us, but Tom got the impression that the woman, who sounded like she could be in her mid-60s, was stern and so we don’t know how picky she is. He also thought she may be Jewish, cuz he got the impression that she wore the pants in the family, and because she wouldn’t see us today. A lot of older Jewish people don’t do things on Saturdays. I don’t like how she said we’d have to fill out an application. If she checks for credit, we’re screwed, unless she can accept our explanation of why it’s screwed up. The rent would be $825 and she only wants a $175 deposit. If it’s going to be free of car stereos, barking and other shit, the size, age and dusting of snow just might be totally worth it. It’s only 3º cooler there right now. Meanwhile, K-Falls, which is over 4000’ high, is 30º cooler at the moment. While it’s definitely kind of rural, it at least has high-speed internet and probably mail service, too.

She didn’t ask about pets or where we were living now but asked about our ages. I just hope we get it! It seems so ideal for us until we either get rich or into a retirement community, whichever comes first. If anyone deserves to be compensated for the chaos we’ve gone through with a peaceful place, it’s us. I’m praying like crazy, but I still don’t know that God would ever let us live in peace. One thing I can say for sure, though, is that if He grants us this wish, it will totally convince me more so than ever that yes, praying really does make a difference. I used to think prayer was total hogwash, just pure wishful thinking, figuring that what’s fated to be is going to be anyway whether we ask for it or not. But now even I have to admit it at least seems we’re more likely to get something we want if we ask God for it. However, this would surely go a long, long way toward convincing me quite a bit. I asked Mary if she thinks repetitive prayers makes a difference. I wonder if it matters if I asked for a quiet place with good neighbors once, versus 20 times, versus 100 times. Are we more likely to get what we want the more we ask for it?

Mary also suggested in the letter I just got from her that I do a prayer where I take 3 white candles and write my name on one, Tom’s name on another, and what we want on the last one. Then, placing them in a pyramid, call on Emlael, Sachiel, Stamiel and Simiel, angels of power, peace, money, security and other things good. I asked her to spell these names out phonetically for me since I couldn’t possibly call on anything I didn’t know how to pronounce. She said once I call on them, tell them what we want and all that and speak from my heart.

I was just telling Tom that the candle spell I did before we came here seemed worthless. The one where you take a white candle that represents yourself and a green one that represents money. Then you place them an inch closer over a 9-day period till they touch. Then Tom pointed out just how much money I’ve won. Well, that was a hell of a delayed reaction time and we nearly died along the way, but better later than never!

I’m not going to pray that Incense Galore comes through cuz that’s not nearly as important as a home and a better job. We’ll just get PayPal to get our money back instead, cuz something’s obviously not right with them. They haven’t answered my letter.

Anyway, if we get this place we’ll definitely have to look into some sort of storage, be it an RV, a small trailer or something. This place may be even smaller than the Klam dump. As I said, we seem to be getting smaller and smaller each time! We’ll take it, though, if it’s going to be peaceful. An RV may be good just so he can have an office since it’s only got one bedroom. The more I think about it, the more I think the Klam dump was around 400-500 square feet and not 600-700.

We checked out a duplex in Citrus Heights, and we both agreed there was no way we’d take it. Not only were the houses miserably close, but each house had half a dozen cars! The driveways and curbsides were jam-packed with cars. Soon they’ll have to start making houses not with driveways, but with parking lots! It’s also a scummier town with car stereos galore. There was nothing good about it other than that the garages were between the units and everything was on concrete. That’d be a negative to the trailer, but if there are no car stereos cruising by every few minutes, and no one parking right next to the wall of it, it won’t matter cuz we wouldn’t have to worry about sound reverberating underneath the floorboards.

If we do get the place and the lady visits, I wonder how she’ll take to dead squirrels, live rats and a couple of mannequins. I still intend to get my taxidermy squirrel. It’s still a funny thought, though. I mean what would I tell her, “Don’t worry, the squirrel’s dead, but the rats are alive, so be careful where you step?”

Say just came to take the phone book and exchange it for a new one. I’d have been pissed if I’d been asleep just to be woken up over a phonebook. That explains the annoying door-slamming frenzy that’s been going on for hours now. That’s part of it. I guess it was kind of full last night so the housekeepers had more rooms to do than usual.

The best thing is that Tom got the rest of the money without issue, and so now we’re down to just two more things to do; get him a new job, and us a place to live. I still say we’ll never have a real home. Not even a suitable rental that’s at least relatively peaceful with civilized neighbors. The best we can hope for is to get a place that isn’t too wild, as in Phoenix or the duplex.

As for a job, 10-12 bucks is the best he’ll probably be able to do for a while.

I just want a place to live! One where I can sleep and hear myself think when I’m awake! Think that’s too much to ask for? Probably, cuz it’s me asking for it, but we still both agree that we’re anxious for a place to live. I’m going to do all the spells and praying I can, but if it ends up that bad, there’s no saying we have to stick around once we’ve had a little time catching up on lost things, like my stereo, for one. As I said before, God can keep us from where we want to be, but He can’t make us live in bad places if we choose to kill ourselves.

Kissum did the room earlier. Someone’s already in our old room, too. Could they have fixed what was broken that fast?

We tried to pull my credit report online and couldn’t do so. In order to obtain it, we have to send a government-issued ID, plus a utility bill with my name on it. Something’s fishy, I think, but Tom thinks it’s probably just blank cuz I never had any credit. I don’t know about this, though, cuz as it turns out, it wasn’t enough that the property management had to steal our deposit with bogus “repair” claims. They had to fuck up our credit with bullshit, too. So seeing that I also filled out an application with them, if they fucked his credit up, I’m sure they fucked up mine, too. Now we’ve got a triple whammy against us. We have lousy credit, no rental references, and shitty income. Someone’s got to really want their house rented bad in order to take us or else we’re going to end up cramped and jammed into a trailer and living like trash.

I swear something up there does not want us to have a home! Only motels and the streets are what we deserve as far as it’s concerned. It really, totally wants us to be a couple of bums! This is what makes it hard for me to trust that God has our best interests at heart. First He allows people to walk all over us, then He protects them.

Satish bullshitted me again too, as far as the realtor goes. I think he just said what he said cuz he knew I was pissed at being woken up. That is unless he really did pass the info onto the realtor and the realtor didn’t want to help us cuz of how little he makes.