Month: August 2023

House-iversary 5

/ rachelgoes262 / Leave a comment

Today is our 5 year House-iversary. Five years ago today, we bought this house to keep us together and prevent us from becoming homeless (again). Purchasing this house was the first time I have ever lived in a house.

It’s been a long 5 years. I do love the house. However, I was unaware when I bought it that the house is in a horrible location. The sellers had inherited the house from a deceased relative and failed to do the “bad neighbor disclosure.” I have to do the bad neighbor disclosure when I sell the house. If the disclosure had been done when I was buying the house, I would have looked twice about my purchase. 

When I say the neighbors are bad, I must clarify that by saying this is the worst place I have ever lived in 40 years. I have been homeless and lived on the streets. I had better “neighbors” while homeless than I have right now. 

Here is a very short, abbreviated list of highlights of what the neighbors have done over the past 5 years:

Taken a baseball bat to the siding on the side of the house

Broken my bedroom window

Punctured my ear drum with their loud music (yes, it was that loud to puncture ear drums)

Caused me to lose my job due to excessive noise

Drove their vehicle into the front of the house twice, almost killing us while sleeping

Caused over $4,000 in damage to car and house with repeated illegal firework displays

Smeared feces all over my front door

Blocked driveway so I have been unable to leave the property for medical appointments or to escape them 

Pointed a gun in my face and threatened to shoot me when I knocked on the door to ask them to stop blocking my driveway so I could go to a doctor appointment for chemo

Found used condoms in my garage, as well as installed an outhouse right next to my garage because they cannot afford to repair their indoor bathroom 

That is just a very short list of highlights of the extremely long list of things they have done. The local sheriff department refuses to do anything about the behavior. They claim that all of this is legal. I am no longer allowed to call the sheriff department when any of this happens, as they said my complaints are considered “harassment.” I now have two rooms in my house I am not able to even use due to damages that happened when they drove their vehicle into the front of my house, and yet I am the one “harassing” them by reporting it?

The goal of all of these actions by my neighbors is that they want me to sell the house. You see, the perpetrator is the mayor’s brother. Of course, the mayor is above the law. The mayor’s brother is trying to buy up properties in this area and is low-balling all of the prices due to the bad neighbor disclosure. I’ve heard that he was pissed when my offer went through on the house over his low-balled offer five years ago. 

The logic in all of these events is that if they harass me enough, I will sell the house. Not only will I sell the house, but they will be able to buy it at a really low price because the neighborhood is so horrid. 

As much as I would love to sell the house to escape these neighbors, I can’t. If I sell this house, we will be homeless. We have no place to go. You see, this house is the only thing keeping us together. So we need to stay here.

The best solution would be for the neighbors to stop harassing us. It’s absolutely terrifying to have a gun shoved in your face when you try to ask someone to stop doing what they are doing. However, the sheriff department insists that all of this is legal. If you go onto someone else’s property to talk to them, they are allowed to shoot you. Welcome to America.

Honestly, I love this house. I hate the neighbors. 

There are 5 reasons why I fell in love with this house. One of those reasons is for the living room which I can’t even use anymore because that is the room the neighbors have driven into twice now with their car. I don’t feel safe using the living room anymore. It’s possible that the third time they drive into the living room, we will be killed. So I completely emptied all the furniture out of the living room and no longer use that room. They have driven into the house twice in five years. I’m sure it will happen again. 

For the record, the house is set back from the street. So they drove over a strip of grass and a sidewalk to drive into the front of the house. They went completely off road. We do not live on a curve or on the end of the street. This was deliberate. The house has been here for over 100 years. No one has ever driven into the front of the house until now. It is being done deliberately to either kill or terrify us. You see, if I die, then they can buy the house cheap as well.

They noise is deliberate also. If I lose my job due to noise, I can’t pay the mortgage and they can buy the house in foreclosure. If they puncture my ear drums enough to cause hearing damage so I can no longer work, they can force me out of the house too. Their actions are all deliberate.

So this year is House-iversary 5. This house is keeping us together. It is preventing us from being homeless. 

I am grateful for the house, but the neighbors are horrible. I just wish they would stop so I could enjoy being a first time homeowner and enjoy living in our “forever house” that I will probably die in (hopefully not prematurely from being murdered by the neighbors). 

When I bought this house 5 years ago, it was the answer to a prayer to keep us together and not be homeless. Over the past 5 years the dream has quickly turned into a nightmare due to the neighbors. 

As much as I want to leave and as bad as it is, I am more scared of being homeless. This house is the only thing keeping us all together.

So here is hoping that the neighbors stop with the harassment. I have no recourse for their actions, as the sheriff states everything they are doing is legal. I never knew it was legal to purposefully damage people’s property and physically hurt them. I always thought those types of actions were illegal, but this is America after all. This is the country in which we live.

Here’s hoping the next 5 years will be better than the last 5 years. (I doubt it, but there is nothing I can do to change the situation.)

Happy 9th Birthday, Jolene!

/ rachelgoes262 / Leave a comment

Happy 9th Birthday, Jolene! Today, the Queen of our household and our lead Hedgewatch’er turns 9. Jolene is so loved. She brings life and love into our home. 

Jolene was 5 years old when she was adopted, after having watched all her kittens be adopted. Jolene has a genetic disorder that affects her mouth and only has four teeth. She gives so much love. I can’t believe she waited in the shelter for so long watching her kittens be adopted first.

Please remember when adopting that the moms, the older cats, and the cats with special needs all need loving homes too. They have so much love to give. They give as much love and joy as a kitten. 

While Jolene is much smaller than Simon and Jude, she is the queen of our household. She keeps both boys in line. Simon is younger, but bigger than Jolene. She still treats him like a kitten sometimes. The only thing she does not do is carry him around (he is too big for that!), but she certainly tries. Jude is very respectful of Jolene. He knows she is in charge. He does play wih her, but Jude does not play as rough with Jolene as Simon does.

You can tell sometimes by the look on his face that Jude thinks twice before instigating a play session with Jolene. He allows her to be in charge. Simon would be evenly matched with Jolene except that he is a few pounds bigger than her. She gives as good as she gets, though! Simon and Jolene often chase each other up and down the stairs. 

Jolene follows me everywhere and must always supervise me. She is frequently in the same room as me. If she is not in the same room, she knows where I am. She does get upset when I leave the house. I often come home to her favorite stuffies laying near the door. She piles them all there for me for when I return.

Jolene loves her stuffies and transports them all over the house. She has a toy box full of different stuffies. You never know which one she is going to take out or where she will take it. Her favorite stuffies are carrot and ghost bear. Carrot and ghost bear move every single day, even if the other stuffies do not. 

Jolene sleeps with me every night and I often wake up to find she has put her stuffies in bed with us. She loves both her brothers and can often be found playing, cuddling, or grooming them.

Out of all three cats, Jolene is the one who most loves to bird watch and to Hedgewatch. She takes every opportunity she can to supervise bird flight patterns. She loves when the windows are open so she can both see and hear the birds. She judges the squirrels that steal the bird seed out of the feeders and keeps an eye on all the outside cats and neighbors. 

Jolene will be the first to let you know if something is going on! She is well in tune with the entire neighborhood. She will see an outside cat out the window and knows which window to run to next to track their progress across the yard. 

Jolene knows her name and she answers to it. I have never seen a cat answer to their name as well as she does. She is more like a dog. She will always come when you call her. Unlike most cats, she does not ignore her name. If she hears it, she comes to see what is going on or what you need. 

She is the perfect daughter. Jolene is the first girl cat I have ever had. I could not have asked for a more loving child. I am so glad she picked me out at the shelter years ago (I had gone to adopt a dog!). 

Jolene brings so much love and light and life to our home. She loves everyone she meets. She is the friendliest cat. Jolene is very well behaved at the vet office and takes her medication when mixed in with a treat without fuss. She is the most amazing cat. She is my heart, the love of my life, and my hero. 

Happy 9th Birthday, Jolene! 

Please take time to look at and adopt the older cats, the moms, and those with special needs. Jolene was all of those when I adopted this mama at 5 years old with a genetic disorder. I could not have asked for a more perfect daughter. She is truly an angel from Heaven.