Jude Raymond Anderson passed away on July 21, 2025, in his loving mom’s arms after a brief but brave fight with cancer. Jude was born February 14, 2012, and his Gotcha Day was February 14, 2014. Jude was adopted from the Humane Society of Rome in Rome, NY.
Jude is survived by his mom, Rachel, siblings: Simon Freckles Anderson, Jolene Mamba Anderson and Flower Sunday Anderson. Jude is predeceased by Kitty Molecule Anderson and Kip Quark Anderson.
Jude truly embodied his name and “took a sad dong and made it better.” He came into our lives after the passing of Kip to be Kitty’s companion. Jude was with Kitty for three years, and for most of those, Kitty fought his own cancer battle. Jude was strongly bonded with Kitty. I know Kitty is welcoming him in Heaven and they are cuddling in the sun.
While Jude is loving and accepting of everyone, (even winning over poor traumatized Flower!), Jude’s strongest bond in his life was his time with Kitty. To Simon, Jude was a mentor and an amazing big brother. Jolene is in charge but would still let Jude be man of the house. Flower accepted Jude as her protector, and he was the first of the trio to win her over.
In his Hedgewatch duties, Jude was head coworker. He helped his mom through grad school and supervised writing of the thesis. He would sit in the cat bed in front of the window next to the desk for the past six years of coworker duty. Jude made friends all over the world as part of Hedgewatch. The family would like to especially thank our Hedgewatch family in the UK for your love and support during Jude’s illness.
Jude loved to talk. He always wanted treats and would often get his siblings to join in his shenanigans to try to push up dinner time and get more treats throughout the day. Jude was extremely intelligent and easily trained. He was carrier trained for all meals and was also well trained in the tornado safety plan.
In the apartment, Jude would cling to the screen on the sliding glass door, earning the nickname “Spider Cat.” Jude would go out on the porch to look at birds and could be trusted to not jump off the porch. We were going to travel the world together.
Jude slept in the bed with me every night.
Jude was my best friend. He was there for me at the worst times of my life. He was there for me at the best times of my life. Jude was so full of love and life. He genuinely had an easy-going personality. He never met a stranger. Jude won hearts – everyone he met and everywhere he went.
All you need is love and a cat. Jude was more than a cat. He was a beautiful soul. He gave me so much more than I deserved. It was an honor to be his mom for the time we had. Jude will always be my valentine.
The family would like to thank the staff at Adana Veterinary Clinic for their compassionate and expert care over the years. They are truly the best cat hospital around.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you please donate to your local no-kill animal rescue In Memory of Jude. Or, if you prefer, save your donations for when we can move to a safe location and are able to accept help with the move.
If love could have saved you, you would have lived forever.
Minimalism takes on new meaning when you are preparing for a move. This move is not a joyful one – it’s not happiness about a new location or some other positive attribute that prompted the move. This is a move of necessity for safety. What makes it even more precarious is that we need a new place to live. I don’t know where we are going. I just know we need to leave.
This move will need to be done as quickly and as easily as possible. To be honest, when I bought this house, I thought it was my forever home. I truly thought we would be here for the rest of our lives and never move again. Never say never. Hopefully the move coming up this summer will be the final move. Fingers crossed.
I’ve been on this minimalist journey for a while now, but it’s different when you are moving. Here is what’s happening:
There were a lot of items in this house from the previous owner when I purchased it. The person had passed away, family members inherited it, and they did not clean it out completely. A few years ago, I hired a junk truck to take most of the items that had been left in the basement – rusted and broken tools, and items that were decades old. I found a very interesting fire alarm circa 1950s that I tried to donate to the Historical Society.
There are still items in this house (mainly the garage) from the prior owner. I do not want to do to the next owners of this house what was done to me and leave a bunch of junk behind.
Everything in this house will either be going with me, donated, or junked. Obviously, the preference is donation, but broken items and many of the items from the previous owner need to be junked.
In packing for the move, I am only taking with me what is necessary. I am getting rid of a lot of stuff. Some of it is stuff I like and use but am not willing to move. A lot of things I’m getting rid of because they are associated with this house, and I do not want to take things with me that remind me of this place. Some items I would keep if we were staying in this house, but I don’t want to move them.
You don’t realize how much stuff you have until you are trying to get it down into the smallest space possible. Most of the items moving with me are winter items like blankets. Winter blankets are bulky and take up space.
Some things that are leaving:
Teaching Supplies – I’m getting rid of all my teaching supplies. Honestly, this is hard. As you may know, many teachers purchase supplies using their own funds. While I enjoyed teaching, I lost my teaching job because no one could hear me. (No, “noise canceling headphones” did not help with the level of noise coming from vehicles here). I would like to volunteer my time to teach English as a Second Language again moving forward but now is not the time. We need to be someplace safe first.
My 23-year-old TV set – This one is hard. I have never had cable, but I have used the TV to watch DVDs. That is, when I can hear the TV. A few months ago, I thought the TV was starting to die – it had some discoloration in the bottom right corner of the screen. Then the discoloration went away, and it has acted normally. It is possible there is a tube going in the TV. At any rate, I don’t think it will survive another move. Even if it did survive another move, I don’t want to move it. I haven’t been able to enjoy my DVDs in two years now; I will go without. A TV is not something that’s important when you are leaving a bad situation.
My under desk / walking pad treadmill. This is in the basement. I got it so I would be able to run inside. When I go outside, I have been chased and taunted by children on bicycles (they were upset my security alarm went off when they were throwing rocks at my car and they were told to stop). It has been safer to try to run inside. It works, but I have no intention of moving it with me. Wherever we go, it will be safe to walk around outside again.
Tech Waste – There is tech waste in this home that should have left sooner but has been languishing in a “tech graveyard.” My microwave broke last fall. The broken microwave needs to leave. There is a laptop from 15 years ago and a broken robot vacuum.
A note on robot vacuums: I did enjoy the robot vacuum and felt like it helped me. However, after the robot vacuum broke, and now that I am faced with properly disposing of it, I am realizing it did not help me as much as I thought. Whether you use a traditional or a robot vacuum, you still must pick things up off the floor and move items around to be sure everything is cleaned. The robot vacuum often gets stuck on things like heat vents, so you must be alerted to rescue it. The robot vacuum was more work than it was help. It’s quicker to just use the traditional vacuum and do it yourself.
I will be much more thoughtful moving forward before purchasing technology and small appliances.
I am proud to say that I have minimized items enough that when I packed up CDs, DVDs and books, I only had one box each. In the case of books, the box was not even full, so I put other light items in there with the books. To be honest, DVDs and CDs are not things I have been able to enjoy the past two years here. I have been able to sit and relax with a book when things are calm. It’s been nice to get lost in a novel when things are challenging.
I am grateful that due to my minimizing efforts over the past several years, I only have one box of Christmas items to move. I am looking forward to being able to enjoy Christmas this year in a new, safe location.
Many things have already been downsized and donated, so in going through items now, it is truly a matter of “I don’t want to move this,” or “this is not necessary for survival in an emergency situation.” Once we get to a new location and can relax and enjoy a living space again, then I may decide that I want new items to enjoy. For now, this is about survival.
Of course, the most important part of the entire equation is keeping the cats and I together. I had bought this house to keep us together. We need a new place to live. That is the only thing that matters.
When it is time to move this summer, I currently have everything packed except for the kitchen, my clothes, and work. This entire process is stressful and disruptive. I am hoping that things come together for us to obtain new housing soon.
I’m trying to make this move as small and as efficient as possible. I remember when we moved from the apartment to this house, the people who helped me move commented on how organized it was. Everything was moved in a day. I have always done a DIY move. This will be the first move that I am unable to DIY due to my health.
I will need to pay professional movers for this one who can load a truck, drive a truck, and unload the truck for me. I can get most things packed (except for large items like furniture, microwave, vacuum cleaner and cat towers). I am not going to be able to drive a moving truck or do any loading again. My health is too precarious right now for that.
Any tips for deciding what to move with you when planning a big move? Any items that you recommend you can do without until you get to the new location? I’m sure there are frivolous things I have packed that could have been donated.
Packing has helped me to feel like I am doing something to move forward in a positive way. It is hard when you feel powerless in a situation. I may not know yet where we are going, but I know we need to move.
Of course, if necessary, I will leave it all behind just to get the cats and I out of here safely to a new location. Finding a place to live is the challenge.
This is going to be the most difficult move of my life, but it needs to be done. I am not sure where we are going, but I am preparing to leave. We need a place to live.
It’s been 10 years since I started this blog. Back in the day, (mid 2000s) I had a facebook. I deleted my facebook for my mental health. I have no regrets and have not looked back. Once I finished grad school, I decided I was “done” being on the internet and all the drama that goes with it.
In 2015, a coworker suggested I start a blog. She commented that stories I told at work about my life and what I experienced and noticed throughout my day were often comical, and other people may like to read. I decided I also wanted to use all my own original photography and have never used a stock photo on this site.
I pay for my domain and hosting and try to keep things clean and ad-free for you.
While some of my earliest posts may have been comical, I do realize that a lot of posts are more serious as I have navigated challenges in life. I try to focus on downsizing, minimalism and simple living, but life happens. We minimize our belongings to focus on the things in life that really matter – the relationships.
From the comical post era, I will say that one of my personal favorites was the post about the time my yoga pants went to yoga.
The cats have featured on this blog many times. I try to do a birthday and a gotcha day post for each cat. We now have two social media accounts – a twitter and a bluesky. I have made some new and treasured friends sharing my cats on social media. There have been many times over the past 5 years when the pet accounts on our social media have kept me going.
There is a lot of drama right now with these neighbor issues after we were attacked and physically injured two years ago. We are harassed daily; it prevents me from working and sleeping. There are a lot of moving parts, many of them legal, but I am trying to get us out of this situation and to a safe place. I can’t give a lot of detail right now due to safety.
However, once it’s all done and we are in a safe place, I have stories to tell about the journey we are now on to try to get to a place of physical safety.
A few weeks ago, there was gunfire here.
Right now, I’m trying to post on here once a month. It is a struggle with trying to get us to a safe place to live with all the legal and other logistical parts involved. I am also having some very serious health concerns now.
I just wanted to take some time out to acknowledge that this blog has now been here for a decade. It started June 2015. I wanted to be sure I made a post for the anniversary before June 2025 passes us by.
If you are any kind of praying person, we would appreciate all the prayers and positivity you can muster right now. I’m trying to get us away from these abusive neighbors and to a safe place. Finding housing that will accept four cats is the challenge.
I will not give up any one of my cats. They are the only family I have left. My entire purpose of buying this house in 2018 was to keep us all together. I love this house. I researched it back to when it was built and learned its stories.
Due to violent neighbors that have already injured us and continue to threaten our safety daily, we are not safe here anymore.
So please pray we can find a place to live.
Hopefully the next decade of Rewind Live Slow will be able to get back to more of the comical aspects of past.
The photo does not do justice to how nice this green color is in real life.
For fans of Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, May 25 is Towel Day. Happy Towel Day! As Adams’ so skillfully articulated, towels are one of the most useful items to have. In fact, I always tried to have one towel even when I was homeless. In addition to being able to use it to wash and dry off, towels can be rolled and used as pillows or used as blankets.
For some reason, I become particularly attached to towels and will often use them until they are threadbare or some other unfortunate fate befalls them. Towels have been quite memorable in my life.
I specifically remember one towel I had during a bout of homelessness as being white with pink stripes on it. It came from Walmart. It was big enough to wrap your hair after a shower, and that was about it. I remember paying $2 for a shower at the YMCA. When you paid your $2, they provided a small bar of soap and a towel for your shower. I used the YMCA towel for my body and my pink-striped towel for my hair.
I remember the towel set I had in my last apartment. I typically have 2-3 towels at a time. The trio of towels I had in my last apartment were from Target. There was one pink, one yellow, and one white with green stripes. I remember the apartment towels vividly, as they were the only set of towels that had a fate befall them other than using them threadbare.
The last 4 months I was in the apartment, we pretty much had no water. Ok, we did technically have water, but it was not water you could drink or use for laundry. You could use the water to shower, but that was about it. You see, a new landlord took over the apartment building. The building was on a well. He hired some “water company” who did something to the well and turned the water blue. Not only was the water blue those last 4 months, but anything the water encountered turned blue also.
They said the water was safe to drink, but after watching it turn all my towels blue from drying off after a shower, I did not believe them. I also stopped doing laundry at my apartment, as anyone who did laundry in that water had their entire wardrobe dyed blue too.
When I moved into the house, it was time for new towels to replace the set I had that had been dyed blue by the bad apartment water.
My big towel splurge when I purchased the house was two LL Bean beach towels. I figured they would be large and luxurious. They are. I love them. I have the turtle towel and a starfish towel.
I love the beach towels, and I still have them. They are still going strong after well over 6 years. My only complaint is that the large, thick luxurious beach towels take FOREVER to dry. I was thinking recently that once I wear out the beach towels, I will probably only have to buy one more set of towels before I die.
Then I also got to thinking about how often we do things for the last time – and don’t know it. For example, the last time I ran a full marathon, I had no idea that would be my last marathon. Of course, there is still a possibility. I could run another one. But more probably, the last one I ran really was the LAST marathon I’m going to run. I didn’t know it at the time.
We never know when we are going to do something for the last time.
Given how hot and humid summer was last year, I decided that I don’t want to go through another summer with my beach towels and they excessively long drying time. I decided it’s time to go back to normal bath towels, and now is the time to buy them before tariffs kick in and drive-up prices and / or make items scarce.
I looked at different options for bath towels. Of course, I checked out LL Bean first, as they are high quality and an ultimate splurge. I picked out two towels in a green color that I liked but did not love and added them to the cart. I did not have enough in the cart for free shipping. I am one of those people that tries to only shop online when I have enough items in the cart for the free shipping. I was not about to go looking for items to add that I don’t need to meet the “free shipping” requirement.
So I started looking around at other “high quality” bath towels. My thought was that this is the last set of towels I will buy before I die. They need to be good. Between the towels I am purchasing and my two beach towels, I will be set for life on the towel front. In fact, I could get by with my beach towels. There is nothing wrong with them. I did not technically need new towels. I just get impatient for the beach towels to dry.
I ultimately decided on two supima cotton bath towels from Land’s End. They had a shade of green that I am absolutely in love with, they were on sale, and the shipping was free. They checked all the boxes including super fluffy.
I am absolutely thrilled with the shade of green and cannot stop looking at them every time I am in the bathroom. They make me so happy. I have washed them, and they dry much more quickly than my beach towels. I will be using one later today for the first time, and I only hope that I enjoy using it as much as I enjoy looking at it.
When it comes to something like Towel Day and the practicality of a towel from when I was homeless, these towels are completely impractical. They are luxurious. They are a shade of light green that won’t hold up to rough life on the streets. But these are probably the last towels I will ever buy. I wanted super fluffy, and I wanted that color green. Practicality be damned. If the world is going to hell, I’m going to have a bath towel I love.
I got two of the light green towels. I am still using my brown LL Bean hand towels. My bathroom theme is turtles with colors green and light brown/sand. The new towels are more of a mint green color. I love it.
Let’s hope it works well when I use it later.
The beach towels will be going into storage and saved for when I go to the beach or if they are needed for some other purpose. You never know. If I do happen to visit another planet in the galaxy, the turtle beach towel will be the one to go with me.
Happy Birthday, Simon! Today the baby turns 9 years old. Simon is the youngest cat of the three. Simon is our Chief Cuddler. He is very loving and enjoys cuddling and grooming both Jude and Jolene.
Simon will often look at Flower like he wants to cuddle her when she is sleeping, but Simon is afraid of her. Flower hisses at the house cats because she is afraid of them. Simon is so sweet and so gentle. He is afraid of Flower because she hisses at him when she is awake.
Simon loves to play with Jude and Jolene. Simon and Jolene often chase each other up and down the stairs. At night, Simon will cuddle on the bed with either Jude or Jolene to sleep. He can often be found grooming his siblings also.
As the baby, Simon rarely performs coworker duty. Typically, when Simon appears in the office, it’s because it is getting close to a break/snack time or mealtime. He also knows when the workday is ending, and it will soon be family time. When Simon does do coworker duty, it is typically in the last hour of the shift, as he knows family time is fast approaching.
Simon is so sweet and innocent. He is afraid of everything. He hides during thunderstorms and when the lawn is being mowed. He is also afraid of the basement and has been challenging to train for tornado preparedness. Simon takes a long time to learn that something is safe.
He loves the banana toys and the silvervine sticks. He also plays with small felt mice. He is the one who takes toys into the kitchen and loses them under appliances. I must use a yard stick almost weekly to fish toys out from under kitchen appliances.
Simon loves sleeping on the square cat bed in front of the window. He can often be seen cuddling with Jude or Jolene there. He also enjoys watching the birds out the window.
Simon is very sweet and loving. He absolutely adores his siblings and just wants to love everyone. He gets confused that Foster Flower fears him and won’t let him cuddle. He is afraid of her because she hisses at him! Poor Simon has so much love to give. He just wants to love Flower also for the time she is here.
Simon loves all his family members. He sleeps with me every night. If he is not cuddling Jude or Jolene by my side, then he is laying right next to my pillow in the bed. Simon also loves to be under the blankets. It makes him feel safe. Sometimes he hides under the comforter when there is a thunderstorm.
If Jolene brings life to this house, Simon is the one who brings the love.
A few years ago, I did a post called Signature Scent. While I still stand by the idea that I do not need 3-4 (or more) scents, the idea of only having one is a Fantasy Self. While I enjoyed Coco Mademoiselle, it made me realize that I am the type of person who prefers to have a summer scent and a winter scent. Wearing one scent all the time felt weird and got boring.
When I ran out of Chanel, I also realized that I am not about to spend another $120 (or more!) on another bottle of perfume. I may like the idea of being someone who wears Chanel, but I can’t afford that lifestyle. I am content to say that I have had one bottle of genuine Chanel perfume in my life. I enjoyed it.
I thought long and hard about what I wanted for a summer scent, what I wanted for a winter scent, pricing, and what that looks like. In my last post reminiscing about perfume, I was mostly thinking of the 80s and early 90s. This time, my brain went to the scent memories of the late 90s through about 2013.
These scent memories of nearly 20 years took me back to Bath and Body Works. I did not realize how much those scents dominated my life for well over a decade. While it’s nice to take a walk down memory lane, I also realize that most of those times are not memories I want to revisit on a regular basis. I need new scents.
However, while strolling down memory lane, I realized that the first scent I loved from Bath and Body Works was Country Apple from the late 90s. Thinking about it some more, I seem to be chasing that elusive apple smell in various forms and various ways ever since.
Country Apple was given to me as a gift at a time when I was homeless. I remember feeling so rich that I had a bottle of that apple lotion, and it was one of my most precious possessions at the time.
Pearberry was a scent I wore for many years when I first moved from Massachusetts to New York. I remember I had eras of Sweet Pea and Moonlight Path.
Coconut Lime Verbana was a favorite for many years when I was teaching pre-school. I have lost memories of a Secret Wonderland era. Honestly, it took me a long time to remember Secret Wonderland. I’m not sure why I blocked it. Something must have happened.
The last scent I remember having and enjoying was Forever Red. Forever Red is another era that is slightly fuzzy. Who knows what happened during those years. I’m pretty sure Forever Red was the end of my Bath and Body Works era before I switched to the Victoria’s Secret Fragrances.
In realizing that I want a summer scent and a winter scent, I figured that Bath and Body Works is the way to go as the most affordable option. They offer a wide variety of choices.
After doing my research on scents and knowing how I tend to gravitate, I have chosen Sweet Kiwi and Starfruit as my summer scent. There was a buy two – get one free sale, so I got the body lotion, body cream, and scent spray.
In doing my research on scents for winter, I am thinking of going with either Champagne Apple Honey or Ghoul Friend when they come out this fall for Halloween. We will see. I’ve been chasing that elusive apple scent for decades now. I don’t know what it is about apple. I even get apple dish soap when it’s available.
No, I do not like Winter Candy Apple.
There are two retired scents (Be Enchanted and Bali Mango) that will be making a comeback for the Semi-Annual Sale this summer. While I am tempted by them, I don’t want scents from the past. I don’t live there. Even though I did not have either of those scents when they were out originally, I want new scents to create new memories.
This summer I smell like a starfruit. It may not be practical, but I’m a middle-aged woman and I will smell like a starfruit if I want to. You don’t need to like it. It makes me happy.
To be honest, there are two other summer scents I am interested in (At the Beach and Ocean), but I am resolute in keeping myself to one summer scent and one winter scent. I do not want to end up with 3-4 scents again that I am not able to use before they go sour. I did get two Ocean air fresheners as a splurge and have one in the car right now. I am enjoying it immensely.
It was nice remembering scents I used to enjoy, but I don’t want to relive memories of those times. This summer will be my starfruit summer. Hopefully there will be some good memories for my new summer scent.
Do you have a summer scent and a winter scent? Have you had scent eras? Sometimes a new fragrance can be a fresh start when it is connected to memory.
April 9 is Flower Day. While we do not know her birthdate or age for certain, I am going based on information I know of her history and information from the veterinarian regarding her physical condition. Today, we are celebrating Flower’s 15th Birthday.
If you would like to participate in Flower Day, the ask is that you do an Act of Kindness in Honor of Flower to counteract the extreme abuse she has suffered in her life. I’m sure you have read the prior three installments of Flower’s specific story. In addition to the blog posts specifically about her, Flower has appeared and been mentioned on this website on and off for the past 6+ years.
Flower had another medical appointment back in March to look more into her physical injuries and to see if there are any other issues. The vet office was sure that they found Flower’s unicorn – a forever home with a person who would be perfect. It was an older woman in her 80s, whose cat just died from kidney disease and her home is not a home without a cat.
However, when the vet did a more thorough examination of Flower including extensive bloodwork, combined with her behavior at the vet office and the behavior I report that she does in my home, it has been determined that Flower is a hospice situation.
Flower will be staying with me until a decision needs to be made regarding her quality of life, pain levels, and euthanasia.
It is not fair for this other person who just lost their beloved cat to take on another cat who is at the end of their life. At the same time, it would not be fair to Flower for her to leave me now. She is terrified of other people. Flower growled at the vet office. She has failed every meet and greet with anyone interested in adopting her. Flower hides. If she goes to another home now, she will hide for weeks or even months.
How would that person know she is in pain unless they have a camera on her all the time like I do? How would they be able to give her the medication she needs daily if she hides from you.
If Flower only has a few months to live, it is not fair to her to have to spend her last few months learning to trust a stranger.
Flower is afraid of my house cats. Yes, it would probably be best for her to be an only pet. However, she is very attached to me. She rubs on me, licks me, and allows me to administer her medication every day. She does not hide from me. I have been working with this cat every single day when she was outside for the past 6 years before she finally went into the trap. How long would it take for her to get used to a new person?
Part of the reason why Flower is so scared of the house cats – Flower is going blind. This is one of her MANY medical issues. She is not blind yet, but her vision is very poor and getting worse. She can see them, hear them, and smell them. But I think sometimes they get close to her before she can register they are there, and her default is to hiss because she does not have enough time to decide if they are friend or foe.
The house cats have been nothing but patient and kind to Flower. No one has hissed or growled back at her. When Flower hisses at them, they run away or give her more space.
Is this a perfect situation? No, it is not. But this is the best situation for Flower knowing that she is at the end of her life.
The vet office has given Flower a medication for her arthritis to try to improve her quality of life. It can take 4-6 weeks to work – IF it works. At this point, I am trying to keep her comfortable and let her know she is loved. When it gets to a point where she is in pain from the arthritis and the pain cannot be managed or her quality of live decreases, it will be time to say goodbye.
I am still calling Flower a Foster. I never planned on having a fourth cat. I was completely shocked the shelter here would not respond to an injured cat. I truly thought she would only be with me for a few months and then would be adopted into a forever home. I didn’t realize this is a geriatric, medically complex cat. She would have died outside this past winter if she hadn’t gone into the trap last fall.
She is with me as a hospice until she passes. There are people who foster pets who are hospice. It is called fospice when that situation happens.
Flower is no longer available for adoption.
If Flower had been taken in by the shelter last fall, she would have been euthanized. She is truly a hospice situation. She is too medically complex for rehoming.
She will be staying with her foster family permanently until it is time for her to be euthanized from her injuries.
Yes, she would do better being with someone where she could be the only pet in a home. However, it is going to be more stressful for her to leave me and learn to trust a stranger at the end of her life. She is comfortable with me. I know her habits now, I’m home a lot, and she has a camera on her all the time. (Sometimes I wake up to 50+ 10-30 second videos of her just stretching or rolling over in her cat bed.)
I’m trying to show Flower all the love she never had. I’m treating every day like it may be her last. Now that I know she is hospice, I’m glad I took extra time to show Flower Santa on NORAD at Christmas and included her in our family activities. Will Flower see another Christmas? I don’t know. But at least I know she had one Christmas with me inside, warm, fed and loved.
I’m not sure if Flower will have other birthdays. I hope that she does. I want to show her all the love she didn’t have for so long. We will see. These things are beyond our control. It all depends on her ongoing medical status.
Today we say, Happy 15th Birthday, Flower! Please do an Act of Kindness for Flower Day on April 9 to push back on all the evil Flower has experienced in life.
A few years ago, I read an article that interviewed immigrants about the one item that reminded them of their home country. I have not been able to find the article to link it.
Basically, they were all asked what one item they had with them in their new country that always reminded them of their home country. Sometimes people immigrate in a state of duress. They are only able to take what they can quickly grab. Other times, people have more time and resources to immigrate and can more carefully curate what they take with them to their new country.
Once the cats have all passed away from natural causes at the normal end of their lives, my goal is to leave the country. That article I read years ago made me think of what one item I would take with me that would remind me of the USA.
In the article, a musician told of a piece of sheet music he has in his native language. Someone else showed a bracelet that had been made by their artisan grandmother. Another person had a favorite book in their native language.
What one thing would I take that would remind me of the USA?
This is a hard question. There is not a lot to be happy about in the USA right now.
Then I happened to think of a treasured item I have in my one box of mementos that 100% would remind me of the USA.
It is my LOVE stamp pin.
The 2023 Love stamp is my favorite US stamp of all time. I ordered so many sheets of the cat and dog love stamps, I had enough to use on all of my Christmas cards for 2024 also.
I bought the Love stamp pin because I enjoyed that stamp so much. It was my first time purchasing anything stamp related. I typically just use stamps to mail my bills and don’t give a thought or care to the design of the stamp.
However, the 2023 love stamp is my favorite. I actively sought it out to be able to use it.
The US postal service holds many memories for me. It was an essential service for my grandparent’s rural farm. They were immigrants here from Austria.
The US postal service is essential in delivering medications and keeping us all connected. I love Christmas cards, birthday cards, and handwritten letters. In a world of increasing technology, there is still something to be said for the joy of seeing a letter in the mail that is not a bill.
When I leave the country, the one item I will take to remind me of the USA is my 2023 love pin.
Being attacked and physically injured by the neighbors in 2023 was a huge shock. I never expected something like that to happen when I bought this house. It was even more shocking and disappointing that when I reported the injuries and behavior to the village and the sheriff department, I was gaslit and experienced retaliation. Other people in the village have also complained about the boom cars and experienced retaliation. The difference between the other people in the village complaining about the boom cars and me is that those other people live on other streets. I live in the house directly across from and next to the houses with the boom cars. It’s worse for me.
In 2024, I decided I need to try to come up with a safety plan in case it happened again. It’s obvious that neither the village nor the sheriff department are going to keep us safe from physical injury. My plan was that we would just leave when they do the boom car behavior.
This safety plan failed epically for multiple reasons. Emboldened by the fact that everyone who complained about the boom cars in 2023 experienced retaliation, they got worse in 2024. They were constant for 18-21 hours a day for at least 5 months. I cannot afford to live in a hotel, apartment, or a second residence for several months per year.
We did spend a night in the car on the side of the road like homeless people. We are not homeless. I own a home. I own property. But I was so exhausted after several months of only 3 hours of sleep per day and blood dripping out of my ears, we needed a break. We slept in the car.
Mind you, the car smells like urine. That was not a pleasant experience. The neighbors have an outhouse directly against my garage, using my garage as the fourth wall to their outhouse. It gets daily use. Not to mention, their children came onto my property without permission and threw rocks at my car, trying to damage and disable it. I was told that their children were allowed to come onto my property without my permission and throw rocks at my car because “they own the street.”
This fall, the neighbors also started blocking my driveway again. Often, I am unable to leave. Once, I went to the pharmacy and was blocked from returning home for three hours. I wasn’t feeling well. I wanted to lie down. I could not physically reach my house.
It’s like playing Russian roulette trying to figure out when I can leave the house when the driveway is not blocked and hoping I will be able to return home.
No, the police will not respond to this situation. I was told it is legal for people to park on the side of the road, even if they park directly in front of a driveway, completely blocking access to the property.
The man who does my snowplowing was not even able to plow my driveway once this winter because they were blocking my driveway with their vehicle. They refused to move the car. I had to pay for snowplowing that did not actually happen because my driveway could not be accessed.
I have been told if I complain about the neighbor abuse again, my cats will be taken and used as bait for the dog fighting ring. I feel like I have used all my options. There is no way to make the behavior stop.
We need to be safe. I now have permanent hearing damage because of their actions. The cats (especially Jolene) do too.
A new safety plan is needed this year, especially since leaving is not an option. They physically prevent me from leaving.
I reached out to a sound engineering company in Pennsylvania run by a retired Navy veteran. I asked them to do an analysis about soundproofing the house – even just one room so we have a safe place. I provided them with photos, videos, and decibel reading of the noise from the boom cars.
The gentleman from the residential section of the sound engineering firm shook his head. He said what we are experiencing far exceeds what is normal in a residential setting. Boom cars are typically illegal, especially in residential areas. The vehicles are supposed to be impounded and the sound systems removed.
I told him there is a NYS vehicle law that states that sound from vehicles is not supposed to exceed 70db at the property line. However, NYS laws do not apply in this village. The village encourages the boom cars.
The residential sound engineer referred me to the commercial sound engineer – this is the person who does soundproofing for things like gun firing ranges.
The commercial person also said what I am experiencing far exceeds even a gun firing range in that the noise I am experiencing is constant, for hours. The noise at a gun firing range is intermittent.
The analysis they provided is that the house cannot be soundproofed for this level of noise. It cannot be retrofitted. The noise I am experiencing far exceeds what people should experience in a home.
They did suggest a room of new construction – new build – be built in the basement with shock absorbers in the walls. They suggested the basement since all the db readings I have recorded are on the first floor of my home. Although, the noise in the basement is bad too. If you set a glass of water on the workbench in the basement, the water in the glass “jumps” due to the level of noise they produce. It’s that loud.
We end up stuck in this house with no way to leave and no way to make it stop.
I feel helpless. No one can make this stop, and no one cares.
I don’t like feeling helpless. I feel like I need to do something to try to protect me and the cats.
We have been working on our tornado training as the result of the tornado we had last summer. The basement is our safe place for tornadoes. While the excessive noise from the boom cars is still excessive in the basement, it’s not as bad (not by much) as the first floor.
So, the basement seems to be the safest place in the house. I say that with a grain of salt. The basement is not safe either. The noise is excessive down there also. Not to mention, the radon in the basement is high. Radon levels are supposed to be 4 or below. Radon levels in our basement are well over 30. I had been saving money for radon mitigation, but all that money has been drained since the neighbors behavior prevents me from working.
With both tornadoes and neighbor abuse in mind, the basement seems like the best bet. Jude and Jolene are trained to go to the basement on their own. Simon is still working on carrier training. He is scared of both the carrier and the basement.
I decided to get two more carriers to put in the basement, that way there are carriers already down there. It makes things easier for me when there is a tornado – Jude and Jolene will go to the basement, I just need to grab Simon. If carriers are already in the basement, then I do not have to worry about trying to grab those too in addition to getting everyone down there for safety.
I bought a roll of mass loaded vinyl and used it to put around the carriers. I also covered them with my old bed comforter. I know that mass loaded vinyl will not help at all with the level of noise we are experiencing from the boom cars, but I feel like I need to do something to keep us safe.
I also got a pair of gun range headphones for me to wear in the basement. They are pretty much a waste of money. You can still hear the booming even with gun range headphones. The noise is that excessive. Still, if there is any way to prevent blood dripping from ears – it’s worth a try?
This is our safety plan for 2025 since our safety plan for 2024 failed epically. In addition to subjecting us to excessive noise, the neighbors are now physically preventing us from leaving. I’m just trying to do the best I can to stay safe. I don’t know what more to do.
At the very least, it will be helpful to have the carriers in the basement for tornadoes. I can put the cats in the carriers once they are in the basement. It just makes it easier for me to get us all down there if there are some tornado supplies already there.
Today is my birthday. It looks like I’ll be getting another ride around the sun.
Birthdays are my favorite holiday. I love being alive. Every time I get a birthday, it’s like a giant middle finger to the world that I was able to survive another year of what life threw at me.
This year, it’s going to be two giant middle fingers.
The past year has been especially hard. I love being alive. It’s hard living in a time of active eugenics when health professionals no longer take any infection precautions and actively promote euthanasia. I have lost count of the number of times this year I have said “no” to the suggestion of the euthanasia clinic.
I remember a time when it was frowned upon to tell people they should die. Now certain people (those with disabilities and certain medical conditions) are actively encouraged. People seem to think I am a burden on society.
I am very happy to be alive. I love being here. I work full time and help the abused cats in my area that have been used as bait for the dog fighting ring. Yet, for some reason, I am one of the ones that is supposed to “fall by the wayside.” People frequently say things to my face like, “why aren’t you dead already?”
The physical injuries and abuse from the neighbors escalated in 2024. I reported their behavior in 2023. Several other houses on neighboring streets made reports also. We were all retaliated against. Since anyone complaining about the boom cars has experienced retaliation, the people who are operating the boom cars got the green light that their behavior is not only acceptable, but welcomed, by the village. Their behavior in 2024 was worse than 2023.
I would like the behavior to stop. I have this expectation that I should be able to live in my home free from physical injury. This is a unreasonably high expectation for this village. The boom cars advertise drugs for sale, and we need to support local business, after all.
Some people have suggested that the way to deal with the neighbor abuse is euthanasia. If you don’t like being abused, you should die.
This does not make any sense to me. Again, I am happy to be alive. I feel like I give back to the community. I ran the book club at the library and served on multiple non-profit boards in the area.
For some reason, the village says that people who live in this area deserve to be abused by the 3-4 houses who do the boom cars. If you don’t like the abuse, have you considered euthanasia?
I would like the abuse to stop.
In the past year, I have been prevented from sleeping for at least 5 straight months. I was purposefully kept awake and only allowed to sleep 2-3 hours a day. We slept in the car on the side of the road. I own a home, but we had to sleep in the car on the side of the road to get some sleep due to the boom cars.
Even then, the car smells like urine. They built an outhouse directly against my garage using my garage as the fourth wall to their outhouse. I smell human waste every single time I have to drive the car to go anyplace.
That is if I am lucky enough to even be able to leave. The people across the street have started the practice again of actively blocking my driveway. They park cars 2-3 deep across the road. I can’t get out. They won’t move the vehicles. Some of the vehicles are not able to be moved, as they are torn apart in various states of dis/repair in the middle of the street.
In addition to the lack of sleep and physical injuries, I missed over a month of work as a direct result of their actions. My employer is being understanding because they know I am experiencing harassment from the neighbors. There are recordings, photos, and witnesses. The sheriff department says videos and photos are not evidence. Witnesses have to be “approved village residents.”
My savings has been drained from all the work I’ve missed as a direct result of their behavior. On top of that, I have medical bills I have had to pay for injuries as a direct result of their actions. There goes money I had been saving for home improvements.
I was planning to make improvements to this house to be a good homeowner and make the village a better place. The village doesn’t want people to upgrade their homes. If the neighbors harass you to the point you can’t work, they don’t care.
All of this is legal, according to the village, We need to support local businesses. The boom cars advertise drugs for sale. If anyone does complain, they experience retaliation in the forms of more serious physical injuries and threats.
So yes, this has been a very hard year. Two very big middle fingers to the world.
I am happy to be alive. I love being here. I give back to my community and try to make the world around me a better place. I’m very glad to have another ride around the sun.
My only wish for my birthday is for the physical injuries from the neighbors to stop. They need to stop with the boom cars. I can take people telling me to die to my face and asking me why I haven’t gone to the euthanasia clinic yet. Yes, that hurts my feelings. But they are only feelings.
Being hurt physically is worse.
No, I can’t leave. The mortgage company will not allow a short sale. These people have tanked my property value due to the bad behavior. They are so bad, the real estate agent will only show houses here in pairs, and houses here are on the market twice as long as any other location in this entire county.
People blame me for not being financially able to leave. They say it’s my fault. It’s my choice. If I do not want to be physically abused living in this house, I can choose to be homeless. I can choose to be euthanized. People have suggested that homelessness and euthanasia are both better options than living here being abused. I disagree.
I love being alive. I do not want to be euthanized. I would not last long if I had to be homeless again. I should not have to be homeless to avoid being abused by people I don’t even know. With multiple homes on multiple surrounding streets complaining of the noise, you would think the village would make it stop. Instead, they encourage the behavior.
So here is to another ride around the sun. The only thing I want for my birthday is for the boom cars to stop. I want to be able to sleep, work, and live my life without having blood drip out of my ears and permanent hearing damage inflicted upon me by drug dealers. I don’t want my cats to be taken and used as bait for the dog fighting ring if I complain again. I’m pretty sure wanting this to stop is a pipe dream, as no one has been able to help. But it’s my birthday, I can dream.
rewindliveslow 