House-iversary 3

August 30, 2021August 29, 2021 / rachelgoes262 / Leave a comment

Today we celebrate our 3 year anniversary in our house. They say everything happens for a reason, and I am 100% convinced that the reason for this house is to keep us all together. At first, it was Jude, Simon and I. Now, Jolene has been with us for a year and a half too.

I like the house, but the neighborhood is horrid. I know, I know. Real estate is all about location, location, location. If I ever tried to sell this house, I would have to do a bad neighbor disclosure. I am a little mad that the sellers did not do the bad neighbor disclosure when I bought the house. However, I don’t think they failed to disclose out of malice. The person who had been living in this house passed away. The people who sold me this house had inherited it. They did not live in it, so I am sure they did not realize how truly bad the neighbors are and that they would have to do the bad neighborhood disclosure.

Despite being in one of the worst neighborhoods in the area, I do like the house. So far, the cats and I have managed to shelter-in-place here safe from covid. I am convinced that the purpose of this house is to keep us all together and well.

As a homeowner, I have control over who comes into the house to provide service. The HVAC company I used in prior years do not wear a mask, so you can be sure I will be using someone else this year. As a homeowner, I have control over those decisions that you cannot control in an apartment. I’m sure if we were still in the apartment we would have had maintenance people in and no control over the whole “wear a mask” issue.

As much as I would like to sell this house and move due to the bad neighborhood, that is not possible due to the first time home buyer program I used. I do not have $10,000 to pay back the grant. Plus, with three cats, where would we go? Apartments do not accept pets.

I am going to die in this house. I don’t know when that will be, but I know I will die in this house. I will never pay it off.

If I manage to outlive the cats, I will sell the house and move. Right now this house is the only thing that keeps us together and safe. Safe is a relative term – we are safe from covid, but we are not safe from the neighbors.

To be honest, I do not feel safe in this house due to the neighbors. The loud music, which I have come to learn is someone with a drum set and no insulation, continues. There are at least three houses of Proud Boys. There is gunfire on a regular basis. It is quite possible I will survive the pandemic only to be shot by one of the neighbors, whether intentionally or accidentally.

For now, it is home, and it is all we have.

I am so thankful that on house-iversary 3, we are all together and healthy. Earlier this year when I lost my job, we faced a true reality of being homeless again. We are just one disaster away from losing it all.

Happy House-iversary 3. My wish is that this is truly the last forever home for all three cats. All I need to do is care for them and keep us all together. I am so grateful for this house that is keeping us together and safe not only for the rest of our lives, but through a global pandemic.

Site 50

October 19, 2020 / rachelgoes262 / 1 Comment

All 3 cats watching the birds fly by.

The year is 2003. Imagine taking your first vacation in 4 years. You pack up the car with all of your supplies and drive 3 and a half hours to your destination. You are meeting friends you have not seen in years. After a stressful, traffic filled drive, you arrive at your destination, and take one of the last available sites at the campground you have chosen, in relative proximity to the rest of your friends. It is the same place you were at 4 years ago for complete relaxation. Back in 1999, you had crammed 8 college friends in a family tent on a single campsite. It was just like dorm times. In 2003, the only difference is that you are in a different camp site from before and have elected to set up your own tent instead of being in with the rest of the group. Things have changed in 4 years, and some of these friends now have families they will be bringing.

On site 50, you set up your $30 K-mart tent and begin cooking dinner as darkness descends. You are one of the first in your group of friends to arrive for the weekend outing. The location is the halfway point for you and all your friends. It has been about a three and a half hour drive for you going north east. It is about a three and a half hour drive for them going north west.

You have all the elements for relaxation from good food to good music to good wine. Suddenly, a loud thunderclap sounds and rain unexpectedly downpours on your campfire. You scramble to pick up all of your supplies and cram them in the car so they can remain dry and you can seek respite in your tent.

Although hectic, it is also exciting. This is exactly the type of situation of which memories are made and you can laugh about with friends after. Supplies safely in the car out of the rain, fire put out by the downpour, you unzip the tent to seek solace inside. Once inside, you discover your $30 purchase was not the best bargain as rain pours in through all the seams. The bottom of the tent quickly accumulates a few inches of rain, much like a canoe taking on water in danger of capsizing. Your sleeping bag is completely soaked, as well as the small duffle bag of clothes inside the tent.

Like a drowning man on a sinking ship, you fruitlessly attempt to bail water from the tent. Again, a story to laugh at later. Rain continues to literally pour through the seams of the tent as if the Hoover Dam were breached.

Tiring yourself with bailing water, you finally admit defeat and run from the tent to the car. You are completely soaked with no dry clothes to change into as your sleeping bag and clothes are all waterlogged in the tent. You fall asleep from sheer exhaustion, unsure and uncaring whether the tent will even be there in the morning or if it will float away.

Morning dawns, and you awake to fogged car windows. Still water logged, you open the car door to see the tent completely leveled and everything wet. The rain has stopped. The rest of your friends are supposed to arrive today.

You make a new fire to get warm, and start hanging up all the wet items to dry. You fix the tent so it is again standing, although wet. Now that the rain has stopped, you are able to bail out all of the water from the night before.

Once your friends trickle in for the weekend, you are able to borrow clothes that are both dry and warm. This is definitely a story to laugh about later. The remainder of the weekend passes dry, cool and full of laughter, good memories and good times with the best of friends.

Lesson learned from the leaking tent, when you return in 2004, it is with a new, more waterproof tent. It cost $150 from LL Bean. That new tent will see you dry through the next 15 years of these trips with the best of friends.

Fast forward to 2020. We are in the middle of a global pandemic. Every single one of those people who were on that camping trip in 2003 except two are now dead. They have all died of COVID within the past 6 months. You are running out of friends. It is not an exaggeration and it’s not because you are a bad person. It’s this horrible disease.

While you have been able to take off 2 or 3 days here and there, you have not had a week’s vacation in over 3 years. For the first time in over 20 years, your annual camping trip has been canceled by COVID.

You are burnt out. You are at your wits end and need a break. Even though COVID has canceled your life and taken all of your friends, you decide to take a week’s vacation from life.

This is a true story. This is my story.

I took my first week’s vacation in over 3 years recently. While this week has been a flashback to 2003, it was anything but restful.

Instead of running around with a tent in the rain, I had a major water issue in my house. I spent 7 days of my 10 day vacation dealing with this water issue. It was anything but restful. There were no friends arriving to laugh with. They are all dead. I’m having a staycation in the middle of a pandemic and instead of relaxing, dealing with a major house emergency.

I may be a first time homeowner, but I do know that water damage is every home owner’s worst nightmare. It’s not funny like bailing out a tent.

Trying to get help with house emergencies in a global pandemic is extremely challenging. There are people out there who either do not respond or just want to take you for a ride (read: unnecessarily charge you thousands of dollars for illegal work done without appropriate permits). Forget that. I’m on vacation. I just want to relax.

I feel like I completely wasted my vacation from work dealing with this water issue. I was not able to relax. I only got 3 days of relaxation. I should have just taken my traditional 3 days off instead of a whole week’s vacation.

Maybe this story of plumbing issues with my house will be funny in the future. I’m not sure when. I’m not sure who will be laughing with me, since COVID has killed most of my friends.I am still so thoroughly traumatized by my experience dealing with this water issue that I cannot even go into the details of how bad it was trying to get help.

All I know is that I am happy to be dry and safe in this house. I hope to survive the pandemic so I can have more camping trips again. Even though my vacation was not really a vacation, I am thankful to be safe with my cats. I have not had a week this bad or this stressful since I bought my house.

Baby Skunks, Dead Birds & Crazy Squirrels

August 21, 2019 / rachelgoes262 / Leave a comment

Reason # 538 why I am not equipped to be a home owner. I pet a baby skunk this morning on accident. I didn’t know it was a skunk when I started petting it. I thought it was one of the homeless cats in my neighborhood. I have never seen a skunk in person before.

This morning, I went out to the outdoor cat shelter that I constructed this winter for the homeless cats at about 6:30 am. With the 80 degree heat, I have been leaving bowls of water out for the outside cats. The homeless cat for whom I made the outdoor cat shelter, Clarence, is a black cat with one little patch of white on the front of him.

When I went outside at 6:30 am, there was a little furry butt sticking out of the outdoor cat shelter. It looked like Clarence was having a drink. For the first time, he did not run away. I took this as a positive – he must be getting used to me.

I started petting what I thought was Clarence. Then, when the animal finished drinking and turned around, I was able to clearly ascertain that it was not a cat, but in fact, a skunk. I’m pretty sure it was a baby skunk, as it was about half the size of one of my indoor house cats.

I slowly backed away and left the garage.

No, I did not get sprayed. The baby skunk did not seem fazed by me at all.

Tonight, when I got home, I removed all water bowls from the outdoor cat shelter. I wiped everything clean. I completely closed the garage door. If I happen to notice a cat outdoors when it is below zero again this winter, then I will reopen the door so the cat can have shelter. But I can’t really encourage skunks to hang around. I have no idea where baby skunk came from, but that was not the best surprise at 6:30 am.

The baby skunk incident comes about a week after the dead blue jay incident. One morning last week, I noticed a blue jay laying in the grass next to the bird feeder. It was my first encounter with a dead animal for which I was responsible for disposing of. I used a shovel to pick it up and throw it behind the garage. It had a broken neck. I’m not sure if it flew into a window, a building, or what. What is even more weird is that a few days after that, I was outside doing yard work, and the carcass was completely gone. No idea what happened to the dead bird.

There are two squirrels terrorizing my bird feeders. These things are getting bold. You would not believe the acrobatics they are doing to reach the feeders. I was going to get a super soaker to start spraying them, but every time I open my door, they run away. There is no way I would be able to attack these things with a super soaker. They are annoying just the same.

I’m having adventures in wildlife just as I am beginning to adult this summer.

More on adulting to come. I’m quite impressed with some of the positive changes I have either made this summer or have in the works.

The best part is, that baby skunks, dead birds and crazy squirrels are no big deal. They are no big deal because I have slowed my life down to a point where I am calm and able to handle the crazy. I’m pretty sure that if I had encountered a baby skunk, a dead bird and crazy squirrels a few years ago, it would have been a crisis because I was so overwhelmed with life that I was not able to handle anything extra being thrown at me.

One of the benefits of minimalism is that when you slow your life down enough, events like wildlife encounters are no big deal. As they should be.

My summer is wicked busy, but busy in the best possible way. I have not had a summer this good in at least 4 years. Expect to hear more from me in the coming weeks about the positive changes I have made and the ones in the works for the fall.

For now, let’s hope my adventures in wildlife are coming to a close. Hopefully baby skunk will get a clue to go elsewhere when he sees the garage door closed tomorrow morning. I pet a baby skunk and remained scent-free to tell the tale. How many people can say that?