Still Alive. Not Much More.
Picking up after the stroke...
Bought a trailer in the gods forsaken fetid swamp called Florida. And brother, did we get taken. Nasty, filthy, stinking to high heaven, disgusting. It seriously took 2 solid 8 hour days just to clean the stove. Thought we had chocolate colored grout on the floor. No. It was just that disgustingly filthy. Money pit from hell. And everything that could be jury-rigged easier than properly repaired was. It's rather amazing how much you miss when you reach the edge of desperation.
Two days after we returned from Michigan to actually move in to the pit, Paul's dad, the sole reason we ended up here, had a couple small strokes. A couple days later he fell and broke his hip and had hip replacement. Another couple days, and he needed a pacemaker .And then there was the dementia. Within three months he was dead. In the meantime Paul did manage to get a maintenance position with a large, respected local senior living facility.
Back on the home front we continued pouring the last of our quickly diminishing funds into the trailer. Scrubbed every inch. We painted the entire place. New carpet throughout. We still haven't wallpapered the dining area. There are walls in the living room that will have to be replaced sooner rather than later. But the money is gone.
The cats were not doing well. Enigma was losing her hair---badly. As she's always been a bit neurotic, I thought it was the stresses were the problem. Then we noticed Eclipse was scratching herself raw. Turns out not only was the trailer disgusting. It was infested with fleas. Several months of spraying, agressively treating the cats, weekly baths of two very unhappy kitties, plus daily vacuuming and daily flea combing, and we finally beat that. Eclipse is also not doing well in other ways. There's a feral in the neighborhood (one of thoseear notched feral program cats). The fucker really freaks Eclipse out when she can smell him around the house. It has caused her to freak out more than once, and has attacked both Paul and me during freak outs. I have a lovely 6-7 scar across my shin to remember it by. On to the next catastrophe.
We've repaired the washing machine. Twice. One time caused a huge flood in our back room---after our POD had finally been delivered. The dryer now needs repair. The drain to the kitchen sink is connected wrong, so we have to remember to go under the sink and tighten the nut on the drain about once a month so it doesn't come apart and flood the kitchen cabinets--- again. The drain to one of the sinks in the bathroom just plain needs to be replaced. As there's a hole in that sink, we just don't use it. Period.
I found a community gardening program abotut 7 miles away in Sarasota. After two seasons of battling the insect armies of darkness and the humidity induced jungle rot and trying to find the time and energy to drive that distance every couple days I've given up on trying to garden---and trying to afford vegetables. It is ridiculous how expensive they are here.
And then there is the IRS. Obamacare did not play well with Paul's 401k. We ended up being blasted for nearly $7000 for that. Picture this on top of all the medical bills from having a stroke with no medical insurance (speaking of which, I did all my therapy on my own. Got no follow up care at all. Florida is not a place to try to get medical care if you don't have insurance).
Next up was when the termites started swarming. We're finally being tented Monday. Several days in a motel with the cats. Joy.
The air conditioner went down in May. With some connections from a coworker, Paul got the parts to fix it, and got it running again. That was Memorial Day Weekend---about a week and a half before Paul's heart attack.
Yep. Heart attack.
Luckily, it was minor, though they can't find any physical reason for it. Can you say, "STRESS"?
Haven't told you yet what an obstructionist pain in the ass Paul's brother has been with their father's estate and Paul's executorship. It means that we have been paying the bills for 2 households since September on one pay check.
He wasn't out of the hospital 48 hours, and the air conditioner went out again. Big time. In Florida. In a trailer. In June's mid 90's temperatures we have been without air conditioning for almost 2 weeks.
And one last joy for this week alone, tooth pain at 13 1/2 on a 1-10 scale ended with my last molar being pulled.
That about brings us current. Yes, I am a very different person than I was 18 months ago, bitter and disillusioned, a paycheck from being on the street, all idealism and optimism crushed out of me. Pardon me it I don't thank the gods or anything for my life.
Bought a trailer in the gods forsaken fetid swamp called Florida. And brother, did we get taken. Nasty, filthy, stinking to high heaven, disgusting. It seriously took 2 solid 8 hour days just to clean the stove. Thought we had chocolate colored grout on the floor. No. It was just that disgustingly filthy. Money pit from hell. And everything that could be jury-rigged easier than properly repaired was. It's rather amazing how much you miss when you reach the edge of desperation.
Two days after we returned from Michigan to actually move in to the pit, Paul's dad, the sole reason we ended up here, had a couple small strokes. A couple days later he fell and broke his hip and had hip replacement. Another couple days, and he needed a pacemaker .And then there was the dementia. Within three months he was dead. In the meantime Paul did manage to get a maintenance position with a large, respected local senior living facility.
Back on the home front we continued pouring the last of our quickly diminishing funds into the trailer. Scrubbed every inch. We painted the entire place. New carpet throughout. We still haven't wallpapered the dining area. There are walls in the living room that will have to be replaced sooner rather than later. But the money is gone.
The cats were not doing well. Enigma was losing her hair---badly. As she's always been a bit neurotic, I thought it was the stresses were the problem. Then we noticed Eclipse was scratching herself raw. Turns out not only was the trailer disgusting. It was infested with fleas. Several months of spraying, agressively treating the cats, weekly baths of two very unhappy kitties, plus daily vacuuming and daily flea combing, and we finally beat that. Eclipse is also not doing well in other ways. There's a feral in the neighborhood (one of thoseear notched feral program cats). The fucker really freaks Eclipse out when she can smell him around the house. It has caused her to freak out more than once, and has attacked both Paul and me during freak outs. I have a lovely 6-7 scar across my shin to remember it by. On to the next catastrophe.
We've repaired the washing machine. Twice. One time caused a huge flood in our back room---after our POD had finally been delivered. The dryer now needs repair. The drain to the kitchen sink is connected wrong, so we have to remember to go under the sink and tighten the nut on the drain about once a month so it doesn't come apart and flood the kitchen cabinets--- again. The drain to one of the sinks in the bathroom just plain needs to be replaced. As there's a hole in that sink, we just don't use it. Period.
I found a community gardening program abotut 7 miles away in Sarasota. After two seasons of battling the insect armies of darkness and the humidity induced jungle rot and trying to find the time and energy to drive that distance every couple days I've given up on trying to garden---and trying to afford vegetables. It is ridiculous how expensive they are here.
And then there is the IRS. Obamacare did not play well with Paul's 401k. We ended up being blasted for nearly $7000 for that. Picture this on top of all the medical bills from having a stroke with no medical insurance (speaking of which, I did all my therapy on my own. Got no follow up care at all. Florida is not a place to try to get medical care if you don't have insurance).
Next up was when the termites started swarming. We're finally being tented Monday. Several days in a motel with the cats. Joy.
The air conditioner went down in May. With some connections from a coworker, Paul got the parts to fix it, and got it running again. That was Memorial Day Weekend---about a week and a half before Paul's heart attack.
Yep. Heart attack.
Luckily, it was minor, though they can't find any physical reason for it. Can you say, "STRESS"?
Haven't told you yet what an obstructionist pain in the ass Paul's brother has been with their father's estate and Paul's executorship. It means that we have been paying the bills for 2 households since September on one pay check.
He wasn't out of the hospital 48 hours, and the air conditioner went out again. Big time. In Florida. In a trailer. In June's mid 90's temperatures we have been without air conditioning for almost 2 weeks.
And one last joy for this week alone, tooth pain at 13 1/2 on a 1-10 scale ended with my last molar being pulled.
That about brings us current. Yes, I am a very different person than I was 18 months ago, bitter and disillusioned, a paycheck from being on the street, all idealism and optimism crushed out of me. Pardon me it I don't thank the gods or anything for my life.