Monday, April 17, 2017

A Couple of Days R&R and a Bit of Apartment House Excitement

So I thought I was Wonder Woman.

I'm not.

After all the canning I need a couple of days of rest and recuperation.  Dratted arthritis!  All I had left to can was hamburger and peas.  Those are now in the freezer waiting until my aching joints get with the program.  I had some onions, cabbage and bell peppers leftover, so those will go into the dehydrators this evening.

There was a bit of excitement here in my building Saturday night.  My neighbor across the hall seems to have overindulged at the bar,  came home and put some food in his oven and neglected to take it out.  I heard his dog barking about 1 AM.  The dog never barks unless something is wrong in his world.  Then the neighbor's smoke alarm started blaring at 1:30 AM.  I had been dozing in my recliner and when I noticed it was still going off 20 minutes later and I started to get up to call 911 when it stopped.

Duane asked me the next day if I had heard all the excitement.  I had not, for I must have gone to sleep right after the alarm stopped.  He said that he and Lori opened their apartment door to find out where the alarm was, and they found the hallway was filled with a smoky haze.  Lori called 911.  Police and firemen showed up in short order and found the source of the smoke.    They set up fans to clear the smoke from the building.  Duane came here to check on me and found me peacefully snoozing.  Duane and Lori said that later the neighbor, thinking the caretakers had made the call, had taken his drunken self down the hall and was pounding on the caretaker's door, shouting obscenities and calling them some very unflattering names.

This is the third time this fool has done this.  We are hoping our landlord will invite him to take his sorry self elsewhere to live.

Aside from that, all is quiet and peaceful in my little corner of the world.  :)

20 comments:

  1. Apartment living can be trying in the BEST of circumstances, and what you've experienced isn't it. I'm glad you're okay.

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    1. Thank you, Rev. Paul...I am lucky in that this is a small building containing only five apartments above a store and two on ground level. The tennant I spoke of is the only one who seems to require the presence of police or firemen. I may need to have a chat with the landlord before the fool across the hall burns the place down. I have lived here for 21 years. I would hate to have to move. :)

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  2. Also very glad that you're ok.
    One of my immediate neighbors is a couple. I should have known they'd be challenging when I first met them. On their first night, we made introductions and she said 'oh, we're really noisy, hope you'll be ok with that'. Really??? The prior tenant was a young family (mom, dad, two young boys and a dog) who in a year I think I heard once. These 'special' neighbors I hear almost daily... the joys of apartment life are not for the faint of heart.
    Hope you recover quickly from your arthritis flair. Cheers, SJ

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    1. SJ...We apartment dwellers sure do see some characters, don't we! When I first moved here 21 years ago, there was a drug dealer living right down the hall. I caught him abusing a kitten so the first chance I had, I scooped up the kitten, stuffed him under my coat and took him home. He lived with me until he died 14 years later. There were the kids whose idea of how to clean a litter box was to dump it out the window onto the sidewalk below. And then we had Naomi, the 'lady of the evening.' My landlord put in a security system right after I found some guy laying in the hall outside her door, presumably sleeping while awaiting his turn. After that the landlord fired the guy he had doing the rentals and did them himself. This looney tune across the hall is the only troublemaker I have seen in a very long time.

      I should have known better than to try to do that much canning all at once. I have been pretty much a turnip all day today and am feeling better for it. Another day of rest and I should be back to my normal cranky old lady self! Hope all is well in your neck of the woods in spite of daily rumblings from the neighbors. Annoying, isn't it.

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  3. Three strikes, you're out, I'd say.

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    1. Gorges...I was thinking along those same lines. The next time he may pass out with something cooking on top of his stove. Only thing that saved us was that the fires were contained in his oven.

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  4. That's scary! I think neighbors might just have a talk with the caretaker, showing concern for the lives of all involved. You were certainly out like a light. I do that upon exhaustion.

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    1. Linda...The scary part is that the neighbor doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes and keeps repeating them. I think a chat with the landlord, who seems to be a reasonable and responsible man, might be best. And yep...I was out after the neighbor's smoke alarm was shut off. Didn't hear a thing. It was reassuring to find out my son had checked up on me to make sure no smoke had reached my apartment. I wasn't surprised. He does stuff like that. :)

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  5. Seems like it wouldn't be unreasonable for that neighbour to be 'invited' to leave.

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  6. Jenn...You are nicer than I am. Were I younger and more agile, I believe I might want to issue that 'invitation' in the form of a well placed boot applied to a backside.

    I don't drink. When I did drink, it was often to excess and rendered me stupid and somewhat out of control. So I quit. That being said, I have absolutely nothing against those who like to go out and have drinks and a good time. It's when the drinking threatens my home and quite possibly my life that I get a little bit cranky. And now my son and his lady live in this building. This fool of a neighbor could easily wreck not only my life but also the lives of my family members. That is not acceptable. Especially not three times lately. Has to stop.

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  7. ask God to bring a good neighbor.
    or convert the one already there.

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  8. I hada habit about 20 years ago of putting on dinner and lying on the sofa to watch the news or some program. I awoke to smoke where my dinner was crispy in iron pots. No fires. I soon just sat in a chair while waiting for dinner to cook. Now, the worst I do is scorch something while I run to the bathroom. I am terrified of fire since my house burned when I was four. So, I will quit cooking before I kill myself.

    Converted neighbors could still burn the place down with one backslide. I say get rid of him.

    I am glad you rescued the kitten. I don't want a dog or cat, but have rescued both.

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    1. Linda...I think nearly everyone has forgotten something on the stove at one time or another. I know I have. But this guy seems to be making a habit of it. His carelessness caused the hallway to be filled with smoke, but he gets mad at the neighbors for calling the fire department. He takes no responsibility for his actions. I don't like being responsible for getting anyone evicted, but I don't want to see the rest of us lose our homes and everything in them because he won't stay sober enough to cook without burning it. We already had a fire in the building a couple of years ago that gutted one of the downstairs apartments due to carelessness with a candle. Don't want to go through that again.

      I have a hard time with people who are cruel to animals. The guy with the kitten would leave his apartment door open and then get mad when the kitten wandered out into the hallway. Chuck the cat was only about 3 months old when I saw the guy pick him up and throw him like a football back into the apartment from the hall. The next time I found the kitten in the hallway was the day I scooped him up and took him home. I doubt Chuck knew he had been rescued, but he was pretty much my shadow from that day until he died. I never once regretted stealing him. : )

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  9. For a few years, my now ex-husband's adult age nephew lived with us. After the second kitchen fire and being lied to, I put my foot down and the nephew was 'evicted'. We generously gave him a month to find a new place. The worst part actually wasn't the fire but being boldly lied to.
    I think I'd at least tell the landlord how many times the fire fighters have paid a visit.
    On to happier news - I picked enough salad greens to have a salad with dinner tonight. Yippee. Friday I should be able to pick more asparagus.
    Hope you're feeling better. SJ

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    1. SJ...Sounds like it was a good thing you evicted him before he burned your house down. You are spot on about the lying. I can deal with most anything, but being lied to doesn't set well with me. When my kids were young, I told them that if I ever caught them in a lie, their punishment would be double that of the actual bad thing they did.

      We are planning to talk to the landlord about the problem and at the very least, let him know about having to call emergency services.

      Good for you on the salad!! Always seems to taste better straight from the garden. And oh, how I miss fresh asparagus. Years ago I lived on a farm. There were drainage ditches running through the fields to help dry out the low spots and along the banks of some of those ditches grew wild asparagus. I would pick lots of it in the spring - eat it fresh - freeze some - can some - delicious. The farmer's Market usually has some so maybe if Duane makes a Market run, he will bring me some. Glad to hear the garden is off and running. :)

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  10. I've just begun looking at your blog (Great skills you have!) and I read about this...how vulnerable you are to your neighbors! YIKES!!

    Great dog alarm!

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    1. Barbar Cat...Thank you. The skills come from being raised by Depression Era parents who knew hard times and also knew what to do to get through them. I have been looking at your blog for quite some time now, and always enjoy it.

      Apartment living has both good and bad situations. The good part is when the toilet breaks, I just call the landlord and tell him his toilet is broken and it is fixed costing me neither time nor money. I don't have to shovel snow or fix the roof or do any other maintenance. The bad part is that occasionally I have to put up with less than desirable neighbors. It is much better than when I moved here 21 years ago and I truly hope that this fellow next door will look for lodgings elsewhere. :)

      If my neighbor moves, I will miss his dog. Cooper is a large dog of questionable heritage who has a bark to match his size. He only barks when he senses trouble. Otherwise, he is a real sweetie.

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  11. That jerk needs to go. He's a danger to himself and his dog, but even worse, he's a danger to everyone in the building. If he burns you all out, he isn't going to pony up to replace your possessions, so I'd say "hit the road."

    M and I get arthritis problems too. We just saw some new Tylenol pills for arthritis in a pharmacy. They are eight hour pills, you only take one instead of the two I take twice a day now.

    Maybe Cooper is tired of that guys antics and will move in with you!

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    1. Harry...We are working on it. It is unfortunate that there seems to be a whole legal process to go through to have someone evicted. It is up to the landlord now as to whether or not he wants to go through the hassle of court appearances and the expense of doing so.

      If I were physically capable of caring for a dog like Cooper, I would take him in a heartbeat. He is just cool, Cooper is.

      I usually take aspirin daily for the arthritis. Whenever I have a flare-up like I have going on this week, I go with Aleve. If the Tylenol works for you two, please let me know. I have had arthritis since age 15, but it has just been this last couple of years that it is kicking my bum. This old age thing just ain't for the faint of heart!!

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