Friday arrived fast

In my quest to reduce my sugar intake I purchased some sugar free syrup. I tried it on my french toast for dinner last night. I compared the label to my normal syrup. Old syrup was 15 g of sugar for 2 TBSP and 100 calories. Sugar free syrup was 2 g of sugar (no added sugar) and 5 calories. It wasn't as thick of syrup, but tasted fine to me. I don't eat pancakes or french toast often, but of course need syrup when I do, LOL. For my morning coffee I have come to the conclusion of using monkfruit instead of sugar and sugar free french vanilla creamer. That's the best I can do, haha. I tried heavy cream, but it just didn't make my coffee taste very good to me and I couldn't seem to get used to the taste. I only drink one cup a day, so that is my splurge.

There is still nothing going on with the lots next door. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out, in the end, with this couple. I check the listing for their out of state/main home for sale every so often and still not sold, after over a year on the market.

Ok, I'm going to give Albertson's grocery pick up one more try and just try to do my full order with them. I do like how you can pick the time, but then pretty much have all day to get it picked up. If this works, then that lets me not have to be so structured with my time at mom's. If I need to stay longer, I can. I'm going to do it Sunday...maybe a little less busy there than on a Saturday...who knows.

The cat is making a little big of progress at bedtime, LOL. If I lay the throw blanket down next to me when I go to bed, he will jump up and curl up (like he does for naps with me) and sleep for about an hour or hour and a half before he wants to go back (and by that I mean ME take him upstairs!) upstairs for the night. Of course I'm asleep by the time he wakes me up an hour or so later, but that's ok. I go right back to sleep. 

Dh ordered some nice "Private Road No Outlet" street signs to put on each side of the entrance to our private street, as you enter. Hoping this may cut down on some of the boat launch turn arounds. At least he did some looking online and found some less than half the price of the first place he looked online, a couple months ago. They are arriving today. Maybe the other neighbors will offer to chip in on them, but if not, they weren't too expensive. Shipping was what was costly - because the posts are heavy and long.

A long trying day

It's been long day dealing with a program issue at work since first thing this morning. I talked to one of the IT guys at the end of the work day yesterday and then he was working on the issue most all of the day today. I think I talked to him on the phone at least 4 times. Finally it is resolved (with only 90 minutes left of my word day) and the program is working correctly for me again.

After work yesterday dh and I drove into the city to pick up a large order at Walmart. I plan to go see my mom on Sunday and will stop at pick up another large order. This should have us fairly well "extra" stocked up. We've gradually had what I've stocked up on eaten up and I haven't been really good this past couple of months of replacing. In fact, my last 2 shopping trips were smaller orders and just enough to eat in between trips, plus we've had guests almost 2 weeks of the past 4 and ate out a lot, so I didn't buy much food. It was time to get serious of having several months worth of food again, or at least 2 months worth for some food/supplies, more for others. I'm kind of tempted to maybe try doing a pick up order from Albertsons....I tried that one time a year or so ago, when they first started offering it, and like an hour or two before I was supposed to pick up the order they canceled it on me, saying they were short on staff. I'm wondering if it's better now. Might be worth a try with just a smaller type of order, that way if they cancel on me again, it won't be much of a big inconvenience.

Supposedly Pottery Barn has finally shipped the desk......but it's in the mysterious in between their distribution center and the final shipping carrier stage. I logged in yesterday and it said your order has arrived at the local carrier and ready to schedule a delivery appointment. I called PB and they connected me to the local carrier, who says no, they have not received it yet (shipped like 3 weeks ago now). If this thing ever shows up I'll be amazed. It's only been 6 months now.

Walmart ended up substituting me white bread for the wheat bread and I guess they don't let you decline substitutions when they bring the groceries out anymore. Or at least that's what the kid told me, he said I'd have to go inside to customer service. It used to be every time I ordered it saved my preferences for no subs, but I guess it's not doing that anymore either.  So, I guess we'll be eating some white bread for awhile and I'll be freezing some. I'm going to use some tonight and make french toast for dinner. And I'll try again for getting the honey wheat bread we normally eat on the next shopping trip.

You say tomato, I say tomato

Yesterday was payroll processing day. The only real issue I had was that my boss was in meetings most of the day, so she was hard to pin down when I had some questions and then she always reviews the payroll register before I submit it. Just for an extra set of eyes to make sure it looks right. Later afternoon she appeared to be done with her meetings and was emailing about this and that but not replying about approving payroll! Finally, with about 45 minutes left in the day I pinged her in message and asked. She got busy and forgot about me, LOL. 

My mom called right around 4:30, when I was logging out of work, and was confused about something she got in the mail from the company she used to have her retirement account with. Sounds like some kind of confirmation (probably for closing the account, when we moved it to the new one). She had no clue anymore who this company is or what it was for. Again, it was one of those conversations where only a word or two is actually making sense. When her confusion gets bad she can't think of the words to use and the ones she does are just partial sentences and make no sense. She said she didn't mean to call me, was trying to call this guy to stop this. I said stop what? Then she tries to tell me about this "confirmation" and she needs to call and stop it and some other stuff that made no sense. I just said to her several times, that is a letter from your retirement account, there is no one you need to call. Your investment guy has taken care of everything. I was afraid she had tried to call a ph#. She said something about "well, what if I write a check?" I said if you call someone they are just going to be confused what you are talking about. I think I convinced her it was all ok. Then it was time for her to go down for dinner, so I was hoping she'd get back and forget about it and she seemed to do that. I also looked on her telephone call log online and she didn't call anyone, thankfully. I have her set up (with the old and new investment company) for electronic statements and such, but there is still some they mail and it wasn't worth going through the old company, when we decided to switch, to get them to change to my address. And more than likely this could easily just be a piece of mail she dug out of her filing cabinet and thinks it's new.

DH is still (trying) to post his funny stories in this Facebook group page related to our car. As usual there is always at least one Karen. This post was related to us going go the bison range and  using the car in "trail mode" and how awesome it worked and he shared a few pics of the buffalo......only this guy had to make sure dh knew they aren't called buffalo in North America, they are bison. DH was super nice in his reply, LOL. 

My half sister lives on a LITERAL buffalo/bison ranch. They raise them and have a huge herd. I texted her....so...deferring to the expert here...are they called bison or buffalo? She said well, the "proper" term is bison, but we call them buffalo. HA! I'll call them what the expert calls them, LOL. 

Here is one of her pictures....what they called buffalo twins.

Her dog with the herd. This stray dog showed up in their field about a year ago and won't leave the buffalo herd. He takes his job very seriously and she said their butcher saves meat scraps and bones and that's what he eats instead of dog kibble. She named him Tatonka.

 

Flu shot

I had gotten up a little early yesterday and started work almost half hour early. Later I took my shower and decided it was time to cut my hair, LOL. It doesn't take long. I figured at a minimum I'll get the length cut off and then if I have time I'll work in some layers, which I ended up doing. It was getting so long. I cut off at least 3 inches, probably closer to 4. Getting a little bit of layers in is the harder part and I tend to do that slowly. I'll probably do some more on it today after I shower and it's wet again. Mostly I really hate that as my hair turned all white over the years it got really curly, LOL. Curly and frizzy and nothing seems to tame the frizz once it's dry, so I just end up putting it back in a pony tail most of the time and don't really care how long it gets.

I let the cat out this morning, so it's quiet now, haha. Boy he was mad last night around 7:30! Dh and I were laughing. He was walking around the whole house meowing as loud as he could. Then he'd go upstairs and run as fast as he could across the loft and down the hall and back. Then stomp down the stairs. Finally he jumped up in my lap and took a nap, haha.

Mom was dressed by 7am and went down for breakfast just before 8, but she must have ate fast because she was back at 8:30. She never gets back that early. Usually it's always 8:50 or 8:55.  I'm going to wait one more week, until the month ends, and then tell her caregiver I need a billing. If she hasn't done a billing through the end of Sept by next week, I'm going to insist I need it, LOL. I wonder if she's on vacation. A few weeks ago I saw her training the new gal, so it's her other gal and this new one who I'm seeing on the camera every day. I don't think I've seen the main caregiver for at least a week now, on the camera. It still baffles my mind - how does she pay these 2 ladies if she doesn't do her billing for clients??

My uncle called yesterday afternoon, said he was just making sure his phone was working because he was having problems with it or his cell provider (t-mobile). I said yep, it worked, haha. We each said we were doing fine and hung up (he doesn't like to talk long). But I was thinking to myself this is a guy with lots of friends (and local to him), why wouldn't he just quickly dial up one of them? LOL.  

I guess this morning is flu shot day at mom's place and she needs her insurance card. I told her I have that, but they should have a copy on file...for all the other flu and covid shots she got, but have them call me if they don't. 2 more calls from mom and she then wants me to just give her the info so she can write it down and take downstairs. 3 repeats later she has it written down. Then she calls again and I just say I will call the office right now and give them the info, so I called and the office lady gave me her email and I quickly scanned the card and emailed it to her. Should be good now, I hope. I'm just glad the wallet and card wasn't still at mom's - who knows where it would have been! The reason I took it was because she was constantly taking her insurance and ID card out of her wallet and hiding some place else, and then hid the wallet and purse someplace else....this was much easier to deal with, having it here with me. I should have just told her, the first call though, that I'd call the office and take care of it right then.

Ok, I'm finally jumping in the shower this morning!

Moody Monday

Somehow I managed to do pretty much nothing yesterday. DH did go out and spread some crab grass killer and also some other weed type killer. I did hear from our friend who visited, to let me know she was back home. She got home like 1:30 am Thursday morning, slept, and then got up and drove like 4 hours to spend the rest of the week/end with a friend and she drove back home yesterday. She likes to do scrapbooking and said she and her friend spent one day shopping at a scrapbook place, so now she needs to get all the pictures she took here printed out, so she can put them in a scrapbook of her trip.

DD said their new freezer for their garage is being delivered Thursday, so they are really excited about that and being able to get stocked up and have more on hand. They spent the prior weekend cleaning out their garage. She put a few things on Marketplace for like $20 each and made $60. She said she likes doing in $20 increments so then there is not usually change to be made, haha. They are supposed to close on their property on Oct 15th. They did get to meet and talk with the neighbor they will be sharing a driveway and well with and said they seemed really nice. Sounds like they are our age. 

I talked to my mom yesterday morning and she seemed good. Just before I called I checked the camera to make sure she was there and she was at her door talking to someone. I guessed it was a maintenance guy but couldn't really figure out what they were saying and he left. When I called she said something about they were "re doing her apartment". She wasn't quite sure what was going on. First she thought maybe they were replacing the carpet, then she thought maybe cleaning. Then she mentioned something about painting the walls. Well, I had left the motion detection on and when she went down for lunch at noon, a couple guys came in and quickly steam cleaned her carpet. Or at least that's kind of what it looked like they were doing, but not sure how clean it could get going that fast, LOL. But at least she kind of knew something like that was going on.

This morning she seems a bit out of it. She was up and dressed around 7:30. I can't tell if one of the caregivers stopped to see if she was up. Sometimes with the camera on and already detecting movement and her moving around, it waits like 30 seconds to capture the next clip, so it's likely they popped in the door and I didn't catch it. But then around 8:10 I see her sitting at her table eating something. Not breakfast, just some snack she probably had in her fridge. Then just before 8:30 they must have realized she didn't come down so the caregiver came in and suggested she get down and grab some breakfast while there was still time, so she did. It looks like she slept all night, only getting up once to use the bathroom. Now it's 9:30am and I see she's taking a nap in her recliner. Some days seem to be like that, she takes naps and other days (most days) she's busy and barely sits. 

The cat is throwing an absolute fit this morning because we won't let him out this morning, since dh just did the weed spraying outside yesterday. One more day to wait it out LOL. He has not stopped meowing and wrecking havoc in 2 hours, haha. 

I'm kind of waiting to see what is going on with the lots next to us before I spend a bunch of money on the bamboo blinds to replace the cafe curtains in our master bathroom. The cafe curtains have been perfectly fine the past 3+ years and the only reason to replace with more privacy type blinds is because they would be on the property doing construction and eventually living. But, I'm going to wait a bit longer before I order. Even if they are still building, with not much longer in the season to do land clearing (fall is a short season here - we pretty much jump from summer to winter) even if they do keep moving forward, if they don't get out here soon to work on the moving earth part, they are going to have to wait until next spring, so I might as well wait, too. No one is going to be out on the property when there's 2 feet of snow, LOL. But for now we are getting some nice fall weather, so kind of strange the guy isn't out here taking advantage of that to get some work done.

Sunday morning coffee chat

I ended up doing a little more around the house than I planned, so that was good. I got the downstairs vacuumed and dusted everything. Watered my 3 inside plants (all the others are fake, haha) DH mowed. It took him a little longer than usual, since it had been a week since he did it and it was longer than normal. Plus he stopped and chatted with Mr Neighbor.

Dh got a little of the reason Mr went over to pick up Mrs early from her 2 week visit, after only being there 5 days. Well, not really sure if that's the reason, but since being home they are both sick with bad colds. They said that DIL - who is a stay at home mom......sends the kids to daycare! and the kids were sick with colds. What in the world?!! But that pretty much tells you all you need to know about them, eh? A SAHM sending her kids to daycare. They were also telling dh that this new property, with a cabin, that son and his wife bought isn't going quite as well as they planned. They share a driveway with the neighbor. The neighbor uses their cabin, but also rents it out as an airbnb when they aren't using it. This is son's plan with their cabin, too. Though they want to tear it down and build another one. So, they were at the cabin while Mrs was visiting and apparently the neighbors told them they can't use the driveway...then their boys were playing with the neighbors kids outside and the neighbors had their kids come inside. This couple is Asian...if that really makes a difference, but son seemed to think so. He said to the neighbors, "don't you want the kids to get along with each other?" They said nope! LOL. 

This is what dh figured actually happened. Son, wife, 4 little loud wild boys, and 2 barking dogs showed up and proceeded to do what they do everywhere - no boundaries and just play and let their dogs go wherever. Neighbors didn't like it and most likely told them to stay out of the driveway that is shared, so they don't have to deal with them while they are trying to drive in and out. Dh said he was just laughing inside to hear all this - so it's not just here they are rude and we're not the only one's that don't want them playing in front of our house, haha. Anyway Mr. is really glad to finally have his pickup back after all these months. 

Mr said he saw elk poop in his yard. Dh said we saw some while walking down our game trail to the river the other day. Then last night dh was looking at his game camera pictures from out front and Friday night there were elk right out at the corner of our fence on Mr.'s property. They are so big. I guess they are going to ignore the no trespassing signs when they are on the other side of our property, LOL.

DH was done mowing and getting his stuff cleaned off and put away and I walked down to get the mail. As I'm walking by the front part of the lawn I'm like this doesn't look like he mowed it! It only has a mowed strip around the edge where he uses his walk behind. I get back and say "what's up with the front lawn? did you not mow it for a reason?" He's like oh! I guess I forgot to do that part! So, he got the riding mower back out of the shed, haha. 

I watched a couple episodes of a show last evening. I'm only on season 2 of 7, so still lots left to watch. I'm still tired, a bit, so I went to bed at 9. I also have an audio book I've been listening too. Usually for a little bit when I go to bed. I usually make it 15-20 minutes before I'm falling asleep. 

Things that continue to be a mystery: it's been over 3 months and my mom's caregiver still hasn't billed me. Still nothing going on the lots next door. Previous to all this the guy was coming out a couple times a week to just drive in and turn around and leave, just to make sure his property was still there, I guess. He hasn't done that and hasn't been back since he had his equipment out here 10 days ago. Mr & Mrs haven't heard anything new on him either, as they asked dh if he's seen him out here again.

Short and sweet

Friday I kept really busy all day with work getting caught up on bank statement reconciliations. Before I knew it the day was done. Dh didn't do too much yesterday. The lawn was still a bit too wet from all the rain on Thursday all day, to mow, so he will do that today. He did decide it's time to replace our flags on the flag pole, as they are getting worn from wind and weather. I just ordered them from the same place we got the flag pole and first US flag. 

This morning I'm going to strip the guest bed and wash the linens today. I need to throw out the flowers from the bouquet I bought last Saturday. They are done, LOL. I need to organize kitty's food and get it poured into a plastic container I bought, that came in the mail yesterday. My plans this afternoon are for a nap!

DD and I didn't chat much this week. I was busy thru Wednesday with our friend and she was busy back at the office Tues-Fri and she was tired by the end of the week. She said she got home from work yesterday afternoon and crashed on the couch. I told her it will probably take her a couple of weeks to adjust to the new early morning schedule and being back at the office. 

Still nothing going on at the lots next door. The guy is probably too busy figuring out who in the area died this past week and snagging up their properties, LOL. I'm sure he'll be back at some point soon.

Guest visit wrap up

Last Saturday morning I ran into town to get a few grocery items and was driving past the small Saturday market and saw a table with flower bouquets, so on my way back I pulled over and bought a pretty arrangement in a cute jar and put it in the guest bedroom.

Tuesday we did the drive through the bison and wildlife range. This time we got to see a lot of bison. Even one walking down the road right past us, haha! I was like "oh please don't scratch my car with your horns!" haha. We saw lots of deer, antelope and a herd of elk. No bears this time, but dang, everyone else was seeing them! The lady at the visitor center said they were being spotted daily recently and she said one guy said he got stuck in the bathroom at the top of the drive for 45 minutes the other day because when he went to come out a bear was outside. We just missed them, I guess. A mom and a cub. It was nice to sit and ride in the car for it, since we were all worn out from the hike the day before. We were laughing because at the restaurant the day before, friend asked for sweet tea for her drink and they didn't have it. That is not a common drink up north, haha. Later that evening dh was texting our friend who did our mason/stone work on the house. He is from South Carolina and loves his sweet tea, too. Dh said where do you get a good glass of sweet tea around here? haha. After seeing the bison we stopped at a little cafe he told us about and friend said it was good sweet tea. I had a glass, too. It was good. But honestly, I didn't see the difference from it vs ordering an ice tea and dumping some sugar in it, LOL. 

DH and I were kind of hesitant to do this touristy thing again, since we just did it a few weeks ago, but glad we did. Plus with the hazy smokey skies cleared you could see wonderful views of the surrounding mountains during the drive. Friend took lots of pictures and she kept the parking pass you hang on your rear view mirror to put in her travel scrapbook. When we went a few weeks ago we went in friends pickup. We were in our car this time and going back down the drive is really steep. DH got to try out the "trail mode" in the car and was really impressed with it. He didn't have to use the brakes one time. When we did the drive several years ago in my previous car you have the brakes on the whole way down pretty much and the brakes were getting hot.

Friend was leaving Wednesday and we needed to have her to the airport about 5:15pm. We left our house about 2pm. When we were in the city Monday she noticed a sign for Famous Dave's restaurant and said that was her and her dh's favorite restaurant to eat at when they would travel to an area in their state. So, we went and had a late lunch/early dinner there before taking her to the airport. It was really good. We will probably go there again some time.

We got back home about 5:45 and were both pretty tired. At least I didn't need to make dinner. I was in bed before 9pm haha. Friend only had 25 minutes to make her connecting flight but the flight was on time and her gates were in the same area so she had no problems and now is back home. She's from Missouri - about 2 hours from St. Louis. She pronounces "Saint" so funny to us! She pronounces it "Sant" (like sand, but with a "t") Does everyone from that area say it like that?! LOL.

I'm tired. 5 days of busy-ness, 4 nights of being up late....and no naps! LOL. I think I should have taken at least Thursday off work to recoup, but I didn't. I didn't want to do that to my boss on such short notice, since she has to cover for some of my work when I am gone. 

We have no idea what the guy with the lots next to us is doing. He showed up last Friday, piddled around an hour or so with his excavator, loaded it up and left and hasn't been back since. Very strange. I mean all the clearing he will need to do, to cut in a driveway onto his property and clear for a building site and well, etc, is going to take a bit of time with the size of equipment he has. Why come out one day and not come back? I said to dh, maybe he hasn't needed to use this mini excavator for awhile and something wasn't working right on it so he loaded it up and is now getting it fixed....hard to say. But at least it's been quiet around here.

I sent for some window blind samples of wooden blinds and I'm glad I did. The colors look different in person than on the computer and I ended up picking out a sample I probably wouldn't have online. The colors go good with my wood trim. They are 30% off and still not cheap, but with neighbors eventually on that side and never knowing when they will be at the property now, we need something with more privacy than the cafe curtains. I wouldn't have to do my front window in the bathroom, but I'd want both windows to match. That front window is the bigger one, too. 

Kitty finally got to go outside again this morning. With the bear and the coyote spottings the week before and then with friend here, he hasn't been let out. I don't like letting him out and then us leaving for the day and leaving him outside all day while we are gone. So, we just didn't let him go out.

First couple of days of friend's visit

We had a great time with our friend who visited. Luckily the weather turned out great and the fire smoke cleared out of the air. She got in at 11pm on Saturday and we got back to our house about 11:45. I think we all sat up and talked until almost 2am. We kept busy every day. Sunday afternoon we drove out to this historical forest service site and walked around. We hadn't been there before. It wasn't anything too exciting. Then we went and had an early dinner at a nearby restaurant. 

Monday we got up and took a drive up logging roads to a trail head. It was almost an hour drive just getting up there. We assured her we would take our time with the hike and if we can do it, she can too, haha. You start out at one small mountain lake and hike up a mile to another one. The one time dh and I had done this hike was over 5 years ago and it was June and the hike was still pretty much covered in snow, so it looked a lot different than now - where there's an actual trail to follow, rather than someone else's foot prints in the snow - haha!

This is one of my favorite places and I have been wanting to go back. The first lake is just on a little trail past the trees from where you park. See that cliff over past the trees? The other lake is up there, at the base of the cliff.

 So, we headed up the trail.

When you get about 2/3 of the way up you can look back down over the lower lake. Then you get through the heavy trees and walk out to this amazing view

It's breathtaking and couldn't be more peaceful and not another human around. There is a big flat rock and we sat on that and ate the lunch we brought and just enjoyed the view for quite awhile and took lots of pictures. The hike down much easier, of course, LOL. I have to say I was surprised that I didn't find this 2 mile hike too challenging. I didn't get as out of breath as I used to, and it's been a long time since we hiked anything. But, I have been trying to walk more this year and maybe those vitamins I've been taking for a few months have helped my health some. Of course we were all very tired but a good happy tired. We got back to our house in the afternoon and decided to go out to eat but the nearby restaurant isn't open on Mondays, so we drove into the city and went to that nice steakhouse we took our friends to a few weeks ago. Then we drove around a bit and showed her the city before it started getting dark and we headed home. Another late evening sitting around visiting. Though I think finally at 11:30 I said I am going to bed!

That is the hardest part for me, I think to have guests, is staying up later than I normally do. It just quickly wears me down. I am usually in bed by 9:30, sometimes 9pm and no matter what time I go to bed, my internal alarm clock wakes me up around 7am, so it's not like I can sleep in to make up for going to bed later. Apparently I am the only person (other than Mr. Neighbor, haha) who goes to bed early and it would be rude to go off to bed so early, but it's so hard for me to stay up late. I can do it ok one night, but not 4 in a row. I don't know how Mr. Neighbor does it when they have house guests. He goes to bed at 6:30 or 7pm and always gets up at 3:30am. 

I will write more tomorrow. This morning is back to work and already dealing with something. There was a change made that no one thought to ask how it was going to affect my job process, so now I am dealing with that, telling my boss, umm, no...that is not going to work! Plus, it's just totally stupid that it needed to be changed (it wasn't her who wanted it changed, it was another department).

Have some Lucky Charms

Have you seen this new report from the White House's new Nutrition advisor?!  I'm just looking at it shaking my head. Lucky Charms and Almond M&M's are healthier than an egg or ground beef. Frosted Mini Wheats are 3rd in the healthy stuff. OMG! 

Good lord. All I can say is do your own research into sugars and processed foods and how they affect your body. I recommend reading "Genius Foods" by Max Lugavere. While I am by no means a super healthy eater, even I know this chart is ridiculous and I know I shouldn't be eating sugars and processed food as much as I do. Watermelon better than chicken? In what world? Watermelon is mostly water and sugars, with a little fiber. A serving of chicken is 31 grams of protein and 80% of the calories in chicken breast are from the proteins vs fat.

Excuse me while I go fry my whole egg in butter for breakfast, instead of Lucky Charms. Wonder how much the taxpayers spent funding this crap.

The new neighbor guy showed up at 1:30 yesterday afternoon pulling his trailer with his mini excavator on it. He had to use lot 6 and 7's properties to get himself turn around on our street. Because, you know, those no trespassing on property signs only apply to others and his property. He literally excavated for less than 2 hours and then left, after loading up the equipment to take with him. He spent more time loading and unloading the excavator then he did working (which he got pretty much nothing done). Not sure what the point of it all was but he's not back yet this morning.

Today will be a house cleaning day and getting ready for our guest. DH mowed (I originally typo'd "moved" LOL....yikes, haha) on Thursday, but he thinks he's going to do a quick buzz with the riding mower this afternoon, since he won't get a chance to mow again until next Thursday. I'm also going to at least make some peanut butter cookies, maybe might also make a cake. We'll see how ambitious I get. Might just use the ice cream for root beer floats instead of cake.

Brains, wildlife and visits

As my mom's brain sadly shrinks and gets smaller I can also just see her world getting smaller and smaller, as time goes by. If she is not at meals or activities (which, thank goodness, all that keeps her pretty busy) she is sitting in her recliner just looking over and over at her activity schedule. It's always printed in colorful ink on a very large piece of paper. She also will sometimes look at a couple of other papers she might pick up from their "information table", but most often, when I check in on her via the camera, if she is there, she is just sitting in her chair looking at the activity schedule. She looks at the schedule, looks over at her clock/calendar, looks at the schedule and just repeats over and over. She can often sit there for a half hour or more just doing that. Or she will set the schedule paper down on the table next to her and then instantly pick it up and start over again. It's sad. I haven't seen her turn her tv on in a couple of weeks, even, but finally she did watch some last evening after dinner. It's just that schedule over and over.

Thankfully she spends 3+ hours a day downstairs for the 3 meals, as well as an activity or two during the day, but if she is at her apartment (and not asleep in her recliner or not in bed for the night) she is sitting there looking at that schedule. It's like it's become her whole little world. Even when I was there visiting with her last weekend, she picked it up and started looking at it. At least I was able to divert her attention away from it and she was able to go back to visiting with me. When I will check in with her on the camera and she is there doing that,  it's like watching an obsession. But, I guess that is much better than her trying to find her purse or wallet or worrying about her money type of things, where she gets agitated.

This week has gone by fast and tomorrow night our friend arrives for her visit. She's going to have a long travel day tomorrow with an almost 3 hour layover in SLC. Her flight doesn't arrive until 11pm. I'm going to have to take a nap after dinner. LOL. Way past my bedtime, haha. The weather hasn't been very good this week, but so far it looks like it won't be too bad while she's here, but it changes all the time, so it is what it is.

I don't need too much from the grocery store, since we stocked up last Saturday, but I will run into town tomorrow and get a few things. Walmart shorted me lunch meat, so I need more of that. I need a donut, LOL. 

DH saw a small coyote run through our front yard yesterday around noon. The cat is just staying in awhile, whether he meows about it or not. Dh had been at the fence chatting with Mr about an hour or so before that and they had heard some coyote yipping coming from the other side of Mr's place.

Mrs flew out Tuesday to spend 2 weeks with son and his family....then Mr was supposed to drive son's vehicle (that's he's had for months now, because son wanted to borrow Mr.'s truck) over in 2 weeks to pick up Mrs and get his truck back. Now he's driving over there tomorrow to get Mrs. He didn't say why, just that "plans for more time there went belly up". I told dh I love my dd to bits, but I wouldn't want to stay 2 weeks away from my home at her house, LOL. I like my own routine and bed too much.

It was funny coincidence yesterday. It was almost the end of my work day. I had just been thinking of my uncle and that I hadn't talked with him in awhile. A few minutes later my phone rings and it's him. He said he accidentally dialed me, but then didn't want to hang up haha. I said I was literally just thinking of calling you to check in! So we chatted a quick minute and said goodbye. He doesn't really like to talk much on the phone either. Must run in the family haha.

good news bad news

Well, bummer news - the guy with the lots next to us emailed Mr and told him he will probably be out to his property on Friday starting to do some clearing. I guess they are at some point going to have to be our neighbors.

On good news, dd and her dh accepted the counteroffer on the property and are on their way to owning 5 acres and eventually building a house. We are so excited for them. Apparently SIL's parents, not as much, and had to put in their normal negativity and criticism. Like for example his dad thought the price was too steep...."so find out what they originally paid for the property".....dd was like what in the world difference does that make? They could have bought it in 1960 for $40k. Makes absolutely no difference in what the market is now. Like I told her in just 2 or so years properties and houses here were we live have doubled in price.

Unbeknownst to me, at the same time her dh was getting the negativity from his parents, I was messaging dd that I'm so happy and excited for them! Dh was sending dancing minions in our group chat. The next day she sent me a sweet message that if she hasn't told me lately, she is so lucky to have a mom who supports her and encourages her. Dh also gave them some good advice about the well and septic and what to look for/expect.

After returning that poor quality floor lamp to Target, that I had purchased with a $50 gift card, I ended up with a $50 gift card again. I decided to just purchase some household and pantry staples online to be delivered. A bit of a stock up. I was getting low on tissues. I usually always buy the square boxes because they don't take up as much room and in my bedroom I had a tissue holder that size. Well, in online shopping I realized there is a huge price difference between the square boxes and the long boxes! A four pack of square boxes, with 240 tissues is $6.19. A four pack of the long boxes with 480 tissues is $6.79. I bought the long boxes. I have a couple square boxes left and a couple in other rooms. I'll swap those out for the long boxes and save the square boxes for my bedroom holder. I never realized what a price difference that size was. I also buy a big box of Walmart kitchen garbage bags. Target up and up brand is much cheaper! .09 per bag, compared to Walmart's 16.5 per bag. I also checked Amazon and their brand is .12 per bag. So, I'll have to remember Target is where I want to get these from now on. I also purchased a 2 pack of 40oz jars of Jif peanut butter. We had a 2 pack that wasn't part of the recall, so that has lasted us a long time, but when I get to the last jar I like to order another 2 pack and Jif has not been available for a long time since the recall. Finally it is back in stores. I tried a small jar of Skippy to see if I like it - it's ok, but Jif is one of the few things I am brand loyal to. I also got a jar of grape jam and 3 boxes of blueberry muffin mix.

 

 

 

 

 

More neighborhood excitement

Had some excitement in the neighborhood yesterday - and no, it wasn't from the guy who bought the lots next to us, LOL. It was this guy visiting our neighbors house yesterday afternoon. He was loving her garden and strawberry plants.

 

 

Our neighbor said he tried to scare it off by shooting a 22 (not at the bear, just in the air to scare him) but it didn't faze him one bit. Our UPS guy showed up later and dh was telling him and he said he's seen 3 bears on his drive recently and showed dh pictures. There is also been seen a bear right in town. This is unusual for here, they don't usually come down from the mountains much and to have this many being seen is also very unusual. Someone said the berries up in the mountains are scarce so they are coming down to look for food.

 

Kitty was already indoors and he is staying inside while the sightings are still going on. 

I had my quarterly phone chat with mom's investment guy. He seems a bit optimistic that the market is going to start going up. He also said signs are pointing that we will start seeing the inflation go back down in about 6 months. He said this is from a combination of the supply chain getting back towards normal levels and the interest rates being increased by the fed. While this year's stock market has gone down, he said in the past 3 months mom's has at least rebounded over 8%.  Mom has about 25 to 30% of her investments just sitting there in cash, not really doing anything at all. He said with the recent stock market crash a few days ago he anticipates the feds increasing the interest rate another 3/4% next week. He wants to wait until that happens and then transfer about half that cash into a good interest earning CD.

DD and her dh have just put an offer on 5 acres of land near where they live. The land has been on the market about 4 months and their realtor had them offer a bit less than asking and also contingent on a "feasability study and well inspection". The well is shared with another property owner. I'm so excited for them and hope it all works out. It's a beautiful wooded 5 acres and would give them the privacy they want and enough room to build an house and a shop. They should hear back today if their offer was accepted.

Stupidity

It's been a bit crazy with my doctors office and my 2 prescriptions I am on. I called last week to make my annual wellness appointment (usually you can get an appt within a few weeks) and was told the earliest I could get a wellness appointment was March 2nd! 6 months! I asked if there was another provider who could see me earlier and was told they like to keep patients with the same doctor. If I had an issue going on they can get me in earlier. I said no issue, but I do have 2 prescriptions I need to get refilled now and she said to have my pharmacy put in the request.

So, I log into my mail order pharmacy through my insurance, and put in the request. I get an email back saying they received my request and are now waiting to hear back from my doctor's office to confirm the refills. Then the next day I get another email saying they are still waiting on information from my doctors office. Then Friday I get this recorded call from CVS pharmacy in the city, saying they've received my prescription order but are unable to fill it until 90 days from now. What? Ok it sounds like the refill somehow got sent there, but why 90 days wait? I sent a message to the doctor office through Mychart and said Express Scripts should have contacted them for a refill, but CVS has it too, but not to fill until November? The nurse quickly replied back she made a mistake and now has sent it to Express Scripts. 

Then yesterday morning I get an email from Express Scripts saying they've received my prescription orders, but can't fill until November. What in the world? So, I get on the phone with Express Scripts and have to say "customer service" about 20 times before they finally connect me to a live person. He was super nice and said it sounds like insurance is holding up letting them process because CVS got to the prescriptions first, even though they are saying 90 days out too. He said to call them and get them to cancel the orders in their system and that should let theirs go through now. I asked him if there was an easier way to get to a live person than saying "customer service" 20 times. He laughed and said try saying "representative". So, I call CVS and the lady tells me they have a pending order for release in November. I finally get her to delete it out of their system. I said it's apparently holding up my current prescription with Express scripts somehow and needs to be deleted. I'm not going to be filling it with your pharmacy, so there's no reason for you to have it pending (and then mess me up again in 90 days). I then call back Express Scripts and listen through the very end of the greeting and found the instant way to get to a live person this time. I get a different lady who was hard to get to comprehend what is going on. She kept acting like we're waiting for info from your dr office. I said I now only have 2 1/2 weeks of pills left and need to get this figured out now. Not have it sit in your system another week and still not be resolved. After being on hold about 20 minutes they finally figured it out and now my prescriptions are being processed. What a headache.

Then I get online with Express Scripts this morning and they haven't shipped yet, but it's is in process but then I realized my doctors office only did one 90 day prescriptions. No refills. Ok....you make me wait 6 months to get in but don't refill my meds for at least 6 months? This is so stupid and I'm tired of it. I'm seriously considering finding a new pcp doctor office. I just sent a note back to my dr office saying you can't schedule my appt for 6 months, but only gave me 3 months of my prescription.....that's obviously not going to work. Great, I get to go through all of this again in 90 days.

Another Monday

I really do not know what to do about mom's caregiver and her not sending me a monthly bill! She has now been caring for her over 2 1/2 months. She told me she bills once a month. After it had been about 5 weeks I texted her and asked and she said she's been busy and hasn't done her billing yet. I asked her how she sends it, email? She said she can send it email, so I gave her my email address. This was near the end of July. Now it's mid September and still no billing. Early last week, I texted, asking again when she would be billing, as I wanted to make sure I haven't missed seeing it, somehow. No reply back at all. It's starting to really annoy me now! On the 20th it will have been 3 months of her providing services to my mom with no billing. I don't get it at all. I'm to the point I don't know what to say/do I keep asking? How does someone live without collecting their due income? She must not really need the money I guess. Plus, I'll bet some of her clients live on a tight monthly budget and then to suddenly get a bill for 3 months is probably hard for them. Just weird!

Dh and I are trying to figure out a couple of different tourist type activities we can do during friends visit that aren't the same we just did, LOL. He's come up with a few, so we should be good for the 3 days. One is a nice hike between 2 small lakes and the other 2 our little historical places to visit nearby.

The guy next door still has not brought his equipment out here to start clearing, though we did learn from our retired friend in town, who knows him, that he did bring his equipment over here from his other residence. Even our retired friend said ya, I told him he just needs to find 10 or 20 acres to build what he wants on. We said "exactly". Their out of state house for sale has been on the market a year now. It's obvious they aren't willing to drop their price to get it sold, so I'm wondering if that will end up delaying them starting to build - he already said to us that one day (before this all blew up) that he wanted to get started and since they haven't sold their house yet, he was going to do a loan to start building. That tells me he doesn't have the money to do anything unless he either sells this house or borrows. And not lowering your price after a year tells me they need this price out of that house in order to pay for what they want to do here. The price of homes has been taking a downturn and is expected to continue downward. Not to mention, if they can't find a builder who can start next summer, 2 years from now that cost to build is going to be even higher. Glad it's them and not me trying to deal with it now. While our building costs ended up being way more than our builder told us, at least we now have a 2.5% interest rate. The savings in interest (from our first interest rate) over the mortgage life will make up for the overages, at least. I sure would not want to be borrowing at today's mortgage interest rates, let alone construction loan rates are higher than mortgage rates. No thank you.

There is a brand new house built across the street from where we lived in town. Same size/similar style. They listed it 60 days ago for $434k - almost twice what we sold our home across the street (with all the landscaping and fence in AND a shop) in 2018. They  just dropped the price $35k. A sign of the times, for sure.

Well, today is payroll processing day so not much time to write. That's all I've got for now.

Weekend stuff and another guest

In order to sell something in this state with a title, you have to have it notarized. Thankfully dh remembered this when he was getting ready to list the quad for sale, so Friday morning we made a quick trip into the county courthouse in town to get our title signed and notarized before we sell it. Well, the dang vehicle licensing dept was closed for the day. I went into one of the other depts to ask if there was someone who could notarize and she said upstairs in the county attorney's office. Well, that's none other than the office of the guy who helped Mr. (and us) with our covenants issue, so we got to meet him and thank him for his help. Very very nice guy, but a talker, so we were there 3x as long as we planned, LOL. He said that the guy, who came into his office to complain about our letter, is a "bit intense". I think that was his polite way of saying the guy is an a-hole, haha. We thanked him again and he said "oh no problem - it was fun!" LOL. I guess if you are an attorney it is.

When we were outside with the guy who was buying our quad and chatting with him, my mom called my cell so I walked off to answer it. She says "where are you?" I'm like...um...I'm at home...standing outside....she pauses and then say "oh I thought you were on a trip". No...no trip. She said she thought we were but doesn't know where she got that idea. Me either, LOL. I don't know if I imagine it or not but seems like if I am out of town (which is rarely) or when we had our friends visiting, she will call me just about every day! Usually she doesn't call me. I have to call her. But, I swear, every time I go somewhere or am really busy, she starts calling....yet she has zero memory that I'm out of town or had guests here.

I did go see her yesterday morning for an hour visit. She seemed good, the same. Asked me 4 times in the first 3 minutes how the traffic was coming over to see her. Where we used to live traffic was always a problem/question, I guess. Here there is basically zero traffic, but it must just be something stuck in her head from all those years of dealing with it. Then as I was filling up her pills into the dispenser she kept saying "how much do I owe you?" I kept telling her they were already charged to her account. DH joked you should have just told her "$50" and then maybe she'd stop asking, haha. She did finally get the reimbursement from Verizon for them not closing her account when I called the first time and then charging another month. But they send it in a visa gift card. Dumb. Of course she's not going to be able to use that, so I just took it (I found it in her desk drawer as I had gotten an email from Verizon they mailed it). I just put it towards an Amazon gift card that I will use next amazon purchase and just transferred the $32 from my checking to hers. Just easier that way then trying to hold onto a gift card for her to try to spend $32.42 on.

Dh went with me yesterday and dropped me off at mom's while he went off to get our fall lawn fertilizer picked up at the feed co-op place. He ran another errand and by then I had been at mom's almost an hour and our Walmart order was ready to be picked up. Weather is now much cooler and it was much nicer sitting in mom's apartment and it not be 82 degrees inside, LOL. She cracked me up at one point. She was looking over the activity schedule and said something about they sometimes have people come in to entertain for them to make money, so she always gives them a little something. I just said oh that's really nice, but in my head I was like really? you don't even have any more money on you, haha. If I try to give her some money to have on hand she just hides it and loses it. She's also amassing quite a little collection of treats from the dining room in her fridge, LOL. I looked at the dates on them and they were fine (thankfully the kitchen staff puts a little date on them) so she is eating them quickly/regularly.

I ended up placing my Walmart pick up order for an hour earlier than I normally would have. Just not interested in waiting 90 minutes past the hour again. I set it for the 10-11am slot and planned on being there by 11 or shortly after and if it's late then I'm ok because I had really planned to pick up between 11-noon, haha. This time they had it ready by 10 and we got there right at 11am, so still within my hour window of pickup time. Then we stopped at the Wendy's drive thru for lunch and headed home. Dh got the fertilizer spread over the lawn and he talked with dd on the phone awhile. They are looking at 5 acres to buy and build a house. He was giving them advice on the well and septic situation, as well as the shared driveway the property has with a house behind the 5 acres.

And...here we go again with a houseguest, LOL. It's my long time friend, the one who's hubby of 30 years cheated on her (like 5 years ago now) with a younger woman with 3 kids and moved in with them. The one who would never divorce him and kept hoping he'd come back. Well, she's been trying to plan a visit here for the past couple of years. In 2020 it was Covid, then last year her estranged hubby died 3-4 weeks before she was planning to come, so she had to cancel and deal with all that (mentally, financially, etc). So, she's been talking about it all summer and I told her the only weekend we were busy was Labor Day. Then she messages me last night "how is the 17-21st?" I'm thinking this month, as in next week?? LOL. No, she must mean October, but I looked on calendar and she said Sat (travel day) thru Wed (travel day) and those dates match this month. haha! I said of course that will work out great and we'd love to have you. She has to do a layover in Salt Lake City, so she won't even get here until 11pm next Saturday. That part is ugh! But, we'll have Sun through most of Wednesday as she doesn't need to be to the airport until like 5pm Wednesday. DH laughed and said "we get to do all the same touristy stuff again, haha". 

At least she is healthy enough to do a little hike so we are going to go to these 2 lakes dh and I went to several years ago and I have been really wanting to go see it again...and do the hike up to the 2nd lake when I'm not trying to hike through June snow, LOL. When we were there it was June and the lake was still frozen over. I'd like to see not frozen, haha. It's a 1 mile hike up to the 2nd lake but not super steep. She'll love it. Not sure what else we will do, but probably the trip to see the bison again. Dang! I should have bough the year pass for $20 when we were there, LOL! I was like oh, I'll just pay the $10 for a day trip, we aren't coming back anytime soon. And as far as I know she is not a picky eater, so planning to make a couple dinners here at home will be much easier. To say this lady loves Christmas is an understatement. She's probably already started decorating her house, LOL. I'm thinking of getting out my little small flocked tree and setting it up in the guest room she will be in :)

Ready for winter

The hard top for this side by side is all metal and very heavy. Dh decided to ask young neighbor guy if he would help him set it on top, which he did, so that was good. There was no way I would have been able to help him do it. Dh got it all bolted down and the lights wires hooked up and now he just needs to buy a windshield wiper now and it's all done. It's ready to start plowing snow.

 

 

His old snow plow blade for the quad is about the size of one side of this one, haha. DH put the old quad snow plow up for sale on Marketplace yesterday and had it sold in a few hours. He had 10 people messaging him about it, so he just decided whoever actually says they are on their way first is first in line, LOL. The first person wanted him to deliver it about 2 1/2 hours away. Um....No. LOL. The second was a local lady but her hubby is out of town and she had to wait a few days until he's back. In the meantime all the others started messaging. One said she was waiting to hear back from her dad but she thought as soon as he got a hold of her he could come get it. Another said he could come in the morning. Dh said I won't be here in the morning, but if it's still available in the afternoon you can come and get it. Then another said he was working all weekend and couldn't come until Monday. DH said he wasn't going to hold it for anyone, so if the ad is still up Monday he can contact dh back if he wants. Then the one lady got a hold of her dad, who got directions and he was here about an hour and a half later.

 

Dh used that quad for plowing for 4 winters and we got  out of it what we've put into it, so can't complain.

 

The long weekend

Our visit with our friends staying here was fun, relaxing and exhausting at the same time, LOL. They are laid back, like us, which is relaxing, but we also kept pretty busy for 3 straight days. They arrived around 1pm on Thursday (only then to spend a good hour of us dealing with neighbor and then discussing it all after, haha). We just visited the rest of the afternoon and evening. I had gone into the town store that morning and got the stuff to make taco soup in the crockpot. I'm glad I didn't decide to go into the city and see mom and groceries, since they got here 1pm.  We just had the taco soup and corn bread for dinner. Our friend is so picky in what he will eat, so that does make it hard to know what to make. Like I had planned to make ham and cheese sliders for dinner one night, but then in conversation found out he hates mayo, and this has mayo on it. I've never met an adult as picky as him. He's a big guy, so he must find stuff to eat, haha. He had lost a lot of weight several years ago, but has gained a lot of it back. She's not a picky eater, but he hardly seems to like much of anything. 

Friday we headed into the city to go to the big 4 story antique mall. We all found stuff. I picked up an old wash board to hang in my laundry room and a duck decoy. Well, it's not a real wood one (like the others I have) but it's made of ceramic and looks like wood and was a decent price. Dh got 2 A&W rootbeer mugs and a set of leatherbound history type books and a picture he liked. There were 13 books at $5.50 each but I asked her what kind of deal she would make if we bough the whole set, so she said $60. Friend bought an old pan for panning for gold and a small trophy. OMG - he had that trophy in his hand and dh said what is that? He holds it out  and says "I won 2nd place in the hillclimb in 1965". We all just burst out laughing. I can't remember if his wife found anything there. Friend also bought an old fire extinguisher, which wife was able to talk down in price because that booth's seller happened to be there, LOL. We stopped at a restaurant on the way back for lunch and dinner was just leftover taco soup.

Saturday morning we headed out to do the drive through a park (like 18,000 acres) where bison are, as well as other wildlife. First we stopped at a large antique store on the way there. Wife friend found a few things she wanted. "yard decor". She bought an old wash ringer with a tub (for flowers) and a milk jug (also for flowers). She wanted to find some wagon wheels, but they didn't have much and the ones they had were $200 each. We then headed on up the wildlife drive. We went there several years ago with dd and sil and that's where we saw a bear, while trying to hike a little trail at the top of the park. This is a drive through experience, though at the top there is a trail you can do if you want before you drive back down. Well, we barely get started with the drive and see a bear! We got a good view from the pickup of the bear as it came out of some bushes and then ran across a grassy area. 

The buffalo were very scarce this visit, though. We saw 3, each by itself, and then a small herd just before we were done with the drive. On the way back we stopped at a restaurant for a late lunch. For dinner we just had sandwiches and friends wife had some more of the taco soup.

Sunday we took a drive up in the mountains on forest service/logging roads. We had planned to go tour this old mining camp that still has all the buildings there and is like a historical type thing, but when we got up there there was a sign that it was closed. It's still owned by local family and they had it closed for a "family memorial". So, we kept on driving up to a lake we had heard about. We're driving along and there in front of us as we rounded a corner was another bear. We didn't get to see him too long, he moved on fast. We got up to the lake area where there was a small campground and thankfully a bathroom to use. It was a trail to get to the lake, which we had no idea how far it was. Thinking oh it's probably just a short walk. We started and realized it was going to be a long hike going down to where we could now see a little bit of the lake thru the trees. Friends opted to stay behind. He's not in shape for that and she has back and hip issues, but since we had driven all the way up, dh wanted to see the lake. It ended up being like a 1/2 mile hike down. Very pretty lake. The hike back up was a bit hard and we hadn't brought any water with us, as we hadn't realized how far it was going to be. But we made it fine, with taking a few stops on the way up to catch our breath.

Not going to lie, it was a tiring hike back up haha and by the time we got back home around 3:30 we were tired and I was not interested in making dinner, LOL. We had just brought a bunch of snacks for the day and that was our lunch. We rested about an hour and then went to a nearby restaurant for dinner.

Monday we just decided to stay home and rest and hang out. We did end up deciding to go out to dinner again, but nothing nearby was open, so we drove into the city to try this steakhouse we had heard was good. It was very good. I opted for some chicken and pasta off of their lighter menu section, so I could have dessert. Yummy cheesecake with caramel sauce

Before they arrived friends wife had told me they were just going to bring some stuff for their breakfasts (since he's so picky) so I didn't have to worry about breakfast meals. They are kind of like us, just pretty much eat the same thing for breakfast daily. She has a bagel with cream cheese, he has a frozen waffle and some sausages heated in the microwave. We all just got up when we wanted and ate breakfast when we wanted. Easy. Friend mentioned a couple of times to me he likes coming to our house as it's very relaxing.

Sunday we were outside chatting with Mr and Mrs and their guests they had for the weekend. They asked our friends how long they were staying and she said until Tuesday. Oh! well, no one told me the change, LOL, so I texted my boss and told her I'll have to take Tuesday off, too. We had planned on following them in the morning about 90 minutes out, to this car museum and old prison, but dh was just too wiped out from the hike. It's always 2 days after he over exerts himself that he can barely move. So, we decided to stay home. Which turned out a good thing, because the delivery driver for the side by side's hard top and windshield called to deliver it that morning. So good thing we stayed home.

Me and the cat just took a 2 hour nap Tuesday afternoon and I'm just now feeling somewhat less tired. The hardest part for me with guests is staying up later than I usually go to bed, night after night. That wears me down quick, because I still automatically wake up at 7am, so as the days went on I just get more tired. It's good to be back to normal routine.

The conclusion (hopefully!)

Friday morning we wake up to another email from Mr. It was Mr. replying to the guy's latest email (early Friday morning) and cc'd the rest of us in his reply. This is the email he got from the guy:

Greetings Mr.

After our discussion with {my dh} (09/01/2022) we decided not to build shop/house in one.  I only have your email; therefore would you forward this email to the other members.  I’ll be sending a follow-up email after I get my thoughts together.

Thanks.

Ahhh! So it seems dh's talk with him did do some good. (I see we went from being a clan to members, LOL) We have never received a follow up email from the guy. But, Tuesday he apparently went back into the county atty's office and the atty called Mr & Mrs and told them he said they will be clearing some of the land and just build a house. They didn't say which lot but no big shop. Mrs texted us all this info Tuesday afternoon and said she guesses we just need to believe they will now follow the rules!!!! (her 4 exclamation points). I think she is thinking the same as us....not holding our breath that this is the last of the problems with them. The no trespassing signs are still up.

Or maybe he did consult with an attorney (besides the county atty) who advised him he probably will lose and then have to pay all our attorney's fees, too, as well as his own, but I'm guessing between the letter, the county attorney telling him no, and then their talk with dh, they finally realized they are probably not going to win this, nor we were going to back down. It will be at least 2 years before a house is done and they are living out here, so at least there is that. They can't even get the well dug until next summer and if they can start building then it will take a year to build, if they can even find a builder now, that could start next summer.

And I don't ever anticipate them being good neighbors to "the clan". I also can't imagine wanting to live somewhere where none of your neighbors will like you, but I guess he's used to that, as he alluded to it at his main house in the other state, that he had neighbor/HOA problems there. One thing I missed was how the wife is. Dh had said a few weeks ago "her smile is fake". Then the other day when we were down at lot 7 neighbors, the young couple, one of them said "boy, her smile is so fake". I don't really have that knack for reading people's faces and body language, at all.

Soon enough winter and snow will be here and we won't have to see or deal with them again until next spring. We can only hope between now and actual building time, their minds or circumstances change and they put the properties up for sale. Maybe in all his "obituary reading and tire kicking" he'll come across some great deal for property he can build his warehouse on and decide to not build a house here.

All in all, I am very glad I took the initiative to email all the neighbors about this and very glad every one of us was on the same page and that the others were willing to share the work involved with it.

Todays temp will be a wonderful 76 and we are ready for some much cooler weather.

The confrontation

So, dh goes over to them pounding their no trespassing sign in. Dh has no problem saying what's on his mind, especially when he's pissed off. Dh and our friend are standing there, where our fence ends (on that side it doesn't go all the way to the edge of the bank). I couldn't not hear what was being said. Just some yelling back and forth for a minute, at first. Then it was normal tone conversation. The whole conversation lasted probably 20 minutes and by the time it was done they had all somehow moved farther down the fence, about halfway towards the front of the properties. I knew dh would be able to recount most of it to me, but in his being upset, I also knew he'd either forget parts or get the timeline of what was said when maybe wrong a little. But, I knew having our friend there, he'd get it all. Plus I knew if I walked over there, while I would be calm, I'd also just be contributing to the talking ,which wasn't needed. He didn't say one word the whole time, just stood next to dh. He's a big guy (think biker guy haha). After about 20 minutes a locating car pulls up to the front of their property so the conversation was over as the couple went to deal with that. 

Basically the guy and his wife are complete liars. They lied about stuff they said to us (things we both heard, not just dh, things he told Mr., things he told the county atty), they contradicted themselves several times within this 20 minute conversation. They'd say one thing and then turn it around later or say they didn't say that, when they just said it 5 minutes earlier. Dh said he flat out told them a couple of times, "you are liars". The wife says "this is his dream to build this". Dh said so...that supersedes the rest of us in the subdivisions dreams to live in a residential neighborhood? The guy said Mr and Mrs house doesn't meet the covenants, it's concrete. Dh said there isn't a person in their right mind who can look at that house and have a problem with it. It's a luxury high end type home. It's the nicest house in the neighborhood, so far (in fact one of the nicest in the whole dang county). Dh then said and my property isn't 60% hardcovered, it's 22%. The guy then claimed he never told the county atty that (oh, and dh had called the county atty Wednesday afternoon and talked to him, also, and he also told dh the guy said it was 60%).

The guy went on about how we're ganging up on him, it was out of the blue. Dh said every conversation with you, you have told us more and more of your plans and your plans kept getting more and more in violation of the covenants. The guy says well you should have said something. Dh said "I did! I talked with you both for 2 HOURS 2 weeks ago and numerous times I mentioned our covenants and also said I was not going to be accepting of a new road access added in". Then the wife says "well, that access road was just for my car". What?! you need your own access road to pull out your driveway? You can't just turn out onto our street like everyone else does and go out the one entrance like everyone else?! Dh didn't say this. He knew she was now just trying to change the story away from it being an extra access for his dump truck and heavy equipment. Dh then said the rest of us in the subdivision had to start somewhere with you in addressing this...so we sent the letter.

At one point the wife says "why is he here?", referring to our friend standing next to dh. Dh just said "he's a guest at my house and he can be anywhere he wants on my property". Then she pointed down to the hose that dh has running along the base of the fence, on their side of the fence and it goes to some sprinklers he has attached to the fence for watering our lawn along that side of the fence. She said "get your hose off our property".  Dh said that it isn't on your property. As I've said, more than once, I had the fence put inside the property line 4 inches, so this 1/2" inch hose isn't on your property.

Then the neighbors goofy dog, from lot 7, comes running up....for his daily treat visit and ball throwing session with dh and then he usually runs over to see Mr and Mrs dogs in their outdoor kennel run and then goes back home. The wife says "who's is this dog? did you get another dog?" I'm sure they have no idea we now have no dogs and she thought she was going to get us on a covenant violation, LOL. Dh said no, this is lot 7's dog and he called him over to our property. 

When the locator showed up they left it as they we're still going to build their 8000 sf steel building because Mr and Mr's house was concrete. Dh just said ok...then I guess we'll all be seeing you in court and walked back inside our house.

I had texted our other neighbors when it started and said they were here yelling at dh over the letter we all sent. Mr and Mrs weren't home. Young neighbor gal was. We had already made plans to go down to their house when her son got home from school  (he's now in Kindergarten). Our friend, who lost his brother earlier this year, and had cleaned out his storage unit had found a box of old little toy trucks and excavating type stuff. He didn't know what to do with it, as they have no kids/grandkids and he knew dh and our little neighbor boy are buddies, and that our neighbor boy loves dump trucks, loaders, etc, so he decided to bring the box up and give it to our neighbor boy. So, at 5pm we all went down to their house to give him the toys and give young neighbor all the details of the conversation with the guy and his wife. Her dh got home shortly after we got there. They both said the first time they met the guy they immediately did not really like him and could tell right off he was a narcissist type personality. I guess young neighbor guys dad is one and he can spot one right off after spending his life growing up with him. Dh said ya, the guy lies constantly and even his wife was just as bad. They said the problem with those type of people is that they believe their own lies. Wife was now worried about their dog getting poisoned by the guy. I said I don't trust them at all now. Young neighbor wife is a bit like dh, can get mad and at one point she went into a rant about something to do with the guy, LOL. I can't remember now what she said. Her dh is like me, calm, haha. We all said well, I guess we'll be getting an attorney to represent us now. Later that evening dh talked to Mrs and told her all what was said when dh argued with the guy and his wife.

This is what we now get to look at either our our bedroom window or from our living room side window, or the side of our back patio. Tacky.

We all kind of joked about various things we could put in front of it. It's like an inch inside the property line on their side, of course. I said maybe I'll just plant some flowers in the ground, haha. I think when it snows, I'm going to build a big snowman in front of it, so I don't have to look at it all winter.

In discussing it later that evening with our visiting friends, she said this guy is just full of shit. He doesn't have a pot to piss in and he's just trying to act all tough and bully you all into getting his way. She said if he did have money to burn he wouldn't need to finance building the steel building. He told us when he was here that one day (now 3 weeks ago) that since their house in the other state hasn't sold and they want to get started on this property, they were just going to finance the building. She said she would be surprised if he wants to spend a lot of what money he has/will have (from sale of house), that he plans on using to build and to apparently buy a dump truck, on an attorney to fight 4 of us. She said he'd be really stupid to try to fight this.

On a little side story of this guy - he told Mr. when he called him a few weeks ago to inquire who to contact about bidding on a construction job (why he would call Mr we have no idea, other than I think I mentioned before we think just to see if Mr would bring up him operating a business out of this property) he said to Mr. he plans on "putting the hurt on excavating guy (the main heavy construction guy in this county)". In the 2 hour conversation with us 3 weeks ago he also made 2 comments about some property owners about 5 miles from us. "Ya, so and so has cancer and is dying, so I'm going to pick up that property"..."and the guy on the other side of him, with the cows...he died and I'm going to pick up that property too". WHAT?! Obviously the guy is an "obituary reader" to see who died and he can buy their stuff cheap. DH just kind of went "oh, interesting" when he said this. The guy is a nutcase! First off...these farming/pasture lands 5 miles from us are large large properties owned by 3 families that are all interconnected. They aren't selling. These properties are generational owned. Second off he apparently has no idea that excavating guy, that he's going to put the hurt on and take some of his construction business, is a son of one of these families. We know excavating guy - he did our foundations and such. Dh still talks to him every so often. Dh calls him up and says just thought you might want a forewarning (laughing) that this guy who bought the lots next to us is going to "put the hurt on you". Excavating guy says ya, I heard that. Someone told me during the fair (well, the fair was first of August, so obviously the guy has been going around telling this to people for quite awhile now). He just laughed and so did dh. Then he said ya, the guy showed up here yesterday....telling me he has equipment and if I ever needed any extra help, let him know. Excav. guy just blew him off. You walk around town running your mouth you are going to "put the hurt" on him and then have the nerve to go ask him for work? Excav. guy also laughed when dh told him about him picking up the properties of his uncle with cancer and the other guy that died recently. He said those properties getting sold to outside family is not going to happen. The guy is delusional. He said he describes him as a "tire kicker".

Friday morning we woke up to an email from the guy, forwarded to all of us by Mr.......

Guests departed and back to blogging

That was a long blog break! Our friends just left this morning. Originally she told me they were leaving on Monday, so I didn't bother taking Tuesday off. Then on Sunday we were outside chatting with our neighbors and their guests and they asked our friends how long they will be here and she said until Tuesday.....no one had told me the change, LOL. No biggie, other than I texted my boss yesterday and told her I was taking an additional day.

So, my first post back is going to be about the guy and his "wife"(? I'm thinking maybe they aren't married) who want to build the 8000 sf steel warehouse to live in and operate his business out of. LOTS to tell. Last Wednesday we found out they got the letter from all of us. Per the county attorney's recommendation he said to cc him on it. Well, the guy went into the county atty's office Wednesday and spent an hour and a half complaining to him. Very mad at all of us. Said we are all ganging up on him. The atty told him "no they aren't. There are covenants and they are all trying to protect their homes and property investments. You can't build that there". He apparently also told the guy that he can't build something that straddles both his lots. The lots are not short platted that way and the county restrictions on the short plat says all building must be within 15 (or maybe it was 25) feet of property lines. He also said if the guy thinks he's just going to "combine the 2 lots into one" he's going to have to try to change the short plat with the county and that's very unlikely to happen. He also suggested this guy meet up with Mr. over coffee and discuss the letter. (after he left the atty called Mr and told him all this)

Then he tried to tell the atty that well Mr and Mrs house doesn't meet the covenants. It's made of concrete and said our property is breaking the covenants because we have 60% hardcover (building, concrete and asphalt) and the covenants say not more than 25% hardcovered. First off Mr and Mrs house is a concrete log home and unless you were standing next to it you would never know it's not real logs and even then it still looks like real logs. It's an amazingly beautiful home and beautiful yard. It is 100% "residential in character". Our covenants read "must be frame or log home". Secondly, our property is only 22% hardcovered. When we had the driveway paved and the street widened (to be the 2 lane it was supposed to be when the developer subdivided it) dh made damn sure he wasn't going over 25%.

Thursday morning Mr. forwards us all several emails he got from this guy early that morning. The guy said the atty suggested we have a meeting over coffee to discuss this letter. Mr. replied back that I like the idea, however the residents here agreed that we need to meet with everyone when it came to further discussions. The guy replied back: That not possible since the clan committed an Esprit de Coup against me and Mrs (different last name than his). Mr replied back I’m part of that clan, but I understand. Let me see what everyone feels about this. The guy replied back well you do whatever you have to do with your clan. I'll be standing by.

Mr then had a very good reply back: 

I am not the leader or spokesperson for the subdivision. All of us who currently live here have our life savings invested into our home and property. Every one of us read and understood the covenants and made the decision to build here because of them. We are not accepting of this area to have any semblance whatsoever of a heavy equipment operation or storage yard, even if the equipment is covered in a building. Those covenants protect us from that happening, and your plans for Lots #4 and #5 don’t come close to how we will accept this subdivision to grow. What we are doing is not against you and (wife's name) personally, as we’d take this stand on anyone with your plans. This is not, and will not, become any form of an industrial yard and I’m sorry you didn’t read the restrictions before you and (wife's name) made the purchase.  

I’m waiting to hear from the other neighbors, and I thank you for reaching out. I’ll be back in touch soon.

Thursday morning the guy shows up and stops at the corner of our lots and spray paints some measurement and an arrow on the street and does the same at the corner to lot 6 and leaves. At 1pm our out of state guests arrived. They had just gotten in the front door and we were saying hello, etc and we see the guy pull back into the neighborhood again. He gets out at the front corner of the properties and pounds in some sort of sign. Then he drives on down to the other corner (which we can't seem from our property). We continue to visit with our friends, they get their suitcases out of their truck, etc. Once back inside we all decide to go out on our back patio. We didn't realize the guy and his wife were standing on their property right near where our fence ends, (just yards from our back patio) he had just started pounding in another sign, facing our house that says "no trespassing".  Oh good grief. DH just stood on our patio watching him do this, not saying a word. The guy looks up and points/jabs his finger towards dh and says something none of us could hear......oh no....dh walked right over there saying to the guy "what the F is your problem?!" Our friend followed him, while I decided to stay back on the patio thinking less yelling would be going on and I knew friend would listen to it all and remember it all, too. Plus I wasn't going to walk away from our friends wife.

To be continued..........