Hey all! Just thought I would let you know that I have not contracted some mysterious virus, been abducted by aliens, nor have I been lying comatose for the last three months. I have been here dealing with some hectic things and trying to get back into the swing. So, here we go with what I have been doing all summer.
Blogging
Looking back on all of my posts to this blog, it is not hard to see that there has been a hole. It isn't that I have not tried to blog, but that I just haven't been able to finish one. Some excerpts of those drafts include:
"When we signed the lease for our now former home, the landlord was a fairly nice young guy. Seemed to be a great place, but then after you live someplace for a year, you really get to understand the issues of the place and that of the landlord as well." - 06/29/08
"Tonight's All-Star game will be held at Yankee Stadium and will feature two important historical events in Major League Baseball: The Hall of Fame and the History of Yankee Stadium, because this is the last season in the historic park. One thing that will definitely be missing is 'Shoeless Joe' Jackson's rightful induction into the Hall of Fame." - 07/15/08
"One of the things that I find interesting with each election is the pollsters that attempt to figure out how an election will turn out based on demographics of certain groups. These groups are usually based on party affiliation, gender, national origin, pro-life/pro-choice and gun owner/anti gun people. There are two other demographics that I would much rather see, but probably won't - racists and sexists." - 08/30/08
Our Home
I would have to say that the most hectic thing that has transpired over the course of the summer has been our living situation. Needless to say, we have now come to the end of the turmoil and can really (legally) start to talk about it all.
As some of you know, we started having problems with our landlord/home in the winter of 2006-07. Our furnace had decided that it was not going to be like a normal furnace and evidenced this to us by first heating totally inefficiently while costing a small fortune (over $300 per month) and then by firing up with a small explosion each time (when and if it would start). I explained this to the landlord and he promised to have it looked at. When the lease came up for renewal in May, he again promised to fix the furnace as well as insulate the basement to help keep the first floor rooms a little warmer. Neither of these things transpired.
We also were subjected to the landlord's self-renovation of the other half of the house throughout the spring of 2007 and had to deal with the constant sounds of power tools, hammers, etc. from early morning through late at night as he worked to remove plaster and lathe, completely remove a wall and install laminate flooring. The only break we had was for about a week after the city building inspector chastised him about performing construction without a permit. He finally moved back in with his ex-wife in the middle of the summer of 2007 and had some friends of his living next door to finish the construction. Late fall saw the end of the construction but the noise was not abated as the new neighbors were very loud and obnoxious with their parties and stumbling home drunk at 3:30am several nights during the week.
October 2007 we received a letter from the landlord that addressed the complaints that we had - namely the noise from the neighbors and the issues with the furnace. The landlord decided that since his home inspection in 2005 did not say there was a problem with the furnace, he was not going to have it looked at and that as far as the noise was concerned - deal with it. So, we bought space heaters to heat a couple rooms in the house for the winter and for the noise, we repeatedly called the cops.
Towards the end of January or the first part of February, the tenants next door complained about the fact that their furnace was not working and, since they were friends of his, he called to get the furnace fixed - on their side of the house, not ours. I was livid and it was all I could do to keep from planting my boot in his rear. Lisi and I started looking for a house of our own. First part of April came and we get notice that the landlord is not renewing the lease and expects us to be out in 15 days (never mind the fact that it was not an eviction and our lease was not set to expire until the first of June. So, we withheld rent to offset the costs of our heating. Completely justified by the laws in IA, or so one would think from reading said laws.
The landlord slapped us with an eviction and separate $5,000 small claims suit, then missed the eviction proceedings. Since the eviction was dismissed (but not the small claims action) he slapped us with another eviction and second small claims action, again for $5000. Because he did not show up for any of the hearings on the second small claims action, that was dropped, but the eviction was moot because we were already moving out. All said and done, he was awarded a grand total of $75 plus interest.
The logic of this whole ordeal is beyond my comprehension and a simple cost analysis proves that the land still lost in the long run. The place we were living in still hasn't been rented out and so the landlord is out $3,500 in lost rent. He paid filing fees of $60 per case with and additional $35 for service and he was awarded $75. My math comes up with a net loss of $3,620 for him. If you take into consideration that he kept our deposit, he is still in the hole nearly $3K. As for us, we no longer have to deal with him and his parties, although we also lost a great view of the river. Our new landlord is great and hey, our rent and utilities have gone down drastically, so it is a win in the long run for us.
Our Car
When we packed up our very best crap in Arizona, we also packed up and brought our 1991 Honda Accord. When I got here, I applied for and received personalized plates that said ZONIE, and thus the car was christened "The Zoniemobile." She was a good disposable car that I bought for $300 in 2002, but last fall, she died a miserable death and had to be disposed of for salvage of $200. A search for a new car brought about another disposable for $400 - a 1994 Pontiac Grand Am and she was given a nickname of "The Blue Bomber," or "Blue" for short. She wore her nickname well as she had rust spots, rusted out exhaust system, no window cranks, fuel leak and rusted brake lines - the latter two I fixed when I bought her. As with all Grand Am's from there period, she suffered from one major ticking time bomb - bad head and/or head gasket. From what a lot of people have been telling me, it was common for that motor to be running fine and then, without warning, either the head would crack or the head gasket leak. The end of July, she gave up the ghost and started spewing steam out the remnants of the exhaust system. Time to find a new car, but with crappy credit, crappy economy and no savings, I have to either depend on others or utilize my old military standby - the "Leather Personnel Carrier." All I can say is that I thank God I live closer to work than I did six months ago.
The Art
It is amazing how many of us do not listen to that little small voice we each have until it is too late. That silly little voice seems to say what we perceive to be the 'stupidest' things, however we discover much too late that the voice was right and we neglected to act on what the voice was saying. I have kicked myself in the seat of the pants for that too many times in my life. I heard that voice in the fall of 2006 and it wasn't just whispering, it was yelling at me, "YOU SHOULD GET INTO ART." Not as a spectator, but as a participant. More specifically it said that I should paint.
Now, if there is one thing that I can say with all of my heart, that would be that I hated art when I was growing up. I mean, I liked to see it and still do, just that if you were to give me a pencil and blank paper, you would end up with either a picture of a polar bear in a blizzard (blank white paper) or stick figures to represent people. I could doodle out some block lettering or maybe a basic building, but as far as I was concerned, my artwork fit in more with Abstract Expressionists like Jackson Pollack or Jane Frank than it does a Claude Monet or Grant Wood. With that in mind, I decided to spend the least amount and get some watercolors. I was amazed at what I could do.
Now I have started dabbling in oil paint. This is an expensive hobby, but well worth it and an easier medium than watercolor. I have completed my first attempt at oil and, though I was not 100% satisfied with the final result, I am willing to stick to it and have started my second piece.
While on the subject of art, I have also been a longtime fan of photography and been snapping pics for ages. This is the first year that I have ever a fair with my photos and I didn't do too bad, with each photo taking a ribbon (one blue and two red).
Other than that, work has been good to me and I have been sort of keeping an eye on the political scene and the current situations that are going on around us all. So, I have been here and will continue to be. Hopefully, I have seen the end of this long train and will be posting again on a regular basis.
