09 - 21 - 2021

 

Just a few things – it’s been a while since I’ve posted a blog.

We’re continuing to do the needed work on this house as we can afford it. We’ve just put on a new roof in August, and we have Gutter Cover coming out in a couple weeks hopefully to replace our worn out guttering.

The weather is cooling off thankfully, so I’m getting back into doing some outside repairs and improvements. I will be building and installing a screen door for the back patio / storage area this week. I’m hoping it will make that area a lot more bug-free, and a more pleasant environment. Right now, it’s bug & spider Paradise.

I have once again started the scraping process in preparation for painting this place. I have some repairs to make on some of the outside window framing, and side door coming from the east side of the garage.

And of course, there’s a ton of inside work that needs done. Winter is the perfect time to take care of those. And this year is the last winter we plan on spending here. At least that’s our hope.

One problem I have – and it’s one I don’t really know how to handle – is illustrated in a couple photos below. 

This is the east side of my next-door neighbor's house to my west. Not only is the house in serious disrepair, but the area in front of her garage is a virtual junkyard. This is certainly not going to do anything positive for my property value.

 

The problem is… Firstly she is just a really sweet and nice person (I’m not going to post her name here). Secondly – there is a financial aspect to consider. She can’t even afford to hire anyone to mow her lawn. I’ve mowed it for her, and other neighbors have as well. Obviously, I don’t know how much she gets per month (I’m assuming she’s on SS), but by all appearances, she can barely afford gas for her car, and food.

I cannot bring myself to report her to the city for all the junk next to my house, or for the disrepair. I have more than enough to do on our house, and we’re only on SS as well. I have thought about asking her if she’d like me to clean up all the junk and get rid of it, but I don’t want to offend her. I may still ask her about it next time I see her.

Another fun thing that happened a couple weeks ago... As I was approaching the house, another driver in a big SUV was coming the other direction. Apparently she needed not only her side of the road, but half of mine as well. I managed to avoid her, but cut the turn into my driveway a bit too close to the metal fence post, and put a nice scratch on the passenger side of the minivan. 

This really did nothing to improve my mood, but thankfully, I have comprehensive, so the insurance is covering all but my $250 deductible. The repair is going to cost right at $2400, so I can deal with the deductible.

However, I still hope the driver of the SUV has a bit of an interaction with a garbage truck sometime in the near future.

In other news, I’m planning on creating a “Behind The Scenes” video for Fall. I had hoped to do one each month, but I’ve just got too many other irons in the fire. Hope to get that done and posted sometime in October.

That’s pretty much it for now. But while we’re on the subject of expenses…. Mine are going up slowly, and I am on a limited income. I could use a little help from my friends if possible. I have a Patreon, a Ko-fi, and a donation button for my PayPal. I also have a shop on Pixels / Fine Art America where you can get some merch from my TNA series, as well as some of my other art. I’ll be adding more items soon hopefully. Anything helps. Thank you!

Until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, GET YOUR SHOTS and let’s end this #%^&%^&& COVID thing!

Rod out!