The winter has been cold for Florida so far. We've had quite a few nights that dip below thirty two degrees. While this is laughable compared to what other Americans face in the Northern states, we usually only have two to four days that fall below freezing each winter. Many fires are being started by cold Floridians firing up seldom used fireplaces and space heaters. We have gas heat but haven't had the gas company hook it up. I barely get the bills paid as it is. Extra gas for heating would be one bill too many, so we use space heaters too.
I sleep like the dead. I once slept through my alarm clock ringing for a very long time. As the ringer went off non-stop in the real world I simply dreamt I was working in a nuclear power facility during a meltdown. My husband can hear a flea cough on a dogs butt three streets away and it wakes him. Last night as I slept, a neighbor across the street came home at one in the morning and played their car radio loud as they sat in their driveway. This did the job to have him awake for the rest of the night. I wish that this was an isolated incident but they do similar things like have loud conversations in their backyard at three in the morning. We have another neighbor a few houses down that leaves for work at five in the morning. We know this because he sits in front of his home and needlessly revs his engine for ten, sometimes fifteen minutes before leaving.
With renting you usually find rentals like this in neighborhoods with houses all around and small yards. My parents always purchased their homes. When I was very young we lived on 138 acres on top of a small mountain. It was beautiful, peaceful, and free. When we moved to Florida we had a smaller place, only five acres, but it was still more room that I've ever had renting as an adult. I'm dreaming now of picking a state I want to live in, one with low property prices and a low cost of living. I want good soil for a huge garden and chickens. I want room to roam and lots of freedom. I want peace. For now, I have to work hard, manage the bills I have, and try to get by. Since all savings are gone we are not prepared to purchase a home yet. I think things will have to improve one day and we can begin rebuilding our lives.
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Hey, I've missed you! I hope you are okay with all of this terrible cold. There were a lot of freezing pipes here in Massachusetts. Even though you're in FL, it's getting cold there and it's no joke.
ReplyDeleteI hope you can get some financial breathing room soon.
Hi Pamela. I've missed blogging. Wish I had internet at home to do more. Hope you get through the winter well.
DeleteJust popping in from Derbyshire in England. I see you have and hold your family close.. good for you. Things have been tough for you! I wish you luck and hope that 2014 is "your" year.
ReplyDeleteGill
Thanks for stopping by. Already 2014 may be looking up.
DeleteNeighbors can be brutal whether you rent or own. Three times we have purchased homes that turned out to have the neighbors from hell. If I could afford it I would buy 500 acres in the middle of nothing and live there.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what people think most others are doing at 1,2 or 3 in the morning. We were trying to sleep so we could go slug another day down at work. Sigh.
500 acres sounds grand. I wish I could afford that too. :)
DeleteI own a home in the Historic District in my town. My home is the worst in the neighborhood. It is one of the largest. However, long ago, someone decided to squeeze in a tiny house on a lot that is only 60 ft wide. It has been a rental since about five years after we moved here. Neighbors:
ReplyDelete1--owned dog that barked all day and night. Okay make that about 12 renters there.
2--teen lived there because owner, her grandmother, was in nursing home--college parties EVERY Thursday night because local college did not have class on Friday
3--dozen teens on the porch harassing me and throwing beer cans into my yard.
4--same teens and 2 and 3--playing loud music with doors and windows open and large dog running through house from back yard to front yard barking for about 8 solid hours.
5--Another dog tied where he could get into my yard. He decided to guard my car from me, snarling and lunging.
6--All renters--parked in front of driveway, so that I had to walk through rain, mud, and hail to ask them to move, which they refused to do until they finished what they were doing.
7--company of renters refused to move their car, brought dogs to run in my yard, kept music playing in cars all the time.
8--cursing, vulgarity any time of day and night
9--domestic abuse that I could hear and young woman came to me for help.
10--trash all over my yard where their dog tore their trash open--all over street in front of my house, too. 100 foot swath over my front yard.
11--puppy abandoned in house, crying all night. I called police who broke down their door to get it. Owners spent the night 50 miles away.
12--house caught on fire. Since it is on the property line, my house was at great risk. Person was senile and caused it.
14--senile person stole everything she could from my yard. Ex, I burned a Corelle casserole, put it outdoors, and it was gone the next day.
15--Once, when house was not rented, the heat pump tore up and sounded like a helicopter in my yard at night.
16--mother of teen asked me why I didn't just sleep in another room when I complained of the noise.
17--young professional raked all the leaves in his yard into my yard less than a week after he moved in. Called me a bitch for complaining.
Yes, I go to sleep once each night. After that, I am awake for the duration of the night.
We finally got noise ordinance because a man across town and I called every night of the week about noise--car, dogs, alarms, music....every night for years.
I am sure I left out something that happened. I have lived here since 1977. There have been two dozen renters in the house next door.
Yikes! What a long list of horrible neighbors. Hope you have decent ones now.
ReplyDelete