Why I Hate Renters

Some people are truly weird. Case in point, 20-something nutball junk collector who rents the house next door. First it was the Halloween graveyard (complete with bodies hanging from a tree!) that stayed up through 2 Halloweens. Lately it's been chairs, a wood bed frame, a crap-ton of scrap metal and plastic that is piling up in the front yard (and yes, it has been reported). Oh, and I almost forgot the overstuffed loveseat that has been upright, on its back, and now upside down — great critter nest.

Yesterday while he was out, the zombie tree at the corner of his driveway dropped a rotten 6" diameter branch right where he usually parks his pickup. When he finally got home, he drove across the grass, parked on the front lawn, threw a hissy fit, took a bunch of pictures, then took off. Still not back. Now, this kid is a weight lifter and has the upper body muscle development that moving the shattered rotten branch should be no big deal.  But did he move even one tiny piece of it? Nope. Jerk!

The property owner is in Israel, so the property is being used to circumvent laws that govern money transfer between countries. Property managers apparently don't give a rat's ass about things as long as they get their cut of the rent. Idiot renter has been in the house for almost 2 years now, and has never paid a water bill. Thanks to the pandemic moratorium on turning off water, every 6 months the unpaid water charges get added to the property tax bill.

I think I need a cabin in the woods — away from lousy tenants.

Thoughts from an inquisitive mind

 Sitting watching the Chauvin trial from Minneapolis. Listening to the medical examiner testimony and whether prior conditions contributed to the death. I'm seeing a double standard here. 

Standard rule is usually that if someone dies from the stress of being held up (for example), the charge is no longer larceny, but homicide. In this case, it looks like the defense team is trying to prove that, if not for prior heart disease and drug use, the 9.5 minutes of neck compression would not have killed Floyd. 

Sorry, but a bad cop is a bad cop. Don't try to justify his actions. We have a few rotten apples that make honest, hard-working cops all look bad. Once upon a time, people like Chauvin would never have met the police hiring standards. I had one friend who was turned down by the Detroit Police Department (in the old days!) for a lousy speeding ticket. Standard have fallen.

Yesterday and Today

Back in the mid-'50s, I fell in love with a gold Sheaffer Touchdown Snorkel pen and pencil set that my grandfather owned. The pencil used ultra fine lead and the pen sported an extra fine accountant's nib. I drooled over that set and finally talked him out of them when I was in high school. I've kept them all these years.

A few years ago, I sent the pen out to be restored, but I'm almost afraid to use it. The set never leaves the house, so I can't lose them. In fact, they sit in a lined wooden box next to the TV in my office. 

Recently, I spotted a gold Sheaffer Sagaris on Facebook that is a near replica of the old Sheaffer Touchdown. Yep. Had to buy it. Fortunately, it didn't cost an arm and a leg. The only problem? I could only find it with a medium nib. For once, I really wanted a fine nib. What can I say, I'm a sucker for memories of my grandfather. 

The solution? I found one in black and chrome with gold trim. It was easy to swap the nib sections. Now, every time I pick up that gold Sagaris, I think of my grandfather. Salut', Don Cicino. I miss you.

Off the top of my head

I'm amazed at the gullibility of people today. It seems like too many take negative things at face value and never stop to question the source or probability of the truth of it. When I was in school, I was fortunate enough to have a few teachers who would force us to think. Does it sound logical?  Think about it. Newspaper editors never ran hot topic stories without having the facts backed up by 3 independent sources. 

In our current "instant access" internet days, the race seems to be who can get a story out first, facts be damned. It's on the internet, so there must be some truth to it. And anyone with enough cash can start their own web news site, biased though it may be. It's either extreme right or extreme left. I sometimes wonder if there are any old time news reporters left. 

And then, there are the news spoof sites. How many of their spoofed stories are quoted on platforms like Facebook, and taken as the gospel truth by the gullibles of the world. No matter how outlandish the story, somebody out there is going to believe it.

When I was growing up, we always had two newspapers. The Detroit News (right leanings) and the Detroit Free Press (more to the left). When it came time for political endorsements by the Editorial team, you knew that the News would back the Republicans and the Freep would back the Democrats. The thing was, if you read both and did some reasoning, you could probably pick out the best candidate for the office. 

Today, the newspapers are pretty much a joke, and TV news is not much better. I used to love talk radio, but thanks to the Limbaughs of the world, I've given it up. Middle of the road has pretty much disappeared. Too many drank the orange kool aid. I just want to go back to a society that wasn't wrapped up in name calling and bigotry.

Later.

Has it really been that long?

So, after a nearly 5 year hiatus, I think I'm ready to blog again, maybe on a weekly basis? Time will tell. This last year has been crazy. I'm not a heavy socializer anyway, but it has been strange not going out to dinner occasionally, or visiting friends. I miss the human contact. The only hugs I get lately are from my favorite chiropractor. He's semi-retired and doesn't go out much either, so we take our chances and don't bother with gloves and masks. We both have always had decent immune systems. 

It's probably been 25 years since I had a nasty virus. Christmas 2019 my daughter and I both had what I'm convinced was a mild case of Covid-10. My GP is certain that they saw their first case 2 months before that. My problems were mostly upper respiratory and wouldn't quite let go, but hung on for months. 

Vaccines? I'm still undecided. Maybe the J & J, if it's ever released. I'm not big on vaccines with my auto-immune problems. I think that in some cases they just weaken your own natural immunity. We're too much of a big Pharma society. Pills for everything and big bucks for the drug companies. As for drug testing, let's just say that I don't trust all of them. I was tossed out of a final phase test of one very expensive drug because of a bad potential problem. I'm sure my records were deleted. If it happened to me, how many others were also excluded at the first sign of a problem? 

For now, we just continue social distancing and masking and hope for the best. One good thing is that I haven't had a cold since all of this started, just my usual sinus allergies. I can live with that. 

That's it for now. Signing off. Maybe I'll be back next week.