This *Thanksgivukkah’ things to be grateful for . . .

Planes, Trains, Automobiles and plentiful hotel choices: Company only comes for a few hours, NOT a fortnight (it used to be two whole weeks of in-laws, cousins and kids all camped out in your home).

GPS: Face it, many people simply cannot give directions, so with the few black hole-like exceptions, use it.

This is for the men: Give the women a chance to be grateful and love you even more, load the dishwasher and scrub the pans . . . then corral the kids and cousins who are sugared-up and over-tired.

And always remember the wise warning from Dear Abby: Holidays, weddings and funerals should bring comfort/joy, NOT the next generations’ feud, so lighten up on each other.

Reservations: They always work!

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*It’s ‘Thanksgivukkah’, when Chanukah and Thanksgiving share the same day . . . Looking back, this is approximately correct – the last time it would have happened is 1861. However, Thanksgiving was only formally established by President Lincoln in 1863. So, it has never happened before. (http://geyserville.towns.pressdemocrat.com)

Another Dammed, Thieving Vagrant!

These apartments are two buildings, L-shaped, and the inside rear apartment has always been a problem: a few former problem tenants had questionable company sneaking in through the alleyway and back windows; and whenever vacant, it has often been broken into by vagrants.

The former tenant had left a few things behind, and we tossed all but a sofa, microwave and some miscellaneous stuff (which I jammed into the microwave).

Aaarrgh! They struck again.

I had made sure the windows were locked.

I had made sure the door was locked.

I did take photos.

I had left all the lights on.

I had checked it often. Obviously not often enough.

3:30 pm

Now, I am not accusing certain neighbors, but it was odd that I saw this dude pacing back and forth across the back building, then talking to someone standing behind the stairwell wall.

8:30 pm

Same people, same pacing, same gut feeling.

This time I went around the back alley and checked the apartment. Yep, locked up tight: I went home.

Two days later, I went back with a helper to finish up AND found the microwave plugged in! Someone had obviously slept on the sofa. The toilet seat was left up. The steel stepladder was taken. The paper towel spindle AND towels were gone. The vacuum, cleaning supplies and my tools did remain. Whew.

Called the owner. Called the locksmith. As the workman finished up, again we checked all the windows. (These windows have little tabs, wings, on the inside, so that you may raise the window an inch or so, but no higher. I sold these windows one miserable summer years ago; those little tabs will prevent the window from being forced open from the outside.) As we checked the inside window, which ‘looked’ like it was in locked position, actually wasn’t, and could be easily slid open from the outside.

Then we noticed that someone had broken the tabs from the inside. Idiots, my tools were on the kitchen counter, the needle-nose pliers would have done a better job.

Someone had planned to come back often and camp out. Heck you boldly plugged in the microwave!

When we locked up, I placed the packaging for the new dead bolt just inside the window frame. Made sure that they could plainly see it when they tried to force that window back up.

I want security cameras and prosecute the little #$@$#%!

Rude Contractor: Parking Space Hog

A family member is in the hospital, a big sprawling complex, however the parking allotted for visitors is the size of a postage stamp. One would have better luck finding a space at the local shopping mall on Black Friday!

As I drove around, I spotted this contractor in a huge van, pulled clear across 2 spaces.

Obviously, he is NOT working, or he would have been parked out back by the loading docks. Heck, he could have been nice and parked his massive truck there and NO ONE would have questioned him.

If he had pulled forward, a Le Car, or any sub-compact car could have fit in there nicely, but he is a big dude, and what the heck, who’s gonna stop him?

But wait, this is a COMPANY truck . . . does his company KNOW he is here for 4-plus hours. Of course, concern for whomever he was visiting, but manners for the other visitors who needed a spot.

Again, thank you all for letting me vent, oh, but that’s what this blog is all about!

It Really is a Small World

As I passed the moving crew for one of our new tenants, I chatted politely, bid the new tenant welcome and went on my way. But I kept glancing back at one of the young women among her friends, kinda “do I know you?” As I was busy, I just went on my way.

However, a few days later, the new tenant came to my door and asked if I knew a Lisa X? Name didn’t ring a bell.

Then she apologized and said, “Oh, she is married now, her maiden name was XYZ.”

Wow! Yeah I did. A loooong time ago, when my son was small, I had many friends with young children, we socialized and babysat each other’s kids. We would lose track of each other, reconnect, then move away: Just like so many friends that drift through our lives. And I confessed, that I always mixed up the names of the young lady and her sister, and affectionately called them both ‘Fred.’ I passed on my regards to Fred, mom and dad and siblings. Nice memories.

And grateful that she and her mom had fond memories of me too.

The last time I saw that young woman, she was a teenager, now she is a young woman, married with children of her own. Sigh.