Thread: Well, that's good...sort of.

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This has been a little disconcerting of a day. I decided yesterday to take the day off, since I had many deliveries incoming today, with the plan of doing some work on projects in between dealing with shipping companies. I got up pretty early today, and made it a relaxing slow morning. No matter, UPS & FedEx never deliver early in the a.m. here. *Yawn* All is well.


When I finally got motivated to head out to the garage and get to work, I picked up the back plate I'd fabbed for a control panel on my obelisk, and made the discovery that the CA adhesive had leaked into the casing of the switches, freezing them in place. No really big deal, they were just micro tactile push-buttons I'd hacked into mp3 player I was getting ready to permanently attach to the control panel. So I scoured around, found a few more to replace them. Board mount types, which I had to cut the vertical brackets off of, so that they would fit into the holes. Then I started filing out the hole to make them square to fit the replacements, as the originals I'd used were round versions.


Now, here is where it gets a little strange. As I was finishing up the shaping on the 2nd hole, a black car rolls to a stop in front of the house. Now, I'm an observant type...very aware of my surroundings at all times. So I watch out of the corner of my eye, figuring that they are just trying to determine exactly what the wood frame & base plate for my obelisk is out in the driveway. The car slowly pulls away, then turns into the driveway next door. Reverses out, and pulls up next to the curb by my driveway. About now, I'm thinking "Oh, great. My ex has somehow tracked me down."


Then, a lady pops out of the driver's side door. Thankfully, not my crazy ex! Yay! Minor victory! It turns out, she lives in the neighborhood, and is just there to ask me to keep an eye on a couples home that is just down the street. "Oh yes, I saw it on the news last night." I said. It turns out, the family is "renting" the home from the original owners (the owners are actually friends of my sister & brother-in-law). Dave & Sarah rented the house when he got a job in Minneapolis, and they didn't even have time to pack much. So they rented the fully furnished home to this family, who as it turns out, are a bunch of scammer deadbeats.


Long story short, Dave & Sarah went public last night on the local news concerning the case (when I learned of the situation). It seems that not one single rent bill has been paid since they moved in. The family owes Dave & Sarah over $6k in rent, and they are fighting to prevent the eviction, working the system. Using a cover story that the power (the bill of which was included in the rental agreement), has been "off" 3 times since they moved in. Yeah, well duh! Ofc the power goes "off" when there is an area power outage during a storm! This isn't a new thing to these deadbeats either. 40 court cases on record for them pulling this exact same scam. So this lady had stopped to let me know, if I didn't, the ongoing situation...and to keep an eye out in case they tried to move out in the middle of the night. Preventing them possibly stealing all of Dave & Sarah's furniture & such, to boot.

Ok, admittedly...this is a pretty strange occurrence. Certainly something you wouldn't expect to be going on in a family oriented lakeside villa. So in any case, we chatted for a bit. Conversation turned into what I was working on...and wow! That lady can talk your ear off. She's a bit older, and in her 70's. Obviously lonely. So I humored her, and jebuz! 4 hours later, I nearly had to brush her off! Worse, it started raining and I had to pull everything into the garage about the time she finally leaves. Getting absolutely nothing productive done at all on my project.


I mean sure, I'm happy I met a great conversationalist and a seemingly nice person. Don't get me wrong, one can always appreciate a new good friend or three, certainly. But, and this is a big but (not literally, lol!), if I saw someone was working on something, I would've cut it a little short after communicating the important gist. Maybe, invite them over later when they weren't busy, after a short time and you enjoyed the company...you get the idea.


I wouldn't go so far as to call the day absolutely wasted. Otoh, not exactly far from it either. :|

I had to laugh about the woman who wanted to talk your ear off, despite you working on a project (sounds about right). Sorry about what's going on with your sister's friends' tenants That is really low.

Yeah, it's about right! Lol! If I were a little younger, and a bit more foolish. I might be inclined to "help" them decide to move. I have zero tolerance for people taking advantage of persons who were kind enough to do them a favor. Plus, I'm a little miffed because I just went out there to see the house, with every single light burning. Including all of the outdoor security floods, running up the power bill to add insult to injury. I'm in favor of keel hauling those types...from my truck bumper.

Sad news about your sister's friend's house - I hope they end up getting everything worked out in the end. It's super frustrating when people don't "move it along". I feel like I'm very good at reading the current situation; if it looks like someone is in the middle of a project or on their way to do something I let them get on with their day. I have a neighbor across the street who, even though I like her very much and we're good friends, sometimes I'm guilty of timing my walks with my dog or when I bring out the trash until she's not outside. Otherwise, I know I'm stuck for at least a 20 minute conversation (usually about neighborhood gossip which I could care less about). Sometimes I carry my kitchen timer outside just so I can say "I've got to take ____ out of the oven"!

Originally Posted by Halloween Scream

Sometimes I carry my kitchen timer outside just so I can say "I've got to take ____ out of the oven"!

That is a fabulous idea!

Originally Posted by Halloween Scream

Sad news about your sister's friend's house - I hope they end up getting everything worked out in the end. It's super frustrating when people don't "move it along". I feel like I'm very good at reading the current situation; if it looks like someone is in the middle of a project or on their way to do something I let them get on with their day. I have a neighbor across the street who, even though I like her very much and we're good friends, sometimes I'm guilty of timing my walks with my dog or when I bring out the trash until she's not outside. Otherwise, I know I'm stuck for at least a 20 minute conversation (usually about neighborhood gossip which I could care less about). Sometimes I carry my kitchen timer outside just so I can say "I've got to take ____ out of the oven"!

Well, we are all keeping a close eye on them. Just to make sure that they don't disappear in the middle of the night with all of Dave & Sarah's furniture. Luckily, we have 3 Sheriff's deputy's, and 2 police officers that live in the neighborhood, and those on-duty have been actively cruising the area. I'm sure everything will be alright in the end, except that I'm certain they are going to be out a bit more money before this is all said and done. It's shameful, because these dirtbags are conning a couple that just had a baby a month ago. Like they don't have enough to deal with, without this drama.

I am all about a good conversation when I have nothing else important planned. It is good to know that there are people who do notice, and are courteous enough to let someone get on with what they need to do. Now on the subject of gossip's, I'd be the first one to find any even remotely plausible excuse to duck out of that convo. I dislike gossiping with a passion, being that one of my grandmothers was one of "those" types. Sugary sweet to their face, and then... :/

Hypocrisy in all it's forms, is one of my biggest pet peeves. Two faced gossip mongering...grrr!

Originally Posted by maleficent

That is a fabulous idea!

Yes it is! Absolutely stupendous!

Update: Apparently, the Sherrif's dept. came and picked the guy up not long after I last posted, for passing bad checks and fraud. He was bailed out at approximately 8 a.m. on the 12th, but the judge had arranged his detaining in the last few hours before he could file an appeal (which he is famous for doing, to prolong the case, according to previous reports). I'd guess they took their sweet time in booking, so that the opportunity would pass. This morning at 6:30 a.m., the locks were changed by a locksmith (really unecessary, I'd have done that for them free of charge), and the evicted tenants belongings piled in the driveway.

All of the neighborhood has banded together to watch the house closely from all angles, to make sure they didn't do anything malicious when they came to pick up their belongings. Case closed, and I am certain that the taste of victory is sweet!