Category: Around the neighborhood

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Does this make me a bad person?

I honestly don’t know what the hell is going on at Crazy Pants’ house these days.

Yesterday some dude I’ve seen around was stomping down the street calling the boyfriend of Crazy Pants all kinds of names and then walking back up to better hear the boyfriends response.

Then he’s acting like he wants to fight right there on the street calling the boyfriend less than a man.

If I’d not had the windows open I’ve have ignored the whole mess but since I could hear everything I decided to watch as well. I thought about making popcorn and cracking open a beer even though it was only 9am!

Hey, if they’re going to put on a live show, why the hell shouldn’t I watch?

After another few minutes of grumbling at each other the stranger, who I think of as “Whitey” because of his long white hair, goes back up to Crazy Pant’s property. Where the two males, continue to bitch at each other.

I was thinking, “Come on guys, just fuck already! You’re fighting like you’re married!”

After another hour or so, things quiet down.

Around 9pm there’s more yelling then there’s a male voice I’m assuming “Whitey” moaning and saying I’m hurt bad, then he’s almost begging Crazy Pants boyfriend, “Please don’t hurt me more”.

I’m thinking one of two things, 1) They finally decided to punch it out, or 2) They decided to fuck and are into some rough stuff.

I don’t think Crazy Pants boyfriend is particularly hung so it’s not like Whitey was moaning over, or complaining about taking it.

At one point last night someone called for help but not one of the neighbors, myself included, went to look, opened our front doors, or called the cops.

This morning all is quiet, even the fucking 5 Chihuahuas that are yapping all the damn time. I thought I heard Crazy Pants muttering and mumbling earlier, but now she’s quiet.

I found myself thinking, “I hope they fucking kill each other.” Then it occurred to me that there will be one survivor, there is always one survivor. There’s always one roach, or one rat, but one always survives.

Then I thought, “In older times, the neighbors would be within their rights to deal with the survivor too.” In less fire prone areas, the neighbors would burn the house to the ground. That way they’d avoid having to bury the bodies, just stack ‘em in the house and “Woosh”.

Fire purifies everything. It would even burn their names from the neighborhood’s memory.

The only epitaph would be, “They were bad people.”

When stuff like this goes through my mind I realize it’s just me being super tired of the constant drama. But I wonder about myself as a person. Does this make me a bad guy too? Does my growing hatred for those people present a danger, and are they dragging me down to their level? Who am I to sit in judgment?

I’ve contented myself, thinking as long as I’m asking these questions I’m probably okay. There is some shred of morality left in me regarding these people.

I found it jarring yesterday because I was hoping the two guys would beat each other to death and I was hoping that Crazy Pants would be hurt badly when she got in the cross fire. What shocked me was that I was perfectly content to watch it, beer in hand and baseball bat within easy reach.

Yeah, I tend to not spend much time in the front yard unless I’ve got something to defend myself with these days. Crazy Pants has been known to wander the neighborhood with large butcher knives, pick up rocks, and as in my case simply punch people without provocation.

Whitey just walked down the street. He’s wearing a backpack, carrying a bottle of water and looked like he was a man on a mission. I didn’t see any visible injuries. I wonder if he had enough and is gone for good? I’ve heard the boyfriend yelling at one or two of the dogs. So there are multiple survivors.

Dang!

Oh well, maybe this weekend they’ll do each other in. I’ve got plenty of popcorn and beer!

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Something I never thought I’d say…

I suppose there are a lot of those things.

In this particular case, it’s I’m happy with how long my computer battery lasts. I’m also somewhat impressed with the iPad battery too.

The computer is insane. I’ll use the thing for days. I’ll be surprised when I get a low battery warning and then think, “Oh Yeah, it’s been a while!” This is very different from the older machines I’ve had. I lived by their power monitors and always carried spare batteries or adapters.

I’m still working on settings on the iPad to minimize its power consumption. My Computer and iPad both use the M2 chip but the iPad is more in line with a day or day and a half of use. I think that’s because there are background applications that wake up or are running on the iPad that aren’t as “busy” on the computer.

I believe I can probably trim more of the iPad background applications out of the background and realize more power savings.

The point is, when I started using laptop computers years ago, a 2 hour battery life was considered good. Now I’m talking about 2 day battery life between charges. I’m using the machine as I normally would, I’m typing blogs, surfing the net, working on stories, (although not fast enough there,) attending video conferences or watching lectures. Through it all, the computer doesn’t seem to care or get winded. I don’t think I’ve heard the fans come on, ever.

For the first time I’ll leave the house with my machines in my brief case and leave the chargers behind.

I suppose this is on my mind because today the computer asked for a bit of power. I plugged it in, and it said okay I’m charging to 80% quickly. (That would have actually gotten me through my typical day with ease.) The computer then switched over to a holding pattern at 80% and will finish charging by about 1:30PM.

This means that the machine has figured out my general habits and is using the charging feature Apple designed to extend battery life. It’s cool. I can override it if I want, or need to, but why? I’d rather have a battery that’s healthy in two or three years (like my iPhone 12 Pro) than force the issue. Besides, I’m using the big monitor in the office. I like this monitor a lot but I like working with the computer on the back deck more.

For the past 24 hours the wind has been kicking up to crazy gusty levels. I don’t feel like sitting out on the deck in all the blowing dust and pollen. Even though the sun is shining and the temps are nice.

It’s been all I could do to keep my sinuses open and the poor dog literally snorted a patch of pollen he thought was a food wrapper (I think). He’s been sneezing 5 or 6 times at a go for the past two days. I laugh at him… Then he saunters down the hall trying to look dignified, until another sneezing fit hits and he sneezes himself into a wall or something. My continuing to laugh gets me a dirty look and he retires to his “Room” where he can be alerted about food but doesn’t have to look at me.

All of which is to say that the amount of pollen in the air is so high that getting it into a keyboard would not be such a good thing. So I don’t need to be sitting outside for my sake, the keyboard’s sake, or the dog’s sake. All of us are quite comfortable inside.

I’ve got the leeward side of the house open for the fresh air but every once in a while the wind will shift just for a minute or two and blow a new batch of yellow joy into the house.

I was originally going to use a photo of my hand but when I looked at the photo I realized that you could easily see all of my fingerprints. Probably not a great idea to broadcast that kind of biometric information across the internet! With a little work I could convert the image into usable prints, so you get the swiffer. If the FBI ever needed non carbon fingerprint dust, I can recommend pine pollen.

I hope you all have a nice Monday. I’m hitting the sinus spray again!

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On the nice side of life…

We had our first snow of the season last night.

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The dog is overjoyed! Me, not so much. But we’ve successfully cleared the decks, driveway, and a good chunk of the road.

My exercise ring is complete, the activity ring is mostly complete, and my stand ring has a way to go. My knees are aching but there’s no sharp or excessive pain so I think I’m good for the moment. What remains to be seen is if I’ll be able to move tomorrow.

Getting old is a challenge, but on the bright side I can legitimately be a crotchety old man!

The solar panels (which are still not online) appear to be clearing themselves quickly. The snow wasn’t high enough to block the black frames so they started heating up when the sun hit them. Then the more the panels were exposed, the more heat they absorbed and so on. I enjoy watching natural effects and seeing how they impact stuff in surprising ways. 

Honestly, I hadn’t thought about how the panels would affect snow sitting on them. I kinda thought that once covered, they’d stay that way until a thaw.

The poor UPS guy got his truck stuck, the driver had no idea how to handle Ice and snow. The more he struggled the more the truck started sliding sideways until it looked like he was going to hit an electrical pole.

A neighbor and I helped him out. I asked him how much it was worth for him to get out… I think he may have thought I was serious. We got him righted and I promised him we’d get him out without damaging his truck. 10 minutes, and a little instruction from the neighbor about driving on snow later, the UPS guy was on his way again. UPS should maintain their tires better. That truck had six bald tires and shouldn’t have been running up here or for that matter on a wet road.

Word to the wise, don’t screw around with UPS trucks on wet pavement, give them wide berth, the driver probably can’t stop even if they want to.

It’s a sunny day now, that should finish clearing the icy spots on our street, and will hopefully clear the roads in the upper elevations too. A couple of roads up, the houses are mostly vacation homes so there’s no-one to clear the streets or drives.

I’m guessing that we’ll have the first snow players up here tomorrow and then through the weekend. Maybe this year will be better than last and they’ll keep to the designated play areas. I know it’s unlikely, but I can still have a smidgeon of hope.