Thursday, December 15, 2011

Expect the Unexpected

Seems every once in awhile we get a reminder that the best laid plans go astray; the unexpected should be expected, especially as the economy unravels and big government grasps at every opportunity to keep people down.

As I've mentioned before, we have a property we sold on a land contract. It's become routine to hold our breath every month waiting for the payment. Once again, it's late. Once again Sweetie placed a phone call, which was ignored. Once again we'll mail a registered letter only this time it includes a notice to quit. Then we hold our breath and hope no physical damage is done to the place or we have faint hope that the buyer will magically pay us in full. Reality will be somewhere between those two scenarios.

What angers me most regarding this situation is that the buyers are both working but spending money foolishly. Meanwhile our monthly obligations become a juggling act and we often dip into what we call our sacred cache in order to pay on time.

Then there's other unexpected events that leave us bewildered. One is the ongoing struggles of an acquaintance. After "poor me" pleas and drunken rants fail to solve her problems, she resorts to stealing and blatant lies. It's hard to have compassion when she repeatedly makes poor choices. She was found hiding in a janitor closet at a business about to close. She slapped the night clerk, tried to grab cash, was chased by the police, fought with them, and tore her clothes off in the squad car. Screams of "I'm a victim, I'm a victim" no longer garner empathy because her anger, fear and carelessness have clouded her thinking. Consequently, she's in jail, her children in foster care and her belongings on the sidewalk following an eviction.

Then, we make a quick trip to town and come home to find more cats dropped off here and some one's spun donuts in our front yard.

We called two of the three neighbors visible from our place but none had heard or seen anything. One did say: "It's just beginning. I think we need to have a neighborhood patrol, especially after dark." He then told us the wood he piled on his back deck yesterday had disappeared and the neighbor in the valley next to him had his truck windows smashed in two nights ago. What's incredible about that is the truck was sitting 1/4 mile down a driveway that cuts through the woods! In other words, way out of plain view & his iron gate is locked at night. Some ass walked through the woods or down that drive just to break windows!

We're half a mile off a main road near a community of 600 people minding our own business and trying to keep our heads above water. If it's this crazy here is it because everything is more apparent in a small town or is this a microscopic sample of the big wide world?

3 comments:

Sixbears said...

Sorry to hear you are having problems.

I'm seeing lots of wacky behavior and expect it to get worse.

It's not bad right now in neck of the woods, but a short trip up or down the road it is. Neighbors still keep an eye out for things here.

I must admit that this year I like the idea of having house sitters when we travel south this winter. I'm also glad they have two big dogs.

treesong said...

Today was first day in awhile that we both left here at same time. We'll go to just about any length to stay home or only one go out during the day only. In the cities I suppose there's more gun violence, etc. but I think in the rural areas & small communities it's more rampant because people overall feel they have nothing to lose anymore.

Anonymous said...

I am not saying that this applies to you, but there always was an idealized view of life in the country in the minds of many preppers. It is not as bad as in the cities but this isn't Mayberry. We have our share of substance abusers, welfare queens etc. Thankfully, what we don't have is the violence. But that too is gradually changing. The traditional community constraints, family, churchs and schools are breaking down and they cannot be replaced by more laws and police.