It has arrived. It has accumulated. It's expected again tonight.
Snow is a reality in November, especially in northern New England...especially ESPECIALLY if you're in the foothills of western Maine. But we're generally closer to Thanksgiving before the snow stops going away. It started unexpectedly around 4:30 last night, and stopped at some point before we got up this morning. It made work last night extremely busy, then quiet. I spend the last hour of my shift alternating between staring at the floor, and gazing sadly out to the accumulating winter precipitation. It's not all bad I suppose...and it's not like I had much winter to put up with last year (almost makes me miss the pacific northwest)...
We had slow-cooked chili last night. We tried a new recipe, and added the Pepper Man's peppers. It was kicky! Not as good as the last batch, but we're definitely going to add aspects from this batch to the last (italian sausage!). Eventually we'll have a unique recipe. We'll one day have a slew of our own recipes to enjoy and sell for profit. We also had cornbread, cheesecake that we were too full to eat (I'll make up for that at lunch today), and vodka. Cheap, Lewiston-bottled vodka. Added to iced tea. We went to bed after 1:00 a.m. more intoxicated than expected. Weren't we surprised when the window man knocked on the door at 8:00 this morning! Forgot about him, we did! He installed the upstairs windows this morning. We groggily and naueatedly watched The Today Show.
Around 10:00, Arthur came over with the vacuum. Now, I appreciate the thought, but I wasn't thrilled. When he came in, I thought he wanted to clean up after the window guy. There were wood chips to be taken care of, and I understood that well enough. But he vacuumed everything. He just...vacuumed everything! Carpets, no carpets...around us, around the window guy...and he spent a good deal of time on the stairs and entryway, which, if you'll remember from my previous window post, I vacuumed two days ago. And he didn't just touch up the stairs, he labored over them. Like they had never been vacuumed, and he had half a year's grime to lift out. Come ON! They smelled fantastic! They looked fine! After all was said and done, he told us that we had to "get on the ball" about washing the kitchen floor, and contemptuously told us that if our vacuum is what we vacuum the dining room with, it's just not good enough. (we sweep the dining room, since it's linoleum and we happen to have a broom.) He left and came back with one of his four machines for us to use. Jeremy told me to "calm down" when I started venting. I know my reaction's a bit much, but let me get it out! If I knew he was going to covertly inspect the apartment under the ruse of vacuuming up wood chips, I would've prepared. I would've washed the floor. I might've even scrubbed the toilet! So, in my eyes, he came over to spy, and insulted me in the process. I get to be pissed for an hour.
I'll likely be embarrassed about my ranting later. But there's no reasoning with me now, dear readers. There's a polite way to tell us we're gross. I can deal with manners in a mannerly fashion. But MAN!
Pressing on.
Al Franken has a new book, and I have started reading it (thanks, Jay-Niles Library!). It's called The Truth (with jokes). Al Franken cracks me up.
Okay! Everybody have a super-duper day! Don't judge! (PLEASE!)
4 comments:
Arthur is your landlord? UG!! How irritating- I am the kind of person who pretends I am not home when the landlord knocks... I don't know... I just don't like it when they come over often to look over their stuff, etc.
SNOW!!! I am soooooo jealous. We just got rain here, OF COURSE. I want snow.
We have a landlord that doesn't do anything for us, and I honestly believe he doesn't care whether we live or die. Or we did have one, anyway; we no longer pay the rent directly to him but instead to the trust set up in his recently dead wife's name, so I'm not sure who actually lords our land at the moment. Anyway, my point here is that I can assure you firsthand that the other extreme of landlord/tenant relations is also rather shitty.
I hope he at least was smiling when he entered your apartment without the standard "makes it more legal" 24-hour notice for a landlord to enter your apartment. Unless he actually gave you that little note that says "I'm coming to inexplicably vacuum your side of the house for no reason except to upset you tomorrow morning bright and early". Then I think he's covered. Otherwise, I'm not sure he can justify carpet mites as an "emergency". Also, any man who vacuums his linoleum flooring is not to be trusted.
I'm pretty sure state law also allows you to see just how big and plastic an object his fancy vacuum cleaner can actually pick up. Also, I'd do this at 2 or 3 am, just so that the ambient sound from outside is dampened, thus making your scientific results more reliable.
No snow here, just gray and brownness. And cold. Jhawn thinks it smells like snow, but I think (and weather.com thinks) he's full of beans.
I'm with you, I would be very upset if my landlord told me I needed to "get on the ball" about cleaning anything in my space, especially the kitchen floor. He can be a clean freak all he wants but he has no legal right to say anything to you about it. If anything, he has committed a crime by saying such a thing. It would be considered harassment. He has no right to do such a thing. Now, if something about your space was a health violation he could say something. If say, you had rat poop everywhere or piles of take out boxes (in the hundreds) roaming with ant and roaches. Of course if you have rat poop, ants, roaches or dust mites (that were not your pets) the landlord would be responsible for getting rid of them. Not you.
Jim is right about the 24 hrs. notice rule unless it is an emergency: like the place is on fire or the pipes have frozen or there is a gas leak.
When it comes right down to it, if you pay your rent the landlord can not tell you what to do about anything.
I have a copy of the "Renters Handbook" which explains your legal rights when renting an apartment if you would like to peruse through it.
Also watch "Pacific Heights" if they have it at the video shop.
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