AAARRGH!!!! Moving Pains......
November 26th 2007 07:03
Well.
If you read my post 'More Moving' then you'll notice I say at the end...." I just want the shit to stop"
Shit? SHIT? I didnt know what SHIT was ok? Directly following on from that post we got Sunday afternoon, a slowly recovering sick horse, and moving to organise.
We tentatively book a horse and moving truck and begin to pack. Primary to everyones thoughts is fencing. The new place requires quite a bit of that and has none at all, and the fence must be secure before the horses arrive. Since they are moving on Sat the 1st, we begin to plan. Fri night becomes fence deconstruct night.
On the way home I ring Kman and say - "Are we fencing tonight? I can get started before you get there but you have to help me finish up" HE says, he doesnt want to do it if the weathers bad. I tell him fuck the weather, its gotta be done. He still says if its pouring, he doesnt want to start yet.
Steam coming out of my ears, I get home and rage down into the back paddock. I lock the horses in the only other yard we have and begin. I unstring tape and try not to tangle it. I joust with spiders, wasps, a pitbull puppy from next door, who, even though shes a cardboard cut out of her murdering mother who destroyed my ducks, is rather sweet. By half way through my knuckles are bleeding. Tired from the weeks work and early starts and weakened by a mysterious stomach virus I picked up on Tuesday, I fight on. Tape is down, I start pulling pickets. 32 of them ripped from the ground by my bleeding fingers.
Then I have to get them to the shed - up the VERY steep hill. I get some on the wheelbarrow but I end up having to do a few trips. Got any idea how heavy 32 star pickets are? especially when they are so long they dont fit IN the barrow, but must be precariously placed on top. Im getting the last load to the shed when the puppy speeds through my legs into the shed - and chases out a cat! I dont care - Im nearly fucking finished!
I get the horses fed and happy, leave mum making up the next days feeds and collapse in front of the end of neighbors with a beer. First leg down, I think.
Kman arrives, and with much "Poor baby, oh, my poor darling" apologises - what he MEANT to say was, if its raining, dont start until I get there. To make the job shorter.
How conveniant.
Mum comes in with steam coming out her nose. She cant get the puppy on the right side of the fence, and Shakirs after it. She says, "Shall I leave this note for them in the letterbox?" In heavy slashed capitols it writes along the lines of - "We have your dog, you know where to find it" Im envisioning very tired very agressive Mr Pitbull breeder coming home from work on a friday night and reading that......And say FUCK NO! Mum thinks its a nice letter. Still, I say no letter. She goes off for a shower, and Kman takes puppy back later.
The next morning while Princess Kman sleeps in, I go to the new property to count pickets. Ive estimated about 100, and count that we'll need 90. So, that means, with 32 here, we have to buy 88 pickets, 230 pin locks, and 400mt of tape. We go to the fencing store and I kiss my christmas savings goodbye as the bill clicks up to $550.
I saved hard for that money. Mums birthday is a week before christmas then christmas itself. I thought I was prepared, but, its ok I tell myself, we have to move, we have no choice.
It turns out, driving 88 pickets to the new location in mums hatch is the more traumatic thing. One hard brake, one hard corner, and the pickets would have been all over the road and the car totalled. All the way there, I grip handrests and frantically reach for the brake, which, of course, is not situated on the passenger side.
That done, we retrieve Kman and the other 32 pickets, we go and vote,
CONGRATUALTIONS, MR RUDD! MR PRIME MINISTER, ELECT!
We begin. Kman bangs in pickets while we put on insulators. We are about halfway through and making good time......
When the landlord arrives. First he drops this bombshell - no dogs in the house! My mum explains her dogs are tiny, rat sized, he says he doesnt care. We tell him to shove it, mums dogs cant live outside! He backs down, but it just sets the mood.... He says the paddock is too big - he hasnt got government approval for it. We agree to shorten it, and he takes off.
We bang in some pickets. Im thinking (stupidly) of how this might just wrap up quickly. Then I notice our dimensions.....
"STOP!" I yell, stop everything. Its too small. 4 horses wont live in here. So, we wait for him to return. When he does, we begin to negotiate.
It goes on and on. Hours. And the final conclusion? To put it back the way we had it.
Oh, man, if I wasnt so fucking tired, Id be fuming. So, we continue. Pacing out fence lengths, banging in pickets. My hands are black from the tar coating. Im hungry and exhausted but dammit, Im going to get this done as if I had never been interrupted!
The whole time Im soaking in the peace of the dead end street. Im getting to know the various birds and really, really looking forward to making this place my own. Im thinking of no hassle training, as I'll now have stables and yards and wash bays and tie up poles. I cant wait for the first day I can wander up the paddock, throw myself down in the grass and watch the sky and listen to her, all of her. The thrum of her earth, the whisper of her wind and the song of her vibration. Create with my presence a new eco system.
The top line is strung and the fence is in place, only one and a half lines to go. 830pm, we call stop. I come back here to feed the animals while mum and Kman hunt down some take away. Saturday night I NEVER go to bed early, but make the sacrifice because we got plans right now!
Sunday morning. Half awake. Im crippled by period pain. I cant move, I cant get up. I can barely moan. My hands are aching and Ive twisted my ankle. Somewhere in a half dream I hear shouting and think Kmans taken off....But I dont concern myself with it.
Hours later it seems, Im in Kmans arms, slowly waking up. He sees me awake. "K...." he says "we got problems". "What do you mean?" I moan. He tells me....
I did indeed hear yelling that morning. The landlord came and informed mum that the paddock was still too big, we'd have to shorten it. Or go somewhere else.
The 3 of us huddle in the kitchen like refugees. I wrap my hands around a coffee and tell them Im beyond decision now - I dont know what to do. Just as we are about to tear each other to shreds, the landlord returns. Kman goes out to speak to him, and mum and I arent game enough to leave the house. Last thing I need right now is an assualt charge.
When Kman returns, it is to tell us that the landlord has called it off - kit and kaboodle the whole shebang. See, he had a great idea to dodge land tax. Only late Sunday afternoon, after hed disrupted EVERYBODIES LIVES! (not just ours - tenants in other houses too!) did he find out it wouldnt work. No matter how he did it, he'd never dodge the taxes. So, you are staying here and can you take down that fence asap? Thanks. Sorry to trouble you.
Questions anyone? Kleos out of answers.
If you read my post 'More Moving' then you'll notice I say at the end...." I just want the shit to stop"
Shit? SHIT? I didnt know what SHIT was ok? Directly following on from that post we got Sunday afternoon, a slowly recovering sick horse, and moving to organise.
We tentatively book a horse and moving truck and begin to pack. Primary to everyones thoughts is fencing. The new place requires quite a bit of that and has none at all, and the fence must be secure before the horses arrive. Since they are moving on Sat the 1st, we begin to plan. Fri night becomes fence deconstruct night.
On the way home I ring Kman and say - "Are we fencing tonight? I can get started before you get there but you have to help me finish up" HE says, he doesnt want to do it if the weathers bad. I tell him fuck the weather, its gotta be done. He still says if its pouring, he doesnt want to start yet.
Steam coming out of my ears, I get home and rage down into the back paddock. I lock the horses in the only other yard we have and begin. I unstring tape and try not to tangle it. I joust with spiders, wasps, a pitbull puppy from next door, who, even though shes a cardboard cut out of her murdering mother who destroyed my ducks, is rather sweet. By half way through my knuckles are bleeding. Tired from the weeks work and early starts and weakened by a mysterious stomach virus I picked up on Tuesday, I fight on. Tape is down, I start pulling pickets. 32 of them ripped from the ground by my bleeding fingers.
Then I have to get them to the shed - up the VERY steep hill. I get some on the wheelbarrow but I end up having to do a few trips. Got any idea how heavy 32 star pickets are? especially when they are so long they dont fit IN the barrow, but must be precariously placed on top. Im getting the last load to the shed when the puppy speeds through my legs into the shed - and chases out a cat! I dont care - Im nearly fucking finished!
I get the horses fed and happy, leave mum making up the next days feeds and collapse in front of the end of neighbors with a beer. First leg down, I think.
Kman arrives, and with much "Poor baby, oh, my poor darling" apologises - what he MEANT to say was, if its raining, dont start until I get there. To make the job shorter.
How conveniant.
Mum comes in with steam coming out her nose. She cant get the puppy on the right side of the fence, and Shakirs after it. She says, "Shall I leave this note for them in the letterbox?" In heavy slashed capitols it writes along the lines of - "We have your dog, you know where to find it" Im envisioning very tired very agressive Mr Pitbull breeder coming home from work on a friday night and reading that......And say FUCK NO! Mum thinks its a nice letter. Still, I say no letter. She goes off for a shower, and Kman takes puppy back later.
The next morning while Princess Kman sleeps in, I go to the new property to count pickets. Ive estimated about 100, and count that we'll need 90. So, that means, with 32 here, we have to buy 88 pickets, 230 pin locks, and 400mt of tape. We go to the fencing store and I kiss my christmas savings goodbye as the bill clicks up to $550.
I saved hard for that money. Mums birthday is a week before christmas then christmas itself. I thought I was prepared, but, its ok I tell myself, we have to move, we have no choice.
It turns out, driving 88 pickets to the new location in mums hatch is the more traumatic thing. One hard brake, one hard corner, and the pickets would have been all over the road and the car totalled. All the way there, I grip handrests and frantically reach for the brake, which, of course, is not situated on the passenger side.
That done, we retrieve Kman and the other 32 pickets, we go and vote,
CONGRATUALTIONS, MR RUDD! MR PRIME MINISTER, ELECT!
We begin. Kman bangs in pickets while we put on insulators. We are about halfway through and making good time......
When the landlord arrives. First he drops this bombshell - no dogs in the house! My mum explains her dogs are tiny, rat sized, he says he doesnt care. We tell him to shove it, mums dogs cant live outside! He backs down, but it just sets the mood.... He says the paddock is too big - he hasnt got government approval for it. We agree to shorten it, and he takes off.
We bang in some pickets. Im thinking (stupidly) of how this might just wrap up quickly. Then I notice our dimensions.....
"STOP!" I yell, stop everything. Its too small. 4 horses wont live in here. So, we wait for him to return. When he does, we begin to negotiate.
It goes on and on. Hours. And the final conclusion? To put it back the way we had it.
Oh, man, if I wasnt so fucking tired, Id be fuming. So, we continue. Pacing out fence lengths, banging in pickets. My hands are black from the tar coating. Im hungry and exhausted but dammit, Im going to get this done as if I had never been interrupted!
The whole time Im soaking in the peace of the dead end street. Im getting to know the various birds and really, really looking forward to making this place my own. Im thinking of no hassle training, as I'll now have stables and yards and wash bays and tie up poles. I cant wait for the first day I can wander up the paddock, throw myself down in the grass and watch the sky and listen to her, all of her. The thrum of her earth, the whisper of her wind and the song of her vibration. Create with my presence a new eco system.
The top line is strung and the fence is in place, only one and a half lines to go. 830pm, we call stop. I come back here to feed the animals while mum and Kman hunt down some take away. Saturday night I NEVER go to bed early, but make the sacrifice because we got plans right now!
Sunday morning. Half awake. Im crippled by period pain. I cant move, I cant get up. I can barely moan. My hands are aching and Ive twisted my ankle. Somewhere in a half dream I hear shouting and think Kmans taken off....But I dont concern myself with it.
Hours later it seems, Im in Kmans arms, slowly waking up. He sees me awake. "K...." he says "we got problems". "What do you mean?" I moan. He tells me....
I did indeed hear yelling that morning. The landlord came and informed mum that the paddock was still too big, we'd have to shorten it. Or go somewhere else.
The 3 of us huddle in the kitchen like refugees. I wrap my hands around a coffee and tell them Im beyond decision now - I dont know what to do. Just as we are about to tear each other to shreds, the landlord returns. Kman goes out to speak to him, and mum and I arent game enough to leave the house. Last thing I need right now is an assualt charge.
When Kman returns, it is to tell us that the landlord has called it off - kit and kaboodle the whole shebang. See, he had a great idea to dodge land tax. Only late Sunday afternoon, after hed disrupted EVERYBODIES LIVES! (not just ours - tenants in other houses too!) did he find out it wouldnt work. No matter how he did it, he'd never dodge the taxes. So, you are staying here and can you take down that fence asap? Thanks. Sorry to trouble you.
Questions anyone? Kleos out of answers.
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Comment by tlcorbin-raginravensview
mumble...growl...hiss, maybe Raven will have one of his distant relatives do a flyover and crap on his head.
What legal avenues do you have available? Railing is easy, but you need something a bit more substantive. I trust you'll keep us posted on this mess.
Raven
Comment by Kleonaptra
Kalikapsychosis
Technically, we can ask for compensation, and hes been breaking the rules by showing up here unannounced. BUT, we didnt have any requests in writing, so, that means yet again we've been too trusting and niave and just 'gone along with things' to make life (supposedly) easier and been burned for our trouble.
As far as landlords go, he's pretty good. Thats saying something.
We made official complaints to the real estate, who, by law are required to look after the interests of both tenant and landlord. We may get some free rent and our inspections have been cancelled.
I just want to be left alone for 6 months so I can save a deposit....Then IM the landlord!
Comment by tlcorbin-raginravensview
Comment by Ash
Flashes of memories
Comment by Kleonaptra
Kalikapsychosis
*sigh* it seems, theres to be no rest for me. I must be too wicked. Thanks for your thoughts, friend.
Ash,
And that is just the beginning...Tuesday to today has been its own adventure.
When we BUY I will accept nothing less than metal piping or wood post and rail. Electric fence is an ok quick fix, but star pickets and horses are a ticking time bomb slowly clicking over to disaster.
What I can do is section off THIS property and hopefully make it a bit safer. Thats gonna be a lot of hope though!
Comment by Lilla
From The Home Front
Enviro Warrior
Dream Herald
Esoteric Bookshop
Is this a nightmare you want interpreted ...am I on the wrong site again?
Or is this the best news this week?
You poor thing, if you waited on faith to see if the universe would prevail, you wouldn't have got the work done in time, if it didn't ... buy being accepting, you got cooked.
It is so terrible, that the only way forward is to find the place you can laugh about it... but it can be so hard to find... I hope with all my heart you can find it soon...the picture of all this (to an objective observer) is straight of an I Love Lucy show.
Many hugs to you and Kman...and Mum, too.
Lilla ...xx
Comment by Kleonaptra
Kalikapsychosis
But Im sick of getting nothing for it.
Funny you mention I Love Lucy....I often say my life is like a sitcom!
Accepting hugs.....The rest of the week is still to come!
Comment by Lilla
From The Home Front
Enviro Warrior
Dream Herald
Esoteric Bookshop
Comment by Kleonaptra
Kalikapsychosis