HANDLING THE HOUSE
BACKGROUND: In 2011, I inherited a 20-acre parcel in Central Illinois. I did not want to grow GMO corn and soybeans, so lived in Urbana for 2 years while detoxifying the soil with alfalfa. In October 2013, I put a Riley modular home (3 bedrooms, 2 bath, 1300 sq ft) on the property. The acreage had NO trees! [See photo in blog #14] When I moved to Florida, I rented out the house.
Mid 2019 I sold the farm to my mentor; however, the house was not included in the sale. The third tenant turned out to be “undesirable.” I gave him a 60-day notice to move, but then the COVID “scamdemic” hit, and Illinois did not allow evictions. Thus he was there another 2 years, during which he let weeds in the west yard grow to 5+ feet and “trash” trees to grow to 8+ feet—a veritable jungle!!
Notice the cable dish buried in the weeds and trees!
I replaced my perpetually flat tire and left Clearwater at 2 p.m. on Friday, Sept 2nd. I usually stay with my friends Scott and Silvia in Atlanta, but ironically they were in Clearwater for services. Fortunately, they connected me with Charles, who is renting a room there. Amazingly, he did not display upset when I arrived at 1:00 a.m. Saturday morning. Nice guy!
Saturday's drive took me through Chattanooga, Nashville, Louisville, Indianapolis, and finally to my house--only to find the door jammed! Jane let me sleep on her living room floor. (She didn't want me to stay there due to the difficulties she has handling her husband, who has Alzheimers.)
You know how when you take off on a trip, you spend the first 20 minutes or so wondering what you might have forgotten. Well, when I went to put on my work clothes, I realized what I forgot—my work bra! Sister Jane came to the rescue and loaned me a black lace bra that she never wore. So for a week a worked and sweated in a black lace bra. How funny is that?! (Sorry, no photo—in the bra, or in my work clothes, camo cap, no makeup.)
Matt, who I hired to do repairs, unjammed the door Sunday morning, at which point I moved my stuff in—sorta like “camping out.” It took a few days for me to realize the HVC system was not working. Was in the 80's when I arrived; but a few mornings later I woke up and it was 55 degrees! Brrrrrr!
I met Duke (a retired biology teacher and prepper) in 2012. Gave him a “mayday” call. He came right over with his chainsaw, started cutting down the “trash” trees, and got a burn pile going. Then we got rained out. Meanwhile my old rain boots fell apart (literally!), so I drove the 15 miles to Urbana and purchased some work boots--and light bulbs, which I then installed—thanks to Jane's loan of a ladder.
My house did not have wi fi! Yikes! Felt like a teenager whose parents took away his cell phone. It's hard to remember a time in my adult life when I had no source of music or news (alternative media, of course). Maybe when traveling through the mountains of Bolivia with my college orchestra and the bus broke down!
Next day I continued feeding trees, branches and weeds onto the burn pile and splashing diesel fuel ($120 worth!) onto it to keep it going... not easy. Duke brought over a tractor with front bucket and back mower (“bush hog?”). Picture the guy with the big toys, and the old lady with the Japanese hand sickle.
People kept stopping by—mostly neighbors noticing the smoke, but happy to see the place getting cleaned up. Randy and his daughter brought me 4 apples from their trees. He then originated that he wanted to talk to me … got into a bit about how he's not happy with either of the 2 major political parties. I of course promoted the Libertarian party and he was receptive. :-)
On Tuesday Matt, Josh and I picked up tons of junk from the yard and they hauled it away. Plus I had to keep the burn pile going. On Wednesday I went to Rich's Restaurant (2 miles away in Ogden) for a Country Omelette, plus email. Took photos of the damage done by Chad, e.g. holes in doors. He told me initially that he didn't do drugs, but I think he was lying.
On Thursday Matt and Josh trimmed the front bushes and power washed the house, which removed the mold. Looks so much better! Around 5:30 I was out front clearing the vegetation off the pavers I put there years ago when a black pickup pulled up. Kent DeMay introduced himself and asked about the house. He seemed very interested, but after thinking about it for a few days decided against buying it.
On Friday neighbor Andy said for $60 he'd come over with his chain saw and take out the willows that had engulfed my solar lamp. 
He arrived with his 2 grandsons who hauled the trees and branches over to the burn pile. They're being home schooled which somehow made me more willing to pay them.
One of the goals of the Savanna Institute is to return the land to its natural savanna. Bur oaks are native trees, but most have been destroyed by the farmers. A past president of the University of Illinois started a legacy program to give out free bur oak saplings in exchange for the recipient making and turning in a map of where they were planted. Bob and I planted a dozen in 2014, but I could only find two that survived. :-( The one by the solar lamp is over 8' tall! Hurrah!
Duke helped me uncover part of the septic area. I'm worried, however, that there are some trees growing over the leach field pipes. We finally found the two big compost bins Bob built out of pallets, and I filled with weeds and mulch. The pallets were all moldy, so we burned them. Duke agreed that there was some good composted soil left—which I'd been wondering about. (I love “growing soil!”)
I spent till dark clearing vegetation off the front pavers. After 6 years dealing with Florida's sand “soil,” it was wonderful to see the rich black Illinois soil!
For my 79th (eeeeeek!) birthday on 10 September, I decided to do NO manual labor. Had my first good night's sleep since arriving. (Note that I was sleeping on three 1” foam pads, which still wasn't enough to prevent hip pain when I slept on my side. Think “Princess and the Pea”!) Note that to get up in the morning, I had to roll off the mats, crawl over to a chair and use that to raise myself to a standing position. Made me feel old. :-( Managed to wash my hair despite having no shower curtain!. Bacon and eggs at Rich's, plus a free birthday treat--chocolate cake with mousse and a candle.
Received a theta birthday email from daughter Ashley with a bunch of photos. Grandson Atlas is 2 now and VERY cute! Big bedroom eyes. Ashley says he sings all the time. Are we surprised?
My good friend Paul Schneider, who runs the Champaign-Urbana Mission, treated me to lunch—2-1/2 hours to catch up! Then off to the store to buy myself a $5 pair of gardening/work gloves for my birthday. (The three pairs I brought were full of burs!)
Sister Jane (one year older) and I grew up playing piano duets and Scrabble. We both get great pleasure from this. When I got to Jane's, she said Don had been very problematical all day and she didn't think he would let us have our fun. I exuded as much theta as possible, comm'd with him as best I could, and we ended up getting to play quite a few duets and TWO games of Scrabble! Theta win!
One very good thing that happened was the announcement of the death of Queen Elizabeth, which ends the period of suppressive British Admiralty Rule and allows the U.S. to return to being a Constitutional Republic. Three Huzzahs!!!
I worked on the yard by myself (endless weeds, endless work!) all day Sunday. Duke and I did more work on the west yard on Monday.
Created a second burn pile. Burn, baby, burn!!
A realtor, came over on Tuesday and spent a couple of hours discussing the house/property and filling out the listing contract.
Then Duke and I finished up the west yard.
He then needed to drive the tractor/mower to his home 6 miles away. “Can you drive my truck?” he asked. Hmmm... I suppose if in 2011 on my way to Illinois I drove the big U-Haul truck for a bit, I could probably drive his pickup—which I did. Well, okay, I was following him so only going 20 mph.
It was hard to find the words to thank him for all his help without which I would have been in deep doo-doo! I'm going to write a really good commendation for him. (He didn't even know about commendations!)
I then spent till dark uncovering all the pavers in front.
By now my body was saying, “That's it! Enough is enough! Leave now before you twist your ankle on a tree stump, or fall face first into the fire while heaving a big tree branch like a javelin!” Having lined up who was going to do what to get the house listed, I decided I could return home. (Would you believe it's costing me $3400 to get the interior of the house mudded, primed and painted?! And another $660 to fix the HVC. Oi vey!)
Wednesday morning I returned the stuff Jane loaned to me; then relieved her of 6 boxes of my stuff that she was storing in her attic. Packed the car—challenging, but I did it. Then stopped back at Jane's for a few duets and a final Scrabble game. She told me that Don threatens, nearly every day, to jump off the bridge in front of a big truck. It's understandable to me that he's suicidal. Jane thinks if she put him in a facility, it “would kill him.” They are both trapped! Sad. Collateral damage from the unconventional war which includes chem trails, GMO food, etc.
Headed off around 4. Stayed all night at a somewhat rundown EconoLodge in Franklin (So. Indiana). I was surprised that the lady quoted me $70. I inquired about a senior discount, and she got it down to $60. The lights in the room were very weird in that there were not standard light switches—so I got in bed thinking I'd have to try and sleep with the light on; but some 5 min later, the light went off. How did it know? Or was it a poltergeist?
It was a treat to shower and wash my hair—with a shower curtain. Crossed the Ohio river into Louisville. Then lunched in Elizabeth Town. [Note that my mother's name was Elizabeth Franklin Loeffler Swengel—so slept in Franklin and lunched in Elizabeth Town—in memoriam to Mom!] Then Nashville, Chattanooga. Made it to Atlanta around 10.
Left around 8 Friday morning. Note here that to prevent leg pain, I stop at nearly all of the rest stops, do my pilates exercise, and “PP” (Preventive Peeing”) so as not to have to pee when I'm driving. Passed Macon. Lunch at Shoney's (salmon teriyaki) north of Valdosta. Cheered when I passed into Florida! Dinner at Cracker Barrel south of Ocala. Arrived home around 8:30 in heavy rain. Whew!
What a joy to be back in my own comfy bed, and back to my organic food, keto diet, and life routines. So there, my friends. Hope I didn't bore you—too much!
Love, Marcia (818) 552-2211 marpo3344@gmail.com Clearwater, FL
