Not AGAIN?!

Those of you who know me know that I'm on pain medication, and that I will most likely be on pain medication for the rest of my life. I've had two back surgeries, one in 2001 and another in 2006, and the last one didn't go quite as well as planned. I've had some nerves that have been dislodged from their correct locations, and the pain just never stops.

When this happened and I submitted it as a work injury, I had a helluva time making people understand that I truly WAS in a lot of pain. Rather than accept that fact and help me, the Doctors decided to make my life miserable by writing in my charts that I exhibited drug seeking behavior. If you know anything about pain doctors, as soon as they see that the words "drug addict" come to mind. For me, however, that was not the case! I was actually hurting!

It took 2 years and a LOT of arguing and fighting in front of lawyers and my insurance company to make them believe that I wasn't some sort of addict to downers, but that they made me function. Without them, I would sit in a chair, rocking slightly and crying for day after day because it hurt to even move! Finally though, I went to see Doctor Baldi at Broadlawns and he explained what was happening to me, why it was happening to me, and told me that it was a legitimate thing that I was experiencing. Hooray for me! I had a champion! And he did a great job for me, prescribing me enough pain medication to keep me out of pain, but not overdoing it. He went by what I asked, and we even reduced my intake of medication on a couple of medications because they weren't needed or it was too strong.

I move to Texas, and my first problem is that I cannot find a new pain doctor that will take Iowa Workman's comp insurance. I run out of medication, and not only start to go through withdrawal symptoms, but also start having this unbearable pain again. Finally, the Work Comp insurance company comes through with a doctor in Houston of all places, and asks me to drive about 450 miles roundtrip once a month to go to this doctor. I reluctantly agree.

This guy doesn't believe in using pain medication, so Oh boy, I'm obviously going to have problems. To my surprise he admits that I will probably need something for the rest of my life. He takes me off of all the medications that I had been used to, and puts me on Methadone and Hydrocodone, at a much lesser level than what I'm used to taking. Having no other choices, I agree to take what I can get (I was scared to change from soemthing that worked) and see how it goes. Much to my surprise, I'm able to get by with these two drugs. I'm reasonably sure that my insurance company breathed a sigh of relief too, since my drug expense went from about $1200 per month to about $300 per month.

Today I go for my fifth visit to this new doctor. We sorta have a routine now. I go in, he comes in, asks me questions, writes me two new scripts, and then I leave. This week was different. I go in, he sends in his resident to ask questions, then comes in and tells me he can't help me anymore because he got a letter from the insurance company telling him about how I've been seeing other doctors to get more pain medication behind his back!

You could have knocked me over with a feather. I'm now a doctor shopping drug addict, according to the work comp insurance company. I cannot believe the nerve of these bastards. I don't work. The only way I can afford medication is to go through them, and they think that I'm running around seeing other doctors? Wow. I cannot believe it! I beg him to hear me out and believe me. I'm NOT seeing any other doctors, and the only medication I'm taking other than what he's aware of are my diabetes drugs. There are NO narcotics that I'm taking that he hasn't signed off on or been aware of. He agrees to help me, but I have to drop a UA right at that moment. I laugh and tell him I'll drop a UA whenever he wants me to, because I don't even drink! (I do admit to having about 1/4 of a glass of wine on my mother's Birthday though...Lambrusco. I was feeling woozy after 1/4 of a glass, and wound up dumping it out!) So, I do the urinalysis, get my prescriptions and leave, FURIOUS.

I guess my next move is to call my lawyer. I'm innocent of what they are accusing me of, and I have no idea why the insurance company would make a move against me like this--everything is as it always of, and even cheaper than it was last year at this time. I am so frustrated and don't know what to do.

I think what bugs me the most is that they have now created a rift between myself and my pain doctor. The relationship between he and I HAS to be one of trust, and they have introduced this bit of doubt to him, ruining the start of a good relationship. I HAVE to continue to see him, as there is no one else I can see, and now he thinks that I'm a freaking junkie. That really hurts, and it's not true. u

People, please know this. If you have someone you know that is injured and NOT taking vicodin by the handful, then he's or she is probably NOT an addict in the traditional sense. People DO get hurt, and HAVE to take medication in order to kill the pain. PLEASE don't judge them before you know and understand their situation. Most of us really only take what is prescribed to us. It's the freakin' druggies that make it bad for those of us who NEED these pills to keep from hurting.

Grrrr. What am I going to do now?

Changing my road here....

I've decided to change my "writing" road here. For the past three months I've been gathering up information to write a comedy about the apartment complex where I live, but so much has changed since I've moved in here that I've decided to go back to an old novel "The Demon Hunter Diaries, book 1."

There are a number of reasons I've decided to do this, and the most important of which is dreams. I've been having horrible dreams about demons and demonic things and they have been upsetting me a great deal. I initially thought that they were a symptom of the years I spent hunting ghosts, but now I think that they might be story lines that I can use to finish my novel rather than dreams just to scare me. Also, since I've had that realization, the dreams have somewhat stopped, which is really nice. I'd not been sleeping much while all of that was going on.

I've got a lot of review to do though. I started DHD three years ago as a Nanowrimo project that didn't work out, and while the premise was good, I was just too busy back then to write the required 50k words during the month of November. Now I can work on it at my own speed, and I think I can get into it again. Oddly, it's still interesting to me.


Wish me luck!

Coming up on four months in the "Cliff" now, and so much has happened since my last entry. The madness that used to be this place has now mellowed considerably, and now I live in a sort of fear. Being gay in a place like this is quite a strange feeling. It's really odd to have some sort of seniority here now.

Our next door neighbor, the one who took Rubys old apartment owns a local body shop. He drinks a lot, and there's a lot of banging around that happens at night while he drinks. His employee, a sizable black man has moved into Daniels old apartment and he's constantly doing work on it....bang, bang, bang. Poor Sasha can't seem to get a break. She is constantly barking.

Speaking of Sasha though, she's picked up a new hobby--catching houseflies. She's a snapping machine, let me tell you. Whether it's in the living room, bedroom, no matter where she is, if a flying insect comes anywhere near her she launches herself in the air and snaps. It's really gross when she catches one, but your kinda grateful that it's one less fly that's landed on your hand post dog launch.

She's NOT dealing well with the allergies of Texas either. She's a constant itching machine. If she's not snapping at flies, shes chewing on herself or scratching herself. She's covered with horrible bleeding scabs at this point, and I just feel like a horrible incompetent dog owner because i cannot afford to help her with allergy shots. I also can't even help her with simple normal medication right at the moment, which really makes me feel like shit. She needs all of her meds...especially flea pills, and heartworm meds. It's because of me that she's already had to do the heartworm remedy once, and I really don't want her to have to go through that again, not to mention the $500 cost of that. Plus, we got really lucky and she lived through the procedure. Some dogs don't get so lucky. I would have died if she would have died.

Okay...outta here for now. Watching "Percy Jackson and the Olympians." It's pretty darn good so far!

On Day three of the original manuscript I introduced characters Leroy and Mimi (previously known as Bertha) to the script. What's been happening in "The Cliff" over the past few weeks tends to center mostly around these characters. Suffice it to say, Leroy hasn't had such a bad time since he was attacked by killer bees.

Dana, as we know has been working here at the apartment complex helping with painting and general repairs, ie lifting refrigerators and stoves and moving them around in a musical appliances type game where the good appliances find new homes with people who need them and the bad ones move to apartments that are vacant. One of the major projects that he's worked on since he started was apartment #4 which is the apartment directly across from us.

Number Four was a major pit. It needed new paint, new walls, and even new flooring in the kitchen and bathroom. When we originally moved into Rosehill Apartments, a nice hispanic gentleman named Pedro was working with Leroy on the place, and Dana sorta moved in and took over for him as he has a full-time job. I digress however. Apartment Four was finally finished, and Mrs. Ramirez rented the place to an elderly lady, her daughter, and her daughters daughter. What the hell? I was always under the impression that the truly blessed relationships were between Mothers and Sons, and Fathers and Daughters. Mothers and Daughters mix like oil and water, pretty much the same as Fathers and Sons. You just don't mix things like this and expect anything good to come from it. Mrs. Ramirez knows best though, especially since she did the actual rental of this place, and she IS the REAL owner of the complex, after all.

Leroy can be such a gentleman. He really bent over backwards for these ladies that Mrs Ramirez rented to. When they moved in they couldn't afford electricity deposits, so Leroy was kind enough to shut off the electricity that he provided for Ruby and move the account over to apartment number 4 for Grandma, Bebe, and the kid. Of course his doing this was the final straw in the demise of poor Ruby, who was pretty much in the same boat as these poor ladies in number 4 and unable to afford deposits of her own, and thus the main thing that forced her out. You just CANNOT live without electricity for any length of time...it doesn't work. Unfortunately for the new crew, Leroy had more in mind that just generosity. He had ulterior motives...much the same as the ones that he had for Ruby.

It didn't take long before he started making advances toward Bebe, whom he told Dana that he was planning on nailing very soon. He even said that he would marry her so he would have the opportunity to nail her AND her daughter, who is all of 16 years old.

The ladies of number four had only managed to be here about three weeks when their problems began. Much the same as what happened to Ruby, Bebe started getting very suggestive texts on her cell phone from Leroy in the middle of the night, and of course it made her very uncomfortable. She, of course told her mother who contacted Mr. Ramirez about this situation. Mr Ramirez, who has not been much of a Leroy fan lately did what any good apartment owner would do, and told him that he had three weeks to vacate the premises. Poor Leroy lost his job, his apartment, and any chance he had to support himself here in "The Cliff." He was pissed OFF.

In the meantime, Bebe has begun rekindling her relationship with her ex-husband, who drinks vodka from the bottle and beats her on a regular basis just because he can. He is a scary man who sits at the Gazebo here in the complex drinking Vodka and staring at people who walk by with an intimidating glare. Even though I realize that his real purpose is to protect his wife and children from the likes of Leroy, it's still very awkward, and Leroy feels appropriately threatened by this--locking himself in his apartment and only coming out in the moments when lots of people are around and he knows that nothing will happen to him. But now Leroy wants some kind of revenge, and apparently the only way he knows how to do that is with his cell phone.

The day after his eviction notice was given from Mr Ramirez, Leroy starts sending threatening text messages to Bebe rather than the suggestive ones--OMG! What an idiot! He had to realize that if the landlord was going to get a phone call over suggestive emails, then the police would get called for threatening ones! Apparently though, he didn't think that way, and sure enough when we got home the other night Daniel was sitting in a police car in the process of being arrested for these threatening text messages.

The Lovely Mimi, of course, will not believe that he did this, even though the police printed out a copy of the text messages and proved to her that they came from Leroy. I gotta wonder how in love you have to be to ignore cold hard facts...sheesh. I mean really, I can understand the fear of being a really big girl and not thinking that anyone else is going to want you, but damn girl...this is worse than just that. Your man is wanting to cheat on you, and dump you over for the next woman that will accept his advances. Poor Mimi... I will never understand Leroy. He has the most devoted vision of loveliness in Mimi, yet he devalues her at every opportunity by looking for a slut d'jour. If he weren't such a hick, he might actually have a shot with a real woman, but alas he is and NO ONE in their right mind would date this man. He is so very lucky to have Mimi, and he's a damn fool for not realizing it.

aside from that...Mykey SCORES! He puts up an auction with some of his very best jewelry, one of which was an Edouard Rambaud Bracelet from the 90's. The bracelet sold for $900, thus allowing him to cover rent and all the bills for the next month. He also managed to sell a pair of Chanel earrings for $300, which just sweetened the pot. YAY!

Stay tuned for more "Tales from the Cliff" coming soon!

I

The dreaded bathroom tragedy

Aha! Now the truth comes out!

When we moved into this cockroach infested hole, we noticed that the bathroom floor had caved in at one point. We asked, and Leroy told us that a big huge fat woman used to live in this apartment, and she fell through the floor. The story go even larger, with him telling me later on that she had sued Mr Ramirez, and that they had to pay all of her medical bills and give her 3k to cover lost wages, etc...

And today the real story...almost two months after the fact...Leroy and his girlfriend, hence known as the lovely Bertha, fell through the floor in the apartment next door when they lived in that apartment last year. I should say, rather, that it was Bertha by herself who was the offending party. I wonder if she realized at the time that she managed to collapse the main beam that supported the entire building right underneath the bathrooms at the time? Gotta wonder, because the floor in the apt next door is in MUCH better shape than ours is, and Leroy claims to have fixed the floor. Hmmmmm...

More oddities coming soon...

Catch up time...

Well, I've missed a few days, so it's catch up time! That's right...I've been so busy (well,not really) that I've just plum forgotten to write in my blog....SORRY!

Well, lets start out with Ruby. Ruby is the girl that lost her apartment because she was so stupid to think that getting a guy to beat up the apartment manager was a great thing to do. Well, she finally got her stuff out of her apartment last week, after 6 days of having no electricity in the place. She left more than half of her stuff there too, and the people around here were like vultures gobbling it up. Mr Ramirez was here the same day that she moved out and opened the apartment that morning to see how bad it was and boy...did it reek! Well, I kinda expected that, what with a mother cat, four kittens, carpeting, no air conditioning, and no litterbox! Wonder what he was expecting??

I got lucky! I found a home for "Sincy" and her kittens right before they were going to call animal control and have her picked up. Animal control would have put her down, but I put an ad up on craigslist with my plea for immediate help and someone finally came through for me. I was soooo relieved. I also got to see the kittens close up for the first time and they were just soooo cute! There was one that was pure white, pure black, and two that looked mixed grey tabby. so adorable. I know that I'm missing one, but one made it into the cage that I never did get to see. OH well. I would have gotten too attached if I had spent time fawning over them.

Dana is still working painting the apartment complex for Mr Ramirez and Leroy. It's going fairly well, but he's not getting all the money that he's supposed to get. He'll work for six hours and get forty dollars when he's supposed to get sixty. Mr R keeps telling him to keep his hours written down.

Doing work on OUR apartment? The world must be ending...

I can't believe it, but it's true! The landlord of our apartment complex has ordered the apartment manager to repair and paint the exteriors of all the buildings on the property. This is SUCH a great thing, as we had huge holes on the exterior of our building both around the window and up around the roof.

To make matters even better (We hope) the apartment manager pounded on our door and asked Dana to help with the painting. He's being paid $10 per hour to assist with the painting now, which temporarily help us if he pays cash like he claims he will. It would also help if he'll take $$ off of the rent. Just so long as he keeps his agreement, we will be happy. He has a track record of NOT doing that though.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and I'm spending the day today cleaning out my old breadmaker for my Mom, as she's said that she wants it for Mothers Day. I'd rather buy her a new one, but cash is just too tight right now. It's been a looong time since this thing has been used, so it will be interesting to watch and see how it goes.

No word on what we can do with Sincy or her kittens yet. Ruby should have come home last night, but she didn't. I have no idea when she plans on moving. I renewed my ad on craigslist this morning, so we'll continue to be patient and hope.

Ciao!

Bitter Irony....

You know, I have to quit spending so much time thinking. Thinking is very bad for ones state of mind, especially when one is bordering on depression as it is.

Today I was pondering my current life situation, having moved down here to Corpus Christi to take care of my Mom, and also as a potential solution to all the pain my back has during the cold weather. This is supposed to be the "Texas Riviera" area, where the weather is always nice, and the water is always warm. I've never lived in a beach type area before, so I was REALLY excited about living here...But what is it that the good Lord does to me just within a month after I arrive here?

Lets start with the less than humane sets of rules this place has...like a credit check and requiring LOCAL work history before renting an apartment in town here. I was unable to get any apartment except this cockroach ridden dump I currently live in here in The Cliff. I must have been totally stupid to take the place, especiall considering that the apartment manager got attacked by killer bee's on the day that we started moving into the place.

Yesterday I was reading the classified ads looking for a potential part time job here (only if they can meet my physical limitations)and found a job which I'm actually overqualified for as a cashier at the local pool. Now they are running credit checks just to get a stupid cashier's job??? OMG! What am I going to do now?

Now, lets add to that the search for the West Nile Virus, a sickness that kills off great numbers of the beautiful water fowl that populate this region. I was looking forward to seeing all the neat birds down here, and hoping maybe even to see a bunch morelong legged birds other than Herons. West Nile will take care of that.

I'm in the Vets office today and see a notification for Skunk Rabies. Now I have to worry about my freakin' dog getting tangled up with a skunk because she might get rabies? That sucks.

And finally, the oil spill caused by the sunken BP rig that exploded a week or so ago. I realize that everyone is working their ass off to get this thing contained, but come on....this is my life. When I move to the beach, God has to do something to destroy my happiness and excitement over it. My folks are telling me that we are in for "Little balls of oil washing up on the beach. Even if that's all that happens, it's still going to make the beach look really gross... It just figures.

Bitter Irony....sigh.

"Sincy" is a Mommy today!

Yes, it's true...The stray cat that's been hanging by our doorstep for the past three plus weeks snuck into the apartment next door last night (it's now vacant due to the demise of "Ruby") and had a litter of kittens! She had five of them altogether, and there are no two that look alike (the little tramp!). We've been sneaking into the apartment next door to take her food and water for the past few hours, and she seems to be doing fine. She won't leave the kittens yet though, and I'm a little afraid that there may be one that died laying there by her feet. I won't be able to tell though until we can get her up and moving, and I have NO idea how long that will take.

"Ruby" came home briefly last night to pick up the puppy, which she is now calling "Boo-boo". She may have done it because I was getting angry with her for leaving the puppy alone for so long, judging by the apologetic tone she took with me when she got here. I told her that I was just frustrated from listening to the puppy cry through the wall at night because it was so lonely. It really was hard to listen to, and knowing that the poor little thing was over there without anyone to interact with was very sad for me. To top matters off, I know that there was no electricity over there, so there is no air conditioning or radio, TV, or anything that may even sound like humans are around. I've ALWAYS made sure that Sasha Moo has had something on in the house so that she's not left in total silence. I believe that total silence makes loneliness much more difficult. Anyway, I digress...

While she was here last night, Sincy was on the porch eating some food that Dana had taken out for her. I had to guard her ferociously because the puppy was out, and when a pup has it's heart set on getting the cats food, well, they generally have a way of getting what they want! LOL! Poor Boo-booo was a handful!! Anyway, after Sincy had finished with her food, she wanted to get into that apartment, and I was NOT going to stop her. I used my legs and feet to block her way, to no avail. I considered reaching down and picking her up, but damn...she was very pregnant and I didn't want to hurt her. She made it into the apartment just as Ruby was leaving, managing to make it through the pitch black bedroom to the closet, and then into the corner. After she made it to the corner, there was no moving her.

That was about the point where Ruby figured out what was going on...and it had been kinda lurking in the back of my mind as well, that it was time, and she was determined to find a safe place to have her babies. And she didn't waste any time at all, having five cute little ones by 8:00 this morning.

Now we have a new problem... Ruby has to be out of the apartment by 5:00 pm today, and Sincy is in there with a litter of kittens. I'm afraid to move her and the kittens, and even if I could I have no place to put her, as my cat would kill them if we were to bring them into the house. I've got a temporary idea though...I'm going to beg Leroy to take his time cleaning this apartment out for rental, at least until Tuesday I hope, just so Momma kitty can recover from labor a bit.

And the fun continues...

We finally got the balls together this morning to try out our oven. It doesn't work...sigh. I'll let ya'll know what's going on with that later on this afternoon.

Later!

Kinda Quiet today

The Cliff has been kinda quiet today, but it's welcome after the antics of yesterday.

Last night we used the stove to make crab, red beans and rice, and fiesta corn. It was an EXCELLENT dinner. The crab was a little bit overcooked, but it was still sweet and fairly easy to eat. It was perhaps one of the best crab dinners that I've ever had at home, as I tend to cook the crab for too long.

We then spent the night taking turns with the puppy next door. This poor puppy of Ruby's...she can't find a name for it. It's been called Angel, Precious, Tiny, Little One, and now it's supposed to be "Lucy". I think Lucy is a good name for it but it may just be too late to convert to that name. It takes a lot of time for a puppy to adapt to a name, and she's not spending much time calling the pup by it's actual name...thus it responds to the previous name, "Tiny", a lot more often. It's an adorable puppy...some kind of mix with a boxer I think. Just a big squirmy fat thing--heheheh!

The cat "Sincy" has been hanging on our doorstep since the first day we moved in. She's a very skinny calico cat with the most beautiful black, white and orange markings. She belonged to the people that lived in this apartment two tenants ago, but the last guy that lived here would let her in and feed her, so she thinks that this is now her home. Our dog and cat don't necessarily agree with that though. Oh...and did I mention that she's very very pregnant? I don't know that I've ever seen a cat as pregnant as this one. Little skinny body except for a big huge fat belly. Poor Kitty. She's just SO insistent that this is her home.

"Sincy" sit's either on the air conditioner or in the center of the front stoop just waiting for some sort of human interaction. She's very friendly, and loves to be petted, so it's very hard to watch her every day not having a home, especially when we have such a mean cat like "Missy E" living with us who hates human interaction. If I could trade, I'd probably do it. I'd seriously miss "Missy E's" attitude though. We've made a fatal mistake with "Sincy" though. I can't let a pregnant cat starve, which is what she's been doing since our arrival. We started feeding her about a week ago, once a day in the late evenings. Now she's sick too, and I'm afraid that I'm going to have to take her to the vet. Such a dilemma. If I take her to the vet and drop her off, they say that they are going to have to abort her kittens and then give her to a cat shelter. For some reason, aborting the kittens really bothers me. I don't know what to do.

Today Dana started work at a day labor service. He left this morning at 6 am. It's 4:30 pm now and he's still not home. I wonder if he's going to be home before 6:00 pm. These people better not screw him. I'm starting to think that everyone down here are a bunch of scammers, so this is kinda to be expected.

Ruby was due home today, but didn't make it. She called earlier to let me know that Mr. Ramirez spoke to her to let her know that she didn't have to be out by 5 today, and that she had to work at 11 pm tonight. She still has to move out, but she's not got a 24 hour eviction like they said she had last night. Anyway, she was supposed to be over here at 1 pm, but didn't show. Her roommate, Deana (poor girl moved in day before yesterday) showed up to get her stuff out of the apartment, and made sure that the puppy had food and water before she left. She pounded on my door to let me know that as she was leaving.

Ran into Bertha sitting in the Gazebo this afternoon, and she's telling me that she has to go to the social security office tomorrow as someone has stolen her identity and is currently working with her SS#. Wow. She's mad as hell that she's the one that has to take care of it because she told them a year ago about the problem and they haven't done anything to take care of it in all that time. Since I have no idea what the Social Security Administrations rules and regulations are concerning Identity Theft, I'll just not criticize and wait to see how all this turns out.

Leroy has been spending the day painting the fronts of the apartments a nasty military tan color that has some pinkish undertones. I don't really care for it at all, but it's nice in comparison to the dirt that currently reigns supreme on the walls here. If they do all of this painting now though, when we move out it's going to look like we destroyed this place because the rest of it doesn't look anywhere near this bad anymore. Ugh.

This mornings Fishing was great!

This morning I got up early because Mom and Dad wanted to take me and Dana fishing at 8:30 am. Now I'm not much of a morning person, but I did manage to crawl out of bed ontime, and boy am I glad I did!

We went fishing on the Base off of the pier at Shields park. On my third cast I caught two fish at the same time! On my top hook was a 21" Gafftop Sail Catfish, and on the bottom hook was another catfish that they called a flathead. It was pretty darn cool as the catfish was really big! It weighed about 2 1/2 pounds... I know that doesn't sound big, but it was big enough to get the big fish of the day award, which is something I never win when I'm fishing with the family.

Everyone caught two fish. Dana caught a little sand trout and a piggy perch. Dad caught a piggy perch and a decent sized Whiting, which we opted not to keep. Mom caught two little piggy perch as well.

It was a great trip, but the day finished off pretty cruddy considering what happened in my previous post of the day...sigh.

What's the cliff?

This is a sort of Diary, created by me, blondmyk, to record the strange and bizarre happenings that occur at my apartment complex in Flower Cliff, TX. I've already started writing a book about this place, but it's taking longer than it should and something new and exciting happens here every day. I'd like to consider this a place where I can write down each days happenings so that I don't forget a single day of this.

Today, my neighbor Ruby stopped by my apartment after I got home from fishing with my mother and father to tell me that she didn't have electricity. She wanted to know if she could come over and blow dry her hair before work. Sure, I figured, no problem there. In fact, I'd be happy to help her out by giving her an outlet for her refrigerator so all of her food didn't spoil while the electric was out. We ran an extension cord and got her set up.

She explains to us that Leroy, our apartment manager, shut her electricity off on purpose. You see, when she moved in she didn't have the money for a deposit to turn on her electricity, so Leroy was kind enough to set up an account for her apartment. For some reason he's had a real hard-on for her lately and so this morning he decided to be mean and shut off her electricity, which wasn't really due until the 14th of the month.

Down here in Texas, you HAVE to have at least a couple of fans running in your house if you want to survive, and at least one air conditioner in a window if you want to be comfortable. She had none of this, and a fridge full of food that was going to go bad. What else was I supposed to do?

She called Leroy about a dozen times before he answered her. She told him that she didn't understand, especially since it wasn't due until the 14th, and wanted to know what she had done to him now? She'd basically been leaving him alone since she'd gotten her day job a few days prior. He told her that it he thought it was due on the fourth and that it was all a mistake. He called and they couldn't get it back on for another 72 hours. Wow...

Rather than go to work like a good girl and just deal with the situation, Ruby decided that she was going to call her friend Antonio to threaten and possibly even beat him up if the situation presented itself. Then she called the actual Landlord, Mr. Ramirez, and told him frantically what was going on and asked him to come out so that she could talk to him.

At about 2:30, Antonio showed up and sat outside in the gazebo, sitting publicly but actually laying in wait for Leroy to show his face outside. Leroy had spent the day helping people move into the apartment across the way (another story) and he felt pinned in to the apartment that he was helping in for a while, but he eventually gave up and came out. Antonio was all words and thankfully no punch, but this action gave Leroy ammunition to use with Mr. Ramirez later on.

When Mr. Ramirez showed up around 6:00 pm, both Leroy and Ruby confronted him. Leroy told Mr. Ramirez all the harassment that he had put up with today, and Ruby complained about the electricity, and finally got around to telling him about the obscene messages that he'd been texting her with at 3 in the morning.

Next thing I know, Ruby is pounding on my door looking for the phone number to her new job. She needs to call and tell them that she needs to move out of her apartment. She's not doing it tonight though, but rather tomorrow. She eventually left for the evening, leaving the puppy in my care in that apartment that has no air conditioning.

It's all so very sad. I liked Ruby. She grew on me. Now she's gone. I'll bet that these Flower Cliff apartments get a lot less interesting with her gone too.