Of a "TRO" the only way to "hog tie" a nut job~~~

Well Darklings,

Things are moving forward in dealing with "Crazy" across the street, I had informed his parents that he would be served with papers and a temporary restraining order, they said that was fine, they were afraid that they were losing control over him, so anything legal to keep him under control.

It  happened yesterday morning,  just as Doyle was coming back from his walk with the Dogs before going to his office,  Crazy Son was served at about 10:30 by a Sheriff’s Deputy who arrived in an unmarked car but with government plates,  he came out and was served just as Doyle came down our block with Belladonna and Wiener Dog.

I had heard a yell and being worried for Doyle I went to the front parlor window, and carefully looking out I saw Crazy being furious and I could hear him telling the deputy that we didn’t have the right to have papers served on him since he’d been living on the block for years, and we were only renters and other “lies”.   The deputy being very emphatic, pointing at our house and telling Crazy we had the right to call the police if Crazy did anything.  And just then I spotted Doyle walking down the block with the dogs and I thought “Oh Lord, thank goodness the deputy is there!”

The minute Crazy saw Doyle he pointed at Doyle and yelled out “There’s that Punk Now!”   The deputy tried to quiet Crazy down but Crazy yelled out “See Ya in Court, Punk!”   Doyle did not respond to him and knows we have the upper hand now. 

But the deputy had to work very hard to verbally restrain Crazy while Doyle came into the house with dogs in tow, then came  and asked what I saw and heard,  I asked him to hold off for a bit so I could carefully watch and listen to what was happening.  The Deputy was working very hard with Crazy really being emphatic with him, warning him, as the Serving Deputy is required to do, that should Crazy violate the Temporary Restraining Order he would be arrested.

Crazy was not happy and rolled the papers in his hand up, and then finally appeared to accept what the Deputy was saying,   turned and went into the side yard, just as the deputy turned away was when Crazy slammed the gate hard closed, even I heard it, the deputy quickly turned back to the gate to check things, but saw it was closed and then walked to his car.    So now we go about our business, he’s been served and warned.   So the next thing will be the Hearing, and we’ll see how that will go.  

But I am glad that this phase of it is over and done, it’s another step closer to having this situation in the process of being stabilized.   So Doyle and I prepared to go and do a few errands, I wanted to get some more postal boxes and go to the bank.

But before Doyle and I left to go to the bank, we saw a skanky buddy of  Crazy's ride up on his bike, the guy was tall and very lean, wearing a khaki ball cap, red long sleeve type of heavy t-shirt, and long khaki pants, he tried the gate but it was locked and then he got out a key, reached over the gate top to get to the padlock and unlocked the gate and let himself in.   That surprised us, so now does some of  Crazy’s “friends” have keys to that lock?  Because it was not a relative, of that we’re sure and we wondered if Crazy's parents knew that other people besides family had access to their property.   We didn’t know when the friend left, but the gate had been left ajar for most of the day.

That evening Doyle called Crazy's parents and told them what we had seen, no they were not aware that other people not family had duplicates to the lock on the gate, and they were going to take care of it, immediately.

This morning we heard a howl come from across the street, the father had bought a new lock the kind in which the label on the keys say "do not duplicate",  so the parents have a key, Crazy has a key (unfortunately), and two family members have keys and that is it!   Crazy's father called us to thank us for letting him know because some garden tools had gone missing and now they knew how and why and were putting a new padlock on the tool shed and keeping the only key and changing the locks on the doors to the house, so Crazy would have to knock on the doors to get the parents attention, no keys to Crazy for the house.  

So now we wait to go to the hearing in two weeks.   And I feel that things are beginning to come under control again.    For which I'm grateful.

And now to see when the Halloween decorations are coming out, Spirit has sent me new e-mail and I saw something so fabulous I have to get it, a 3 headed Cerberus that shoots out fog from their mouths,  I LOVE IT!!   MUST HAVE IT!!!

Later Darklings

Of Heat, horrible heat and An Earthquake!!!~~~~

Yes Darklings!

We had a 4.0 earthquake on the Hayward fault near Piedmont, just a short distance from my house.

Woke up this morning at 6:50 a.m. we were on the sleeping porch it has been too hot to sleep inside and both dogs started yapping.  I heard things rattle and we froze, I felt a little nauseous from the 2nd shake, so we waited a bit.

Then went through the entire house top to bottom, some things fell off, we lost a couple of wine bottles, but nothing of value, but the heating system started to come on and then go off, then on and off, the thermostat could not stop it so Doyle cut off the gas to the unit,  it could be something as simple as a wire, but since the gas is off to the heater, we don't have to worry about that, we checked the other gas lines to the hot water heater and the stove and all appear to be fine, but Doyle will check it again tomorrow, we are venting the area's to be on the safe side.

The news is all over this earthquake people are saying and asking is this the per-cursor to the Big one on the Hayward fault??  Who knows?  But I can't be a fatalist about it.

The heat for the last three days has been horrible the last two days 93 degrees both days, it was so bad that it was best for us to sleep on the screened in back porch, and eating breakfast and dinner out there as well.

I've been avoiding using the stove so it's the microwave heating up things that I've pre-cooked and froze, and walking around the house wearing a very sheer cotton dress and (dare I say it) no underwear.  

We've been drinking water and using damp and wet wash cloths and fans to cool us down.  Both Doyle and myself have not been able to do anything.  My sister had decided to have her consultation room rigged with an air conditioner and will be calling someone to see about installing one. 

Heat she told me, especially extreme heat can make people irritable to the point of harming each other.  Sudden murders (not drug related) can be influenced by extreme heat as well as volatile tempers. 

My brother and his family are home from their trip and my Sister in law is glad that I was able to get the school supplies.  It makes her work easier.  While they were gone Brian was house sitting for them and I came to collect the mail and such,  and relay that information to my brother.

Coraline and Chris have quiet a collection of books, post cards and pamphlets about the various historical places they visited, and pictures,  and Coraline had an extraordinary encounter with a very old-timer at one of the historical places.  It was quiet moving for her and made history seem more immediate.    I think her re-doing the 8th Grade will be good for her to catch up on things, it will be more of a review but already I can see some changes in her, her summer reading assignments have improved her language, and she even asked me if I could find a couple of books on writing The New York Times Manuel of Style and Usage,  The Chicago Manuel of Style, and The Elements of Style.

She told me her English Teacher recommended those books to her if she is serious about writing.   Well I certainly and get that for her.   And it seems she found of list of contractions, list of words that sound the same but mean different things and how to use possessive words,  like Their as compared to They're when means They are. 

Well I have to say it seems that this Summer has had more than a few shake ups and more  than just Earthquakes.  This coming School year should prove to be interesting, to say the least.

And now I am beginning to feel drenched in sweat so back to the shower I go, in a way I'll be very glad to have winter.

Later Darklings

Of taking care of one situation and Children coming home....

Well Darklings,

Thanks to my sister, and ATT, we now have the phone lines encased in conduit pipe, so no cutting of the lines at all.   She wanted hers done as well, although she didn't have the problem I have, but she wasn't taking chances so since I had bought the pipe and brackets and such and with Brian pitching in to help, our ATT man was able to secure the lines on both houses.

And we both now have solar powered motion detector lights  that work so well it even lights up kitty cats when they sneak up the drive way,  startles the little things with looks that says "Who Me?"

It amuses me.  LOL!

My brother called and he said they are slowly returning via the coastal route as much as possible or Hy-way 101 depending, so they'll be here sometime Monday,  I'll be glad, with the wild fires, I've been concerned, but they did go and see the Oregon Caves and Crater Lake, so I'll have to hear what the children say about that.

Although I did hear in the background when my brother said "School starts in 3 weeks!"  the twins moaning and groaning. 

Well it can't be all fun and games, one has to work to "pay the piper".

And I've been working on that "No harassment, no contact" order that Officer Cutie said we should do,  it's slow going, have to make sure each section is done right.  But I hope to file it at the court house next week.   That should put "Crazy Son" on notice, and his parents are glad we're doing it too.

It's getting hard to handle him, so something has to be done if he goes off the rails again.

Later Darklings

Of "Dracula"~~~~

Hello My Darklings,

Halloween is going to be wonderful this year----at least for me.   A local movie theater is going to show  the 1931 "Dracula" on the Big Screen!!!!!!!!!   at the end of October!!!    To finally see it properly on the Big Screen!  To get an idea of what kind of impact it really made to movie audiences!!! Oh Darklings I swoon at the thought!

And then----and Then!!!  The next week as part of this Theater's classic movie series they are going to show the First James Bond Film "Dr. No" at the beginning of November, just in time when the New James Bond movie "Specter" will be released.   

OH BE STILL MY BEATING HEART!!!!   It is almost an overload for this Elder Goth.

And what theater will be showing this film???  Well if you live in the San Francisco East Bay Area it's----The Historic Alameda Movie Theater in Alameda.   Yes Darklings I have revealed it's location.

But for those lovely Goths who read my blog and live around here do NOT miss this. 

O.K. yes by today's standards it's corny, it's hokey, but you have to remember it's the Great-Grand Daddy of Gothicness and Vampires.

And if you have a theater near you that will show good clean prints of this film, encourage them to do it!!!    

Oh by still my trembling, beating heart!!!!!  Now if they will show Dracula's Daughter on the Big Screen like I saw it sooooo many many years ago!! 

Later Darklings!!  I must refresh myself!

Of being a "stand-in Mom"~~~~

Hello Darklings,

I know the title of this post doesn't make sense, but my Brother wanted to take the family out again for one last major road trip, after their return, doing a quick check up on the RV then off again,  they really do like this traveling on the road.  By as my sister in law says, "it's nice to come back to a permanent home"

Well why am I (and my sister) are "stand in Mom's"?  For a good reason, I go to my brother's house, pick up the mail and flyers, etc. every day, turn on different lights, check things and such,  and then at a certain designated time go on line and "chat" with them about what bills have come in, most of them are auto payments which is good for them, but sometimes something unique comes in so I need to relay the information.

Well in this case it's a list of what the children will need for school each list is different, except for the twins their lists are the same, so it's just double of what they need.

My sister in law agreed that if I could get the school supplies that the children need, I'll be reimbursed, and then she can focus on their clothes and school uniforms, when they return, less of a head ache.

Well that's not problem, I mean how hard is it to follow a list?   It is when you're fighting off 20 million parents looking for the same thing ---Thank you Wal-mart and Target!  The twins are getting exactly the same thing, same color, nothing different.

I was asked to get new backpacks for all of them too, the old one's are completely worn out but each back pack has to be different, Chris said "basic black or blue", Coraline "Something cute", the Twins I'm not going to even describe what they were saying, they were bouncing around so much on the "video chat"  so I told them they will get what they get and be glad that it will not have kitties, bunnies or puppies on them.   That quieted them down. 

So today, after an early morning "attack" on Wal-mart (open open open) we got it before it became insane. 

Then lining up each back pack with each item on the list, Sis and I did a check off to see what we might have missed---Rulers---isn't that silly, we forgot rulers----this time to Target,  Big MISTAKE!  RETREAT!!!    Found them at Safeway---Thank you!  Whew!!

My brother and family will be returning the end of next week, he's been able to keep the children away from any areas that have fires by sticking to the coast and seeing the historical sites along the coast, and by doing that they've been avoiding most of the heat waves we've been having.  The children have been enjoying it, I'm happy to say, I will be glad when they come home.

In the mean time Doyle has been setting up motion detector lights here and there around the house, we will turn them off during trick or treating at Halloween,  but they work and should be a good deterrent against "Crazy". 

Dinner tonight our go-to favorite Chinese! 

Sis has suggested that maybe we take in a movie tonight, perhaps "Mr. Holmes" but I really don't feel like going out, she understood so we'll take it in tomorrow night.

I am being called in to work two days this coming week to fill in some "holes" at my old work place, it will be nice to see familiar faces, and Doyle will pick me up after work to bring me home, I'll be taking public transportation to go in.

I cannot believe it, yet I can, our state is on Fire!  Nearly 2 dozen fires up and down the state, the one near Clear Lake is as big as the City of San Francisco, and just as devastating.  Sometimes I'm out on the back porch and I can smell wood burning and it's not bar-be-que mesquite, when the breeze is just right you can smell it, when that happens both Belladonna and Wiener Dog start trembling and whimpering,  and all I can do is hold them and do my best to soothe them, of late they've been sharing the bed with me and Doyle, huddling between the two of us----it does make for romance a little difficult, but Doyle says "What can you do?"

A strong El Nino will be needed.  Desperately!

There are times I wish I could see into a crystal ball to see when the rains will come.

Later Darklings

Of Heat waves and updates and insanity~~~~

Hello Darklings,

We have been having another bad heat wave, it has been up in the triple digits inland, like 109 in Redding and 105 in Concord.   I have been using the drip system on what plants I have, but only in the evening and at night.

I've even put up bird baths of water in the shady areas of the garden and even for humming birds,  I have this wonder sage bush called Autumn Sage and the hummingbirds love it,   exotic plants I have none, the heat would kill them.    So I switched to lavender, and other plants that can tolerate this heat, my roses are surviving, they've been getting grey water, as well as the Bay tree and the fruit trees, my water cisterns are dry, so I'm having a specialist check them out for cracks and such.

The heat was so bad that we slept outside on the screened in back porch, my brother has a similar porch on his house and has done the same thing, but he's not home enough for the children to camp out in it as they have been traveling hither and yon, to various historic spots in their RV, but mostly on the coast because of the heat,  both he and my sister in law took 6 weeks off for vacation for the children to enjoy.  And with Wi Fi at a number of the camp grounds they can stay in touch with their respective offices for just in case.

They will be back next week (I think) and in time to get the children ready for school, the twins don't want to think about it, Coraline and Christopher are sort of concerned and excited about it. The parents?  Well what do you think parents would do when school is back in session?   

The wild fires around the state is worrisome, especially when they are close to those historic towns in the Gold Country area.   It doesn't take much for something to happen, perhaps the coolest areas is Daley City and San Francisco, thank goodness the marine layer has come back in.   But for how long I'm not sure.

Poor Belladonna and Weinerdog,  it's so hot that we have to leave them either at a doggie day care or with my elderly neighbor if we have to go somewhere and can't take them.   What surprised me at my elderly neighbors house is she got a plastic pool that kiddies use and put water in it and has it in the shade and both dogs took to it to play in with their smaller tennis balls and chew toys (not cloth)  She told me that it was like watching children play.   Then in the evening when they've been picked up she uses the water to irrigate her herb garden.   That's how I got my Autumn Sage.

Of course the heat has made for insanity as well, our neighbors crazy son whom we call "Crazy" went off the rails again,  calling the police 3 times in 7 days is too much, but I thought we could not do a restraining order----BUT----if some of you remember when I talked about "Officer Cutie" (he's married folks ---darn!)  well he came out on the last call and said that there is such a thing called a "No Harassment" or "No Contact" order, this is used on stalkers and other non-close to family situations  I think some places call it a "Stay-Away" order,  and we do qualify to submit that,  whether it will be granted it up to the Judge, so we're going to get the paperwork and I need to get some of the copies of the Incident Reports put together, now it will depend upon if I want to do it myself or have my lawyer do it, but from what I've seen it's almost "do it yourself".   But at least now I have a "tool" that if granted, I can use. 

And if "Crazy" violates it, he will be arrested and I hope get put in a place where he'll get the help he needs.

Since the last incident things have been quiet, I hope it does, it almost seems to come in waves really, 6 to 8 weeks of quiet then 7 to 10 days of insanity.  I guess it takes that long for the "voices in his head" to get really loud.

And we are going to have a Blue Moon tomorrow night----my Grandmother use to call it a wishing moon, make a wish to banish a problem she'd say.    I think I'm going to do that.

Oh and Halloween is just 90 days away----Oh HAPPY, HAPPY, JOY, JOY!!!!

Unless we get a very serious El Nino---although that would put a kibosh on Halloween---again happy happy joy joy---we need WATER!!!

A friend of mine sent me this funny thing about if all 50 states were people in a bar what would they be like and what would they drink----I found it very funny,  I'll post it in my next post.

Oh and I KNOW what I want for Christmas----Dita Von Teese's latest book "You Beauty Mark"  it's coming out in December,  and I WANT a copy!!  Hint, Hint to Doyle (eye-wink)  Yes my Darklings, Dita is coming out with her own beauty book, if nothing else I want it for human interest factor to see what she says about things.   Of course we all have our own ways of maintaining our looks, for me it's to avoid the sun between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. and use Neutragena Sun Block at SPF Factor 100, yes they do make it. And there are other things as well. 

But one factor is one's own DNA you cannot fight that, but you can try.

Who knows Darklings, even for the Glamour Goth you can always study the tips from the pro's.

Later Darklings

Of Exhausted from the Heat Wave and phone lines cut~~~~

Hello Darklings,

I have not posted of late because we are having problems with "someone" vandalizing my phone lines as well as Doyles'.

We have two separate lines coming to the house one is for Doyle for his work and the other is what I call "the house phone" and they are both hard wire.   I will not use Wi-Fi and I admit it's a personal prejudice on my part.

But it's because if there is an emergency,  at the dispatchers our address and information comes up immediately and even if I can only "gurgle" they know where to send help, that is one advantage, also one of our neighbors complains that his wi-fi keeps getting hi-jacked.   As my Daddy would say "Somethings Up".

So hard-wire it is.   We Know who is doing the vandalizing, because he keeps hearing the "voices in his head".   So right now I'm posting this from a friends computer. 

So now we are going to cover the phone lines with conduit pipe, which should frustrate this sick individual further and install more motion detector lights that are Solar powered.   I hope we don't have to do any further protection on our electrical wires.  But who knows.

My brother and his family are off on another RV adventure, to which Chris and Coralline are thrilled about.   They should be back by this weekend.  And I cannot wait to hear all about it

What legal steps we can do right now we don't know,  but we can do things to protect our property, shining the light of truth upon this person is one thing, no more hiding in the shadows.

Hurricane Delores, downsized to tropical depression, then Low pressure is making things around here hot and muggy and airless.

She did kindly drop off rain to help the fire fighters in Southern California in El Cajhon but after the fire jumps the highway burning cars, and buildings, thank goodness no one was killed.   But she did cause another freeway to wash away.   We are hot in the north and drowning in the South.

Doyle, my Sister, Brian and I have been sleeping on the back sleeping porch at night, it is just too hot indoors,  doing anything outdoors is impossible,  I water the plants at night when it's cool and pray it does not give rise to the natural blood suckers, mosquito's.

Eating is impossible as drinking water is more important.    I pity anyone who lives in the Southern States if this is  what you have to deal with.  

My team of cleaning ladies came by this morning and I told them to just focus on the down stairs, upstairs is too hot, but they did tackle two of the upstairs bathrooms,  I gave them chilled bottles of water  and made sure they rested as well.   I wasn't too concern about dust today.

But my Darklings I wanted to let you know I'm still among the living but melting like the Witch in the Wizard of Oz.    I'm almost afraid that Doyle may find me just a melted puddle,  and now I'm going to take a page from Belladonna's and Weiner Dog's book, put a fan on me, lay down and sleep.

Later Darklings