The Crone's Journal

Dear Tenants

2008-05-05T23:28:10Z

My best effort at a polite but pointed response to their whining is

Dear Tenants,

We were very sorry to have to disappoint you when you let us know you
could not pay as agreed but instead wanted us to finance your purchase,
but since we told you from the beginning that we would not finance, we
fail to understand why it would come as a surprise to you that we will
not finance.

As to your having expected to become the owners, yes, until last week
that was our expectation too; however, for that you would need to
complete the purchase. You have said you are unable to do so. We are not
responsible for that failure.

Thank you very much for your honest appraisal of the present condition
of the school building. In light of this new information, we're pleased
you've decided to move out since there's no way we can possibly take the
risk of letting anyone stay there when the chimney is in imminent danger
of collapse.

It sounds as though you've spent a lot of money on our school, "at great
personal sacrifice." We do not understand spending money on someone
else's property without discussion, then expecting to be reimbursed. You
could have saved much of that money and used it to help complete your
part of the contracted agreement. Failing that, you might at least have
asked us before making purchases for our school.

Many of the "repairs" and "upgrades" that you have made are ones we
specifically did not want and in one case even recommended against.
Apparently you also spent some money on items that were under warranty,
and/or that we had intended to discontinue the use of and/or replace.
Had you inquired before spending your money on our property, we could
have let you know that. Since you didn't, we do not quite see why you
think we should pay for your error.

Further, the contract says:

ALTERATIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS. Any and all alterations, changes, and/or
improvements build, constructed or placed on the Premises by Tenant
shall, unless otherwise provided by written agreement between Landlord
and Tenant, be and become the property of Landlord and remain on the
Premises at the expiration or earlier termination of this Agreement.

and:

MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR; RULES. Tenant will, at its sole expense, keep
and maintain the Premises and appurtenances in good and sanitary
condition and repair during the term of this Agreement and any renewal
thereof.

Nowhere does it say that if you fail to complete your part of the
agreement, we become responsible for money you chose to spend on
maintenance and repair instead of on purchase. We did not ask you to
spend your money as you have on our school, and we did not approve your
expenditures. Indeed, we wondered why you were eagerly making expensive
repairs such as cleaning the chimney before you had actually purchased
the building; but we assumed it was just because you were telling the
truth when you said the money for the purchase was imminent.

It seems a trifle petty to mention it, but we had already replaced the
incandescent bulbs in all parts of the school we used very much, so we'd
suggest that you take your bulbs with you. Certainly we won't pay for
them, or for any of the expenditures you expect us to reimburse because
you aren't able to fulfill your part of our agreement. We have upheld
and will continue to uphold our part of the agreement till its
expiration. If you come up with the remaining purchase price in the time
specified in the agreement you signed some nine months ago, we will
transfer the property as agreed. If you can't do that, it's not our
fault. Hey, while we'd be glad to move back into the school if it were
still inhabitable, we'd also be glad to have the purchase price so we
could move somewhere warmer. We didn't cause your inability to pay.
Please stop trying to blame us.

Again, we're sorry things did not work out as we had all hoped, and we
still wish you the best in the future.

Sincerely,

Us

Edited to accommodate very helpful suggestions. Thank you to all who responded.

Argh

2008-05-05T14:11:13Z

Wow. Just wow. The tenants now list half a page of "improvements" and "necessary" repairs they've made to our property, informing us that they expect to be reimbursed for same. They didn't ask about any of these, many were things we very definitely did not want done, and one (count 'em, 1) may have been a good idea, if they are right in their assertion that it brought some wiring up to code.

They want us to pay for their having poisoned the entire place to get rid of some harmless bugs (box elders) that are attracted by the trees in the yard and will be back just as thick as ever as soon as the poison wears off. (I told them I disapproved of the use of poisons!) They want us to pay for the partial roof-mending they had agreed to do. They want us to pay for replacing a brand new air compressor, and elements in a water heater we had intended to instead replace with a larger, more energy-efficient model. They want us to pay for fixing outside lights we were going to ask the power company to stop powering. They want us to pay for replacing incandescent bulbs with fluorescent (a hundred so far, they claim), which would be a good idea...IF the incandescent were used in any area where they were, well, used. But we'd already replaced all the ones in the areas we used.

The list is longer. I'm having great difficulty not thinking ill of these people. They made these changes "at great personal sacrifice" because they expected to own the place. Like it's our fault they lied about their ability to pay? Damn.

We'll See

2008-05-03T03:36:25Z

What happened: last summer, we listed our school building on eBay. We were asking for cash as we didn't want to finance. Several people came to see the school and made various offers, none of which was quite right. The present tenants became very excited, came to see the school, said they reallyreally wanted it please please please and they could pay today ... well, tomorrow ... well, no, but next week....

They sounded like they would be a good fit for the town, and although several people came along subsequently with offers of cash right now, we felt it would be unkind to accept any of them after having let these people become so excited and do so much work trying to get the money together. However, winter was coming on, and we needed to protect ourselves against leaving the school untenanted through sub-zero temps, so we made up a lease-to-purchase agreement to cover us through the winter. They were delighted, signed it, and moved right in.

Discussion of how the money would be arriving any day now stopped immediately. On inquiry, it turned out they thought the lease agreement meant they had until spring to come up with the money. Which of course it did, but that hadn't been our verbal agreement. Still, there it was, so we waited to see what they would do in the spring. And we considered what we would do if they did or didn't pay.

It came to us that we'd rather they didn't. And now they say they can't. They want us to finance, which we said right along we wouldn't do. So we've told them no, but they still have till the end of the month to come up with the rest of the purchase price; or they're welcome to remain at the same rent for another year, since it'll be that long till we can move back.

They were all intent on having an answer from us by 2 May, but they don't seem to be in such a hurry to let us know what they'll be doing. I find I don't really care so much anymore. We'll just deal with whatever happens in whatever way seems appropriate at the time. There would be advantages to any decision they could make (well, unless they decide to burn the place down). We'll just see.

Or At Least Amazement

2008-04-29T13:12:52Z

I guess I'm not so much irked as stunned. And really only by their needing an answer within three days, after having kept us utterly uninformed for nine months. It seems...unkind. OTOH I'm sure from their point of view it seems only reasonable; they need to know by 2 May, and we didn't need to know till 31 May. So really they've told us more than a month before they needed to.

And we're in a quandary, whether to let them continue paying for the school piecemeal or whether to kick them out so we can move back in. Or, of course, relist it on eBay and insist on a cash sale this time. (We actually turned down a couple of cash buyers because we thought the present tenants would be a better fit for the town. Our mistake. Most of the townsfolk have never even met them. This in a town of 150 people max -- It's hard not to meet anyone for nine whole months in a town that size!)

And we didn't realize, when we left, how much we would miss living in the school and in that town. Not that it's a constant fuss or anything, but to our very surprise we have not liked it here and would really like to be back there.

OTOH we really can't leave this job till December and might ought to stay another year after that, and if the tenants haven't fixed the roof (which we have no reason to believe they have done, though they were supposed to), there'd be that to worry about again.

It is to sigh. What to do?

Anger Arises

2008-04-29T13:03:00Z

Dear Tenants,

We have been on tenterhooks for the last nine months, waiting to see whether you really had the ability to pay as you promised last autumn or whether you imagined you would get the money from a mortgage company, in which case we would get the school back this spring since it's obvious to the meanest intelligence that no mortgage company would provide such a loan. Nine months of "do we plan for having money, or for moving back into the school?"

Now, nine months after you said you could pay "within days," you give us THREE DAYS in which to tell you whether you may prolong your payments or get out? My, aren't we in a hurry all of a sudden, now that it's your life thrown into an unplannable state instead of ours?

We'll think about it.

Love and kisses,

us

Territorial Robin

2008-04-27T14:07:29Z

Two or three days ago a robin began pecking at one of our windows ... for hours. Then it began throwing itself (gently, but still) against the neighboring window. Then it went back to pecking. Then it combined the two. For hours.

One of the cats became convinced that if she only waited long enough and tried hard enough, she could catch it. Several futile leaps later she gave up and rested on the back of the couch where she could watch its antics in comfort. It continued to peck and fly at the window. I waved at it, repeatedly, which each time chased it away only briefly. Eventually I gave up and closed the blinds, which caused it to go away for the rest of that day.

The next morning it was back again, pecking behind closed blinds, so I opened them. It went on. And on. I feared for its health but could find nothing that would make it stay away. What, I wondered, could be going on in its tiny mind?

I googled and learned that it's probably territorial and defending a near-nest area from the perceived enemy reflected in the window. I'll buy this, though you'd think different times of day might change the reflection adequately that it wouldn't be an all-day thing. Still, it's the best explanation I can think of, and nothing suggested to stop it that we've tried has worked.

They did say it might exhaust itself but is unlikely to kill itself. I hope they're right. It's supposed to stop entirely once its chicks leave the nest. Good heavens, I doubt the chicks are even eggs yet!

Signs

2008-04-16T18:07:40Z

There are drifts of daffodils in the lawn. The air is filled with the heady scent of hyacinths. Violets peek through the greening grass, and the groundhog is munching new shoots near his burrow. Sunlight is warm on the windowsill, where a cat sprawls gracefully in the light. I think it's spring.

In Other News

2008-04-11T11:32:58Z

SFWA is having its Nebula Awards(R) Banquet at the end of this month. I was invited to attend at SFWA's expense, to receive a Service to SFWA award for having been their first Webmaster. I find that quite classy, and I really would have liked to go, but the timing just wouldn't work: I was supposed to have some dental work done exactly then.

As it turns out, the dental work got moved forward for reasons best known to my dentist. It was a ridiculous mixup that resulted in my presenting myself for a cleaning and finding them waiting to remove two of my teeth. (The top front two. "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.") Tooth-removal had been the plan for later, but not right then. Still, they were ready for it and there was no particular reason to put it off, so I agreed.

Now I'm learning to talk and eat with a mouth full of plastic. I had expected some difficulty eating, but for some reason it had never occurred to me that I'd have to learn to talk again too. (I lisp. I whistle. If I speak very carefully I sound only a little defective.) It's such a chore, I am in awe of people I know who have been living for years with mouths full of plastic.

It is to sigh.

At least the new teeth look okay. A little squirrely, but neither laughable nor scarey. And surely eventually I can get used to them. There really aren't any options, so I'd better.

Just as well I didn't agree to go to the SFWA event, though. I need a little time before I try to eat or talk in public.

OTOH

2008-04-01T16:22:25Z

I present a link to one of the articles in question, and a YouTube entry for your amusement:

Mockery and Lies Day

2008-04-01T15:47:08Z

If one created in fiction a day each year on which the residents of some alien culture deliberately engendered distrust, discomfort, and disappointment in their friends and fellow residents for their own amusement, it might be difficult to be convincing. Yet here we are. I've hated the first of April since childhood. It is a day on which cynicism is celebrated, trust is redefined as gullibility, and the gentlest and most innocent among us are made objects of mockery and contempt.

Oddly it never occurs to me, if a lie is told me in all earnestness, to distrust the teller no matter how much I mistrust his data. Consequently I am, as you may imagine, convinced the teller believes the lie, even if I don't. This has, more than once in the course of a long life, made me a laughingstock ... and it's worse because I cannot always see the humor in having believed that someone was not deliberately lying. (The joke seems funnier to most people if the victim of it has actually gone to some trouble or expense because of his confidence in the teller. Fortunately I've always caught on before I could be that amusing.)

There are amusing aspects, and Onion-style articles published that would have no existence without this uncomfortable tradition, but while I have quite enjoyed a few of them, I'm not sure they balance the pain I know the day is causing too many too-trusting innocents.

Balance

2008-03-11T12:02:19Z

And then somebody in WoW does something nice. My honey logged in to one of his toons last night and found mail waiting from "unknown" (which is how the server copes with a deleted toon's sent mail). It said, "Don't like the Horde side. Here's some money," and contained 500 gold. He has no idea who sent it.

...and again.

2008-03-06T02:47:59Z

That's it for me. I opened a ticket about that hunter last night, and I got a form response apologizing for not getting back to me while I was still online (they thought I would want to hang around to be ganked repeatedly?) and thanking me for taking the time yatta yatta. Tonight he's back in xroads and used a snake trap to kill me (and other unflagged lowbies) again. They didn't do anything, and they won't. I opened a ticket again, but I really don't know why. Blizzard doesn't care.

As far as I know there are no Horde hunters exploiting the bug on our server, so I spose I could safely run my Alliance lowbies, but this has left a pretty sour taste in my mouth.

ganked again

2008-03-05T03:27:54Z

I will be so glad when (if!) they eventually fix the snake trap problem. Hunters who delight in exploiting it are numerous. Why those people aren't playing on a pvp server I don't know, but maybe it's more fun to gank unflagged lowbies.

I do know if Blizz doesn't fix it, and if the Alliance hunters who so enjoy exploiting it continue to proliferate on our server, I'll pretty much quit playing, at least new alts. It's just too frustrating to have my play interrupted by mean-spirited children who delight in causing others distress. (That's why I'm not on a pvp server.) I find I have too much tendency to think ill of them and to feel anger about the whole situation, which is neither comfortable nor in any way useful.

Saturday Night WoW

2008-03-03T13:31:11Z

My mains are both seventy, have tried the two dailies available w/out complicated group activities or secret knowledge, and will keep doing the daily cooking till they have all the recipes. ("Fires Over Skettis" is a tedious and time-consuming way to earn a few gold, pointless as far as I can see if you don't want rep so you can get the exotic flying mount.)

My beloved Horde hunter will keep farming things for his guildies, but probably won't do much more than that; and my Alliance 'lock may specialize her alchemy (choosing the only specialization that doesn't require group activities), but has no one to play with or support so isn't much interesting anymore. I had imagined I would complete quests after 70, but every time I look at their quest logs I suffer ennui.

However, the Saturday night instancing group is still good fun. We're nearing forty, we're inept and ill-assorted (we have neither tank nor healing priest, making do for the former with hunters' pets and the latter with a holy paladin), and we're having lots of fun. One hunter doesn't know how to call back her pet, the priest thinks of healing as something to be done after the battle, both she and the mage like to be exactly in the thick of things and tend to wander into neighboring rooms just to see what's there (even if what's there is forty mobs...). Sometimes, as you may imagine, we wipe. But we're persistent, and we're learning to do teamwork.

I think at higher levels we will seriously, deeply regret having no tank, but none of us has the temperament for the job. It's too complicated for me, frinstance, and I'm probably the most "serious" player we have. I am in awe of a good tank, but when I've tried warriors, even at the lower levels I couldn't figure out where to put all those abilities, what to do about stances and stomps and battle shouts, etc. Which is silly as the 'lock and the hunter are not exactly uncomplicated, but for me they're more intuitive. Plus they both have their own built-in tank so don't have to do everything right in the mob's face. I don't like in-your-face fighting.

I find I do, however, rather like healing. I wish I'd been the one to roll a priest when we first started this group. I had no idea what a pally could do, and tried it on a lark. At our mid-teens I rerolled a druid because we so clearly needed a tank and I couldn't get the hang of tanking as pally, but it didn't take long before I realized our priest wasn't interested in healing, so we needed a healer even more than we needed a tank. The pally seemed the better bet for main-healing, so I went back to him, began speccing him holy, and am learning to like him quite a lot, though again it's a pretty complicated class and I'm not sure I'll ever be what you'd call good at playing it. Still, healing is relatively uncomplicated and I like that he wears enough armor that he can survive (and even defend himself pretty well) when the healing draws aggro.

I doubt he'll be able to handle the healing at higher levels, but I don't know how far we'll get, anyway, w/out a tank. Whatever, it's fun for now. And I'm glad I don't have to explain that to the earnest, dedicated WoW players* who either can't understand playing for fun, or can't imagine finding fun in casual Saturday night street games when you could be in serious training for the national tournament (so to speak -- and for which I've doubtless used the wrong terms as I'm not a team-sport aficionado).

-----------------------
*By which I do not mean people who are merely good at it, or experienced, or both; I mean those who mistake it for life.

Dishwashing

2008-02-19T22:37:33Z

I have just come from washing dishes, which although it is certainly far from my fave task can, if one is very present for it, be quite sensuous: warm water, soft suds, smooth china.... But I do understand why someone might find that concept alien. Once I was made to change a scene in a story because the editor did not believe that anyone could under any circumstances enjoy washing dishes. Very likely since the enjoyment of dishwashing was not central to the story, she was right to eliminate it in order to prevent disconcertment on the part of some or many readers. It is over such small things that the unwary writer can most readily trip. (She said ponderously.)

WoW Fishing

2008-02-10T23:24:32Z

I've always enjoyed fishing in WoW. Most of my characters have spent much time maxed at fishing till they level up enough to get the book/quest/whatever to allow more skill. Both my mains were maxed when they got to Outlands, and bought the book as soon as they got to Zangarmarsh.

That's also the first place I found that one could fish in the Outlands. Erm. The first place where there's water deep enough, and evidence that there may be fish in it. Actually I've now got my skill up enough to catch one occasionally, but at first all I got was "your fish got away," even with an expensive fish-attracting bauble. And that's the lowest-level water in the Outlands. Boring.

So one has to go back to the old world to fish, catching fish too low-level to eat, cook, or sell profitably. Ten fish per point, and each of my mains needs to gain 75 points total before they'll be maxed at fishing.... Which I understand from others may still not be enough (even with +20 fishing poles and +100 baubles) to catch fish with reliable frequency in the Outlands.

Seven hundred fifty worthless fish. Euw. Fishing has become a chore. I didn't mind needing to catch more and more fish to get a point, when there were always places where I could always catch fish I could use. But this! Tedious to the max. What were they thinking?

Nonfiction?

2008-02-04T22:00:47Z

I just read a supposedly nonfiction book about a natural disaster that seemed fairly well-written and informative, but I realized about halfway through that I couldn't trust anything the author said. That made it a trifle iffy. It was interesting enough to finish reading, and in an afterward I found that probably one could tell which parts he had embellished and which parts were accurate, but I truly don't think the reader ought to have to guess.

The thing is, he was telling us word-for-word, in dialogue quotes, what people thought as they were dying. And precisely what untraceable actions they took prior to dying. At first I thought cool, that one survived or he couldn't know that; but then I found out no, that one didn't survive. Seems to me, then, that telling what he thought and precisely what he did is, you know, fiction.

In the afterward the author admitted to using "poetic license" in these cases. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that poetic license does not belong in a work ostensibly of nonfiction. Is that sort of thing commonly done these days? I don't like it. [She said querulously.]

Zafu

2008-01-31T21:47:55Z

I didn't mention here that I got a new zafu as a solstice gift. I had been using the Salubrion chair, which I thought wonderful when I got it, but which has become more and more difficult to use as we are farther and farther from Hawaii and all the limbering behaviors (swimming, beach combing, swimming, etc.) one does there. I'm getting old.

So now I have a wonderful zafu, and I cannot tell you how much more comfortable it is. It is a splendid thing for an old person. Yay!

Weather

2008-01-29T17:51:04Z

We were delighted and amused to discover that in Pennsylvania (at least where we live) "bitter cold" means "just below freezing," or "it won't quite thaw by midday." But PA makes up for the generally mild temps by producing plenty of black ice to make driving excessively adventurous in the early morning hours. Sometimes it seems a little colder weather might be a good thing.

My honey did make it safely to work this morning. Lots of others didn't. In fact the road from here to the freeway was closed behind him due to the many accidents. Half a dozen or so, in a relatively short stretch. And the radio told of a twenty-car pileup on one freeway.

And now it's toasty outside and all melty again.

Fear of Falling

2008-01-21T11:56:55Z

Those of you who play WoW may all know that the Outlands is a piece of a planet floating in space, with edges a character can easily fall off. Now, death in the game is an inconvenience at worst, and even falling off the Outlands would only entail an in-game repair bill because one would have to spirit rez instead of running back to one's body.

And I'm petrified of falling off. If anything takes me near (and by "near," I basically mean "in sight of") the edge, my skin crawls. It's got to the point where I cringe at every height in the game. Though, come to think of it, my Horde main had a lot of trouble with Freewind Post (and to a lesser extent with Thunder Bluff) long before we ever got to the Outlands. I always tried to avoid the Great Lift where I could.

I don't consciously RP, so this fear of falling seems extremely odd to me. (Though I guess I RP more than some: I have a friend who always walks off edges rather than take the stairs, and whose fighting involves pressing buttons without knowing for sure what will happen....) But I can't seem to get over it. I've been trying to talk myself into going back and doing a quest I skipped that involves walking over a "fallen mushroom" bridge from the main chunk of land to an island floating in space, and so far I can't do it. It's too scary.

IMO that's just weird.

Lutheran/Lefse

2008-01-12T14:07:11Z

I was googling for Lutheran/lefse history, wondering whether Lutherans were usually of Norse/Icelandic descent or what, and I found this song lyric. Alas, it may amuse only those familiar with ND, I don't know, but I found it delightful.

Transplanted

2008-01-10T17:52:39Z

What I miss most about Hawaii:
The colors of the water
Warm, humid weather
Granny Goose taro chips
Steep green in-your-face mountains
The rhythm of island speech
Granny Goose taro chips
Ginger chicken sauce

What I miss most about North Dakota:
Outdoors that goes on forever
Low population
The quilting ladies
Empty roads
Friendly neighbors
Knoepfla (knefla, knoefla, knephla) soup
Lefse

Silence

2008-01-08T19:49:06Z

It is exceedingly odd, after so many years of typing too much, to find I have nothing to say. So much nothing that I'm losing touch with dear friends-and-relations, because I cannot convince myself write a simple email or letter.

Or blog entry. You'd think I could find something to say, a link to someone else's interesting blog maybe, or something. But no. Or at least, not often.

Well, here's Huckabee for Executioner. That ought to make up for plenty of silence.

Ahn'Qiraj Gates

2007-12-27T21:40:07Z

They opened the Ahn'Qiraj Gates on my server yesterday. I missed the entire event because my computer had crashed irretrievably. Pfui. Not that I'm entirely sure I'd have taken part in any way. But I'd have kinda liked to just see what all the fuss is about.

Of course really the fuss is about players being now able to play the part of the game I find least interesting: more raids and instances. I'm pleased for them, but I won't be joining in.

Not real thrilled with the Outlands, either. My Horde main has been there a few times (he's 60 now), attempting the first quest, and so far I'm just unimpressed. The sky is gorgeous, of course, and the quest would be pretty do-able, but for the double-questionmark mob that paces back and forth across the area where it needs done. It's stomped us a few times. I don't like places where they mix levels like that. But we'll keep trying. For a while, anyway.

Another Instance Quest

2007-12-21T22:49:21Z

Luckily I googled the warlock epic mount quest and found out by accident that it ends in an instance. Solo players need not apply. I'm glad I hadn't spent any time or money on it. So now I have to decide what sort of mount to buy: is it worth grinding rep with someone for a different one or should I just buy the human default (a horse)? Hmmmm. Decisions, decisions.