Empty no longer

What was that I was saying about the houses in my neighborhood being all empty??

No more, my friends, no more.

There is this guy that moved in across the street.  It was sort of nerve-wracking when he first started staying there because I honestly didn’t know what was going on.  This guy bears a striking resemblance to one of our maintenance guys, whom I normally refer to as “Jackass” beacuse he is one.   One night while Kurt was on his business trip, I was sitting at the computer in the office.  Around 8pm, I noticed a car pull up in the house across the street.  Now, this is the one that had had all that activity from cleaners and maintenance men to get it ready for habitation, and I knew someone would move in soon.  But I hadn’t seen a moving truck or anything, so I didn’t know who could possibly be at the house.

A man got out of the car, opened up the garage (we don’t get garage door openers, though you can spring to install your own), and pulled into the garage.  He puttered around for a few minutes, and finally got out and shut the garage door.  He then took off at a trot down the street!!!!

That’s what creeped me out.  I mean, here I am thinking it’s Jackass that’s put his car in a garage (all maintenance men have the keys to the homes in housing), and now he’s leaving it there!!  What the heck is going on here?

A few days later, I see the exact same car pull up — only this time it’s being driven by a guy in a Chief’s uniform.  And sure enough, he looks just like Jackass.  That’s when I figured out that the guy was really the new resident of that home, and I just thought it was Jackass since it looked so much like him.

Why he left his car in the garage and went trotting down the street the first night he was in the house, I have no idea.

He’s no longer there… but Kurt pointed out that he’s probably back wherever it was he’s moving from, and is driving his wife and family here to Rhode Island.  I’ll probably have new neighbors in the next couple of weeks.

Yesterday as we left the house, I noticed some maintenance guys at the house at the end of the street, installing new appliances.  Originally our leasing company had wanted us to move there instead of our current home, due to some unexpected heater malfunctions.  But I had already forwarded our mail to this unit, so this is the unit I wanted.  They managed to get the heater working before we signed the lease, and I’m glad for it, as the other house is on a busy corner.

Today a moving van showed up at that house first thing this morning.  Now we have new neighbors down the street!

We’re also losing neighbors.  The folks a couple of doors down are in the process of moving out.  Today was their pack-out day, when the movers come and put all their stuff in boxes.  They should be gone by Friday.   I don’t know them at all.  In fact, I have never even seen them.  They’re like our phantom neighbors.

I almost wish our next-door neighbors would move out.  We’re the only house on the whole street that has both units filled, and sometimes I regret not taking the house down the street.  For one thing, I’d have newer appliances!!  But also, I wouldn’t have to deal with our neighbors.

The wife is really nice, she is.  I really like her, and enjoy chatting with her the few times we’ve both been outside at the same time.  But her husband is something else.  I swear, I have never had a conversation with this man when he’s not drunk.  He also doesn’t have a job (it’s his wife who is in the Navy), and they have no children.  All he does on a daily basis is sit there and drink.  What really scares me is he goes someplace almost every day.  And I know for sure he’s drunk.  We saw him at one o’clock this afternoon as we headed out to Wal-Mart, and he was drunk.  It doesn’t matter what time of day it is, but he’s drunk.

It’s a shame, really.  I just don’t know what his deal is.

It’s 4:30pm right now… and it’s already dark.  Man, talk about short days!!  And speaking of the weather, tomorrow we’re supposed to get SNOW!!  The National Weather Service is thinking we’re going to six to ten inches starting in the late afternoon.  Fortunately, Kurt only has a very short commute; if it gets too bad, he could walk home.  Hopefully he’ll be home for the day before the snow starts.  I’ve got my fingers crossed!!