Enjoying and dealing with the ups and downs of life in rural Maine.
Gone but not forgotten...and not forgetting.
Many thanks to those who sent inquiring DMs after I disappeared. I've missed everyone here and thought about you all often. And I apologize to all who sent Xmas cards but didn't get any in return.
Rather than tie up threads in the forum explaining, I'll update here.
As Winter approached (2008-2009) my other half began complaining of being in pain, which grew more intense as time went on. There seemed to be no explanation for it- she hadn't fallen or injured herself, it was just constant, widespread pain. OTC medications didn't touch it and regular doctors said there was nothing wrong with her...and so began trips to specialists and much testing.
Ultimately, it was discovered that she was afflicted with not one, not two, but three different conditions- Shingles, an extremely advanced case of Lyme Disease (from a tick bite), and Fibromyalgia.
To add insult to injury, the owners of the company she worked for had been doing some...odd...things with the money and the books and she had been asking questions and telling them that what they were doing wasn't quite kosher and they decided that this was a good opportunity to make her and her questions go away. This put us in a rather tight spot since the only work I had been able to get was as a part-time temp in a warehouse and the terms of her employment and Non-Compete made it virtually impossible for her to be able to obtain any other work.
Unfortunately for them, they failed to discern that hidden under my tendency to let my hair and beard go untrimmed, my fondness for somewhat less than 'classy' clothing and an easy-going personality there is a brain that is somewhat better than imbecilic, a natural contempt for those who would try to take unfair advantage of others...and a 'righteous' anger and a strong desire for vengeance when that unfairness is aimed at someone I care about.
I had had the foresight to retain a business lawyer to review her employment and non-compete agreements when she was first hired. After a quick consult with the lawyer I drafted a letter that outlined some of the actions that I could take and how I could show that their actions could be construed to be in violation of several laws, and how their non-competition was so restrictive that a court would deem it un-enforceable. I also hinted that they might not care to have certain things become public knowledge without going so far as to put myself in a position to be liable to be facing a blackmailing charge.
The end result was a not-quite-golden parachute, a relaxation of the non-competition terms and a letter of recommendation which could be shown to potential employers. It wasn't really a "lot" of money and we were still worried that we might lose the house but we managed to survive, just barely.
It was a tough winter, she was still at the other house while I was here. I couldn't afford to use any electricity (there was enough kerosene in a defunct heater to run an old railroad lantern if I didn't use it too much) or pay for an internet connection, the well went on the blink again and I had no running water for three months. I didn't have much money for firewood and certainly not enough for oil, the temperature in the house didn't get above 42 (and usually was colder than that) until sometime in March, I think. There was a three-week period where the outside temperature hit 25 below here in my little valley and stayed there, pipes bursting sounded almost like gunshots. Missed a day of work, it was so cold that I couldn't get any oil pressure in the truck. Put a halogen work light under the oilpan to heat it up so that when I could get it running so I could go get some lighter weight oil that wouldn't thicken up so much. It's no fun trying to work under a vehicle at -25. Lost another day when a storm dumped almost as much snow as my truck tires are high and my plow guy didn't show. No 4WD so I started ramming and shoveling out the tracks at 8AM, maybe I'd be able to get out by the following day. By 5PM I was about 2/3 of the way to the road (about 700 feet, another 300 or so to go) and the guy finally showed. He wasn't too swift, got himself off the drive and stuck. Stubborn, wouldn't take any advice and just kept getting it worse and worse. I did a lot more shoveling and he finally started listening and we got him out around 10PM. He plowed for me the rest of the Winter and I thought everything was good but he didn't come the next winter and never returned any of my calls. Don't know what happened to him.
In March things started thawing out, the well came back on line and I came home from work one day to hear what sounded like a fire-hose going full blast in the front closet- the relief valve on the water heater had burst and was spouting water up against the floor in the closet, among all of the other leaks. The well pump apparently puts out quite a bit of pressure. Spent some time patching leaks with hose clamps and patches cut from an old inner-tube.
Fast-forward to June- the other half managed to get a job here and moved up, but it's a lot less money than she was making before. We're just about paying the bills but not able to unload the other house and can't afford to pay the taxes on it.
Started a small garden in hopes of being able to supplement the food budget, and maybe sell a few pumpkins in the Fall. Dug it out with a pick and shovel. Got a real good crop of rocks...but the weather didn't cooperate. Pumpkins, squashes, corn, tomatoes, melons and eggplant all got some kind of blight, turned black and died. Only the peas and beans didn't get blighted...they didn't come up at all.
Fast-forward to August- The first day when I started as a temp at the freight company I had decided that lacking any other options I was going to work my tail off and get myself hired as a regular employee. Some extra work came up but it meant that whoever took it on would have to show up, maybe for only 2 or 3 hours even on days when no one else was working. All of the other temps were complaining that they didn't have enough hours and weren't making enough money...but none of them were willing to make the commitment. Fools. I said I'd do it and less than 2 months later the owner of the company asked if I was OK with him buying me away from the temp agency.
It wasn't easy to keep a poker-face since that had been my plan from day one and it had taken nearly a year to make it happen and I was rather pleased. But, I did. I brought up the subject of money, his first offer was a miniscule increase and I told him I was hoping for a bit more than that. I ended up with a nearly 25% raise.
There was one other temp who was also on the company payroll- punching two time cards, because only company employees could drive the trucks and somebody had to be able to back them into the dock for loading. Fortuitously (for me) he wasn't exactly stable mentally, and after a particularly explosive temper tantrum he left and never came back. Since I had previous truck-driving experience now I had another responsibility.
We moved to a larger warehouse shortly after that, and he hired several of the other temps directly (though none of them got as much $ as I was getting). He let one of those guys drive the trucks one day when I wasn't there (I forget why I wasn't there that day). This other guy managed to smash up three trucks, in one day, doing considerable damage to all of them. LOL, now everyone else has been forbidden to touch them.
So, things were starting to look better. I managed to save enough money to buy 4 cords of 16' wood in advance of winter, so we were a bit warmer. The wood was much drier and burned better, and we had enough. I replaced the small Jotul in the front room with an antique Glenwood Oak parlor stove too, and that thing can throw some real heat. Still can't afford to buy oil, except for 5 gal. of diesel every week or two for hot water but that's OK.
Vehicle repairs have been sapping the bank account but the mechanic I use for the stuff I can't do is very reasonable, he'll wait for cash if we don't have it right away and sometimes we trade labor (even swap- computer repair time for veh. repair time).
We've had some bad luck along with the good- I worked sick for a couple of weeks until I almost collapsed on the job. I finished the day, called in sick the next day (a rarity for me) and I went to the walk-in clinic the day after that. Diagnosis- pneumonia, right lung almost completely filled with fluid and non-functional. Blood pressure sky high, fever at 103, resting heart rate about 90 but SPO2 barely 80%. After the x-ray, the wife heard the Docs talking about admitting me to the hospital. I think that the only reason they didn't was because I had brought a chart of my temps and medications I had been taking and they figured that I would be responsible enough to take care of myself at home, where I would be more comfortable and not at risk of catching something *else*. (Who wants to be in a hospital, that's where all the sick people are?). Back to work a few days later, after massive doses of antibiotics.
Wife stepped on a ball that the dog left on the stairs while she was taking an armload of stuff out to the garage. Leg wasn't broken but has an 11cm hematoma. Regular Doc didn't catch it but it showed up in an MRI she got two weeks later when she was still in considerable pain (like she needs any more?) and her leg was still very swollen. Why, with medicine being one of the biggest fields here, is it so hard to get competent medical help?
What else? 3 cats died (2 old age, 1 cancer) and one went out and never came back (he was my favorite, would go walking with me like a dog would). 2 more adopted from the shelter, 1 a white Maine Coon- he tries to be like my other and he's close, but not quite. Wife got a dog, in spite of my objections. She wanted him for company when we were apart, but with all her tests and inability to take care of it, it soon wound up with me. She has always complained that every animal we get becomes 'mine' (I'm an animal magnet, what can I say?) so I tried very hard to stand off from the dog so it would bond to her instead of me...that was the end of that.
Lots more stuff but enough for now. Hopefully I'll be able to spend a little time here with all of you wonderful folks.
Rather than tie up threads in the forum explaining, I'll update here.
As Winter approached (2008-2009) my other half began complaining of being in pain, which grew more intense as time went on. There seemed to be no explanation for it- she hadn't fallen or injured herself, it was just constant, widespread pain. OTC medications didn't touch it and regular doctors said there was nothing wrong with her...and so began trips to specialists and much testing.
Ultimately, it was discovered that she was afflicted with not one, not two, but three different conditions- Shingles, an extremely advanced case of Lyme Disease (from a tick bite), and Fibromyalgia.
To add insult to injury, the owners of the company she worked for had been doing some...odd...things with the money and the books and she had been asking questions and telling them that what they were doing wasn't quite kosher and they decided that this was a good opportunity to make her and her questions go away. This put us in a rather tight spot since the only work I had been able to get was as a part-time temp in a warehouse and the terms of her employment and Non-Compete made it virtually impossible for her to be able to obtain any other work.
Unfortunately for them, they failed to discern that hidden under my tendency to let my hair and beard go untrimmed, my fondness for somewhat less than 'classy' clothing and an easy-going personality there is a brain that is somewhat better than imbecilic, a natural contempt for those who would try to take unfair advantage of others...and a 'righteous' anger and a strong desire for vengeance when that unfairness is aimed at someone I care about.
I had had the foresight to retain a business lawyer to review her employment and non-compete agreements when she was first hired. After a quick consult with the lawyer I drafted a letter that outlined some of the actions that I could take and how I could show that their actions could be construed to be in violation of several laws, and how their non-competition was so restrictive that a court would deem it un-enforceable. I also hinted that they might not care to have certain things become public knowledge without going so far as to put myself in a position to be liable to be facing a blackmailing charge.
The end result was a not-quite-golden parachute, a relaxation of the non-competition terms and a letter of recommendation which could be shown to potential employers. It wasn't really a "lot" of money and we were still worried that we might lose the house but we managed to survive, just barely.
It was a tough winter, she was still at the other house while I was here. I couldn't afford to use any electricity (there was enough kerosene in a defunct heater to run an old railroad lantern if I didn't use it too much) or pay for an internet connection, the well went on the blink again and I had no running water for three months. I didn't have much money for firewood and certainly not enough for oil, the temperature in the house didn't get above 42 (and usually was colder than that) until sometime in March, I think. There was a three-week period where the outside temperature hit 25 below here in my little valley and stayed there, pipes bursting sounded almost like gunshots. Missed a day of work, it was so cold that I couldn't get any oil pressure in the truck. Put a halogen work light under the oilpan to heat it up so that when I could get it running so I could go get some lighter weight oil that wouldn't thicken up so much. It's no fun trying to work under a vehicle at -25. Lost another day when a storm dumped almost as much snow as my truck tires are high and my plow guy didn't show. No 4WD so I started ramming and shoveling out the tracks at 8AM, maybe I'd be able to get out by the following day. By 5PM I was about 2/3 of the way to the road (about 700 feet, another 300 or so to go) and the guy finally showed. He wasn't too swift, got himself off the drive and stuck. Stubborn, wouldn't take any advice and just kept getting it worse and worse. I did a lot more shoveling and he finally started listening and we got him out around 10PM. He plowed for me the rest of the Winter and I thought everything was good but he didn't come the next winter and never returned any of my calls. Don't know what happened to him.
In March things started thawing out, the well came back on line and I came home from work one day to hear what sounded like a fire-hose going full blast in the front closet- the relief valve on the water heater had burst and was spouting water up against the floor in the closet, among all of the other leaks. The well pump apparently puts out quite a bit of pressure. Spent some time patching leaks with hose clamps and patches cut from an old inner-tube.
Fast-forward to June- the other half managed to get a job here and moved up, but it's a lot less money than she was making before. We're just about paying the bills but not able to unload the other house and can't afford to pay the taxes on it.
Started a small garden in hopes of being able to supplement the food budget, and maybe sell a few pumpkins in the Fall. Dug it out with a pick and shovel. Got a real good crop of rocks...but the weather didn't cooperate. Pumpkins, squashes, corn, tomatoes, melons and eggplant all got some kind of blight, turned black and died. Only the peas and beans didn't get blighted...they didn't come up at all.
Fast-forward to August- The first day when I started as a temp at the freight company I had decided that lacking any other options I was going to work my tail off and get myself hired as a regular employee. Some extra work came up but it meant that whoever took it on would have to show up, maybe for only 2 or 3 hours even on days when no one else was working. All of the other temps were complaining that they didn't have enough hours and weren't making enough money...but none of them were willing to make the commitment. Fools. I said I'd do it and less than 2 months later the owner of the company asked if I was OK with him buying me away from the temp agency.
It wasn't easy to keep a poker-face since that had been my plan from day one and it had taken nearly a year to make it happen and I was rather pleased. But, I did. I brought up the subject of money, his first offer was a miniscule increase and I told him I was hoping for a bit more than that. I ended up with a nearly 25% raise.
There was one other temp who was also on the company payroll- punching two time cards, because only company employees could drive the trucks and somebody had to be able to back them into the dock for loading. Fortuitously (for me) he wasn't exactly stable mentally, and after a particularly explosive temper tantrum he left and never came back. Since I had previous truck-driving experience now I had another responsibility.
We moved to a larger warehouse shortly after that, and he hired several of the other temps directly (though none of them got as much $ as I was getting). He let one of those guys drive the trucks one day when I wasn't there (I forget why I wasn't there that day). This other guy managed to smash up three trucks, in one day, doing considerable damage to all of them. LOL, now everyone else has been forbidden to touch them.
So, things were starting to look better. I managed to save enough money to buy 4 cords of 16' wood in advance of winter, so we were a bit warmer. The wood was much drier and burned better, and we had enough. I replaced the small Jotul in the front room with an antique Glenwood Oak parlor stove too, and that thing can throw some real heat. Still can't afford to buy oil, except for 5 gal. of diesel every week or two for hot water but that's OK.
Vehicle repairs have been sapping the bank account but the mechanic I use for the stuff I can't do is very reasonable, he'll wait for cash if we don't have it right away and sometimes we trade labor (even swap- computer repair time for veh. repair time).
We've had some bad luck along with the good- I worked sick for a couple of weeks until I almost collapsed on the job. I finished the day, called in sick the next day (a rarity for me) and I went to the walk-in clinic the day after that. Diagnosis- pneumonia, right lung almost completely filled with fluid and non-functional. Blood pressure sky high, fever at 103, resting heart rate about 90 but SPO2 barely 80%. After the x-ray, the wife heard the Docs talking about admitting me to the hospital. I think that the only reason they didn't was because I had brought a chart of my temps and medications I had been taking and they figured that I would be responsible enough to take care of myself at home, where I would be more comfortable and not at risk of catching something *else*. (Who wants to be in a hospital, that's where all the sick people are?). Back to work a few days later, after massive doses of antibiotics.
Wife stepped on a ball that the dog left on the stairs while she was taking an armload of stuff out to the garage. Leg wasn't broken but has an 11cm hematoma. Regular Doc didn't catch it but it showed up in an MRI she got two weeks later when she was still in considerable pain (like she needs any more?) and her leg was still very swollen. Why, with medicine being one of the biggest fields here, is it so hard to get competent medical help?
What else? 3 cats died (2 old age, 1 cancer) and one went out and never came back (he was my favorite, would go walking with me like a dog would). 2 more adopted from the shelter, 1 a white Maine Coon- he tries to be like my other and he's close, but not quite. Wife got a dog, in spite of my objections. She wanted him for company when we were apart, but with all her tests and inability to take care of it, it soon wound up with me. She has always complained that every animal we get becomes 'mine' (I'm an animal magnet, what can I say?) so I tried very hard to stand off from the dog so it would bond to her instead of me...that was the end of that.
Lots more stuff but enough for now. Hopefully I'll be able to spend a little time here with all of you wonderful folks.
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