I'm Back

It's been a month since I was last here.

Kimm and I needed a mental health break so we went to my mom's in Redding. This picture was taken in the park. They have a lot of nice art in that park. Pretty good step up for Redding.

My neighbor is doing exceptionally well. Or so it is on the outside. They have one of the perpetrators in custody. Hopefully he'll rat out the other one--but probably only for a plea deal. They are going to charge him with, among other things, attempted murder. We're really happy about that.

So much has happened in a month I'm not sure where to begin....

*Had my first mammogram and was called back for more pictures. Which lead to a surgical biopsy. Luckily I am non-cancerous! The upside of all that was that it took my mind off my neighbor/hood's problems for awhile. Although I have to say--biopsy's hurt. I still have a painful and bruised boob.

*Had a really nice time in Redding. Although it was 115 degrees. We drove up there the day after my biopsy. Half way up I got the call from my doctor that I was all clear. That made for a really nice visit. Got to see our good friends C and S. As well as spend a lot of good time with my mom.

*Kimm put up a beautiful gate in the front yard closing off our yard entirely to anyone on the street.

*We've nearly finished our new front steps.

*Kimm rounded up four used double pane wooden windows in perfect shape at our awesome reuse store here in Oakland. All four for $60. (If anyone knows how much wooden double pane windows cost you are shitting your pants right now--I know we are)! Three of them will be for the cottage in the back yard and one for our bathroom.

*We're close to finishing our new fireplace hearth. Now we just need to do some tiling which we'll do after we buy and install a fireplace insert. We've never had any source of heat during our temperate Bay Area winters. But it would be nice to have something instead of wearing sweaters and coats every night as we watch TV.

It's good to have projects when you're in fear mode. Keeps your mind busy. We've done more work just recently on the house then we've done in the past 7 years. I'll be posting pictures of all the work in the next few posts.

*Kimm officiated at our good friends N and M's wedding last week-- It was a stellar performance and a wonderful wedding!

*And maybe most importantly, Kimm and I have decided to get married in September. Since we're short on cash we're going to wait on having a reception until after the holidays. Maybe not even until next spring. But we know we've got to get married before November. We've heard that even if they pass the state amendment against gay marriage that it might be very difficult to annul any of the marriages performed between May and Nov 08'. So we're kind of in a hurry.

And lastly.....who else saw Barak's acceptance speech last night at the Dem. Nat. Con?

Kind of inspiring? Hell Yeah!

GO BARAK!!!!!!!!

Dealing With It

I didn't mention a couple of weeks back about Kimm's employee being mugged at a house they were working at in our neighborhood. Two guys with a gun. Luckily he wasn't hurt and only lost his Stanley knife and wallet with a small amount of money in it.

The two guys who robbed him ran when they saw Kimm walk up our neighbors driveway to see what was going on.

Then yesterday morning another neighbor and very good friend was robbed, beaten and assaulted after her husband left for work. Two guys with a gun and hammer. I'm not going to give brutal details but I woke up yesterday to cop cars and lots of questions of did we see anything. We hadn't. We didn't hear a thing. And our dogs and the dog in the house on the other side of them didn't hear anything so they didn't bark. It's funny how such violent acts can be so quiet. She's lucky she even lived through it.
Hours later after all the cops had left, my neighbors came home from the hospital to their wrecked home. Every piece of broken glass and wood, bent frames of lamps, clothes scattered everywhere, book shelves tipped over and of course lots of blood. Everything left the way it was when they finished taking what they wanted, beating her and running out leaving the door open. It's hard to think of living through that and then having to come home from the hospital to see it. It's something I never thought about.
Anyway, I went over soon after they arrived and helped clean up. It was honestly the hardest thing I've ever done. But I kept remembering something my friend Colleen used to say many years ago--'Deal with it'.
I knew as scared as I was to see and deal with the aftermath it didn't compare to how bad she was feeling, or her husband. I cleaned up the worst of it. He helped.
Soon after we finished cleaning, Kimm came home from her dentist appointment and did a dump run to get rid of their bed and all the collected trash. Later on she would install new locks on their front door while I made them lasagna.
I like to think of myself as a good liberal/anarchist. But when something like this happens it just strengthens my belief in a death penalty. I know that's a bad word amongst most of my fellow left thinkers. But since I was a young kid and another friend of mine was raped and murdered along with her mother I've had strong feelings about what should happen to people who have no regard for life. Sometimes I teeter. Maybe forgiveness is the greatest gift. I do believe that's true but I also think victims have the right to NOT forgive. Someone who's willingly and with a smile scared your life in a way you'll never recover from. Why should those people be allowed to keep breathing.
I don't know.
Right now I'm feeling pretty strongly in favor.
A detective just left their home. And we heard that the police found her computer and bag. They've just left in her mothers rental car. Hopefully they're driving to the police station to identify a suspect.

I also want to point out that our neighborhood is not a bad place. (although Jan I know you disagree). We live in a high density urban area. The economy the way it is doesn't help. I know shit can happen anywhere. (Two little girls shot and killed on that country road in Idaho).
Desperation makes people do all kinds of things. Like mugging someone.
And then there's just plain evil. Like what happened next door.